Post by ajk on Sept 1, 2019 1:12:21 GMT -5
Some good things in this one but a couple of parts that were excessively dramatic. I hope those parts were exceptions because so far the series is shaping up to be very good.
“Goongyae...that name means an excellent archer.” Does it?
The first narrated text:
Hey look—Monkapalooza!
“You’ll see this scene on every street corner in Surabul, except for larger roads where the queen travels.” The starving people, and later the commoners kneeling as the queen passed by, those were good scenes—hope we see a lot more of them. Good stuff! Oh and did you notice, there wasn’t any gravel on that road yet? Uh-oh queenie’s gonna be pissed.
The other narrated text:
...Although, how could you not laugh at Dosun giving the queen a piece of his mind. How do you let somebody speak at a high government ceremony and not have the speech vetted beforehand? Oops.
And not only the weather, Dosun also made something happen to that monk Wang Guhin who apparently disappeared from his cell? It looked like he was vaporized or spontaneously combusted. And then later knowing that Goongyae and Jongkahn would be visiting before they even showed up? Did not care for this at all.
“Ask commander Kyun-hwon to have some tea with me.” Hmm, is that tea in those jugs? Maybe. Maybe not.
“He has quite a commanding presence.” Yeah I was thinking the same thing—if he’s going to be a main character later on then he’ll need to have that sort of radiating charisma it takes to make it believable. He may just be able to pull it off. Goongyae seems to have it, from what we saw before the flashback started.
“Of course you’re tired. You’ve been sinning!” Wait, I thought sinning was supposed to be fun. Am I doing it wrong? Well whatever, it was nice to see the PM’s wife get some lines. You just know she has a whole lot to say and has to hold her tongue a lot.
The other scene that wasn’t so good was the ending scene. Goongyae really thinks he’s going to just barge into the PM’s residence at nighttime and get an audience? And then he decides he’s going to fight Kyun-hwon to get in right away, after he’s just been told that he can come back in the morning? What is so urgent that he has to see the guy right away?
So I’m still feeling good about the series but this episode is the weakest so far. Between the two silly scenes and the ongoing need to shove the main characters into the same storyline well before it’s necessary, it was a little disappointing.
“Goongyae...that name means an excellent archer.” Does it?
The first narrated text:
Kyun-hwon. Son of a powerful peasant of Sangju named Ah Jagae, his courage and boldness was noted at an early age. His fondness for martial arts is evidenced by the fact that he incorporated the word “sword” into all of his sons’ names. Records indicate that he renamed himself Kyun-hwon at the age of 15 and traveled to Surabul to join the military. It is not clear why he deserted his powerful and wealthy father to become a soldier, but it is presumed to have been due to discordant family relations.Dosun: “Monks who have cared only for royalty and nobility are partly responsible for the destruction of Shilla.” That’s a remarkable fact if it’s true.
Hey look—Monkapalooza!
“You’ll see this scene on every street corner in Surabul, except for larger roads where the queen travels.” The starving people, and later the commoners kneeling as the queen passed by, those were good scenes—hope we see a lot more of them. Good stuff! Oh and did you notice, there wasn’t any gravel on that road yet? Uh-oh queenie’s gonna be pissed.
The other narrated text:
Pekgoja—it was a national ceremony in which one hundred high monks collectively prayed for the welfare of the country. Because of its deep patriotic significance, the head of state was required to be he administrator of the ceremony. It was first established by King Jinpyung in A.D. 613 and continued through the Koryo period, but it was suppressed after the Mongol invasion.“How bizarre—the sudden thunder and lightning.” Yeah, bizarre is maybe too nice a description. So Dosun is supposed to be some sort of supernaturally enlightened holy man who can control the weather? Yecch. Actually it was a good scene, but not what I want to see in a historical...
...Although, how could you not laugh at Dosun giving the queen a piece of his mind. How do you let somebody speak at a high government ceremony and not have the speech vetted beforehand? Oops.
And not only the weather, Dosun also made something happen to that monk Wang Guhin who apparently disappeared from his cell? It looked like he was vaporized or spontaneously combusted. And then later knowing that Goongyae and Jongkahn would be visiting before they even showed up? Did not care for this at all.
“Ask commander Kyun-hwon to have some tea with me.” Hmm, is that tea in those jugs? Maybe. Maybe not.
“He has quite a commanding presence.” Yeah I was thinking the same thing—if he’s going to be a main character later on then he’ll need to have that sort of radiating charisma it takes to make it believable. He may just be able to pull it off. Goongyae seems to have it, from what we saw before the flashback started.
“Of course you’re tired. You’ve been sinning!” Wait, I thought sinning was supposed to be fun. Am I doing it wrong? Well whatever, it was nice to see the PM’s wife get some lines. You just know she has a whole lot to say and has to hold her tongue a lot.
The other scene that wasn’t so good was the ending scene. Goongyae really thinks he’s going to just barge into the PM’s residence at nighttime and get an audience? And then he decides he’s going to fight Kyun-hwon to get in right away, after he’s just been told that he can come back in the morning? What is so urgent that he has to see the guy right away?
So I’m still feeling good about the series but this episode is the weakest so far. Between the two silly scenes and the ongoing need to shove the main characters into the same storyline well before it’s necessary, it was a little disappointing.