Post by ajk on Feb 26, 2020 13:26:19 GMT -5
QUICK SUMMARY
The crown prince and Mu-yeong and Seo-bi show up at the dock as the villagers are watching the only boat sail away without them. So now what? Need to find a safe place for the night because apparently the officials did little or nothing about destroying bodies before they left. Seo-bi suggests the medical clinic--which actually makes sense because she and Yeong-sin strengthened it to keep those patients-turned-zombies inside, so hopefully it can keep them out now, too. So they all head there. On the way they see a bunch of zombies under rocks...not awake yet but yikes there are going to be a lot of them to contend with. And now the sun is setting and the zombies are stirring. Suffice it to say it’s a heck of a scramble, but they all get in just before the zombies can get their hands on them. Whew. The crown prince really put his life on the line to get everyone to safety. And one nice surprise is that they’ve found a musket, with ammo—and Yeong-sin knows how to use it very, very well.
Oh and the boat? Well if you supposed, you supposed right—it was the old woman’s son in that boat, the former base commander. And when darkness falls, he wastes no time in awakening and busting out of his trunk. Panicked officials start jumping overboard.
Sunrise! It worked! Woohoo!! It was a tense night but the structure held and everyone is safe. The zombies may be fast and tough, but they’re apparently not too bright and have no sense of teamwork. Thank goodness. Everyone offers a bow of thanks to the crown prince for saving them. But he’s not having any of it; he’s just tired and fed up. But he’s a nice guy—gives the little kids some of his own personal stash of food. Now it’s time to head to Sangju and find that Lord Ahn Hyeon guy...but wait, not so fast, because an entire cavalry regiment has shown up from the capital to enforce Cho Hak-ju’s order and arrest him for being a traitor. Uh-oh....
What has happened here? One of the cavalry soldiers is dead on the ground, a sword in his back. Above him a traumatized Cho Hak-ju is looking at his only son’s head, brought to him in a box. Apparently Cho freaked out so violently that he killed the messenger. Gutlessly, from behind. He vows brutal vengeance on the crown prince, who he incorrectly blames for his son’s murder.
Good heavens, the cavalry soldiers are firing arrows into the clinic to drive the prince out. They sure didn’t wait long, did they. The arrows kill a bunch of the villagers. A horrible scene. So the prince, Mu-yeong and Yeong-sin set up an ambush and let the soldiers into the main yard. An amazingly dense fog has moved in, which makes it difficult to see anything even though it’s still daylight. Despite their big advantage in numbers, the regiment starts getting dismantled. One or two at a time, they start getting picked off. Gun, arrow, knife, whatever it takes. Then the prince and Mu-yeong manage to get outside after killing four soldiers at the main gate, and draw the rest out into the woods. It gives the surviving villagers cover to leave and head for the town of Yangsan, which apparently is near enough that they can make it by sundown. Then by using his knowledge of the army’s whistle signals, Mu-yeong manages to send the soldiers in the wrong direction so that he, the prince, Seo-bi and Yeong-sin can make their escape. The regiment commander isn’t worried, though—says he knows where they’re going. Hmmmm.
“The signal fire has been lit!” Last episode we saw the chain of signal fires activated in Dongnae. Now the chain has reached visual range of the capital. Is this war? Has Japan invaded again? The chief scholar and three colleagues immediately head for the king’s palace...and shockingly, Cho Hak-ju escorts them in. “We cannot hide His Majesty’s illness any longer,” he tells a furious queen, who wants no one let in. A tense staredown between father and daughter...which father wins and the inner doors open. But it’s getting pretty late in the day now...is Cho really so horrible that he’s going to let the king gorge on four men? “A disease has spread,” he tells them, and that’s why the signal fires were lit. No, he doesn’t kill them—he lets them get a good look at the king as the king arises and snarls at them, straining at his chains. The king may have a disease, Cho tells them, but he’s still the king and rules this country. Then he confronts them with evidence that they and the crown prince were plotting against the king. Orders the chief scholar arrested and beheaded immediately. Presumably the others are arrested also. So his intentions weren’t good after all.
Afterwards the queen still isn’t happy but she’s calmed down. “I will kill them all,” her father tells her, the death of her brother fueling Cho’s anger. The crown prince and all of his followers. So don’t get in my way again. All she has to do, he tells her, is “Give birth to a son. It has to be a son.” So he does NOT know for sure. But the queen seems oddly certain of it. Maybe it’s pure hope turned into blind optimism...or maybe it’s her brother’s head, which sits in its box on the desk before her.
The crown prince and Mu-yeong and Seo-bi show up at the dock as the villagers are watching the only boat sail away without them. So now what? Need to find a safe place for the night because apparently the officials did little or nothing about destroying bodies before they left. Seo-bi suggests the medical clinic--which actually makes sense because she and Yeong-sin strengthened it to keep those patients-turned-zombies inside, so hopefully it can keep them out now, too. So they all head there. On the way they see a bunch of zombies under rocks...not awake yet but yikes there are going to be a lot of them to contend with. And now the sun is setting and the zombies are stirring. Suffice it to say it’s a heck of a scramble, but they all get in just before the zombies can get their hands on them. Whew. The crown prince really put his life on the line to get everyone to safety. And one nice surprise is that they’ve found a musket, with ammo—and Yeong-sin knows how to use it very, very well.
Oh and the boat? Well if you supposed, you supposed right—it was the old woman’s son in that boat, the former base commander. And when darkness falls, he wastes no time in awakening and busting out of his trunk. Panicked officials start jumping overboard.
Sunrise! It worked! Woohoo!! It was a tense night but the structure held and everyone is safe. The zombies may be fast and tough, but they’re apparently not too bright and have no sense of teamwork. Thank goodness. Everyone offers a bow of thanks to the crown prince for saving them. But he’s not having any of it; he’s just tired and fed up. But he’s a nice guy—gives the little kids some of his own personal stash of food. Now it’s time to head to Sangju and find that Lord Ahn Hyeon guy...but wait, not so fast, because an entire cavalry regiment has shown up from the capital to enforce Cho Hak-ju’s order and arrest him for being a traitor. Uh-oh....
What has happened here? One of the cavalry soldiers is dead on the ground, a sword in his back. Above him a traumatized Cho Hak-ju is looking at his only son’s head, brought to him in a box. Apparently Cho freaked out so violently that he killed the messenger. Gutlessly, from behind. He vows brutal vengeance on the crown prince, who he incorrectly blames for his son’s murder.
Good heavens, the cavalry soldiers are firing arrows into the clinic to drive the prince out. They sure didn’t wait long, did they. The arrows kill a bunch of the villagers. A horrible scene. So the prince, Mu-yeong and Yeong-sin set up an ambush and let the soldiers into the main yard. An amazingly dense fog has moved in, which makes it difficult to see anything even though it’s still daylight. Despite their big advantage in numbers, the regiment starts getting dismantled. One or two at a time, they start getting picked off. Gun, arrow, knife, whatever it takes. Then the prince and Mu-yeong manage to get outside after killing four soldiers at the main gate, and draw the rest out into the woods. It gives the surviving villagers cover to leave and head for the town of Yangsan, which apparently is near enough that they can make it by sundown. Then by using his knowledge of the army’s whistle signals, Mu-yeong manages to send the soldiers in the wrong direction so that he, the prince, Seo-bi and Yeong-sin can make their escape. The regiment commander isn’t worried, though—says he knows where they’re going. Hmmmm.
“The signal fire has been lit!” Last episode we saw the chain of signal fires activated in Dongnae. Now the chain has reached visual range of the capital. Is this war? Has Japan invaded again? The chief scholar and three colleagues immediately head for the king’s palace...and shockingly, Cho Hak-ju escorts them in. “We cannot hide His Majesty’s illness any longer,” he tells a furious queen, who wants no one let in. A tense staredown between father and daughter...which father wins and the inner doors open. But it’s getting pretty late in the day now...is Cho really so horrible that he’s going to let the king gorge on four men? “A disease has spread,” he tells them, and that’s why the signal fires were lit. No, he doesn’t kill them—he lets them get a good look at the king as the king arises and snarls at them, straining at his chains. The king may have a disease, Cho tells them, but he’s still the king and rules this country. Then he confronts them with evidence that they and the crown prince were plotting against the king. Orders the chief scholar arrested and beheaded immediately. Presumably the others are arrested also. So his intentions weren’t good after all.
Afterwards the queen still isn’t happy but she’s calmed down. “I will kill them all,” her father tells her, the death of her brother fueling Cho’s anger. The crown prince and all of his followers. So don’t get in my way again. All she has to do, he tells her, is “Give birth to a son. It has to be a son.” So he does NOT know for sure. But the queen seems oddly certain of it. Maybe it’s pure hope turned into blind optimism...or maybe it’s her brother’s head, which sits in its box on the desk before her.
