Hong Gil Dong Episode 24, recap

Final episode, folks. And if you were around before yesterday, you’d have seen my preliminary reaction to the ending. I’m slightly calmer, but recapping this is going to be tough.

Must-haves for this episode: a box of Kleenex, some alcohol (chocolate if you’re underage) and a friend/stuffed animal around so you can have hugs when it’s over.

I would have gotten this up faster, but I’m sorry, I couldn’t keep from crying on the keyboard.

Before I start, I’d like to thank: flyingcrispi, jess, marai, soruyo, iurgnotmis, janesc, pris… thanks for poking over and letting me know that my writing sucks. XP

Also, special thanks to the people over at soompi: hjkomo, shirley, canyayasis for the on-spot spoiling, jinkzzmec and crybabytt for the caps of episodes and bts, axerine, pho50, saturn and K4Ice for tidbits to tide us over the HGDWS, oink and laiyiwen for all those beautiful MVs, Kim Yunmi for being the resident expert on everything, annchong and puela for the never-ending uploads! And all your discussions, goofing off etc made this show such a pleasure to watch. You soompiers are an awesome bunch.

Episode 24

It begins with Gil Dong on the bridge linking a group of Hwal Bin Dang buildings, telling his people: The beginning of our world was not the new king, but this! Protect that beginning!

Chang Hui is in court: The dream of a world without monarchy is threatening our kingdom. We must begin to attack Hwal Bin Dang now!

Hwal Bin Dang members are making fortifications, prepping and arming its people. We see a parallel act: the king’s men are doing the same. His troops begin to move out.

Enok is still with Noh and Ryu.

Noh: His majesty has already attacked Hwal Bin Dang’s headquarters, if you go you will die.
Ryu: You are Ryu Enok, do not go to that person’s side!
YN: Then I will go to gongja and dissuade him from attacking, no, I’ll go and tell Gil Dong to run away. I have to stop them from fighting. But why are they fighting? Didn’t they work together?
Noh: Their worlds are clashing.
Ryu: You befriended him as Heo Enok, but you are Ryu Enok now. Ryu Enok’s place is at his majesty’s side!
YN: Heo Enok, Ryu Enok, I don’t know anymore. I am only worried that Gil Dong will die.

Enok runs out, to the distress of Ryu. Noh cries for her as ‘child’, which is strangely poignant.

Yong Jin and Chisu lead the siege troops to the mountain.

We have a heavily symbolic moment when Gil Dong exchanges his stick for an old sword. Gil Dong is moving slowly, as if pressed down by something (I would say fate, but the ominous is crushing me.)

Suk Geun reports that the troops are at their door, Gil Dong replies that Chang Hui knows where their headquarters is, so it will be a direct attack. He tells them to protect the one weakness in their fortress, to not let troops in.

Chang Hui in the palace: As king, as protector, I have to break the sword that is Hong Gil Dong.

The soldiers run into the waiting Hwal Bin Dang forces with a war cry, battle begins. (My inner pacifist dies a little.)

We see Enok running like an arrow across the lands.

The battle seems pretty evenly matched, Hwal Bin Dang is holding their own. Yong Jin is also really good at fighting.

Enok runs to the nearby Hwal Bin Dang village, she sees people fleeing. A girl tells her that soldiers have so far been repulsed, so there may be fighting in villages near the mountain base. (Hello, expositional device.)

At night, the soldiers stop attacking, so Gil Dong plans an ambush, because they know the mountain better. Gil Dong stresses the importance of getting soldiers away from their base.

Chang Hui orders more troops and firepower. He’s putting Hwal Bin Dang under siege so split branches are unable to help. He also has proclamations put up declaring that he is attacking Hwal Bin Dang. Choi thinks it’s a bad idea.

CH: Before people begin to doubt me, I will tell them I am doing this as king, that I decided this because I am protecting the country.

Chang Hui’s voiceover as the common people fuss over posted proclamations: In order to stop the spread of dangerous beliefs that will destroy the structure of our country, Hwal Bin Dang and Hong Gil Dong will be eradicated. We cannot allow the minority of those who share his views to become enemies.

People: The king only wants to kill Hwal Bin Dang and Hong Gil Dong, because in their quest to rid the world of rich and poor (really sounds communist, no?), they have dared to attack the king! That kind of country will never arrive!

The common people abandon the Hwal Bin Dang’s cause. Poor Gil Dong, if only he knew how fickle people are.

Seo muses upon the impending destruction of Hwal Bin Dang.

EH: I didn’t think he’d be that fast. (Um, second thoughts too late, girl)
Seo: Keeping the fact that we requested the attack a secret – plainly he is planning to seize full power as king! (Well, I bet he’s tired of puppetry… go CH, go!)
EH: I thought extending a hand was still possible.
Seo: No, offering to sharing power with the king is just vulgar. (He doesn’t get that she’s talking about Gil Dong) In a world like this, living as the core of power is difficult, never mind those who are just around the king.
EH: No, it can’t be. (I hate you! Phew. That felt good.)
Seo: Eun Hye, don’t worry. Daddy will survive the court!

Eun Hye regrets condemning Hong Gil Dong. (Me: afjioweafjawehnfjksdajf;lask)

Merchant Wang with the two gisaeng.

Wang: What kind of new world is this?!
G1: It’s just like before. The king and nobility rule the world.
G2: If they start really fighting, Gil Dong won’t be able to continue very long.
Wang: I hope he holds on for a long time. No no, the best is if they don’t disappear at all.

Gil Dong and Hwal Bin Dang making long term plans for food, stock, etc. Hae Myung predicts that the king is planning to trap them in a siege.

Gil Dong is convinced they’ll hold out for a long time.

MN: Even if it’s a bit stupid, we have to fight till the end.
Yeon: Is the last one left standing an idiot?

Then the door opens, it’s Enok. Gil Dong is angry and dismayed, everyone else is surprised.

Cut to Noh with Chang Hui.

CH: In the end she is with him. Is that true?
Noh: I have told the troops to back off from where she must be. Hong Gil Dong is not the type of person to let her die. He will send her back.
CH: She cannot stay in a place I am about to destroy. Set up camp to go to the mountain base.

Enok and Gil Dong on same bridge.

YN: There will be more soldiers coming, Gil Dong, run, I will take care of gongja, no, his majesty, but just go!
GD: You are exactly the same. Do you want Ryu Enok to die the same death?
YN: Then you plan to die like last time?
GD: I am only going to fight.
YN: Why? You will die! Why? Didn’t you and gongja work together? Why be like this? Why did gongja suddenly decide to attack you, and why do you say you will keep fighting? I really don’t understand.
GD: He is guarding himself by directly attacking me, I am fighting him because I want to change the world. That’s why I worked with him in the beginning, but he wants to stop at this world where he is king. I, we cannot stop. We cannot stop fighting.
YN: You cannot stop?

GD looks away. YN bites her lips.

YN: Then how far are you planning to go?

Cut to Yong Jin and Chisu at the barricade, Mal Nyeo, Suk Geun and a whole lot of people are there to take a message. (Poor YJ and CS are so sad, they don’t want to attack at all.)

YJ: How far are you planning to go? What do you think you will accomplish?
SG: What…
Yeon: Here. We want to turn the world into what we enjoy here everyday.
MN: No king, no landowners, no peasants.
Gom: Where everyone can live happily together to fight for a better world! *laughing*
SG: This is from the king to Gil Dong? We will make sure it gets to him.

CS: Their world is a dream. A dream we’ve all thought of.

Yong Jin looks sad and worried.

Chang Hui’s message tells Gil Dong to give up fighting for the sake of stability. If he complies, Chang Hui will only exile him to China.

Hae Myung laughs really hard. (You old hyena – you knew everything was going to happy this way and still have the time to laugh? You’d better just have a good philosophic detachment or I will have to kill you.)

GD: I will not go, but I do have someone to send there.

Chisu reports to Chang Hui: Enok is really in the Hwal Bin Dang camp.

Turns out Chang Hui sent the thing so Enok could come back with a message… and he hopes that he doesn’t have to kill GD, but he adds that Gil Dong has no right to drag her into his war.

GD walks with YN.

GD: This is my reply to the king’s letter.
YN: Isn’t this a way to stop the fighting?
GD: Yes. The only person who can make it safely out and into the king’s camp is you. Please go.
YN: Be right back!

Enok walks for a bit, then turns aorund.

YN: Gil Dong, I’m thinking hard where I want to stay.
GD: Really.
YN: After a long time apart, coming here, it is where I should be. You are here. I’ll definitely be back.

(GD’s face. Ahhhhhh, his face! Poor guy thinks he’ll never see her alive again.)

GD, softly: Mong chong yi.

Enok held at multiple swordpoint at the king’s camp, Chisu comes to get her and she is surprised to hear that Chang Hui is here.

YN: I am here to deliver a letter. I will go back.

Chang Hui just stares at her.

Suk Geun walks up to Gil Dong, who sits alone and forlorn on the bridge.

SG: What did you give to the king?
Gd: Enok.
SG: You’re too selfish. (‘If‘ starts playing.)

Chang Hui opens the letter.

YN: Gil Dong said he’d think about how to stop it. He’s trying to find an answer to your question.
CH: There is no answer.
YN: What are you saying?
CH: There is no asnwer.

Chang Hui shows her the blank sheet of paper.

YN: But he said there would be an answer!
CH: He sent you to me. He gave you to me.
YN: I have to go back.
CH: I will not let you.
YN: Didn’t you say I could do as I wanted?
CH: I can send you to anyplace except the one that I am attacking!
YN: Then majesty cannot stop attacking Gil Dong either?
CH: No. A king can never stop protecting his land.
YN: Then GD sent me here on purpose?
CH: I asked him to. Even if he fights, the world will not change. As the king of that world, I have to keep standing.
YN: Then by sending me here, he is letting himself be attacked? (I wouldn’t say let, but sure.)

Hae Myung with Gil Dong, looking out at their little settlement.

HM: Scared? Afraid?
GD: Of course. I am not the superman they say I am. We do not fight because we are not afraid. I lost to fear for something else. I am afraid of not fighting this last battle well.
HM: You mean like sending Enok away?

Cut to Enok stepping out of the tent.

YN: Idiot. Asking the king to protect me after he dies? Jerk.

Gil Dong is warning the villagers to flee, but the ones who remained behind are here to fight. These are the same men who united with him after In Hyung’s attack. They promise to always stand by Hwal Bin Dang.

GD: Aren’t you afraid?
Leader: We are. But we saw how fighting last time worked against the old king. We will at least try this time. We can do it.
GD: I respect you.

Gil Dong meets Eun Hye in the woods near village.

GD: Your perseverance also deserves a little respect. But why are you here now?
EH: There was once a bird, who gave its heart to its only love in the world. But the other died. I saw it struggle to keep living, and let it free out of pity. If I killed you, I thought I could go free. I will be honest. It isn’t like that. It cannot be like that. Please escape. Go to where you wanted to go before with me. If you don’t want to, go alone. Go far away. Get away from the country that has hurt you so deeply. Go.
GD: Seo Eun Hye, I have already gone to a country far away from here. It if very different. The world I am fighting for right now, the world of my friends in the mountain, is no longer the king’s kingdom. It is something we built. It is small, but a very nice place. I will keep fighting to protect it.
EH: This country is only a dream. For this dream you will die fighting. *crying*
GD: No, right now we are standing on its soil. You cannot cross over and see, so you think it is a dream. But that country is real, and if I die protecting it, it will have been a good life. I am already there. Let me go. Goodbye.
EH: Then guard it until the end. Don’t die. Protect it until the end. Whatever country you live in, stay alive there, so I can believe that you are well.

Gil Dong turns around and smiles at her.

EH: He will go far far away. Send me there, so I can see what I want to see, hear what I want to hear. So I can finally let you go.

Chang Hui is going back to the palace, and wants the second attack to be a success. Meanwhile, Enok is trying to fight her way out. Yong Jin stops her, respectfully.

YN: If you do not let me go, I will fight you.
YJ: Then kill me. The king has ordered me to not let you go.

Enok goes to Chang Hui.

YN: Please let me go, majesty.
CH: No.
YN: Please let me go, gongja.
CH: I have already said I will not let you go. There is an attack right now. (Their music plays.)
YN: Then I will go.
CH: You are too cruel. You cannot do this to me. (That I do agree with, more’s the pity.)
YN: Resorting to cruelty in order to protect things, your majesty is like this too. Protecting this country as king, does that mean killing Gil Dong? For gd, I am willing to be cruel to you. (She actually says, I am willing to cut myself away from your heart, o.o – this to someone who’s never been less than kind to her… ouch.)
CH: Then, as king, to protect my country and people, I will kill him. But, you want me to kill you? I told you I became a good person because of you. You want me to survive after your death? *crying*
YN: Killing Gil Dong isn’t killing someone inside you? If that is your decision, then you must live on in this world of yours and become a good king. But I have chosen Gil Dong’s world. Therefore I have to go back. The gongja I know is a really good person, so I believe that he will definitely become a good king.

Chang Hui is speechlessly tearing up.

YN: To me, Gil Dong is necessary to live. If I endure, it is because of him. If he dies, I will die. If I try to live on, I will not be able to take it. He is that precious to me. Majesty, please let me go.
CH: If I send you away, will you fight me because I am king?

Enok is crying too.

Chang Hui looks up at her: After you leave, that person in my heart will die forever. You may go. (So selfless. Chang Hui, be miiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiine!)

Enok cries as she backs away from him like the way she did before.

Slow motion as she turns around and runs. Chang Hui is crying, he can’t bear it, but he’s doing it because she wants to leave. They know they’re not going to see the other ever again.

Enok runs across the hills with a sword behind her.

There is more fighting. Really nice music plays (sounds like the choral version of 美丽的神话 – A Beautiful Legend). [zShare]

Chisu is also fighting, and is so shocked when it turns out Enok is the one holding the sword. He can’t kill her, he just stands staring at her. And he realizes what Chang Hui has done.

YN: The good in gongja is dying. Go back and protect him. I will take care of Gil Dong.

We see her turn to look at Gil Dong, who sees her in the middle of fighting, and is in shock. Then he smiles as she rushes in to fight.

Chisu reports another failure. Chang Hui orders him to make more preparations. Chisu tells him that ‘she’ went back to the mountain with Gil Dong.

CS: She told me to protect you well. (He has tears in his eyes) I will protect you, because you are the king. So do not look at others. (So the CSxCH fans get all the happy in the end. Oh well, I don’t begrudge you. My heart’s just shattered.)

The next day is a day of tending to the wounded on the mountain.

Enok sees Gil Dong approaching. Their music plays, and she sees his bloody sword.

YN: Are you hurt?
GD: Mm.
YN: Does it hurt?
GD: Very.

As Enok cares for his wounds, she cries.

GD: You’re crying on my wounds. It hurts.
YN: Of course. This is your punishment for making me cry.
GD: Sorry.
YN: We will try together. I want to stay with you. So don’t stop me from fighting at your side. Besides. You can’t do without me. You’re getting hurt in these fights. What will you do without me to care for your wounds?
GD: I am the team leader, I had to pretend and endure.
YN: That’s why I have to stay by your side. You won’t ever say if you’re injured, if it hurts. But now I will always watch over you and know.

Gil Dong hugs Enok.

GD: Thank you for staying at my side.

They stay hugging for a long time, as the camera zooms out and finally blackens.

Next morning, palace, Chang Hui with Chisu.

CS: They are reinforced in the mountain and holding strong.
CH: It’s hard to get in and out to that part of the mountain.
CS: Their food is all produced from within. It is like an island.
CH: In every way, they are different from what I have here. What is it like there?

Hwal Bin Dang at planning room.

SG: I want to get married.
MN: Why? Not being married is pretty good too.
SG: How can you say that? Isn’t marrying the most important thing to a woman? Isn’t it?
Yeon: I don’t know. Girls are more complicated than smithing.
Gom: Don’t do it. I don’t even have a girlfriend yet. Don’t you have pity for me? Don’t marry!
SG: No. We have to get married. Look at them!

(Lol, Gil Dong is sleeping on Enok’s lap while she is sleeping. YN is wearing the pin GH bought her.)

SG: They got married in all this mess!
MN: Shh! You’ll wake them.
Yeon: You know, they never hear anything we say when they’re around each other.
SG: Come on… what if you become a single ghost?
Gom: I really can’t stand it anymore. Big sister, agree with him already!
MN: Okay, if you want it that much. But it has to be better than theirs.
SG: Of course! I’m getting married!

Suk Geun hugs Mal Nyeo.

Gom: Ah, I want to get married too.

Yeon doesn’t really know how to react, especially as Gom is looking at him.

Chang Hui in kingly garb in palace. Apparently it’s been some time since they’ve started besieging Hwal Bin Dang, with no signs of buckling. The nobles want this to be over with, so that the people don’t get an inflated view of HGD. Chang Hui orders Chisu to use all force necessary. (And he repeats, yet again, that he is just a king, protecting his country. Omg. We get your feeble attempts at making CH not evil, but this is called rationalization, plskthx. I know he’s not evil already, and I’m tired of this sentence.)

Enok drags Gil Dong over to her fledgling garden, shows him a young shoot. She’s all proud.

GD: What is it?
YN: I planted too many varieties, I don’t remember anymore.
GD: You’re a married woman and yet you’re still so stupid.
YN: When it gets bigger my smart husband can tell me.

Gil Dong looks at her, knowing that they may both be dead when these plants grow up. He is subdued, then cheers up.

GD: Sure. When they’re grown I’ll tell you what they are. I think, if it’s an apple or pear tree, then it should be good.
YN: I hope it’s wheat. That way when it grows I can grind it to flour and make huge buns.
GD: Then why not just plant a bun tree?
YN: Do those exist?
GD: (Ahaha, the expression on his face!) If there aren’t I’ll help you put buns on the branches.
YN: Branches full of buns? *glee*

Hae Myung watches: It will soon be spring. A beautiful yet melancholic spring.

Gil Dong and Enok joke around some more about planting the entire mountain full of bun trees. (Oh. So sad.)

Noh with Chang Hui in palace.

Noh: The soldiers are all ready. Why do you not give the command?
CH: Isn’t it already spring on their mountain? I want to give them a last memory of spring. The flowers petals will fall in beautiful showers, won’t they? These cruelties, I know why they are, yet I must keep watching.
Noh: The flowers will not blossom for some time yet. There is still time.
CH: That mountain isn’t in my kingdom. It is another world altogether. It contains all our hopes, it is what they both want and need…
Noh: It has nothing to do with the present. It is only a dream.
CH: I cannot go there, and yet I still dream of it.

Mal Nyeo and Suk Geun quibble romantically about their wedding preparations.

Gil Dong teaching a rather hopeless Gom how to use a blade. He appeals to Hae Myung for help. Hae Myung says there’s someone to see Gil Dong.

It’s Chang Hui.

On a windy hill, next to a lonely pine, they meet. (CH wearing common clothing. Air of finality and maturity.)

GD: To meet me, the king had to come to such a place. My friends are many. What if we caught you and used you to break the siege?
CH: Didn’t you go alone to that place in order to see me? To be seen by a person who wants to capture the Hwal Bin Dang like me, what will you do? I don’t see my decision as a betrayal of you. As king, I have to protect my world.
GD: I will not take that as an explanation/excuse.
CH: I will not forget. The people like you who fought so hard and the world you tried to protect. I will remember it deep in my heart, for as long as I live.
GD: And never forget to fear. Even if we are all dead and gone, there will be another Hwal Bin Dang, another Hong Gil Dong to fight you.
CH: This will not be forgotten.
GD: Even if we are not successful now, someday it will become true. Because we all strive for that world. No matter if the world changes a thousand times, we will always be trying to reach that goal.
CH: Can you say for certain that there will be a world without status, where everyone smiles equally?
GD: Do not forget, there will always be idiots who hope. Holding that hope, in your kingdom, or in the future, there will always be those who fight for the weak. Like Hwal Bin Dang and I.

They share a long communicating look.

Gom is sent with Hae Myung to the outside. Gom fights, he wants to stay.

GD: Listen to me! Go with master Hae Myung, and live on. For this dream of ours, live on and fight. You are the new leader who will lead them on. For all of us here, Gomi, please obey and go. No, you are Team Leader Gom.

Gom leaves with Hae Myung and Yeon as escort. Gom takes a long look back, attempts to smile, then goes.

(God they’re going to die. No. Nononononononono.)

Enok and everyone cries.

Gom, Hae Myung and Yeon go by the back way. As Gom freezes, soldiers aim arrows at him and Hae Myung, Yeon blocks them. He uses his last strength to beat off the soldiers. He tells Gom to never forget how to smile, then stands up to confront the rest.

Gom is dragged away screaming.

(I can’t see the screen, am crying too hard.)

Chisu receives report of killing but decides to let Gom and HM go.

Gil Dong officiates Mal Nyeo and Suk Geun’s wedding. SG protests that Yeon isn’t back yet, Gil Dong and everyone else, including Mal Nyeo, look like they already know what has happened. But they say nothing and go on.

Enok rushes up with newly blooming wildflowers, puts them on Mal Nyeo’s head. So pretty.

Peaceful interlude, but we are shown soldiers running up the mountainside.

Gil Dong’s speech about a long life together and happiness just hurts so bad. Crying, pause kleenex, move on.

They kiss. Then Enok and Gil Dong are forced to kiss. So cute.

It’s night, the soldiers, with torches in hand, are all ready. Attack preparations move forward. All parties are moved out, there is a complete siege. Chang Hui is waiting in the palace – he’s not there fighting because, as king, he is above this kind of action.

He calls for it to finish.

The troops aim fire arrows. Yong Jin is grim.

The marching Hwal Bin Dang sees the sky lit with fire arrows, and there is a moment of stillness. Haunting music begins. As Enok and Gil Dong see the arrows move closer, everyone else fades into background.

YN: It looks like shooting stars, shall we make a wish?
GD: At a time like this?
YN: Doesn’t it look like they’re wishing us goodbye?
GD: This time we go together.

Gil Dong and Enok smile at each other. They hold hands. (Crying so hard. Omg. Sorry, no snark commentary available this episode. Ahhhhh, there goes my keyboard again.)

We see arrows striking and setting everything on fire, but no Hwal Bin Dang members are shown.

Yong Jin’s people attack.

Chang Hui cries in his palace, all alone, in every sense of the word.

We see everything burning in HBD, and the table used in Mal Nyeo and Suk Geun’s marriage fades away as the soldiers rush the headquarters.

Gil Dong’s stick is stuck in the ground, Mal Nyeo’s flowers are on the ground. Things around burn, but we focus on the flower.

Voiceover:

YN: Gil Dong, ‘I love you’.
GD: I know.
YN: Do you know what it means?
GD: Idiot. I love you.

The ground begins to shake. Camera still focused on flower and the general burning.

In the morning, we see a slideshow of charred remains of everything, but Mal Nyeo’s flowers remain unburnt and the little bud of Enok’s is still there. (Omg, pause for more tears. Sorry. Just. I can’t take this!)

We see pink flower petals fall, curtainlike, into the charred husk of what was once the HBD settlement.

Chang Hui at court, with nobles in full attendance.

CH: After 3 days of fighting, the Hwal Bin Dang threat has been subdued. As king, I will continue to protect my people, my reign and my country.

The nobles bow.

Merchant Wang telling everyone not to forget Hong Gil Dong. People ask, is he dead? Wang tells them to read the book, lol, still using Hong Gil Dong as selling power. He tells them that their hero cannot be dead.

Hae Myung watches with Gom.

HM: He is still alive. Through these people and through you, they are still alive.

Later, undefined time, Hae Myung singing as he walks across some mountains, he meets a little boy, crying. Hae Myung is really old now, with white hairs and everything.

HM: You must be stronger! Why are you crying here?
Boy: Because I have no status!
HM: As long as you work hard, you don’t need status to learn. Why do you say that you can’t?
Boy: What use is being poor?
HM: Ha, are you my fate? I think you look like a hero. I will teach you great things. Become my student!
Boy: What can you teach me?
HM: Ho, this boy. Just like he was then. Why are all kids like this?

He tries to do his chi thing, but he’s too old. The boy turns to leave.

HM: Don’t you want to be like Hong Gil Dong?

The boy follows him, as the sun sets, over a hill, we see two small figures walking.

Boy: Are you really Hong Gil Dong’s teacher?
HM: Of course.
Boy: Are you going to teach me martial arts like Hong Gil Dong?
HM: Not in a day’s work, that.
Boy: You really know Hong Gil Dong? Is he really alive in this world?
HM: Of course, Hong Gil Dong is always alive.

His wild laugh really scares me.

We pan over the townsfolk, in their daily lives.

Hae Myung’s laughter accompanies a switch to modern day Seoul (or any Asian metropolis, but for simple purposes, let’s just say Seoul).

HM: A hundred years, five hundred years will pass, and he will stay alive.
Boy: In such a far world, what would he do?
HM: Even if a long time has passed, and things look to have changed, people will be the same. There will still be nobility and peasants, there will also be the strong and the weak.
Boy: Then what will Hong Gil Dong do there?
HM: What is there that is more important? He will be confronting and changing society. You have to remember, the blade that changes society, like HGD, exists in all the worlds.

We end with shot of Hong Gil Dong on top of a tower, looking over the city and being heroic.

Commentary/Rambling:

I believe I’ve already said a lot, specifically for episode 24, in the previous post. It’s a beautiful end for what the Hong sisters want to say, but I think it sends the wrong message. But enough of that, if you want to know, go read that post.

I do commend them for one heck of an epic, even if it did bait and switch – from ordinary HGD to hero, from happy to sad etc. I don’t regret one moment of watching this show. (And it had some rough spots at the beginning and towards the end.) For those who are wondering how the beginning ties in to the end, I’m guessing it is some portrayal of how the people imagine HGD and his HBD to be – EH’s portrayal, maybe. They’re not alive at the end. It would defeat the message they’re trying to send.

I’m crying quarts and gallons as I watch this for the second time, and ow. Way to take my heart out and stomp on it, Hong sisters. I hold firm to my belief that CH got the short end of the stick on this one. Not my cup of tea at all.

Still. HGD ranks as one of my favourite shows!

Thoughts? Comments? Questions? Feel free to drop them here.

See you around (probably when Il Ji Mae airs)!

Sevenses