#tanqishi

[koryeoking]

Toghon Temür in Empress Ki

Okay, so I have only started watching Empress Ki recently even though the show came out over five years ago as I’m not one to watch because of trend. 

I am loving it thus far as it’s probably the first K-Drama that I’ve watched in a long time that is actually good as it’s perfectly balanced between war, politics and romance as compared to most that I have watched which tend to focus more on romance. So you can imagine my delight watching this, with the way they captivate my attention right from the first episode! 

Now here comes the bad part. And I’ll probably get shot by the fangirls but I have to say it because it’s been bothering me watching the recent episodes.

Halfway through the story pace changed shifting from the fearsome street-smart Seung Nyang to a palace bound obedient Seung Nyang, I kind of feel a little let down. And the scenes between her and Toghon feels overly repetitive with him whining about wanting Seung Nyang’s love and attention every single episode.

We get it, he loves her so much, but watching him “crying” for her and throwing tantrums for not being accepted by her every episode is tiresome. I can only imagine what his Eunuch must be feeling, urging and pleading him every time!

Although in the beginning, I find him a little annoying as he appears to be a spoilt “Prince” but ever since he met Seung Nyang, he began to change gradually that I thought that there is finally hope for this guy that even General Bayan had a change of heart from wanting to kill him to saving him. 

Even when he betrays Seung Nyang and Wang Yoo, causing Wang Yoo to lost his throne and exiled to the far end of Yuan border with the Turks and Seung Nyang losing her father whom she just reunited with and “enslaved” as a palace servant, I still understand in some ways why Toghon did it, in order to seize the throne and buy himself time to take control from within to get rid of Temur. 

BUT. Over time, I feel like he’s really not doing anything at all.

While I understand why he treat his Empress (Tanashiri) so coldly because her very presence reminds him of her father, Temur, who killed his father, I thought the very idea of Toghon’s betrayal of Koryo was to bid his time in the palace to seize control from within right? 

So why not treat her nicely with respect so that she will love him so much that she can influence her father’s decisions in Toghon’s favor seeing how much her father loves her, which might also win her brother’s favor ( Tangqishi ) who loves her sister too and is always treated with contempt by their father, Temur, who sees him as weak and incompetent. Toghon could’ve swayed Tangqishi and Temur a little if he had treated Tanashiri nicely. 

And are we going to ignore that he did not even treat his Royal Concubine Park with the love and respect she deserves, or even care about his heir in her stomach, ignoring her countless times unless he is being called to attend to her because of something, simply because he is still obsessed over Seung Nyang, ogling her right in front of his Royal Concubine and his own mother? 

The one sided love of Toghon and Seung Nyang and his inability to accept rejection, abusing his powers to prevent her from leaving, holding her “hostage” against her will even though he technically has the power to set her free, getting himself drunk and almost “forcing” himself on her, and later on getting herself drunk when she was at her lowest, as if making use of her vulnerability to get to her, hoping she would break and confess her love to him, is just distasteful and painful to watch. I don’t know how some fans considers this to be funny or romantic. There’s nothing romantic about forcing someone in a relationship.

He’s an Emperor and yet he feels insecure to a deposed King (Wang Yoo), who he thinks has everything and envies him for it, for having the ability to fight, ability to play musical instruments and read poetry. Those things requires time, discipline and practice which doesn’t fall into Wang Yoo’s lap in a day. He had plenty of free time in the palace being all “powerless” being a “puppet” to Temur and what does he do with it? Learn to read? No. Learn to fight? Well, he did tried archery for awhile but gave up early thinking he’ll never be as good as Seung Nyang without considering that she spent years since childhood practicing it.

What does he do? Roll around on his bed all day, calling out for Seung Nyang, to pay attention to him, and be all obsessive over her, not even caring about everything else like his Royal Concubine, his heir or happenings in the palace. So what was the point of his betrayal of Koryo in the first place.

I feel sorry for Wang Yoon who struggles between his love for Seung Nyang, wanting to keep her safe and his duty to Koryeo, even though the people of Koryeo resented him for thinking he had abandoned them to live in the high life in the palace, when he was actually exiled to the hostile border fighting for his life between the Yuan and the Turks, just so he could get back to his people and Seung Nyang. So can you imagine his sadness when his people did not want him, the fierce woman warrior he knew and loved became a mere plaything for the Emperor, that he could only see but not touch. And being ridiculed by the Emperor who envied him, wanting to expose his weakness by organizing a soccer game in front of the entire palace.

I dislike Toghon, because he is one of those people who thinks he’s the only one who suffers in life, who thinks he’s the only one who is in pain of losing his family, but not everyone else whom he perceives as having it all, like Wang Yoo. Well, I guess, I have said what I have come here to say to vent my frustration in watching it, which goes to show how great of an actor Ji Chang-wook is that he can make you dislike his character so much with his brilliant acting. Although I already know how the story ends with Wang Yoo losing Seung Nyang to Toghon, I am still watching it till the end to see how the rest of the story unfolds. Hope Toghon character gets less annoying along the way but judging by the opening scene of the first episode, I guess not.

[mmslooney007]

The (long-ish) Review No One Needed or Asked For ™ - Empress Ki

Listen!!! I spent 50 something hours of my life on this so I’m pouring a bit of my soul out here!

Character-Wise

Our titular character should have never passed as a boy, but if Clark Kent can get away with a cheap disguise, then whatever. That aside, very noble, caring,  great tactician, and the actress? I wanna check out her whole filmography now.

Our noble Wang Yoo is just that-- noble. Unfortunately, he only ever remained with one expression after our first encounter with him. 

The Emperor (whatever his real name, TaHwan or ToGhon), the man-child stuck in his Terrible Twos, the Puppet. My favorite character, and not just because of his actor. I think he was extremely flawed, and a bit of a sympathetic figure at times. Very whiny and clingy. I think if there was ever a song dedicated to him, it would be EXO’s Obsession.

Plot-Wise

The second half of the show is when things start getting very good. That’s when Yang’s Revenge drops (soundtrack fire), and when we get to enjoy the ups and downs of the Palace Treachery. The beginning starts off strong though, and does a great job in kicking off the Great Ship Wars, creating any sympathy to our characters’ cause, but the first time around in the palace really dragged imo.

I liked the seed of doubt the Prime Minister planted because it felt very right Dowager and Bayan would bite. She was always someone you wanted to root for, but it never felt completely right with her character. And besides that grand line that foreshadowed our next enemy, we were shown that Bayan was kind of a whichever-way-the-wind-blows type anywhosies.

And even though he was total plot device material, Taltal for the win. Love him. His hair, it don’t move.

My eternal beef

Oh boy. Where to start? I was happy it was over. Quick dings include the pacing, the melodrama traps of prolonged gazing, the curse arc (it felt like an unnecessary add-on especially since it was unresolved), and the next instillation of Evil Empress Bayan not being a developed plot point. Like, I get it, but I wanted her to do more.

Now, the writers should have done more when Yang went to the palace the first time around. I know they tried to do that weak “don’t take out your anger,” but that doesn’t mean that she wouldn’t have been less confrontational! I think the writers wanted to give us some footing in the beginning for the Great Ship Wars to begin by trying to let it slide and not addressed, which imo feels lazy. Enemies to lovers, when developed properly, is fire. It has to start with conflict anyhow, so why not really build something that could’ve been laborious but well done?! They didn’t have the guts. They let Yang be a bit more passive.

Letting Tanqishi live that long was not necessary. The catharsis we could have had had Yang killed him when she took his eye??? We were robbed y’all. Also, show me and don’t simply tell me!!! That little flash forward to tell me the Man-Child was losing it could have been getting started as soon as Golta stepped in, especially since y’all decided to crown him Hawk House head. Lazy. At least get the ball rolling y’all and let me fill in the blank. 

Takeaway

It takes but a day to get 3 months pregnant, so here’s Maury’s card. Also, come to your senses. PeHa, MaMa--

My Rating ...

On on a good day-- 7/10

Sometimes, you just gotta throw the whole clan away.

[yesfamouscollectionpoetry-blog]

Empress Ki -Dizi

Evet buraya da ilk yazımı yazmış bulunuyorum.Belki kimse okumayacak ama izlediklerimin ve okuduklarımın daha çok akılda kalması ve yazı yeteneğimin gelişmesi için böyle bir karar aldım kendimce.  Bu ilkte Empress Ki’ye kısmetmiş.DGS’ye az kala motivasyon olsun diye izleyeyim demiştim.Yanlış hatırlamıyorsam öncesinde 3 sefer yarım bırakmıştım ama bu sefer baştan tam bitirdim.Bir de yaklaşık 1 buçuk aya bitirdim bazı günler 4 bölüm bile izlemiştim. Gelelim konusuna;Yuan’a Koryo’dan köle olarak getirilen Nyang’ın nasıl süreçlerden geçerek en sonunda imparatoriçe olmasını anlatıyor.Ben son 10 bölüm imparatoriçe olur diye umarken (dizinin adı öyle ama ne yapayım) finalden bir önceki bölüm imparatoriçe oldu. Dizide Nyang’ın azmi bir yana Wang Yoo beyin azmine de dikkat çekmek isterim.İlk bölümlerde sürgüne gitmişti adamlarıyla birlikte.Oradan sağ bile çıkacağına kimse inanmazken Türklerle anlaşma yaparak olayı kendi lehine çevirdi.O zamanlar bana ilham olmayı başardı. Bu arada ben team çonaydım (Wang Yoo) herkesler pehaa (Togon) diye ortalıkta geziniyordu.Çonacılar az ama kıymetli çok değerlerini bilelim.Wang Yoo’nun ekibini de ayrı seviyorum.Bang,Musong,Jombak,Makseng,Yeon Bi Su,General Park.Hepsinin krallarına gerçek anlamıyla sadık olması beni etkilemişti. Dizide beğendiğim diğer karakterler Bayan (Modern Ancient Moğol bey part1),Tal Tal (hümanist abimiz o kadar alim düşünür hemide savaşçı) (Bayan’ın tal tal demesini seviyodum ya çok değişik diyo),Tanqishi (sesi çok karizmaydı adamın)( Modern Ancient Moğol bey part2) Talahai ( gereken değeri görmediği kanısındayım öyle karizma bir adamın yan rolde sünepe misali her şeye evet hayır demesi beni sinirlendirmişti.) Tanashili (güzel kızdı ama cadalozdu içi dışı birdi ablamızın öldükten sonra gözlerim onu aramadı desem yalan olur.)Teu Mama (başlarda çok asil gelse de sonra ciddi bozdu gülüşü çok korkutucuydu manyamıştı sonlarda)El Temur (Bu dedeyi de restorasyonda bir hocama çok benzetiyodum görünce aklıma o geliyordu.)Yeon Bi Su(Wang Yoo ya olan aşkı saf ve temizdi.) Açıkçası izlerken kötülerin ölümüne bile üzüldüm.Yom Byongsu ve Yeon Hwa’nın kavuşamaması da ayrı üzmüştü.(İkisi de aşırı kötü olsalar da) Finalde pek umduğum gibi bitmedi.Zaten Wang Yoo öldü dedim bu sünepe Togon’a kaldı.Togon da birkaç yıl sonra hizmetçisi sürekli zehirli ilaçlar içirdiği için ölüyo ve Nayng ablamız tek kalıyo.Tarihte biraz daha yaşlıyken ölüyo ama dizide genç öldürdüler. Yazımı bitirmeden önce biraz da Togon dan bahsedeyim. Güçsüz erkekleri hayatım boyunca çekici bulmadığımdan bu karaktere pek ısınamadım.Nyang’ın babası da Togon yüzünden ölünce dedim yok ben bu karakteri sevmem daha.Çocuksu hareketleri de tatlıydı,şekerdi.Hayatı boyunca yaşadığı yalnızlık iç parçalayıcıydı.En yakınları bile onun yanında gücü için vardı.Napsakta yok etsek kafasındalardı.Onu o olduğu için seven kişi hiç yoktu.(Nyang bile değildi üzgünüm.) Buraya yazmayı sevdim ben.Artık izleyip okuduğum ne varsa yazmayı düşünüyorum.İlk olduğu için yazım,anlatım hataları olabilir ama gittikçe gelişeceğime inanıyor ve yazımı noktalıyorum.