Post by ajk on Jun 1, 2014 14:03:11 GMT -5
JD takes the written appeal straight to the king and demands the execution of Lee Saek and Wu Hyeonbo. The king groans...partly because Wu Hyeonbo is a relative, and partly because he's tired of the whole thing. But JD insists that this is important to the king's legitimacy and authority. He and his allies then leave the palace, but on the way out JD is nearly assaulted by first Lee Sungin and then Wu Hyeonbo. Word spreads fast, apparently.
Seonggye is still in Hwaryeong where his first wife is severely ill. JD, in his absence, wants to put soldiers in the capital. General Bae resists, but amazingly, Lady Kang walks into the meeting and says that Seonggye is the kind of man who "needs his table set" for him, that that everybody should support JD and prepare the situation so that Seonggye can take whatever control of it he needs to when he returns. And she also brings the sad news that his first wife died. Later we see soldiers march into the capital.
JD has called a council meeting and is trying to get a majority vote to support his appeal. But suddenly, soldiers barge in and arrest him! Mongju strolls in and accuses him of concealing a questionable lineage on his mother's side. "If one parent was a servant, the child is a servant too." Which means he can't have the government position he has. JD actually cracks and goes a little nuts as he's hauled away. So is it true?
Hwaryeong: Funeral rites are taking place. Lee Bangu is there; came from his seclusion. Seonggye asks Bangwon to quit his government job and stay here for the three-year mourning period with Bangu. But Bangwon is more concerned about his father's situation. You can't have both JD and Mongju on your side, he says; you have to choose. Seonggye still insists that they'll stop fighting eventually and "I will embrace them both." Bangwon can only sigh. But then, talk about timing, Jiran enters with news that JD is being interrogated and tortured because of Mongju. Seonggye bangs his head on the table. Maybe NOW he'll come to his senses?
Day one of the torture, and JD is holding firm. Won't talk, won't confess. "Bring the chancellor" is all he says.
Look at this--Nam Eun has gone to Mongju and is confronting him with evidence that the servant-status charge is baloney! It's complicated stuff about ancestry and possibly misread names in documents. Mongju just laughs at it; says it's all stuff written by JD himself 20 years ago and is obviously falsified.
JD's allies go confront the king. "I couldn't tell the vice chancellor not to," he meekly protests. "There isn't any proof that it's not true." Ugh. They argue that the torture is an overreaction even if the charge is true...but the king takes it more seriously because he thinks that when lowly people are put in high places "they do reckless deeds." And he's so sick of the whole fight by now that he tells them to go away.
Lady Kang goes to Jeongbi, to ask her to order JD released, as the royal family elder. Im staying out of it, Jeongbi says bitterly. "I gave an order to dethrone the king twice. I'm just a puppet. My heart left this palace long ago."
That evening: The king is worried about what Seonggye might do when he hears about JD. Mongju assures him that JD's torture will be ramped up tomorrow and they'll get a confession out of him. The king is grateful and tells him "I will never forget your loyalty to Goryeo." Which profoundly moves Mongju, we can see that...but the king also tells him he's surprised that Mongju is doing this kind of ugly politics. He means no offense by it, but clearly the words dig in and bother Mongju.
Mongju leaves and goes to check on JD in prison. "Will you confess now?" Sounds like he won't. "So, I have to be of a lowly status?" Mongju sneers. "Isn't this a strategy you enjoy using?" "Yes," JD answers; "that's why I know how much you are suffering." He apologizes to Mongju for turning him into the "monster" he's acting like right now...but warns him to stop because it could cost him his life. And then tries hard to convince him to join the revolution and give up on Goryeo. An intense exchange between them, but in the end it comes down to this for Mongju: "Goryeo made me. It is everything to me." And he insists that it's still fixable. All JD can say is, "I will wait for you. As long as I'm alive, I will wait." Mongju walks out, and JD breaks down sobbing.
The next morning: JD is dragged out into the prison yard and charges are read to him. Concealed a lowly status and "caused chaos in the court." But how about this--there will be no more torture because he's being ordered exiled! That's a surprise; wonder why the change? He's promptly loaded into a prisoner cart and carted away through the capital streets as everyone--seriously, everyone--watches along the roadsides. He even has some stones thrown at him as rumors spread through the citizens about the supposedly horrible things he did.
Not sure how many days have passed, but Seonggye returns to the capital now. The nervous king asks Mongju how they can possibly deny Seonggye's inevitable demand for a pardon for JD. Mongju thinks the conviction is too airtight to allow a pardon, but says "I will convince him. I will get rid of that traitorous mind that he is holding onto." Seriously?
That evening, outside the king's palace: JD's allies find Seonggye there and want to talk to him. Mongju shows up and interrupts. But yikes look at the glare Seonggye is giving Mongju. He promptly tells Jiran that he's going inside to see the king and shouts an order not to let anyone else in.
Inside, Gongyang explains that he's sorry about JD's treatment and had no intention of doing it "but the vice chancellor was too stubborn." And adds that "You said to leave everything to the vice chancellor when he left." Which is true, admittedly. Seonggye glares at him...and then says he's resigning! Doink! Why would you do this, Gongyang whines; "Who am I to trust if you are still gone?" But Seonggye says he thinks the king's fear and worry is all an act. He demands the resignation be accepted, and with one last steely glare to silence the ongoing whining, walks out. Not the forward-facing-foot-shuffle exit people always give the king; he turns his back.
Next day: "He is testing your trust for him." Mongju tells the king he must not accept the resignation.
That evening: Here we go--Mongju sits down with Seonggye. He's not the least bit intimidated. "I am going to come up with an excuse to kill Sambong," he threatens. "You planned a dynastic revolution with him? it is just a delusion." But now Seonggye decides it's time to lay all the cards on the table. "My cause is to sit on the throne with you and Sambong by my sides." That's why I made you vice chancellor and "told Sambong not to touch you." And as his voice gets louder and louder he says how disgusted he is that Mongju is trying to destroy a lifetime friend. "I'm going to be the king no matter what. Go ahead and try to impeach me for being a traitor. I will show you what Lee Seonggye is made of!" Mongju laughs cynically, tells Seonggye he's become a monster just like JD, and stands up to leave. Seonggye goes ballistic. "The Wang clan ruled for 500 years! Why can't I be the king. I'm going to do a better job and take better care of the people. Who are you to say I can't?" And now his threat: "If you don't want to turn the capital into a bloody ocean, bring me the royal seal with your own hands." Mongju angrily refuses: "Unless you cut off my hands and put the royal seal in them, that will never happen." The reply: "Do you think I can't do that?" Yow-wee. Mongju tells him, "All I can bring is his majesty's refusal." Says he'll come again, and then finally leaves.
Hwaryeong: word reaches Bangwon of his father's resignation. And he's still stuck here mourning his mother...for three years? So his wife Min offers some advice. You have brothers here who are handling the mourning, she says, and besides, "Does it matter where your body is? Filial duty comes from the heart." A bold (and arguably radical) suggestion...but it convinces Bangwon and he gets right up to prepare for the trip home.
Hmm...now Mongju's allies have moved troops of their own into the capital.
Seonggye and Jiran have gone out hunting. They're cooking some fowl they caught...but Seonggye has been drinking heavily and is all goofy like we've seen him twice before. The whole JD/Mongju business is weighing heavily on him. And the more and more he thinks about it...and especially about that last showdown with Mongju...the angrier he gets...and suddenly he gets up, mounts his horse, and gallops for home! A panicked Jiran orders the squad of guards on the scene to catch Seonggye before he gets home and does anything stupid in his drunken state. Now a horseback chase through the countryside--a chase that ends when Seonggye mishandles his reins and his thrown from his horse. As Jiran rushes up to him, he coughs up blood and appears to go unconscious.
Seonggye is still in Hwaryeong where his first wife is severely ill. JD, in his absence, wants to put soldiers in the capital. General Bae resists, but amazingly, Lady Kang walks into the meeting and says that Seonggye is the kind of man who "needs his table set" for him, that that everybody should support JD and prepare the situation so that Seonggye can take whatever control of it he needs to when he returns. And she also brings the sad news that his first wife died. Later we see soldiers march into the capital.
JD has called a council meeting and is trying to get a majority vote to support his appeal. But suddenly, soldiers barge in and arrest him! Mongju strolls in and accuses him of concealing a questionable lineage on his mother's side. "If one parent was a servant, the child is a servant too." Which means he can't have the government position he has. JD actually cracks and goes a little nuts as he's hauled away. So is it true?
Hwaryeong: Funeral rites are taking place. Lee Bangu is there; came from his seclusion. Seonggye asks Bangwon to quit his government job and stay here for the three-year mourning period with Bangu. But Bangwon is more concerned about his father's situation. You can't have both JD and Mongju on your side, he says; you have to choose. Seonggye still insists that they'll stop fighting eventually and "I will embrace them both." Bangwon can only sigh. But then, talk about timing, Jiran enters with news that JD is being interrogated and tortured because of Mongju. Seonggye bangs his head on the table. Maybe NOW he'll come to his senses?
Day one of the torture, and JD is holding firm. Won't talk, won't confess. "Bring the chancellor" is all he says.
Look at this--Nam Eun has gone to Mongju and is confronting him with evidence that the servant-status charge is baloney! It's complicated stuff about ancestry and possibly misread names in documents. Mongju just laughs at it; says it's all stuff written by JD himself 20 years ago and is obviously falsified.
JD's allies go confront the king. "I couldn't tell the vice chancellor not to," he meekly protests. "There isn't any proof that it's not true." Ugh. They argue that the torture is an overreaction even if the charge is true...but the king takes it more seriously because he thinks that when lowly people are put in high places "they do reckless deeds." And he's so sick of the whole fight by now that he tells them to go away.
Lady Kang goes to Jeongbi, to ask her to order JD released, as the royal family elder. Im staying out of it, Jeongbi says bitterly. "I gave an order to dethrone the king twice. I'm just a puppet. My heart left this palace long ago."
That evening: The king is worried about what Seonggye might do when he hears about JD. Mongju assures him that JD's torture will be ramped up tomorrow and they'll get a confession out of him. The king is grateful and tells him "I will never forget your loyalty to Goryeo." Which profoundly moves Mongju, we can see that...but the king also tells him he's surprised that Mongju is doing this kind of ugly politics. He means no offense by it, but clearly the words dig in and bother Mongju.
Mongju leaves and goes to check on JD in prison. "Will you confess now?" Sounds like he won't. "So, I have to be of a lowly status?" Mongju sneers. "Isn't this a strategy you enjoy using?" "Yes," JD answers; "that's why I know how much you are suffering." He apologizes to Mongju for turning him into the "monster" he's acting like right now...but warns him to stop because it could cost him his life. And then tries hard to convince him to join the revolution and give up on Goryeo. An intense exchange between them, but in the end it comes down to this for Mongju: "Goryeo made me. It is everything to me." And he insists that it's still fixable. All JD can say is, "I will wait for you. As long as I'm alive, I will wait." Mongju walks out, and JD breaks down sobbing.
The next morning: JD is dragged out into the prison yard and charges are read to him. Concealed a lowly status and "caused chaos in the court." But how about this--there will be no more torture because he's being ordered exiled! That's a surprise; wonder why the change? He's promptly loaded into a prisoner cart and carted away through the capital streets as everyone--seriously, everyone--watches along the roadsides. He even has some stones thrown at him as rumors spread through the citizens about the supposedly horrible things he did.
Not sure how many days have passed, but Seonggye returns to the capital now. The nervous king asks Mongju how they can possibly deny Seonggye's inevitable demand for a pardon for JD. Mongju thinks the conviction is too airtight to allow a pardon, but says "I will convince him. I will get rid of that traitorous mind that he is holding onto." Seriously?
That evening, outside the king's palace: JD's allies find Seonggye there and want to talk to him. Mongju shows up and interrupts. But yikes look at the glare Seonggye is giving Mongju. He promptly tells Jiran that he's going inside to see the king and shouts an order not to let anyone else in.
Inside, Gongyang explains that he's sorry about JD's treatment and had no intention of doing it "but the vice chancellor was too stubborn." And adds that "You said to leave everything to the vice chancellor when he left." Which is true, admittedly. Seonggye glares at him...and then says he's resigning! Doink! Why would you do this, Gongyang whines; "Who am I to trust if you are still gone?" But Seonggye says he thinks the king's fear and worry is all an act. He demands the resignation be accepted, and with one last steely glare to silence the ongoing whining, walks out. Not the forward-facing-foot-shuffle exit people always give the king; he turns his back.
Next day: "He is testing your trust for him." Mongju tells the king he must not accept the resignation.
That evening: Here we go--Mongju sits down with Seonggye. He's not the least bit intimidated. "I am going to come up with an excuse to kill Sambong," he threatens. "You planned a dynastic revolution with him? it is just a delusion." But now Seonggye decides it's time to lay all the cards on the table. "My cause is to sit on the throne with you and Sambong by my sides." That's why I made you vice chancellor and "told Sambong not to touch you." And as his voice gets louder and louder he says how disgusted he is that Mongju is trying to destroy a lifetime friend. "I'm going to be the king no matter what. Go ahead and try to impeach me for being a traitor. I will show you what Lee Seonggye is made of!" Mongju laughs cynically, tells Seonggye he's become a monster just like JD, and stands up to leave. Seonggye goes ballistic. "The Wang clan ruled for 500 years! Why can't I be the king. I'm going to do a better job and take better care of the people. Who are you to say I can't?" And now his threat: "If you don't want to turn the capital into a bloody ocean, bring me the royal seal with your own hands." Mongju angrily refuses: "Unless you cut off my hands and put the royal seal in them, that will never happen." The reply: "Do you think I can't do that?" Yow-wee. Mongju tells him, "All I can bring is his majesty's refusal." Says he'll come again, and then finally leaves.
Hwaryeong: word reaches Bangwon of his father's resignation. And he's still stuck here mourning his mother...for three years? So his wife Min offers some advice. You have brothers here who are handling the mourning, she says, and besides, "Does it matter where your body is? Filial duty comes from the heart." A bold (and arguably radical) suggestion...but it convinces Bangwon and he gets right up to prepare for the trip home.
Hmm...now Mongju's allies have moved troops of their own into the capital.
Seonggye and Jiran have gone out hunting. They're cooking some fowl they caught...but Seonggye has been drinking heavily and is all goofy like we've seen him twice before. The whole JD/Mongju business is weighing heavily on him. And the more and more he thinks about it...and especially about that last showdown with Mongju...the angrier he gets...and suddenly he gets up, mounts his horse, and gallops for home! A panicked Jiran orders the squad of guards on the scene to catch Seonggye before he gets home and does anything stupid in his drunken state. Now a horseback chase through the countryside--a chase that ends when Seonggye mishandles his reins and his thrown from his horse. As Jiran rushes up to him, he coughs up blood and appears to go unconscious.