Shilla's King

[BungalowDweller]

I was wondering how long he was going to put up with Xue' s rudeness. Calling him "King" like he was a dog! And Li Kaigu actually pointing at the King at one point! Tang/Kaitans were certainly rude!

Dae Jo Young knew exactly what to say to the King to get him to join hands with him. The King's general also seemed to have a change of heart when we was at the King's side at the gate.

So who is really in charge of both of the Kingdoms of the new Gogurygo and Shilla? Any comments from our resident historians?

[SIU]

I watched last night's episode. King Munmu of Shilla would have never told Dae Joyoung "I wish I had someone of your greatness serve under me". Then what about the great Shilla general Kim Yushin? He served under King Muyeol and King Munmu until he died in 673. The portrayal of King Munmu and such a statement is an insult to the millions of Koreans who regard Kim Yushin as one of the greatest warriors in Korean history.

Where is Truth? Back me up on this.

[kathleen34]

SIU said:

I watched last night's episode. King Munmu of Shilla would have never told Dae Joyoung "I wish I had someone of your greatness serve under me". Then what about the great Shilla general Kim Yushin? He served under King Muyeol and King Munmu until he died in 673. The portrayal of King Munmu and such a statement is an insult to the millions of Koreans who regard Kim Yushin as one of the greatest warriors in Korean history.

Where is Truth? Back me up on this.

Your point is well taken, SIU. If in fact DJY was being presented as a documentary it would be a major error to portray DJY as King Munmu did. However, this is not a documentary, it is a drama wherein writers do creative twists on real history.

[ginnycat5]

I think the writers are really impressed with the imperial energy idea, so DJY is the hero and is shown to be an intelligent planner who can out-strategize his opponents and has charisma among soldiers and beauty admired by the women. And the people who don't like him are creeps, anyway.

[ajk]

I didn't like it either, and not just because of the slight to Kim Yushin (or others). I mean, come on, for years the king has been up to his eyeballs in all of the regional politics and tensions, but DJY walks in and immediately flip-flops him like he’s some kind of gullible fool—Oh yeah, Tang is really out to get us after all, gee you’re so smart, why didn’t I think of that. It just wasn’t plausible, and it made the king look like a goof.

It could have been written so much better. If Shilla were going to switch sides on the spot, it should have been from Xue showing up and running his mouth, showing disrespect, and especially that by-the-way-our-army-is-coming revelation. That at least would have been more plausible.

As much as I’m enjoying the series, if I could change one thing about it...Too many scenes and episodes were DJY is the only one with any ideas or plans. The writers do seem to be taken with the imperial-energy thing, but it's just too much. They certainly don't need to embellish DJY's accomplishments this way. Let the other characters have their moments, too.

[Nalbal]

Yeah, I agree with you, ajk. And Xui saying "King" as casually and as rudely as if he had called him "bub"...how could the king really put up with that ? I can understand why he's worried, Tang being so large and formidable and all, but does he honestly think that Xue cares about Shilla's interests, and is really intent on being the best of friends when he treats the king like dirt? And really. I'm not saying it wasn't a good scene (I enjoyed DJY's little dialog there, but) DJY just walked in, had a personal talk with the king, and the king has this astounded attitude like wow, why didn't I think of that? Good grief...how blind can a man get?

[Truth]

In real history, DJY had nothing to do with all this.

That's all I can say.

[BAE]

Lol. That's all? I guess we can infer a lot more from that one sentence than it lets on, Truth. I think this series is going overboard with the idea that DJY is the only human being sane enough to come up with ideas. He keeps getting promoted at lightening fast speed. Everyone loves his wisely constructed plans and cleaver tongue! I thought it was all a bit too soon that the Shilla King was about to imprison DJY one second and then commending him for his courage that he wishes one of his own men possessed the next. It didn't really bother me that he was suddenly wooed by DJY-- it adds to the concept of him being a great historical figure. But, the script, as ajk pointed out, was poorly constructed and thus in turn made me wonder if the Shilla King would've in real life put aside his pride to boost DJY's so freely as he has done on the show.