Six Years Now of Asian Dramas

Ever Night

It's becoming more true that I watch Asian dramas and not just Korean ones, which I began with and are more widely available. This year I have watched just as many Japanese dramas as Korean. And there are a couple of Chinese shows to add. 

Chinese Dramas

The Disguiser: This is a show set in Shanghai during the Japanese occupation. Three brothers pretend they are collaborators with the Japanese and the Nationalist Chinese think they are really working for them. In reality they are Communists. **** 

Ever Night: This is a fantasy with interesting characters, beautiful scenery, and great fight scenes, some magical. The main plot is about the hero getting revenge for his family being killed. He is a fun, cheeky, ultra-confidant kind of guy. *****

Caution Hazardous Wife

Japanese Dramas

Yae's Sakura: A historical drama about a real woman who became a skilled rifle shooter, taught others to shoot, and helped defend her hometown during the Japanese civil war that went on when the Tokugawa Shogunate was overturned. That's the best part, anyway. ****

Partners By Blood: About a rookie cop who is assigned to work with his father, from whom he has been estranged. Very funny show until the last couple of episodes, which pretty much tanks. ***

Satorare: It's about a genius young man whose thoughts can be heard by everyone around him. No one is allowed to let him know, for fear that it will mentally unbalance him. Different sort of show and very interesting all the way through. *****

By Chance: A Japanese man sees a picture of a Chinese woman who looks like his fiancee, who has died. He invites her to come to Japan for a photoshoot so he can have pictures of his lost love, or at least that looks like her. Movie. ***

Doctor X, Season 1: A woman doctor free-lances at different hospitals, usually coming up against doctors and administrators who are not as good as she is and mostly interested in their own status. Pretty much a different story in each episode. ***

Switched: A high school girl jumps off a building and switches bodies with another girl who is watching her. I thought this was good, and I don't usually like high school dramas. ****

Mary and the Witch's Flower: Animated movie about a girl who finds a magic flower. **

Love and Hong Kong: An actress is shooting a variety show in Hong Kong when she gets abducted by someone who thinks he is meeting a woman he met on the internet, who had mendaciously used the actress' picture as her own. The first episode is boring but needed for setup. The rest is good. Four short episodes. ****

Trumpet on a Cliff: A woman goes to Okinawa to recover from a heart transplant and becomes unaccountably enchanted by a man she meets by the ocean cliffs. Movie.***

Overprotected Kohoko: A girl whose mother has always run her life for her, suddenly has to grow up and think for herself. She is unbelievably childish at first, but progresses well; there are several surprises along the way. ****

Caution Hazardous Wife: A secret agent quits her job, marries, and tries to live a normal life. She gets entangles in her neighbor's lives and falls back on her secret agent skills. It was fun to watch her be pretty much invincible and beat up all the bad guys. *****

Pretty Proofreader: A woman who has always wanted to be a fashion editor is hired instead by the proofreading department and finds that she has an unexpected aptitude for it. You think that she is flighty, but she turns out to be pretty smart. *****

My Long Awaited Love Story: A woman who designs dating games is hired as a consultant by a big company. The CEO asks her for advice with his own dating problems. They are cute. Movie. ****

A Sharply Graceful Girl:  A magazine writer is sent to Kyoto to do articles to interest tourists in the city. He meets a local woman who tells him about many little-knows places. This one grows on you. Four short episodes. ****

A Poem a Day

Korean Dramas

Twentieth Century Boy and Girl: Four friends from high school days, three girls and a boy, look for love. Kind of dull, but kind of nice as a filer.***

A Poem a Day: A slice-of-life comedy about the staff of the rehab department of a big hospital. The story is often thoughtful and touching, often funny. It's augmented by poems every episode. ****

Switch Change the World: A con man impersonates a prosecutor who looks just like him, assisted by a junior prosecutor. Not too violent and not too exciting either. One episode in the middle made me pretty angry. ****

Miss Hammurabi: a beginning judge bucks the system in an effort to achieve fair judgements. There's not much of a romance except for a secondary couple that was quite cute. There are a lot of cases about women's rights. ****

Are You Human Too? A woman builds robots that look like her son, and when the son is injured, uses the robot as a replacement. The first half was very good but it fell apart and got sloppy in the end. ****

Witch's Love: Three witches live under the radar running a popular restaurant. That is, no one knows they are witches. A man looking for information about a traumatic incident in his childhood identifies the restaurant as the site. Pretty cute, not too intense. ****

Thirty But Seventeen: A woman who was injured and in a coma for 13 years wakes up and tries to reclaim her life. She finds a new family in her house. Slow moving with a lot of misunderstandings, but quite a popular show. ****

Five Children: A widower with two children meets a divorcee with three, and cope with family difficulties in trying to put a family together. Three other couples get together as well and are more romantic than the main one. *****

Room No. 9: A body-switch story between a lawyer and a prison inmate who was falsely imprisoned. There is a boyfriend, but not much of a romance. The detective and the inmate's bestie are the best part. ****

Ms. Ma, Nemesis: A woman is framed for killing her daughter, escapes prison, and tries to find the real culprit. The storylines are taken from several Agatha Christie Miss Marple books. It has a rather lame ending. ***

Solomon's Perjury: high school students give up on the police ever solving the death of one of their friends, and conduct their own trial at school. This is a crime show without teenage shenanigans. *****

Feel Good to Die: A notoriously crabby boss drives everyone crazy, but one day someone wishes he were dead, and he suddenly dies. Then the day reset as in the Groundhog Day movie, and the characters live the day over. This happens several times and then things change up when he realizes what is happening. ****

Memories of the Alhambra: A video game company develops an augmented reality game that can be played in certain cities around the world, and then people start dying from the game. This started out intriguing, and then began to fall apart. I lost sympathy when my favorite character was killed off, and was annoyed that the female lead never did anything but cry. ****

Wind Bell: a Korean who was adopted to America returns to Korea to try to find his roots. Very short web drama, but you still get a good feel for the characters and what is going on.***

Five Years of Asian Dramas

I haven't posted on this blog for a while because I have been contributing to another blog, Dramas With a Side of Kimchi. It has been fun to work on a larger blog and to contribute to group posts and interact with other bloggers. There probably won't be much here any more, but my Ides of March posts belong here still. Last year at the Ides of March cutoff, I was in the middle of three dramas which didn't get discussed then, so I'll begin with those. For the record, it's been five years since I began watching Asian dramas.

Korean Dramas:

Chief Kim: Namgoong Min, who had been eating it up as a crazy villain, shows his funny side as a crooked accountant with a conscience. He is hired to cook the books for a large firm and then starts to feel sympathy for the employees who are being shortchanged. ****

Tomorrow With You: A man visits the future by riding on the subway and discovers that he needs to be married tp be happy. I looked forward to this one because of the actors, Lee Je-hoon from Signal and Shin Min-a from My Girlfriend is a Gumiho. Sadly it was a disappointment; the couple didn't click and the plot went nowhere. Questions about the other time traveler never get answered, although we do find out who he is. And if the guy can time travel because he missed the train explosion, why couldn't the girl do it as well? **

Forest of Secrets (aka Stranger): Perhaps my favorite drama of last year, this is a detective drama in which the characters are as good as the plot twists. A prosecutor (played by Cho Seung-woo) whose childhood brain surgery has curtailed his ability to access his emotions, opens up when he encounters a lively police woman (Bae Doona) who is perhaps his first real friend. They follow a twisted trail from a murder to uncover political corruption. *****

Father is Strange: I really enjoyed my first really long (52 episode) family drama. It is about a family who all love and support each other and yet all have secrets. We have someone living under an assumed name, someone keeping painful secrets from a lover, another person with a secret love affair, and one who is still haunted by being bullied. Lee Joon's acting was stellar. ****

Man to Man: Park Hae-jin stars as a secret ops agent who is infallible – the first half of the drama anyway. The story was entertaining at first but went downhill, and I didn't like the leading actress. **

Chicago Typewriter: This is a great show but you have to get a few episode in, and get to the 1930's part. I watched originally for Yoo Ah-in but dropped after a few episodes when I got busy. Then I picked it up again and got busy watching Go Kyung-pyo. This show jumps between the story of a modern-day writer being haunted by a ghost and the 1930's when the ghost was alive and the writer was in a previous incarnation. ****

The Package: The main charm of this story is the setting in France, where all the characters go on a tour. The tour guide is Lee Yeon-hee (from Miss Korea) and the guy on the tour who likes her but keeps getting into trouble is Jung Yong-hwa (from You're Beautiful and Three Musketeers). The interest is kept up by the other travelers, especially the sweet little Ahjumma who is coping with an illness and an irascible husband. ***

Because This is My First Life: Somewhat similar to the Jdrama We Married as a Job, this tells the story of a shy man who hires a woman to clean house for him and they start to like each other. It has a lame ending involving the woman waffling around. The best part is the fluffy white cat. ***

I'm Not a Robot: A man who is allergic to humans agrees to help test a lifelike android not knowing that the android has broken down and a real woman is impersonating it. Yoo Seung-ho and Chae Soo-bin were very cute, but the robot was intriguing and I thought they shortchanged it. *****

Just Between Lovers: This is not a show I had thought about ahead of time but really liked once we tried it out. Lee Joon-ho, who had been in Chief Kim, is great as the young man with PTSD who falls for a girl who survived a mall collapse with him. Won Jin-a is a newbie who does a great job as a young woman coping with survivors guilt and parents who can't move past the calamity. *****

I Am... : A robotics engineer leaves a lifelike android robot with his grown children and disappears. The daughter, a high school teacher, takes to the robot, calls it Annie, and enrolls it in her school. Cute. ***

As One: A movie about a pan-Asian table tennis tournament in which the North Korean and South Korean teams field a joint team. Based on a true story. ***

Chinese Drama:

Nirvana in Fire: A Chinese historical fiction with 54 episodes. A young nobleman whose family and retainers are killed due to political infighting and treachery, spends years planning how to get the truth out and restore their honor. A few people who knew him from his youth help him; a man who now a general, his fiancee, and the widow of one of his officers. A royal prince and a couple of nobles who don't recognize him become his friends in his new identity and help him as well. ****

Japanese Dramas:

Sunshine: This tells the story of a young girl as she grows up, from her life in the countryside in the 1930's, to her years as a school teacher in World War II, and her married life with her in-laws in the years following. It is interesting to see how things change, and very strange to see the people at school cheer the news of Pearl Harbor. ***

Long Vacation: A young man is on the cusp of being a professional pianist. His roommate moves out to get married, but jilts the girl and disappears. The girl then shows up on the doorstep needing help, followed by her friends and brother. This stars Takuya Kimura, who was in Ando Lloyd. ****

Hero: Another Takuya Kimura drama, and quite humerous. He plays a prosecutor who investigates his cases in unorthodox ways. All the other staff feel he is way too casual and not serious enough, but he picks up on little hints in the cases that no one else notices and is able to solve them. *****

Go Teddy Go!: A short 4-episode drama about a magical teddy bear that speaks because someone's spirit is captured inside it. Silly. *

Gokusen: A young teacher doesn't want anyone at the school to know that she is the granddaughter of a yakuza boss. She overreacts from time to time but nevertheless is able to connect well with her more rebellious students. And although she is usually quite retiring, whenever anyone really gets into trouble, she is able to thrash the enemy. **

Atelier: A young woman's first job out of college is at an elite lingerie shop. The boss is pretty much the mean boss from The Devil Wears Prada. **

I am Reiko Shiratori: A rich arrogant girl tells a boy that he's not good enough for her and then tries to get him back. A light-hearted show mostly for pre-teen girls. **

Dad of Light: A man tries to reconnect with his father by playing Final Fantasy together, which they had done for a while when he was a kid. Based on a true story. ***

RyomaDen: A historical drama based on the life of Sakamoto Ryoma, who lived when Matthew Perry visited Japan. He saw the upheavel in Japanese society and worked to get his people to get along with each other and to modernize so they could cope well with the incoming foreigners. *****

Six Flying Dragons Summary Episodes 46-50

Episode 46

Bang-Won tells Moo Hyul he is going to kill Bang-Seok (crown prince) and Jung Do-Jeon (Sambong), and uses Young-Gyu's funeral as cover for meeting his allies, including Jo Mal Seng and Lady Min's brothers. The big difficulty is that the king has forbidden private armies, and even though they have men outside the capital they can't get them in. Ha Ryon figures out how to smuggle them in under cover of working on the Queen's tomb. Boon-Yi finds the hidden weapons and confronts Bang-Won; he refuses to move them and she keeps his secret.

The Ming Emperor dies and King Taejo gets ready to attack Liaodong. Taejo plans to leave a week before this scheduled day to work on the tomb, but then he falls ill and postpones the departure date.
Jung Do Jeon brings his brother Do Gwang and young nephew Jung Gi-Joon to Granny's cafe for lunch the day before the army is to depart. She gives safety amulets to Bang-Ji and Moo-Hyul who know they will have to fight each other. Boon-Yi asks Sambong if the people really are the foundation of the country. He says the nobles rule with the welfare of the common people at heart. The commoners are too busy working and can't learn to read. She encourages him to find a way.

Granny catches Moo-Hyul moving the weapons and makes him promise to quit working for the prince after the fight. The scariest part of this show is worrying if annoying screechy Granny will let out the secret. Yeon-Hee gives Bang-Ji some armor and he gives her the amulet. Bang-Won leaves his house, collecting men along all the side streets.

Note: The Queen's tomb was being built in the capital city, with different nobles sending men to work on it every day. Yi Seok Boem sided with Bang-Won and brought soldiers in on the day he was scheduled for work. Jung Do-Gwang and Gi-Joon are fictional, but appear in Tree With Deep Roots, the main plot of which is finding a way for the common people to read.

Episode 47

Once Bang-Won has collected his army, he sends Juk-Ryong (Eyeliner Monk) to divert Bang-Ji. Bang-Ji meets Yeon-Hee, we get a little hugs-and-kisses, then she gives him back the amulet and heads home; but Juk-Ryong and his men capture her. When Bang-Ji feels danger looming and runs back to find her, Juk-Ryong sends him on to another village.

Gab Boon overhears Boon-Yi and Granny in the storage shed talking about the attack. She warns Sambong at Officer Nam's house, and they escape to Sungkyunkwan. Bang-won and older brother Bang-Gan capture Nam's house and the military office, and surround the palace. Bang-Won has papers with the names of their prime targets, throwing them into the fire as they are killed. Bang-Gwa, the oldest brother now, spends the evening with “Uncle” Ji Ran to prove he had nothing to do with the coup and has clean hands.

Bang-Ji finds Yeon-Hee in the forest with Jo Mal-Seng and his men, who threaten to kill her if he moves at all. She knows they are preventing him from protecting Sambong, so she falls on the sword herself. The men scatter, and Bang-ji tries to find Sambong, only to run in to Moo-Hyul.

Scholar Woo at Sungkyunkwan finds out that Sambong is there and warns Bang-Won. Officer Nam escapes, but Sambong gives the village elder some papers for his brother, goes out to meet Bang-Won, and is killed. The last view is of the paper with Jung Do-Jeon's name burning.

Historical note: Bang-Gwa actually did not know about the revolt. Jo Mal-Seng was a real officer but did not have anything to do with Yeon-Hee, who is fictional. The Woo family helped Poeun impeach Sambong back in Episode 32; after he regained power, Sambong nearly exterminated that clan. This Scholar Woo was getting revenge. The Joseon annals state that Sambong was found hiding, but that was written by the victors so no one really knows.

Episode 48
 

We get to see Bang-Ji and Moo-Hul fight, slashing and jumping, eventually stopped by Boon-Yi and Grandma running in with the news that Sambong is dead already. Sa Gwang sees Moo-Hyul mourning and decides she needs to take out Moomyung and whoever owned those hidden weapons.

While the Mins try to talk Jo Joon around, Bang-Gwa tries to pacify Ji Ran. The crown prince Bang-Seok is dragged out and Bang-Won kills him, poor kid. When the king finds out he calls for Bang-Won and nearly kills him, but Ji Ran stops him.

King Taejo abdicates and Bang-Gwa becomes king. He assures Bang-Won he doesn't really want to be, and doesn't have a son from his wife anyway. Officer Nam is chased down and badly injured. He sees Shin-Jeok and tells him to preserve the Hidden Roots group by turning his body in so Bang-Won will trust him.

When Bang-Ji retrieves Sambong's body the village elder meets him and hands over the papers. It is a trap; the elder is killed and Bang-Ji escapes down a cliff. His mother (the Moomyung leader) finds and nurses him, and he asks to work with them to kill Bang-Won as revenge for Sambong.

Historical note: This rebellion, called the First Strife of Princes, was August 26, 1398. Bang-Seok and Bang-Beon were killed separately by assassins when they left the palace later. Nam Eun escaped but turned himself in and ended up being beheaded. King Taejo abdicated September 5.

Episode 49

Bang-Won decides to destroy Moomyung by attacking their base of court servants, merchants, and Buddhism. He allows the tribunal to interrogate (torture) the Banchon people; Moo-Hyul can't stand it and asks to return to his hometown.

Bang-Ji finds that among Sambong's papers is one signed by all Moomyung members, including Shin-Jeok. He approaches Shin-Jeok, gets a draft of Ha Ryun's about expelling Buddhism, and passes it on to his mother. She makes a plan to invite Bang-Won to a meeting in the countryside.

Bang-Won sees Granny begging Moo-Hyul to give it all up and leave, and finally gives permission. Boon-Yi meets him too, and he agrees to release the village people and let them resettle elsewhere. She invites Sa-Gwang to go with them but is turned down. As the villagers are loading onto boats at Mapo port, their remarks make her realize that Sa-Gwang is out to kill Bang-Won and she runs to the meeting site. Moo-Hyul decides he can't leave without taking formal leave and heads for the same place.

Sa-Gwang arrives first and confronts the Moomyung soldiers. Moo-Hyul finds the bodies and rushes on. Boon-Yi gets there in time to stop Bang-Won from being poisoned, but the Moomyung men attack Bang-Won's. Sa-Gwang attacks them in turn. Bang-Ji is momentarily stunned by seeing his sister, but when Sa-Gwang charges his mother, he engages her. Bang-Won escapes with Boon-Yi; Gil Seon-Mi attacks them but is intercepted by Moo-Hyul in a flying leap.

Historical note: Mapo is a district in western Seoul by the Han River. In old days there was a ford there. Buddhism was very corrupt, with a lot of property (donated in order to keep it from taxation), and many temples and rituals taking a big toll on the country.

Episode 50 (Final)
  

Moo-Hyul and Gil Seon-Mi's fight is pretty impressive but Bang-Ji and Sa-Gwang's is faster and involves more flying. Bang-Won is nearly captured, but Ha Ryun brings reinforcements. Granny's amulet saves Moo-Hyul; he leaves Gil mortally wounded but still able to kill Yooksan when he strikes at Yeon-Hyang (Bang-Ji's mother).

Moo-Hyul breaks into the other fight with another flying leap. Sa-Gwang tells them she is after Moomyung for forcing Prince Wang Yo onto the throne, Yi Seung-gye and Jung Do-Jeon for killing all the Goryeo royal family, and Yi Bang-Won for the hidden weapon storage. She attacks them both and they help each other and finally cut her down.

Moo-Hyul officially resigns and Bang-Ji goes away – apparently not to China with his mother. Boon-Yi takes the villagers to an island. Monk Juk-Ryong bring in the bodies of Gil and Yooksan, claiming to Ha Ryun that Moomyung is defunct now (but really on the orders of Yeon-Hyang). Since merchants are being restricted, he offers to be a leader of government sanctioned peddlers, and admits his real name is Baek Dal-Won.

Bang-Gan revolts, is caught, and spared by Bang-Won. Bang-Gwa abdicates, and Bang-Won is crowned third king of Joseon. He makes the Min brothers drink poison when they plan a coup and try to kill his younger sons.

Bang-Won visits his third son Yi Do and is surprised when he answers questions the way Sambong and Boon-Yi had done. They visit Moo-Hyul's village and get him to come back as Yi Do's bodyguard. Moo-Hyul takes them to Boon-Yi's island; she meets Yi Do and talks to the king; she is worried about pirates so he orders a raid on their stronghold on Tsushima Island.

Boon-Yi, now turning gray, visits the mainland. She sees people from Tree With Deep Roots: a young woman teaching hangul to children, and a couple of guards (Cho Tak and Park Pol) who tell her how easy the new letters are. She realizes that this is the answer to Sambong's problem of helping the commoners communicate and goes to visit his grave, which is unmarked.

The end of the show is a montage showing how Yi Do is similar to all six of the Flying Dragons.
 
Historical note: In January of 1400 Yi Bang-Gan rebelled and was exiled; Bang-Won never killed any of his full brothers. In February he was named crown prince, and in November Bang-Gwa abdicated and Bang-Won was crowned as King.  The Queen's brothers were eventually executed for trying to take power, two in 1410 and two in 1416. Baek Dal-Won was a real peddler who saved Yi Soung-Gye's life when he was fignting Jurchens in the north and did become head of a peddler's union.

Six Flying Dragons Summary: Episodes 41-45

Episode 41

Madam Cho and Shin-Jeok are both tortured. She gets him to send out a message through one of the guards who is his friend. It's a ploy by Sambong to find Moomyung; Bang-Ji takes some soldiers and follow the person who picks up the letter. They find a house in the forest, but no one is there. Bang-Ji finds his mother in a nearby cave, however, and she tells him to leave Sambong or he will be fighting her.

Bang-Won asks to be investigated with Madam Cho so he can be cleared. Shin-Jeok figures out that Cho knows he had tricked her, so he strangles her to keep her from telling anyone. Sambong covers it up so it looks like suicide.

The Ming capture Japanese pirates who confess they are Joseon spies, and demand a prince be sent to explain. This would be dangerous, since the Ming have recently killed envoys and a lot of their own people. Sambong offers Bang-Won the choice of a five year exile or going to Ming. He admits Bang-Won is the only one who could convince the Ming Emperor and Bang-Won chooses to go: he will either be killed for his country or come home in glory. He tells Boon-yi to go to Banchon, where she will be safer.

Bang-Won takes Ha Ryun as translator and Moo-Hyul as bodyguard with a caravan of soldiers. They have to pass through Liaodong castle, but it has been closed to Joseon people and they are arrested. An officer in furs comes to call them barbarians and Bang-Won asks, “Do you want to die?” The officer is Zhu Di.

Historical note: Zhu Di was a son of the Ming emperor. He overthrows his nephew, the crown prince, and becomes emperor. Ha Ryun did not go to Ming; the translator was actually Jo Ban, whose lands were taken by Hong In-Bang in Episode 15. 

Episode 42

Zhu Di orders one of Bang-Won's arms cut off so Moo-Hyul breaks free, grabs a spear, and holds it to Zhu-Di's throat. Zhu Di suddenly admits he can speak Korean and calls his men off. But he says Moo-Hyul has to die for threatening him, and his guards have to die for not protecting him. Bang-Won negotiates an arena fight instead. Moo-Hyul wins, and when Zhu Di grants him a request, he asks that the guards not be killed. They will be more loyal after this.

Bang-Won tries to negotiate passage through Liaodong, but gets nowhere. That night there is a second meeting and Bang-Won, realizing that a big table map of Ming indicates that Zhu Di is planning a takeover, connects with him over the idea that they were both passed over as heir. He gets clearance to go if he leaves Moo-Hyul with Zhu-Di

While Bang-Won is gone, Moo-Hyul practices and becomes better at fighting, the poor ex-king gets ex-ecuted, the capital moves to Seoul, and Boon-Yi's people settle in at Banchon and catch a spy from Moomyung. One of the dead king's relatives is there under another name with Sa-Gwang and two of the king's children.


Sambong has a secret meeting in the forest which Boon-Yi overhears. He is starting a clandestine group of scholars. The country is a tree and the king is a flower on the tree. This group is Hidden Root and it is to guide the king and help the people.

Historical note: In 1394 the deposed king was killed as well as many of his clan. Bang-Won went to Ming in June and returned in November. In October the capital was moved to Seoul.

Episode 43

  We resume with Sambong speaking several times to his secret followers. Bang-Won returns from Ming and is allowed to take Moo-Hyul home with him. Sambong tells Yeon-Hee she should return to private life, knowing Bang-Ji likes her.

Sambong plans to unify all the private armies into a national army. He has a ceremony which no one attends, so he tortures the officers. Meanwhile, Da-Kyung has hidden all their soldiers' weapons in a basement storeroom in Banchon. The dead king's children find an arrowhead there, and Sa-Gwang sees it.

Even though Bang-Won was a success in Ming and they granted travel permission, the nobles are angry because Ming thought he was the crown prince. Everyone else who went to Ming is tortured. These people are seriously heartless. The queen asks the king to protect the crown prince because she fears Bang-Won, but then Bang-Won makes a big scene and begs his little brother for forgiveness.
Ming claims that a recent letter from Joseon has insulted them and wants Sambong and the author handed over.

Historical note: The Ming did indeed call Bang-Won the crown prince but his prestige had grown so much that no one got angry about it. Lady Min did hide weapons, but no one knows where. The Ming Emperor demanded Jung Do-Jeon be handed over in June of 1396. The letter must have referred to his early life as a bandit and a monk, which would have infuriated him.

Episode 44

  The king decides against sending Sambong to Ming because he has been planning to invade Liaodong and they might not take it well. Sambong resigns all his offices and leaves town.
Jo Mal-Saeng, the scholar who helped Bang-Won when his father was injured, enters Sungkyunkwan. A follower of Lee Saek, Kwon Geun, decides to switch sides and help, and so does Bang-Won's friend from school days, Shin-Jeok. The queen, very ill, tries before she dies to get Bang-Won to promise to protect the crown prince but he refuses.

Moo-Hyul catches Sa-Gwang looking around a storage shed belonging to his grandmother. It's the place where the children found the arrowhead, but she says nothing. A young girl overhears Boon-Yi and Bang-Won talking and reports to Sambong's brother, Jung Do-Gwang.

The king pretends to visit Biguk temple but secretly meets Sambong in the old parliament building. They plan the invasion; since the Ming Emperor is dying and there might be a civil war, this is their best chance. Yoon-Hee and Bang-Ji seem the friendliest we have ever seen them. Bang-Won looks for his father but meets Moomyung instead (when you hear owls you know it's them) and they tell him about the Emperor dying. He knows that Zhu Di will invade Ming.


Historical note: In January of 1395 Young-Gyu died of an illness, but he is still alive in the drama. The queen died in August of 1396. Jung Do-Gwang is fictional but he and the girl (as town leader) appear in Tree with Deep Roots.


 Episode 45

We begin with Sambong demanding the king start a war and Yeon-Hyang demanding Bang-Won prevent it. On the way back to Seoul, Sambong advises Yoon-Hee and Bang-Ji to get married, and we see Bang-Ji holding her arm and helping her walk because of her hurt ankle.

The king announces to the court that Ming has killed their envoys. This means war, so they will attack Liaodong. Ha Ryun and his aide Lee Seok-Beon are made commanders in two outlying provinces; they decide to raise soldiers for when the king abolishes private troops.

Bang-Won takes gifts to Sambong and Bang-Seok, the crown prince. This is what he had done with the three bullies he had killed in school. And then no one goes to the military training. The king demands the princes and officers show up for pardons, and while this is going on the private soldiers are rounded up and their weapons confiscated.

Young-Gyu goes to the storage shed and a small boy follows him and sees the weapons. It's the dead king's child, and just as Young-Gyu decides he can't kill a child, Sa-Gwang arrives and attacks. Young-Gyu's wild slash accidentally hits the boy fatally so Sa-Gwang kills him and takes the child away. Bang-Won is so distraught that Young-Gyu is dead that he vows to kill Sambong and Bang-Seok.

Historical note: The Ming Emperor killed Joseon envoys in1396.  The scene with Young-Gyu and Sa-Gwang is entirely fictional; this is just a more dramatic way for him to die.

Six Flying Dragons Synopsis: Episodes 36-40

Episode 36 

When it is dark Bang-Won leaves the house with Bang-Ji, Young-Gwa, and some red shirts. I mean guys with red headbands. Moo-Hyul finds out that they are gone, and knowing they will meet up with Cheok Sa-Gwang, chases after them.


Sa-Gwang feels a disturbance in the Force and sends Poeun on to the palace and waits. When Bang-Ji arrives she kills the red shirts right away and then tries to dissuade him. After a first skirmish she tells him she can't hold back because he's too strong, and they wound each other before Moo-Hyul arrives. He sees that she is preparing the strike she used to slice the palanquin and yells at Bang-Ji to avoid the blow. Then it is two against one until Moo-Hyul, dropping his sword, rushes her and they go over a cliff together.

Poeun and his servant proceed unmolested until they reach Seonjuk bridge, where Bang-Won is waiting. He tries to talk Poeun around and then Young-Gyu comes up with the mace and hits Poeun several times. Bang-Won has Sambong let out of jail and tells him Poeun is dead. The General is furious until Sambong convinces him they can only go forward and they have to accuse Poeun as a traitor.

 Moo-Hyul comes to at the foot of the cliff and can't bring himself to kill Sa-Gwang. When she wakes up he is gone but has bandaged her wounds. When he returns later to check on her she comes from behind with a sword to his neck and asks what happened?

Historical note: The killing of Poeun took place in April in 1392, in the daytime. Bang-Won wasn't there at all; he sent Young-Gyu with some men to do it. Poeun was on a horse, Young-Gyu tried to hit him and then hit the horse. Poeun fell off and ran away, but the other men chased him down and actually killed him in the city street.

Episode 37

Bang-Won challanges Sambong that there was never a place for him in the new country. He admits there wasn't until Bang-Won killed Poeun. We revisit Sa-Gwang with her sword to Moo-Hyul's neck, where he tells her that Poeun is dead and the king is still safe and will likely be dethroned. Sambong has Poeun declared a traitor and makes sure the General isn't blamed for his death. Yeon-Hyang tries to get Sambong to change his mind about land reform and gets nowhere.

Then King Gongyang is escorted out of town and General Yi and his wife Lady Kang are crowned as King Taejo and Queen Sindeok. The new king excitedly pushes through the first civil service exams only to be deflated when no one comes. Scholars keep disappearing and are finally traced to a village in the nearby mountains where they are hiding. Prince Bang-Won offers to persuade them to return, but after a short interchange he has the village set on fire.

Historical note: King Taejo was crowned in July 1392. No one knows if this village was real or not. It was a folk tale until it was written down about 350 years after it was supposed to have happened. However King Taejo is supposed to have ordered the fire.

Episode 38

Bang-Won orders his archers to fire the village. Some scholars remain and die in the fire, but the rest run out and are arrested and left in jail without food for three days. When they are fed and let out they quietly go home and accept government jobs. One of them is Hwang Hui, who vows revenge.

King Taejo's oldest son, Bang-Woo, refuses to be crown prince. Jo Joon advises that Bang-Won be chosen instead because he has contributed so much. Sambong counters that he is the one son they should not choose because of his having killed Poeun.

The queen takes her youngest son, Bang-Seok, to have his fortune told by a monk and is told he has a great future only if he becomes king. The Kunoichi, now led by Yoon-Hee, catch one of Boon-Yi's villagers following the queen and beat him up. She complains and is told to send them all home.

Yeon-Hyang has a meeting of Moomyung leaders attended by the monk who did the fortune-telling. She later meets with Bang-Won to sponsor the youngest son as crown prince, which will create problems and then Bang-Won can step in as the obvious best choice.

Historical note: Hwang Hui was a very respected prime minister and shows up later in Tree With Deep Roots. Yi Bang-Woo went to live in a mountain hermitage and died of an illness in 1393.

Episode 39

Sambong becomes prime minister and head of the army. Taejo names Bang-Seok as crown prince and publishes a list of people who contributed to founding the new nation. None of the older princes are on the list, but Moo-Hyul and Young-Gyu are promoted.

Yeon-Hyang tells Bang-Won that Moomyung began during Shilla times with a merchant network and he agrees to work with them. She decides to reactivate a group called Hwado (rice-sword) and sends Yooksan to Kanggye on the north border to meet them.

Sa-Gwang and the deposed king enjoy living in retirement, being friendly with the guards.

Sambong poses as a merchant and goes to the northern border to talk to Jurchen chiefs. He wants them to settle in Liaodong as allies when Joseon takes it back from Ming.  Da-Kyung has Boon-Yi send someone to follow him and report. Waiting for one of the merchants, Sambong sees a red stamp and finds the seal it's from.  Bang-Ji cuts it in half; they stamp the two parts together and it becomes the red stamp of Moomyung. The merchant who comes in is Yuksan.

Historical note: The older princes were actually left off the contributor's list; Bang-Won added them when he became king. Many Jurchens were ethnic Koreans who had moved there when they lost their land or during wars. Liaodong had once belonged to Goryeo and they kept trying to get it back.

Episode 40

 Sambong and Yuksan wonder how much the other knows. Sambong sends a report via Kunoichi but the teenager Boon-Yi sent filches it and hands it off to his companion. He is killed and the companion takes the body and the report home. Madam Cho realizes the seal has been used and she and Yuksan evacuate before they can be caught.

Boon-Yi calls Bang-Won and Sambong together to get them to reconcile, and when it fails, offers to sell the report. Sambong offers to let her people live in Banchan village and serve Sungkyunkwan, so she gives him the report. Bang-Won's school friend who has been working for Sambong all this time asks to work for him instead, but he is suspicious he is a spy.

Madam Cho receives a letter from Bang-Won and rushes to his house, but it wasn't from him; it was a forgery. Before she can leave Sambong arrives and finds them together, proving that Bang-Won is working with Moomyung. The king arrives and orders them arrested.

Historical note: Bang-Won was never arrested. Banchan was a village that provided food, books, and other services to Sungkyunkwan. It was independent and neither police nor army were allowed in.

Six Flying Dragons Synopsis: Episodes 31-35

Episode 31

Sambong explains to Poeun that in the new country the royal family will be figureheads and actual power will belong to the prime minister, who will be Poeun. Bang-Won reports that they captured Madam Cho, but not what he overheard. Meantime Gil Sun-Mi asks if Yooksan should report being tricked by Bang-Won, indicating that Yooksan isn't the top boss.

Poeun decides to remain loyal to Goryeo and tells the king they need the land reform so they can get taxes, and they have to let Lee Saek get impeached and split up General Yi and Sambong. The king is so impressed that he has Sa-Gwang guard Poeun.

Bang-Won lets Madam Cho go, saying that Yeon-Hyang's children are looking for her and that he will work with Moomyung if they release her. He tells Sambong that he is going to pretend to go along with Moomyung. Gil Sun-Mi finds Cho and  admits he had lied that Yeon-Hyang's children were dead.

Bang-Won does his hair into a topknot for the first time, moves into his own house, and starts his own private army - to be trained Master Hong. He meets Ha Ryun, who is being exiled along with Lee Saek, to say he will wait for him to return. Da-Kyung tells Boon-Yi that her villager spies will be paid by the Min family and to take orders from Bang-Won, not Sambong. Then Bang-Won lures Boon-Yi into a snowball fight and tells her play is over now.

Historical note: Bang-Won moved into a house owned by his father, not by his father-in-law. Men usually began wearing their hair in a topknot when they married.

Chapter 32

Bang-Won tells Boon-Yi that he asked Moomyung about her mother. Then he asks her to say his name one more time and to speak formally after that, and kisses her just once.

The lady with the hood takes him to a meeting where he figures out she is the leader. They tell him Moomyung started 700 years before. He asks if they know Yeon-Hyang and repeats that her children are looking for her. He can tell this is a shock.

When Gil Sun-Mi arrives later the leader, who is Yeon-Hyang herself, takes him to task. He says he lied because there was infighting in Moomyung and she united them, and claims that she deserted them first and went back to her home town.

General Yi complains about being able to order the execution of the king  but can't manage the land measurement. The nobles as well as Moomyung are interfering. Eyeliner Monk finds out that King Gongyang's messenger is the woman servant and they waylay her next time she goes out. Moo-Hyul happens along and stops them, but when he leaves they attack again and she beats them with the flat of a sword. Yooksan realizes then that she is Cheok Sa-Gwang.

The nobles mourning for General Choi are distracted by Sambong piling up all the land records in the market and setting fire to it. They burn for several days.

Historical note: General Choi was beheaded in 1388 and Kings U and Chang were forced to take poison in 1389. The land registers were burned in September 1390.

Chapter 33

Sambong is arrested for burning the tax records, but he is happy because it will force the land reform. Yeon-Hyang shows up to talk to Boon-Yi and tell her that she has her own life and not to look for her any more.

Da-Kyung reminds Bang-Won that she is the only person really on his side and asks him why he does nothing. He tells her about the plan for the king to have no power, and that he has been pretending to hunt Moomyung, paying Biguk temple for info, and building his own forces.

Back out of jail, Sambong now attacks Buddhist temples, which have lots of slaves and own a third of the land in Goryeo because nobles donate land to them to evade the law. General Yi, being a Buddhist, objects. No sooner has Sambong talked the General around then Bang-Woo gets in a fight with someone trying to curry favor for when he becomes crown prince. He tells his father that their family has had enough traitors, and it will stop with him. He will always be loyal.

Poeun decides he has to stop Sambong, so he sends someone to Sambong's home town. They come back with proof that Sambong's great-grandmother had been a slave, and he has deceived everyone as to the class he belongs to. The guards take him away in disgrace, pretty similar to the beginning of the episode.

Historical note: Sambong was impeached for this reason in September 1391, exiled, and his sons were declared commoners.

Chapter 34

Boon-Yi tells her brother and Yoon-Hee about seeing her mother, and that she deserted them to be in Moomyung. Bang-Ji doesn't want to accept it.

Poeun talks the king into exiling Sambong and they recall Lee Saek and Ha Ryun. Sambong is sent away in a closed palanquin so his followers can't find him. When General Yi can't get Poeun to rescind the order he resigns. The king disallows it and the General leaves town to go hunting.

 Yeon-Hyang decides to support Poeun and sends Gil Sun-Mi to kill the General. But someone else's arrow spooks the general's horse and he is thrown and hurt badly. Poeun has Officer Nam and Jo Joon arrested, and talks the king into executions.

 Bang-Won sends Bang-ji to be with Sambong and goes to find his father. When Poeun's men arrive he sends out two palanquins as red herrings and takes his father away on a cart. The men fight Ji Ran  for one palanquin and Sa-Gwang attacks the other. She amazes Moo-Hyul by slicing hers in half with two swords. They are both empty.

Historical note: Yi Seong-Gye was badly injured by a fall from a horse in March 1392 when hunting. His followers were exiled and Bang-Won sneaked him back home in the middle of the night.

Chapter 35

Pulling his father on the cart, Bang-Won comes across Jo Mal-Saeng, a rural scholar who helps them. They return to town dressed in white as a funeral procession with the General in the coffin.

Bang-Ji tries to talk Sambong into escaping but he refuses. He and the other exiles are sent back to Gaegyong. Moo-Hyul sees Sa-Gwang escorting Poeun and follows. She turns back to talk to him and they make a connection over not liking to kill but being loyal to friends.

Bang-Won keeps the doctor in the house and sends talkative Granny to buy medicine and pretend the General isn't badly hurt. Moomyung finds the doctor who treated the General when he first fell off the horse and discovers the seriousness of the injuries.

Poeun visits the General, who tries to talk him around around; Goryeo didn't protect the people from pirates or even the greedy nobles. Unmoved, Poeun leaves and orders the executions. Bang-Won decides the only way out is to kill Poeun. When night falls Young-Gyu brings a mace and they leaves the house with Bang-Ji and a small group of men. Poeun is escorted only by Sa-Gwang and one servant.

Historical note: Yi Seon-Gye and Jung Mong-Joo (Poeun) met in 1364 when the General was fighting the Jurchens and had been friends for 28 years. Poeun was a diplomat who could keep foreigners from invading. He was known for using his own money to pay Japanese pirates to let captives go free.

Six Flying Dragons Synopsis: Episodes 26-30

Episode 26

We review Kim Nae Pyung bringing the leaf-and-sword message to Minister Lee in Episode 2. He pops up again now, as Monk Ryukjong and Gil Sun-Mi send him to assassinate whoever wins the fight at the banquet. As General Yi passes through the courtyard where the dead soldiers are laid out, Pyung jumps up from among them and attacks. He is captured and everyone is stunned when he kills himself.


The injured are recuperating, there is a lot of making, delivering, and eating medicine. Bang-Won worries who sent that assassin. He takes Boon-Yi and Moo-Hyul to ID the body and decides it's the man who helped Ha Ryun steal Jo Joon's papers. Ha sees the body too and is surprised; Minister Lee had him looking for this person for 10 years.

There is a lot of negotiation as Sambong tries to get Poeun and Lee Saek to cooperate. Lee Saek wants to return the old king and to remeasure the land. Sambong counters that the king live 40 miles away until the reform goes through.

The sword-and-leaf people try the three-letter trick again and follow Boon-Yi and Bang-Won to the secret cave. Sambong realizes they are from an organization of King Gongmin's day called Moomyung (Nameless). Just then Poeun arrives, having received a letter with directions to the cave.

Historical note: Moomyung is a fictional group from an earlier drama by the same writers called Queen Seondeok and set about 650 AD.

Episode 27

Poeun (Jung Mong-Joo) is shocked at the big map naming a new country. Sambong (Jung Do-Jeon) spends the night explaining his plan. Poeun likes the civil service exams replacing nepotism, but not the revolution part. He talk to General Yi about it and then goes to see Prince Wang Yo, thinking he would be a better king than the 8-year-old they have. The prince says he would rather live a happy private life with the woman he loves.

The land surveys get derailed because the people doing them are murdered. Sambong hatches a plan to pretend to do a secret survey, but in reality to lure in the culprit to an ambush. Gil Sun-Mi turns up and escapes during the fight, but one of his men is captured. Bang-Ji trails Gil to a temple in the forest, where he sees an old woman being led by another woman in a hood. He recognizes the younger one as his mother.

Historical note: Prince Wang Yo was descended from King Sinjong, who became king in 1197. The woman with him is fictional.

Chapter 28

 By the time Bang-Ji and Sambong follow the hooded woman she has disappeared. Bang-Ji goes home to tell Boon-Yi their mother isn't dead, but she already knew. When she was a child the man with the sword-leaf tattoo had appeared one night with a code message and their mother had replied with another code and then disappeared the next day.


Deposed King U receives a visit from a nobleman who offers a skilled assassin named Cheok to kill General Yi and put U back on the throne. A serving woman who comes in is the same old lady that we saw with Bang-ji's mother.

The land reform is debated again in parliament and no one is willing to do the surveying because of the murders. Finally Sambong promises Poeun not to revolt and Poeun throws his support for the land reform, with the other nobles following him.

On the orders of Moomyung leader Yooksan, Gil Sun-Mi gives Bang-Ji an appointment to meet his mother. Meantime Gil's man who was captured is refusing to talk, so Bang-Won decides to let him escape and follow him. Cheok follows him and stabs him however, so when he sees Boon-Yi he tells her a message and a date. Cheok overhears and is about to kill her as well, but Boon-Yi repeats the code that the Moomyung agent had said to her mother. He responds with the same reply her mother had given.

Historical note: In November 1389 a nephew of General Choi met with deposed King U and plotted to assassinate General Yi. Unfortunately for them, they asked someone else to help who turned them in and the plot was foiled.

Chapter 29

When the assassin mentions Master Gil, Boon-Yi realizes he means Gil Sun-Mi and is able to send him away. The date she heard matches up with the day the deposed King U is sending a gift for General Yi as well as the day Bang-Ji is to see his mother. They decode the message to mean that General Yi will be killed.


When King U's soldiers come with the gift they attack but are stopped by Yi's men. They kill themselves, which Yooksan had ordered them to do. Cheok breaks out of a cart, fights Bang-Ji and Moo-Hyul and gets away. They track him to the edge of a cliff, which Bang-Ji thinks he might know how to descend safely.

Bang-Ji practices catching a bowl of water on his sword, though Master Hong says he does it wrong. He once worked for the Cheok family and knows their technique. Bang-Gwa finds Cheok's body but Master Hong says it is not the famous Cheok Sa-Gwang who is a girl. This one is her brother.

Poeun again tries to talk Prince Wang Yo into being king. Young-Gyu identifies the prince's servant as the guard who had the leaf-stamp letter back in Episode 1, so Bang-Won sends assassins after him. That night the prince tries to run away but is hit by a poison dart. Yooksan offers him the antidote if he will become king and leaves him to decide. The assassins attack the servant and nearly spill the antidote, but the prince's fiancee turns out to be Cheok Sa-Gwang. She kills the assassins and catches the cup of antidote on her sword.

Historical note: There was a warrior in the 12th century named Cheok who was famous for his exploits. The Cheoks in this story are fictional but supposed to be his descendents.

Chapter 30

Cheok Sa-Gwang promises to protect the prince and he drinks the antidote. She then realizes their servant had betrayed them and kills him too. She explains that she learned to fight from her grandfather but never liked it and renounced the sword. Yooksan returns to see the prince and finds three dead bodies instead.

The 8-year-old is dethroned and Prince Wang Yo is crowned King Gongyang. Cheok Sa-Gwang becomes his bodyguard.

Bang-Won and Ha Ryun talk strategy and decide that either the Biguk temple or the gisaeng house (or both) is Moomyung. Bang-Won knows that they will want to find out about the assassins, so he puts a note mentioning "Maengdo Chilyak" in the ledger kept by the assassin's boss. Whoever knows that phrase will be Moomyung.

Both Madam Cho and Eyeliner Monk send for the ledger and give it to Yooksan. Looking for spies, Cho sends Yoon-Hye to check on Sambong, but follows to overhear their conversation about meeting Poeun. When Yoon-Hye lies that she doesn't know where they will meet, Cho has the kunoichi hold her and goes to spy on the meeting. But she mentions Maengdo Chilyak, so Yoon-Hye is able to get the kunoichi to side with her against Moomyung. Bang-Won arrests Cho quietly at the meeting and listens in himself. He is shocked to hear their plan that the king will be powerless.

Historical note: King Gongyang was crowned in 1389, the last of the kings of Goryeo. The rumor that King U may not have been a son of King Gongmin was really used as an excuse to overthow him and his son. Maengdo Chilyak is something made up for the drama. It means fierce-drawing-laquer-throw.

Six Flying Dragons Synopsis: Episodes 21-25

Episode 21

General Yi, having decideed to refuse the kings' order to cross the Yalu, gets General Jo to go along with him. Jo will agree to return home only if they depose the king, or they will be killed as traitors.

One of Lady Kang's (wife of General Yi)  sons has asthma. Boon-Yi and Da-Kyung send for his medicine, to give Bang-Won a hint of where they are. He thinks of the same thing, and watches doctors to see who orders the walnut medicine.

Ji Ran sends Young-Gyu to warn Bang-Won to evacuate the family, and Moo-Hyul to retrieve the two older brothers. Moo-Hyul arrives just as the brothers are fighting the guards and helps them escape. Bang-Won follows the medicine lead to finds his family gone; they were moved to Minister Lee's empty mansion. Sambong remembers a secret passage about the time Boon-Yi finds it by watching smoke in a draft from the hidden door. Bang-Ji fights off the soldiers as they escape, and Young-Gyu gets them to the General outside the city.

Historical note: May 22: the retreat began; May 24: Bang-Woo and Bang-Gwa escaped the king's camp; May 29: the king arrived at Gaegyung and ordered the Yi family captured, but Bang-Won had already taken them to Hamju and joined his father. Walnuts are used for asthma in Chinese traditional medicine.

Episode 22

Generals Yi and Jo surround Gaegyong while Bang-Won visits nobles to convince them to keep out of the battle. Boon-yi sends up lanterns to signal the army that the gate is clear. Yi's horns blowing, the rush to the city wall, the horsemen breaking in, to the fighting on the balconies, all are reminiscent of the attack on Helm's Deep. General Choi meets Yi and surrenders.

Cue townspeople cheering the soldiers. Choi in jail tells Poeun he worries about revolution but Poeun says it won't happen. Yi and Jo divvy out government positions and agree on Prince Jungchang as the next king. Poeun calls in senior scholar Lee Saek for advice and offers assistance to General Yi.

Everyone is shocked by a folksong circulating in town that hints at Yi becoming king. Bang-Won tracks it to a peddler who claims an elderly man asked him to teach it. Thinking it was Minister Lee, Officer Nam is sent to arrest him only to find he had already died 15 days before.

General Jo, Lee Saek, and the Dowager Queen all receive letters from Minister Lee to meet in secret, only to find a message that "Chang reaches Yi." They propose to the government that King U's 8-year-old son Chang be the new king. We see the peddler, now dressed as a nobleman, remembering teaching the song and leaving the letters. He is Ha Ryun, who had been exiled for opposing the attack on Ming.

Historical note: June 1: Generals Yi and Jo reach Gaegyong, June 3: the battle and deposing of King U. The scenes of Bang-won persuading the nobles was fiction. The folksong had been used as an excuse for revolts in the 12th century.

Chapter 23

General Yi confronts General Jo over tricking him about the new king, and Poeun and Sambong question Lee Saek about the same thing. General Jo and pals go to see Minister Lee but meet Ha Ryun instead, who tries to do a deal with them.  Bang-Won looks for whoever masqueraded as the peddler. Sambong figures it out, finds Ha Ryun, and the two trade barbs. Da-Kyung pays Monk Eyeliner to find out about Ha Ryun for her.

All this time Jo Joon has been going around the country measuring land and counting citizens. Sambong goes to a lot of trouble to recruit him as an ally for land reform and get him to work with General Yi. Ha Ryun hears about it too (he found out while looking into the leaf-and-sword seal for Minister Lee), interests Jo in the whole thing, and hires Madam Cho's ninjas to help.

Boon-yi explains the land reform to her brother and admits that she wants to go back to their hometown and farm their own land. He tells Yoon-Hee and asks if she would like to go too; she says no. When he leaves, disappointed, she whispers, "But thank you."

When Bang-Won goes for Jo Joon's research it's already been stolen by Ha's thugs. Tracking them down, Bang-Won makes off with the box of research papers while Bang-Ji and Moo-Hyul fight the thugs and a patrol of soldiers. They do pretty well against greater numbers until Gil Son-Mi (Gil Tae-Mi's twin) joins in. The Kunoichi ninjas catch Bang-Won; the leader says she's not authorized to kill him and takes him to Ha Ryun.

Historical note: Ha Ryun was a real person; he had married Minister Lee's niece, was an ally of Poeun and an adversary of Sambong.

Chapter 24

Ha Ryun calls in a kunoichi to open the wooden box and she turns out to be Boon-Yi. She and Bang-Won tie him up and escape - he to lead the kunoichi away, she to take Jo Joon's papers. Gil Sun-Mi's fight ends when he finds out that Bang-Ji is the kid he left with Master Jung, and is Yeon Hyang's son.

In parliament Sambong sets the nobles against each other by only targeting people who own more than 2,000 acres for land reform. But he puts off telling Poeun about his full plans.

Yoon-Hee discovers General Jo's plan to pull a coup. She recognizes his servant Dae Geun as the man who raped her and faints from the shock. Moo-Hyul sees her, takes her to Bang-ji, and overhears the story when she comes to.

General Yi goes to talk down General Jo and is invited to a reconciliation banquet that night. The first sign of trouble is being asked to leave weapons outside. The second is Bang-Ji recognizing Dae Geun. What they don't know is that the room behind the banquet hall is full of assassins.

Historical note: Most of the land in Goryeo was owned by nobles and farmed by tenants, with several people levying tax on the same farm. Under reform the land could only be taxed once. Sambang wants to distribute land to people who will farm it; no big landowners. Jo Joon wants the king to distribute the land to the nobles but it can't be inherited.

Episode 25

General Yi, Bang-Woo, and Yi Ran enter the banquet hall while their guards eat in the courtyard. Bang-Ji is increasingly disturbed by Dae Geun. We see the villagers hoping for their own land, Poeun arguing with Lee Saek about supporting reform, Poeun and Ha Ryun about trusting people, and Sambong and Jo Joon about postponing the reform.

Ha Ryun takes Sambong out for drinks, bragging about advising General Jo. When he says he didn't request the party, Sambong realizes it's a trap and hurries to warn Bang-Won. He takes off alone while Da-Kyung runs to get Bang-Gwa.

Moo-Hyul sees Dae Geun and remembers Yoon-Hee fainting when she saw him. He links it to Bang-Ji's unrest and tries to get him to leave, but when Dae Geun starts on the rape story, it's Moo-Hyul who overturns the table. Bang-Ji burns an attacker to get his sword, which was tied on. Moo-Hyul catches another one he throws to him.

Bang-Woo is holding an axe to Jo's neck to keep the assassins off his father when Bang-Won bursts in through the secret passage shooting arrows. The General takes the bow and shoots with three arrows at a time. Moo-Hyul arrives wielding two swords. Just as they are are leaving, archers on the roof nearly attack but are foiled by Bang-Gwa's soldiers coming up behind them.

Bang-Ji sees Dae Geun sneaking away and follows with difficulty because of a stomach wound. Yoon-Hee comes around the corner and freezes when she sees her attacker but then grabs him and stabs him in the neck with a hairpin. He strangles her but Bang-Ji manages to stab him. "You ok?" he asks with his arm around her, "It's over."

Historical note: the whole banquet sequence is fiction. Yi Seong-Gye is recorded as having been able to shoot accurately using three arrows at once.

Six Flying Dragons Synopsis: Episodes 11-15

Episode 11:

 Prime Minister Lee gets back at Ministers Hong and Gil with some nicely placed forgeries and ends up arresting Bang-Won for secretly meeting with Hong. They torture him and he holds up mainly because he doesn't want to be like Minister Hong, who caved immediately.


Bang-Gwa is sent to the capital with their father's refutation of the border plan, but Bang-Woo doesn't use it. He decides that arresting one of them is an act of war against their family.

Boon-Yi asks Minister Hong for help and he lets her visit Bang-Won after the first day of torture. She takes food. Minister Lee plants another forgery on Bang-Won but Sambong sends Yoon-Hee to replace it with the one Ddang-Sae wrote about killing Baek-Yoon. Now all the ministers worry that General Yi will be down on them with his army.

Speaking of whom, he is busy at the moment turning back an invasion, but the next thing on his agenda is getting his kid back.

Historical note: In August 1383 the Jurchen chief Hibaldo, allied with Ming, invaded Goryeo and was winning until General Yi arrived. Hibaldo escaped but most of his men were killed.

Episode 12

While the ministers plot against each other, Officer Nam Eun is assigned to conduct the investigation (read: torture) of Bang-Won. Everyone thinks Nam will be fair because he hates the Prime Minister, but they are secretly accomplices.


Madam Cho sends her head ninja kunoichi to kill Yak San, the man who planted the letter in Bang-Won's room. She fights Eyeliner Monk's men and then Bang-Woo. He arrests Yak San and sends him to be interrogated by Officer Nam as well. Nam hears the confession and reports to PM Lee.

Moo-Hyul brings his family to live in town, including ex-swordmaster Hong who is now the family servant, paying back all he swindled from them.

PM Lee's people pretend to let Yak San escape and then shoot him. But surprise: he has armor and Moo-Hyul helps him get away. Meantime Officer Nam tells Bang-Won his father died, which makes him nearly hopeless. Until Nam says it was a siege. Bang-Won isn't fooled because his father never holds out in a fort but always attacks.

Yi Seong-gye shows up to first, order PM Lee to let his kid go; second, to appear at the not-so-secret cave and tell Sambong that he's ready to work together; and third, spring Yak-San on the parliament to prove his kid is innocent.

Bang-Won is taken from prison with a bag over his head and released to find Officer Nam and Sambong  together. Surprise again: the man who tortured him is on their side and they have to work together.

Historical note:  Nam Eun was a real person who helped found the Joseon dyansty.

Episode 13

Searching for the mystery fighter who rescued Boon-Yi from Eyeliner Monk, Gil Tae-Mi visits the acting troupe. Gab-Boon recognizes him though, so another actor meets him as Ddang-Sae watches.

Boon-Yi takes Bang-Won to a doctor. When he hugs her she says she hasn't got feeings for him. In reality she knows their class status is too far apart.

General Yi breaks ties with Minister Hong, feeling that he no longer owes him for helping pass the border plan. Prime Minister Lee is deposed, which Sambong thinks was a big mistake for Hong. Hong then asks the wealthy Haedonggap clan to be allies.

 At this point we meet Min Je (pen name Eoeun), the head of that clan, and his daughter Da-Kyung. She tells her father Hong blew it because PM Lee protected him from General Choi. Ooh...she's as smart as Sambong!

Ddang-Sae and Gab-Boon try to leave the city but Eyeliner Monk's men find them and use a paralyzing dart. Ddang-Sae hides in the gibang, where he overhears Madam Cho instructing her kunoichi. He recognizes Yoon-Hee there and when the drug wears off, trails her to a meeting with Sambong. He confronts her with being a double spy and she confronts him with being Venomous Magpie.

Historical note: It was considered disrespectful to call a high noble by his real name so pen names were often used. Da-Kyung is Lady Min, who will become queen of Joseon. No one kept records of women's names in those days, so the writers made one up.

Episode 14

Sambong decides he needs the support of Haedonggap clan and sends Poeun to talk them over. But while he is there, Madam Cho arrives with a marriage offer from Minister Hong.

Ddang-Sae and Gap-Boon argue because it's dangerous to stay in town and he's decided to stay and help Yoon-Hee.

Bang-Won visits the Min family to offer an alliance. When Da-Kyung refuses, he asks if they are afraid of Hong, and suggests a way to get out of the marriage. The next time Minister Hong comes, Min Je is busy yelling at his daughter for seeing a man secretly, and the marriage is called off.

Yoon-Hee reports to Madam Cho that she's joined Sambong's spy group. Officer Nam catches her and takes her to Sambong, where Ddang-Sae overhears them talking. He urges Yoon-Hee to go away from it all and is stunned to hear his sister is a spy too. He leaves a letter for her, but Bang-Won intercepts and is amazed that Venomous Magpie is Boon-Yi's brother.

Yoon-Hee sees a famous assassin in town and is afraid he's after Sambong, at a secret meeting with General Yi. She sends out an alarm. Ddang-Sae shows up and tells Sambong to leave his sister alone, but as he is leaving he feels the aura of the assassin. Bang-Won and Moo-Hyul race to the scene as the General calls out his men.

Historical note: Haedong is an old name for Korea. Gap means noble. They are the oldest noble clans, who have been around for about 700 years, ever since the Silla kingdom.

Episode 15

The assassin kills the guards but Yoon-Hee arrives to throw chalk in his face and pull Sambong away. When the assassin finds them she fights back with a sword and then Ddang-Sae engages him. A second assassin attacks, Yoon-Hee breaks a stale-mate with a hair-pin, and Moo-Hyul joins the fray. He plants himself in the earth and slices a third attacker out of the air. They kill two assassins and the General arrives in time to shoot the other in the foot. It's great to have a fight in the daytime so you can see what's going on.


We get a tearful brother-sister-childhood friend reunion. The General accepts Ddong-Sae as his son, gives him the name Yi Bang-Ji, and assigns him as Sambong's bodyguard.

Bang-Won and Da-Kyung marry. She tells him she won't sleep with him until his family proves successful. General Choi warns that it will be hard to get that clan to help with politics, which proves true.

Yi Bang-Ji practices his moves, remembering his teacher saying that if you are fast enough blood doesn't stay on the sword, and that he will improve to match anyone he fights against. Well, he fought Gil Tae-Mi. He sends Moo-Hyul to get Gab-Boon and all his stuff. Gil Tae-Mi sees Moo-Hyul strutting around in the Venemous Magpie outfit and takes him on in a little fight. He knows immediately he's not the real Magpie and wonders if this is a new fashion trend? Haha.

Minister Hong confiscates some of the Min family land and breaks ancestral tablets. But it's a trap. When the owner, Jo Ban, retaliates, he is captured and falsely accused of treason.

Historical note: The General gives Ddang-Sae the family name (Yi), the generation name for brothers and cousins (Bang), and a given name with the same meaning (land). Jo Ban is a real person who became a diplomat and a translator for Bang-Won.