Post by ajk on Jul 17, 2016 21:48:42 GMT -5
This was a better episode, for the most part, and just in time. Finally we started to get more deeply into the commerce stuff, and the plot held your interest. I enjoyed YM trying to manipulate the silk market. He really shouldn't have been buying so aggressively, at least not without his master's approval, but he said he took the risk and would have no regrets about it, and you have to respect that. And it would have worked, too, except for the untimely death.
People getting demoted to "coolie" status in this episode...I had never heard that word before. It means porter or unskilled laborer:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coolie
The word itself is from a much later time than the setting of this story...but it's the English translation so maybe the untranslated term is better.
The manipulation storyline was good but it did have a couple of problems. One, if Sul's group is so established and well-known in Youzhu, they would have had some sort of ongoing relationship to keep a steady supply of silk coming in. It seemed unlikely that their whole operation would be so vulnerable. Two, the biggest trader--the guy who would deal only with Sul--running to YM and begging to deal with him after Joong-dal went and glared at him. That was stupid. Not only because the guy had said he and Sul had a long history together--he wouldn't have caved so easily--but because a big merchant like him would have his own security force to protect him just like Sul and Yi have theirs. Where were they? Not good writing there.
Hey he asked her out--finally! Nice going YM.
I was hoping Sul or GB would try to get that physician out of jail before he was executed. He was the reason the whole thing turned out well for Sul's group in the end, so they owed him big-time. It was local domestic politics so you could understand if it couldn't be accomplished by outsiders, especially if it was so difficult to get GB and Yon out of there just for a minor public disturbance. But they should have tried. (And yet again, proof that being a physician back then was the absolute worst job!)
It was foolish of GB and Yon to start beating the crap out of Joong-dal in the middle of a foreign city where they didn't speak the language. What did they think would happen? But we have to let this one slide. After what Joong-dal did to them, it's understandable that they'd snap at the sight of him. So we can't award them a Duh for that one...
...but there are a couple of Duhs that do need awarding. Sul Pyung gives GB and Yon that lecture about how they need to be responsible for finding the fastest route and for learning astronomy...but he gives it to them halfway along the journey? Huh? Maybe tell them all that before you start out, Einstein. Duh.
And Sul's daughter, talking "secretly" about GB and Yon being jailed, to hide it from her father...but doing it in the same room with him and expecting he wouldn't hear it? Duh! (But I gotta say, the way she looks at GB is a lot more interesting than the way Jung-hwa looks at him.)
"He should be a merchant, not a security officer." Based on what? A lucky tip from a jail cell? Seriously? Ugh! We've seen absolutely nothing to suggest GB has any aptitude for this stuff...like we saw from Jung-hwa, for instance. If GB is supposed to have a future as a great merchant then they need to build him up properly.
Didn't care for the big long speech at the end. Sort of forced melodrama, too obvious. And once again, GB declaring his intentions when he has no ability to act on them and should just be quiet. I guess writers love the dramatic speeches but it doesn't make the characters look very smart.
P.S. Once again, a whole lot of screen time showing people's faces. Never seen a show that lingers on people's faces for so long.