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9.2.5 - Podcast Review of Season 2, Episode 5 of Kingdom

Today, we’ll be discussing Episode 5 of Season 2 of Kingdom, the hit K Drama on Netflix starring Ju Ji-hoon as Crown Prince Yi Chang, Bae Doona as Seo-bi, Ryu Seung-ryong as Cho Hak ju, Kim Sang-ho as Mou Young, Kim Sung-kyu as Yeong shin, and Kim Hye-jun as the Queen Consort. We discuss:

  • Joanna’s trip to Italy during the week of Thanksgiving and her Italian language journey.

  • Sung Hee’s Korean language journey.

  • How the Crown Prince asks the soldiers from Mungyeong Saejae to remain loyal to him, even though their families are about to be executed.

  • How the military training commander appeared to have betrayed the Crown Prince by telling the palace that the Crown Prince was at the Scholarly Institute, but in reality, the military training commander had shared Lee Seung Hui’s medical journal with the Minister of War and lured the palace guards to the Scholarly Institute where the Crown Prince would NOT be.

  • Meanwhile, the Crown Prince arrives at the palace, lets his presence be known, and locks all the gates of the palace, thereby shutting out the Queen’s guards.

  • How the Crown Prince, in his mourner’s outfit and peasant straw hat, looked so noble and kingly as he strode into the palace.

  • How Cho Beom Pal could not bring himself to order the execution of the soldiers’ families, but he is saved by the arrival of the Crown Prince, who orders the prisoners freed.

  • We speculate about whether or not the Crown Prince intends to take the throne.

  • How the tide turns in favor of the Prince, as more people switch over and swear their loyalty to him, including the Minister of War, the former commander of the Royal Commandery Division, and the court ministers.

  • How the Queen Consort does not seem bothered by the arrival of the Crown Prince. We speculate about her state of mind and think she’s about to burn the palace down because she knows she’s lost to the Crown Prince and she will either be banished or executed.

  • The Queen’s head court lady releases the zombies from the dungeon, thereby instigating a killing spree and the creation of a zombie horde in the palace.

  • The Crown Prince and his men put up a good fight, as do others in the palace, but they can’t fight against the zombie horde.

  • The episode ends with the Crown Prince and a few men on one side of a gate, with hundreds of zombies banging on the other side. Seo-bi, meanwhile, is locked in the main hall with the Queen, the baby Prince, and a few soldiers.

  • We list the shows that we are considering for Season 10 of K Drama Chat.

  • 5 listeners shared their favorites via audio and we share them on the podcast!

References


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K Drama Chat is a weekly podcast where we take one Korean (K) Drama each season and and recap and analyze each episode. K Drama Chat is available on Apple PodcastsGoogle PodcastsSpotifyAmazon Music, and Pandora.

Comments

  1. I haven't been this obsessed to a podcast. I am from the Philippines, and been waiting for this episode to drop whole day today, and was beyond happy when I saw this available by 7am EST HAHAHA What a way to start my nightshift!

    About the Queen - she may be a psychopath, or just traumatized to the point of being emotionlessly crazy. She's so relatable at this point, I can imagine myself as her if I ever see my husband's decaying head/body gnarl at me + i am alone with no one to turn to + the world I've known turned upside down.

    About Beom Pal - i just rofl when you said 'he's so confused'. Now that you pointed it out - I realized his forehead was like furrowed most of the time, esp when they came to the palace. He's just perpetually shocked, confused, and effing scared since then HAAHAHHAHAHAHA poor Beom Pal.

    Since were talking Kdrama elements (i cannot find the list btw lol) - this is SUPER DUPER gross - about food, have you ever thought if the zombies would die if they don't eat? Or would the parasites would just eat the host until it succumbs to its final death? This is the main reason why this show needs season 3. This was never discussed and it keeps me up at night at times lol. Another thing you two can talk about!

    As much as I loved this season, I'm looking forward to the next one and really rooting for Crowned Clown/Masquerade! Although if you are considering non-saeguk for the next season, See you in My 19th Life would be a nice choice :D . Also, I forgot to mention The Glory - that drama was so good, satisfying, and emotional. It's really hard to decide what to do for the next season, but regardless your choice, i'll be supporting you two!

    Love lots and enjoy your vacation Joanna!

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    Replies
    1. Tina, thank you for your comments! It's so interesting how we are now all cheering for the Queen and seeing her in a new light! I never did that the first time I watched this show.

      I will publish the full list of K Drama elements that we keep talking about later this week! I can't wait to hear what you think of our Season 10 choice!

      Delete
  2. I listened to all the recommendations (including mine) and most of the series I have already seen, a number are my favorites (My Mister and My Liberation Notes). Slice of life is my favorite genre. I am excited for your next season, I would watch/rewatch your pick and discuss along with you two and this community.

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    Replies
    1. Irma, thank you again for sending in an audio recommendation! It was so fun to include listener voices in this episode! Slice of Life is a great genre. I loved My Mister and just started My Liberation Notes based on Toska's recommendation. Look forward to hearing your comments on our choice for Season 10!

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  3. I love the Evil Queen. Sorry, not sorry! I don’t think she is insane. She realizes she has been found out and she is out of options, so she is going to take everyone down with her. Burn it all down as you said. In a perverse way, I respect her for going out in a blaze of glory, as opposed to begging for her life to the Crown Prince and the rest of the men who never thought much of her. Respect!

    And speaking of the Queen, she looked fantastic in whatever ceremonial outfit she chose for that final encounter. She looked amazing sitting up there with her stolen baby. It was quite the contrast to everyone else outfitted in their white mourning clothes (soon to be white and splatered blood red). I know I’m fanboying, but I think I would have preferred this series solely from the point of view of the Queen.

    As for picking up more Korean while watching these shows, I wish I could say I’ve learned a bit of Korean. But with the exception of a few words and phrases, I am almost shocked how little I am able to pick up! I will say that I do notice that some of the translations are clearly not word for word. I find the translations on Viki are likely a bit more direct, whereas the Netflix translation appear to be summarizing some of the dialogue. Frankly, I prefer the Viki translations.

    So how is this all going to end?! Honestly, I wouldn’t be mad if the zombies just took over and prevented the chance of a third season!! LOL. My guess is some sort of storm or flood that repeals the zombies. Although I guess there is a chance that See bi comes up with a cure. I’m pretty sure that however it ends there will be no beef pancakes!

    Eagerly awaiting next season!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Malcolm, you know, I'm sort of loving the evil queen myself. I see her in a new light and I see your point about her going down in glory instead of begging for her life. Just too bad that she decided to take the baby down with her. But Seo-bi to the rescue! And what an interesting idea to have this show be from the queen's perspective. Maybe we can drum up some fan fiction!

      As for picking up Korea, it helps me to do lessons, including micro lessons on Instagram. Now that my trip to Italy has come and gone, I'm stopping Italian and going back to Korea and thinking of taking an actual class.

      I can't wait to hear your comments on our choice for Season 10!

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  4. Excited for next Friday! I listened to this podcast just to see if you decided season 10. I haven’t seen any of the recommendations besides Hospital Playlist. I would be happy to watch any of them with you all. I skipped the zombies season when I couldn’t get through episode 1. I want to be back for Season 10. Sadly, I tapped out of season 9 - I was shocked. Everyone loves CLOY but I wasn’t gripped. At the start of episode 6 I thought I’d wait until you got through a couple more episodes and come back. Then I got sick and didn’t make it back. I’ll work on finishing CLOY and be excited for whatever you picked for Season 10.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. We will announce our choice for Season 10 in episode 9.2.6! So coming up!

      Re: CLOY, I did not love it the first time I watched it. I stopped at episode 4 and put it down for a year. My cousin Linda kept urging me to come back to it and I'm glad I did. But hey, it's clearly not for you and I respect that. I was in your camp for a long time. I do believe CLOY got really, really good after episode 4. It's that four episode hump that Sung Hee and I keep talking about!

      Can't wait to have you rejoin us for Season 10!

      Delete
  5. Also - you should see if Duolingo would sponsor you. Your discussion of their app and how it helps you with Italian and Korean was WAY more in depth and sincere than most podcast ads I hear from hosts about other products.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Great idea! We are true fans. Now I just need to figure out how to contact their sponsorship department!

      Delete
  6. We use Pimsleur for school purposes; since our subscription is covers all their languages, I can use it for any language I want. Let's just say that knowing random bits of different languages is now my hobby.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Laurel, I am not familiar with Pimsleur! Sounds amazing! I'm sort of like you. Knowing a bit of a lot of languages is a great hobby. I love languages! I'm sad to be saying goodbye to Italian but I don't think I'll be back to Italy anytime soon. There's a big world out there, so Korean is next!

      Delete

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