This was my least favorite episode so far. The milking for drama is getting to be too much.
A big mistake was made in the production at this point. We’re told that Bangwon was basically out of the picture entirely for seven years and just lived quietly and raised his kids. So we’ve jumped forward in time by seven years—but everybody looks exactly the same. Historicals have always tried to make at least some subtle changes in the appearances of important characters to signal a significant time jump, especially when there’s a shift in the storyline. It would have really helped here, with Bangwon now having a very different, more aggressive attitude.
The sequence in the woods with Bangwon’s troops...We were told that LSG goes from the palace to this particular temple nearly every day to pray for his deceased queen. So to have Bangwon training his troops right there along the route to the temple, it was confusing at first but I had to conclude that Bangwon put them there deliberately to provoke a confrontation with his dad. Right? Wrong. Unless I misunderstood something, there was no premeditation and we’re supposed to believe that this was just a coincidence that generated all of that drama. Which implies, of course, that Bangwon is a complete blithering idiot. Again more stupidity for the sake of manufacturing drama.
LSG: “When the beast showed its claws and challenged me, I hesitated and stepped back. I should have beheaded him there.” I do like the angle about the winner being the one who doesn’t hesitate. It’s interesting.
Oh and now Lady Min is an ass-kicking warrior? Please stop that. Yes it was just Lee Jiran’s pudgy kid, but I hope we don’t see any of that again. This isn’t supposed to be a fusion series.
Bangwon: “We should not be replacing the crown prince. We must replace the king.” This made me nuts. Time and time again the series is pumping stuff up and even creating fiction to ramp up the dramatic tension. Well right here is the single most dramatic, significant pair of lines in the entire series so far. A shocking admission of what we now realize is Bangwon’s enormous objective. But it gets no juice, no bump from the music, no reaction from the guy he’s talking to, nothing. It’s just treated like an ordinary part of the dialogue in the scene. How could they get this so wrong?
Yet in the very next scene when LSG has a temper tantrum and breaks some vases, it gets the full drum-banging ultra-tension loud music. It’s almost like the people doing both the writing and the post-production don’t understand the story sometimes.
(click for full size)And now look, it’s nighttime in the throne room and nobody’s cleaned up the broken vases yet. And of course all of the pieces are arranged in nice tight little clusters that are perfect for the camera shot. Because that’s exactly how stuff breaks in real life, isn’t it. Ugh.
OK and now Jeong Dojeon has pitched some sort of plan to the king, and yet the dramatic music is pounding, but we don’t even know what the plan is! Maybe he wants to redecorate the bathrooms for all we know. Okay probably not that, but it makes the point, why are we supposed to be all on edge about something we know nothing about.
“I cannot let servants serve such valuable soldiers like you. I must serve you myself.” This was my favorite thing in the episode. The way she cares for them personally to gain their loyalty (and she isn’t b.s.ing them, it’s sincere to help her husband and family)...this is almost certainly fiction but it sure does make for an interesting character. The husband-and-wife stuff continues to be the saving grace of the series.
One thing for sure, this version of the story is sure setting up the final Jeong Dojeon scene well. Giving Bangwon plenty of motivation! JD is hitting him with blow after blow.
I’ve never watched a series like this one that has such a bad barometer for when to emphasize important things and when not to emphasize unimportant things. Another eighteen episodes of the same style will be exhausting.
p.s. That stuff about the Ming envoys wearing white mourning clothes and getting themselves beheaded, was that true? I don’t recall anything about it in the Jeong Dojeon series. If it’s true then they did a very dumb thing, gotta say.