kdrama: Warrior Baek Dong Soo eps 1-6

[meganbmoore]

I have to wonder if kdramas are improving, or if my tastes are changing. (Or maybe it’s just my ability to attempt to watch things as they come out.) Until now, the only series I ever tried to follow as it came out was Chuno, and even that I ended up watching in chunks, and now I’m following 2 kdramas as they come out. (And am considering trying to follow The Princess’s Man and Lee Seo Jin’s new series, but 3 sageuks at once is probably beyond my abilities.)

Warrior Baek Dong Soo is a fusion sageuk centering around Prince Sado’s conspiracy. I believe the titular main character is also a historical figure, but I’m not sure. The main character, Dong Soo, is the son of a traitor who was executed shortly before Dong Soo’s birth, and his entire family was to be hunted down and executed too. (In Joseon Korea, they do not believe in leaving anyone behind who might want revenge.) As a result of his mother’s extreme methods in hiding him, Dong Soo was born with “bent” limbs that required him to spend his entire childhood literally living in a bamboo cage to straighten and strengthen his bones. As soon as he was out of the cage he and his rival/foster brother, Yeo Un (Who is actually a plant of the assassin’s guild) scampered off to join a secret camp devoted to training elite soldiers to serve Prince Sado.

This is the only series I’ve seen (and only series I’m aware of) that features Sado as a major character, as opposed to background drama for his son. (Sidenote: If you want a drama the explores the theories surrounding Sado’s death, track down 8 Days: Mystery of Jeong Jo Assassination. While also about Jeong Jo and not Sado, figuring out what really happened there is a key plot and the scenes about that are the best part, even if the resolution treaded a bit close to mansplainin’.) Of course, once we get to the part where his father has him locked in a rice chest and left outside to starve to death slowly over an eight day period, it’s going to be worse than usual because, you know, he’s an actual character you like here instead of a cameo with an awful fate. And this show is definitely going to go with the “Yeong Jo was convinced by a conspiracy of Sado’s enemies” route instead of “Sado went insane and started randomly killing and molesting people” one. Unless it’s a AU where he doesn’t die.

The series is very wuxia-like in its setup, and despite technically following the normal sageuk format, reminds me more of wuxia series than any other sageuk I’ve seen. Most sageuks really only have one central plot that other plots branch out of, and while it isn’t uncommon for the “older generation” of characters to be more interesting than the younger leads, they’re usually interesting in the context of the main plot. Here, like in wuxia, we have a number of plots that overlap (and a more ensemble feel as a result) and the stories of the older generation and flashbacks are largely the most interesting plot. Frankly, I could watch the backstory/childhood parts forever and ever. Or at least the full 24 episodes. My favorite part of the plot are the backstory (and upcoming drama) between the two main assassins, Cheon and Ji, and Gwang Taek, a friend of Dong Soo’s father. They are, apparently, the three best fighters in Joseon Korea and involved in a 20+ year triangle wherein Ji basically calls all the shots and the men respect her choices, even if they don’t like them. Gwang Taek, incidentally, is the kind of character who goes around taking on entire gangs of bandits and punk kids hit by a bout of hero worship using nothing but his identity tag as a weapon and is all “La! I am just a humble if slightly snarky medicine peddler with one hand, no need to pay attention to me!” and you are all “Dude, between losing your hand, getting rejected (to save you) by the love of your life and thinking your would-be foster son got eaten by wolves, you basically had the worst week ever and spent the last 20~ years dangling off a cliff doing one handed pullups while learning every form of fighting you can from warrior monks. After a brief stint as a bum. ‘Humble medicine peddler’ my behind.”  

My second favorite is the plotline of one of the heroines, Ji Sun, whose family is the guardian of a super secret book the assassins are after (and which is now tattooed onto her back with her father’s blood mixed in with the ink). Shockingly to all, Mr. I Am A Secret Undercover Assassin is falling for her. Incidentally, after watching ep 6, I realized that the other heroine, Jin Joo, is played by Yoon So Yi from Arahan and Shadowless Sword. No wonder my (already quite strong) fondness for her skyrocketed once the leads were grown up.

The creators, incidentally, are clearly fans of Chuno. The most obvious bit is how most of the music is tweaked versions of Chuno’s music (it’s especially noticeable in the fight scenes) and also that someone apparently went “my, Yoon Ji Min is quite good here as a beautiful and mysterious assassin. I think she should be in our show as a beautiful and mysterious assassin with a completely different personality.” As niche roles go, I can’t disapprove. I prefer her Chuno look, but that wouldn’t really suit Ji. It also has the intersecting but separate plot thing (though moreso) and a big romantic plot where you can’t really tell how it’ll turn out. (I’ll operate under the assumption that another similarity will be that that turns out the way I wanted it to all along.) Mind you, if you want to be another sageuk when you grow up, you could do far worse than Chuno.

Spoilers!

OMG THAT WAS THE BEST FLASHBACK STORY SINCE SWORD STAINED WITH ROYAL BLOOD AND WE ONLY EVEN GO PART OF IT! MORE PLEASE!

As discussed elsewhere, Cheon/Ji/Gwang Taek really is a reversed Emperor of the Sea setup is Jung Hwa had loved Eom Moon instead of Gong Bok. (And like EotS, I like both but am firmly on the side of what she wants and would make her happy.) And you know, I’m normally not a big fan of “push hir away for hir own good” (though I admit to liking it more when it’s the girl pushing, just for the trope reversal) but I make allowances when you’re doing it because they will literally die (in this case, get hunted down by the entire assassins guild) if you don’t.

But man, I’m pretty sure poor Ji hasn’t wanted to be an assassin for at least 20 years, and has only stayed because of what happened last time she tried to leave. And Gwang Taek asking her if it was ok for her to be with him and her not going with him makes a lot more sense now. I’m pretty sure that, when they were younger, she thought they could handle being hunted by the assassins if they ran off together (I suspect they wouldn’t have lasted long, though) but not if it meant someone else dying (someone who loved her at that, even if she didn’t feel/no longer felt the same way) so they could escape, but the second time, he was missing a hand and there was a baby involved on top of the fact that then even more people would be hunting them, not to mention the fact that Cheon would literally take on all the assassins to give them time. For that matter, I suspect that whatever code/rule is behind that trumps their current positions.

But I wonder just who Ji is, anyway? Because Cheon was punished for trying to help her-and would have been killed if Ji hadn’t sent Gwang Taek away and come back for him-but Ji doesn’t appear to have been punished at all. Aside from the 2+ decades of unhappiness.

But I thought we’d have to wait THE WHOLE SERIES to find out if Jin Joo was Ji and Gwank Taek’s daughter, and we already have it! Ok, so it wasn’t STATED and we don’t know that Gwang Taek is necessarily the father (though, if it was Cheon-and I don’t think they have that relationship-there’d be less need to hide her) but it was pretty obvious. I may have let out a tiny squeal when Jin Joo saw Ji and asked if they knew each other, and then a bigger one when Ji asked Jin Joo’s father about “the child,” realized it was Jin Joo, then thanked him for raising her to be happy. And then Jin Joo told her father that her heart did something funny when she saw Ji, and his face went all “uhm…” when Jin Joo mentioned her bandit blood. Also, that makes the scene where Gwang Taek saved Dong Soo from Jin Joo and none of them knew who the other was. I mean, just involving Gwang Taek and Jin Joo at once already had a level of awesome.

Regarding the “who is the series’ OTP?”…honestly, while I’m perfectly willing to be surprised, between the childhood eps and ep 6, at this point I’d have to say that Ji Sun/Dong Soo with Jin Joo and Yeo Un having unrequited feelings would at the least border on bad writing, because everything there was basically designed to make the viewer invested in Jin Joo/Dong Soo and Ji Sun/Yeo Un, with a bit of teen hormone confusion along the way. Also, frankly, it’s like City Hunter in a way. With all the Drama of the backstory (and main story) and potential Doom, it needs the central pairing to be fairly light and cute when separated from the Drama.

Speaking of pairings, I officially ship Ji Sun/Yeo Un (instead of just liking the potential) after he told her to hid behind him while he fought the bandits, and then she used his bow *I think it was his) to shoot a bandit that snuck up behind him.

BTW, I’ve never seen Cheon’s actor in anything before as far as I know, but as of ep 5, I completely get why some of my listies are huge fans of his. I don’t think there’s ever been a case before where I forgot that it was episode 5 and if the main character died, it wouldn’t be for another 19 episodes, he was that scary. Though, uhm, between basically torturing the teacher and the way he tormented Dong Soo, I kinda don’t “like” Cheon in any conventional sense now (certain things are nigh insurmountable for me), though he’s still one of the most interesting things here. Also, I don’t think Yeo Un really realized what he’d let himself in for until then.

Comments

[royalarchivist]

"Ji Sun, whose family is the guardian of a super secret book the assassins are after (and which is now tattooed onto her back with her father’s blood mixed in with the ink)."

*spit take*

!!!!

This show does not stop sounding awesome every time you talk about it. You say it's destined to be 24 episodes and they're up to 6 now? I'm no good at following series as they come out, so in about 4-1/2 months I'll have to start watching this!! :D

[meganbmoore]

I KNOW! To be fair, their entiore family had been wiped out and he was also dying and they could be found at any minute, so he didn't really have options as far as cleaning it up a bit. Basically, I think he was trying to protect her by making the book and it's secrets inseparable (only the family knows how to understand it), in hopes of increasing her chances of survival if she was caught. And making it even harder to find.

And kdramas air 2 eps a week (so you're basically watching a movie a week, really) so unless they take a week off, there's only 9 weeks left.

[royalarchivist]

That is the best reason ever for getting a tattoo. :D

And only 9 weeks to go sounds perfect! I'll definitely want to check it out!