Post by ajk on Jun 20, 2021 15:12:35 GMT -5
Halfway through! Episode 100 and it’s been a joy so far. The time has flown by.
This one, especially the informative way it started out with the long narrated text, you sort of figured it would be a halfway-through wrap-up of things. But nooooo. It hit like a ton of bricks.
■Wang Guhn returns to the capital after Battle of Naju. The fight for mastery between the Later Three Kingdoms enters (a) state of lull after a fierce battle in Naju comes to an end. Short time before in Shilla, 52nd ruler King Hyokong who succeeded Queen Jinsung died after 15 years of reign, leaving the scepter to King Shinduk. In the year 898, King Hyokong had lost thirty some forts in Paesuh and Hansan to Goongyae and gave way to rise of Koryo, and lost a large southwestern territory to Kyun-hwon in 900 allowing the birth of Later Bekjae. In 904, Goongyae chopped away more of his northern territory, and again in 907, Hyokong gave up a dozen forts in Ilsun to Kyun-hwon, continuing to surrender Shilla’s glory and territory. When he died, he passed on his throne to Shinduk who bore the family name of Park, marking an unprecedented transfer of kingship from the Kim clan to the Park clan. Political instability and fierce veiled enmity among the ruling class continued in Shilla, and its descent was evident.
I’ve said this before but it’s a shame we haven’t seen more of the Shilla side. Yeah there aren’t a lot of people there who are central to the WG story, but still....I can understand why they haven’t done it, maybe reluctant to get too complicated or to juggle too many balls in the air at once. Still it might have perked up a few of the slower episodes.
Choi Ung: “I urge you to employ your mind-reading powers, your majesty.” Aw, not him! He’s supposed to be educated, and seemed far too sensible to buy into that. Yes his job is to go along with what his boss says, but he’s navigated that pretty well so far. He should know better.
“Hunger and disease? Why?” “It began when the phony Maitreya Goongyae came to Chulwon! That damned bastard! He will burn in Hell.”....”Is that what my people think of me?” What a great scene! This is exactly why I harp so much about these series needing to get out among the people more. It’s still baffling why nobody has told Goongyae enough about the famine and the epidemics, but it sure made this scene pack a wallop. And then the military camp with the two guys carrying wood, again what a message for Goongyae to get socked with. Seeing more of this stuff would really help emphasize how disconnected Goongyae has become with reality.
“I have failed. That is why Ahjitae has turned on me.” I literally gasped. For all of Goongyae’s decline he can still see some things clearly. It was shocking to see that he could still be so honest with himself, especially about failings and now about Ahjitae too.
■ Imperial Guardian was the chief of Supreme Council, which was the most powerful agency in the court. Like this, Wang Guhn declared his strong will to reshape and reform the corrupted government as Imperial Guardian. In the early spring of year 913, at the age of 37, Wang Guhn at last arose to the position of Imperial Guardian who was beneath one man and above all others.
Did anyone else feel like this all happened too quickly? Goongyae asked him to do it and within minutes they put the little chair out for him and he’s firing off instructions. I wish we had seen some of him in between, when he was absorbing the whole thing and deciding what to do. The series usually isn’t so abrupt like this. I suppose the plan was always to put him in power exactly halfway through so maybe they ran out of time and couldn’t squeeze anything else into this episode. But I’d rather they’d have nudged it into 101 for the sake of filling out the story.
But give him credit, he sat down and laid it all out, and did it without flinching or the least bit of uncertainty or lack of confidence. Of course most of what we said was just common-sense stuff that obviously needed to be done, but he definitely impressed everyone.
This one, especially the informative way it started out with the long narrated text, you sort of figured it would be a halfway-through wrap-up of things. But nooooo. It hit like a ton of bricks.
■Wang Guhn returns to the capital after Battle of Naju. The fight for mastery between the Later Three Kingdoms enters (a) state of lull after a fierce battle in Naju comes to an end. Short time before in Shilla, 52nd ruler King Hyokong who succeeded Queen Jinsung died after 15 years of reign, leaving the scepter to King Shinduk. In the year 898, King Hyokong had lost thirty some forts in Paesuh and Hansan to Goongyae and gave way to rise of Koryo, and lost a large southwestern territory to Kyun-hwon in 900 allowing the birth of Later Bekjae. In 904, Goongyae chopped away more of his northern territory, and again in 907, Hyokong gave up a dozen forts in Ilsun to Kyun-hwon, continuing to surrender Shilla’s glory and territory. When he died, he passed on his throne to Shinduk who bore the family name of Park, marking an unprecedented transfer of kingship from the Kim clan to the Park clan. Political instability and fierce veiled enmity among the ruling class continued in Shilla, and its descent was evident.
I’ve said this before but it’s a shame we haven’t seen more of the Shilla side. Yeah there aren’t a lot of people there who are central to the WG story, but still....I can understand why they haven’t done it, maybe reluctant to get too complicated or to juggle too many balls in the air at once. Still it might have perked up a few of the slower episodes.
Choi Ung: “I urge you to employ your mind-reading powers, your majesty.” Aw, not him! He’s supposed to be educated, and seemed far too sensible to buy into that. Yes his job is to go along with what his boss says, but he’s navigated that pretty well so far. He should know better.
“Hunger and disease? Why?” “It began when the phony Maitreya Goongyae came to Chulwon! That damned bastard! He will burn in Hell.”....”Is that what my people think of me?” What a great scene! This is exactly why I harp so much about these series needing to get out among the people more. It’s still baffling why nobody has told Goongyae enough about the famine and the epidemics, but it sure made this scene pack a wallop. And then the military camp with the two guys carrying wood, again what a message for Goongyae to get socked with. Seeing more of this stuff would really help emphasize how disconnected Goongyae has become with reality.
“I have failed. That is why Ahjitae has turned on me.” I literally gasped. For all of Goongyae’s decline he can still see some things clearly. It was shocking to see that he could still be so honest with himself, especially about failings and now about Ahjitae too.
■ Imperial Guardian was the chief of Supreme Council, which was the most powerful agency in the court. Like this, Wang Guhn declared his strong will to reshape and reform the corrupted government as Imperial Guardian. In the early spring of year 913, at the age of 37, Wang Guhn at last arose to the position of Imperial Guardian who was beneath one man and above all others.
Did anyone else feel like this all happened too quickly? Goongyae asked him to do it and within minutes they put the little chair out for him and he’s firing off instructions. I wish we had seen some of him in between, when he was absorbing the whole thing and deciding what to do. The series usually isn’t so abrupt like this. I suppose the plan was always to put him in power exactly halfway through so maybe they ran out of time and couldn’t squeeze anything else into this episode. But I’d rather they’d have nudged it into 101 for the sake of filling out the story.
But give him credit, he sat down and laid it all out, and did it without flinching or the least bit of uncertainty or lack of confidence. Of course most of what we said was just common-sense stuff that obviously needed to be done, but he definitely impressed everyone.