Post by ajk on Mar 17, 2009 12:49:49 GMT -5
...and they both shoot their arrows at the same time. We see it in super-slo-mo; the arrows glance off each other in flight...and then, back at normal speed, Yelu Wuji gets hit in the shoulder. (But the other arrow doesn't strike Queen Hunae. So much for Newton's Third Law of Motion.) This gives Kim Chiyang time to get back to his feet; he jumps onto Hunae's horse and the two flee.
Back at the mopping-up of Khitan fighters: Cavalry led by Dae Dosu comes riding in to help, but the Goryeans realize that someone needs to go find the queen, who's disappeared.
The escaped Khitan group continues to chase the queen and Kim. They close the gap, and then Yelu Wuji fires, striking the queen's horse in the behind. The horse goes down, throwing Hunae and Kim. It's a hard fall; they do manage to shake it off and get to their feet, but their pursuers close in. Now they run up a steep wooded hill. The Khitans dismount and gives chase. Up, up, up the hill...suddenly it's not wooded any more, just bare rock...and then Hunae and Kim are at the top of what we're now shown in a flyover view is a 100-foot sheer bluff overlooking a river. Nowhere to go; the gang has them trapped. (Full credit here for some great staging and a dramatic camera shot.) Hunae grabs Kim's hand as Wuji and the other Khitans raise their weapons and prepare to finish them off. But then: "Hold it." Yelu Dilie, the senior Khitan leader, has shown up. He had heard the Goryeans calling the woman "queen" on the battlefield, and wants to know if she's royalty. Hunae denies it and dares them to shoot, which only makes Dilie laugh because he knows that such an answer would have to come from royalty. Capture them alive, he orders. So the Khitans move in...but Hunae lets go of Kim's hand, and refusing to surrender--"I cannot be a burden to Goryeo"--turns around and jumps! She hits the water and is knocked unconscious, and drifts beneath the surface....
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It's 14 years earlier, the year 979, the fourth year of King Gyeongjong's reign. We see a girl on a runaway horse. The girl's brother and sister give chase but quickly disappear from sight. The horse keeps charging through the countryside, then decides to rear back and throw her, knocking her unconscious. The girl, we learn, is Hwangbo Su, the future Empress Cheonchu. She's out for a while, and then as she awakens, a bizarre sight: a party riding towards her on horseback, glowing ghostly white as if an apparition. And an apparition it is; leading it is Emperor Wang Guhn himself, the founder of Goryeo and the girl's deceased grandfather. He tells her of her destiny, a future of grief, despair, difficulty, and even "the pain of having to sever your own blood ties." But you must press on, he tells her, "because this is your destiny. Are you prepared?" She starts to cry and shakes her head. Again, "Are you prepared?" Another shake. (The way he describes it all, does he think she's gonna squeal with glee?) Then finally her brother and sister catch up to her, and the apparition is gone.
Narration explains that these three are the grandchildren of Empress Shinjeong, one of Wang Guhn’s consorts. They had been orphaned at an early age and were raised by their grandmother. The boy, Wang Chi, was the only one to use the Wang surname, while the two girls took their grandmother's surname of Hwangbo. The boy would grow up to become King Sungjong (whom we met in Ep1), and the girl Hwangbo Seol would become the mother of the future King Hyeongjong (Sungjong's successor).
King Gyeongjong has arrived in Seogyeong. Seogyeong, we're told, is an important outpost in Goryeo's northern territory; so important that Wang Guhn ordered future kings to stay here 100 days a year. But this order has not always followed due to Confucianists-versus-Buddhists internal political strife. The king has arrived for Palguanhwe of Goryeo, a national annual Buddhist ceremony. We see it going on in a large courtyard. A big banquet, elaborate dancing, music, lots of decorations. Many ministers and officials are gathered.
Next we see a Balhae refugee camp. A sad scene filled with poverty and misery. We see a younger Gang Jo, who we can tell is already looked upon as a leader.
Back at the festival: Shinjeong, now Dowager Empress, comes to greet the king. She's the king's grandmother and has brought her three grandchildren (who are the king's cousins) to meet him. But the king is sleeping on the job; he's had too much to drink. His eunuch prods him; he wakes up and starts acting noticeably drunk as he speaks to Shinjeong, making a real fool of himself. The children introduce themselves, bid him well and offer him flowers. The king looks at the sisters, and says that they're beautiful young women and must be married off soon. But they're obviously too young, which Shinjeong tells him. Anyway...she tells him of the local citizens' happiness that he's come, and that he should come more often "to honor the founding edict of Taejo [Wang Guhn] and to comfort the people." The king starts BS-ing about how he's old and tired, and then in his drunkenness amusingly asks the boy Wang Chi if he secretly covets the throne. Then he grabs the boy by the arm and tries to get him to try sitting on the throne. This is all a major embarrassment in front of officials and foreign dignitaries. Grandma steps in and breaks it up and they take their leave quietly. Then a new face arrives: Wang Uk, a/k/a Prince Gyeongjuwon, the king's uncle. He catches the young Seol as she trips and prevents her from falling, and uh-oh, she looks a bit smitten with him as they leave. The king continues acting like a goofy drunk, in front of all ministers and dignitaries.
Back at the refugee camp: Unrest and discontent; the refugees want to be heard by the emperor. Then, suddenly, news that girls from the camp are being taken away by merchants to be sold as slaves. Cheon Hyangbi, Gang Jo's sister, is one of them. The refugees go running to another part of the camp, and yes it's happening.
Prince Gyeongjuwon tells Choe Ryand, who’s the tutor/master to the boy Wang Chi, that he's not interested in seeking the throne. But Choe tells him, You have supporters who are not going to give up on you. Stop this treasonous talk, the prince says; I won’t meet with any supporters. Then Gang Gamchan shows up; he's friendly with the prince and has been waiting for him in a teahouse. He and the prince go off to the teahouse together, the prince telling Gang he's not acquainted with Choe. After they leave, we see Wang Chi out in the main street, playing hooky from studying. His sister Seol is there too, and casts another interested look at the prince as he leaves.
Choe Sum, one of the high-ranking ministers, has brought a merchant named Kim Wonsoong to see the king. Kim has brought a big haul of money. Choe tells the king that Kim footed the bill for most of the festival too. Kim starts to explain that he made his fortune "trading with Song and the Jurchens" (hmmm, trading what?), but Choe interrupts him and tells the king that Kim is a descendant of the former Shilla King Munsung. So anyway, what does Kim want for all of this largesse? Kim starts to mention his daughters being of marriage age...but that's as far as he gets, because at that moment Yi Jibaek, governor of Seogyeong, comes in to report that Balhae refugees have broken out of their camp and are causing a riot.
And yes, that's what we see. Refugees are running through the local docks--but they're not really rioting, they're trying to get back their girls before the girls are taken away. Most are recovered, but Gang Jo's sister isn't there. She's been taken somewhere.
In a public place, some kind of an open-to-all archery competition is going on. It’s being run by a man named Foreman Jo, and there are prizes: pieces of silver, and the girl Hyangbi, who’s locked in a cage. Lots of people are gathered around, cheering, and every bullseye gets a gong strike and big cheers. Eventually, only two contestants remain. One is a merchant from Song--it's the future Khitan leader Yelu Wuji, without the eyepatch. And the other is Hwangbo Su, the future queen, dressed as a boy. For the final round, the targets will move. Two older boys standing safely behind the big wooden targets will slide them back and forth along wheels. So they both shoot and hit bullseyes until one of the target movers stumbles, the target jerks unpredictably and Yelu's arrow goes wide. This so angers him that he pulls out a huge crossbow and a big arrow, and fires a strike so powerful that it penetrates the wooden target and injures the boy behind it. Then he shoots a stationary bullseye. That ends the contest and somehow Yelu is declared the winner. Su tries to stop Yelu from leaving with the prizes, but he just throws her aside. (If this all doesn't make a lot of sense to you, well, join the club. I'm wondering if we weren't shown part of the scene.)
The king is still stumbling around, goofy and drunk.
Yelu takes a spiked-ball-on-a-chain and whirls it around to strike the fallen Su. At that moment Gang Jo shows up, flies through the air and deflects the blow with a spear stick just in time. Yelu comes after him with the weapon, but Gang is much more agile, and despite having only the spear stick, manages to knock the weapon from Yelu's hands with glancing blows and then knocks him down hard. Then a second man comes at him from behind with a sword, but Gang manages to fend him off. Meanwhile Yelu gets back on his feet and grabs his crossbow, aiming to kill Gang while he fights. Hwangbo Su sees this, grabs her own bow, and stops Yelu--by shooting an arrow across the face and badly gouging his eye. (Seriously? If she’s that good a shot, why didn’t she just break the bowstring or knock the bow from his hands? Seems unnecessarily bloodthirsty, especially for the hero of the series.) And then Gang Jo knocks out the second man and frees his baby sister from the slave cage. But then a large group of panicked citizens comes running through the street, and in the chaos, Foreman Jo hits Gang from behind with a club, knocking him out. He gives the silver pieces to another merchant who obviously works with Yelu, and, keeping a sword to Su's throat, allows a furious Yelu and the other merchant to leave with Hyangbi. Then, breaking his word to Yelu, Foreman Jo allows Su to live. He and his associates leave, to meet up with Yelu at the ferry. (So they're all part of the same syndicate?) Gang wakes up thereafter and runs after them. (Again, this whole contest business just wasn't set up clearly at all.)
Back in the city, the riot is on and panicked people are fleeing in every direction. The girl Hwangbo Seol, pushed along by the crowd, escapes down a side alley and then almost gets her jewelry stolen by two scuzzballs. Then Gang Gamchan and Prince Gyeongjuwon happen upon the scene and chase the men away. Gamchan goes to check on the riot situation.
The chaos reaches the marketplace and rioters start raiding the stalls. But then soldiers show up and start to restore order--violently. They beat rioters and innocent citizens alike, even killing a child in the process. All this in front of a horrified Su, who herself takes a hard blow to the shoulder.
A group of citizens is surrounded by soldiers and then the commanding general orders them subdued. Gamchan runs in and orders the general to stop, pointing out that most are women and children and nearly all are not rioters but are innocent. Then Su shows up and angrily tells the general he should instead be going after the Song merchants who are stealing kids. Which only infuriates the general, who raises his sword to strike Su. And then suddenly there's Gang Jo again, flying through the air and knocking the general clear off his horse. The sight of Gang Jo overjoys the Balhae citizens (they call him "general" so that confirms he's known as a leader even at that time). And then Gang’s sister Hyangbi comes running up and hugs him. (Huh?!? There is NO explanation for how she got free to show up here.) But then the Goryean general deduces that Gang must be the leader of the rioters, and gets him to surrender--after Gang takes on a squad of soldiers single-handedly--by putting a knife to Hyangbi's throat. Actually not single-handedly; Gang Gamchan was fighting against soldiers a bit, too. Soldiers move in and arrest everyone, including Gang Gamchan and Su as well, still dressed in the boy's clothing.
That night, in the festival courtyard, the arrested rioters and citizens are brought before the king. Gang Jo brashly tells the king that they are not rebels, but refugees who came 300 miles seeking help and that they're starving in terrible conditions. The king doesn't care; he casually tells Yi Jibaek (the governor) to just kill them. This staggers Yi and the officials too, but the king wants none of it: "They're criticizing me after ruining my party! Kill them!" But then, from behind him: "No, your majesty." It's Seo Hui, who tells him that he must deal with them according to law and sort out the rioters from the good citizens. "Kill me if that will ease your rage. But the people must not be harmed." So the king takes a sword and winds up to kill Seo...but then decides it would hurt Seo more to have all of the people killed and leave Seo with the guilt of failure. So he turns and winds up to strike a kneeling Gang Jo. But then: "Stop!" It's Su, who has stood up and brazenly told the king to stop it. And she glares at him.
Back at the mopping-up of Khitan fighters: Cavalry led by Dae Dosu comes riding in to help, but the Goryeans realize that someone needs to go find the queen, who's disappeared.
The escaped Khitan group continues to chase the queen and Kim. They close the gap, and then Yelu Wuji fires, striking the queen's horse in the behind. The horse goes down, throwing Hunae and Kim. It's a hard fall; they do manage to shake it off and get to their feet, but their pursuers close in. Now they run up a steep wooded hill. The Khitans dismount and gives chase. Up, up, up the hill...suddenly it's not wooded any more, just bare rock...and then Hunae and Kim are at the top of what we're now shown in a flyover view is a 100-foot sheer bluff overlooking a river. Nowhere to go; the gang has them trapped. (Full credit here for some great staging and a dramatic camera shot.) Hunae grabs Kim's hand as Wuji and the other Khitans raise their weapons and prepare to finish them off. But then: "Hold it." Yelu Dilie, the senior Khitan leader, has shown up. He had heard the Goryeans calling the woman "queen" on the battlefield, and wants to know if she's royalty. Hunae denies it and dares them to shoot, which only makes Dilie laugh because he knows that such an answer would have to come from royalty. Capture them alive, he orders. So the Khitans move in...but Hunae lets go of Kim's hand, and refusing to surrender--"I cannot be a burden to Goryeo"--turns around and jumps! She hits the water and is knocked unconscious, and drifts beneath the surface....
------------
It's 14 years earlier, the year 979, the fourth year of King Gyeongjong's reign. We see a girl on a runaway horse. The girl's brother and sister give chase but quickly disappear from sight. The horse keeps charging through the countryside, then decides to rear back and throw her, knocking her unconscious. The girl, we learn, is Hwangbo Su, the future Empress Cheonchu. She's out for a while, and then as she awakens, a bizarre sight: a party riding towards her on horseback, glowing ghostly white as if an apparition. And an apparition it is; leading it is Emperor Wang Guhn himself, the founder of Goryeo and the girl's deceased grandfather. He tells her of her destiny, a future of grief, despair, difficulty, and even "the pain of having to sever your own blood ties." But you must press on, he tells her, "because this is your destiny. Are you prepared?" She starts to cry and shakes her head. Again, "Are you prepared?" Another shake. (The way he describes it all, does he think she's gonna squeal with glee?) Then finally her brother and sister catch up to her, and the apparition is gone.
Narration explains that these three are the grandchildren of Empress Shinjeong, one of Wang Guhn’s consorts. They had been orphaned at an early age and were raised by their grandmother. The boy, Wang Chi, was the only one to use the Wang surname, while the two girls took their grandmother's surname of Hwangbo. The boy would grow up to become King Sungjong (whom we met in Ep1), and the girl Hwangbo Seol would become the mother of the future King Hyeongjong (Sungjong's successor).
King Gyeongjong has arrived in Seogyeong. Seogyeong, we're told, is an important outpost in Goryeo's northern territory; so important that Wang Guhn ordered future kings to stay here 100 days a year. But this order has not always followed due to Confucianists-versus-Buddhists internal political strife. The king has arrived for Palguanhwe of Goryeo, a national annual Buddhist ceremony. We see it going on in a large courtyard. A big banquet, elaborate dancing, music, lots of decorations. Many ministers and officials are gathered.
Next we see a Balhae refugee camp. A sad scene filled with poverty and misery. We see a younger Gang Jo, who we can tell is already looked upon as a leader.
Back at the festival: Shinjeong, now Dowager Empress, comes to greet the king. She's the king's grandmother and has brought her three grandchildren (who are the king's cousins) to meet him. But the king is sleeping on the job; he's had too much to drink. His eunuch prods him; he wakes up and starts acting noticeably drunk as he speaks to Shinjeong, making a real fool of himself. The children introduce themselves, bid him well and offer him flowers. The king looks at the sisters, and says that they're beautiful young women and must be married off soon. But they're obviously too young, which Shinjeong tells him. Anyway...she tells him of the local citizens' happiness that he's come, and that he should come more often "to honor the founding edict of Taejo [Wang Guhn] and to comfort the people." The king starts BS-ing about how he's old and tired, and then in his drunkenness amusingly asks the boy Wang Chi if he secretly covets the throne. Then he grabs the boy by the arm and tries to get him to try sitting on the throne. This is all a major embarrassment in front of officials and foreign dignitaries. Grandma steps in and breaks it up and they take their leave quietly. Then a new face arrives: Wang Uk, a/k/a Prince Gyeongjuwon, the king's uncle. He catches the young Seol as she trips and prevents her from falling, and uh-oh, she looks a bit smitten with him as they leave. The king continues acting like a goofy drunk, in front of all ministers and dignitaries.
Back at the refugee camp: Unrest and discontent; the refugees want to be heard by the emperor. Then, suddenly, news that girls from the camp are being taken away by merchants to be sold as slaves. Cheon Hyangbi, Gang Jo's sister, is one of them. The refugees go running to another part of the camp, and yes it's happening.
Prince Gyeongjuwon tells Choe Ryand, who’s the tutor/master to the boy Wang Chi, that he's not interested in seeking the throne. But Choe tells him, You have supporters who are not going to give up on you. Stop this treasonous talk, the prince says; I won’t meet with any supporters. Then Gang Gamchan shows up; he's friendly with the prince and has been waiting for him in a teahouse. He and the prince go off to the teahouse together, the prince telling Gang he's not acquainted with Choe. After they leave, we see Wang Chi out in the main street, playing hooky from studying. His sister Seol is there too, and casts another interested look at the prince as he leaves.
Choe Sum, one of the high-ranking ministers, has brought a merchant named Kim Wonsoong to see the king. Kim has brought a big haul of money. Choe tells the king that Kim footed the bill for most of the festival too. Kim starts to explain that he made his fortune "trading with Song and the Jurchens" (hmmm, trading what?), but Choe interrupts him and tells the king that Kim is a descendant of the former Shilla King Munsung. So anyway, what does Kim want for all of this largesse? Kim starts to mention his daughters being of marriage age...but that's as far as he gets, because at that moment Yi Jibaek, governor of Seogyeong, comes in to report that Balhae refugees have broken out of their camp and are causing a riot.
And yes, that's what we see. Refugees are running through the local docks--but they're not really rioting, they're trying to get back their girls before the girls are taken away. Most are recovered, but Gang Jo's sister isn't there. She's been taken somewhere.
In a public place, some kind of an open-to-all archery competition is going on. It’s being run by a man named Foreman Jo, and there are prizes: pieces of silver, and the girl Hyangbi, who’s locked in a cage. Lots of people are gathered around, cheering, and every bullseye gets a gong strike and big cheers. Eventually, only two contestants remain. One is a merchant from Song--it's the future Khitan leader Yelu Wuji, without the eyepatch. And the other is Hwangbo Su, the future queen, dressed as a boy. For the final round, the targets will move. Two older boys standing safely behind the big wooden targets will slide them back and forth along wheels. So they both shoot and hit bullseyes until one of the target movers stumbles, the target jerks unpredictably and Yelu's arrow goes wide. This so angers him that he pulls out a huge crossbow and a big arrow, and fires a strike so powerful that it penetrates the wooden target and injures the boy behind it. Then he shoots a stationary bullseye. That ends the contest and somehow Yelu is declared the winner. Su tries to stop Yelu from leaving with the prizes, but he just throws her aside. (If this all doesn't make a lot of sense to you, well, join the club. I'm wondering if we weren't shown part of the scene.)
The king is still stumbling around, goofy and drunk.
Yelu takes a spiked-ball-on-a-chain and whirls it around to strike the fallen Su. At that moment Gang Jo shows up, flies through the air and deflects the blow with a spear stick just in time. Yelu comes after him with the weapon, but Gang is much more agile, and despite having only the spear stick, manages to knock the weapon from Yelu's hands with glancing blows and then knocks him down hard. Then a second man comes at him from behind with a sword, but Gang manages to fend him off. Meanwhile Yelu gets back on his feet and grabs his crossbow, aiming to kill Gang while he fights. Hwangbo Su sees this, grabs her own bow, and stops Yelu--by shooting an arrow across the face and badly gouging his eye. (Seriously? If she’s that good a shot, why didn’t she just break the bowstring or knock the bow from his hands? Seems unnecessarily bloodthirsty, especially for the hero of the series.) And then Gang Jo knocks out the second man and frees his baby sister from the slave cage. But then a large group of panicked citizens comes running through the street, and in the chaos, Foreman Jo hits Gang from behind with a club, knocking him out. He gives the silver pieces to another merchant who obviously works with Yelu, and, keeping a sword to Su's throat, allows a furious Yelu and the other merchant to leave with Hyangbi. Then, breaking his word to Yelu, Foreman Jo allows Su to live. He and his associates leave, to meet up with Yelu at the ferry. (So they're all part of the same syndicate?) Gang wakes up thereafter and runs after them. (Again, this whole contest business just wasn't set up clearly at all.)
Back in the city, the riot is on and panicked people are fleeing in every direction. The girl Hwangbo Seol, pushed along by the crowd, escapes down a side alley and then almost gets her jewelry stolen by two scuzzballs. Then Gang Gamchan and Prince Gyeongjuwon happen upon the scene and chase the men away. Gamchan goes to check on the riot situation.
The chaos reaches the marketplace and rioters start raiding the stalls. But then soldiers show up and start to restore order--violently. They beat rioters and innocent citizens alike, even killing a child in the process. All this in front of a horrified Su, who herself takes a hard blow to the shoulder.
A group of citizens is surrounded by soldiers and then the commanding general orders them subdued. Gamchan runs in and orders the general to stop, pointing out that most are women and children and nearly all are not rioters but are innocent. Then Su shows up and angrily tells the general he should instead be going after the Song merchants who are stealing kids. Which only infuriates the general, who raises his sword to strike Su. And then suddenly there's Gang Jo again, flying through the air and knocking the general clear off his horse. The sight of Gang Jo overjoys the Balhae citizens (they call him "general" so that confirms he's known as a leader even at that time). And then Gang’s sister Hyangbi comes running up and hugs him. (Huh?!? There is NO explanation for how she got free to show up here.) But then the Goryean general deduces that Gang must be the leader of the rioters, and gets him to surrender--after Gang takes on a squad of soldiers single-handedly--by putting a knife to Hyangbi's throat. Actually not single-handedly; Gang Gamchan was fighting against soldiers a bit, too. Soldiers move in and arrest everyone, including Gang Gamchan and Su as well, still dressed in the boy's clothing.
That night, in the festival courtyard, the arrested rioters and citizens are brought before the king. Gang Jo brashly tells the king that they are not rebels, but refugees who came 300 miles seeking help and that they're starving in terrible conditions. The king doesn't care; he casually tells Yi Jibaek (the governor) to just kill them. This staggers Yi and the officials too, but the king wants none of it: "They're criticizing me after ruining my party! Kill them!" But then, from behind him: "No, your majesty." It's Seo Hui, who tells him that he must deal with them according to law and sort out the rioters from the good citizens. "Kill me if that will ease your rage. But the people must not be harmed." So the king takes a sword and winds up to kill Seo...but then decides it would hurt Seo more to have all of the people killed and leave Seo with the guilt of failure. So he turns and winds up to strike a kneeling Gang Jo. But then: "Stop!" It's Su, who has stood up and brazenly told the king to stop it. And she glares at him.