Post by ajk on Jun 10, 2008 15:09:21 GMT -5
...and he lowers the sword. Then he drops it to the ground. Everyone is watching in silence; Yangnyeong breaks the silence. "Are you that afraid to put a little blood on your hands? Your cowardice will cost the lives of hundreds of people." Then he orders soldiers forward to execute the prisoners. But Choongnyeong interrupts. "I'll do it. I'll kill this man," he says, gesturing towards Foreman Jeon. "But not now. We haven't earned the right to punish this man yet. The Royal House of Joseon must first apologize for the brutal pillaging of the Wang in 1394" (the flashback scenes we've seen of the royal descendants being taken out on the ship and then slaughtered). Then Min Muhyul speaks out, accusing the prince of denying the legitimacy of the regime, but Choongnyeong says No, I'm trying to make a fresh start. Many in the crowd cheer at this. We must persuade the king, he tells Yangnyeong, to "approach the rebels with an open heart and listen to them." If they're not contrite after that, he says, then we punish them. But Yangnyeong counters that if they were reasonable men, they wouldn't have taken a prince hostage. And he orders, "Remove the audacious prince who defied the king's command and proceed with the execution!" Guards step forward and start to drag Choongnyeong away. At that moment, rebels appear on the rooftops and start throwing daggers, striking down guards and throwing the situation into turmoil. One of the rebels is dropping leaflets: "The royal house of Goryeo will save the people from the slaughterers!" Guards regroup and start picking off the rebels with arrows. But then a wagon charges into the scene; it's giving off enormous clouds of sulfurous smoke. (It seems like a heck of a lot of smoke for one small wagon, but whatever.) Behind it, rebel troops rush in, and the turmoil instantly turns into utter chaos as the rebels and guards fight.
Yangnyeong wonders, Where is military in all this? We see them in the woods, fronted by the Yis, waiting...
During all of this we see periodic cut-ins of the king and Jo Malseng playing chess, with the king narrating moves that correspond to what's happening outside. The military, we learn, has opened up a retreat path for the rebels and is waiting for them; it's a trap.
The battle continues; Muby is in the middle of it all. Jeon Ilji is also there, trying to rescue his uncle. Foreman Jeon isn't happy about the rescue attempt; in fact, he fears for the men's safety. So he grabs a stray dagger lying on the ground and stabs himself in the chest hara-kiri style. "Seeing you again was enough," he tells Ilji. "Stop this foolishness and get out of here now. I'm going to rest now, but you and the comrades still have a long road ahead." And he dies.
The rebels retreat through the woods...and then stop in their tracks. They're surrounded. Yi orders, "Wipe out the rebels!" But then, other rebels appear from another direction and fire on the military forces. "Attack!", commands Muby. The forces converge and it's chaos all over again. In the middle of it all, Muby and Ilji realize that they have to leave to escort Ok Hwan to safety...which they do.
Choongnyeong is kneeling before the king, outside in a courtyard, with ministers, princes, and officials gathered. "Why didn't you carry out the execution?", demands Taejong. Choongnyeong counters, "Why won't you ask how many citizens died." It was only twenty years ago, he continues that those trying to overthrow Goryeo were rebels themselves. It angers the king that his son is essentially comparing the founders of Joseon to the current rebels. But Choongnyeong has had enough. "I forfeit my royal status as of this moment today. If we can't reflect on our past mistakes and continue to rule with violence, if that is the very fabric of Joseon and won't change, I refuse to continue living as a royal prince." "Very well," the king says. "Your wish will be granted." He tells Gang Sangin, "Take him away." The prince bows to his father, and is escorted away by guards. Everyone present looks around at each other, not quite sure what to make of any of it.
Wearing white prisoner's clothes, Choongnyeong is led into a jail cell and locked up.
The king gives the order to Jo Malseng: "Banish Choongnyeong to the northern states immediately!"
Nighttime: Ok Hwan, Muby and Ilji are in a cave with the remaining rebels. Ok asks Ilji, "Why did you take such a foolish risk? To save your uncle?" (It was alluded to before, but this confirms that Ok did not know about the attack.) "No, sire. I wanted to show the people that we're here [and] that they have us behind them."
Choongnyeong has a visitor. It's his mom the queen. "You shouldn't have provoked the king. This would never have happened if you did as the king and I had asked and stayed out of state affairs." The prince apologizes. His mother tells him, "Go far away. And...don't ever come back. Please be well." She's not being mean; she says this out of concern for him. She leaves. Outside, she tells Escort Han, "Have a few thick quilts ready. Don't forget to have them filled with plenty of cotton. Spring may be around the corner, but the northern states are still cold." She speaks haltingly and can barely get the words out before she starts crying.
Yangnyeong and minister Hwang are talking. The prince brings up Hwang's past; that he tried to save the Goryeo scholars and was prepared to die to save Goryeo. "I'm surprised you weren't more moved by Choongnyeong's words today," he observes, considering that Hwang was "determined to die for Goryeo" at one point. Hwang opens up and explains that he's learned to "never engage in a fight I can't win. I am powerless to defeat him," he says, referring to the king, "and I do not have the ability to silence the theory that violence is a necessary evil for future peace." He continues, "That is why I wagered everything on you." You will be the first Joseonese king, he explains, not to come to power through a usurpation. Be a benevolent king, he tells Yangnyeong, and stop the bloodshed. It's an unusual glimpse inside Hwang's mind.
Back at the cave, Ok asks Ilji about military provisions. Not much is left. Then all of you avoid the enemy and get away from here, Ok says. "This is my last order as your leader." But Muby will have none of it, and gets angry. "You may have been the one to start this revolution, but you are not the only one to end it." Do you think we're only fighting "out of duty to our old masters? Be clear on this. We have not been risking our lives for the Royal House of Goryeo. We've been fighting for a world without tyranny and oppression. We may never achieve that goal, but let us die fighting for that dream." Ok his moved to tears. Later, at a ceremony of sorts, Ok slits his hand and makes a blood vow to fight to the death against the royal house of Joseon. His blood is drained into a bowl and then taken by Auri to what looks like some kind of a shrine somewhere (inside a high-class room; not sure what this was; maybe her home?).
Nighttime outside the eunuchs' quarters: Um Jachi is standing outside alone. Suddenly Ilji is in front of him. He says he wanted to see his old friend one last time. Then he hands him a paper and tells him to give it to Choongnyeong when they reach the north. "His life will be endangered if you give it to him sooner." Then he turns to leave, but stops for a moment and says "Hyun. Wang Hyun. That's my real name." (Um had asked him about this in the previous episode.) "Thanks for everything." And he scales the wall and leaves. From around a corner, the girl Yi Sun has been watching....
The next morning: Choongnyeong is headed off, and prince Kyoungnyeong is there. Feeling visibly awkward, Kyoungnyeong tries to express something to his half-brother: You were all study and no ambition, he says, and "for that reason I never really liked you." But then he says, "Can I come and visit you?"; if we have a drink sometime, I think I can finally open up to you and share some things. Choongnyeong smiles at him and walks forward.
The king is on the floor, painting in ink on paper. Noh Huibong enters and informs him that Choongnyeong has just left the city. "You may leave," is his only response.
We see the queen. She's hurting inside, we can tell.
Citizens line the street as Choongnyeong leaves the city. He's walking; no more palanquin for him. Yi Sun starts yelling, trying to get his attention to tell him that his life is in danger, but she can't get through the crowd. Then he sees his wife and their baby. They share a long look...and then he turns and walks on, as tears stream from her face.
"What is that? Isn't that a royal gown? Is that supposed to be the king?" An effigy of a hanging king has been erected in the city, and citizens are examining it. With it is an announcement: "On the eleventh day of March, Yi Bangwon will be executed by the revolutionary army of Goryeo!"
Ministers are arguing about the effort to stop the rebels and its lack of success. Hwang tells them to knock it off and start planning and thinking. What if the announcement is a diversion, they wonder. The eleventh is one day before the hunting ceremony. So maybe the palace isn't the target; maybe they're going to try to sabotage the ceremony. It's a lot easier to get access to the stadium than the palace, and rebels have been known to target foreign dignitaries. Yi Sookbun is ordered to double security at the palace, the ceremony, the envoys' quarters ad search harder for the rebels. That's a lot of work, Yi grouses.
After the ministers' meeting, the crown prince is again talking with Hwang. "Disperse the troops," Yangnyeong ponders. Isn't that what the rebels want? Wouldn't that make it easier to slip into the palace?" His last few words seem to start resonating in Hwang's mind; "slip into the palace?"...Flashback to Ep1; the murder of Kim Byun, and the speculation that it had to be done from inside the palace...Flashback to Ep21; Hwang finding the paper left on his chair with the message, "Can you protect the king in the making?"...Flashbacks ending, Hwang can't seem to snap out of it for a bit (flashbacks will do that to you) but then he says, "Could there be a secret entrance to the palace that we don't know about?"
Hwang and the prince go to the records office; Hwang asks Byun Gaeryang for plans and records on the palace's construction. Studying them, he discovers missing details and irregularities in the construction accounting. He's told (and so are we) that the palace construction was overseen by Gim Sahaeng, who was king Taejo's most trusted eunuch. Gim, we find out, was killed during the First Princes’ Rebellion as he tried to protect prince Bangseok. Then we see a brief historical flashback of the prince and eunuch trying to flee the palace. They turn a corner and run into Yi Bangwon (the future king Taejong) and his men. Bangwon draws his sword and kills the eunuch!
Nighttime (subsequent scenes suggest that it's the late hours of March 10th): Ok Hwan is with his men on a high ground overlooking the palace at a distance. "I didn't want to enter the palace through the entrance Gim Sahaeng told me about," he says with regret. I always believed that I'd enter triumphantly someday.
Hwang reports to the king that the princes and concubines have been evacuated from the palace, but the queen has insisted on staying. "My lack of virtue is making your job very difficult," the king tells Hwang. "I am at fault." But Hwang tries to be reassuring. "All of this will be over soon," he tells the king, "so don't be overly concerned."
Still that evening: Yi Sun is banging on the gates to Choongnyeong's home, trying to get in to see princess Shim. Her attendant Uimyoung tells her that the princess has gone to the temple to pray. Just then, the princess returns.
Inside, they talk. Sun has told the princess of what she saw between Jachi and Ilji. "You must be mistaken. Eunuch Um Jachi would never do anything to harm the prince." And she says that she doesn't want to do anything that could cause Jachi to get hurt just for being seen with a rebel, because he's Choongnyeong's most faithful servant and Choongnyeong needs him now. But Sun begs the princess to at least have someone sent to check on the prince's safety. Because if anything happens to him, "I have no way of returning the great kindness he paid me."
Choongnyeong is in the countryside, headed north. Gang Sangin and a platoon of guards have accompanied him at least to this point. The prince asks Gang if he shouldn't be guarding the king instead of being here; Gang responds that it's the king's order. Just then a messenger arrives and hands Gang a paper. He reads it....
Jachi and Ogeun are cooking food; suddenly Gang grabs Jachi by the collar and stands him up. "When did you meet with rebel Jeon Ilji?" he angrily demands. Choongnyeong walks up to them inquiringly. Then we begin to hear Ilji's voice, reading the contents of the paper he gave Jachi: "By the time you read this letter, I am likely to be dead and gone. If I'm lucky, I will have taken your father Yi Bangwon with me." As he reads, we see scenes of rebels attacking the palace in waves. Soldiers are cutting them down with arrows, but they keep coming and they bring flaming wagons filled with some sort of accelerant; they explode and flames fly everywhere. Eventually rebels begin to reach the walls of the palace compound and scale them. As they fight with guards inside the walls...
We see other rebels approach a secluded spot some distance from the complex. Brushing away a thick covering of straw, they uncover the door to an underground tunnel. They flood into the tunnel. It leads directly underneath the palace! Inside, the king is waiting with Jo and Noh, silently...while underground, rebels move quickly through the tunnel.
Choongnyeong and Gang Sangin, on horseback, have been galloping frantically back to the palace. As we see the rebels reach the part of the tunnel that's directly underneath the throne room, Choongnyeong and Sangin rush up into the palace grounds. Gang screams, "Open the gate!"
Yangnyeong wonders, Where is military in all this? We see them in the woods, fronted by the Yis, waiting...
During all of this we see periodic cut-ins of the king and Jo Malseng playing chess, with the king narrating moves that correspond to what's happening outside. The military, we learn, has opened up a retreat path for the rebels and is waiting for them; it's a trap.
The battle continues; Muby is in the middle of it all. Jeon Ilji is also there, trying to rescue his uncle. Foreman Jeon isn't happy about the rescue attempt; in fact, he fears for the men's safety. So he grabs a stray dagger lying on the ground and stabs himself in the chest hara-kiri style. "Seeing you again was enough," he tells Ilji. "Stop this foolishness and get out of here now. I'm going to rest now, but you and the comrades still have a long road ahead." And he dies.
The rebels retreat through the woods...and then stop in their tracks. They're surrounded. Yi orders, "Wipe out the rebels!" But then, other rebels appear from another direction and fire on the military forces. "Attack!", commands Muby. The forces converge and it's chaos all over again. In the middle of it all, Muby and Ilji realize that they have to leave to escort Ok Hwan to safety...which they do.
Choongnyeong is kneeling before the king, outside in a courtyard, with ministers, princes, and officials gathered. "Why didn't you carry out the execution?", demands Taejong. Choongnyeong counters, "Why won't you ask how many citizens died." It was only twenty years ago, he continues that those trying to overthrow Goryeo were rebels themselves. It angers the king that his son is essentially comparing the founders of Joseon to the current rebels. But Choongnyeong has had enough. "I forfeit my royal status as of this moment today. If we can't reflect on our past mistakes and continue to rule with violence, if that is the very fabric of Joseon and won't change, I refuse to continue living as a royal prince." "Very well," the king says. "Your wish will be granted." He tells Gang Sangin, "Take him away." The prince bows to his father, and is escorted away by guards. Everyone present looks around at each other, not quite sure what to make of any of it.
Wearing white prisoner's clothes, Choongnyeong is led into a jail cell and locked up.
The king gives the order to Jo Malseng: "Banish Choongnyeong to the northern states immediately!"
Nighttime: Ok Hwan, Muby and Ilji are in a cave with the remaining rebels. Ok asks Ilji, "Why did you take such a foolish risk? To save your uncle?" (It was alluded to before, but this confirms that Ok did not know about the attack.) "No, sire. I wanted to show the people that we're here [and] that they have us behind them."
Choongnyeong has a visitor. It's his mom the queen. "You shouldn't have provoked the king. This would never have happened if you did as the king and I had asked and stayed out of state affairs." The prince apologizes. His mother tells him, "Go far away. And...don't ever come back. Please be well." She's not being mean; she says this out of concern for him. She leaves. Outside, she tells Escort Han, "Have a few thick quilts ready. Don't forget to have them filled with plenty of cotton. Spring may be around the corner, but the northern states are still cold." She speaks haltingly and can barely get the words out before she starts crying.
Yangnyeong and minister Hwang are talking. The prince brings up Hwang's past; that he tried to save the Goryeo scholars and was prepared to die to save Goryeo. "I'm surprised you weren't more moved by Choongnyeong's words today," he observes, considering that Hwang was "determined to die for Goryeo" at one point. Hwang opens up and explains that he's learned to "never engage in a fight I can't win. I am powerless to defeat him," he says, referring to the king, "and I do not have the ability to silence the theory that violence is a necessary evil for future peace." He continues, "That is why I wagered everything on you." You will be the first Joseonese king, he explains, not to come to power through a usurpation. Be a benevolent king, he tells Yangnyeong, and stop the bloodshed. It's an unusual glimpse inside Hwang's mind.
Back at the cave, Ok asks Ilji about military provisions. Not much is left. Then all of you avoid the enemy and get away from here, Ok says. "This is my last order as your leader." But Muby will have none of it, and gets angry. "You may have been the one to start this revolution, but you are not the only one to end it." Do you think we're only fighting "out of duty to our old masters? Be clear on this. We have not been risking our lives for the Royal House of Goryeo. We've been fighting for a world without tyranny and oppression. We may never achieve that goal, but let us die fighting for that dream." Ok his moved to tears. Later, at a ceremony of sorts, Ok slits his hand and makes a blood vow to fight to the death against the royal house of Joseon. His blood is drained into a bowl and then taken by Auri to what looks like some kind of a shrine somewhere (inside a high-class room; not sure what this was; maybe her home?).
Nighttime outside the eunuchs' quarters: Um Jachi is standing outside alone. Suddenly Ilji is in front of him. He says he wanted to see his old friend one last time. Then he hands him a paper and tells him to give it to Choongnyeong when they reach the north. "His life will be endangered if you give it to him sooner." Then he turns to leave, but stops for a moment and says "Hyun. Wang Hyun. That's my real name." (Um had asked him about this in the previous episode.) "Thanks for everything." And he scales the wall and leaves. From around a corner, the girl Yi Sun has been watching....
The next morning: Choongnyeong is headed off, and prince Kyoungnyeong is there. Feeling visibly awkward, Kyoungnyeong tries to express something to his half-brother: You were all study and no ambition, he says, and "for that reason I never really liked you." But then he says, "Can I come and visit you?"; if we have a drink sometime, I think I can finally open up to you and share some things. Choongnyeong smiles at him and walks forward.
The king is on the floor, painting in ink on paper. Noh Huibong enters and informs him that Choongnyeong has just left the city. "You may leave," is his only response.
We see the queen. She's hurting inside, we can tell.
Citizens line the street as Choongnyeong leaves the city. He's walking; no more palanquin for him. Yi Sun starts yelling, trying to get his attention to tell him that his life is in danger, but she can't get through the crowd. Then he sees his wife and their baby. They share a long look...and then he turns and walks on, as tears stream from her face.
"What is that? Isn't that a royal gown? Is that supposed to be the king?" An effigy of a hanging king has been erected in the city, and citizens are examining it. With it is an announcement: "On the eleventh day of March, Yi Bangwon will be executed by the revolutionary army of Goryeo!"
Ministers are arguing about the effort to stop the rebels and its lack of success. Hwang tells them to knock it off and start planning and thinking. What if the announcement is a diversion, they wonder. The eleventh is one day before the hunting ceremony. So maybe the palace isn't the target; maybe they're going to try to sabotage the ceremony. It's a lot easier to get access to the stadium than the palace, and rebels have been known to target foreign dignitaries. Yi Sookbun is ordered to double security at the palace, the ceremony, the envoys' quarters ad search harder for the rebels. That's a lot of work, Yi grouses.
After the ministers' meeting, the crown prince is again talking with Hwang. "Disperse the troops," Yangnyeong ponders. Isn't that what the rebels want? Wouldn't that make it easier to slip into the palace?" His last few words seem to start resonating in Hwang's mind; "slip into the palace?"...Flashback to Ep1; the murder of Kim Byun, and the speculation that it had to be done from inside the palace...Flashback to Ep21; Hwang finding the paper left on his chair with the message, "Can you protect the king in the making?"...Flashbacks ending, Hwang can't seem to snap out of it for a bit (flashbacks will do that to you) but then he says, "Could there be a secret entrance to the palace that we don't know about?"
Hwang and the prince go to the records office; Hwang asks Byun Gaeryang for plans and records on the palace's construction. Studying them, he discovers missing details and irregularities in the construction accounting. He's told (and so are we) that the palace construction was overseen by Gim Sahaeng, who was king Taejo's most trusted eunuch. Gim, we find out, was killed during the First Princes’ Rebellion as he tried to protect prince Bangseok. Then we see a brief historical flashback of the prince and eunuch trying to flee the palace. They turn a corner and run into Yi Bangwon (the future king Taejong) and his men. Bangwon draws his sword and kills the eunuch!
Nighttime (subsequent scenes suggest that it's the late hours of March 10th): Ok Hwan is with his men on a high ground overlooking the palace at a distance. "I didn't want to enter the palace through the entrance Gim Sahaeng told me about," he says with regret. I always believed that I'd enter triumphantly someday.
Hwang reports to the king that the princes and concubines have been evacuated from the palace, but the queen has insisted on staying. "My lack of virtue is making your job very difficult," the king tells Hwang. "I am at fault." But Hwang tries to be reassuring. "All of this will be over soon," he tells the king, "so don't be overly concerned."
Still that evening: Yi Sun is banging on the gates to Choongnyeong's home, trying to get in to see princess Shim. Her attendant Uimyoung tells her that the princess has gone to the temple to pray. Just then, the princess returns.
Inside, they talk. Sun has told the princess of what she saw between Jachi and Ilji. "You must be mistaken. Eunuch Um Jachi would never do anything to harm the prince." And she says that she doesn't want to do anything that could cause Jachi to get hurt just for being seen with a rebel, because he's Choongnyeong's most faithful servant and Choongnyeong needs him now. But Sun begs the princess to at least have someone sent to check on the prince's safety. Because if anything happens to him, "I have no way of returning the great kindness he paid me."
Choongnyeong is in the countryside, headed north. Gang Sangin and a platoon of guards have accompanied him at least to this point. The prince asks Gang if he shouldn't be guarding the king instead of being here; Gang responds that it's the king's order. Just then a messenger arrives and hands Gang a paper. He reads it....
Jachi and Ogeun are cooking food; suddenly Gang grabs Jachi by the collar and stands him up. "When did you meet with rebel Jeon Ilji?" he angrily demands. Choongnyeong walks up to them inquiringly. Then we begin to hear Ilji's voice, reading the contents of the paper he gave Jachi: "By the time you read this letter, I am likely to be dead and gone. If I'm lucky, I will have taken your father Yi Bangwon with me." As he reads, we see scenes of rebels attacking the palace in waves. Soldiers are cutting them down with arrows, but they keep coming and they bring flaming wagons filled with some sort of accelerant; they explode and flames fly everywhere. Eventually rebels begin to reach the walls of the palace compound and scale them. As they fight with guards inside the walls...
We see other rebels approach a secluded spot some distance from the complex. Brushing away a thick covering of straw, they uncover the door to an underground tunnel. They flood into the tunnel. It leads directly underneath the palace! Inside, the king is waiting with Jo and Noh, silently...while underground, rebels move quickly through the tunnel.
Choongnyeong and Gang Sangin, on horseback, have been galloping frantically back to the palace. As we see the rebels reach the part of the tunnel that's directly underneath the throne room, Choongnyeong and Sangin rush up into the palace grounds. Gang screams, "Open the gate!"