This one had a little too much of a been-there-done-that feeling to it. Part of the problem is that we still don’t entirely understand why Gochang is so important. Obviously it is, but it sort of feels like just a continuation of previous battles and not something distinct. Then we get the trapped-in-a-ravine angle, which has almost become a cliché by now...we’ll get to that.
And one other thing that’s starting to get a tiny bit stale is the director’s staging gimmick of arranging all of the important people in a group and having the whole group walk ten feet or so towards the camera in unison, and then they start their lines. Anybody else getting tired of that? Okay yes it’s episode 168 and how many ways can you start a scene, but unless the group is walking towards some sort of overlook with a battlefield view, it feels forced and unnatural.
■ In December of 929 AD, at the age of 63, King Kyun-hwon of later Bekjae embarks on a crusade to conquer Gochang. Koryo immediately responds by deploying their force. Gochang is modern-day Andong. Andong is the aggrandized name Wang Guhn would bestow in recognition of the locals for his victory at this battle. Gochang’s leaders at this time were castle lord Kim Sun-pyung, Shilla’s royalty Kim Hang, and Jang Jung-pil.
As good as the narrated texts have been, why reveal the winner here? You’re going to have the battle coming up right now anyway so leave the outcome out of it. Even if people already know who wins, let things play out with whatever suspense you can add to it in your storytelling. This is another thing that’s happened multiple times and I don’t like it at all.
Kim Hang: “We will cast our lot with Koryo and fight with Koryo’s army.” Wow--when even the country’s royals say they can’t remain loyal to the country any more, you know it’s bad.
WG: “Order the sappers to bring out every equipment and weapon we have and place them on the hills and in the woods.” In my entire life (including reading a bunch of military histories) I’ve never heard the word “sapper” before. It refers to troops who perform engineering tasks.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SapperChoi Seung Woo to KH: “But this is enemy territory and they are prepared to die. An army prepared for death is an army to be feared, your majesty.” This is come up before but KH disregarding Choi’s advice makes it seem like he’s never read Sun Tzu. That seems hard to believe. Maybe I’m getting too nit-picky, but still, The Art of War would have been required reading back then.
(click for full size)“Who? Yu Geumpil? Yu Geumpil?!?” How funny was that. Yi Soon-shin! Yi Soon-shin!
It’s odd how Yu Geumpil’s individual excellence as a warrior makes the entire enemy wary of him as a commander. There’s no relationship between the two things at all. But no doubt it’s true, we see a lot of this.
Choi: “There are deep ravines to cross to Gochang from both the south and the north....” Say no more. To be fair, in a mountainous area like the Korean peninsula you’ve going to have ravines all over the place, so I suppose this ravine problem was a very real thing. Just seems like the scouts should be spotting more of the trouble in advance than they are.
Shin-guhm: “Father is behind my back, Yu Geumpil is in front of me, and I know too little about the enemy.” Yeah he really is sort of snakebit, even aside from his bungling.
Jang Jungpil: “They say Kyun-hwon is a reincarnation of a warm.” Umm, I think he meant worm. That’s okay guys, you’ll get it next time.
Jang Jungpil: “Warms melt away in salty water.” Sigh...Is this some kind of a Gochang thing?
WG: “A warm...Yes I once heard such a myth.” Nope, not just Gochang. Is it contagious?
Choi Ung: “Whether or not Kyun-hwon is a reincarnation of a warm, mixing of salt in the river signifies his removal.” Apparently!
WG: “A warm...I wonder why he is called a warm when it does not to him justice to be called a dragon.” Maybe because he’s hot tempered? Ba-dum bum. The subtitling has been consistently good throughout the series so it wouldn’t be right to dwell on every little imperfection...but this one, how could I not mention it, it got to be very funny.
KH to Choi: “You’ve become overly cautious. Perhaps it could reduce the casualties, but casualties are a part of war. What is important is the result. Don’t you agree?” The Bekjae strategy meeting, it wasn’t played up for drama but to me this was one of KH’s lowest moments ever. One, he’s making the same mistake WG made about getting too impatient for a fight (and he himself has done this before, and we thought he’d learned from it). Two, he was openly pitting the princes against each other in front of everyone, which he shouldn’t be doing. And three, his cavalier attitude about casualties certainly didn’t make him look very good.
Yaesul: “It’s my ugly friend Park Sulhee!” Oh I hope he doesn’t die here. What a fun character.
We end with another cliché, everybody standing around and watching two generals duel. We even saw the armies leave their positions and go towards an open field with a better view of the duel. Seriously? Yu Geumpil allowed the enemy to leave the ravine where he had them for the taking? Including an enemy prince? How ridiculous was that...but they did cliffhanger it so I suppose we should be fair and see how it plays out first. In other words let’s see how the warm turns!
