K Drama Chat is featured in this month’s episode of Asian American Life from CUNY-TV!
The Korean concept of Han, which is uniquely Korean.
The geography of Joseon so that we can understand the context of this episode. The Crown Prince starts in Dongnae, which was in the southeast corner of Gyeongsang Province. He was traveling to Sangju, which was in the northwestern corner of Gyeongsang. Dongnae is located in what is now Busan.
How the Five Armies closed the gates of the mountain garrison of Mungyeong Saejae, aka Joryeong.
How the Crown Prince wanted to be different from those who abandoned the weak. He blames himself for the deaths of the villagers, but Seo bi and Mu Young see a brave and noble prince who is risking his life for ordinary people.
How Lord Ahn and his men show up at the pivotal moment when the Crown Prince and his crew are attacked by the village men AND the zombies.
We learn that Lord Ahn was the prince’s teacher when he was young. Lord Ahn taught him and supported him, but also told him that he had to fend for himself AND fight injustice. Lord Ahn means so much to the prince!
We learn more about Youngshin and his background. He is probably a member of the chakho, or the elite group that hunts tigers. He used to live in Sangju, but left during the Imjin War and even left his little brother behind.
The Queen Consort declares herself Regent, but we know that Cho Hak ju is now running the country.
Ryu Seung-ryong, the actor who plays Cho Hak ju.
References
8 Provinces of Korea during the Joseon dynasty on Wikipedia
8 Provinces of Korea, including where Sangju and Hanyang are located
A discussion of deus ex machina in this week’s pod!? I can only assume we will get full discussion and analysis of all elements of classical Greek theatre as they apply to Kingdom in next week’s episode including the parodos, stasima, and exodus. First, Campbell’s The Hero With a Thousand Faces and now this! This is one highbrow podcast.
ReplyDeleteAs for this week’s episode, did thy not have enough in the budget for full beheadings? Seems to me there were only two actual beheadings of zombies in that massive fight! Normally, I wouldn’t care but seems like if beheading a zombie is the only way to kill them it would be pretty important to show.
Joanna and Sung-Hee, you deserve a Baeksang for acting like you had no idea why all the pregnant women were gathered together and fed a full meal!
I thought this was the penultimate episode. But now I hear you are doing Season 2!? SMH. To be honest, this is not my favorite. It has none of the K Drama elements I like – a love triangle, drunken behavior that advances the plot, a white truck of death, and, of course, beef pancakes! Not only is there no love triangle, but there is also NO romance! (the syphilitic magistrate’s interest in Seo-bi does not count) Not only no romance, almost no women! This series totally fails the Bechdel Test! Way to reinforce the patriarchy! 😉
So, I guess next week is like a mini finale. I assume some things will be resolved – and others not so much. What I am predicting is the WORST gender reveal party ever!
Hi Malcolm! Thanks for hanging in there as we wax philosophical about Kdramas! Especially when we have such a lack of our favorite Kdrama elements. There is clearly not even a remote possibility of our usual favorites, such as a high end product placement or a white truck of death. And you're right, romance is not in the picture between Cho Beom Pal and Seo Bi, in spite of his best efforts.
DeleteAs for our award winning performances in "not knowing" about such issues as the purpose of feeding all those pregnant women, or even who really betrayed the Prince, I have two answers. First, agreeing with Joanna, we absolutely can not reveal or even foreshadow what is to come in the upcoming episodes. It's actually more fun to examine carefully what we are shown in the moment to see what clues and red herrings the writer is dropping. Secondly, many times (though I will admit not always) I actually do forget or didn't understand the first time around how things happened in the course of the story. Now that we are examining it more closely, I'm rediscovering or finally understanding what happened.
Having now just finished episode 6 of Season 1, there is no way we can't go on and do Season 2. Not after the cliffhanger that the end of Season 1 left us on. So thanks for your patience! Don't worry, I'm sure next season we will cover a more palatable show, at least something that won't turn. your stomach if you're trying to watch while eating beef pancakes.
Malcolm! you were doing so well before mentioning Love Triangle lol. This is my most disliked Kdrama element. Once in a while it is done well, but for majority of time I really hate it. Mind you, murder mysteries in romances is closely behind.
DeleteSeven Seas, fascinating that you're not a fan of the love triangles! We have noted in other seasons that it's not just love triangles. Often, there are shifting triangles that are not love-related. Like when a mother in law get involved, or there are two bad guys allied against one good guy! We haven't talked much about triangles in Kingdom because they don't seem to be prominent here. And of course, there isn't any romance in this show, except for Cho Beom Pal liking Seo bi, but that poor guy will never get any love back from the physician who never smiles!
DeleteMalcolm, thank you, as always, for your thoughtful and hilarious comments!
ReplyDeleteI think I went overboard in analyzing this show. We will tone it down, sorry!
We're gonna need more Baeksangs for our podcasting because we are NOT going to reveal what happens in future episodes! We know that there are people watching along with the podcast and we don't want to spoil things for them!
And yes, we are going to do Season 2! Don't worry! It's only 6 episodes. We will be done in a flash. In a few weeks, we'll have to start thinking about the shows to consider for Season 10! Send us your recommendations!