A thought on Conspiracy in the court / Chuno

[alexandral]

The subs for the episode 21 of "Chuno" are out!!!!! I have watched the episode yesterday, as well as a bit of "Conspiracy in the Court" . "Conspiracy in the Court" is catching up with me, it took me a while to get into the story (a bit too complex for 8 episodes) but now I am enjoying the drama immensely, especially the "Chuno" vibe I am getting from it. The protagonists seem to be so similar to the protagonists in "Chuno" , only Dae Gil (tragically broken and cynical) has changed his gender and became female assassin Na Young. And Sang Kyu is so much like a younger version of Tae Ha : idealistic and full of dimples. He even refuses to employ his weapon into killing people!!! So yay! I have got my Dae Gil + Tae Ha.

The cinematography is even better than in "Chuno". I have screencapped the scene that undoubtedly, as far as cinematography goes, is the best scene I have even seen in any drama or TV show (and may be in any film as well) : unsuccessful assassination attempt on the King's life. It is perfect: Sang Kyu shields the King from an attack by some disgruntled guy. Everything gives you complete feeling of reality: the scene starts very quickly, with the assassin appearing completely out of the blue and making his way to the throne in a matter of seconds, but as the scene progresses, the time slows down, to almost complete stop. All the government officials stand around like dummies, Sang Kyu is the only thing between the assassin and the King, but the King sits absolutely still, all the way through the scene. His nerves are made of steel. Just as it becomes clear that the assassination is not going to be successful, the palace guards appear from out of nowhere and literally make a kebab out of the assassin, and as if this was not enough, one of the ministers (who stood completely motionless just a minute ago) cuts the assassin's head off. Blood splatters everywhere like a red rain. Just as Sang Kyu is ready to pass out from his wound (he was sliced previously), the last thing he sees is the dead head of the assassin , very close. The head is crying.

It has been a while since I have seen something so brutally perfect:

Comments

[alexandral.livejournal.com]

Again, not saying TH is flawless; for starters, he's stubborn as a mule, but in Chuno that's supposed to be a quality rather than a fault, right?

I think this is supposed to be a fault, this and his constant harping for "the death in the blaze of glory", his pride issues, etc. etc. He did start a bit on too perfect side, though, and the character only caught up with me in later eps (episode 19 to be precise, or whatever episode he saved DG's life by throwing the sword in), when they gave him some bad qualities and character growth. His growth continues through the last 5 episodes and through the interaction with DG (and Jagkwi) he gets rid (or is on the way to get rid) of his shortcomings. And this is why I ended up liking TH much more than DG at the (whom I liked more at first), because I don't see this process in DG. They talk to each other, but where TH is changing DG keeps insisting on the same old thing : "The world is so baaaaaaaaaad!".

I lurve his character, much more than Sang Kyu, just purely because TH is more complex and also because TH's character undergoes the changing process (which is extremely neat, and the thing with DG not changing is also very neat, the screepwriter is amazing). I like Man Ho almost as much as I like TH , mostly because he didn't have many of TH's problems (pride, etc.) to start with. But the way Man Ho ends - it is like he gave up (gosh I hope you have already finished watching this and I am not spoiling). I don't like this.