Post by ajk on Jun 30, 2009 13:16:52 GMT -5
"But sir, you've had a lot to drink." Gang Shin's subordinates protest his order to unshackle and arm the POWs. Do it, he says; I want to teach them a lesson.
Gang Jo's group is absorbing the news of Hunae's death. Gang Jo says he's going to extract revenge--by going to the Khitan capital Shangjin and killing the Khitan empress dowager! He thinks big, but how to pull that off? Sa Illa volunteers to go with him, because she wants to avenge Chiyang. They apparently assume he's dead too.
Gang Shin picks up his spear and single-handedly takes on several POWs at once, including Yun Seoan. Turns out, even when he's drunk he's a heck of a fighter. He quickly subdues Yun Seoan and kills the others. Strange--his technique seems oddly familiar. Yun Seoan is picked up and taken aside, the branding iron is pulled out, and Yun takes a scarring "X" brand to his face. Hunae is next...but just as the brand approaches her face, she calls out to Gang Shin about his being a Balhaean. "Stop!" How did you know?, he demands. Your spear-fighting style, she says; do you know the name Gang Jo? Shin's eyes widen. (Lady, couldn't you have done that thirty seconds earlier and saved Seoan from being branded too? Sheesh!)
"My brother Shin is alive?" The former Balhaean in the Khitan army, whom we met in the previous episode, tells Gang Jo that Gang Shin, who we now know is Gang Jo's brother, did not die with their father as Gang Jo believed. He was severely injured but was treated by the Khitans and now serves them. The Balhaean doesn't know where Shin is now, but a man named Chae Gil should know. Chae Gil serves as "keeper of the South Golden Gate" in the capital and is a former subordinate of Gang Shin's.
"Don't be foolish," Sa Gamun tells Sa Illa in private; You'll never get anywhere near the empress dowager; Let's go back home and come up with a new plan. But Sa Illa is determined to kill the empress dowager and the emperor too, and then die in the process to follow Chiyang into death.
Gamchan tells Gang Jo he should go back to Goryeo now that the truth is known. But Gang Jo doesn't accept the "truth" as Gamchan does, and tells Gamchan he intends to confront the empress dowager. Gamchan will have none of it: This is a crucial diplomatic mission and "I'm not going to risk another war by letting you quench your thirst for revenge...Now is not the time." But it's not about revenge, Gang Jo says; I want to go find my brother (yeah right).
Hunae and Gang Shin are Shin's headquarters, talking quietly. She tells Shin all about his brother. Turns out, Shin thought Jo was dead just like Jo thought Shin was dead. Shin is quiet and subdued, finding it all hard to believe. Then she appeals to him: "Let us escape together. Come with me to Goryeo and join your brother." I have big plans, she tells Hang, for a bigger, stronger, more peaceful country. And we already have a Balhaean town where you can live. Shin is intrigued, but...I can't, he says; I owe ED Xiao my life and have declared my loyalty to her. Hunae tries hard to persuade him to change sides.
Once again, Hyangbi tries to convince Gang Jo to give up on Hunae. But no, he tells her; I'm going to the capital. You go back to the Balhaean town, find a husband and settle down. That's not going to happen either; she wants to go with him.
Hunae and Yun Seoan talk of a possible escape. Hunae's only concern is that she can't leave the territory without Chiyang. That's impossible, Seoan rightly observes; we can't get near him in the capital and he's too injured to go anywhere anyway.
The next day: Gang Shin apologizes to Seoan for the branding and then the three talk of escape. Shin has a map and has thought out the best possible escape route. They have to get to a certain ferry on the Liaohe River; get across the Liaohe and then they'll be safe enough. Hunae insists on taking the POWs. It will slow their escape but she's adamant that everyone comes. Just then...
General Yelu Pennu arrives outside and asks to see the Goryean royal who was brought here yesterday. Behind him, two of his soldiers are carrying a man on a cot. Pennu goes into Gang Shin's HQ and promptly gets knocked out. Shin Hang and Yun Seoan rush outside and with absurd ease kill the other guards and liberate the camp. (What happened to all of those Khitan soldiers who came with Pennu? Big-time non-sequitur.) And then Hunae sees the man on the cot, now lying on the ground. It's Chiyang, brought to the iron mines at his request. (I don't know; would the ED really send him out there too injured to even walk, after giving him so much medical attention to keep him alive? Pretty flimsy storyline here.)
Later, Yelu Dilie and his troops arrive at the iron mines and see the dead guards. Dilie finds Pennu, still unconscious.
Dilie and Pennu report the escape to ED Xiao. I want Shin Hang brought back alive, she says angrily; I want to know why he betrayed me. She's VERY angry about this.
At a state meeting: King Sungjong is told of Hunae's death. And he's presented with her armor. Yi Jibaek proposes a period of national mourning.
Prince Gaeryeong is told. He refuses to believe it, and flies into a panic...and then it turns into more than just a panic; he starts to shake uncontrollably, then goes unconscious. This is the condition we had seen before, but this is its first appearance in quite a while.
Dae Dosu, with his subordinates, receives the news of Hunae's death. Yi Hyunoon promptly makes inappropriate comments about how the entire search for her was a waste of time and that this wouldn't have happened "if she stayed home like a lady...This is why a woman's place is in the home!" Which enrages the three other subordinates, and they take to giving Hyunoon a good roughing up for showing disrespect.
Sungjong reflects on what an SOB he was to his sister and breaks into sobbing.
The escapees are moving towards the Liaohe River. They're in the open in broad daylight and aren't moving with any sense of urgency, though (which is ridiculous). To the side, a man is watching them. The man has a falcon. He sends the falcon on its way, carrying a written message...and it flies straight to a Khitan cavalry unit led by Yelu Pennu and Yelu Dilie! The unit knows where to go now, and they speed off.
Sungjong second-guesses himself about the Khitan war; I was too idealistic and didn't act aggressively enough, and it ended up costing my sister her life. "I'm going to redress this heart-wrenching grief," he says, even if it means joining with Song to so it. "I'll make them pay for this if it's the last thing I do. I swear I will."
The Shillans are talking. News of Hunae's death has them in a good mood, because it "eliminates one huge headache for us." Now there will be no northern ties in the palace if Gaeryeong ascends to the throne. Queen Munhwa will now be declared the prince's legal mother. But Choe Sum advises, We can't relax; now we have to stop this business about allying with the barbarians and turning our back on Song.
At Wonsoong's compound: Jo Sun is thrilled; I wanted to kill her myself but at least they got my revenge for me. But Wonsoong only laments the loss of his ill-gotten gains; "it's only a matter of time before I'm completely ruined!" He apparently has a big trading business with Song and that's about to get cut off, and because he wasn't part of the diplomatic mission to Liao, he's lost his chance to establish inroads to Khitan trade. He explains what he would have done: paying off palace eunuchs, vowing loyalty to lords and impressing them with gifts. Jo Du smiles and tells him, "You sound like a turncoat." Wonsoong laughs; it's not entirely untrue, he says. "To me, money is my country and money is my god." Isn't that nice.
Prince Gaeryeong awakens; he's okay. The queen is by his side and is consoling him.
A ceremony of mourning is held. Impressive-looking and well done.
The escapees are still on the move...and so are their Khitan pursuers. The escapees are very close to the Liaohe, but Chiyang is in bad shape, and the Khitans are catching up. Yun Seoan and his men volunteer to draw the Khitans away so that Hunae can make her escape. Don't worry, he says; we'll be right behind you. But I don't think either of them believes that.
Seoan and his men double back to an open plain, and then as the Khitan unit arrives, Seoan exhorts his men to die honorable deaths for their country. "Our blood will save Goryeo! Attack!" And they charge. Most of them are on foot, against the mounted Khitans, on an open plain. (Not real good strategy.) In the course of the fighting, Pennu manages to disarm Yun Seoan. Defying Delie's order to beg, he dies a hero's death as Dilie strikes him down.
Hunae, Chiyang, Shin Hang and the rest of the POWs are near the river, but Chiyang is in too much pain to continue, even on horseback. Go without me, he says, but Hunae refuses. And they just stand there talking about it like they have all day. Chiyang won't accept help--and then suddenly goes charging back the way they came! Hunae intends to go after him, but Shin Hang literally shakes some sense into her: Yun and his mean aren't back; they obviously died; do you ant their death to be in vain? Then they at least reach the ferry and quickly board it. The ferry leaves the shore—-but at the last second Hunae changes her mind, jumps off the ferry, jumps on a horse and goes after Chiyang. (A real groaner moment.) She finds him sitting by a pond bleeding. She tries to help him to his feet...and an arrow goes whizzing by. It's from Yelu Wuji. The Khitan unit surrounds them.
Park Yangyu and the Goryeo diplomatic mission have arrived in Shangjin and are formally received.
Gang Jo, Hyangbi, Sa Gamun and Sa Illa are apparently in the mission, because we see them together meeting Chae Gil, the former Balhaean. Gil drops to his knees and tells Gang Jo, I was a subordinate of your father and brother. Gang Jo asks him about Gang Shin. He was running the iron mine, Gil tells him, but I heard he escaped a few days ago. I don’t know where he went, but "I was told he escaped with a prisoner of Goryean royalty." And it was a woman, he's positive. What a bombshell for the Goryeans; this has to be Hunae, and Gang Jo's relentlessness has finally been vindicated.
Hunae and Chiyang are kneeling before the Khitan emperor, empress dowager and prime minister. The Khitan unit has to report that Gang Shin and the others got away. The empress dowager steps off the throne and glares into Pennu's face. "When I say catch them, I mean catch them." Yikes. "Give us death!", they all yell. Then she turns to Hunae, and once again offers vassalage, but Hunae just talks trash back at her, which enrages the young emperor. His mother shushes him, orders Hunae held and Chiyang given medical attention. I'll decide what to do with them, she says, after I meet the envoys.
Gang Jo's group is absorbing the news of Hunae's death. Gang Jo says he's going to extract revenge--by going to the Khitan capital Shangjin and killing the Khitan empress dowager! He thinks big, but how to pull that off? Sa Illa volunteers to go with him, because she wants to avenge Chiyang. They apparently assume he's dead too.
Gang Shin picks up his spear and single-handedly takes on several POWs at once, including Yun Seoan. Turns out, even when he's drunk he's a heck of a fighter. He quickly subdues Yun Seoan and kills the others. Strange--his technique seems oddly familiar. Yun Seoan is picked up and taken aside, the branding iron is pulled out, and Yun takes a scarring "X" brand to his face. Hunae is next...but just as the brand approaches her face, she calls out to Gang Shin about his being a Balhaean. "Stop!" How did you know?, he demands. Your spear-fighting style, she says; do you know the name Gang Jo? Shin's eyes widen. (Lady, couldn't you have done that thirty seconds earlier and saved Seoan from being branded too? Sheesh!)
"My brother Shin is alive?" The former Balhaean in the Khitan army, whom we met in the previous episode, tells Gang Jo that Gang Shin, who we now know is Gang Jo's brother, did not die with their father as Gang Jo believed. He was severely injured but was treated by the Khitans and now serves them. The Balhaean doesn't know where Shin is now, but a man named Chae Gil should know. Chae Gil serves as "keeper of the South Golden Gate" in the capital and is a former subordinate of Gang Shin's.
"Don't be foolish," Sa Gamun tells Sa Illa in private; You'll never get anywhere near the empress dowager; Let's go back home and come up with a new plan. But Sa Illa is determined to kill the empress dowager and the emperor too, and then die in the process to follow Chiyang into death.
Gamchan tells Gang Jo he should go back to Goryeo now that the truth is known. But Gang Jo doesn't accept the "truth" as Gamchan does, and tells Gamchan he intends to confront the empress dowager. Gamchan will have none of it: This is a crucial diplomatic mission and "I'm not going to risk another war by letting you quench your thirst for revenge...Now is not the time." But it's not about revenge, Gang Jo says; I want to go find my brother (yeah right).
Hunae and Gang Shin are Shin's headquarters, talking quietly. She tells Shin all about his brother. Turns out, Shin thought Jo was dead just like Jo thought Shin was dead. Shin is quiet and subdued, finding it all hard to believe. Then she appeals to him: "Let us escape together. Come with me to Goryeo and join your brother." I have big plans, she tells Hang, for a bigger, stronger, more peaceful country. And we already have a Balhaean town where you can live. Shin is intrigued, but...I can't, he says; I owe ED Xiao my life and have declared my loyalty to her. Hunae tries hard to persuade him to change sides.
Once again, Hyangbi tries to convince Gang Jo to give up on Hunae. But no, he tells her; I'm going to the capital. You go back to the Balhaean town, find a husband and settle down. That's not going to happen either; she wants to go with him.
Hunae and Yun Seoan talk of a possible escape. Hunae's only concern is that she can't leave the territory without Chiyang. That's impossible, Seoan rightly observes; we can't get near him in the capital and he's too injured to go anywhere anyway.
The next day: Gang Shin apologizes to Seoan for the branding and then the three talk of escape. Shin has a map and has thought out the best possible escape route. They have to get to a certain ferry on the Liaohe River; get across the Liaohe and then they'll be safe enough. Hunae insists on taking the POWs. It will slow their escape but she's adamant that everyone comes. Just then...
General Yelu Pennu arrives outside and asks to see the Goryean royal who was brought here yesterday. Behind him, two of his soldiers are carrying a man on a cot. Pennu goes into Gang Shin's HQ and promptly gets knocked out. Shin Hang and Yun Seoan rush outside and with absurd ease kill the other guards and liberate the camp. (What happened to all of those Khitan soldiers who came with Pennu? Big-time non-sequitur.) And then Hunae sees the man on the cot, now lying on the ground. It's Chiyang, brought to the iron mines at his request. (I don't know; would the ED really send him out there too injured to even walk, after giving him so much medical attention to keep him alive? Pretty flimsy storyline here.)
Later, Yelu Dilie and his troops arrive at the iron mines and see the dead guards. Dilie finds Pennu, still unconscious.
Dilie and Pennu report the escape to ED Xiao. I want Shin Hang brought back alive, she says angrily; I want to know why he betrayed me. She's VERY angry about this.
At a state meeting: King Sungjong is told of Hunae's death. And he's presented with her armor. Yi Jibaek proposes a period of national mourning.
Prince Gaeryeong is told. He refuses to believe it, and flies into a panic...and then it turns into more than just a panic; he starts to shake uncontrollably, then goes unconscious. This is the condition we had seen before, but this is its first appearance in quite a while.
Dae Dosu, with his subordinates, receives the news of Hunae's death. Yi Hyunoon promptly makes inappropriate comments about how the entire search for her was a waste of time and that this wouldn't have happened "if she stayed home like a lady...This is why a woman's place is in the home!" Which enrages the three other subordinates, and they take to giving Hyunoon a good roughing up for showing disrespect.
Sungjong reflects on what an SOB he was to his sister and breaks into sobbing.
The escapees are moving towards the Liaohe River. They're in the open in broad daylight and aren't moving with any sense of urgency, though (which is ridiculous). To the side, a man is watching them. The man has a falcon. He sends the falcon on its way, carrying a written message...and it flies straight to a Khitan cavalry unit led by Yelu Pennu and Yelu Dilie! The unit knows where to go now, and they speed off.
Sungjong second-guesses himself about the Khitan war; I was too idealistic and didn't act aggressively enough, and it ended up costing my sister her life. "I'm going to redress this heart-wrenching grief," he says, even if it means joining with Song to so it. "I'll make them pay for this if it's the last thing I do. I swear I will."
The Shillans are talking. News of Hunae's death has them in a good mood, because it "eliminates one huge headache for us." Now there will be no northern ties in the palace if Gaeryeong ascends to the throne. Queen Munhwa will now be declared the prince's legal mother. But Choe Sum advises, We can't relax; now we have to stop this business about allying with the barbarians and turning our back on Song.
At Wonsoong's compound: Jo Sun is thrilled; I wanted to kill her myself but at least they got my revenge for me. But Wonsoong only laments the loss of his ill-gotten gains; "it's only a matter of time before I'm completely ruined!" He apparently has a big trading business with Song and that's about to get cut off, and because he wasn't part of the diplomatic mission to Liao, he's lost his chance to establish inroads to Khitan trade. He explains what he would have done: paying off palace eunuchs, vowing loyalty to lords and impressing them with gifts. Jo Du smiles and tells him, "You sound like a turncoat." Wonsoong laughs; it's not entirely untrue, he says. "To me, money is my country and money is my god." Isn't that nice.
Prince Gaeryeong awakens; he's okay. The queen is by his side and is consoling him.
A ceremony of mourning is held. Impressive-looking and well done.
The escapees are still on the move...and so are their Khitan pursuers. The escapees are very close to the Liaohe, but Chiyang is in bad shape, and the Khitans are catching up. Yun Seoan and his men volunteer to draw the Khitans away so that Hunae can make her escape. Don't worry, he says; we'll be right behind you. But I don't think either of them believes that.
Seoan and his men double back to an open plain, and then as the Khitan unit arrives, Seoan exhorts his men to die honorable deaths for their country. "Our blood will save Goryeo! Attack!" And they charge. Most of them are on foot, against the mounted Khitans, on an open plain. (Not real good strategy.) In the course of the fighting, Pennu manages to disarm Yun Seoan. Defying Delie's order to beg, he dies a hero's death as Dilie strikes him down.
Hunae, Chiyang, Shin Hang and the rest of the POWs are near the river, but Chiyang is in too much pain to continue, even on horseback. Go without me, he says, but Hunae refuses. And they just stand there talking about it like they have all day. Chiyang won't accept help--and then suddenly goes charging back the way they came! Hunae intends to go after him, but Shin Hang literally shakes some sense into her: Yun and his mean aren't back; they obviously died; do you ant their death to be in vain? Then they at least reach the ferry and quickly board it. The ferry leaves the shore—-but at the last second Hunae changes her mind, jumps off the ferry, jumps on a horse and goes after Chiyang. (A real groaner moment.) She finds him sitting by a pond bleeding. She tries to help him to his feet...and an arrow goes whizzing by. It's from Yelu Wuji. The Khitan unit surrounds them.
Park Yangyu and the Goryeo diplomatic mission have arrived in Shangjin and are formally received.
Gang Jo, Hyangbi, Sa Gamun and Sa Illa are apparently in the mission, because we see them together meeting Chae Gil, the former Balhaean. Gil drops to his knees and tells Gang Jo, I was a subordinate of your father and brother. Gang Jo asks him about Gang Shin. He was running the iron mine, Gil tells him, but I heard he escaped a few days ago. I don’t know where he went, but "I was told he escaped with a prisoner of Goryean royalty." And it was a woman, he's positive. What a bombshell for the Goryeans; this has to be Hunae, and Gang Jo's relentlessness has finally been vindicated.
Hunae and Chiyang are kneeling before the Khitan emperor, empress dowager and prime minister. The Khitan unit has to report that Gang Shin and the others got away. The empress dowager steps off the throne and glares into Pennu's face. "When I say catch them, I mean catch them." Yikes. "Give us death!", they all yell. Then she turns to Hunae, and once again offers vassalage, but Hunae just talks trash back at her, which enrages the young emperor. His mother shushes him, orders Hunae held and Chiyang given medical attention. I'll decide what to do with them, she says, after I meet the envoys.