I paused this one partway through and took a nap. Needed it. Yawn. Fiction and not particularly interesting fiction at that. Can’t say the ending was boring. Can say it was one of the dumbest episode endings ever. Ever! Some nice writing in the first few sequences but good heavens did this thing ever go off the rails.
Gee, CSJ has small feet just like KDJ has. But this image was better than showing his small feet:
(click for full size) The out-of-focus of Hyeonjong in the background not even being able to look at Gamchan as he left, nicely set up by the director. Enjoyed that.
Oh good grief, we’re not even two minutes in and we’re getting the fist clench. Stop it already!
Hyeonjong pounding back the wine like he was doing...hmmm, I don’t know, remember he was a monk. It’s possible but it’s not really consistent with what we've seen from him so far.
Empress: “Even King Taejo worked hand in hand with those powerful families and built this Goryeo. Please rule like King Taejo.” This was good because it introduced the idea that she (more specifically her family) had direct interest in the plan to put government officials in every region. I had said in the past that she was coming off like an impossibly experienced advisor, well this was better because they set it up as something she would have thought about a lot for her own reasons. Much better.
Mrs. Gamchan: “Forget it. This is for the better. Let us visit our children’s houses and spend time with our grandchildren.” Very nice. Everything she’s been through has changed her and she’s backed off on the nagging. That’s how you write characters in long stories like this one. Well done.
Then it started getting boring and illogical. Kim Eunbu’s daughter is going all over Chungju asking questions. Alone, with no protection. We just saw in the last episode that everybody already knows who she is and how she’s now connected to the emperor. She’s going to be in danger down there, and nobody is going to be willing to talk to her. Waste of a lot of time.
Hyeonjong: “We are trying to do the right thing now. Right and wrong is always clear.” Ugh now Hyeonjong is getting to be a self-righteous load like Lady Kim is. The writers had done such a good job of gradually building him up as a more competent and savvy ruler but now he’s starting to get dumber.
Kim Eunbu: “Your majesty, the emperor that the people want now is not a sovereign who gets stuck while walking only on the right path. It is a sovereign who is willing to jump into the mud and take down the enemy if it is for his people.” Nicely written, and any time you get a clash between utopian ideals and real-world messiness it can make for good material. But this has gone on for too long and it’s getting tiring. Did the writers forget about Khitan? Umm, like the war? Why is this being dragged out? And for fiction, what is the point?
“Does your elderly mother know that you stole military rations during wartime?” Not a fan of making up all of this mutiny stuff, but that was hilarious.
OK so they found Lady Kim safe--of course they did, we knew nothing could happen to her. But the next we see of her, she’s alone with Hyeonjong in his chambers after dark. Seriously? After that long conversation they had before about the perception that she’s throwing herself at him or else daddy is throwing her at him? Again Hyeonjong apparently getting dumber.
(click for full size) No, no, CSJ is not the taller one here. This became almost a running joke in EWG. Why do this? The height between them seems to keep changing. It’s okay if Gamchan isn’t as tall as his emperor. Who cares? Actually more to the point, why didn’t Gang Gamchan immediately bow in front of his emperor? Of course he would have. Somebody waved it off so they could stare each other down for drama’s sake. Booooo…...
And now Gamchan is getting kicked out of town? And now the emperor’s having a temper tantrum? And now a crash with serious injuries, well that’s a perfect analogy for this episode.
(click for full size) This should be a signed confession from the writers. UGH.