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Post by ajk on May 25, 2023 3:53:41 GMT -5
Sorry, it's coming...more family health stuff clogging up my days. Plus I've kind of been ducking this, separation anxiety I guess...Plan to watch it Thursday.
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Post by ajk on May 27, 2023 4:01:06 GMT -5
I’ll set up a separate final-thoughts thread. This one will just be for #200. It was far from the best episode but was better than I expected, mainly because we got to see Kyun-hwon’s death. I’d have made that the last scene, but you can understand why they ordered it all the way they did. We needed a narrated text big-time pretty early on, but didn’t get one. Yeah it’s very possible that there was dissension in the army, but to have it play out so dramatically like this…we need some support for it. The whole army just coming apart instantly? Hmmm. And Yaesul just falls off his horse and doesn’t get back up? That was bad. Do something to make it seem just a little bit plausible, okay? Have him hit his head on a boulder and he gets knocked out, something like that. Sloppy, sloppy. On the other hand, they did a good job of portraying the absolute chaos that would happen in a situation like this, with massive desertion and dissension. Would Yaesul and Kim Chong really have offered up the Bekjae battle plan as easily as they did? That was very surprising. It’s possible, but that scene needed to be written out more substantially to make it more believable. (click for full size) And good morning to you, merry sunshine! WG: “We’ve already won. Their lives are as valuable as ours. Let’s be patient.” Bravo. So Shin-guhm orders the surrender…Just wondering how everybody in the room screaming “Your majesty!” at the top of their lungs makes any part of it better. Anybody else find it awfully weird that WG ordered executions for treason against the enemy state? How strange is that! Padal was interesting right to the end. Excellent character. ■ The demise of Shin-guhm and his brothers…The historical records describe this moment like this: “The king finally ordered Neunghwan’s execution, and Yang-guhm and Yong-guhm were killed shortly after being exiled to Jinju. As for Shin-guhm, he was exonerated and given a government position, as they determined that his seizure of the throne was done under duress against his own accord.” But his name is never again mentioned in the historical records. It is believed that he, too, was killed quietly after his brothers’ death.” Why did they show SG dying right there and then? That didn’t made sense. Sloppy, sloppy. ■ Kyun-hwon collapsed at the battle of Mt. Hwang and was moved to a local temple, where he died of a ruptured carbuncle a few days later. He was 70 years old. The Chronicle of the Three Kingdoms records the date of his date of his death as 8th of September, 936, but its accuracy is questionable. And so, Kyun-hwon, one of the heroes of the Later Three Kingdoms, who led a life of many vicissitudes, met its tragic end. Some say that his dying wish was to be buried facing modern-day Junju. Whether or not this is true, he was buried on the hills of Nonsan overlooking Jinju from afar.
Nice touch showing us the burial mound and stele. Loved that. But it was sad to see KH in his final days still burdened with so much anger and wanting vengeance so badly. ■ Unification of the Three Kingdoms: After Wang Guhn routed Shin-guhm on the fields of Mt. Hwang, he annexed the palace of Bekjae, pacified its people, and returned to the capital. It was September of 936. To memorialize the unification, Mt. Hwang was renamed Mountain of Heaven’s Protection, and (the) Temple of Great Foundation was built. ■ Wang Guhn and the Era of the Later Three Kingdoms…As we conclude this two-year TV series, let us look back on the history of the Later Three Kingdoms. Later Bekjae, Later Koguryo and Shilla are collectively known as the Later Three Kingdoms. Later Bekjae was founded in 892 by a man of peasant stock, Kyun-hwon, claiming revival of Old Bekjae. In the beginning, Kyun-hwon was a military officer of Shilla assigned to defend the southwest coastal region. At the time, Shilla was in a state of chaos and thieves ran rampant. When opportunity came, Kyun-hwon mobilized an army and conquered Mujinju. Then he pushed forward to Wansanju, where he founded a new state. As the king of Bekjae, he established diplomatic relations with Wuyue of China and greatly expanded his land. He also invaded Surabul of Shilla in a brutal assault, killing King Kyung-ae and placing King Kyungsoon on the throne. And countless battles were fought against Wang Guhn in the contention for mastery. However, he was a failure when it came to family. He tried to bypass the normal line of succession and bequeath his throne to Geum-kang, a son born of a concubine, but Shin-guhm and other sons of his legitimate wife rebelled against him, killing Geum-kang and capturing the throne. Placed under confinement in Geum-san temple, Kyun-hwon soon escaped and fled to Koryo where he spearheaded the unification mission and brought down the kingdom he had built himself. Later Koguryo was founded by Goongyae, a monk who was also a prince of Shilla born of a concubine. in 904 Goongyae renamed his state Majin and moved the capital from Song-ak to Chulwon. Again in 911 he changed (the name) Majin to Taebong. But once the state settled and became stronger, he began to rule with unmitigated tyranny. In 918, Shin Seungkyum and four other warriors drove him from the royal court in a military coup and brought Wang Guhn forward as his successor, at which time the state was renamed Koryo and (its) capital was moved back to Song-ak. As for Shilla, King Kyun-soon was placed on the throne by Kyun-hwon, but he surrendered to Koryo as the kingdom could not be revived. The era of the (Later) Three Kingdoms was finally brought to an end by Wang Guhn after 45 years of contention. Unification of the Three Kingdoms…This may be ancient history, but it is very thought-provoking when we compare this to the current division in our nation. We cannot help but feel national pride for our ancestors who achieved unification without foreign assistance or intervention. Unified Koryo—A new chapter begins in the history of the empire to make its mark in the world forever. Koryo—the rest of the world calls it Korea. It was a name founded by Wang Guhn and a name that would forever be etched in history.
(click for full size) During the narration we did get to see a few glimpses of the scenes we lost out on from the previous episode, in particular the surrender of Shilla’s king and the three kings together. That is quite the image. (click for full size) 200 episodes, darned right! But worth every minute of it. What a series.
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Post by mugwump on May 27, 2023 11:58:39 GMT -5
I always wondered what became of Mrs. Kyun-hwon...
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Post by truth on May 27, 2023 12:25:10 GMT -5
I always wondered what became of Mrs. Kyun-hwon... The family lineage continued just fine. Actress Kyeon Miri is Kyeon Hwon's descendant.
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Post by 𝔰𝔢𝔞𝔫𝔪𝔞𝔠𝔩𝔞𝔦𝔯 on May 27, 2023 14:57:13 GMT -5
I always wondered what became of Mrs. Kyun-hwon... The family lineage continued just fine. Actress Kyeon Miri is Kyeon Hwon's descendant. And her daughter Lee Yubi!
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Post by truth on May 27, 2023 18:10:09 GMT -5
The family lineage continued just fine. Actress Kyeon Miri is Kyeon Hwon's descendant. And her daughter Lee Yubi! The other daughter Lee Dain recently married actor+singer Lee Seunggi.
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Post by ajk on Jun 6, 2023 19:16:41 GMT -5
I always wondered what became of Mrs. Kyun-hwon... I'm glad you brought that up because I was thinking about that for the final few episodes, what would become of her. Most likely it was never recorded, or it was recorded and didn't survive, or it would have been included in the series. It's an interesting question. Certainly it's easy to think that things didn't end well for her. The narration told us that all three of her sons were more likely than not quietly executed. And she was the one who gave official sanction to her husband's removal, so she's in just as much trouble as they were, if not more. Have to think there would have been a huge controversy over it among the officials. Probably a lot of them clinging to loyalty to Bekjae and wanting to protect her, but of course it's Koryo's country now and they don't have the final say. Ultimately it probably was WG's decision. What would he have done?
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Post by sageuk on Jun 6, 2023 19:57:00 GMT -5
For all we know, she was just exiled and put in permanent house arrest…which depending on how you look at it, is a fate worse than death, especially since she lost her sons
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Post by ajk on Jun 8, 2023 1:48:02 GMT -5
I think you're right, that would be my guess too. Especially if it was left up to WG to decide. If he was on the more compassionate side of things, like we've been shown in the series, then it makes sense, and especially after him seeing what Goongyae did to his queen and how horribly people reacted to it. And for that matter, what happened to the Shilla queen. He probably wouldn't have wanted to sentence her to death.
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Post by truth on Jun 8, 2023 13:36:26 GMT -5
200 episodes, darned right! But worth every minute of it. There will probably never be another 200 episodes, let alone 100 episodes series again. Long gone are the days of long episodes historicals. The downside is the overload of Romance of Three Kingdom reference or using some of the same storylines. A lot of historicals in the 2000s that took place prior to Joseon dynasty did this for some reason. It seems it's no longer the case for the most part. Although LBW drama did include a scene that resembles Cao Cao and Dong Zhuo's mirror scene. The writer of Goryeo-Khitan War is the same person who wrote LBW, so I wouldn't be surprised to see another ROTK-inspired scene in the next drama. I wouldn't mind as long it's not overdone like in EWG though. If they do include ROTK-inspired scene in Goryeo-Khitan War, I can maybe imagine Hyeonjong slicing the table saying "The time for indecision is over! Any who mention surrender from this point onward will meet the same fate as this table! All soldiers will report for their orders tomorrow, or face the penalty of martial law!" This is what Sun Quan said slicing a table before going to war against Cao Cao at the Battle of Red Cliff. Sun Quan's situation at the time is very similar to Goryeo's situation. Cao Cao's army = Khitans (large, powerful army) Sun Quan's army = Goryeo (relatively weaker underdogs) Everyone wants to surrender except for Zhou Yu = Everyone wants to surrender except for Kang Gamchan Zhou Yu convinces Sun Quan to fight = Kang Gamchan convinces Hyeonjong to fight Sun Quan slices a table saying the line I quoted above in ROTK. Hyeonjong can maybe do the same if the writer does include ROTK inspired scene.
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