Post by ajk on Aug 25, 2009 12:38:37 GMT -5
The wedding proceeds and ends without a hitch. Lots of "Long live the emperor!" shouts conclude it.
Afterwards, Mokjong is still brooding and sulking. We realize it's about Chiyang again; Mokjong is still frustrated with his mother about Chiyang, even moreso now that (as we learn) Chiyang is now finance commissioner. "I have needs and feelings like everyone else," Cheonchu tells her son, and besides, I can't back down because I'm doing this to take a stand for justice for the women of this country. (Seriously? Think about that one and you have to laugh. Yes, she says, I'm doing him, but it's for a good cause!) Mokjong doesn't buy it--we can see that; he leaves without comment but with a sour puss on his face.
The new empress is percolating in a hot bath, with Hyangbi and Sa Illa tending to her. She asks the two why they're not married. They seem a little embarrassed by the question, but finally Sa Illa answers, "Men are intimidated by women warriors like us."
Gang Jo has summoned Chiyang to tell him he's going to treat him cordially from now on. Not because he wants to, but because he asked Cheonchu to order him to. But you better not do her wrong, he growls, "or I swear I'll destroy you." Don't worry, Chiyang answers with an innocent smile.
We see Lady Yunheung, the former queen. Turns out, she wasn't even invited to the wedding. (That is just awful. Cheonchu at her petty, vindictive worst. And would Mokjong really have allowed that? I think this was a bad piece of writing.) Escort Jo is whining and moaning about it; Yunheung broods silently.
Evening: Mokjong goes to his new bride's quarters. They dine alone together. There's a weird vibe in the room; he just can't seem to see her as desirable, and she admits to feeling out of place. They laugh about it. Then he takes her hand and they sit down on the bed together; he starts to undress her and they kiss...but he can't deliver the goods, so to speak. Something's on his mind; he asks her to go to sleep without him.
The next day: The new empress goes to meet with Cheonchu. "How was your first night together?" Geez, nosy. Sun only looks down, embarrassed. Cheonchu suggests that the royal house needs heirs, and then tells the empress to relax. (Yeah, that'll help.)
The martial arts tournament is getting underway. Mokjong, Cheonchu and ministers galore are there to watch. Cheonchu gives a pro-national-expansion speech to kick things off; Mokjong declined the opportunity to speak and only listens to her irritatedly.
Liao royal palace, throne room: "You let the Goryean live?" Emperor Shengzong is furious with Yelu Pennu for not killing Sa Gamun; it defied his order and implicitly obeyed the prime minister's order instead. I'll cut off your head, he shouts, but Yelu Dilie sticks up for Pennu: He was just trying to protect you; killing the trade representative would make your mother very angry and you don't want that. Shengzong realizes this but is beyond frustrated at his seeming powerlessness.
Somewhere near the Liao palace (not sure exactly where): Sa Gamun took a wound in the fight with Pennu and is in bed recovering from it. He thanks Dokyun for breaking it up. Train harder, she tells him, so you don't get wounded again. Then he asks her, "Did you save me because I'm your man or because of the Prime Minister's order?" "I won't answer that." He takes her arm: "I like you. I want to hear your story." She gives him a tender kiss. "Be quiet and just get better. I'm bored to death not being able to fight you." How weird is this; they seem to be turning each other into actual human beings.
The competition gets underway. Iit's going to be a single-elimination tournament. We see snippets of a bunch of preliminary matches; some interesting; some comical; some quite good; all different kinds of fighting styles and weapons. We recognize two of the competitors: Yang Kyu, the northerner; and Kim Sukheung, the guard who saved Cheonchu from the attackers when she was in exile. Then who should show up but Hyeolmae! She's packing the whip and she wants in. It's an unrestricted competition so she's admitted in. And we see her make short work of one preliminary opponent. She snatches his spear out of his hand with one whip stroke, wraps up his left leg with a second stroke, and then finds a new way to violate the laws of physics by pulling him to the ground with only a light tug of her elbow. Ughhh.
Eventually we get down to the final four. Kim Sukheung is in the first match; it's a good battle but he defeats his opponent and advances. Then it's Yang Kyu against Hyeolmae. And it's not much of a match. Yang is agile enough to easily avoid her whipstrokes; then she tries to get him by the leg, but he simply steps on the whip, runs at her and knocks her down, and kicks her in the mouth for good measure. Momentarily shocked, and bleeding at the mouth, Hyeolmae gets up and storms out of the ring, knocking over a cauldron in frustration.
Now it's the final: Kim Sukheung vs. Yang Kyu. They're both very good and you think this one could go either way, but eventually Yang gets some height and manages to knock Kim down with a kick to the head. Lots of cheering as the competition ends. Yang and Kim are given military commissions on the spot, with Yang made a general and Kim a colonel. Cheonchu concludes the event with an announcement: military officials will be equals of scholarly officials from now on; soldiers will now be eligible for promotion based on their fighting skills; and the Stipend Land Law, which lets the government award land as compensation, will now include military officials.
Narration tells us that Mokjong did expand the scope of the Stipend Land Law in 998 to include soldiers. This indicates a higher priority being placed on national defense.
That evening, the two new generals are dining with Cheonchu, Seo Hui, Gang Gamchan and Gang Jo. Their backgrounds and stories are shared. Gang Jo suggests assigning Yang to train cavalry and Kim to lead infantry. Cheonchu agrees and tells the two that "Our military force will grow many times its current size."
The younger ministers are grumbling about the new policy change, fearing they'll get shafted at the expense of soldiers under the new policy. Hwangbo Yui speaks particularly disparagingly of soldiers. The group is also concerned about the reinstatement of the previously abolished Palguanhwe and lantern festivals. They worry about the expense and fear that the change is being made too quickly. (And most of them aren't Buddhists, which probably has a lot to do with it.)
At Xiao Zanli's villa: Zanli and Hyeolmae both are angry and disappointed with Hyeolmae's failure to win the competition. Hyeolmae is especially chagrined at losing to "a common soldier." Maybe Goryeo is more dangerous than we thought, they realize.
Yunheung is reading her father Wonsoong the riot act: Did you really swear loyalty to Khitan? Calm down, he tells her; I did do it, and I'll do for anyone who can help me. To Yunheung, of course, Khitans are barbarians and the enemy, but Wonsoong has an answer for that: "There are no eternal enemies." Right now our enemy is Cheonchu, he says, and if the Khitans want to help us destroy her, we'll let them.
Gamchan is with the young Prince Daeryang, who's been enjoying learning to read. Seems like a good kid. And says he still remembers his father. So Gamchan tries something: he asks the boy if he remembers the day he went to the porcelain village, and if he remembers a woman wearing a bamboo hat who supposedly was with him and his father. Daeryang shakes his head no. But then the boy starts to cry. "The woman drowned a man and tried to kill my father. And my father begged her not to kill me." So he does remember! Don't worry, Gamchan tells him, it was just a dream and it didn't really happen. He hugs the boy to comfort him, but we can see he knows he's stumbled onto something big.
Chiyang wants Cheonchu to hire Mun Inui as keeper of her palace. He used to work for Choe Sum, of course, and that doesn't exactly endear him to Cheonchu. Plus, she tells Chiyang, "I can't trust a man who betrayed his master." It's not like that, Chiyang tells her; he sticks up for Mun and vouches for him. So she agrees.
Nighttime: An attendant brings a piece of paper to Yi Hyunoon; it's from Lady Yunheung.
We see Mokjong kissing his new bride in bed again. But still he can't deliver. "I can't think of you as my lover," he tells her. "I feel like I shouldn't be doing this. You're like a sister to me." He's sorry and frustrated.
State council meeting: Cheonchu announces the date of the Lotus Lantern Festival and orders food distributed to the populace for the occasion.
Yi Hyunoon has snuck away from his duties and enters Yunheung's villa. Jo Du is there with her. Hyunoon had wanted nothing more to do with her, so she's a lot happier to see him than he is to see her. She asks him to bring the emperor to see her tonight! I have no possible way of making that happen, he says, and promptly turns to leave. Clank! Jo Du has thrown a bag of money on the table. It's a big chunk of change--enough money to buy several houses. Take it and bring the emperor, she tells him; if you don't, I'll tell Cheonchu all about your spying. Faced with both the carrot and the stick, he takes the bag and leaves. (You have to wonder if that's counterfeit money they gave him.)
Yunheung has received Xiao Zanli! The two are alone talking. Zanli wants to get the emperor addicted to a drug. This again? Yunheung is horrified, after what she saw her husband go through. But it's not the same drug. It's opium-based but this one is called Osoksan, and Zanli claims she has an antidote for it. She wants to give Mokjong the drug just until Cheonchu is killed, and then she'll give him the antidote (sure she will).
Jo Sun gives Wonsoong a dossier of background information on all of the current ministers;, very detailed stuff. Turns out that there are plenty of good candidates to try to buy off. But they think it would be better to use a frontman to do it, rather than raising suspicion by showing themselves in public too much. But who?
Sa Gamun's trading caravan is returning from Liao. They reach the Yalu River border and stop to rest. Then we see Dokyun and Sa Gamun alone together. She asks him to become a Liao citizen. He's not interested. But why would she ask such a thing anyway? "Goryeo and Liao will eventually be at war," she explains sadly, "and if that happens, I might be forced to kill you." He's almost amused: "You kill me?" My first loyalty is to my country, she says sternly. He tells her, "I don't think I'd be able to kill you. But if you have to kill me, I'll accept that. I'd consider it a blessing to die at the hands of the one I love." He smiles, walks away and leaves her there, alone and suddenly flabbergasted. She has to force herself to say out loud, "I am a warrior. I will not be swayed by love."
The lantern festival is underway. In the palace, there's a big outdoor banquet with an elaborate dance presentation.
Evening: Gang Jo is by himself brooding. Gamchan finds him and asks about the period when he and Cheonchu were planning their overthrow of Sungjong. He wants to know if there was any talk about involving Prince Gyeongjuwon or Prince Daeryang in the overthrow. No, Jo says, there was no reason to bring them into it. Obviously Gamchan is trying to sort out this latest mystery.... (Just wait until the kid sees Sa Illa in the palace!)
Elsewhere, Hyangbi and Sa Illa are alone together, enjoying an evening drink. Sa Illa asks Hyangbi, "You have feelings for General Gang, don't you?" I can see it in your eyes, she says. And confesses, "I know how it feels to love a person who doesn't love you back." Who? No answer. But Hyangbi puts it together: "You're kidding." "At last you have hope," Sa Illa says. "For me...it's not even a possibility." Then they smile at each other, feeling closer.
Still evening: Chiyang watches Cheonchu walking back to her palace. Suddenly: "Wavering again!?" It's Chiyang's evil twin! Not again. (Do I put this guy in the character roster?) He's getting right up in Chiyang's face and giving him the business about going soft and giving up on his quest. "You want an easy life now....You want to forget about the grieving souls of the dead! You're in love, and you're on the path of betrayal as well!" Chiyang angrily denies it...And suddenly he's alone again, spooked and unnerved.
Hyunoon is trying to convince Mokjong to take a walk outside of the palace. The emperor likes the idea, especially with the festival going on out there, but how is he ever going to sneak out of the palace undetected?
"What do you mean? You still have not slept together? Not once?" The new empress, looking unhappy and downcast, is before Cheonchu.
We see Mokjong, dressed as a common soldier, sneaking out of the palace.
Go Hyun has come to Cheonchu to tell her that Mokjong can't be located.
Mokjong is out in a public square with Hyunoon. Lots of activity out there and Mokjong is enjoying being in the middle of it. Then he decides to head for a gisaeng house--"there's something I have to check"--but just then, who should catch his attention but Lady Yunheung, out in the square waiting for him.
Afterwards, Mokjong is still brooding and sulking. We realize it's about Chiyang again; Mokjong is still frustrated with his mother about Chiyang, even moreso now that (as we learn) Chiyang is now finance commissioner. "I have needs and feelings like everyone else," Cheonchu tells her son, and besides, I can't back down because I'm doing this to take a stand for justice for the women of this country. (Seriously? Think about that one and you have to laugh. Yes, she says, I'm doing him, but it's for a good cause!) Mokjong doesn't buy it--we can see that; he leaves without comment but with a sour puss on his face.
The new empress is percolating in a hot bath, with Hyangbi and Sa Illa tending to her. She asks the two why they're not married. They seem a little embarrassed by the question, but finally Sa Illa answers, "Men are intimidated by women warriors like us."
Gang Jo has summoned Chiyang to tell him he's going to treat him cordially from now on. Not because he wants to, but because he asked Cheonchu to order him to. But you better not do her wrong, he growls, "or I swear I'll destroy you." Don't worry, Chiyang answers with an innocent smile.
We see Lady Yunheung, the former queen. Turns out, she wasn't even invited to the wedding. (That is just awful. Cheonchu at her petty, vindictive worst. And would Mokjong really have allowed that? I think this was a bad piece of writing.) Escort Jo is whining and moaning about it; Yunheung broods silently.
Evening: Mokjong goes to his new bride's quarters. They dine alone together. There's a weird vibe in the room; he just can't seem to see her as desirable, and she admits to feeling out of place. They laugh about it. Then he takes her hand and they sit down on the bed together; he starts to undress her and they kiss...but he can't deliver the goods, so to speak. Something's on his mind; he asks her to go to sleep without him.
The next day: The new empress goes to meet with Cheonchu. "How was your first night together?" Geez, nosy. Sun only looks down, embarrassed. Cheonchu suggests that the royal house needs heirs, and then tells the empress to relax. (Yeah, that'll help.)
The martial arts tournament is getting underway. Mokjong, Cheonchu and ministers galore are there to watch. Cheonchu gives a pro-national-expansion speech to kick things off; Mokjong declined the opportunity to speak and only listens to her irritatedly.
Liao royal palace, throne room: "You let the Goryean live?" Emperor Shengzong is furious with Yelu Pennu for not killing Sa Gamun; it defied his order and implicitly obeyed the prime minister's order instead. I'll cut off your head, he shouts, but Yelu Dilie sticks up for Pennu: He was just trying to protect you; killing the trade representative would make your mother very angry and you don't want that. Shengzong realizes this but is beyond frustrated at his seeming powerlessness.
Somewhere near the Liao palace (not sure exactly where): Sa Gamun took a wound in the fight with Pennu and is in bed recovering from it. He thanks Dokyun for breaking it up. Train harder, she tells him, so you don't get wounded again. Then he asks her, "Did you save me because I'm your man or because of the Prime Minister's order?" "I won't answer that." He takes her arm: "I like you. I want to hear your story." She gives him a tender kiss. "Be quiet and just get better. I'm bored to death not being able to fight you." How weird is this; they seem to be turning each other into actual human beings.
The competition gets underway. Iit's going to be a single-elimination tournament. We see snippets of a bunch of preliminary matches; some interesting; some comical; some quite good; all different kinds of fighting styles and weapons. We recognize two of the competitors: Yang Kyu, the northerner; and Kim Sukheung, the guard who saved Cheonchu from the attackers when she was in exile. Then who should show up but Hyeolmae! She's packing the whip and she wants in. It's an unrestricted competition so she's admitted in. And we see her make short work of one preliminary opponent. She snatches his spear out of his hand with one whip stroke, wraps up his left leg with a second stroke, and then finds a new way to violate the laws of physics by pulling him to the ground with only a light tug of her elbow. Ughhh.
Eventually we get down to the final four. Kim Sukheung is in the first match; it's a good battle but he defeats his opponent and advances. Then it's Yang Kyu against Hyeolmae. And it's not much of a match. Yang is agile enough to easily avoid her whipstrokes; then she tries to get him by the leg, but he simply steps on the whip, runs at her and knocks her down, and kicks her in the mouth for good measure. Momentarily shocked, and bleeding at the mouth, Hyeolmae gets up and storms out of the ring, knocking over a cauldron in frustration.
Now it's the final: Kim Sukheung vs. Yang Kyu. They're both very good and you think this one could go either way, but eventually Yang gets some height and manages to knock Kim down with a kick to the head. Lots of cheering as the competition ends. Yang and Kim are given military commissions on the spot, with Yang made a general and Kim a colonel. Cheonchu concludes the event with an announcement: military officials will be equals of scholarly officials from now on; soldiers will now be eligible for promotion based on their fighting skills; and the Stipend Land Law, which lets the government award land as compensation, will now include military officials.
Narration tells us that Mokjong did expand the scope of the Stipend Land Law in 998 to include soldiers. This indicates a higher priority being placed on national defense.
That evening, the two new generals are dining with Cheonchu, Seo Hui, Gang Gamchan and Gang Jo. Their backgrounds and stories are shared. Gang Jo suggests assigning Yang to train cavalry and Kim to lead infantry. Cheonchu agrees and tells the two that "Our military force will grow many times its current size."
The younger ministers are grumbling about the new policy change, fearing they'll get shafted at the expense of soldiers under the new policy. Hwangbo Yui speaks particularly disparagingly of soldiers. The group is also concerned about the reinstatement of the previously abolished Palguanhwe and lantern festivals. They worry about the expense and fear that the change is being made too quickly. (And most of them aren't Buddhists, which probably has a lot to do with it.)
At Xiao Zanli's villa: Zanli and Hyeolmae both are angry and disappointed with Hyeolmae's failure to win the competition. Hyeolmae is especially chagrined at losing to "a common soldier." Maybe Goryeo is more dangerous than we thought, they realize.
Yunheung is reading her father Wonsoong the riot act: Did you really swear loyalty to Khitan? Calm down, he tells her; I did do it, and I'll do for anyone who can help me. To Yunheung, of course, Khitans are barbarians and the enemy, but Wonsoong has an answer for that: "There are no eternal enemies." Right now our enemy is Cheonchu, he says, and if the Khitans want to help us destroy her, we'll let them.
Gamchan is with the young Prince Daeryang, who's been enjoying learning to read. Seems like a good kid. And says he still remembers his father. So Gamchan tries something: he asks the boy if he remembers the day he went to the porcelain village, and if he remembers a woman wearing a bamboo hat who supposedly was with him and his father. Daeryang shakes his head no. But then the boy starts to cry. "The woman drowned a man and tried to kill my father. And my father begged her not to kill me." So he does remember! Don't worry, Gamchan tells him, it was just a dream and it didn't really happen. He hugs the boy to comfort him, but we can see he knows he's stumbled onto something big.
Chiyang wants Cheonchu to hire Mun Inui as keeper of her palace. He used to work for Choe Sum, of course, and that doesn't exactly endear him to Cheonchu. Plus, she tells Chiyang, "I can't trust a man who betrayed his master." It's not like that, Chiyang tells her; he sticks up for Mun and vouches for him. So she agrees.
Nighttime: An attendant brings a piece of paper to Yi Hyunoon; it's from Lady Yunheung.
We see Mokjong kissing his new bride in bed again. But still he can't deliver. "I can't think of you as my lover," he tells her. "I feel like I shouldn't be doing this. You're like a sister to me." He's sorry and frustrated.
State council meeting: Cheonchu announces the date of the Lotus Lantern Festival and orders food distributed to the populace for the occasion.
Yi Hyunoon has snuck away from his duties and enters Yunheung's villa. Jo Du is there with her. Hyunoon had wanted nothing more to do with her, so she's a lot happier to see him than he is to see her. She asks him to bring the emperor to see her tonight! I have no possible way of making that happen, he says, and promptly turns to leave. Clank! Jo Du has thrown a bag of money on the table. It's a big chunk of change--enough money to buy several houses. Take it and bring the emperor, she tells him; if you don't, I'll tell Cheonchu all about your spying. Faced with both the carrot and the stick, he takes the bag and leaves. (You have to wonder if that's counterfeit money they gave him.)
Yunheung has received Xiao Zanli! The two are alone talking. Zanli wants to get the emperor addicted to a drug. This again? Yunheung is horrified, after what she saw her husband go through. But it's not the same drug. It's opium-based but this one is called Osoksan, and Zanli claims she has an antidote for it. She wants to give Mokjong the drug just until Cheonchu is killed, and then she'll give him the antidote (sure she will).
Jo Sun gives Wonsoong a dossier of background information on all of the current ministers;, very detailed stuff. Turns out that there are plenty of good candidates to try to buy off. But they think it would be better to use a frontman to do it, rather than raising suspicion by showing themselves in public too much. But who?
Sa Gamun's trading caravan is returning from Liao. They reach the Yalu River border and stop to rest. Then we see Dokyun and Sa Gamun alone together. She asks him to become a Liao citizen. He's not interested. But why would she ask such a thing anyway? "Goryeo and Liao will eventually be at war," she explains sadly, "and if that happens, I might be forced to kill you." He's almost amused: "You kill me?" My first loyalty is to my country, she says sternly. He tells her, "I don't think I'd be able to kill you. But if you have to kill me, I'll accept that. I'd consider it a blessing to die at the hands of the one I love." He smiles, walks away and leaves her there, alone and suddenly flabbergasted. She has to force herself to say out loud, "I am a warrior. I will not be swayed by love."
The lantern festival is underway. In the palace, there's a big outdoor banquet with an elaborate dance presentation.
Evening: Gang Jo is by himself brooding. Gamchan finds him and asks about the period when he and Cheonchu were planning their overthrow of Sungjong. He wants to know if there was any talk about involving Prince Gyeongjuwon or Prince Daeryang in the overthrow. No, Jo says, there was no reason to bring them into it. Obviously Gamchan is trying to sort out this latest mystery.... (Just wait until the kid sees Sa Illa in the palace!)
Elsewhere, Hyangbi and Sa Illa are alone together, enjoying an evening drink. Sa Illa asks Hyangbi, "You have feelings for General Gang, don't you?" I can see it in your eyes, she says. And confesses, "I know how it feels to love a person who doesn't love you back." Who? No answer. But Hyangbi puts it together: "You're kidding." "At last you have hope," Sa Illa says. "For me...it's not even a possibility." Then they smile at each other, feeling closer.
Still evening: Chiyang watches Cheonchu walking back to her palace. Suddenly: "Wavering again!?" It's Chiyang's evil twin! Not again. (Do I put this guy in the character roster?) He's getting right up in Chiyang's face and giving him the business about going soft and giving up on his quest. "You want an easy life now....You want to forget about the grieving souls of the dead! You're in love, and you're on the path of betrayal as well!" Chiyang angrily denies it...And suddenly he's alone again, spooked and unnerved.
Hyunoon is trying to convince Mokjong to take a walk outside of the palace. The emperor likes the idea, especially with the festival going on out there, but how is he ever going to sneak out of the palace undetected?
"What do you mean? You still have not slept together? Not once?" The new empress, looking unhappy and downcast, is before Cheonchu.
We see Mokjong, dressed as a common soldier, sneaking out of the palace.
Go Hyun has come to Cheonchu to tell her that Mokjong can't be located.
Mokjong is out in a public square with Hyunoon. Lots of activity out there and Mokjong is enjoying being in the middle of it. Then he decides to head for a gisaeng house--"there's something I have to check"--but just then, who should catch his attention but Lady Yunheung, out in the square waiting for him.