Post by ajk on Jan 19, 2019 17:56:13 GMT -5
This business with the queens has gotten way out of hand. “You put Baekje before the people of Buyeo.” Well of course he did, what did you expect? He’s Baekje royalty! Geez what an annoying scene. Yeogu should have kicked Annoying Girl out of the building immediately. And why was he treating Yeohwa just as harshly? She didn’t do anything wrong, she was just stating facts. Was she supposed to just stand there and say nothing? Maybe so.
Guess I can’t call him Yeogu any more; will switch to KG for brevity.
“He’ll leave to attack Mahan soon.” What? Where did this come from? See this is what happens when you give annoying people and annoying storylines too much attention. Except for the mega-spoiler narration in the previous episode, the word Mahan has never even come up before. I sure hope they lay some groundwork for this if it’s going to happen.
Now about all of those those new appointments and titles:
Good – Very nice to bring Sa Chungseon’s son into the picture and so generously. Remember I complained about the pointlessness of his father’s death...doing this showed that KG didn’t feel good about it either and hasn’t forgotten.
Bad - Hae Geon gets named a Second Meritorious Retainer and put in charge of the justice ministry. Really. The guy who killed the previous king. Talk about putting the fox in charge of the henhouse. And KG says he’s trying to unify the country? This is how you get the murdered king’s clan on your side? The whole Hae Geon thing is beyond stupid at this point. The guy should be executed or at least exiled, or have been revenge-murdered.
Good – Dividing up the high minister (jwapyeong) responsibilities from one or two posts to six. Smart move with so many competing interests to divide up the power so no one has too much.
Bad – Ajikai is the culture minister? Baekje’s culture ministry in the hands of a non-Baekjean? This should be causing a revolt. Oh and are we supposed to have forgotten that Ajikai tried to kill Yeogu not too long ago?
Good - “I’m not a prince. I’m the commander of the Wisagun royal guards?” Duko was so happy! The best moment of the whole episode. Such a sincere and genuine expression in a setting where everyone is always so uptight and tense. You hardly ever see that kind of reaction to an appointment. Loved it.
Bad - “Never have there been people of such low birth in Namdang.” Yeah I wondered when that would come up. Here we go again with the low-born people in high places. This is getting to be like cliff-diving. It’s always a nice angle to root for the regular guys over the snooty stuffed shirts but it’s been used too often. And is there any historical basis for it here? The brief narration in this episode said that “As a precursor to unifying Yemaek and Han, King Geunchogo reorganized Namdang without regard to social status. This forecast a clash between the old and new forces.” But the narration in this series isn’t historically reliable like it is in others.
Hey what is that scroll that Hae Geon just pulled out of that desk? You don’t suppose...?
“I know why you were adopted by the Jin clan. I know your intentions, but I didn’t try to stop you. Wi Birang has to have power for the Liaoxi poeple to settle in Baekje. Then he will be able to protect you and focus on conquering Mahan.” Good scene with KG and Annoying Girl. We need more of those—let us in on what KG is thinking.
Hey it is! So King Gye did give Hae Geon a get-out-of-jail-free card after all. How about that! And here I was beating up on the writers for that. Time to eat my words. Good for them. And you know what, shame on Yeomun for grabbing the thing so rudely and shoving it in his brother’s face. However much hatred he was feeling for Hae Geon at that moment, you don’t act that way with a royal order, you touch it and hold it with care and respect. Surprised he wasn’t called out for it.
“They should want to kill him, but that wasn’t the atmosphere.” “They wouldn’t accept him so easily.” Well done. Geom and Payun in those lofty positions seemed sort of ridiculous, but that was a good piece of observation by them over at Wiryegung. Maybe they’re up to the jobs after all.
Sayu on a coronation gift for the new king: “Send him three does of millets.” And everybody busted out laughing. What is the joke here? According to Wikipedia a doe is a traditional Korean unit of volume representing 1.8 liters or roughly half a gallon. And a millet is a type of grain plant with a long history in Asian agriculture. So it’s a cheap gift, is that the joke? Doesn’t seem all that funny; maybe it’s a laugh riot in 4th-century Goguryeo, who knows. Or is everybody else laughing just because the king said it and they don’t want to have their heads chopped off. Frankly the obvious joke for Sayu would be sending a big bag of salt! Wouldn’t it?
That brief dialogue about the horses, having to consider their size, durability, strength etc., that was very interesting. We don’t get enough of those in historicals. Producers are probably afraid of boring people but I’d bet everybody who saw that scene thought it was interesting.
“The timing of the pregnancy is suspicious. The baby could be Sayu’s baby.” Oh no no no no do not go down that road. This would be a real low point for the series. The last time Yeohwa was even around Sayu in public was FOUR EPISODES ago. She had to make the journey all the way back from the frontier to the capital; we saw Yeogu first sit on the throne and start making decisions; the whole long sequence with the queen’s execution and the brothers' exile and Yeohwi’s death; KG’s coronation being planned from scratch and taking place; the grandfather’s return; confrontation after confrontation between the two queens; KG planning and announcing all of those appointments and setting up a new government agency...this must be two months’ worth of events at least. Certainly no less than a month and a half. And the pregnancy has just been discovered. The stupidity of this is so obvious, please writers just don’t. Less queens more Mahan please.
Guess I can’t call him Yeogu any more; will switch to KG for brevity.
“He’ll leave to attack Mahan soon.” What? Where did this come from? See this is what happens when you give annoying people and annoying storylines too much attention. Except for the mega-spoiler narration in the previous episode, the word Mahan has never even come up before. I sure hope they lay some groundwork for this if it’s going to happen.
Now about all of those those new appointments and titles:
Good – Very nice to bring Sa Chungseon’s son into the picture and so generously. Remember I complained about the pointlessness of his father’s death...doing this showed that KG didn’t feel good about it either and hasn’t forgotten.
Bad - Hae Geon gets named a Second Meritorious Retainer and put in charge of the justice ministry. Really. The guy who killed the previous king. Talk about putting the fox in charge of the henhouse. And KG says he’s trying to unify the country? This is how you get the murdered king’s clan on your side? The whole Hae Geon thing is beyond stupid at this point. The guy should be executed or at least exiled, or have been revenge-murdered.
Good – Dividing up the high minister (jwapyeong) responsibilities from one or two posts to six. Smart move with so many competing interests to divide up the power so no one has too much.
Bad – Ajikai is the culture minister? Baekje’s culture ministry in the hands of a non-Baekjean? This should be causing a revolt. Oh and are we supposed to have forgotten that Ajikai tried to kill Yeogu not too long ago?
Good - “I’m not a prince. I’m the commander of the Wisagun royal guards?” Duko was so happy! The best moment of the whole episode. Such a sincere and genuine expression in a setting where everyone is always so uptight and tense. You hardly ever see that kind of reaction to an appointment. Loved it.
Bad - “Never have there been people of such low birth in Namdang.” Yeah I wondered when that would come up. Here we go again with the low-born people in high places. This is getting to be like cliff-diving. It’s always a nice angle to root for the regular guys over the snooty stuffed shirts but it’s been used too often. And is there any historical basis for it here? The brief narration in this episode said that “As a precursor to unifying Yemaek and Han, King Geunchogo reorganized Namdang without regard to social status. This forecast a clash between the old and new forces.” But the narration in this series isn’t historically reliable like it is in others.
Hey what is that scroll that Hae Geon just pulled out of that desk? You don’t suppose...?
“I know why you were adopted by the Jin clan. I know your intentions, but I didn’t try to stop you. Wi Birang has to have power for the Liaoxi poeple to settle in Baekje. Then he will be able to protect you and focus on conquering Mahan.” Good scene with KG and Annoying Girl. We need more of those—let us in on what KG is thinking.
Hey it is! So King Gye did give Hae Geon a get-out-of-jail-free card after all. How about that! And here I was beating up on the writers for that. Time to eat my words. Good for them. And you know what, shame on Yeomun for grabbing the thing so rudely and shoving it in his brother’s face. However much hatred he was feeling for Hae Geon at that moment, you don’t act that way with a royal order, you touch it and hold it with care and respect. Surprised he wasn’t called out for it.
“They should want to kill him, but that wasn’t the atmosphere.” “They wouldn’t accept him so easily.” Well done. Geom and Payun in those lofty positions seemed sort of ridiculous, but that was a good piece of observation by them over at Wiryegung. Maybe they’re up to the jobs after all.
Sayu on a coronation gift for the new king: “Send him three does of millets.” And everybody busted out laughing. What is the joke here? According to Wikipedia a doe is a traditional Korean unit of volume representing 1.8 liters or roughly half a gallon. And a millet is a type of grain plant with a long history in Asian agriculture. So it’s a cheap gift, is that the joke? Doesn’t seem all that funny; maybe it’s a laugh riot in 4th-century Goguryeo, who knows. Or is everybody else laughing just because the king said it and they don’t want to have their heads chopped off. Frankly the obvious joke for Sayu would be sending a big bag of salt! Wouldn’t it?
That brief dialogue about the horses, having to consider their size, durability, strength etc., that was very interesting. We don’t get enough of those in historicals. Producers are probably afraid of boring people but I’d bet everybody who saw that scene thought it was interesting.
“The timing of the pregnancy is suspicious. The baby could be Sayu’s baby.” Oh no no no no do not go down that road. This would be a real low point for the series. The last time Yeohwa was even around Sayu in public was FOUR EPISODES ago. She had to make the journey all the way back from the frontier to the capital; we saw Yeogu first sit on the throne and start making decisions; the whole long sequence with the queen’s execution and the brothers' exile and Yeohwi’s death; KG’s coronation being planned from scratch and taking place; the grandfather’s return; confrontation after confrontation between the two queens; KG planning and announcing all of those appointments and setting up a new government agency...this must be two months’ worth of events at least. Certainly no less than a month and a half. And the pregnancy has just been discovered. The stupidity of this is so obvious, please writers just don’t. Less queens more Mahan please.