Post by ajk on Nov 24, 2016 19:45:52 GMT -5
Much, much better episode than the previous one. Some very good stuff to hold your interest. I liked the arrowhead mystery. And the whole sequence with Madam Jami selling YM out and then not selling him out in the end, that was a great idea--excellent piece of writing. You never expected the second twist because it made perfect sense that she'd sell him out for her own benefit. Complete surprise, well done.
The ships sailing and maneuvering, beautiful to watch. And some outstanding stunt work with the flaming arrows flying all over the place in those two nighttime scenes on the water. That was terrific!
Even Joong-dal got a little more interesting in this one and a little less annoying.
Kim Yang is a real piece of work. You just don't know what's going on in his head. He did seem to listen and change his mind about the pirate issue...which showed maturity and reason...but did he really change his mind? And he did Madam Jami that favor, but will he keep doing them?
"A nail in a pocket...business and power can't exist without each other." Master Jo continues to be a great character. Wish he were more involved in the story.
I felt embarrassed for JB and everybody around him in the beginning. A bunch of pirates surrender to them and are disarmed, and end up causing complete chaos. Made JB look stupid.
It was kind of a surprise that JB's ship was able to outrun YM's ship and pull away. I thought pirate ships were made for speed, plus JB's ship was bigger. But I guess it's not totally implausible, especially if the pirates are low on supplies; maybe the ship isn't 100%.
Wasn't a perfect episode; some of the usual silliness, unfortunately:
--The floodlighting on YM's crew trying to sneak ashore in the dark, it was laughable how artificial it looked. Doesn't the production crew look at this stuff while they're filming it? We don't need to see everything clearly--I think everybody understands that it's harder to see stuff in the dark.
--Another staredown scene. And once again JB telling an adversary exactly what he knows rather than wisely keeping silent. Sheesh.
--When they're on that island spying from the high ground and watching YM right there in front of them...didn't anybody think to bring a bow and arrow? Problem solved right then and there. Nobody in this series ever thinks to bring a bow and arrow.
Also didn't like that the ending fight scene finished with JB and YM dueling on the roof. Too much of a cliche...but that kind of thing is to be expected by now in this series so not a surprise.
But the rest of the episode was more than good enough to overlook the quibbles. This was definitely one of the better ones.