This review may contain spoilers
THE GOLDEN AGE OF BLOODSHED
The epic, troubled and adventurous story of Kim Deokman (Lee Yo-won), daughter of Jinpyeong (Jo Min-Ki), 26th King of Silla; Twin sister of Princess Cheonmyeong (Park Ye Jin), abandoned at birth to avoid a nefarious prophecy about the kingdom, raised by her servant/putative mother Sohwa (Seo Young-Hee), pursued by guardian/concubine Lady Mishil (Go Hyun-jung) and her hitman ChilSuk (Ahn Kil-Kang); From her disguised return to Seorabeol, to the war against the Baekje kingdom, to the recovery of her royal status, torn between her repressed love for Lord Kim Yushin (Uhm Tae-woong), valiant leader of the Hwarang militia, and Bidan (Kim Nam Gil), repudiated son of noble origin, through the complicated mission of reunifying the three kingdoms of Silla, Baekje and Goguryeo...
Fluvial, titanic, grandiose and impressive storytelling, decidedly exciting, at times even quite confusing, especially for a westerner like myself, unfamiliar with such particular events in Korean history due to the paucity of available sources, ‘Queen SeonDeok’ inevitably has all the merits, but also several defects of a truly impressive production for the material represented.
A mixture of the most disparate genres, Sageuk, Wuxiapian, Chamber drama, War movie, Comedy, Historical melodrama, Coming-of-age story, Family drama (it should not be forgotten how it is already, from the very beginning, the story of a family abandonment), Spy story, Study of Astrology and Astronomy, Treatise on Science and Popular Traditions, Politics and Agriculture, Military strategy, a sprinkling of Fantasy that never hurts, a combination of genres miraculously in balance, at least for most of the tale, thanks to an exciting story, never banal and always capable of relaunching the action, keeping the spectator's attention.
Very difficult to describe, it would be unfair and reductive to try to bring order to the river of events that manages to effectively romanticise historical veracity with legends and traditions, real characters with others of dubious correspondence, as well as genealogical timings adapted to narrative consequentiality and fluidity...
Perhaps the most fascinating and engaging aspect of the drama, in my opinion, is this multifaceted storytelling, whirlwind of events, with multiple subplots and jumps between genres, put in place precisely to involve every type of viewer as much as possible, given that in the 62 episodes everything and the very opposite of everything happens repeatedly;
Mind you, this is a great and adventurous epopee, inside there are whole episodes with extraordinary battle scenes employing hundreds of perfectly coordinated characters, blood flows like a Sam Peckinpah movie, and chaos -well organised- reigns supreme;
But the violence is never an end in itself, aesthetised or magnified, but sublimated by military sagacity, as for example in the siege of fortresses, in the reciprocal ambushes or in the use of the formidable archers, absolutely astonishing for their dynamism and thrilling involvement, even with night scenes of extraordinary filmic rendering; or through a sort of chivalrous code, as in the endless duels with swords, undoubtedly indebted to the universe of Kurosawa's cinema...
This alternation of action with only apparently more reflective moments, such as the repeated meetings of the opposing clans -the ‘official’ one of the King and the would-be usurper one of Lady Mishil- is decidedly fascinating, where strategies, betrayals, subtexts, countermoves and even murders dictate the political agenda of the troubled Kingdom of Silla, and where Go Hyun Jung's extraordinary charisma reigns supreme, portraying a Lady Mishil capable of subduing anyone with the sole force of her gaze (which is otherwise beautiful! ).
Then everything inevitably begins to get tighter and tighter, between the growing role of the people of Gaya, infighting that generates palace intrigues, betrayals, escapes and imprisonments, a resounding coup, as well as determining the prodromes of a civil war with the Custodian Mishil who, by now, no longer even hides her royal aims; it is a rather interesting moment in the drama that finds vigour and narrative thrust thanks to greater dynamism and repeated twists and turns, some absolutely implausible, but forcibly necessary for narrative continuity...
But ‘Queen SeonDeok’ is above all an articulate inner journey into the soul of Deokman, a complex character with many facets, tormented, marked by an inevitable fate made up of family losses and forced renunciations, also rich in contradictions and choices imposed by the role assigned to her; the beautiful portrayal of Queen SeonDeok of Silla, magnificently rendered by a Lee Yo-won perfectly suited to the part, restores to us all the pathos of a woman always poised between reason of state and emotions, determined, erudite and open to novelties in the most disparate fields of human knowledge;
Undoubtedly proto-feminist in her iron independence, fighting against the prejudices that would have her unsuitable for the role, she emerged as an ‘’illuminated‘’ sovereign with a ‘’modernist‘’ spirit, even of a ‘’socialist‘’ kind, in certain respects, thanks to certain decisions that were perhaps unpopular with the noble court, but openly favourable to the common people of the kingdom...
His sentimental torment, however, reveals an ill-concealed inner affliction, when the two male main characters, Yushin and Bidan, alternately, cause his soul to waver continuously, in what can be considered to all intents and purposes the most classic of tormented love triangles, where the two leads, the more intense Kim Nam-Gil and the (all too) compassionate Uhm Tae-woong will also see all their certainties redefined...
As they say, ‘Behind a great woman there is always a great man’ and it is interesting, in this case, how these two characterisations flourish directly under the cone of shadow of the two prima donnas, where Hwarang Yushin's total devotion to Deokman will be so unwavering that it will allow him to face and overcome the most daring missions and vicissitudes, while Bidan, excellently characterised by Kim Nam-Gil, progressively emerges as an absolutely tormented and contradictory character, in a multi-faceted love-hate relationship with Lady Mishil and, ironically, with an existence decidedly specular to Deokman's - both were abandoned at birth - and linked to her by an inevitable fate that will result in the most sheer melodrama of the last beautiful episodes...
As an extraordinary counterpart to Deokman's role we find, for a large part of the drama, Lady Mishil, concubine and custodian of the kingdom, a sort of uncrowned Queen, played by an extraordinary Go Hyun Jung; weaver of complex palace plots, a sort of priestess, sorceress, witch, manipulator, almost a female mafia chief in her determination and ruthlessness, Mishil more than once finds herself confronted and clashing with Deokman;
This is an extremely complex ethical-moral vision that is only partially divergent, since, through dialectic, repeated justifications for unlawful actions carried out for the survival and security of the kingdom, the two women, of clear cultural stature (Deokman, in one passage even goes so far as to quote Plutarch and his ‘Parallel Lives’) engage in a metaphorical chess game that in the course of the episodes will often overturn the dynamics and narrative junctures, leading to more than one doubt in the mind of the Queen-designate...
Besides Yushin and Bidan, mentioned above, some nodal figures emerge in the storytelling, such as ChilSuk, faithful servant of Lady Mishil, unstoppable assassin, for years in pursuit of Deokman, excellently rendered by the imperturbable Ahn Kil-Kang, his character has more than one point of contact with certain characterisations of Toshiro Mifune in the movies of Master Kurosawa...
The Princess Cheonmyeong, perfectly portrayed by a beautiful Park Ye Jin, absolutely perfect in the role and decidedly regal in her bearing, is a particular case in point. She is afflicted, along with her twin sister, by a destiny of mourning - the ‘curses’ thrown at her by Mishil are unbelievable! - and abandonment, because it must be reiterated, this is a story of loss and family betrayal that spares no one, where resentment between parents and children emerges repeatedly and dramatically, directly or indirectly, as in the specific case of Prince Kim ChunChu, son of Cheonmyeong, well portrayed by the young but already charismatic Yoo Seung-Ho...
Obviously, this is not a perfect drama, considering its massive length, the narrative fluidity is frayed at several points, there are various moments of tiredness, even tedious and repetitive, an off-screen voice of the simple narrator -maybe a character from the drama itself- could have streamlined and clarified the tortuous narrative better or added the right emphasis to the story, considering that more than once it is Mishil's brother, Mi Saeng (Jung Woong In, with a constantly querulous voice all the time, moreover) who reiterates what we have just seen;
We get embroiled in abstruse astrological theories or very long (and frankly tedious) fights between the Hwarangs that add little or nothing to the pathos so far determined; Incredible but true, there is even a certain superficiality in the close personal relationships: The family dynamics should definitely have been deepened with a more extensive use of flashback, absolutely effective for example on a highly dramatic episode of Bidan's youth, especially the relationship between the two twin princesses deserved more depth and more minute-length, in addition to the mother/son relationship between Cheonmyeong and Kim ChunChu, hastily resolved with a handful of letters, nothing more...
It is also quite evident the narrative forcing after the fiftieth episode; Logically, if the story were to end here, there would be nothing to object to, we have a Queen, defeated villains (or not!?), everyone happy and an ideal framework which, however, given the success of the series, was evidently not the intentions of the creators, who pack a new shuffle of the story, where the glorious people of Gaya (a sort of partisan rebellion towards Silla) and its most important representative return to the forefront, with a reversal of roles in which, however, everything seems sincerely forced, with even the Queen herself who does not seem to understand anything anymore, amidst malicious double-dealing councillors, Hamletic doubts, wrong governmental choices and even an exasperated irritation of Deokman herself...
Personally, the perceptive confusion grows as well, the years pass, but there is no visual evidence (probably, some dates or temporal ellipsis would have helped), certain characters grow old, others miraculously remain young, one guesses that about 10 years passed between the two wars against Baekje, all the main characters are invested with the highest offices, grow big beards and adopt the same hairstyle, as well as wearing the same armour;
But at least in the first period, a bit like football teams, the Hwarang wore different colours that made them immediately recognisable, good and bad, as Bidam also reminded us in his initial entries; but here, at a certain point, it looks like a Fukasaku yakuza movie, there is some confusion, which is the team of Mishil's family and which is the Queen's?
It shifts decisively towards the more intense romance, but there is no lack of countless battles, with decidedly clever tactical and ‘military technology’ gimmicks, the show regains its original vigour and moves towards a truly excellent ending;
The final balance is decidedly brilliant, but the feeling remains that, with a shorter length and less scattershot and repetitive lengthiness, it would have been an absolute masterpiece.
Truly many and beautiful unforgettable moments, amplified by an extraordinary variety of locations exploited:
The desert escape and chase, almost a western movie in terms of visual narrative, the endless battles between the Kingdoms of Silla and Baekje with excellent mass scenes, but also episodes of deep intimacy -which often determine the calm before the storm- such as the encounter between the two twins, their identical clothes and the comb, the cave and a diptych of intensely beautiful and tragic episodes...
The embrace with Sohwa, the summit between Mishil and Deokman in the open air, among the hills of the kingdom, the absolutely regal departure of one of the pivotal characters of the story (which, inevitably, loses much in the continuation), the last intense episode, with an almost Shakespearian breath and the beautiful finale - ‘I want to see the land, the sky and everything in between"- are just a few moments of an undoubtedly dense drama, at times truly unforgettable, supported by a magnificent cast at the service of a story that justifies -imho- the excellent overall rating expressed here on MDL, a wonderful experience, perhaps not easily revisable (but you never know! ) but certainly recommended to all!
8/10
Fluvial, titanic, grandiose and impressive storytelling, decidedly exciting, at times even quite confusing, especially for a westerner like myself, unfamiliar with such particular events in Korean history due to the paucity of available sources, ‘Queen SeonDeok’ inevitably has all the merits, but also several defects of a truly impressive production for the material represented.
A mixture of the most disparate genres, Sageuk, Wuxiapian, Chamber drama, War movie, Comedy, Historical melodrama, Coming-of-age story, Family drama (it should not be forgotten how it is already, from the very beginning, the story of a family abandonment), Spy story, Study of Astrology and Astronomy, Treatise on Science and Popular Traditions, Politics and Agriculture, Military strategy, a sprinkling of Fantasy that never hurts, a combination of genres miraculously in balance, at least for most of the tale, thanks to an exciting story, never banal and always capable of relaunching the action, keeping the spectator's attention.
Very difficult to describe, it would be unfair and reductive to try to bring order to the river of events that manages to effectively romanticise historical veracity with legends and traditions, real characters with others of dubious correspondence, as well as genealogical timings adapted to narrative consequentiality and fluidity...
Perhaps the most fascinating and engaging aspect of the drama, in my opinion, is this multifaceted storytelling, whirlwind of events, with multiple subplots and jumps between genres, put in place precisely to involve every type of viewer as much as possible, given that in the 62 episodes everything and the very opposite of everything happens repeatedly;
Mind you, this is a great and adventurous epopee, inside there are whole episodes with extraordinary battle scenes employing hundreds of perfectly coordinated characters, blood flows like a Sam Peckinpah movie, and chaos -well organised- reigns supreme;
But the violence is never an end in itself, aesthetised or magnified, but sublimated by military sagacity, as for example in the siege of fortresses, in the reciprocal ambushes or in the use of the formidable archers, absolutely astonishing for their dynamism and thrilling involvement, even with night scenes of extraordinary filmic rendering; or through a sort of chivalrous code, as in the endless duels with swords, undoubtedly indebted to the universe of Kurosawa's cinema...
This alternation of action with only apparently more reflective moments, such as the repeated meetings of the opposing clans -the ‘official’ one of the King and the would-be usurper one of Lady Mishil- is decidedly fascinating, where strategies, betrayals, subtexts, countermoves and even murders dictate the political agenda of the troubled Kingdom of Silla, and where Go Hyun Jung's extraordinary charisma reigns supreme, portraying a Lady Mishil capable of subduing anyone with the sole force of her gaze (which is otherwise beautiful! ).
Then everything inevitably begins to get tighter and tighter, between the growing role of the people of Gaya, infighting that generates palace intrigues, betrayals, escapes and imprisonments, a resounding coup, as well as determining the prodromes of a civil war with the Custodian Mishil who, by now, no longer even hides her royal aims; it is a rather interesting moment in the drama that finds vigour and narrative thrust thanks to greater dynamism and repeated twists and turns, some absolutely implausible, but forcibly necessary for narrative continuity...
But ‘Queen SeonDeok’ is above all an articulate inner journey into the soul of Deokman, a complex character with many facets, tormented, marked by an inevitable fate made up of family losses and forced renunciations, also rich in contradictions and choices imposed by the role assigned to her; the beautiful portrayal of Queen SeonDeok of Silla, magnificently rendered by a Lee Yo-won perfectly suited to the part, restores to us all the pathos of a woman always poised between reason of state and emotions, determined, erudite and open to novelties in the most disparate fields of human knowledge;
Undoubtedly proto-feminist in her iron independence, fighting against the prejudices that would have her unsuitable for the role, she emerged as an ‘’illuminated‘’ sovereign with a ‘’modernist‘’ spirit, even of a ‘’socialist‘’ kind, in certain respects, thanks to certain decisions that were perhaps unpopular with the noble court, but openly favourable to the common people of the kingdom...
His sentimental torment, however, reveals an ill-concealed inner affliction, when the two male main characters, Yushin and Bidan, alternately, cause his soul to waver continuously, in what can be considered to all intents and purposes the most classic of tormented love triangles, where the two leads, the more intense Kim Nam-Gil and the (all too) compassionate Uhm Tae-woong will also see all their certainties redefined...
As they say, ‘Behind a great woman there is always a great man’ and it is interesting, in this case, how these two characterisations flourish directly under the cone of shadow of the two prima donnas, where Hwarang Yushin's total devotion to Deokman will be so unwavering that it will allow him to face and overcome the most daring missions and vicissitudes, while Bidan, excellently characterised by Kim Nam-Gil, progressively emerges as an absolutely tormented and contradictory character, in a multi-faceted love-hate relationship with Lady Mishil and, ironically, with an existence decidedly specular to Deokman's - both were abandoned at birth - and linked to her by an inevitable fate that will result in the most sheer melodrama of the last beautiful episodes...
As an extraordinary counterpart to Deokman's role we find, for a large part of the drama, Lady Mishil, concubine and custodian of the kingdom, a sort of uncrowned Queen, played by an extraordinary Go Hyun Jung; weaver of complex palace plots, a sort of priestess, sorceress, witch, manipulator, almost a female mafia chief in her determination and ruthlessness, Mishil more than once finds herself confronted and clashing with Deokman;
This is an extremely complex ethical-moral vision that is only partially divergent, since, through dialectic, repeated justifications for unlawful actions carried out for the survival and security of the kingdom, the two women, of clear cultural stature (Deokman, in one passage even goes so far as to quote Plutarch and his ‘Parallel Lives’) engage in a metaphorical chess game that in the course of the episodes will often overturn the dynamics and narrative junctures, leading to more than one doubt in the mind of the Queen-designate...
Besides Yushin and Bidan, mentioned above, some nodal figures emerge in the storytelling, such as ChilSuk, faithful servant of Lady Mishil, unstoppable assassin, for years in pursuit of Deokman, excellently rendered by the imperturbable Ahn Kil-Kang, his character has more than one point of contact with certain characterisations of Toshiro Mifune in the movies of Master Kurosawa...
The Princess Cheonmyeong, perfectly portrayed by a beautiful Park Ye Jin, absolutely perfect in the role and decidedly regal in her bearing, is a particular case in point. She is afflicted, along with her twin sister, by a destiny of mourning - the ‘curses’ thrown at her by Mishil are unbelievable! - and abandonment, because it must be reiterated, this is a story of loss and family betrayal that spares no one, where resentment between parents and children emerges repeatedly and dramatically, directly or indirectly, as in the specific case of Prince Kim ChunChu, son of Cheonmyeong, well portrayed by the young but already charismatic Yoo Seung-Ho...
Obviously, this is not a perfect drama, considering its massive length, the narrative fluidity is frayed at several points, there are various moments of tiredness, even tedious and repetitive, an off-screen voice of the simple narrator -maybe a character from the drama itself- could have streamlined and clarified the tortuous narrative better or added the right emphasis to the story, considering that more than once it is Mishil's brother, Mi Saeng (Jung Woong In, with a constantly querulous voice all the time, moreover) who reiterates what we have just seen;
We get embroiled in abstruse astrological theories or very long (and frankly tedious) fights between the Hwarangs that add little or nothing to the pathos so far determined; Incredible but true, there is even a certain superficiality in the close personal relationships: The family dynamics should definitely have been deepened with a more extensive use of flashback, absolutely effective for example on a highly dramatic episode of Bidan's youth, especially the relationship between the two twin princesses deserved more depth and more minute-length, in addition to the mother/son relationship between Cheonmyeong and Kim ChunChu, hastily resolved with a handful of letters, nothing more...
It is also quite evident the narrative forcing after the fiftieth episode; Logically, if the story were to end here, there would be nothing to object to, we have a Queen, defeated villains (or not!?), everyone happy and an ideal framework which, however, given the success of the series, was evidently not the intentions of the creators, who pack a new shuffle of the story, where the glorious people of Gaya (a sort of partisan rebellion towards Silla) and its most important representative return to the forefront, with a reversal of roles in which, however, everything seems sincerely forced, with even the Queen herself who does not seem to understand anything anymore, amidst malicious double-dealing councillors, Hamletic doubts, wrong governmental choices and even an exasperated irritation of Deokman herself...
Personally, the perceptive confusion grows as well, the years pass, but there is no visual evidence (probably, some dates or temporal ellipsis would have helped), certain characters grow old, others miraculously remain young, one guesses that about 10 years passed between the two wars against Baekje, all the main characters are invested with the highest offices, grow big beards and adopt the same hairstyle, as well as wearing the same armour;
But at least in the first period, a bit like football teams, the Hwarang wore different colours that made them immediately recognisable, good and bad, as Bidam also reminded us in his initial entries; but here, at a certain point, it looks like a Fukasaku yakuza movie, there is some confusion, which is the team of Mishil's family and which is the Queen's?
It shifts decisively towards the more intense romance, but there is no lack of countless battles, with decidedly clever tactical and ‘military technology’ gimmicks, the show regains its original vigour and moves towards a truly excellent ending;
The final balance is decidedly brilliant, but the feeling remains that, with a shorter length and less scattershot and repetitive lengthiness, it would have been an absolute masterpiece.
Truly many and beautiful unforgettable moments, amplified by an extraordinary variety of locations exploited:
The desert escape and chase, almost a western movie in terms of visual narrative, the endless battles between the Kingdoms of Silla and Baekje with excellent mass scenes, but also episodes of deep intimacy -which often determine the calm before the storm- such as the encounter between the two twins, their identical clothes and the comb, the cave and a diptych of intensely beautiful and tragic episodes...
The embrace with Sohwa, the summit between Mishil and Deokman in the open air, among the hills of the kingdom, the absolutely regal departure of one of the pivotal characters of the story (which, inevitably, loses much in the continuation), the last intense episode, with an almost Shakespearian breath and the beautiful finale - ‘I want to see the land, the sky and everything in between"- are just a few moments of an undoubtedly dense drama, at times truly unforgettable, supported by a magnificent cast at the service of a story that justifies -imho- the excellent overall rating expressed here on MDL, a wonderful experience, perhaps not easily revisable (but you never know! ) but certainly recommended to all!
8/10
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