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Post by MTR on Jul 8, 2011 14:52:00 GMT -5
Fiction for sure but still a good drama ,much better than the last few KBS offerings like Great Merchant ,Empress ,Reputable Family ,probably their best since Sejong /Kingdom Of The Winds .
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Post by annette on Jul 9, 2011 13:43:29 GMT -5
I also did really enjoy Geunchogo and i miss it already. Even though he was trying to prevent his sons ending up like him and his brothers, i felt like he was still making the same mistake that his father did in choosing Yeogeun instead of Yeogusu as the crown prince. Just like Yeogu was better suited to be king than Yeochan, Yeogusu also was the one who should have been, but because Yeogu had "groomed" Yeogeun to be king and Yeogu has made a promise to his mother, Yeogeun was crown prince. This is exactly what happened to Yeogu and his brother and Yeogu was doing the exact same thing. The only difference is that Yeogeun himself realized that his brother should be king and gave up the throne - which i should point out should not have been his. And to tip the scales even more in Yeogusu's favor, he had both King Chogo and King Goi's bloodlines! I heard the role of the villain in Warrior Baek Dong Soo is goin to steal the show that's why Yoo Seung Ho chose it instead of playing the good guy. I just hope you don't think what happened at the end of the drama is real history. Yeogeun and Yeogusu are not real people. King Geungusu's real name was Su and he had nothing to do with King Goi's bloodline. His mother was from the Jin clan. Hey truth, yeah i know its fiction, my comments were made in the context of the drama. @ DYC: I totally agree with you, was good fun. I started to watch Kingdom of the winds cos i heard it was good but i didn't even finish the first ep. It didn't really catch my attention but i know that you usually have to give a drama atleast 3 or 4 eps. One drama that has defied that rule is Warrior Baek Dong Soo - i watched the first ep and was immediately hooked! Its really fun, engaging, i don't know if its cos i love action but am lovin this. Anything that has martial arts/assassins/ninjas etc is a winner in my book. And its not just the action but also the comedic relief is on point, and the acting is good. The execution is great, with the older actors anyway lets hope it continues when the young ones come in. Are you guys watchin it cos if you're not i highly recommend it
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Post by mugwump on Jul 10, 2011 19:40:36 GMT -5
Finally the last subs have arrived! How refreshing to see a show that ends on an upbeat. The last episodes could have been a disaster, but I was really very pleased with how it all turned out. How often does just about everyone live happily ever after? (Well yes, YeoHwa just had to die tragically in YeoGu's arms, didn't she? but at least it wasn't drawn out and sappy.) Now working on the review and awards...
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shiku
Junior Addict
Posts: 159
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Post by shiku on Jul 11, 2011 14:05:14 GMT -5
Finally the last subs have arrived! How refreshing to see a show that ends on an upbeat. The last episodes could have been a disaster, but I was really very pleased with how it all turned out. How often does just about everyone live happily ever after? (Well yes, YeoHwa just had to die tragically in YeoGu's arms, didn't she? but at least it wasn't drawn out and sappy.) Now working on the review and awards... I thought the same thing and was rolling my eyes at that scene. Why they didn't balance it out and give a scene with Yeogu and Hongan reflecting on their history I would never know.
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Post by truth on Jul 11, 2011 17:23:44 GMT -5
The best thing about this drama is that it was the first ancient Korean historical to have the legitimate armors and clothes instead of fantasy Warcraft armors.
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Post by MTR on Jul 11, 2011 17:49:16 GMT -5
Pretty good drama id even say from Ep 37 onwards with the time shift and new castmembers it was great . One thing i read Sayu was actually decapitated in battle not shot by arrows and it was the Crown Prince who killed him. Still it was very well done ,i liked Yeowha's death ,she was dying anyway i liked how she drank poison to atone for all her missdeed's . I loved that where she did not make a great heroine she did make a great bad girl
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Post by mugwump on Jul 12, 2011 17:33:10 GMT -5
Really, I can just imagine the producers getting together and saying, OK this was supposed to be a love story about YeoHwa and YeoGu. Let's give her a great send-off. So they have her dressed in a lovely green ensemble. And then YeoGu also appears in his finest apparel. WHAT? In the previous scene the guy's in armor on the battlefield. Are we supposed to believe that he hurried off to see her, but took the time to go back to the palace and change into his imperial robes? I really cracked up when I saw him all dressed up like that. But they did make a charming couple as she died in his arms after lasting just long enough for both he and Prince to arrive (did the label on the poison tell her how many hours she had left after she drank it?)
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Post by MTR on Jul 12, 2011 20:48:44 GMT -5
Yes that was long lasting Poison and it was cliched as hell but after Kimmy Sue and the Cgi bears ill take a cliche . Still that caught my eye ,the love of your life is about to kick the bucket and you take time to change and groom yourself and of course she snapped out of her near coma when the kid showed up .
Anyway still beat's KBS recent historical fare and that's not hard ,maybe 5/6 years ago we would have hated Geunchogo but after recent fare it was like manner from heaven or our expectations and standards have hit the bricks .
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Post by mugwump on Jul 15, 2011 20:35:01 GMT -5
Review and awards for the Good, the Bad, and the Slimeballs: . . . .
The previews for this show promised us 1) rivalry between YeoGu and Sayu and 2) love story between YeoGu and YeoHwa. What we got instead was a show about obsession and entitlement carried to extreme. This is not necessarily a bad thing. Watching YeoGu’s dysfunctional family destroy themselves made for fascinating viewing, especially the performance of Evil Queen. Once Yeo Gu became king, I would have liked to see more of his achievements and relationship with Gugoryo and less about queens and babies and disenfranchised sons. It would be interesting to know what the writers originally had planned for the show, before the number of episodes got shortened and then lengthened again.
I found this show to be consistently entertaining, with 3-dimensional characters, mostly well-developed story lines, and some really well written scenes. It was an intelligent show that did not resort to cheap over-used plot devices or padding with annoying “comic relief”. I liked the actors and the musical score. I would enthusiastically recommend it.
As others have pointed out, everyone in this drama is a mixture of good and bad. I’m still not sure which characters the writers wanted us to be rooting for and which to be booing at. Biryu or Gye? Hong Ran or YeoHwa? Hae or Jin?
Some quotes come to mind here: 1) Bi Rang told YeoGu he had never married because he didn’t want to have a son who would have to bear the burden of trying to restore BuYeo, to which YuGu replied, “All fathers lay burdens on their children.” Yup, this show was all about children trying to live up to their parents’ expectations.
2) Albus Dumbledore to Harry Potter, “We are who we are because of the choices we make”. Too many characters in this story blamed their troubles on others, instead of accepting responsibility and the consequences of their actions.
3) As Grandfather said, “Suck it up and get over it”.
If there’s a Hall of Shame for characters in Korean historical dramas, this show would have some prime nominees. Let’s start with:
King Gye – nasty, nasty, nasty, and so selfish. I don’t know whether he should have been made king instead of Biryu or not. But he became a bitter man who passed this resentment on to his family, poisoning their lives, and eventually destroying them. He sold his daughter up the river to gain Sayu as an ally in his quest for the throne. When the going got tough, he wimped out by asking Hae Gun to kill him, leaving Hae Gun to clean up the mess. And even after death, pushing Yeo Min to continue the quest for revenge. He is the Biggest Loser.
Evil Queen – She was crazy by the end, wasn’t she? She murdered her husband. She poisoned Gye. She was totally obsessed with making Chan king. Granted, she had good cause to be upset when she found out Biryu was going to have Chan killed. But she could have saved Chan without destroying other people’s lives in the process. And I can’t forgive her for manipulating Hwi, her only decent honorable son, into saving Chan at the expense of his own life. She gets the Best Acting Award.
Hae Gun – I didn’t like him from the start, and I liked him even less as the show went on. What a creep. The only member of the family with any brains, he willingly did all their dirty work. It was pretty hypocritical for him to say he loved YeoHwa and then do so many things that hurt her.
Jin Seung – This guy should have been YeoGu’s most loyal subject. Instead he turned his back on him at the first sign of trouble, and betrayed him when it looked like the Jins might lose some of their power. Shame on him.
Other Characters:
YeoHwa – OK, I liked her well enough when the show started, but I got tired of her very quickly. She showed some early signs of intelligence, but she kept making poor choices by continuing to support her stupid family, when she should have been supporting her husband (after all, she was #1 Queen). “Honey, please hurry home and protect my stupid brothers who are committing treason. I’m afraid the Jins are going to hurt them” “How can you sentence my brothers to death? All they did was commit treason”. Sure she had a lot of *&^%$ heaped on her, but most of it came from her own greedy family; too bad she took it all out on YeoGu.
Her brothers - Too stupid for words. YeoMin probably couldn’t get up in the morning without consulting Hae Gun first. How could Gye ever think that he could be an effective king?
Biryu – Such Tough Love. “Oops, I made a mistake when I appointed you Crown Prince. I’m afraid I’m going to have to kill you, but remember, I love you.”
YeoGu – Talk about obsession. Once Dad told him to be king and unite the peninsula, everything he did was directed toward that goal. And by golly, nothing was going to stand in his way. Too bad he didn’t spend as much time building a trusting relationship with his wives and nobles as he did with his generals. He could have saved himself a boatload of trouble. For a long time he really was behaving as Gye described him, a warmonger.
Sayu – the enemy, but at least he’s an open, honest enemy. I really like this actor. I wish his role had been larger.
Hong Ran – I liked Hong Ran very much. I hope YeoGu eventually grew to love and appreciate her. Unlike YeoHwa, she stood by her husband through thick and thin. Even when YeoGu asked her to do something that was personally painful, she came through for him. She had guts and intelligence, and she wasn’t afraid to mouth off at anyone. The scene where she was up on the roof taking pot shots at the rebelling soldiers – priceless. And I loved the way she scolded the Jins. She does lose some points for the rotten way she treated YeoHwa.
Bi Rang – He started off as a bit of a slimeball, but ended up by serving YeoGu loyally, even when it hurt.
Payoon and Bok Geom – YeoGu’s truest buddies. I’m glad they didn’t overuse Payoon as comic relief. And who would have thought that Bok Geom would be so gentle and good-hearted?
Dugo – kind of like a big teddy bear. Don’t you just want to hug him? I liked the friendship between him and Bok Geom. And he was the most consistently honest, honorable character in the show.
Haes and Jins – a plague on both your houses.
The Next Generation – too cute for words. At least the princes were. Princess seems a tad spoiled, don’t you think? (I cut her some slack in her early scenes because she couldn’t have been more than 13 or 14 when she got married off to Sa Gi).
I was pleasantly surprised at the way the show went after the time jump. The writers introduced a lot of new faces, not to mention raging teenage hormones, yet they managed to tie all of them together with the original characters pretty well. And good heavens, the show ended very upbeat, with honor and generosity and good will. How often do we see a show end like that? As I figured, YeoHwa died tragically in YeoGu’s arms, but at least it wasn’t (too) overdone.
The Dae Jang Geum Cooking Award goes to Bi Rang for his skill with a wok.
The Jumong Award goes to Hong Ran for her archery skills.
Most Creative Hair – Ajikai.
Character Most in Need of a Good Smack – For a long time I was planning to give this award to YeoMin’s snotty wife (Rahae?), but then it seemed like Jin Seung was more deserving. Next Generation Princess was also pretty snotty. Heck, I give the award to all of them.
Character most in need of family counseling – Yeo Chan. So many unresolved issues with Mommy and Daddy and Grandfather. Runner-up: King Sayu.
The Sacrificial Lamb Award goes to Yeo Hwi. He joins Aja, Cheungmyung, and Haemyung at that Great Banquet for beloved older royal siblings who come to an untimely end.
The Let’s Go for a Swim Award goes to Yeo Gu and Yeo Hwa. Yeo Gu gets bonus points for the underwater bodice-ripping.
The Sourpuss Award goes to Yeo San for his perpetual scowl. Second place goes to the Goguryo maid.
The Wives R Us Award goes to the Jin family, purveyors of royal ladies. “We’ve always provided the women for the kings.”
The Teflon Award goes to Hae Gun – I kept waiting for someone to figure out that he was secretly helping the Wiregyungs, or that he was responsible for the baby fiasco. When DanDani and Eunmul finally told YeoHwa that Hae Gun had tried to kill her baby, YeoHwa’s laid-back reaction was “Yeah, I kind of figured that”. WHAT? For 15 years she blamed YeoGu for the baby’s death, but it didn’t bother her that Hae Gun was the one who tried to kill the baby and deceived her all this time?
The Candy and Flowers Award goes to YeoGu, in the hope that in his next life he’ll understand women better. “Why are you upset that I haven’t slept with you yet? We’ve only been married 2 years.” “You’re pregnant with my first child? That’s nice, let me know how it all turns out.” “Honey, I love you, but what I really covet is your family’s army, so won’t you marry me, please, please?”. “Yes, I think it’s a lovely evening too. Now down to business - I need you to adopt my other son (the one you thought was dead).”
The No Child Left Behind Award goes to Yeo San. Out of all the major characters, he is the most neglected. The writers never did provide any plausible background/context for his rotten attitude. But it’s clear that he’s the son that nobody cared about, so maybe that’s reason enough.
The Rolls-Eyes-in-Disbelief Award goes to the premature baby story line. OK, no matter how advanced the Koreans may have been in herbal medicine and acupuncture, I find it really, really hard to believe that a baby born 2 months premature could have survived, let alone grown up to be as healthy as YeoGusu was. The other incredulous thing was that Grandfather never looked at the baby himself. It would have been immediately obvious just looking at him that he was premature. The writers get a slap on the hands for trying to make us believe this one.
Weirdest line: “I’m so glad to see you that my nostrils are flaring”. I am not making this up.
Most anachronistic line: “This is no time for smoking a cigarette.”
The End
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shiku
Junior Addict
Posts: 159
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Post by shiku on Jul 16, 2011 15:47:40 GMT -5
@ mugwump You nailed the awards. Thanks for the laugh. I have to agree the baby storyline was beyond stupid
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Post by MTR on Jul 16, 2011 15:53:53 GMT -5
Yes Mugwump you put it all in perfect perspective .
Though im torn between Rahae and Jin Seung for the good slap award .
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Post by Gracien on Jul 16, 2011 23:43:05 GMT -5
Please answer, which of the brothers became Eoraha. Which of the brothers married into the Jin clan. That Moe chickie did she marry the frail body son?
Observation! The frail body son should of been YH seeing he was born premature. The stronger son should of been Hogwash's son she carried him to full term. Everyone can see their is a resemblence with the first son and Eoraha, more so that the 2nd son, he look like no one.
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Post by sageuk on Jul 17, 2011 2:59:31 GMT -5
Am I the only one who felt that King Gye and Sayu felt more kingly than Yeogu?
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Post by truth on Jul 17, 2011 3:13:43 GMT -5
Please answer, which of the brothers became Eoraha. Which of the brothers married into the Jin clan. That Moe chickie did she marry the frail body son? Observation! The frail body son should of been YH seeing he was born premature. The stronger son should of been Hogwash's son she carried him to full term. Everyone can see their is a resemblence with the first son and Eoraha, more so that the 2nd son, he look like no one. Yeo Gusu married into the Jin Clan and Yeo Geun married Princess Jinggu(or the Moe chickie). Important : Neither Yeo Gusu nor Yeo Geun are real people.
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Post by Gracien on Jul 17, 2011 17:10:18 GMT -5
Thanks truth! Yes, earlier you mentioned they were both fictional characters, I needed to know how they eventually solved the marriage and the ascention to Eoraha. Who was given the distinction of CP?
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