Well where the heck was THIS hiding for 31 episodes? This one was absolutely wonderful. Not perfect but certainly the best episode of the series. An absolute joy to watch. Maybe the person in charge of the loud music and pounding drums got tortured and exiled? We can only hope...Everything was strong—acting, writing, production—and all handled with just the right touch. Not only was it satisfying on the emotional/drama side, it was sophisticated and made you think.
Taejong to his angry son: “Why are you doing this in front of a subject? [It] hurts both of our dignity.” It was a little surprising that Sejong would engage like that out in the open.
So now we’re back to the stones on the thighs. A tour de force of torture. Oh well...The way they presented the Shim On story, I thought it was terrific because we really got a feel for how messy and complicated it was, and could understand why it happened the way it did. You had the idealistic son on one hand, and the experienced father on the other, and neither of them was entirely right or wrong. “The king has to save millions of people without having to kill any innocent people. If he can save the rest by killing one person, he cannot be king.” Hmmm....It’s hard to agree with what Taejong did but you understood why he did it. “It was all for your sake.” Yeah no doubt he believed that.
Councilor Choi: “Your crime would be that your clan is powerful.” What a painful moment that was. Shim kneeing there half-destroyed and the official knows it’s all BS but can’t help him.
The only thing that really tarnished any of it was Shim On touching the poison bowl to his lips and immediately falling over dead—like, within six seconds his head has hit the ground and he’s spit out his last breath. You can’t even sip and swallow fully in that time, much less get a lethal dose into your bloodstream. That was stupid; somebody on the production team should have called that out. It’s not the first time either.
A while back we played the Bad Deal game. Too bad Kang Sangin missed it because he’s the all-time grand champion. Mis-filed some paperwork, oops...gets him fired, accused of conspiracy, tortured because Taejong wants a false confession to implicate someone else...and then when he finally gives the confession, he gets executed anyway. Wow that is the ultimate bad deal right there.
One moment I liked a lot was when Taejong said he wanted to oversee his son running a council meeting, and he ended up leaving after just a few minutes. Yeah the kid’s got this. (Edit: I misunderstood that--I don't think he did leave early. But he just sort of sat there silently, nodding like this is all going exactly as it should.)
It was good to see Hwasang one more time...and sad to see that Yangnyeong was still bitter and unrepentant.
Once again we got some beautiful images:
(click for full size) And I loved how in the end things went back to being about the husband and wife, which for so much of the series was the best thing about it.
(click for full size) How tired they both were and how worn out from all of the pain...this scene was terrific.
■ In 1420, in the second year of King Sejong, Queen Wongyeong, Lady Min, passed away. She was the one who made Lee Bangwon the king. But Queen Wongyeong, Lay Min, had lost all her siblings because of Lee Bangwon. She was born a great woman of Goryeo and died under the rule of Joseon.
(click for full size) “How long will you keep crying? It is time to run the country now.... You are not one woman’s son. You rule over many. You must wipe the tears of your people. Do you not see that? Get up and do your duties!” Taejong can say that because his heart is hardened. On one hand it’s almost cruel and repulsive, not letting someone grieve over their mother’s passing...but on the other hand, he’s right, the king has to suck it up. “There can be no humane king. Only a kingly king.” Last week I referred back to my favorite scene in GKS, and it sure seemed like whoever wrote this scene had that other one in mind. Hard to think it’s a coincidence.
Maybe at the end it got a bit too theatrical, with the hands desperately reaching out...but it also was poignant that his son's one tiny gesture of maybe-not-even-forgiveness-but-just-compassion was all Taejong was asking for to give his last breath. It was nice.
■ In 1422, the fourth year of King Sejong’s reign, Taejong Lee Bangwon took his last breath. His life was a tragic one stained with blood, but to the people, it was an era of peace. He obtained power for himself and his family, but he ultimately surpassed that and devoted himself to the nation and its people. He accepted politics as his fate. He was a true politician who dedicated himself to the nation. But in his later years, he chose to step down from power, and live the rest of his life as a normal individual.
And here came the not-perfect part, these final two narrated texts. He stepped down from power and lived “like a normal individual”? Are you kidding me? Did whoever wrote that even watch the series, or learn the first thing about the guy?
■ As Lee Bangwon closed his eyes, it began to rain. Lee Bangwon was laid to rest with his lifelong partner and once sworn enemy, Queen Wongyeong, Lady Min.
“Sworn enemy”? Are you serious? Stop that. One final reminder of how the series went to extremes to squeeze drama out of too many scenes.
But the burial preparation brought things back. We’ve never seen a historical end this way. It was fascinating to watch. Some people might have found it sort of clinical and boring, but I thought it worked well.
The weird coincidence here is that the last historical before the 5 ½-year drought was Jang Youngsil, and the very same thing happened. An uneven series and then a final episode that blew your socks off. Maybe this time it was just inexperience—no one available with a lot of recent work doing historicals—but this episode sure made you think about what the series could have been.