Of Swords and Parasols

I haven't watched any of the other time travel kdramas that came out earlier this year (Queen In Hyun's Man is the only one of them that I've had any interest in, but I haven't tried it out yet) and so I'm free of any time travel lethargy other kdrama fans might be having. (And this one has also been in the making for much longer than any of those.)

Set late in the Goryeo period (mid-14th century-1351, to be precise) this starts of was a manhwa-illustration style animation recounting the legend of Hwata, a Chinese surgeon, ending with his going through a portal and ascending to Heaven. Then we switch to the actual plot, in which the Goryeo prince and his new bride (from an enemy nation, because where else would she be from?) are attacked while stopped overnight at an inn. The queen is injured and the prince's advisor just happened to conveniently spot a magic portal that he assumed led to Heaven nearby. (Why was there a magic portal? WHO KNOWS. People also shoot lightning from their hands and kill cockcoaches with flute music in this show. THESE THINGS JUST CONVENIENTLY HAPPEN.) Under the assumption that it leads to Heaven (Because where else would magic portals that just randomly appear with no explanation lead?) a general, Choi Young, goes through the portal to find Hwata* or one of his apprentices, only to end up in the present. He gets directed to a medical conference by a monk who assumes he wandered off a drama set, and sees a presentation by a plastic surgeon, Eun Soo, and decides she's the doctor for him. (In multiple ways, apparently, given later semi-conscious statements.)

Before tossing her over his shoulder and carting her back to the 14th century, he decides to test her skills by...giving a security guard the same injury to make sure she can fix it. (You just went WTF. So did I. So did Eun Soo, but she thankfully has a practicality override when faced with a crisis.) THEN he took out a police squad with his lightning powers, grabbed a riot shield for a souvenir (he later uses it as a boomerang), tossed her over his shoulder, and carted the poor woman back to the 14th century.

As you can tell, the crack is mighty with this one. Very mighty indeed.

Though, with Eun Soo firmly entrenched in the past, I suspect the crack will calm down soon and the more serious political plot will take over. (I'm ok with this, though I hope it keeps some of the humor.)

So far I like it a lot (between it an Arang and the Magistrate I think I prefer it right now, though larger because of a preference for the heroine-but that's kind of like "I like ice cream and cheesecake but I like cheesecake a little more" and I am exceptionally fond of both ice cream and cheesecake). One thing I particularly like is that Eun Soo doesn't know she's travelled to the past (she's gone from "homicidal cosplayer" to "accident on a drama set and they abducted a doctor to avoid the police"** to "really bizarre abduction by strange cult" to "I DON'T CARE WHAT'S WITH THIS PORTAL JUST TAKE ME HOME!") because every thinks she's from heaven and so knows where she is and is just annoyed to be there, and the modern world is so different and alien that Choi Young just assumed heaven had giant buildings and bright lights and weird hinking metal things and people magically in tiny boxes. I'm sure she'll figure it out soon once she starts learning who the historical people are.

But I'm exceptionally fond of how her reaction isn't to shriek and hide under the table (this or utter petrification would be my reaction) or magically adjust to the new world in hours. Instead she takes up residence in Denial Land and tries sneaking away when she thinks no one is looking (this almost works)*** and bribery. I'm not sure where it's going (I have a feeling that Eun Soo is going to be able to return to the present eventually and Choi Young-a real historical figure who lives quite some time past when the drama is set-ends up reincarnated, which seems to be the usual "happy" ending for these types of things, and I don't know how I feel about that) but I like it and I like all the characters except the king and his advisor, both of whom I dislike quite intensely. (Well, I have no opinion about any of the villains yet.)

I hope the lightning powers get explained. As near as I can tell, it's some sort of physical manifestation of emotional control/reaction. Choi Young's doctor friend (from the Goryeo period, not Eun Soo) has the same ability, only apparently much more controlled and with a lot more precision, and I'm thinking Choi Young learned it from him.

*In the context of the rest of the plot, I'm guessing we'll eventually learn Hwata was also actually a modern doctor.
**When you've been forcibly abducted by an armored dude a foot taller than you who almost killed someone to test you and dragged you off to be surrounded by a couple dozen people just like him, you're allowed to come up with utterly improbable and/or ludicrous theories.
***She needs to just get Choi Young alone and wait for one of his naps. That boy is always napping, even at utterly inappropriate times.


In unrelated (mostly) news, Rich Man, Poor Woman bounced back this week after a couple of rather lacklustre episodes, though it wasn't as good as the first 4 episodes were. Too much Rich Man (and his eccentric brilliance and angst) not enough Poor Woman (and they seem to have largely forgotten her memorization and research superpowers, even though they were referenced this week.)