Post by ajk on Jun 7, 2022 3:02:17 GMT -5
The beginning was very good—had a somber, almost stunned quality to it. Which is exactly how the Koryo side must have felt, and how a lot of viewers must have felt after such a strange twist of events, so it fit. The music was perfect for it, quiet and just a bit unsettling.
WG: “I have received his help. Credit must be given where credit is due. He is indeed a better man than I am.” Give WG some credit here too, for admitting it. KH could have squashed him like a bug because of the cholera trouble, but he didn’t, and even gave Koryo the medicine for it. Not many leaders would have done that.
Nasty gash on Choi Ung’s forehead from banging his head on the ground in the previous episode…but now I’m wondering if the actor really got some sort of injury and they just put the head-banging in for a cover story.
OK at least Yaesul knows he’s got no place making fun of Sulhee’s looks. In the previous episode it felt like the pot calling the kettle homely. But the two pairs of generals having drinks, again how very, very weird these scenes felt. I guess it was good to show the humanity these men had, that they were capable of rising above their national differences…but even so, you just can’t get past what a strange turn this has all taken.
(click for full size)
The next morning, the two kings are walking together and WG looks about as tall as KH! That shocked me; I didn’t think the guy playing KH was smaller than average...was WG possibly wearing lifts? Couldn’t see his shoes well.
Shin Bang: “Our military physician has taken his own life.” Well frankly that isn’t much of a surprise is it?
KH: “Koryo has bowed before me, and Shilla is helpless.” Ahhh, so that was the deal…he’s seeing the whole thing as the nation itself bowing, not just the leader who happens to be a younger person. Will people really see it that way?
Wow apparently people did see it that way. This is fascinating. And WG really did have to acknowledge KH after all. Nothing here about the disease or the treatment for it—I’m guessing that the disease part was probably more true-to-history than the treatment part—but okay now we know that all of this weirdness in our story was justified.
The Shilla visitor to KH: “The Park clan has overthrown the royal Kim clan and has seized the throne for the second time.” I don’t think his statement is entirely accurate; looks like a previous king had been childless and a Park was chosen, not forcibly imposed. I’ll try to dig into this a big more.
So we’re three-fourths of the way through. And at this point WG still isn’t The Man, or anywhere near it. He’s a smart person and has risen to where he is mainly because he has so many top-notch people around him. KH, on the other hand, is people don’t seem as impressive, except for Choi Seong Woo. Says a lot about KH himself, and about Choi, that those two guys could lift their kingdom so high up.
WG: “I have received his help. Credit must be given where credit is due. He is indeed a better man than I am.” Give WG some credit here too, for admitting it. KH could have squashed him like a bug because of the cholera trouble, but he didn’t, and even gave Koryo the medicine for it. Not many leaders would have done that.
Nasty gash on Choi Ung’s forehead from banging his head on the ground in the previous episode…but now I’m wondering if the actor really got some sort of injury and they just put the head-banging in for a cover story.
OK at least Yaesul knows he’s got no place making fun of Sulhee’s looks. In the previous episode it felt like the pot calling the kettle homely. But the two pairs of generals having drinks, again how very, very weird these scenes felt. I guess it was good to show the humanity these men had, that they were capable of rising above their national differences…but even so, you just can’t get past what a strange turn this has all taken.
(click for full size)
The next morning, the two kings are walking together and WG looks about as tall as KH! That shocked me; I didn’t think the guy playing KH was smaller than average...was WG possibly wearing lifts? Couldn’t see his shoes well.
Shin Bang: “Our military physician has taken his own life.” Well frankly that isn’t much of a surprise is it?
KH: “Koryo has bowed before me, and Shilla is helpless.” Ahhh, so that was the deal…he’s seeing the whole thing as the nation itself bowing, not just the leader who happens to be a younger person. Will people really see it that way?
■ This was indeed the beginning of Kyun-hwon’s era. After acquiring Wang Guhn’s submission in Jomul Fort, Kyun-hwon pressed forward and captured Shilla’s outer perimeter from Daeya to Guh-chang. And he was officially recognized by Later Tang as the Emperor of Bekjae with a title “Superior Superintendent and Imperial Guardian Commander in Chief of Military and Civil Affairs.” Eight years earlier, Kyun-hwon had received an official title of “Central Esteemed Father” from Wuyue. Of the three kingdoms, Bekjae was the most actively engaged in diplomatic intercourse at this time. It is fair to say that these were years dominated by Bekjae. Disheartened Wang Guhn was returning to Song-ak about this time.
Wow apparently people did see it that way. This is fascinating. And WG really did have to acknowledge KH after all. Nothing here about the disease or the treatment for it—I’m guessing that the disease part was probably more true-to-history than the treatment part—but okay now we know that all of this weirdness in our story was justified.
The Shilla visitor to KH: “The Park clan has overthrown the royal Kim clan and has seized the throne for the second time.” I don’t think his statement is entirely accurate; looks like a previous king had been childless and a Park was chosen, not forcibly imposed. I’ll try to dig into this a big more.
So we’re three-fourths of the way through. And at this point WG still isn’t The Man, or anywhere near it. He’s a smart person and has risen to where he is mainly because he has so many top-notch people around him. KH, on the other hand, is people don’t seem as impressive, except for Choi Seong Woo. Says a lot about KH himself, and about Choi, that those two guys could lift their kingdom so high up.
