[Drama 2011] Gwanggaeto, The Great Conqueror 광개토태왕

[Guest DJG]

Off Topic Question

So I too started watching Gou and I have a question. What is up with the men's hairstyle. The shaved middle head and upturned ponytail. I notice some of them have this hairstyle, while some just have their hair in a ponytail no shaving. Take Tokugawa for example, in the beginning he had a full head of hair, then later he went for the shaved style. Were this just fashion styles or do they connote rank.

Btw, the actor playing Oda Nobunaga is a boss. My gosh he totally sold the role. This is what Gwanggaeto should have been. You could totally see that he was a conqueror. Even though he did bad things like ask his vassals to kill their family members as a sign of loyalty, and killed lots of people, the audience still identified with him. You could see that he was a product of those times, unlike what they have done to Gwanggaeto, in this drama. The writers of this drama are whitewashing the gore, and have turned Gwanggaeto into the merry conqueror, using today's morality and principles to shape his actions.

[daunte29]

Wait so Damju did end up sleeping with the Houyan prince. Well, I guess she had no choice.

I just started watching Gou, because I needed an historical drama fix, since GTGC sucks majorly. So far I am enjoying it, it is a bit slow, but I am just watching as this is my first historical Jdrama. I also don't watch a lot of Jdramas, the last one I watched to completion was Jotei. Watching the battle scenes from Gou, puts GTGC to shame big time.

Does anyone have recommendations for other good dramas.

I hope you'll continue to appreciate Gou beyond the first 18 episodes or so because its A-list guest stars slowly die (Lady Ichi the mother of the 3 sisters played bu Suzuki Honami, Lord Nobunaga played excellently by Toyokawa Etsushi), and the focus shifts entirely to Lord Tokugawa Ieyasu building up his power S-L-O-W-L-Y and by the time you reach where the 3 sisters are married off in different directions to different rival lords, that's when things pick up again right to the end.

The producers of Gou cleverly cast one of Japan's hottest male stars - Mukai Osamu - to play Gou's final & third husband - so that when the drama enters that phase of her life as the wife of the Tokugawa clan, the sparks at first don't exactly fly (to put it mildly) and Mukai Osamu in his own quiet way in fact shows the sharpest character development because he had to make a few agonising decisions towards the end.

Mukai Osamu as a teenaged character won't impress you at first because he's in fact very lazy and hates his father and hates wars even more but when he's appointed Shogun, that's when he gradually finds his path and destiny.

You only have to sit back and enjoy...and enjoy I did with all the scenes involving teenage Gou and her uncle Lord Nobunaga .... the charisma of Lord Nobunaga really comes through his deep but crystal clear voice, his manner of speech and that steely cold stare. Among so many top class actors who has played Nobunaga, Toyokawa Etsushi remains my best favorite and so he was sorely missed when it was time for him to be killed in keeping with the historical timeline.

By nature, taigas are slow, sometimes painfully because they have to stretch over roughly the number of Sundays within a year and in that respect, taigas are very similar to korean dramas in terms of stretching the episodes.

Having said that, watching Japanese men in shaved heads and wearing their double swords and also speaking in deep gruff tones is a sight you don't see in any other dramas, and of course the ladies in their resplendent colorful costumes and hairdo and how they walk in dainty footsteps and bow more times than most folks do in a month (or not at all depending on your part of the world) is a spectacle many non-Japanese enjoy watching.

Then there's the special language and intonation used in taigas especially by the women - even to Japanese, listening to such phrases reminds us of a bygone era - and Gou certainly has plenty of that. I know non-Japanese pay most attention on the subtitles (and of course they should) and that sometimes take attention away from the unique intonation the actors use and the deliberate non eye-contact when speaking.

Gou, the character, is unique because her impetuousness and carefree ways seems to have leapt back from our 21st century and found itself in historical times. In that sense, many non_japanese find Gou the character endearing and identifiable but some Japanese find that inappropriate and distorts the real historical Gou.

You'll definitely find this contrast in characterization if you watch another great taiga Atsu-hime, the taiga that has won multiple awards more than any taiga, no thanks to its great talented lead actress - where all the women, even the young ones, behave stiffly and talk stiffly but the plot suspense and character development is simply like reading the bestselling novel itself.

Gou the drama also took a daring gamble - it did not use child actors to portray the 3 sisters. And that's why the drama stylists made the adult actresses wear little hair ribbons and kids-style hair accessories, and the choice of kids-style clothing and colors was made 'slightly bigger' to fit the 3 adult actresses.

If you eventually do get 'addicted' to taigas, then you're in luck. There are many others made before Gou to choose from and some might be available in boxsets in your country, and of course online shopping.

And if you're indeed a new fan of Japan's battlefield formations, you won't go wrong with any one of Akira Kurosawa's many films depicting such scenes. I practically grew up watching that single man's ability to bring epic battle scenes and also smaller scale samurai fight scenes to the cinema screen and when these golden oldies became available on DVD, needless to say a collection steadily built up.

I think Damdeok himself will not feel too happy why we're talking about his enemies from Japan, and isn't it ironical that even after so many-many centuries, Japan still fears any threat coming from North Korea, and this time, it (rocket debris) might come raining down from the skies.

[daunte29]

Off Topic Question

So I too started watching Gou and I have a question. What is up with the men's hairstyle. The shaved middle head and upturned ponytail. I notice some of them have this hairstyle, while some just have their hair in a ponytail no shaving. Take Tokugawa for example, in the beginning he had a full head of hair, then later he went for the shaved style. Were this just fashion styles or do they connote rank.

Btw, the actor playing Oda Nobunaga is a boss. My gosh he totally sold the role. This is what Gwanggaeto should have been. You could totally see that he was a conqueror. Even though he did bad things like ask his vassals to kill their family members as a sign of loyalty, and killed lots of people, the audience still identified with him. You could see that he was a product of those times, unlike what they have done to Gwanggaeto, in this drama. The writers of this drama are whitewashing the gore, and have turned Gwanggaeto into the merry conqueror, using today's morality and principles to shape his actions.

Samurais did not have a compulsory hairstyle code as many would believe from watching Japanese samurai dramas & movies. Hence a samurai could indeed wear his long hair in any way he chose and won't be punished for it.

When you were a young samurai, maybe in your early 20s, and assuming you weren't actively at war as part of your lord's army, the last thing on your mind would be to shave your head and wear a topknot because young men those days were as carefree as young men of today - but of course now with hair gel and hair dyes, and expensive hairstylists, our young men today are spoilt for choice.

And though there were social and military ranks within samurais, the hairstyle was not a determining factor. However it was the norm those days for men to keep their hair long and tie them up somehow.... except for those who were unfortunately follicly-challenged.

The samurai topknot or 'chonmage' however became popular over time in particular during the Edo period and was adopted especially by the higher generals and commanders and the rich samurais - the reason being to wear a chonmage denotes tidiness, neatness and extreme care (try shaving your head with only your fruit knife & you'll know what I mean and dont give me that Crocodile Dundee way of shaving ) - qualities relating to cleanliness that were admired within the samurai warrior code and infused Zen philosophy.

However the chonmage actually evolved much more simply - the distinctive bald pate down the head was actually made necessary to ensure that the battle helmets they wore, rested more securely on the head. Also this hairstyle allowed the men to quickly untie the topknot and do quick adjustments to re-secure and re-tie back the knot so that their battle helmets don't bounce around too much.

Therefore when you consider the hundreds of thousands of samurai serving actively in their lords' armies - cavalry, archers, spearmen, infantry - all sporting the same chonmage hairstyle, that's how people in our era got the impression that every samurai wore the same hairstyle. Mostly anyways.

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Yes, the actor who played Nobunaga (Toyokawa Etsushi) certainly gave the vibes that he was indeed the ruthless, cruel and power-mad real Nobunaga. It wasn't how he looked the part but the way he carried himself, the way he spoke and the choice of words given to him to enunciate in that distinctive taiga manner.

Most importantly were the scenes he had with Gou, whose teenaged mind that time could not fully understand her uncle's warped reputation but she finally did later as an adult when she herself was caught right in the thick of political and military affairs.

[Guest DJG]

^daunte29, thank you so much for taking time to answer my questions. This is my first taiga and I am enjoying it so far.

It's funny I had a hard time in the beginning following the drama, because of the language and speaking style, but I noticed that after several episodes, I don't even notice anymore. LOL. I guess I will be adding more Jdramas to my drama rotation.

Do you watch any other Asian dramas.

Historical Chinese Dramas are also interesting.

I also watch Thai Lakorns (dramas)

[watchumlots]

@DJG & @Daunte29: we need our own thread!

Gou was beautifully cinemagraphed and the sets/costumes were incredible. The plot moves a little slowly, but it is going somewhere.  My main complaint is the way Gou is portrayed, she just plain dumb.  It happens in many Korean dramas too, the main piece of dialog for most female characters is "what?" or "eh?"  The characterization of women as  either raving, scheming pinkberryes, or as cheerful, sunny, naive, compliant, and forgiving idealizations.  Of course both of these characterizations are simplistic stereotypes and idealizations; who wouldn't love/admire a woman with only those former qualities? And if she is physically attractive and makes a six-figure salary or has a massive trust fund...  well, wouldn't that be the perfect woman!  

The Japanese taigas seem to have less dialogue than the Korean saguek, and the intrigue is more implied than visual.  Perhaps Kiyomori will be a similar, but different, hot mess as GGTG?  Time will tell.  GGTG still has some time to recover and end on a high note, it won't take much effort for improvement.  

[daunte29]

 GGTG still has some time to recover and end on a high note, it won't take much effort for improvement.  

I just watched raw clips from last weekend's latest eps 81 & 82 on Youtube (courtesy of DramaKBS), and without giving too much away (if only that was possible ), the two lovable Murong brothers end up fighting (cheered on by Murong Un who by the way seems to have a new taller, younger assistant/bodyguard) ......

...... over accusations of incompetent leadership by Murong Bao & his poor choice of palace decor, palace musicians & dancers & bland palace cuisine, and after a short fight between the two brothers, MB purposely lunges himself at MX sword and then to make sure he died more dramatically, MB pushes MX's blade deeper into his gut.... complete with the expression that says, THANK HEAVENS MY HEMORRHOIDS & CONSTIPATION WON'T KEEP ME AWAKE TONIGHT. BEST OF ALL I WON'T HAVE TO REPORT FOR WORK ANYMORE AND JUST RECEIVE MY ACTING FEE FROM KBS.

So MB bites the dust and Goguryeo cable news quickly reported MX as the new king of Houyan, to the ASTONISHMENT of DD's generals the moment the messenger delivered the news.... THE NEW KING OF HOUYAN IS CELEBRATING HIS INSTALLATION & CREMATION OF HIS WEAKLING BROTHER TOMORROW. CREMATION STARTS AT 0800HRS AND AT 0900HRS PALACE DOORS WILL BE OPENED FOR HOUYAN CITIZENS TO ENJOY FREE FOOD & DRINKS, LUCKY DRAWS, FASHION SHOWS, ANIMAL RIDES FOR THE KIDS, KARAOKE SESSIONS, TAEKWONDO DEMONSTRATIONS AND AT NIGHT THERE'LL BE MORE FOOD & DRINKS, FIREWORKS & AN OPEN AIR MUSICAL ENTITLED 'THE IRON EMPRESS', PERFORMED BY INMATES (Goguryeo migrants) FROM THE HOUYAN CENTER OF PAIN & INFORMATION EXTRACTION.

Well, I thought it could have been worse (or better) if both the Murong brothers had lunged themselves at each other's swords and then greet their dear daddy together in the afterlife.

And then Houyan ministers would have a succession issue, briefly, before they suddenly remembered Damju's child whereupon they install the child as the new king, and make Damju Houyan Empress Dowager.

Damju then sends sms to brother Damdeok, proposing Houyan be brought under Goguryeo's rule and cue music "Louis Armstrong What A Wonderful World".... oops sorry, wrong drama.

=================================================================

Back to ep 82 now .... for reasons we will soon find out in a few weeks' time, the new Houyan king, Murong Xi, decides to FORCIBLY separate Damju's child from his mommy, and send the child for ballet training. Why ballet?

Because a man in leotards able to do pirouettes non-stop and then flaunt his lower body flexibility power by doing full splits, backwards & forwards, ain't going to mount a challenge to the incumbent king, right? You can already imagine a ballerino leading his rebel army in morning exercise using horizontal bars and doing stretching exercises ballet-style.

Instead of roundhouse kicks that could smash bricks, our ballerino army specialises in graceful high leaps and bouncing daintily on tiptoes. Enuf said.

Murong Xi is doing what new emperors mostly do at that time .... kill off or in KBS case, remove any offspring that carries the bloodline of his predecessor. So by right he should have also killed dear Damju and then tell Damdeok she died from accidentally being run over by a wagon driven by a blind granny - a typical hit-n-rolled up incident.

Poor Damju.... by ep 82, she has no husband, no child, no status, and no freedom. What is brother Damdeok gonna do?

[Guest flydolesqueue]

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[Guest flydolesqueue]

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[daunte29]

KBSW ep77 .... 3 years later and a man with twin pigtails enters the fun

As expected in the 3 years of no-battles, the Houyan have been beefing up their forces, introduced advanced meditation to their elite troops who can now also shoot arrows and fight blindfolded.

Meantime Damju 'stumbles' across a freshly-drawn up invasion plan by her hubby, placed openly on his desk, and initially she wanted to do nothing but because she's a peace-loving woman who loves spying too much, no thanks to her dumb Damdeok, she went ahead and copied the plan letter by letter.

Damdeok had neglected to buy her one of Tom Cruise's Mission Impossible contact lens-sized spy cameras, and that proved to be Damju's undoing because her hubby found out that she had used the black indelible ink to make a copy of his invasion plan, and the inkstain was visible on her sleeve.

Damju's exposure allowed her to tell her hubby who threatened to kill her for treason: IF MY DYING COULD STOP THIS BATTLE, I IWLL BETRAY YOU AGAIN & AGAIN. A BATTLE WOULDN'T DO HOUYAN OR GOGURYEO ANY GOOD. IT WOULD ONLY BE BLOODSHED FOR BOTH COUNTRIES. KIND OF LIKE OUR RELATIONSHIP.

That last remark was a sharp poke into Murong Bao & so he orders house arrest for Damju and forbids her from singing lullaby to his nameless prince, and everything else mothers usually do with their firstborn.

Meanwhile DD receives Damju's letter and rather than say "YABBA DABBA DOO, WAR IS BACK!" his generals & Ha MJ starts debating why it was so 'easy' for Damju to get hold of such detailed plans but of course the ever-wise DD upgrades his army readiness and orders steroid injections into the horses so that they can move faster - all his soldiers are ordered to sleep in their armor and to stop brushing their teeth in case their pearly whites shine at night and give away their positions in the dark.

Since it's 3 years later from the time Asin vows allegiance to Damdeok, there is now a Baekje general Bu Yeohong sitting within DD's long table - yup, this is the same general who used Doyeong as a human shield and got her killed by DD's arrow.

Following the tradition of all embedded spies in enemy palaces, Bu Yeohong sends his courier to inform Asin that DD is about to move his army northwards to face Houyan aggression - DD tells us that in the past 3 years, Asin has become very friendly with the Wae (Japan) people.

So the new player in our drama now are the Wae from Japan who are easily identified by their main general Soga Sen who wears twin pigtails - this may be the first time you'll ever see a Japanese general sporting twin pigtails.

Granted that our drama happens at a time well before the age of feudal samurai Japan, so don't expect yet to see topknots, tea ceremony, or ritual suicide. But twin pigtails?

I suppose the hair designers had no more hairstyle left to distinguish the various tribes - Mohe Seol Doan had mohawk cut, Batar of Biryeo had rastafarian, and so only twin pigtails seem the obvious choice left.

The kewt man in twin pigtails Soga Sen even speaks ancient Korean as fluent as Asin - which only goes to show that bilingualism can take you places beyond your shores.

Asin's plan: instigate Wae to attack his neighbor Silla to keep them occupied, while Baekje will attack the Goguryeo. Asin expects Damdeok to send reinforcements to help Silla while Damdeok himself will focus on Houyan - so Asin expects a divided Goguryeo army having to fight on the northern and southern borders will be coniderably weakened and that's why Asin will invade Goguryeo.

I must agree I find no flaw in Asin's plan on paper, but as the history of Asin & Damdeok shows, Asin's has always had a rude shock at the end. Will the KBS writers do that trick on him again? And again?

Cut scene: A furious nostrils-flaring Damdeok asks one lowly general why a Goguryep fort Sinseong fell to Houyan in just 1 day? Especially since DD had sent an email telling all fortresses to expect an attack from Houyan?

The general told DD the Goguryeo's soldiers up north there had nobody to fight since Biryeo became allies so they all fattened up on the good food, good life, and in effect became target practice for the Houyans when they appeared.

The Hoiyans are now brimming with confidence and laughing HAHAHA! at their long table and they hatch up a brilliant plan to poison the water supply at the next targeted Goguryeon fort, causing the Goguryeon soldiers there to suffer from mass diarrhoea and unable to fight without visiting the toilet every 10 minutes.

While all this partying was happening in the north, a Silla envoy rushes in to tell Damdeok that Wae has invaded Silla and many people are being slaughtered, while all the cows, goats, sheep, pigs, ducks and chickens are not.

Together with Ha Muji, DD responds with the following plan to save Silla and stop Houyan at the same time:

1. Damdeok will personally go south and help Silla.

Remember what I said about Asin FOREVER being played by DD & the KBS writers for making DD suddenly appear when Asin thinks DD is somewhere else?

2. DD appoints General Hwang as Commander of the Goguryeo army, much to the dismay of General Hwang, to handle the military campaigns in the north. Why was the man so unhappy at being made supreme commander?

Promotion in name without increase in pay always sucks bigtime. Same pay but much more work and worse, increased accountability. It also means with Damdeok going down south the fight Wae, General Hwang can longer ride behind DD and instead, he'll be at the head of formation with the words on his chest that says, SHOOT ME FIRST.

Then came the mother of all dramatic surprises: Before DD could leave his forward base at Namsoseong and head south, Murong Bao launches an attack on that fort, causing another end scene face-to-face showdown betwwen our two friendly enemy kings.

It was quite an entertaining episode with all 3 factions involved plus a new one from Wae (Japan). But again Damju was placed in mortal danger and it won't be until the most recent ep 83-84 that Damdeok finally sends in his covert special forces led by Seol Ji, dressed in all-white no less, & General Hwang to pluck Damju and bring her back, in NAVY SEALS style, minus the stealth helicopters.

Princess Damju, before the KBS writers may decide to kill you off, you must let me rescue you and then with your child, we'll hike up a steep hill in the woods before we reach our helicopter extraction point. Hopefully our pilot would have finished reading the flight instruction manual by then. THAT explains the look of pure terror on Damju's face.

Murong Un: Isn't that the same hot chick Seol Ji who stopped me from saving my poor sister? Hmm, and why izzit Damdeok hires only babelicious female bodyguards?

Whether the rescue mission by Damdeok's A-Team fails or succeeds or whether the writers finally kill off Damju remains to be seen.

[daunte29]

Damju's cliffhanger end scene for the latest episode 84 shown yesterday in Korea:

Seol Ji's small rescue force, an injured Damju & her child, are cornered in the woods by General Fengba as they were trying to escape, and because they're heavily outnumbered, Damju steps forward & puts a dagger to her beautiful throat and threatens to kill herself if Fengba even twitches his jumbo-ears. High suspenseful drama, eh?

The camera even gave a 'high drama' frontal shot of Damju holding a dagger to her throat while her child was visible behind her being piggybacked by a soldier, and looking on quietly.

The bad news is moments earlier the female bodyguard who used to protect Yakyeon and then became DD's posse had volunteered to stay behind & hold back Fengba's pursuing force to buy some time for Seol Ji to lead Damju to safety but unfortunately, or fortunately depending on how you feel for this bit actress, she was unable to fend off Fengba's men and she was cut here and there, sliced front and back, before receiving a final death blow to terminate her role in this KBS drama.

The good news, hopefully good anyway, is that General Hwang & his small force including Ari, the other female bodyguard plus DD's attack dog Seok Jae are just minutes behind Fengba's forces and they came across the female bodyguard's lifeless body and their slain comrades, and so a very now-incensed General Hwang & Seok Jae are only moments away from reaching the endangered Damju & Seol Ji.

Man, you've got to wonder where's the twin-bladed boomerang that Seol Ji used to throw around when she was still Mohe's best warrior? The KBS writers have just killed off a lowly female character, a very rare species in this sageuk, and another two lead female characters are in danger of being made extinct.

What could be more suspenseful than this. eh? Only ep 85 end of this week will tell us the fate of both Seol Ji & Damju.

Fengba must be thinking.... OH NO, IF SHE KILLS HERSELF, MY BOSS WILL FREAK OUT & BLAME ME AS USUAL. PERHAPS IF I CAN JUST GRAB THE CHILD AND THEN HAUL richard simmons.... SPEAKING OF richard simmons, IF I CAN CAPTURE SEOL JI ALIVE, THEN I CAN DO NAUGHTY THINGS WITH HER TONITE. BUT FIRST, I MUST FOCUS WITH MY JUMBO EARS & BEADY EYES....

[Moosegender]

Of course as Damju bites the dust she will give a tear induced death speech about unison and peace much like her deceased sister-in-law before her, only to be ignored once more.

[daunte29]

KBSW Ep 78 ...... when Damdeok & Batman shared something in common

Asin must have thought since his general Bu Yeohong is now part of DD's long table meetings, he'd have a huge advantage in knowing where DD would attack and thus leaving Gungnaseong undefended - so who do you think would simply just waltz in and conquer Goguryeo's capital at long last?

And Asin even made doubly sure his good Wae tomodachi general Soga Sen from The Land Of The Rising Sun would be able to tie down DD's forces in Silla - what could possibly go wrong with such a good plan, right?

Answer: Every single time general Bu Yeohong smuggled secret messages out of Gungnaseong to Baekje, DD's counter-espionage team had him in their sights.

In that sense, Damju who is just a pretty princess untrained in any military or espionage tactics performed even better than this Baekje general. At least she was 'undetected' for quite some time.

In short, DD knew general Bu was feeding his boss everything he hears at DD's long table meetings and so it was easier than ABC to feed general Bu false information so that when Asin leaves his capital to attack Goguryeo, it'd be another big boo-boo mistake.

How big a boo-boo was Asin? Thinking that DD was launching an attack on Wae's base down south and be tied down there for at least two months, Asin's forces marched into a deserted empty Pyeongyangseong and then suddenly general Bu tells a beaming Asin, SOMETHING IS NOT QUITE RIGHT! You think?

I wonder what gave the ruse away? Was it because they didn't have to murder any single Goguryeo soldier on their way into the main office? A fortress without any defenders would instantly raise suspicions for anyone, right?

Then as expected, a Baekje messenger runs in and tells Asin: PEY HA WE'RE IN TROUBLE. What an understatement.

You can imagine Asin's big eyes expanding and then imploding when he was told DD's forces had just entered his Baekje capital Wiryeseong.

Now I have lost count how many times our KBS writers have made Asin being outsmarted again and again by DD. You'd think one of his generals would by now have killed Asin to end his serial misery & repetitive humiliation and just take over the throne.

Of course with Asin bowing down to Damdeok, who's perched up high in Asin's own high chair, the writers made DD a benevolent king (my paraphrase): ASIN, IT'S NOT YOUR FAULT THAT YOU WERE BORN STUPID. ALSO PLEASE STOP IMITATING MY TRADEMARK SNARLING AND STARING AT CAMERA WITH MENACING EYES, OK? I KNOW YOU'VE GOT ANGER ISSUES SO LET ME TELL YOU WHY I'M NOT GOING TO PUNISH YOU.

THE KBS WRITERS WANT ME, DAMDEOK, TO UNITE BAEKJE & SILLA LATER AND LEAD OUR COMBINED FORCES TO ATTACK HOUYAN. GOT THAT? BUT FIRST I MUST DRIVE THE WAE OUT OF OUR PENINSULA AND BACK TO THEIR ISLAND. THAT SHOULD TAKE ANOTHER ONE EPISODE, TWO EPISODES TOPS.

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Those of you familiar with The Dark Knight a.k.a Batman would know his cloak can deflect bullets. Well, in his face-to-face no-contest brief fight with general Soga Sen from Wae, DD actually had the guy down on the ground and was about to terminate him when suddenly Soga Sen's archers appeared and fired a volley of arrows directly at DD.

DD did a swift tango twirl thereby lifting his cloak and its sweeping-spinning motion deflected every single arrow in a heartbeat. C-O-O-L !!

watch it again in this raw short clip...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EzPa9yMinXA

[Moosegender]

Why do these writers not grasp the fact that the Korean identity didn't exist back then? Goguryeo, Shilla, and Baekje were, for all intents and purposes, different countries. It wasn't until Unified Shilla and Goryo did the Korean identity formed. I had to burst out laughing when president Damdeok said the real enemy was Wae. Baekje was FAR closer to Japan than any other country. Even the current Japanese emperor concedes to having Bakje royal blood in him. Identity is determined by borders, not blood, KBS writers.

To the real Damdeok, Baekje was a sworn enemy that took portions of its territory and killed his grandfather, and Wae/Japan was Baekje's blood ally (via royal marriages). Both were enemies.

[daunte29]

Why do these writers not grasp the fact that the Korean identity didn't exist back then? Goguryeo, Shilla, and Baekje were, for all intents and purposes, different countries. It wasn't until Unified Shilla and Goryo did the Korean identity formed. I had to burst out laughing when president Damdeok said the real enemy was Wae. Baekje was FAR closer to Japan than any other country. Even the current Japanese emperor concedes to having Bakje royal blood in him. Identity is determined by borders, not blood, KBS writers.

To the real Damdeok, Baekje was a sworn enemy that took portions of its territory and killed his grandfather, and Wae/Japan was Baekje's blood ally (via royal marriages). Both were enemies.

Haha... it's not entirely the fault of the KBS writers but this idea of same bloodline, same race, same ethnicity, same nation was a powerful dogma that originated from one man, and it was part of his many efforts during the anti-colonial Japanese movement that has had a powerful historical psyche affecting all Koreans that has remained till this day.

The man was Shin Jaeho (1880-1936), founder of the nationalistic historiography of modern Korea and every Korean born since then has had to study about him in school history books, as much as every Korean student has had to memorize the names of all the Korean kings from the Joseon Dynasty.

In a nutshell, Shin Jaeho made the following proclamation in his book 'Joseon Sanggosa" (The Early History of Joseon) published 1924-25:

Koreans are the descendants of DANGUN, the legendary accestor of Korean people, who merged with Buyo of Manchuria to form the Goguryeo people.

Borrowing from the Japanese theory of nation & race, Shin Chaeho located the martial roots of the Korean in Goguryeo which he depicted as militarist, expansionist which turned out to inspire pride & confidence in the resistance against the Japanese.

In order to establish Korean uniqueness, he also replaced the story of GIJA, whose founder was the paternal uncle or brother of the Chinese Shang emperor Zhou with the Dangun legend as a means to establish Korea's uniqueness.

Extracted from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Korean_ethnic_nationalism

The above are not my words or thinking. And I know wikipedia is not the 100% definitive source to settle all questions but it's about the only source usable to generate some interest for those of you wishing to know more. So long as you know you're only reading a snapshot version devoid of crucial details.

To non-Koreans, Shin Jaeho's dogma may seem flawed or lacks credibility but do remember Koreans revere the man as a nationalist hero, an icon of modern historical icons & the hero of all nationalist heroes.

So please don't fuel or start a debate with me because I'm neither a sociology historian nor am I an ethnic Korean.

If you wish, you can read wiki's coverage on Shin Chaeho himself....

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shin_Chaeho

The other major book he wrote outlining his assertions was Doksa Sillon in which he discusses the history of Korea from the time of the mythical Dangun to the fall of the kingdom of Baekje in 926 CE.

Unfortunately the wiki article on this is way too summarised.

And then to put the issues side-by-side using a modern academic scholarly approach, read this 2006 article by Gi-Wook Shin - he'll shed light on why Koreans insist on using Shin Jaeho's ideas despite its flaws and dangers (seen from and using the westerner's perspective) and more importantly, he discusses its linkage with the notion of citizenship and why Shin Jaeho's ideas might do more harm than good to a post-unified Korea.

http://aparc.stanford.edu/news/koreas_ethnic_nationalism_is_a_source_of_both_pride_and_prejudice_according_to_giwook_shin_20060802

[daunte29]

MRS PEY-HA, where the heck are you?

After watching Yakyeon's bodyguard being sliced and diced to death in last weekend's episode 84, it really got me wondering if we'll ever see actress Lee In Hye appear again before this drama concludes.

Sure, the writers can always just show a teenaged Jangsu without his mother or tell us she died painfully after a marathon 48-hr delivery.

Or better yet, when Damdeok falls sick and is dying on his kingsize bed, it's Yakyeon who feeds him ginseng chicken soup and do body-wave dance to entertain him. That should bring a smile to a dying man, right?

[daunte29]

Screencaps from ep 84:

I suppose our A-team rescue force couldn't find any drab or dull-colored robes for an escaping Princess huh? That bright red shawl in broad daylight is like a flashing advertisement banner that says: DAMJU IS SNEAKING OUT OF HERE. COME CATCH ME.

And is it really necessary for Gen Hwang & Seol Ji to partly cover their faces with black cloth? DO they seriously think the checkpoint guards will compare their faces using color photos of them? Doesn't Seok Jae look like a Bedouin tribesman but with yellow skin?

Instead of looking inconspicuous and blending in with the crowd, they're doing everything possible to make themselves stand out. They're already more than suspicious-looking just standing still in those clothes.

Didn't they learn anything at Goguryeo's Covert Special Warfare School? What did you say? They were the chief instructors. Enuf said.

Gen Hwang showing advanced camouflaging techniques - Men, observe closely and do what I do. To disguise yourself as a tree, stand next to one with feet wide apart and then hold out your sword like this to make it look like tree branch.

Gen Hwang must have learned the following:

A Philosophy professor asked his students just one question for their final exam - How are you going to make me believe that this chair in front of you is non-existent?

It took all his students one hour to finish writing the answer except for one who took only 5 seconds. Later when the results were posted, the highest score went to the lazy student. His answer:

What Chair?

Moral of the lesson: Do not make simple things complicated.

[daunte29]

DramaKBS has uploaded (raw) clips from last week's cliffhanger ep 84.

If memory serves me right, this is the first time in this drama where a female warrior (Yakyeon's 'former' bodyguard) is killed in battle, as previously all those characters who were chosen by the writers to bite the dust and collect their paychecks from KBS Drama Unit were male.

Well, last week the chosen one to walk up the stairway to heaven was a female Goguryeo warrior and part of Damdeok's posse. In true warrior spirit, she made the ultimate sacrifice in order to buy time for Seol Ji & Damju to escape and so it was a one-way ticket to meet her creator.

Remember the grand funeral Damdeok gave Sagal Hyeon? Somehow I don't think it will happen for this female bodyguard because I'm not sure if General Hwang ordered his men to carry her body back to Goguryeo as he and his support team were only too concerned in reaching Seol Ji & Damju before general Fengba's men slaughter them as well.

Moreover king Murong Xi & Murong Un on horseback are also minutes away and therefore you have two groups (Houyan MX & Goguryeo Gen Hwang) converging on the trapped Seol Ji & Damju by Gen Fengba.

Phew! Cannot remember the last time I was actually-actually looking forward to the next broadcast this Saturday.

I must admit even after watching countless historically-themed dramas & films from Japan, Korea & China (including HK & Taiwan), her brief fight and ultimate termination after multiple sword slashes was well-staged, action-wise if you can forgive the fight directors for making her stunt double leap and somersault like a flying monkey. The fight directors pulled no punches in making her fight like a man and then die like a man.

And the writers gave that extra touch by letting Gen Hwang be the last one to touch her and close her lifeless eyes.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LQ-jWyq4BDk

Damju's end scene, cont'd from above....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oo5aNEpDFv0

So now I'm making a guess, and I may be wrong, that the writers won't kill off Damju just yet or else Damdeok's plan to send his A-team commandos to rescue Damju & her child will prove to be a monumental disaster. The body count of his A-team and loss of his dwindling posse would just be too high for a 'great' king.

Of course the arrival of Murong Xi's forces on horseback to reinforce jumbo-ears Fengba might force Damju & child to cancel their nature hike and walk back to their palace while Gen Hwang, Seol Ji, Ari & the remainder of their forces are allowed to catch the next bus back to Gungnaeseong.

If that happens, I wouldn't want to be in Gen Hwang's shoes when he reports to DD the mission outcome. DD might even ask:

You mean you didn't bring back my bodyguard's body and you let her be eaten by the forest creatures? How can I face her parents when I meet them later in the afterlife?

When the army credo says, NO MAN IS LEFT BEHIND - you didn't think it included women as well?

Gen Hwang, you better send Team B back into Houyan territory to collect what's left of our warriors' remains and bring them back for burial or else our enemy commanders will start joking that our slain soldiers in Houyan are R I P - resting in pieces.

[daunte29]

There are two totally ridiculous ideas (among a few others introduced by hys-sterical historical k-dramas) found in this drama that defies actual practice but which female drama writers love to portray -one is the royal wedding where all, and I do mean ALL of Damdeok's enemies are invited and the other of course is the condolence delegation, already used twice in this drama.

I'm going to use ep 51 (eng subbed version below) to illustrate what I mean, and also to jog your memories but do remember that I am all for artistic license but not when it clearly defies normal human practices & behavior.

Ep 51 centred around the royal wedding of Damdeok & Yakyeon and all his enemies are invited, and unbelievably, all his enemies, except Batar, came to witness the grand ceremony and not only do Murong Bao & Asin both bow down at the ceremony, they too have to yell MANSAE (in Korean) which means long live the king!

Now if you agree with me that available historical sources do say that the nations surrounding Goguryeo have been fighting for territory well before DD ever became king, then how izzit warring nations suddenly stop their hostilities when there's a royal wedding and then gallop over to their enemy's capital to join in the free food and festivities? And they even come bearing gifts for the happy couple??!

Undoubtedly our modern-day ahjumma writers must have been inspired by and used the examples of present-era royal weddings and of course the writers never bothered to check if the North Koreans were ever invited to attend the royal weddings of European monarchs. If the North Korean leader was ever invited to grace those royal weddings, I'm sure the sight of the late Kim Jong-iL sauntering into a majestically grand church would have burned its memory deep into our brain-cells.

It's no more laughable to see ep 51 showing all the usual suspects nicely assembled in DD's palace courtyard ground and smiling. What's even more laughable was how DD's wedding ceremony was staged - it's 10 times more quieter than even an ordinary wedding of your relatives and friends. What do I mean?

As DD walks alongside a tiny Yakyeon beside him, and they eventually reach the front, notice how few words relating to their joining of man & wife are spoken during the actual ceremony. Most of what Ko Mu says sounds more like a declaration of Goguryeo's supremacy rather than an exchange of marriage vows between the couple - IN FACT THERE NEVER WAS ANY EXCHANGE OF VOWS OR SYMBOLIC ACTS OF DEVOTION LIKE SIPPING TEA OR EVEN HOLDING HANDS. Such a prim wedding for a chaste royal couple.

Other than the BGM (background music), how quiet was this wedding? Then I realised why it was so eeriely silent - there was no military band or symphony orchestra or even a choir! That's why this wedding was so quiet! If anyone had farted or broke wind, I'm sure that would have been audible.

Perhaps the PD surmised - heck, we have zero historical records as to what sort of music they listened to those days or maybe they didn't listen to music at all and we don't even know what traditional instruments they used and since this drama doesn't even have a soundtrack CD due to budget cuts, we'll have to stage a wedding without music. And no head priest to lead the ritual because we're not sure what religion DD had.

Ep51 with eng subs .... slide your cursor to around 8:13 where the wedding scene starts

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xt7enleZego

As for condolence delegations, we already know President Lee Myung Bak flatly refused to send any South Korean delegation to pay respects to the late Kim Jong-iL, or to attend his funeral, especially not after the 2010 sinking of the warship Cheonan which took the lives of 46 South Korean sailors and the subsequent shelling of Yongpyeong island which killed 2 civilians and 2 soldiers.

Technically both Koreas are still at war because a peace treaty or cessation of hostilities was never signed and only an armistice cease-fire exists which has been broken many times already. But the majority of non-Koreans do not know such details and only older Koreans and older non-Koreans working & living in Korea like myself are painfully aware of the geopolitical realities in the Korean peninsula.

And sometime next week, the North Koreans are going to launch a ballistic missile to put a 'peaceful' made-in-north korea satellite into orbit and while the Japanese are taking no chances and have already stationed 3 Aegis destroyers and PAC interceptor missiles in the southern parts of their archipelago, South Koreans are too preoccupied with the elections happening next Wednesday.

What's the danger posed by NK's rocket launch? The rocket might suffer systems malfunction, veer off course and then crash into someone's backyard or in the middle of a city. It won't be so bad if it exploded high up in the stratosphere where its pieces will burn up on reentry.

The real danger is that if and when something goes wrong before it reaches outer space and begins to fall back downwards and presumably the rocket would then be detonated by NK ground control and those bits and parts of falling debris will pose a real danger should it fall on populated territory within Japan, and that's why they're taking no chances.

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LOOK, UP IN THE SKY! IT'S A BIRD! IT'S A PLANE! GREAT SCOTT, IT'S...A NORTH KOREAN MISSILE FALLING DOWN FROM THE SKIES. QUICK, USE YOUR CELLPHONE TO FILM IT BEFORE IT.....ARGHHHH!! (DROPS DOWN ON OUR HEADS?)

BREAKING NEWS: Two unidentified tourists sunbathing on a beautiful sun-drenched beach in Okinawa were buried deep in the golden sand when parts of a North Korean rocket fell on them. Nearby sunbathers said it all happened within a flash and there was no warning until the last minute when they heard a shrill whistling sound coming from above and then a loud thud, and saw the huge NK rocket tail fin sticking out from beneath the sand.

Eyewitnesses said they later saw the unfortunate couple's dog yelping and frantically digging into the sand in a vain attempt to uncover its owners. Police are still interviewing the dog to verify its owners' identities.

Meanwhile North Korea continues to vehemently deny the downed rocket belongs to them and insists that their rocket safely reached its intended destination high above earth and successfully deployed its payload. When asked about the telltale NK state insignia and huge picture of leader Kim Jongeun on the rocket's fuselage, they claimed the Okinawans spray painted them in order to point the finger at NK.

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Of course news reports are very tactful in NOT saying the obvious: South Korea have twice failed to put their satellite into orbit, in spite of the fact South Korean rocket program is heavily assisted by Russia. So if the North Koreans next week do succeed in putting their satellite into orbit, then what does that say about their missile technology vis-a-vis the South? Damdeok sure had it much easier just conquering and rolling over his defeated foes.

[Moosegender]

If Wiki is to be trusted, Gwanggaeto called himself "Emperor Yeongnak the Great" during his reign. A nice little name. Why oh why would our writers leave this out and just call him "Damdeok"? It seems they are hellbent on portraying our titular hero as not great at every turn.

[daunte29]

KBSW EP 79.... a little bit of bromance & Damdeok sails across to end Wae's aggression on the Korean peninsula.

Ep 79 had trickery aplenty (at least 2.5 occasions), Mr Twin Pigtails Gen Soga Sen who unfortunately was slaughtered by Damdeok in his own Wae palace, a Wae warlord who also sported cute twin pigtails and humorous dialogue which you don't find in a hys-sterical historical drama. Overall it was funtastic.

Tell me, where else can you find adult men, playing soldiers, who sport twin pigtails, eh?

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This was the opening scene dialogue...guess who's talking to whom?

I DIDN'T RECOGNIZE AN OPPONENT THAT COULDN'T BE DEFEATED AND PUT BAEKJE IN A CRISIS. PEY HA, I AM IN AWE OF YOU.

I WOULD LIKE TO SERVE YOU WITH MY FULL LOYALTY. I WOULD LIKE TO BECOME YOUR SERVANT AND HELP YOU ACHIEVE YOUR GREAT PLAN.

YOU ARE ALREADY MY SERVANT. YOU WILL BE BY MY SIDE FOR THE REST OF YOUR LIFE.

No brainer, right? It's Asin's brother, Gen Bu Yeohong declaring his undying love for the great one. Who needs Yakyeon when you have handsome studs like Gen Bu throwing themselves at the great one?

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In this ep79, the great Damned-Duck sailed on his wooden ducky all the way to Wae, where after some trickery by Gen Bu, DD walks into 'Japanese'-style architecture, confronts Gen Soga Sen and tells him just 5 words: I CAN'T LET YOU LIVE.

Ladies. don't you think Damdeok gets so uber sweet and sexy when he so politely tells his enemy that I'm going to slice you into sashimi.

Soga Sen's master, an unnamed Wae warlord dressed in bright yellow robes, is then forced to kneel before DD who tells them in his sore-throaty voice:

THE LEADER & MINISTERS OF WAE WILL LISTEN. YOU CROSSED THE OCEAN & PLUNDERED GOGURYEO & SILLA. I WAS GOING TO CONQUER WAE & COMFORT THE PEOPLE OF SILLA. BUT REVENGE ONLY LEADS TO REVENGE. I WILL FORGIVE ALL YOUR PAST EVIL DEEDS.

DO NOT EVER CROSS THE OCEAN AGAIN AND HARM MY COUNTRY. IF YOU DISOBEY THIS COMMAND, YOU WILL HAVE TO PAY A CRUEL PRICE.

Good dramatic scene, right? If only it did happen for real.

While it was true the real Damdeok did slaughter many Wae invaders on the peninsula, it is doubtful if he ever went all the way to Wae in ancient Japan which was pre-Yamato at the time, and killed some more Wae on their homeland.

Historical sources say that Wae were indeed not ruled by one single leader but had about 200 independent lords who controlled their own domains. And that was why Wae able to continue to launch and occupy territories in Silla and Goguryeo for many years because Wae was not a unitary state.

The Wae were never totally driven out of the peninsula partly because of another reason: there were Wae farmers and civilians who establish themselves economically on foreign soil and began trading with neighboring lands, including China. They acted as a bridgeway between the Wae homeland and the prosperous nations on the mainland.

Historically Baekje remained firm allies with the Wae people in spite of the efforts of the Great King and his later successors. There is evidence of very strong cultural, religious and economic ties between the Baekje people and the Wae.

But our KBS writers I think decided not to bog themselves too much with the persistent Wae incursions and occupation of Goguryeo territories - indeed one historical soource says there was a huge Wae settlement within the ancient city of Pyongyang.

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BEST FUNNY LINE IN TODAY'S EPISODE:

On board Damdeok's battleship... err wooden boat... as they were sailing to Wae, Gen Bu Yeohong tells DD - I WILL MEET THE LEADER.

B4 anyone could say anything, Seok Jae utters: VART? BETRAYAL IS A HABIT OF YOURS. HOW CAN WE TRUST U?

So folks, please add 'betrayal' to your list of known habits.

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Those chaps wearing inverted chinese woks on their heads are supposed to be Wae doctors rounded up by Goguryeo soldiers. (If picture not displayed, just right click and choose view picture)

Wae palace office under the Wae lord (in orange-yellow).

Wae palace office after Damdeok becomes the first non-Wae occupant... notice the additional decor behind Damdeok when compared with the above screencap?

.... and all because Soga Sen didn't say 'sorree' quickly enough to the great king...

the main base of the Wae... don't you think that mountain in the background resembles the famous one several hundred kms to the north? Or izzit on a clear day, you can see forever? Air pollution didn't exist in those times, right?

Soga Sen's boss who had to kowtow to DD... just look at his cute pigtails, red ribbons & red rosy lips....

Wae-style palace....exterior

Wae-style palace... interior...Though a first-time visitor, Damdeok seems to know where the office is...