Largely about Hong Gil Dong
Jan. 19th, 2008 06:36 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
dangermousieThe Legend continues to be amazing, and Machiavellian, and oh, I adore both Dam Deok and Ho Gae, and seeing that they are set to kill each other, this is going to bring me nothing but angst, right? But I love Dam Deok's ruthlessness, really, mixed with vulnerability and oh, poor Ho Gae. His mother was a twisted, evil poisoner, but nobody is going to forgive the death of his mother, no matter the reason. Grrrr. I am a sucker for best friends turned enemies. And they have great child actors (though preview for four promises Bae Yong Joon, yessssss!), but the post is not about that.
I am so madly in love with Hong Gil Dong. Seriously, four eps in and I am rabid. I'd watch raws, except it's a rare kind of drama where you actually really need to understand the dialogue to get what is going on.
And it keeps getting better and better, the plot more complicated, the characters complex and fleshed out. And it's still incredibly funny.
It's interesting, because when we first meet Gil Dong, he is entirely like a comic character out of a kung fu comedy, almost: a lazy layabout with phenomenal fighting skills, who cares for nobody at all.
But the interesting thing is, how much more complicated it all really is, while at the same time, the surface impression is also true.
He is a product of his society and upbringing: we are shown that when he was a kid, he wanted to be a civil servant, or a general, and he has the brains/fighting skills to do either, but there is the major problem of his birth. So when he is confronted with the stark reality of the situation: he is allowed to do nothing, he is a slave, and on top of it he learns his mother was whipped to death for trying to run away, it's sort of the ultimate 'give it up' moment. He does do a last-ditch thing in trying martial arts with the crazy monk master (who is hilarious. Every time he is on-screen I crack up. I love the scene with him and Yi Nok's grandpa using all this amazing kung fu just to fight for the last rice cake) and you see he can be totally fixated when he wants to be. But the thing is, while the monk master clearly taught him some crazy, crazy kung fu, the way he went about it, basically confirmed to Gil Dong all his worst views about the world and his place in it.
So he basically gave up caring or wishing and is just enjoying doing absolutely nothing with himself. And hanging out with no one. Except I get the sense he is an extravert by nature, so when he gets tangled with first Yi Nok and her grandpa, and then the theives, and then...then...then, basically more and more various people, it all escalates.
Because, as is very human, he wants to be liked and needed. He won't admit it, but he does think it's cool to have a goal in life (he is totally, unconsciously, admiring of the thieves who are willing to die to avenge their dead leader). His family clearly does not want him or view him as anything but a chattel. Even his father (who is rather complicated), is all 'yes, go far away to China, go go go!' and he is not allowed to call the man 'Father.' And his father's wife and his half-brother are total horrors (I love the whole scene when they frame him for a break-up, and he sees a dead body, and you are reminded that facade or not, he is still rather young and not hardened). I mean, he is supposed to address his younger half-brother as 'My Lord' and bow. Yikes. That whole scene where half-brother got him to come into the room full of other young lords who are about to take their civil service exams and Gil Dong has to bow very low, and call him 'My Lord' and half-brother is all 'you are going to save us seats at the examination. Hey, you wanted to take civil service exams youtself and that way you get a look in.' And the other ones are laughing at the sheer ridiculousness of a slave who wanted to do that, and then half-brother is all 'Yeah, the bastard even learned to read' etc etc? I mean, I can see why Gil Dong isn't very cuddly.
I do love that whole sequence, especially when he comes home and evil mother of half-bro is all 'you are gambling and wenching, blah blah die already' and then he can't control himself and is 'I am only telling you this because you are worried about your son's whereabouts. His Lordship is gambling at the brothel.' And bows and leaves.
So someone like Yi Nok, awesomely goofy as she is, is pretty neat for him, because she is the first person who cares if he comes or goes. Which he tells her. It's kind of a huge deal for him, even if he won't admit it. He even considers postponing getting on the ship to China because she clearly wants him to stay.
Oh, and I also like the Prince now. Maybe it was the fighting in the rain scene. Or the scene he pretended to be a Chinese merchant to find out the whereabouts of that special sword.
I also love all his scenes with Creepy Goth Girl. When she wanders into a brothel out of curiousity and pretends to be the new hooker, and says it's because she thinks it will be fun, he is all 'you've never been with a man?' and bends her as if to almost kiss her (but doesn't, of course) and she is all 'let me go' he points out that hookers have to serve men they don't like, so she should rethink it. Of course, this is totally the way to deal with creepy goth girl, who is always either deferred to or people freak out, but that means he now has an admirer :)
Of course, I don't mean to sound super-serious. This drama is still very funny. Lots of scenes, especially when Gil Dong makes Yi Nok bait in his bear/tiger/fox hunting efforts. LOL. I laughed so hard I couldn't breathe.
*thud*
And here are some more screencaps, taken by me.
Creepy Goth Girl dancing in the empty brothel. I love that scene:
Hong Gil Dong applies some common sense to her. Yay.
Evil half-brother is all 'bwahahahahaha you can read, that is so funny, you wanted to take civil exams, that is even stupider blah blah.'
'His Lordship is gamling at the brothel.' FTW
Crazy Grandpa and Crazy Monk:
Cutest scene:
Prince being intense and sword-fighting in the rain:
Second in command of Prince. I love that Prince might be good, himself, but his power structure is, of course, ruthless. And ultimately, even if the Prince is the justest medieval ruler ever, that's still not going to fix things: e.g. there will always be people in Gil Dong's situation, Prince isn't going to abolish slavery or make class distinctions less rigid.
Prettiness:
Prince dressed as Chinese merchant:
As you can tell, I liked the outfit:
OTP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Mmmm. Kang Ji Hwan manages to rock even the horrid perm.
Yi Nok doesn't want him to go to China, awww:
He finds out dead body:
And is surrounded:
Can't wait till next week!
I am so madly in love with Hong Gil Dong. Seriously, four eps in and I am rabid. I'd watch raws, except it's a rare kind of drama where you actually really need to understand the dialogue to get what is going on.
And it keeps getting better and better, the plot more complicated, the characters complex and fleshed out. And it's still incredibly funny.
It's interesting, because when we first meet Gil Dong, he is entirely like a comic character out of a kung fu comedy, almost: a lazy layabout with phenomenal fighting skills, who cares for nobody at all.
But the interesting thing is, how much more complicated it all really is, while at the same time, the surface impression is also true.
He is a product of his society and upbringing: we are shown that when he was a kid, he wanted to be a civil servant, or a general, and he has the brains/fighting skills to do either, but there is the major problem of his birth. So when he is confronted with the stark reality of the situation: he is allowed to do nothing, he is a slave, and on top of it he learns his mother was whipped to death for trying to run away, it's sort of the ultimate 'give it up' moment. He does do a last-ditch thing in trying martial arts with the crazy monk master (who is hilarious. Every time he is on-screen I crack up. I love the scene with him and Yi Nok's grandpa using all this amazing kung fu just to fight for the last rice cake) and you see he can be totally fixated when he wants to be. But the thing is, while the monk master clearly taught him some crazy, crazy kung fu, the way he went about it, basically confirmed to Gil Dong all his worst views about the world and his place in it.
So he basically gave up caring or wishing and is just enjoying doing absolutely nothing with himself. And hanging out with no one. Except I get the sense he is an extravert by nature, so when he gets tangled with first Yi Nok and her grandpa, and then the theives, and then...then...then, basically more and more various people, it all escalates.
Because, as is very human, he wants to be liked and needed. He won't admit it, but he does think it's cool to have a goal in life (he is totally, unconsciously, admiring of the thieves who are willing to die to avenge their dead leader). His family clearly does not want him or view him as anything but a chattel. Even his father (who is rather complicated), is all 'yes, go far away to China, go go go!' and he is not allowed to call the man 'Father.' And his father's wife and his half-brother are total horrors (I love the whole scene when they frame him for a break-up, and he sees a dead body, and you are reminded that facade or not, he is still rather young and not hardened). I mean, he is supposed to address his younger half-brother as 'My Lord' and bow. Yikes. That whole scene where half-brother got him to come into the room full of other young lords who are about to take their civil service exams and Gil Dong has to bow very low, and call him 'My Lord' and half-brother is all 'you are going to save us seats at the examination. Hey, you wanted to take civil service exams youtself and that way you get a look in.' And the other ones are laughing at the sheer ridiculousness of a slave who wanted to do that, and then half-brother is all 'Yeah, the bastard even learned to read' etc etc? I mean, I can see why Gil Dong isn't very cuddly.
I do love that whole sequence, especially when he comes home and evil mother of half-bro is all 'you are gambling and wenching, blah blah die already' and then he can't control himself and is 'I am only telling you this because you are worried about your son's whereabouts. His Lordship is gambling at the brothel.' And bows and leaves.
So someone like Yi Nok, awesomely goofy as she is, is pretty neat for him, because she is the first person who cares if he comes or goes. Which he tells her. It's kind of a huge deal for him, even if he won't admit it. He even considers postponing getting on the ship to China because she clearly wants him to stay.
Oh, and I also like the Prince now. Maybe it was the fighting in the rain scene. Or the scene he pretended to be a Chinese merchant to find out the whereabouts of that special sword.
I also love all his scenes with Creepy Goth Girl. When she wanders into a brothel out of curiousity and pretends to be the new hooker, and says it's because she thinks it will be fun, he is all 'you've never been with a man?' and bends her as if to almost kiss her (but doesn't, of course) and she is all 'let me go' he points out that hookers have to serve men they don't like, so she should rethink it. Of course, this is totally the way to deal with creepy goth girl, who is always either deferred to or people freak out, but that means he now has an admirer :)
Of course, I don't mean to sound super-serious. This drama is still very funny. Lots of scenes, especially when Gil Dong makes Yi Nok bait in his bear/tiger/fox hunting efforts. LOL. I laughed so hard I couldn't breathe.
*thud*
And here are some more screencaps, taken by me.
Creepy Goth Girl dancing in the empty brothel. I love that scene:
Hong Gil Dong applies some common sense to her. Yay.
Evil half-brother is all 'bwahahahahaha you can read, that is so funny, you wanted to take civil exams, that is even stupider blah blah.'
'His Lordship is gamling at the brothel.' FTW
Crazy Grandpa and Crazy Monk:
Cutest scene:
Prince being intense and sword-fighting in the rain:
Second in command of Prince. I love that Prince might be good, himself, but his power structure is, of course, ruthless. And ultimately, even if the Prince is the justest medieval ruler ever, that's still not going to fix things: e.g. there will always be people in Gil Dong's situation, Prince isn't going to abolish slavery or make class distinctions less rigid.
Prettiness:
Prince dressed as Chinese merchant:
As you can tell, I liked the outfit:
OTP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Mmmm. Kang Ji Hwan manages to rock even the horrid perm.
Yi Nok doesn't want him to go to China, awww:
He finds out dead body:
And is surrounded:
Can't wait till next week!
