Yet again, most of this was a very good episode, with transition problems. This time both beginning and ending.
Did not like the opening at all. Whatever hostility Hyeonjong encountered in the south in real history, the way they staged this, it was way too phonied up for TV. And The Masked Man (we know who it is, not sure if that helps or harms) actually swung and missed? Seriously? Hyeonjong flinched around but he didn’t dive off his feet, that was awful. And then the soldiers come running in and save him but let The Masked Man run away? He was running like an old man. That was embarrassing, so amateurish. Surprised they let this through without anybody demanding it be fixed.
(click for full size)Wow did Choi ever earn his paycheck right there.
The discussion in Seogyeong, excellent scene. Except for the music—you don’t need any music there. The information is important enough to carry the scene, and we’re not idiots, we don’t need music added to cue its importance to us. Trust your writers on this one.
But then we get the Khitan side with their dilemma, and that was good. You sort of get the feeling that the writers and producers don’t want to give us too much of this kind of calm discussion, like it would quickly bore a good chunk of the audience today in 2023. Sadly, they probably are right.
Gamchan on XP: “Right now he is the only one in the Khitan army who can see reality clearly. And he is also the only one who can change the emperor’s mind.” Yes, and no! lol…Have to confess, while it almost certainly was not like this, I sure am enjoying the way they’re writing this, XP being the only sensible one. And the actor is doing an excellent job with it.
(click for full size)This was the darkest blood I’ve ever seen come out of anybody’s mouth, and possibly also the most the fastest. But this was terrific stuff. It felt like such a mistake that they’d make Gamchan’s wife a major part of the story all of a sudden...and they didn’t, it was just a premise to set up what happened. One of the two best things in the episode. You genuinely could not tell what was going to happen.
(click for full size)OK this is a perfect example of their map problem. We don’t know which direction is north, and we can’t even see any coastlines with water to get our bearings. The colors are ineffective; the map isn’t shown for long enough, and the lines that convey movement, those would be a nice touch but they move too fast to put the movement in context. This is such a simple thing that could help the story so much, but it’s not helping at all.
Empress: “Then we should go to Naju.” Oh dear, they went back to the well again, and it didn’t work. Again. All of those high officers there and she’s only one who thinks of going to Naju? Really? Ugh.
But then we got the other best thing in the episode, the whole sequence with the villagers. Starting with the food, hard to screw that up but we’ve seen plenty of gimmes screwed up over the years, so give credit where credit is due, what a nice moment that was. Kind of surprised that Hyeonjong had them kneel there through the whole meal, but then we saw why the writers kept them there….
“He was good to you, how?” And then the brutal silence, that was hilarious. I mean the subject wasn’t funny at all, but it SO got the message across. And the rest of it, exactly what I always ask for about knowing the larger country. Typical story of local corruption but presented beautifully, it so perfectly communicated how the commoners suffered from it. Bravo to whoever wrote this.
I was surprised that XP would let himself be seen conferring privately with the newly released No Jeon. Not that it’s implausible, it just seemed like a bit of sloppiness from him.
And then he meets Gamchan at the border? Did anything like this happen? I’m guessing no...and either way by now you have to be suspicious of anything they put Gamchan into. Hard to enjoy the story when you have suspicion about even a small part of it.
And then the daily requirement of fist-clenching, there it is.
“I will remain here and keep an eye on the Khitan’s movements.” Really? Knowing that you’d be their public enemy #1, you’re going to wander around unguarded right in the middle of invaded territory? Are you really that dumb?
Yep. Groan!
A terrific moment with XP and his ruler, XP asking for trust on this one. That’s what they should have ended with. Gamchan being tortured to confess a secret communication with XP, this was supposed to be a big dramatic ending but the writers have already done so much monkeying around to get Gamchan into the story more, they’ve lost my trust. They’ve got two great stories going here, the emperor fleeing south and Yang Kyu being an absolute genius in the north. Yet again another subpar ending to a very good episode.
