Post by ajk on Apr 12, 2020 16:39:55 GMT -5
Wow what an episode! It had everything: lots of history, lavish visuals, a heck of a good battle scene; interesting storylines; significant character development; and even tie-ins to multiple other shows that we’ve watched here.
Long and arduous, wow he wasn’t kidding. That’s quite a trip for a royal procession to make, and it’s not like they went over flat plains the whole way. And again we see a map that shows how surprisingly large the Sangju territory remains even as Goognyae and Kwon-hyun are gobbling up land everywhere they can.
Does it seem odd that the empress is on a horse riding alongside Goongyae for the entire tour? I’m guessing it wasn’t really like that. Even if she did really come on the tour she’d have had a carriage or palanquin.
Kyun-hwon: “We must be wary of Koryo as well. We will be in a vulnerable state if they should attack us now.” Well it’s nice to hear him say that because you wondered if he had forgotten. Especially because it looks like he brought his entire council with him to the eastern border. They’re going to be vulnerable from behind, both army-wise and leadership-wise.
“The two of you have opposing thoughts...Do not continue your disagreement that started in Wansanju.” Well they’re just speaking their minds honestly. This is a real nice piece of writing, the two top subordinates having such differing views on a subject. Worked well.
Okay that scene on the seaside with WG and Goongyae talking, and Goongyae is looking up at WG...For heaven’s sakes don’t do that. It looks ridiculous. We’re more than familiar enough with these guys by now to know that Choi Soo Jong must be standing on a box or a stack of phone books or something. It isn’t necessary and it’s almost embarrassing.
So now Goongyae tells him that Jongkahn and Eunbu are suspicious of him. If you were WG wouldn’t you go straight to both of them ASAP and clear the air? If he has any brains he’ll go and do it as soon as the tour is over.
Okay we got a flashback that answers the question about the Secret Script. So Goongyae and Jongkahn are in fact aware that a book of prophecy written by Dosun may in fact exist. I don’t remember this exact scene from earlier in the series so we must be seeing it for the first time. Should have known that the series wouldn’t leave a loose end hanging like that. It’s been very thorough and careful about those things.
Uh-oh looks like Mihyang may be starting to totally crack up.
“This is glass! Even the royal palace does not use such an item of luxury.” So he smashes it? Take it easy Goongyae, you should have ordered it sold to fund poverty assistance. Things suddenly are a little bit unsteady with Goongyae. In that beach scene he talked like he felt a bit detached from his past as an austere monk. In the meal scene he’s acting more impulsively than you’d expect for a monk. And the scene after that with the empress—“Satan is testing me”—that was odd too. For a minute there you wondered if the royal marriage was going to be consummated. Maybe he’s just cranky from being on the road, but it doesn’t seem like that’s the reason.
“Reset my table. Bring no more than three kinds of food, and remove all meats.” Okay now here something was missing. If a king goes on a tour then every stop on the tour is going to get advance information on how to treat the king. Did somebody in Goongyae’s government mess up and not get the word to Jukju? Or did the governor think he was being smart or extra-devoted by what he presented? I wish this had been fleshed out more fully because Goongyae’s whole reputation is based on his simple poverty and care for the common people, so it’s hard to believe that anybody would have offered him such a fancy meal.
Then we switch settings. And right away you can see that Kyun-hwon’s army is underequipped for a fortress wall assault. Big and fast and mobile, yes, but that’s not what you need to scale a wall.
The whole battle sequence was absolutely terrific. First-rate stunt work, especially with those flaming arrows firing right into groups of charging troops. Dang that was good. Even the boulders looked better than boulders in battle scenes often do (they dropped fast and didn’t bounce). And so did the fire stunts with the hot oil. Great stuff.
“How could you leave your fallen co-commander and flee? You’ve disgraced your kingdom. Take your life with this sword!” Geez, dude, he’s just a kid in his first battle. And he is the crown prince so he does have to protect his own life. Now it’s Kyun-hwon’s turn to show some surprising instability. He’s had everything go his way for quite a while now and this is his first real taste of adversity. Not handling it well at all. He’s a smart guy so he’ll calm down, but suddenly things are much more complicated with him as they are with Goongyae.
Goongyae’s royal tour of Koryo began like this. It was a long and arduous trip trekking the entire kingdom from Hyulgu, Hanyang, Jangu, Jukju, Bukwon, Myungju, Uhjin, Naryung, Choongju, Chungju, through Ungju. Goongyae possessed the largest territory of the Later Three Kingdoms at the time. His territory bordered Pyungyang to the north, and extended southward with Ungju, Chungju and Choongju bordering Bekjae and Naryung and Uhjin bordering Shilla. Kyun-hwon’s territory was frustratingly limited compared to Goongyae’s. Goongyae’s Koryo and Sangju blocked his northward expansion, and Shilla still stood to his east. It was out of this frustration that Kyun-hwon decided to lead his entire army and his young sons to invade Daeya Fort.
Long and arduous, wow he wasn’t kidding. That’s quite a trip for a royal procession to make, and it’s not like they went over flat plains the whole way. And again we see a map that shows how surprisingly large the Sangju territory remains even as Goognyae and Kwon-hyun are gobbling up land everywhere they can.
Does it seem odd that the empress is on a horse riding alongside Goongyae for the entire tour? I’m guessing it wasn’t really like that. Even if she did really come on the tour she’d have had a carriage or palanquin.
Kyun-hwon: “We must be wary of Koryo as well. We will be in a vulnerable state if they should attack us now.” Well it’s nice to hear him say that because you wondered if he had forgotten. Especially because it looks like he brought his entire council with him to the eastern border. They’re going to be vulnerable from behind, both army-wise and leadership-wise.
Kim Hyojong...He was the last of the line of Shilla’s Elite Youths that began with Sadaham and continued through Kim Yushin.Sadaham was seen in a flashback in Queen Seonduk; portrayed as Mishil’s first love. Almost certainly baloney, but there’s one reference.
“The two of you have opposing thoughts...Do not continue your disagreement that started in Wansanju.” Well they’re just speaking their minds honestly. This is a real nice piece of writing, the two top subordinates having such differing views on a subject. Worked well.
Hyulgu is present-day Kanghwa. One can still enjoy the view of Song-ak and Yaesung atop mountains of Kanghwa. It was under the influence of Wang Guhn’s family before Goongyae came into power. Its importance progressively became recognized and the region sustained close ties with the house of Koryo for 470 years. It also served as a temporary capital for 39 years during the Mongolian invasion.Not only did we see the capital-transfer story in God of War, but we just saw the crown prince visit Kanghwa in last week’s Kingdom episode. So there’s two more.
Okay that scene on the seaside with WG and Goongyae talking, and Goongyae is looking up at WG...For heaven’s sakes don’t do that. It looks ridiculous. We’re more than familiar enough with these guys by now to know that Choi Soo Jong must be standing on a box or a stack of phone books or something. It isn’t necessary and it’s almost embarrassing.
So now Goongyae tells him that Jongkahn and Eunbu are suspicious of him. If you were WG wouldn’t you go straight to both of them ASAP and clear the air? If he has any brains he’ll go and do it as soon as the tour is over.
Okay we got a flashback that answers the question about the Secret Script. So Goongyae and Jongkahn are in fact aware that a book of prophecy written by Dosun may in fact exist. I don’t remember this exact scene from earlier in the series so we must be seeing it for the first time. Should have known that the series wouldn’t leave a loose end hanging like that. It’s been very thorough and careful about those things.
Uh-oh looks like Mihyang may be starting to totally crack up.
“This is glass! Even the royal palace does not use such an item of luxury.” So he smashes it? Take it easy Goongyae, you should have ordered it sold to fund poverty assistance. Things suddenly are a little bit unsteady with Goongyae. In that beach scene he talked like he felt a bit detached from his past as an austere monk. In the meal scene he’s acting more impulsively than you’d expect for a monk. And the scene after that with the empress—“Satan is testing me”—that was odd too. For a minute there you wondered if the royal marriage was going to be consummated. Maybe he’s just cranky from being on the road, but it doesn’t seem like that’s the reason.
“Reset my table. Bring no more than three kinds of food, and remove all meats.” Okay now here something was missing. If a king goes on a tour then every stop on the tour is going to get advance information on how to treat the king. Did somebody in Goongyae’s government mess up and not get the word to Jukju? Or did the governor think he was being smart or extra-devoted by what he presented? I wish this had been fleshed out more fully because Goongyae’s whole reputation is based on his simple poverty and care for the common people, so it’s hard to believe that anybody would have offered him such a fancy meal.
Then we switch settings. And right away you can see that Kyun-hwon’s army is underequipped for a fortress wall assault. Big and fast and mobile, yes, but that’s not what you need to scale a wall.
The whole battle sequence was absolutely terrific. First-rate stunt work, especially with those flaming arrows firing right into groups of charging troops. Dang that was good. Even the boulders looked better than boulders in battle scenes often do (they dropped fast and didn’t bounce). And so did the fire stunts with the hot oil. Great stuff.
“How could you leave your fallen co-commander and flee? You’ve disgraced your kingdom. Take your life with this sword!” Geez, dude, he’s just a kid in his first battle. And he is the crown prince so he does have to protect his own life. Now it’s Kyun-hwon’s turn to show some surprising instability. He’s had everything go his way for quite a while now and this is his first real taste of adversity. Not handling it well at all. He’s a smart guy so he’ll calm down, but suddenly things are much more complicated with him as they are with Goongyae.