Post by ajk on Mar 18, 2017 13:43:53 GMT -5
Well I gotta say, that was darned good. Very entertaining episode. Certainly not much history in there, but strictly as a piece of story-telling it was excellent. If a series is going to do this kind of early-years fictional story as filler or character development or whatever, you at least want it to be enjoyable to watch and this one sure was. And the music was wonderful (more Westernized than I'd like it to be but that's true for nearly every historical). The music totally elevated the entire episode.
The setting for the tournament was almost cinematic. So many extras and so elaborately staged, wow. The last time I saw a big-scale scene that had so much pop to it, probably it was the urban warfare scene in Jeong Dojeon. Anybody know where the arena is? Is it an actual historic site or was it a stage? (Or maybe it was CGI but it sure didn't look like it.) And some great stunt work and choreographing of the combat scene. That guy flying off his horse and crashing into the top of the cell wall, and then the guy getting knocked off his horse and trampled--those really made an impact and sold the danger and violence of the game.
The actual game, apparently what we saw was way over the top violence-wise compared to the actual game, which (thanks truth) is called gyeokju. The only thing I could find in English online about gyeokju is a photograph that showed why they use those oddly shaped poles with the rings on the ends. The rings are just a little smaller than the ball is, so that players can carry the ball if they're able to pick it up. Western polo uses those mallets that just have a little crossbar at the end like a T for striking the ball. Seems like it would be difficult to pick the ball up while running on a horse, but it sure would give a big advantage to anybody who can do it.
All of those spectators cheering for slaves fighting and dying, it sure felt a lot more Roman than Asian. Probably not too realistic. Remember the Chinese history prof who told me that the gladiator-slave-combat thing in EOS didn't happen in Tang China; kinda hard to believe it would have been a big seller in Goryeo either. Actually the tournament game reminded me a lot of the 1975 movie Rollerball. Anybody else see that movie? Rollerball was a mega-violent version of roller derby, with a hard ball that you had to capture and throw into a goal...and it was mostly a game of beating the crap out of the other team to make goals possible. Have to think whoever created the tournament scene saw that movie. I guess this game would be "Riderball."
Yi Kongju: "The reason I didn't recommend him at first was those doe eyes of his....But something has changed in him. There's blood thirst there." That kind of writing sure gives confidence that the series won't be lowest-common-denominator stuff.
"A real scholar there." Guy bonks his head on the pole and falls off his horse, and then gets trash-talked. Loved that.
Gannan: "What lunatic would flirt with that?" She shoots she scores!
Gannan: "You were brother and sister in a way. And as you grew older, well, those feelings deepen. It's natural." Yeah but until just recently he always was a monk. Sure hope they haven't deepened yet; it wouldn't make sense.
Okay here's the history question for this episode: Those two younger goofball guys we've been seeing, we learned that they're Choe U's sons by way of a concubine. The narration told us that they couldn't even address Choe as their father; in the episode they called him "sir" and "honorable." Would that really have been true? This wasn't a royal family, after all...certainly their parentage would have affected their status in the family but the way we saw them treated, it was like they were toxic. Almost had to feel sorry for them. Yeah they're dirtbags but if they were shunned their whole childhoods, no wonder they're dirtbags.
The Tripitaka, it's an amazing accomplishment and a great story, but apparently it plays a big part in this series so I won't post anything about it for now in case there are spoilers.
Certainly don't want the whole series to be like this episode--little history and lots of drama--but no complaints about this one at all. And the best thing is, you really don't know what's going to happen. Certainly we know Kim Jun will survive it and do well, but can he win it...and will he have to face down Yangbaek to do so? Gonna be hard to resist peeking ahead this week.
The setting for the tournament was almost cinematic. So many extras and so elaborately staged, wow. The last time I saw a big-scale scene that had so much pop to it, probably it was the urban warfare scene in Jeong Dojeon. Anybody know where the arena is? Is it an actual historic site or was it a stage? (Or maybe it was CGI but it sure didn't look like it.) And some great stunt work and choreographing of the combat scene. That guy flying off his horse and crashing into the top of the cell wall, and then the guy getting knocked off his horse and trampled--those really made an impact and sold the danger and violence of the game.
The actual game, apparently what we saw was way over the top violence-wise compared to the actual game, which (thanks truth) is called gyeokju. The only thing I could find in English online about gyeokju is a photograph that showed why they use those oddly shaped poles with the rings on the ends. The rings are just a little smaller than the ball is, so that players can carry the ball if they're able to pick it up. Western polo uses those mallets that just have a little crossbar at the end like a T for striking the ball. Seems like it would be difficult to pick the ball up while running on a horse, but it sure would give a big advantage to anybody who can do it.
All of those spectators cheering for slaves fighting and dying, it sure felt a lot more Roman than Asian. Probably not too realistic. Remember the Chinese history prof who told me that the gladiator-slave-combat thing in EOS didn't happen in Tang China; kinda hard to believe it would have been a big seller in Goryeo either. Actually the tournament game reminded me a lot of the 1975 movie Rollerball. Anybody else see that movie? Rollerball was a mega-violent version of roller derby, with a hard ball that you had to capture and throw into a goal...and it was mostly a game of beating the crap out of the other team to make goals possible. Have to think whoever created the tournament scene saw that movie. I guess this game would be "Riderball."
Yi Kongju: "The reason I didn't recommend him at first was those doe eyes of his....But something has changed in him. There's blood thirst there." That kind of writing sure gives confidence that the series won't be lowest-common-denominator stuff.
"A real scholar there." Guy bonks his head on the pole and falls off his horse, and then gets trash-talked. Loved that.
Gannan: "What lunatic would flirt with that?" She shoots she scores!
Gannan: "You were brother and sister in a way. And as you grew older, well, those feelings deepen. It's natural." Yeah but until just recently he always was a monk. Sure hope they haven't deepened yet; it wouldn't make sense.
Okay here's the history question for this episode: Those two younger goofball guys we've been seeing, we learned that they're Choe U's sons by way of a concubine. The narration told us that they couldn't even address Choe as their father; in the episode they called him "sir" and "honorable." Would that really have been true? This wasn't a royal family, after all...certainly their parentage would have affected their status in the family but the way we saw them treated, it was like they were toxic. Almost had to feel sorry for them. Yeah they're dirtbags but if they were shunned their whole childhoods, no wonder they're dirtbags.
The Tripitaka, it's an amazing accomplishment and a great story, but apparently it plays a big part in this series so I won't post anything about it for now in case there are spoilers.
Certainly don't want the whole series to be like this episode--little history and lots of drama--but no complaints about this one at all. And the best thing is, you really don't know what's going to happen. Certainly we know Kim Jun will survive it and do well, but can he win it...and will he have to face down Yangbaek to do so? Gonna be hard to resist peeking ahead this week.