Post by ajk on Jun 29, 2019 13:57:45 GMT -5
“I’m going to pardon you all.” ...wait, did I hear that right? Are you kidding? Geez this is easily the most forgiving historical I’ve ever watched. People do the most awful things and face no consequences. No wonder they keep doing them! Duh! Doesn’t exactly make the KG character look like a great leader, does it. Once, maybe, but over and over again....
Who is the kid? Where did he come from? And why is a ten-year-old boy serving as a recording secretary for such a high-level government project? Makes no sense without a whole lot of explaining and we got nothing. Maybe in assembling the last few episodes something got left on the cutting room floor. Still, that’s not an excuse.
The narrated text:
According to the Samguk Sagi written by Kim Busik, the king attacked Pyeongyangseong with 30,000 soldiers, and Goguryeo king Sayu died after being shot by an arrow. Records stated that the king retreated with his soldiers. After the king’s death, they said King Geunchogo had to return because of an earthquake in Hanseong. The expression referred to in the Samguk Sagi “the ground trembled” is often suggested as a rebellion. Records provided a clue that King Geunchogo had to return probably because of a rebellion in Hanseong.
Really? What records? Earthquakes do happen—it would have been nice to know why this was being treated as a euphemism instead of an actual earthquake. If there’s merit to it, then tip of the cap for how they portrayed it...but you have to ask whether or not they’re simply taking liberties and then running for cover behind unidentified “records.”
Jin Seung: “I’ll now prove that Baekje is a country of the people, not of the nobility.” Another character who suddenly and completely flip-flops. Did not care for that at all. Yes KG did pardon him and spare his life, but Jin Seung never struck me as someone who would completely abandon his principles for his own safety.
“What’s right...what’s wrong...I don’t know any more.” Whatever you want to say about Hae Geon being kept around for the entire series, it sure was sad to see him at Yeohwa’s grave. The pain of his unrequited love should have been given much more emphasis in the story. Missed opportunity—a potentially very good character who was underutilized.
“Please don’t ignore me in the next world.” Wow and he kills himself, you sure didn’t expect that. But it shows how deep his feelings were. This hadn’t even been mentioned for a very long time.
Look at all of those metal ornaments in the queen’s hair. How does she not fall over backwards?
Full credit, the crown prince discussion was a well-written scene. Seeing who spoke up and who didn’t was interesting. Especially Duko, who’d have thought it. The subsequent scenes were good too, and the Biryu flashback was perfect.
“I”m going to unify Wae around Yamatai under Baekje’s rule.” This came up once before. And for some reason bringing it up at this point really drives home that KG is all about conquest. Very different from a king like Sejong who was all about trying to improve his peoples’ lives. Not that KG didn’t care about that but we certainly haven’t seen much attention paid to it in this series. (Of course there’s the argument that making the country bigger and stronger will improve people’s lives indirectly; not trying to be negative towards KG.)
“Jin Gu has the ability to lead her country.” Huh? And they all agree with him? When have we seen anything from her that shows her to have leadership potential? Give me one example.
Say what you will about Yeogusu, he sure is a sloppy eater. Nobody has taught him palace etiquette yet? Or even some basic manners, yecch.
“I heard king Onjo planted this old pine tree. It was probably tiny then.” Gee, ya think?
There have been some good things in this series, but the final storyline isn’t one of them. Too bad.
