Today, we’ll be discussing Episode 3 of Season 2 of Kingdom, the hit K Drama on Netflix starring Ju Ji-hoon as Crown Prince Yi Chang, Bae Doona as Seo-bi, Ryu Seung-ryong as Cho Hak ju, Kim Sang-ho as Mou Young, Kim Sung-kyu as Yeong shin, and Kim Hye-jun as the Queen Consort. We discuss:
The timeline of the queen’s evil plan to get a baby boy. We have differing opinions about when it all began!
We also disagree about when we think Mu Yeong started spying on the Crown Prince for Cho Beom Il.
What happened three years ago when Cho Hak ju asked Lord Ahn to take the patients in the Sumang Village leper colony, kill them, and turn them into zombies to fight the Japanese army.
Lord Ahn agreed to the plan but he has regretted it ever since.
How this show is an exploration of the lines that we cross and don’t dare cross to protect our families, communities, and nation.
Whether or not Young shin knew the truth about what happened to his brother in Sumang Village.
The Crown Prince’s impassioned speech to the soldiers at Mungyeong Saejae, whose loyalty he wants.
The Crown Prince’s commitment to save the people trapped in the citadel of Sangju by delivering food to them.
We now know that Mu Yeong is the traitor because he has taken Cho Hak ju and is rushing him to Hanyang.
Seo bi’s suspicion that something is very wrong with the Queen and her pregnancy because the Queen had Cho Beom Pal bring her sappanwood from Japan. Sappanwood is known to stop bleeding after a miscarriage.
The soldiers who take Cho Hak ju and kill Mu Yeong.
The Crown Prince’s grief over losing Mu Yeong. When Young shin asks the Crown Prince why he did nothing about Mu Yeong’s betrayal, the Crown Prince said he didn’t want to lose someone else.
By the end of this episode, the Crown Prince has lost the three most important men in his life: his father, Lord Ahn, and Mu Yeong AND beheaded two of these men.
How the head of the Royal Commandery Division is arrested and punished for daring to barge into the Royal Delivery area.
Mu Yeong’s motivations in betraying the Crown Prince.
Why Young shin continues to stay with the Crown Prince.
The filming locations for Kingdom.
References
I watched Masquerade and I only found out about it because of you two!
ReplyDeleteI'm with Joanna on thinking it was a comedy version of Crowned Crown since she was saying it was 'really funny'. It's definitely not a comedy, cried a lot as well, really tragic but I loved LBH there as well <3
If you are going to talk about palace guards, you may want to look into history of Hwarangs also. There are series featuring them like Hwarang (Park Seo Joon & Park Hyungsik) and Queen Seon Deok. They were prominent in Silla period, but did not survive post-unification.
By the way, thank you so much for making time to make this podcast to happen. This helped me cure my post-series depression after Mr. Sunshine. I look forward to Fridays now because of you two. Hope you are always happy!
Tina, thank you so much for your comments! It was your idea to discuss the timeline, thank you! And thank you for suggesting the Hearing K Drama!
DeleteI loved Masquerade and am so glad that you loved it as well. I agree that LBH was amazing. That movies was a masterpiece!
Noooooooooooooooooooooo! Not Mu-yeong! I am so upset. All he wanted was to keep his wife and baby safe (and maybe a few beef pancakes!). He didn’t have to go out like that. I’m not sure I can keep watching after that……..
ReplyDeleteAnd I get how upset the Prince must be. Mu-yeong did lie right to his face. Just like Joanna and Sung-hee lie right to our faces every week when they say I wonder what will happen! 😉 Although, in fairness, Sung-hee might not be lying since she has the memory of a goldfish! My favorite like from the podcast was Sung-hee saying “This was more surprising than I expected – or remembered.” LOL
As for the Queen’s court lady saying, “No one can outsmart you your majesty.” Well, I’m not so sure. Her plan doesn’t seem airtight. For example, if you are on the run, I’m not sure palanquins are the best mode of transport! I think the gig is up with her and her mommy and baby murdering ways. Sad to say, but I’m pretty sure Mu-yeong’s wife has met the same fate as her husband.
This episode must have been pretty rough for Joanna, what with the Japanese invaders getting decimated by the Korena zombies. I know she hates to see anything awful happen to the Japanese! And I think Sung-hee is right, any patriotic Korean would gladly sacrifice themselves to become a zombie if it meant defeating the Japanese!
I think you both might have been overthinking the whole thing about Lord Cho Hak-ju saying he was fighting to save the royal family. I think all that means is the royalty (which includes himself and his family) is the only thing that matters and the common people don’t matter at all. They can be sacrificed to protect the monarchy and their power and privilege. Maybe one episode you can talk about how there are really no “good” kings or monarchs because the entire system is premised on the oppression and subrogation of the many to enrich and empower a select few. But maybe that’s a bit too political…. It is interesting that Korean popular culture has such an interest in the monarchs of the past and seems to venerate so many of them. Yet it never seemed like there was a desire to return to a monarchy after the war the way there was in many other countries.
Thank you, Joanna, for watching Singles Inferno and for the lovely shout out to me. I am not really a reality TV fan, but I did watch the first season of the show just to see what a Korean reality TV show would be like. I find it quite interesting, mostly because of the big differences between it and a similar American or British shows of this type. I think the show it is most comparable to is Love Island (which I haven’t watched but have seen clips of here and there). In comparison to the US and British contestants on those shows, the Koreans are VERY conservative. And these are probably the most exhibitionist Koreans you will find considering they agreed to go on a reality dating show. You actually do get some insights into actual Korean culture from watching the show and it is generally amusing. And yes, the contestants are beautiful! Also, one of the contestants in season two is in both The Glory and Snowdrop. And Sung-hee is right – Joanna getting off easy if she only finishes Something in the Rain (the most romantic K Drama ever!) in exchange for me watching all these zombies!!!
That’s all for this week. I am off to prepare a Jesa for Mu-yeong with plenty of beef pancakes!
Malcolm, thanks for your comments! Yes, we were heartbroken over Mu Yeong as well. The poor Crown Prince! He's lost the three most important people in his life!
DeleteYou are right that we engage in bald-faced lies each week when we pretend not to know what's going to happen. At least, I do! If we do a current show in the next season, we've decided not to watch ahead so that we can truly speculate, like when we did Queen of Tears.
You might be right about Cho Hak ju and Lord Ahn. The monarchy was everything to them, which is why they worked so hard to stay in power. They didn't really care about the people. I'm not sure that there weren't good kings. The Crown Princes were educated so diligently to be good kings. I think some tried, but that kind of power has to be so corrupting!
I'm headed out of the country, so I will finish Something in the Rain and let you know what I think of the ending! I hope it doesn't wreck me. Maybe that's why I didn't want to finish it! These sad endings wreck me for months!
What food did you make for Mu Yeong's jesa? In addition to beef pancakes, of course!
Did you know that the last leprosy colony was in Louisiana? It closed in 2005, but you can go on field trips there; my kids and I went with other homeschoolers a few years back, pre COVID. It was very interesting, and I remember--albeit vaguely--that there is some kind of genetic component into contracting the disease.
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