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Post by ajk on Jan 7, 2024 15:21:33 GMT -5
...is up on Kocowa now, with English subtitles. As usual, it's up for free with ads for 24 hours and then it goes behind a paywall.
I'll get to this one tonight.
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Post by sageuk on Jan 7, 2024 16:46:11 GMT -5
Oh hey, narration is back even if only for a moment
If I had a nickel for everytime a KBS historical once again take influence from Benkei’s last stand (it’s even the same time period) I’d have two. Which isn’t alot but still.
Also that text when Yang Gyu dies, which claims to be from the Biography of Yang Gyu, that they looked like hedgehogs from all the arrows sticking out of them, my Korean isn’t the best but I was unable to find that description at all. Unless another version of Koryo-sa includes that description
Edit: never mind I found it. The description of his death comes up several years later when Goryeo king Munjong have their portraits hung at a Hall for Meritorous Subjects
You know I don’t think I’ve seen pieces of lamellar armor falling apart as it’s wearer gets struck in a historical before.
While Yang Guy’s last stand has an issue of being reliant on being close up, I do appreciate the savagery of the fight.
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Post by ajk on Jan 8, 2024 5:21:34 GMT -5
So we had two halves in this one. One half was pretty much terrific all the way through. Wonderful stuff. The other half was an embarrassment. Anybody wanna guess? What did I like about the first half? Well, we saw some condensation on people’s breaths at times, always like to see that, shows they’re really out there working hard on the filming. That’s all. This was AWFUL. They did such a terrific job giving us Yang Kyu’s story, episode after episode, but at the end they turned his death into a comic book battle. It was so ridiculous and so contrived–-hey, send in another 3,000 of my men so I can watch them all get killed!—and it went on, and on, and on, and on, with the entire Khitan army looking like a bunch of idiots of multiple kinds. And they died standing up? No they did not. They didn’t. Stop it already. They didn’t even die the way history records. They ran out of arrows, it was that simple. Probably it went over big with the viewers so nobody’s going to agree with me. Fine. But whoever conceived and wrote this and actually felt it did justice to everything we were given so expertly about this man’s story, you blew it. (click for full size) A few minutes ago you could see the admiration all over his face, and here he’s filled with contempt, for the very same reason. Ugh. Yang Kyu fought seven battles in one month, without reinforcements, cutting down many enemy soldiers, and rescuing 30,000 civilian prisoners. Yang Kyu and Kim Sook Heung were shot so many times that they looked like hedgehogs when they died side by side. Biography of Yang Kyu, Goryeo History Volume 94. Will say no more about it. The aftermath, it was like a different series. Right from the beginning. Loved how they contrasted the citizens’ elation with the soldiers mourning their dead comrades. And then the screams...the empress being forced to deliver a stillborn fetus...can you imagine what that must have been like back then with no modern medical care. What an awful thing. And it was well done. This was dramatic but it felt real, no issues with this at all. Wow, Kim Eunbu’s daughter can sure sew. OK we did see some aftermath of the burned capital. Not nearly as bad as it probably was, but it got the point across. (click for full size) Gee, Hyeonjong has tiny feet! The second half was terrific right up until the thunderstorm let loose at the perfect moment in the palace yard, like God was waiting for his cue from the KBS director. And Gamchan should have been telling his emperor to pull it together, not sit there bellowing with him while everybody else stands there getting soaked and staring at them. That was overdone. February of the lunar calendar, the second year of Hyeonjong’s reign, the emperor ended his royal flight and returned to Gaegyeong. And he took the first difficult step to bring Goryeo back up. And by the end we’re smiling at Mrs. Gamchan again. And now this difficult question they’re struggling with about punishing wrongdoers, this should be really interesting in the next episode. And then the ending, all you can do is tip your cap. I wonder if whoever wrote it had a miscarriage in their own life. It felt like the words were exactly right.
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Post by truth on Jan 8, 2024 11:01:08 GMT -5
And they died standing up? No they did not. They didn’t. Stop it already. They died standing up back in Iron Empress as well. Probably it went over big with the viewers so nobody’s going to agree with me. Fine. Yes, completely opposite reaction from Korean viewers. Very positive reaction from Korean viewers as it was praised as the best part of this episode. Yang Gyu's actor was even invited for a bunch of interviews after this episode aired and all the interviewers started the interview by praising how fantastic this very scene was. I wonder if whoever wrote it had a miscarriage in their own life. The writer is a male. The same person who wrote Lee Bangwon King of Tears.
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Post by sageuk on Jan 8, 2024 11:30:48 GMT -5
It’s actually scientifically possible to die standing up though not very common.
Basically the body has so much adrenaline running through it that rigor mortis (stiffening of the body after death) sets in a lot faster than normal. Though I suppose there’s also balance to take into consideration
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Post by MTR on Jan 8, 2024 11:58:50 GMT -5
The first thing i thought of just like Sageuk said was KBS were re-enacting the Benkei death scene on Yang Kyu . So thanks for the clarification on that .
It’s interesting that this drama pretty much seems to try and stick to the facts but does go off the rails a bit with some of the action scenes . I would still take KBS over any other network despite stuff like IE and that Gwangaeto drama ( could not get further than the first 5 episodes on that one ) and Great Kings Dream . At least with Bangwon and this the network seems to be back on track . Just leave all the silly stuff to MBC, God Of War aside they excel in that area .
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Post by sageuk on Jan 8, 2024 12:49:18 GMT -5
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Post by truth on Jan 8, 2024 20:25:02 GMT -5
If I had a nickel for everytime a KBS historical once again take influence from Benkei’s last stand I actually thought of Dian Wei from Romance of Three Kingdoms when I first saw Yang Gyu's death scene in Iron Empress. Most Koreans are probably more familiar with Dian Wei than Benkei as well. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dian_Wei#In_Romance_of_the_Three_KingdomsDian Wei's standing death in Romance of Three Kingdoms
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Post by ajk on Jan 11, 2024 6:55:39 GMT -5
And they died standing up? No they did not. They didn’t. Stop it already. They died standing up back in Iron Empress as well. Funny you should mention that! I had gone searching for that scene from IE, because I remember the same bit happening with the emperor sending waves of his own men to die against Yang and Kim just for his own enjoyment of it. It's on YouTube: www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q4EaUPvOuRw&list=PL80RE05-_pZCWTX7rIfrn0foLzESKYUgNThis clip is the first nine minutes of the episode. It's like KKW stole the whole idea from IE. Right down to them dying standing up. They looked ridiculous in IE, like department store mannequins, no blood at all. (click for full size) And how did they get shot from straight up in the air and from behind? lol What a series that was. It’s actually scientifically possible to die standing up though not very common. Basically the body has so much adrenaline running through it that rigor mortis (stiffening of the body after death) sets in a lot faster than normal. Though I suppose there’s also balance to take into consideration Fair enough, that may be technically possible, but very quickly you will topple over because of the balance issue like you said. Balance requires foot muscles. What's interesting about the way IE set it up is that Yang and Kim died standing in a pond...so you could argue they got stuck in mud. Pretty weak argument because they were able to run around in that pond so how muddy could it be, but at least they left themselves an out. Yeah I figured the death scene would be very popular, but I'd have much rather they'd spent those minutes giving us more of the guy's life and not interminably dragging out his death for melodrama. OR EVEN, more of the story leading up to his death, which we did not get. It wasn't at all clear why they made that charge at all. The Khitans tried to ambush them and failed. Then they see the main army a long way away. But then within seconds they're within shouting distance! And why didn't they just run away to fight another day? Especially for all of the pragmatism we saw from Yang, a suicide charge in this situation made no sense. Wish they had thought this stuff through. I wonder if whoever wrote it had a miscarriage in their own life. The writer is a male. The same person who wrote Lee Bangwon King of Tears. Sorry for not being clearer on that--I didn't necessarily mean that it was a female who had a miscarriage personally, just someone who had experienced one in their own family first-hand. One of those things that you can probably describe much better if you've had to deal with it yourself. So here's something that I didn't put in the main post. Back in episode 9, when Gamchan was stuck in the Khitan army camp, he had that Goryeo prisoner girl bring him dinner. Remember, he had to fake-tell her about the "surrender" and she was sad. Her name was Deok. So in this episode 16, the guy from earlier episodes who had lost his daughter and was assisting the troops at Heunghwajin by delivering them arrows, he gets his daughter back. Her name is Seok. Here are photos from each episode. (click for full size) Is this not the same girl? Right down to the purple ribbon in her hair. So how did she get free of the Khitan army camp? She wasn't one of the captives freed by Yang Kyu's men. Wouldn't prisoners in Khitan-controlled territory be shipped back to Khitan? And why did her name change? Is it like you could call a William Will or Bill, something Korean that I don't know? Am I misunderstanding this whole thing? Because it seems incredibly sloppy. Obviously it's not a major plot point but it sure doesn't show good attention to detail.
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Post by truth on Jan 11, 2024 10:29:10 GMT -5
Yeah I figured the death scene would be very popular, but I'd have much rather they'd spent those minutes giving us more of the guy's life There's nothing known about his life before the war. What he did during this war is all we know about his life.
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