We’re going to lose the queen. That SUCKS! She drank the poison and it’s only a matter of time. Yes she’s not a lead character and at some point she was going to have to bow out to make room for the next generation. But it still sucks big-time. And not just because I’m partial to the actress a little bit...or more than a little bit...but just look at how interesting her character was in this episode, and how ridiculously good the performance was. It was hard to even remember anything that happened in the first scenes before she showed up.
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The early scenes:
“Why did you make me come all the way here?” Certainly not because it makes the least bit of sense for a king to be wandering all over a disputed territory with three armies on high alert. Ugh.
“Your highness, what if she died?” From bumping into a wall? Well then Charles Darwin would probably approve.
For the life of me I don’t understand Dugo just killing that messenger in cold blood like that. He’s an honorable guy—what purpose did that serve? You don’t even try to stop him first? Didn’t like that.
King Gye: “Your father was reckless since he was very young. He lost 30,000 soldiers 30 years ago attacking Daebang. I was against that...The people suffered and the state coffers were empty.” Okay he shouldn’t have been out there but this scene was very good. Explained how there were two sides to the story and didn’t cheerlead for one or the other.
“We’ll have to bite the veins in our wrist.” Thank goodness we were spared that.
“I heard how courageous Malgal soldiers are.” Yeah I believe it--you have to be pretty darned brave to wear a military uniform with eye makeup. What. The. Heck.
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So the queen stabs her rival and I actually gasped. Who’d have thought she’d actually do it? And then in the next moment you can see the instant regret she’s feeling, or at least resignation that now she’s in over her head and there’s no turning back. The writers may have blown it by not having Haebi die right there, just because the moment was so stunning...but we’ll see if they have plans for her later on.
“Have her pay for those crimes publicly. She is the queen of Baekje (and) you should bow to her.” Ko Heung is right and gave Yeogu the right advice.
“It was me.” Wow, after everything that’s happened, to hear her say it so simply was almost jarring. “I had to choose between my husband and my son. I chose my son. Do you think your mother would have done any differently?” The way she challenges Yeogu, he can’t keep up with her. “What do you know? Do you know about the love for a husband and the love for a child? I killed my husband. What about you? You tried to kill Yeohwa. What’s the difference? Killing a woman who saved your life and killing a husband. I did it for my child, but you did it to become Eoraha. Which is worse?” That was great! It was almost overwhelming to hear all of this coming from the queen’s point of view for a change. You may not agree with all of it but it was wonderfully written and is exactly what a sophisticated, intelligent queen would say.
“He wanted to make Sosukdang the first queen, but couldn’t. He wanted to make you crown prince but couldn’t. For the sake of Baekje. There was always an excuse. Did Baekje get any better? Are the people singing with joy because there’s peace and prosperity?” OUCH that’s gotta hurt. Again, only her point of view but it was so fascinating to hear it all and see her go all mama bear on Yeogu just like a queen would.
And then later she talks so sadly about Yeochan’s never getting his father’s love, and suddenly she’s just a mom sharing her child’s anguish. It was the same kind of thing that made the actress so good in GKS—the mother trying to do right for her children and getting trapped by all of the scheming and the consequences. Absolutely terrific stuff, and made even better by a good touch with the flashbacks. Just enough of them and at just the right times.
Maybe I’m too biased to judge this episode fairly. All I know is the next episode is gonna be a huge downer.