Post by ajk on Apr 13, 2019 17:13:30 GMT -5
Three positives in the opening battle scenes. One, you could tell during the street-fighting who was who. That’s a big improvement from the chaos and confusion in similar scenes previously. Two, big credit to the stunt guys who took those flaming arrows to the chest. More than a dozen of them in the very first minute—maybe it was even a little too much but whatever, good work by them and by the producers to include it. And three, they showed the army slaughtering civilians who fought them; didn’t shy away from that even though it wasn’t exactly flattering to Baekje. The producers could have avoided any acknowledgement of that so good for them for not avoiding it.
Jin Godo: “You can’t (let him live). An ember will start a fire.” Oh that is niiiice. So much insight crammed into so few words. One of the best lines of the series.
“A woman should know how to protect her life.” That was a terrific scene, right up until the end and then it died. Annoying Girl wants her daughter to learn to use a sword well enough to protect herself, and we see the daughter and some other teenage girls and she’s trying and being clumsy with a sword just like any beginner would be. Then Jin Godo’s daughter shows up and she’s much farther along, which you might expect from a general’s kid...but then she finishes with one of those ridiculously impossible forward flips ten feet in the air, just like the laughable flipping over walls we saw over and over again in God of War. Good for AG, wanting to teach the girls to defend themselves, but the cartoon/fusion ending completely ruined it.
The narrated text, which was very helpful as we saw Habul present KG with a royal seal:
The king of Mokjiguk used the name King Jin. The name King Jin had the authority of representing Mahan. Offering the seal meant submission to Baekje. King Geonchogo now beame the leader of the Ye and Han people.
So we finally get back to Goguryeo, and here’s another positive: the Goguryeo people look older, like fifteen years did indeed pass. Much better than the unchanging appearance of some of the Baekjeans.
Jo Bul is coughing up blood. Hmm, I wonder what that means?
Wait, he died? Didn’t see that coming.
Kidding aside, that was a very well done death scene. Sad and touching without being overdramatic or suffocated by people wailing and moaning. Excellent job in both writing and acting.
“Take these and think over and over what’s best for Goguryeo.” This was the one thing in the death scene that I didn’t understand. Jo Bul handed a couple of roundish objects to the crown prince:
Anybody know what those things are? It wasn’t explained and this was the best look we got of them:
A darned clever way of bringing the Eul Mahul/Dandan/baby situation back into the main storyline. The village made excellent swords so the KG stops in to thank the blacksmiths. Great idea! Loved it. That was the positive. But if Eul Mahul and Dandan were so afraid of KG recognizing them, why were they there at all when KG showed up? They didn’t need to be there, especially not Dandan; of course they would have been nowhere near the place. That was stupid.
Why are the citizens of a conquered statelet giving cheers to the conquering king? Not impossible but it needed a setup. Why are they so happy? Now if they had started cheering for him after he fed the starving people who came forward and begged, that would make sense, but that’s not how it was done.
Really? Yeosan trained for fifteen years to kill KG and the place he picks to do it is a crowded town street full of people cheering for the guy? And he’s not even in the front row to get a clear run at him? Good grief that was bad. Not only in the way it was staged and presented, but what a cheap, meaningless way to dispose of someone who’s been a significant character since the beginning, and a prince at that. No we didn’t respect him like we respected Yeohwi but his death had the same feeling to it—abrupt and insubstantial and pointless. Blecch!
And then at the end, KG closes Yeosan’s eye. Ugh. Was so tacky I laughed out loud. What a stinker of a scene, start to finish.
Hae Geon: “I think he’s hesitating because he tried to harm your baby before.” Well done sir.
Was that just a speck of intuition from Yeohwa when she saw Seokkop? Like a strange twinge of familiarity? We’ll have to watch for that. Anyway now we turn to Goguryeo so hopefully we get more of an actual historical story from here on out.
p.s. One problem solved, thankfully: The subtitles got it right this time and said Mok Nageunja.