Post by ajk on Jun 10, 2013 15:15:51 GMT -5
There's a long, angry rant coming...but just to be fair, I also wanted to post this. Made a list of things I liked most about the series. Various scenes, things, episodes I liked and wanted to acknowledge. In no particular order....
--Everybody gushes about the job that the actress playing Mishil did, and she deserves every word of it. Whatever anybody's opinion of the quality of the material they gave her to work with, she totally made that character come to life. It's all been said before so no need to repeat it here...but all the money MBC and the producers made on this series, they ought to give her 90 percent of it because she carried the series almost all by herself.
--Episodes 38 and 39. I thought this was the best part of the series and showed how good it could have been throughout. Those were the episodes with the mystery about the food prices, the land reclamation with the northern farmers, and Deokman and Mishil struggling with the idea that the other one might not be entirely wrong about everything. Sophisticated, interesting storyline that tied in really well with the larger story (all the way back to Deokman growing up in the trading post and so she had a feel for the grain market) and dealt with the entire kingdom rather than just power struggles inside the palace. The sequence that ended with Deokman killing those two villagers was great. And the best line in the whole series, when she calls the Council meeting and confronts the nobles about the food-price mystery: "The explanation is simple: some of you are criminals." Hah! And their Scooby-Doo reactions. Ruh? Rut-Ro! Hajong going nuts and the whole thing degenerating into pushing and shoving and threats, I still laugh about it.
--The Weird Guy. Attempts at humor in these historicals usually don't work, but having some random weird guy walk out of a cave and start kicking people's butts because they smooshed his chicken lunch, that was hilarious. It's too bad they identified him so soon; still think that was a mistake...but before the Mishil's-kid angle came into play and he was only The Weird Guy, he made the story more lively and interesting.
--Two of the battle scenes in Episode 10, including the attack at the Amak Fortress gate. I liked them a lot because they showed things from the point of view of new soldiers being thrown into battle for the first time. The chaos at Amak and how the newbies were almost paralyzed by it all, and Deokman being overcome and almost going into shock at having killed someone for the first time. Completely different perspective from what we always see in battle scenes. And it felt authentic, like this is definitely what happens to a lot of new soldiers.
--The scene in Ep8 when the young Deokman is brought in to identify Bojong as the person whose life she helped save in the woods. Pulls out his ring when he denies it and waves it in front of his face, which also shuts up Seolwon...And then she spots Mishil and chews her out for breaking their deal to release Jukbang and Godo. And Mishil has to just stand there and smile and take it because the entire royal party is watching. What a great scene. It wasn't meant to be funny but it cracked me up watching some scraggly punk mouthing off to the bigshots like that.
--There were a few storylines about the use of illusion to fool the people, or else trying to turn physical phenomena into omens. Statues coming out of the ground; eclipses and other star events; and things like the mystery boat. Some of the storylines worked better than others, but apparently there's historical basis for the idea of rulers using this stuff to mess with their subjects' minds so just the idea of it was good to bring into the series.
--The slow unraveling of the lost-twin mystery. Looking back, I didn't give it proper credit at the time, mainly because it took up too much of the storyline for too long. But mysteries are always fun, and this one gets some credit for taking things from past episodes and bringing them back later as the mystery got solved. I like shows that reward you for being a loyal viewer and paying attention.
--Something I wish they had done a lot more with: On one side is an idealistic younger person who had a good heart about wanting to help people but no clue about how to get things done; and on the other side is a cynical political veteran who’s undeniably very good at getting things done but is more concerned about playing politics than the people’s welfare. If this had been a different kind of series, the conflicts between those styles could have been the heart of it all and that could have turned into something special. Unfortunately we only got a few brief conversations between the two of them about how to lead a kingdom, and it really only had any effect on the series in Episode 39 when Deokman killed those villagers (and then she forgot the lesson when it came time to punish Mishil’s people). Too bad. But I liked the way the two characters were set up against each other (intentionally or not) and I thought about it a lot during the series.
--Juryeonggu! The 14-sided dice...probably nobody else would put them on a list like this, but give me one. It looks like they overstretched it; elites used them for a drinking game, but the scenes showing them being used in the casino, I’ve checked into it and I don’t think they would have been used like regular dice. Whatever...who would have figured anybody ever used 14-sided dice. And for a drinking game at that.
--Some of the things on the production side were very good. Give 90% credit to the music. Some of it was excellent, and to their credit the producers never resorted to weak contemporary pop stuff. I really appreciated that. But they lose a few points for using cheap-sounding synthesizers on occasion rather than real musicians. Series is making money up the wazoo so pay the violinists, you cheapskates. And then some of the visuals in certain scenes were striking and memorable. Two that I most remember are Sohwa's flight with the infant in Episode 3, with the moonlight and the cave fires; and Deokman and Yushin in the Bokya camp in Episode 27, with the torches and the waterwheel in the background. Lots of nice settings and images, and they did seem to do the night ones very well.
--And finally, as I said last week, the idea for the last scene was very clever. Last scenes get remembered and this one will deservedly be remembered as a good one.
Maybe I've forgotten one or two others that I'll add later, but these are the main ones that come to mind.
--Everybody gushes about the job that the actress playing Mishil did, and she deserves every word of it. Whatever anybody's opinion of the quality of the material they gave her to work with, she totally made that character come to life. It's all been said before so no need to repeat it here...but all the money MBC and the producers made on this series, they ought to give her 90 percent of it because she carried the series almost all by herself.
--Episodes 38 and 39. I thought this was the best part of the series and showed how good it could have been throughout. Those were the episodes with the mystery about the food prices, the land reclamation with the northern farmers, and Deokman and Mishil struggling with the idea that the other one might not be entirely wrong about everything. Sophisticated, interesting storyline that tied in really well with the larger story (all the way back to Deokman growing up in the trading post and so she had a feel for the grain market) and dealt with the entire kingdom rather than just power struggles inside the palace. The sequence that ended with Deokman killing those two villagers was great. And the best line in the whole series, when she calls the Council meeting and confronts the nobles about the food-price mystery: "The explanation is simple: some of you are criminals." Hah! And their Scooby-Doo reactions. Ruh? Rut-Ro! Hajong going nuts and the whole thing degenerating into pushing and shoving and threats, I still laugh about it.
--The Weird Guy. Attempts at humor in these historicals usually don't work, but having some random weird guy walk out of a cave and start kicking people's butts because they smooshed his chicken lunch, that was hilarious. It's too bad they identified him so soon; still think that was a mistake...but before the Mishil's-kid angle came into play and he was only The Weird Guy, he made the story more lively and interesting.
--Two of the battle scenes in Episode 10, including the attack at the Amak Fortress gate. I liked them a lot because they showed things from the point of view of new soldiers being thrown into battle for the first time. The chaos at Amak and how the newbies were almost paralyzed by it all, and Deokman being overcome and almost going into shock at having killed someone for the first time. Completely different perspective from what we always see in battle scenes. And it felt authentic, like this is definitely what happens to a lot of new soldiers.
--The scene in Ep8 when the young Deokman is brought in to identify Bojong as the person whose life she helped save in the woods. Pulls out his ring when he denies it and waves it in front of his face, which also shuts up Seolwon...And then she spots Mishil and chews her out for breaking their deal to release Jukbang and Godo. And Mishil has to just stand there and smile and take it because the entire royal party is watching. What a great scene. It wasn't meant to be funny but it cracked me up watching some scraggly punk mouthing off to the bigshots like that.
--There were a few storylines about the use of illusion to fool the people, or else trying to turn physical phenomena into omens. Statues coming out of the ground; eclipses and other star events; and things like the mystery boat. Some of the storylines worked better than others, but apparently there's historical basis for the idea of rulers using this stuff to mess with their subjects' minds so just the idea of it was good to bring into the series.
--The slow unraveling of the lost-twin mystery. Looking back, I didn't give it proper credit at the time, mainly because it took up too much of the storyline for too long. But mysteries are always fun, and this one gets some credit for taking things from past episodes and bringing them back later as the mystery got solved. I like shows that reward you for being a loyal viewer and paying attention.
--Something I wish they had done a lot more with: On one side is an idealistic younger person who had a good heart about wanting to help people but no clue about how to get things done; and on the other side is a cynical political veteran who’s undeniably very good at getting things done but is more concerned about playing politics than the people’s welfare. If this had been a different kind of series, the conflicts between those styles could have been the heart of it all and that could have turned into something special. Unfortunately we only got a few brief conversations between the two of them about how to lead a kingdom, and it really only had any effect on the series in Episode 39 when Deokman killed those villagers (and then she forgot the lesson when it came time to punish Mishil’s people). Too bad. But I liked the way the two characters were set up against each other (intentionally or not) and I thought about it a lot during the series.
--Juryeonggu! The 14-sided dice...probably nobody else would put them on a list like this, but give me one. It looks like they overstretched it; elites used them for a drinking game, but the scenes showing them being used in the casino, I’ve checked into it and I don’t think they would have been used like regular dice. Whatever...who would have figured anybody ever used 14-sided dice. And for a drinking game at that.
--Some of the things on the production side were very good. Give 90% credit to the music. Some of it was excellent, and to their credit the producers never resorted to weak contemporary pop stuff. I really appreciated that. But they lose a few points for using cheap-sounding synthesizers on occasion rather than real musicians. Series is making money up the wazoo so pay the violinists, you cheapskates. And then some of the visuals in certain scenes were striking and memorable. Two that I most remember are Sohwa's flight with the infant in Episode 3, with the moonlight and the cave fires; and Deokman and Yushin in the Bokya camp in Episode 27, with the torches and the waterwheel in the background. Lots of nice settings and images, and they did seem to do the night ones very well.
--And finally, as I said last week, the idea for the last scene was very clever. Last scenes get remembered and this one will deservedly be remembered as a good one.
Maybe I've forgotten one or two others that I'll add later, but these are the main ones that come to mind.