The Goryeo-Khitan Battle: Episode 1 (First Impressions)
by alathe
Palace intrigue! Battle! A number of protagonists! The promise of ten years’ price of political growth! The Goryeo-Khitan Battle a is filled with lofty ambitions, and already it’s off to a jam-packed begin. There are many issues to look ahead to right here. However this good, old style sageuk is let down just a little by its old style social mores.
Editor’s word: That is an Episode 1 evaluate solely. For a spot to speak about the complete drama, go to the Drama Hangout.
EPISODE 1
We open within the ugly thick of battle. Shields meet spiked wagons in intricately-choreographed chaos, whereas cavalry advances. The bold Khitan Empire has invaded its neighbor, Goryeo, and for now, issues look bleak. As attackers burst by way of the entrance line, the determined Goryeo troops scatter. Behind the strains, their commander is implored to execute the deserters, and quick. However COMMANDER GANG GAM-CHAN (Choi Su-jong) is silent. As troopers peel again in awe, he approaches the defend wall. Goryeo, he murmurs, is not going to die. Goryeo will win. He repeats it, louder. People, you possibly can argue it’s tacky, however I’m on board — we’re coping with all of the conventions of a heroic epic! The troopers rally, forming behind him in preparation for cost.
However sufficient of sound and fury — we transfer, as is the way in which of this stuff, a decade into the previous! Goryeo’s devil-may-care, hard-partying ruler, KING MOKJONG (Baek Sung-hyun), has made the palace a haven for dancing and decadence. He’s gloriously unconcerned in regards to the lurking menace of invasion — in any case, what are ministers for? He’d a lot somewhat canoodle together with his lover, YOO HAENG-GAN (Lee Poong-woon) — a person whose silent, calculating glances counsel a wealth of political ambition.
There’s one accountability our king can’t evade: the messy enterprise of naming an inheritor. His mom, the formidable DOWAGER QUEEN CHEONCHU (Lee Min-young) tells him as a lot, with a mix of fondness and venom. Our wayward queen is betting on her youthful son, whom King Mokjong can not convey himself to treat as a brother. In spite of everything, the kid in query was fathered by the queen’s lover, and thus not of the Wang line. However one particular person is. PRINCE DAERYANGWON (Kim Dong-joon), youngster of Cheonchu’s sister, was banished to a monastery years in the past — and King Mokjong’s solely leverage is to threaten to convey him again. At this, there’s homicide in his mom’s eyes.
What a handy pivot to introduce our second protagonist, Prince Daeryangwon himself! That stated, it’s not instantly apparent we’re coping with royalty. The man we see is a disaffected teen in a monk’s garb… shamelessly downing wine. Throughout from him, a small boy observes with an air of profound ethical judgement. Our royal insurgent has a behavior of sneaking out of the monastery… and it’s about to chunk him. Quickly, the world’s least convincing monk is ready upon by a bunch of close by ne’er-do-wells — who, because it seems, aren’t your run-of-the-mill thugs, however employed assassins. Nonetheless, the quick-thinking child warns the higher-ups on the monastery, and our hero is narrowly rescued.
The child receives a brutal whipping in Prince Daeryangwon’s stead. In spite of everything, nobody on the monastery would dare hit a royal. Our noble hero hems, haws, and virtually apologizes, a lot to his tiny good friend’s annoyance. However Prince Daeryangwon is caught up in recollection of the one time he was whipped… by the dowager queen. Oof.
As a baby, he’d flat-out refused to go away the palace — at which level, his once-loving aunt turned vicious. The one one who confirmed him kindness was King Mokjong. Wiping his tears, his cousin promised that sooner or later he would guarantee his return. Lately, Prince Daeryangwon doubts if he’d even bear in mind. In precise truth, with a succession disaster now in full pressure, King Mokjong can afford to consider little else. He’s virtually about to tug the set off on calling him again… till Haeng-gan breaks down in tears. Appoint an inheritor, he says, and also you’ll be powerless. The courtroom will rally behind him. I’d somewhat die than watch that occur.
In the meantime, removed from the palace and its labyrinthine politics, bother is brewing on the border. Momentary Authorities Officer of the Northwest, KANG JO (Lee Gained-jong) finds himself adjudicating a skirmish between a Goryeo soldier and a few Khitan scouts. All indicators level to imminent invasion. While his allies insist there’d be little justification for this, the governor isn’t so optimistic. Energy, he declares, is its personal justification. (Good line!) On the finish of the day, the winners make the principles. In the meantime, there’s little expectation of help from the palace; each king and dowager queen, they are saying, are too wrapped up of their respective lovers to control.
Maybe. However Dowager Queen Cheonchu is a talented multi-tasker — she has loads of time to plot a very good homicide or two! Quickly, her courtroom women and a bevy of armed assassins make a beeline for Prince Daeryangwon’s monastery. Within the meantime, she makes waves on the courtroom by sitting on the king’s personal throne. Our nation, she informs a room stuffed with scandalized ministers, is in disaster. Again and again, the king refuses to nominate an inheritor. And so, she received’t budge from this seat till one is known as. At this, King Mokjong bursts onto the scene, demanding an finish to this energy play. The rightful inheritor, he declares, could be no-one however Prince Daeryangwon. The dowager queen’s eyes flash. No one is aware of, she says, if he’s alive or lifeless. Inform me, your majesty — if he is lifeless, who else might ascend the throne however my son?
Gosh, it’s virtually like she is aware of! Proper at this second, Prince Daeryangwon hides in a secret room beneath the floorboards of the monastery — as, above him, the dowager queen’s messenger sits stony-eyed. She has introduced the prince a beneficiant present: a complete unfold of totally-not-poisoned meals. The stalemate can’t final without end. Tapping the ground, she realizes it’s hole. Moments later, the hidden trapdoor is launched — and the prince blinks up at her, hopelessly trapped.
All in all, a blended starting for me! I do get pleasure from this drama’s lush, grand ambitions — each by way of its history-spanning plot, and its intricate aesthetic. This present is luxuriating in being a Goryeo drama particularly, and in masking extra floor than your common Joseon fusion. I can so get behind that. On that word, I like that we’re beginning with one among our heroes, Prince Daeryangwon, so younger and powerless. There’s loads of room for progress. He could be inconsiderate and bratty, and his actions have unintended penalties for these round him — that are all enjoyable factors, in my guide! I adore it when historic dramas make their kings-in-the-making work for his or her character growth, and withstand their errors.
My quibble is with how this present presents King Mokjong — there are too many tiresome tropes at play. Queerness turns into the signifier of decadent elitism. Our king’s lover might be manipulating him. His unsuitability to rule is implicitly linked to his sexuality, while juxtaposed with the troopers’ conventional masculinity and competence. That stated, Baek Sung-hyun’s appearing is participating, and while I think King Mokjong will probably be a short-lived participant in what’s to return, he makes me really feel for him together with his self-awareness, audacity, and flashes of kindness.
As for Dowager Queen Cheonchu… while she very a lot is a trope, I can’t deny that I get pleasure from a murderous, machiavellian villain. Once more, the appearing is spot on. Essentially the most memorable a part of this episode was the messy battle of wills between mom and son. Nonetheless, that plotline undoubtedly advantages from the backdrop of imminent conflict: on the one hand, you get all of the claustrophobic backstabbing and schemes, however you’re always reminded that quickly the skin world will burst in. The constructing blocks of this drama are fairly recognizable — you’ve gotten your exiled inheritor, your scheming queen, your heroic resistance within the face of invasion — however there’s loads of room for them to broaden past that. Above all, it’s this present’s potential that intrigues me. In spite of everything, who can resist an epic?
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