Post by ajk on Mar 12, 2009 16:43:03 GMT -5
(Note: This episode ran ten minutes or so longer than the usual one hour.)
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A flyover view of a cavalry company, galloping purposefully through the rolling countryside.
Elsewhere, war drums are being sounded. A large army is slowly moving into position.
Narration provides a backstory as brief vignettes are shown:
In King Sungjong's court: Deputy Director of Foreign Affairs Yi Mongjeon, sent by the king to negotiate a truce, has returned. The court is arguing bitterly about what to do. Mainly it's the military and civil officials trying to blame each other for the present predicament. We learn that the Khitans claim to have an enormous army and demand either the king's surrender or the secession of the old Goguryeo territory held by Goryeo. The king sits and listens with a mixture of irritation and resignation.
Nighttime. A black-clad squad of what appear to be commandos is preparing for a raid. We don't know who they are. They step onto two rafts and are punted with poles (gondola style) across a body of water...toward a Khitan camp. We see the camp; it has wooden docks at the water's edge. The commandos jump off the rafts and swim, mostly underwater, up to and under the docks. Then other commandos sneak onto land and enter the camp unseen. (The number of commandos seems to be multiplying without explanation.) Those under the docks jump up and quickly ambush and kill Khitan guards, dumping their bodies into the water. All of the commandos now have jugs of accelerant (?!), which they splatter everywhere. Those dockside are nearly spotted by other Khitans, barely avoiding discovery by diving back under the docks. Then it all breaks loose, with the Khitans and camp-side commandos battling each other. Those at the docks then fire flaming arrows, lighting the accelerant, setting the entire camp ablaze, and the whole group makes their escape as the Khitans rush around putting the fires out.
The next day: More arguing in the king's court. Sungjong shushes them and announces his decision: give up the Goguryeo land. He orders all surplus grains in the territory given away or destroyed, and all of the fields and cities in the territory destroyed lest they become productive Khitan assets for a further advance southward.
The order is carried out; we see civilians evacuating the territory.
By the Daedong River: A military unit is dumping surplus hay into the river. The commandos from the previous night, now on horseback, come upon the scene. They're led by Dowager Queen Hunae (the future empress) and Gang Jo. The queen learns of the king's order and is furious.
Back at the capital, she barges in on him and bitches at him royally (ba-dum bum) about his decision, accusing him of cowardice. She's so obnoxious and disrespectful, even calling him a "Khitan sycophant," that he has her hauled off and thrown in jail. As she's taken away she manages to fall to her knees and beg him to rescind his order, although she’s shrieking so wildly, it can hardly be called begging.
Outside of the capital, Gang Jo and the other members of the commando squad/citizen army learn of the queen's imprisonment. Gang and Kim Chiyang argue heatedly because Gang wants to go into the capital and try to free her, even if it means a treasonous fight against the king's army. Swords are drawn; then Gang's sister Cheon Hyangbi intervenes and calms Gang down, informing him that Seo Hui has gone to speak to the king on the queen's behalf.
Seo Hui enters the jail; the queen is released. The king has withdrawn the grain-disposal order and is sending another emissary to the Khitans to ask them to leave Goryeo alone (fat chance). If that fails, Seo tells her, then we'll have to strike the Khitans first, even if it means defying the king. The queen loves that idea and intends to participate. Seo tries to get her to stay out of it, but she wants in and resists him.
Nighttime: A strange exchange between Kim Chiyang and a young woman in the army. The citizen army will head for Anyoongjin Fort tomorrow but he tells her "Do not rally the troops no matter what happens to me. We have our own path to follow. Do you understand?"
At the Khitan camp: Xiao Sunning is told that battle preparations are complete; that the Khitan commando unit has been deployed as a diversion; that the Goryeans are unaware of the real Khitan plans; and that less than 1000 Goryeans are defending Anyoongjin Fort--the real Khitan target. A quick victory is crucial, he tells his subordinates, because the fort is the key to capturing the entire Northern Protectorate territory.
The next day, at Anyoongjin Fort: The citizen army shows up, led by the queen and Gang Jo, and demands entry. Yi Hyunoon, the fort commander, shows little regard for them and rather than admitting them, sends them to assist the riverfront defense line. As they leave, a subordinate officer named Yu Bang tells Hyunoon that they look awfully familiar but he just can't quite place them. Turns out, he was the officer supervising the grain-dumping at the Daedong River earlier. (And he didn't even recognize his own queen after that? Good grief, how does this guy find his way out of bed in the morning.)
At the riverbank: A defense line is being prepared under the supervision of Colonel Dae Dosu, whose father was the last crown prince of Parhae (Balhae). We learn that the fort commander got his job through nepotism and isn't qualified for it. Dae is far more qualified but has no power, since his country is dead.
Jurchen territory: The young woman from the citizen army, she of the strange exchange with Kim Chiyang, arrives on horseback. She's identified as Sa Illa, and we learn that she and Kim are Jurchen and that Kim is her master. She came out of concern for him, because she's learned that an army of 20,000 Khitans is headed southward and he's with the Goryean citizen army right in their path. She goes to her brother Sa Gamun, a Jurchen military leader, and begs him to send reinforcements to save Kim. But Kim had specifically ordered that no such action be taken. Then an older leader suggests an alternative: alerting the Goryeans (who apparently are still unaware of the army movement).
At the Daedong riverfront: Here come the Khitans. The riverfront defenders take up battle formations, alert the fort commander, and plan a delaying action to allow the fort to prepare. As the first Khitan cavalry units attack, the citizen army suddenly rides out and engages them. But they quickly retreat as the main Khitan army begins its advance under a hail of covering fire.
Back at the fort, commander Yi panics and loses his nerve; clearly he's going to be useless. The retreating Goryeans scramble into the fort. The Khitans arrive on their heels, but then stop in front of the fort. One of their officers, on horseback, moves to the front of the army and while holding a white flag of truce, shouts to Yi that they'll spare the Goryeans' lives if he surrenders the fort quietly. As the queen, the other leaders of the citizen army, and Colonel Dae scramble up to the fort's balcony, Yi orders the fort surrendered. He has no nerve to fight. Then the queen steps forward and decks him. Pow! She identifies herself to the fort's soldiers, who kneel before her as Yi fumes. Then the queen picks up her bow, fires an arrow and kills the Khitan officer holding the white flag. (Pardon the editorial comment, but that was a truly gutless and disgraceful act. Absolutely inexcusable. This is the hero of the series, and she's without honor? It didn't occur to anybody involved with the series that depicting this wasn't a good idea? Yikes.) Then she points an arrow right at Yi's face and offers him the choice of fighting or dying right then and there. He chooses to fight; what else can he do. Meanwhile, the Khitans have seen enough and fire up the war machine. They've got catapults ready and they load them up with flaming projectiles and heavy stones.
Sa Illa has come to inform Park Yangyu of the Khitan army movement and to beg him to send reinforcements, because the queen is in Anyoongjin fort. (We're supposed to overlook that she went from the Northern Protectorate all the way up to Jurchen territory and then all the way down to the Goryeo capital in impossibly short times.) But Park is certain that the queen is not there, accuses her of being a Khitan spy and orders her removed and executed. She's dragged outside, whereupon she manages to shake herself free, wrestle a sword away from a soldier and then take on an entire squad of armed Goryeo troops. (I can only wonder how the Korean viewership reacted to seeing one petite Jurchen girl making fools of a whole bunch of Goryeans.) Finally an officer subdues her and prepares to deliver a death blow, when suddenly someone new arrives on the scene: Gang Gamchan, Vice Minister of the Office of Royal Decree. He recognizes the girl as a subordinate of "Foreman Kim" (she addresses him as "my lord" so they must be from the same locality), which gets her off the hook, and he identifies himself to Park, who asks him why he's come.
The catapults fire away and the attack begins.
Gang Gamchan confirms Sa Illa's information and urges Park to send reinforcements. But Park doesn't believe him, either, mainly because he has information that the enemy is in Yunju, which is clear in the opposite direction. Of course, this is the Khitan commando unit that was sent out as a diversion. Gang has just come from Yunju and explains this to Park--that the real Khitan purpose is to strike the Northern Protectorate. But Park dismisses it as speculation. Finally a desperate Gang grabs a sword from a soldier...and then offers it to Park and kneels. "Sir, take my life if you do not believe me. If you don't find Anyoongjin under enemy attack, I will offer my head to you again."
A novel Khitan strategy: Wooden projectiles to which thick ropes are attached are fired into the fort, where they lodge themselves in the wooden barriers that stand above and behind the fort walls. The ropes are looped through the back of the projectiles, and Khitan soldiers grab the ropes and ride cable-car style up into the air and onto the fort walls (even though some get picked off like clay pigeons). The Goryeans can't manage to cut the ropes quickly enough (Seriously? Oh well, it's a neat sequence so I guess we can let that slide) and soon fighting breaks out on the walls. Then ladders are brought forward, and at the same time the Khitans get the gate open, and all hell breaks loose. The Goryeans are managing to hold their own, if only because the Khitans can only get so many soldiers into the fort at one time. And then: reinforcements! Goryean reinforcements led by Gang Gamchan. Not clear how many, but enough to put the Khitans to flight. Gang finds the queen and credits Sa Illa with alerting him to bring the reinforcements. A weird moment: Sa looks over at her master Kim, who nods, and only then she kneels before the queen. (Something is definitely up with those two.) Then Gang turns the reinforcements over to Colonel Dae and orders him to pursue and wipe out the retreating Khitans.
So everybody goes chasing after the Khitans on horseback, including the queen and citizen army. Then, suddenly, we see the queen riding by herself chasing several Khitans, firing arrows with arguably implausible precision and methodically killing them (even two at once (?!)). She's not completely alone; Kim Chiyang is chasing after her and trying to call her back, lest she stray too far away from her army's protection.
Back at the mopping-up, Colonel Dae confronts Gang Jo. I've been watching you--your spearsmanship--"How are you related to General Gang Ho of Parhae?" Whatever this is about, it's broken up as they discover that the queen is missing.
The queen and Kim Chiyang are deep in the woods. Too deep. Suddenly they find themselves surrounded. Men drop from the trees--dozens of them. And they're Khitans. Yelu Wuji, the officer seen earlier in the Khitan camp, is leading them. He is one nasty-looking dude--an eyepatch, a crossbow, and a comically evil laugh. They try to flee but Kim's horse is hit with an arrow and throws him violently to the ground. Kim urges the queen to flee, but then the queen gets a look at Yelu and we see a sudden flashback: Obviously the same guy, but at a younger age, brandishing one of those spiked-metal-ball-on-a-chain weapons over a fallen young woman--a younger Hunae. He winds up and prepares to strike...Flashback quickly ends. "Yes, it's him," the queen says, and rather than fleeing she loads up an arrow and draws her bow at him, as he aims his crossbow right back at her....
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A flyover view of a cavalry company, galloping purposefully through the rolling countryside.
Elsewhere, war drums are being sounded. A large army is slowly moving into position.
Narration provides a backstory as brief vignettes are shown:
Year 3326 of the Tangun Era [corresponding to 993 A.D.]: Khitan sent an invasion force across the Yalu [River] into Goryeo under General Xiao Sunning, the viceroy of the Liao Eastern Capital. Khitan had destroyed Parhae [Balhae] several decades earlier and was now positioned against Song China. Goryeo kept friendly relations with Song and regarded the Khitans with hostility. With a war with Song on the future agenda, eliminating a rear threat was the Khitan objective of this invasion. When King Sungjong learned of this invasion, he sent his chief minister Park Yangyu, vice minister of supreme council Seo Hui, and junior first-grade chancellor Choe Ryang to the front. And to give confidence to his soldiers and his people, the king himself rode out to the Northern Protectorate. Advance troops led by Imperial Attendant Yun Seoan came face to face with the Khitans at Bongsangun, southeast of Guigu.Yun Seoan's troops are the cavalry company we saw; they encounter the large Khitan army led by Xiao Sunning. The drums beat ominously as the Goryeans become trapped. Xiao surveys the situation, and then signals. The Khitans take battle positions...but don't attack. Instead, a group of large wooden boxes is rolled forward. Huh? Then the boxes are opened. Bears! Full-size brown bears emerge and charge towards the Goryeans as the Khitans cheer. Yun urges calm, but men and horses alike are terrified. Then a volley of Khitan arrows over the advancing bears, to pin the Goryeans down. The bears reach the enemy line and start mauling, with the Khitans cheering wildly. Eventually the bears are killed, but not until after causing plenty of mayhem. And then the Khitan cavalry charges forward. Yun orders an attack, and the battle is on. Spears and arrows fly in every direction, but it's over in the blink of an eye. The Goryeans are squashed and Yun taken prisoner.
In King Sungjong's court: Deputy Director of Foreign Affairs Yi Mongjeon, sent by the king to negotiate a truce, has returned. The court is arguing bitterly about what to do. Mainly it's the military and civil officials trying to blame each other for the present predicament. We learn that the Khitans claim to have an enormous army and demand either the king's surrender or the secession of the old Goguryeo territory held by Goryeo. The king sits and listens with a mixture of irritation and resignation.
Nighttime. A black-clad squad of what appear to be commandos is preparing for a raid. We don't know who they are. They step onto two rafts and are punted with poles (gondola style) across a body of water...toward a Khitan camp. We see the camp; it has wooden docks at the water's edge. The commandos jump off the rafts and swim, mostly underwater, up to and under the docks. Then other commandos sneak onto land and enter the camp unseen. (The number of commandos seems to be multiplying without explanation.) Those under the docks jump up and quickly ambush and kill Khitan guards, dumping their bodies into the water. All of the commandos now have jugs of accelerant (?!), which they splatter everywhere. Those dockside are nearly spotted by other Khitans, barely avoiding discovery by diving back under the docks. Then it all breaks loose, with the Khitans and camp-side commandos battling each other. Those at the docks then fire flaming arrows, lighting the accelerant, setting the entire camp ablaze, and the whole group makes their escape as the Khitans rush around putting the fires out.
The next day: More arguing in the king's court. Sungjong shushes them and announces his decision: give up the Goguryeo land. He orders all surplus grains in the territory given away or destroyed, and all of the fields and cities in the territory destroyed lest they become productive Khitan assets for a further advance southward.
The order is carried out; we see civilians evacuating the territory.
By the Daedong River: A military unit is dumping surplus hay into the river. The commandos from the previous night, now on horseback, come upon the scene. They're led by Dowager Queen Hunae (the future empress) and Gang Jo. The queen learns of the king's order and is furious.
Back at the capital, she barges in on him and bitches at him royally (ba-dum bum) about his decision, accusing him of cowardice. She's so obnoxious and disrespectful, even calling him a "Khitan sycophant," that he has her hauled off and thrown in jail. As she's taken away she manages to fall to her knees and beg him to rescind his order, although she’s shrieking so wildly, it can hardly be called begging.
Outside of the capital, Gang Jo and the other members of the commando squad/citizen army learn of the queen's imprisonment. Gang and Kim Chiyang argue heatedly because Gang wants to go into the capital and try to free her, even if it means a treasonous fight against the king's army. Swords are drawn; then Gang's sister Cheon Hyangbi intervenes and calms Gang down, informing him that Seo Hui has gone to speak to the king on the queen's behalf.
Seo Hui enters the jail; the queen is released. The king has withdrawn the grain-disposal order and is sending another emissary to the Khitans to ask them to leave Goryeo alone (fat chance). If that fails, Seo tells her, then we'll have to strike the Khitans first, even if it means defying the king. The queen loves that idea and intends to participate. Seo tries to get her to stay out of it, but she wants in and resists him.
Nighttime: A strange exchange between Kim Chiyang and a young woman in the army. The citizen army will head for Anyoongjin Fort tomorrow but he tells her "Do not rally the troops no matter what happens to me. We have our own path to follow. Do you understand?"
At the Khitan camp: Xiao Sunning is told that battle preparations are complete; that the Khitan commando unit has been deployed as a diversion; that the Goryeans are unaware of the real Khitan plans; and that less than 1000 Goryeans are defending Anyoongjin Fort--the real Khitan target. A quick victory is crucial, he tells his subordinates, because the fort is the key to capturing the entire Northern Protectorate territory.
The next day, at Anyoongjin Fort: The citizen army shows up, led by the queen and Gang Jo, and demands entry. Yi Hyunoon, the fort commander, shows little regard for them and rather than admitting them, sends them to assist the riverfront defense line. As they leave, a subordinate officer named Yu Bang tells Hyunoon that they look awfully familiar but he just can't quite place them. Turns out, he was the officer supervising the grain-dumping at the Daedong River earlier. (And he didn't even recognize his own queen after that? Good grief, how does this guy find his way out of bed in the morning.)
At the riverbank: A defense line is being prepared under the supervision of Colonel Dae Dosu, whose father was the last crown prince of Parhae (Balhae). We learn that the fort commander got his job through nepotism and isn't qualified for it. Dae is far more qualified but has no power, since his country is dead.
Jurchen territory: The young woman from the citizen army, she of the strange exchange with Kim Chiyang, arrives on horseback. She's identified as Sa Illa, and we learn that she and Kim are Jurchen and that Kim is her master. She came out of concern for him, because she's learned that an army of 20,000 Khitans is headed southward and he's with the Goryean citizen army right in their path. She goes to her brother Sa Gamun, a Jurchen military leader, and begs him to send reinforcements to save Kim. But Kim had specifically ordered that no such action be taken. Then an older leader suggests an alternative: alerting the Goryeans (who apparently are still unaware of the army movement).
At the Daedong riverfront: Here come the Khitans. The riverfront defenders take up battle formations, alert the fort commander, and plan a delaying action to allow the fort to prepare. As the first Khitan cavalry units attack, the citizen army suddenly rides out and engages them. But they quickly retreat as the main Khitan army begins its advance under a hail of covering fire.
Back at the fort, commander Yi panics and loses his nerve; clearly he's going to be useless. The retreating Goryeans scramble into the fort. The Khitans arrive on their heels, but then stop in front of the fort. One of their officers, on horseback, moves to the front of the army and while holding a white flag of truce, shouts to Yi that they'll spare the Goryeans' lives if he surrenders the fort quietly. As the queen, the other leaders of the citizen army, and Colonel Dae scramble up to the fort's balcony, Yi orders the fort surrendered. He has no nerve to fight. Then the queen steps forward and decks him. Pow! She identifies herself to the fort's soldiers, who kneel before her as Yi fumes. Then the queen picks up her bow, fires an arrow and kills the Khitan officer holding the white flag. (Pardon the editorial comment, but that was a truly gutless and disgraceful act. Absolutely inexcusable. This is the hero of the series, and she's without honor? It didn't occur to anybody involved with the series that depicting this wasn't a good idea? Yikes.) Then she points an arrow right at Yi's face and offers him the choice of fighting or dying right then and there. He chooses to fight; what else can he do. Meanwhile, the Khitans have seen enough and fire up the war machine. They've got catapults ready and they load them up with flaming projectiles and heavy stones.
Sa Illa has come to inform Park Yangyu of the Khitan army movement and to beg him to send reinforcements, because the queen is in Anyoongjin fort. (We're supposed to overlook that she went from the Northern Protectorate all the way up to Jurchen territory and then all the way down to the Goryeo capital in impossibly short times.) But Park is certain that the queen is not there, accuses her of being a Khitan spy and orders her removed and executed. She's dragged outside, whereupon she manages to shake herself free, wrestle a sword away from a soldier and then take on an entire squad of armed Goryeo troops. (I can only wonder how the Korean viewership reacted to seeing one petite Jurchen girl making fools of a whole bunch of Goryeans.) Finally an officer subdues her and prepares to deliver a death blow, when suddenly someone new arrives on the scene: Gang Gamchan, Vice Minister of the Office of Royal Decree. He recognizes the girl as a subordinate of "Foreman Kim" (she addresses him as "my lord" so they must be from the same locality), which gets her off the hook, and he identifies himself to Park, who asks him why he's come.
The catapults fire away and the attack begins.
Gang Gamchan confirms Sa Illa's information and urges Park to send reinforcements. But Park doesn't believe him, either, mainly because he has information that the enemy is in Yunju, which is clear in the opposite direction. Of course, this is the Khitan commando unit that was sent out as a diversion. Gang has just come from Yunju and explains this to Park--that the real Khitan purpose is to strike the Northern Protectorate. But Park dismisses it as speculation. Finally a desperate Gang grabs a sword from a soldier...and then offers it to Park and kneels. "Sir, take my life if you do not believe me. If you don't find Anyoongjin under enemy attack, I will offer my head to you again."
A novel Khitan strategy: Wooden projectiles to which thick ropes are attached are fired into the fort, where they lodge themselves in the wooden barriers that stand above and behind the fort walls. The ropes are looped through the back of the projectiles, and Khitan soldiers grab the ropes and ride cable-car style up into the air and onto the fort walls (even though some get picked off like clay pigeons). The Goryeans can't manage to cut the ropes quickly enough (Seriously? Oh well, it's a neat sequence so I guess we can let that slide) and soon fighting breaks out on the walls. Then ladders are brought forward, and at the same time the Khitans get the gate open, and all hell breaks loose. The Goryeans are managing to hold their own, if only because the Khitans can only get so many soldiers into the fort at one time. And then: reinforcements! Goryean reinforcements led by Gang Gamchan. Not clear how many, but enough to put the Khitans to flight. Gang finds the queen and credits Sa Illa with alerting him to bring the reinforcements. A weird moment: Sa looks over at her master Kim, who nods, and only then she kneels before the queen. (Something is definitely up with those two.) Then Gang turns the reinforcements over to Colonel Dae and orders him to pursue and wipe out the retreating Khitans.
So everybody goes chasing after the Khitans on horseback, including the queen and citizen army. Then, suddenly, we see the queen riding by herself chasing several Khitans, firing arrows with arguably implausible precision and methodically killing them (even two at once (?!)). She's not completely alone; Kim Chiyang is chasing after her and trying to call her back, lest she stray too far away from her army's protection.
Back at the mopping-up, Colonel Dae confronts Gang Jo. I've been watching you--your spearsmanship--"How are you related to General Gang Ho of Parhae?" Whatever this is about, it's broken up as they discover that the queen is missing.
The queen and Kim Chiyang are deep in the woods. Too deep. Suddenly they find themselves surrounded. Men drop from the trees--dozens of them. And they're Khitans. Yelu Wuji, the officer seen earlier in the Khitan camp, is leading them. He is one nasty-looking dude--an eyepatch, a crossbow, and a comically evil laugh. They try to flee but Kim's horse is hit with an arrow and throws him violently to the ground. Kim urges the queen to flee, but then the queen gets a look at Yelu and we see a sudden flashback: Obviously the same guy, but at a younger age, brandishing one of those spiked-metal-ball-on-a-chain weapons over a fallen young woman--a younger Hunae. He winds up and prepares to strike...Flashback quickly ends. "Yes, it's him," the queen says, and rather than fleeing she loads up an arrow and draws her bow at him, as he aims his crossbow right back at her....