Post by ajk on Apr 1, 2017 15:37:46 GMT -5
Well once they finally got past the leg injury (which took nearly half the episode, good grief), this was a very good episode. It kind of meandered around several concurrent situations and held your attention.
The first half was way too slow but at least it had two good things in it. One was the flashback showing KJ's prayer ritual--not because it was particularly good but just because it gave us some insight into his character and how he could be mentally tougher than other people from having gone through it. Wish they hadn't included the line about "I didn't eat or sleep for 20 days" (baloney he didn't) but it was a good piece of character development.
The other good thing was Songi calling in the royal physicians, because that's exactly what she should have done and it's what anybody in her position would have done. A lot of historicals, the characters in them don't do what anybody with half an ounce of common sense would do. It was obvious that the best thing Songi could do for KJ was get him some top-notch medical treatment. And she did, and not only that, she got him better equipment too. This may not sound like anything of much consequence but I thought it was a real hopeful sign that there are some smart people writing this series.
And wasn't it nice of Yangbaek to lend KJ his own horse? Yeah it's in Yangbaek's interest for the red team to win, but still, quite a gesture. (But where was KJ's helmet? Maybe he felt more comfortable without one but I wondered why he was helmetless this time. And that mallet, it looked like aluminum! What the heck was that.)
"You're not the conspiring, bloodthirsty type." How unusual was it to hear two high-ranking officials talking about trying to AVOID getting power. I don't think we've ever had a scene like that in any historical we've ever done here. Another good sign that we're in for an interesting series.
"You know what Songi's like--she wants her share and then some." That was odd. Meaning simply that she's aggressive about pursuing what she wants? Or maybe we don't entirely know her yet....
Here's the text of the narration about the arrival of the Mongols:
Another really good scene with Choe C in this one. And the confrontation scene at the border looked great--I'm sure some of it was CGI, but whatever, at least they made the effort to show us a big, big Mongol army instead of just trying to pass off a small group like a lot of historicals have done.
In the tournament scene Choe U was referred to as head of the royal secretariat. His father had that title in the first episode...so apparently it was transferred at some point. That's a pretty significant development for us not to have learned about it in the storyline. Oops.
The tournament scene was as good as the first one was. Didn't like the red guys getting surrounded in the first five seconds, that was silly, but after that the action and the stunt work were excellent.
"You're kimchi, boy!" I lost track of which blue team guy said that but I hope whoever it was ended up on the ground getting trampled by a horse. Honestly the trash-talking in these historicals is just sad.
Overall an encouraging episode--things got way, way too bogged down by the leg injury but the storyline seems to be on track again. Plus the Mongols showed up so we should be starting to get into the core of the real history now. And even the battleaxe kitchen supervisor toned it down a notch in this one, hooray.
p.s. Is KJ gonna get drug tested after the tournament? Hope he doesn't get disqualified for use of banned ginseng.
The first half was way too slow but at least it had two good things in it. One was the flashback showing KJ's prayer ritual--not because it was particularly good but just because it gave us some insight into his character and how he could be mentally tougher than other people from having gone through it. Wish they hadn't included the line about "I didn't eat or sleep for 20 days" (baloney he didn't) but it was a good piece of character development.
The other good thing was Songi calling in the royal physicians, because that's exactly what she should have done and it's what anybody in her position would have done. A lot of historicals, the characters in them don't do what anybody with half an ounce of common sense would do. It was obvious that the best thing Songi could do for KJ was get him some top-notch medical treatment. And she did, and not only that, she got him better equipment too. This may not sound like anything of much consequence but I thought it was a real hopeful sign that there are some smart people writing this series.
And wasn't it nice of Yangbaek to lend KJ his own horse? Yeah it's in Yangbaek's interest for the red team to win, but still, quite a gesture. (But where was KJ's helmet? Maybe he felt more comfortable without one but I wondered why he was helmetless this time. And that mallet, it looked like aluminum! What the heck was that.)
"You're not the conspiring, bloodthirsty type." How unusual was it to hear two high-ranking officials talking about trying to AVOID getting power. I don't think we've ever had a scene like that in any historical we've ever done here. Another good sign that we're in for an interesting series.
"You know what Songi's like--she wants her share and then some." That was odd. Meaning simply that she's aggressive about pursuing what she wants? Or maybe we don't entirely know her yet....
Here's the text of the narration about the arrival of the Mongols:
Finally the armies of Genghis Khan swept into Koryo. Winter 1218, the fifth year of Kojong's reign. They said they sent 30,000 troops to help rid Koryo of the Khitan. But by this time the Khitan were exhausted and split by infighting. No assistance was needed. Of course, the Mongols had their own agenda. At the time they were engaged in a full-scale war with the Jin. They coveted Koryo's position on Jin's southeastern border."Her mother and I were very close. Like sisters." Wola is of noble blood?!? What a great surprise, I loved how that came up. Just all of a sudden with Mrs. Choe recognizing her, no teasing or foreshadowing. That's another scene that I don't recall ever seeing something similar to in the past. The only odd part of it is, if KJ is fighting to earn the one request that Wola be freed--which you have to figure is his goal--then doesn't that all become unnecessary now? Certainly Wola's days as a kitchen slave are over. Seems like this could be a big turning point.
Another really good scene with Choe C in this one. And the confrontation scene at the border looked great--I'm sure some of it was CGI, but whatever, at least they made the effort to show us a big, big Mongol army instead of just trying to pass off a small group like a lot of historicals have done.
In the tournament scene Choe U was referred to as head of the royal secretariat. His father had that title in the first episode...so apparently it was transferred at some point. That's a pretty significant development for us not to have learned about it in the storyline. Oops.
The tournament scene was as good as the first one was. Didn't like the red guys getting surrounded in the first five seconds, that was silly, but after that the action and the stunt work were excellent.
"You're kimchi, boy!" I lost track of which blue team guy said that but I hope whoever it was ended up on the ground getting trampled by a horse. Honestly the trash-talking in these historicals is just sad.
Overall an encouraging episode--things got way, way too bogged down by the leg injury but the storyline seems to be on track again. Plus the Mongols showed up so we should be starting to get into the core of the real history now. And even the battleaxe kitchen supervisor toned it down a notch in this one, hooray.
p.s. Is KJ gonna get drug tested after the tournament? Hope he doesn't get disqualified for use of banned ginseng.