Post by ajk on Mar 10, 2018 20:59:14 GMT -5
Another outstanding episode. Like the previous one, very heavy on historical events and it was all presented beautifully. A terrific piece of storytelling. Not fun to watch—a terrible situation for Koryo with no good choices at all—but fascinating.
“They’re lining up. Don’t wear him out sucking up.” HA!! Loved that. And then it sure was a surprise to see Yi Kongju step up and offer him a drink. I thought he’d have been long out of the picture, at least enough to not be at that event.
“Seeing the overlord’s success is my only pleasure.” And how about this, in the next-to-last episode even the battleaxe finally contributed something useful. She was so moved by seeing all of those high officials sucking up to a former fellow slave, it was touching and it reminded us of the nice part of the story, KJ rising out of slavery and accomplishing so much. Yeah the rags-to-riches cliche but it was done well in this one.
And what a nice gesture by Anshim to free Gannan and battleaxe and Buni the other servant (sorry we never got her name). A very, very nice idea to toss us that little bit of a happy ending in the midst of all of the tension and turmoil. And the younger ones were open to leaving the kitchen but the older two wanted to stay because it was all they knew. Nice writing; that’s how real people would react.
The first narrated text:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Khanbaliq
They showed us the emperor’s trip and the bowing before Kublai Khan. Loved seeing that reenacted. That hand-grab and the patting, it had a real Godfather quality to it, didn’t it?
The second narrated text:
Just two stinkers in this episode. The old familiars. More evil laughter, and again with the pop music on the closing credits. Oh well. Can hardly complain about it with so many good things happening. This series has been a real treat and it sucks that it’s coming to an end.
p.s. “What good is a government that removes all detractors?” What a line. Included here without comment.
“They’re lining up. Don’t wear him out sucking up.” HA!! Loved that. And then it sure was a surprise to see Yi Kongju step up and offer him a drink. I thought he’d have been long out of the picture, at least enough to not be at that event.
“Seeing the overlord’s success is my only pleasure.” And how about this, in the next-to-last episode even the battleaxe finally contributed something useful. She was so moved by seeing all of those high officials sucking up to a former fellow slave, it was touching and it reminded us of the nice part of the story, KJ rising out of slavery and accomplishing so much. Yeah the rags-to-riches cliche but it was done well in this one.
And what a nice gesture by Anshim to free Gannan and battleaxe and Buni the other servant (sorry we never got her name). A very, very nice idea to toss us that little bit of a happy ending in the midst of all of the tension and turmoil. And the younger ones were open to leaving the kitchen but the older two wanted to stay because it was all they knew. Nice writing; that’s how real people would react.
The first narrated text:
So in August of 1264 the emperor finally went to the Mongol court. Since the founding days of Tangun, no king had ever groveled before a foreign power. In doing so, Koryo acknowledged the Mongols as its suzerain. Thirty-four years of resistance came to this dark and tragic end.In all of the episodes in these historicals that have dealt with Mongols, I had never heard the name Dadu used before to refer to their capital city. Led me to an interesting Wikipedia page about the city:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Khanbaliq
They showed us the emperor’s trip and the bowing before Kublai Khan. Loved seeing that reenacted. That hand-grab and the patting, it had a real Godfather quality to it, didn’t it?
The second narrated text:
Yi Jangyong. When faced with an obvious trick question from the Mongol viceroy he knew it was to assess Koryo’s strength for an invasion of Japan. He managed to evade the question and so alleviate Koryo’s burden. Kublai Khan admired Yi. The viceroy and counselors were impressed with his wit and courage. They named the eloquent premier “Distinguished Earl.” For years Yi maintained close relations with Mongol officials.The throne room scene was a great piece of writing. Really top-notch how well the different viewpoints were presented and argued.
Just two stinkers in this episode. The old familiars. More evil laughter, and again with the pop music on the closing credits. Oh well. Can hardly complain about it with so many good things happening. This series has been a real treat and it sucks that it’s coming to an end.
p.s. “What good is a government that removes all detractors?” What a line. Included here without comment.