It's 1342, the third year of King Chunghye's rule. The head shamaness has had a vision that it's the dawning of the age of Aquarius or something like that. She announces it is time to find Ja Mi Won, a legendary sacred site. It is decided to send young Mok Dong Yoon alone on this quest.
No quest is ever easy. He goes down swift flowing rivers, up sheer cliff sides, through the Blair Witch forest to Mount Doom. Finally he reaches the hidden valley, and from the looks of the CGI creatures running around, someone appears to be playing Duel Monsters. Yet he keeps getting messages that the time is not right, everyone needs to wait another fifty years. So Dong Yoon turns around and returns home, refusing to reveal where Ja Mi Won is. The head shamaness ain't happy about it and has him tortured and blinded in one eye.
Jump ahead ten years to 1352. Brutal soldiers are beating up village men and rounding up the young village women to send them to the Chinese empire. This is overseen by Lee In Im (played by Jo Min Ki), who is disgusted to be serving such a weak king. Back at the palace, however, King Kongmin (played by Ryu Tae Joon) is throwing a swinging party, with acrobats a-flippin' and a-flappin' all over the place. The guest of honor, Chinese/Mongol ambassador Lee Ga No, is not entertained and ends up killing the lead dancer. (Perhaps he's in such a bad mood because of his awful haircut.)
Only the women have the balls to stand up and say anything. First, Queen No Gook threatens to kill Ga No. Her husband sends her back to her quarters. Then another princess, Young Ji (played for now by Lee Jin), stands up and chastises the foreigner. King Kongmin orders her taken away to be executed.
That was just a show for Lee Ga No. Young Ji has a private meeting with the head shamaness and the king. They know she used to be very close with Dong Yoon and urge her to convince him to reveal where Ja Mi Won is.
Dong Yoon has been imprisoned all these years, honing his skills and eating bugs. Young Ji promises him if he shows her the way to the sacred site, the king will release him and shower him with riches. Dong Yoon, Young Ji, and a group of soldiers ride out to that waterfall that appears in every Korean sageuk ever made. Dong Yoon makes his move and escapes his captors. The soldiers think he'll go one way, but Young Ji knows he'll be heading for the nearest river to make his escape. Alone she catches up to Dong Yoon and handcuffs herself to him.
When word reaches the palace of what happened, Kongmin orders Lee In Im to find the pair and follow them, but not to interfere with their quest. Once Ja Mi Won is found, the two should be allowed to go their own way. This is the king's orders. Yet later In Im is contacted by a head priestess (and woman he's been having some hot and spicy time with even though she knows he's in love with another woman) and Lee Ga No. The ambassador makes a better deal with In Im: let him know where the sacred site is and he'll introduce the Goryeo general to the Chinese emperor, a much more powerful man than the wimpy Kongmin. Oh, and while In Im is at it, Dong Yoon and the princess should both meet with an "accident" and never come back.
Our doomed pair are heading for where Dong Yoon's young brother, Dong Jin, lives. Yet when they get there all they find is a burned out village. The only living person they find is a scared little girl. She claims a "monster" came down from the mountain and took everyone away to eat them. Naturally, Dong Yoon and Young Ji (who are no longer chained together, I should mention) head towards the danger.
They go up into the mountain and straight into Eaters of the Dead territory. They're captured by a group of wild men who wear animal skulls for hats. They think the pair are spies for the "Moodi" and prepare to kill them. Young Ji speaks up and promises to help them find the base of their enemy, just don't kill them. Using basic sense (which these wild men seem to lack), Young Ji and Dong Yoon figure out where the best place would be to set up camp.
Sure enough, there are the Moodi. The head warrior (that we'll learn later is Lee Sung Gye, played by Ji Jin Hee) reckless steps out alone into the open and starts shooting off arrows at lightning speed. With the guards at the camp gate dead, the rest of the wild men emerge from the woods and begin to attack.
Kinda confusing. Who are these Clan of the Cave Bear people? Who are the Moodi? What's this got to do with anything? Still, the episode at least held my interest until the end.
No quest is ever easy. He goes down swift flowing rivers, up sheer cliff sides, through the Blair Witch forest to Mount Doom. Finally he reaches the hidden valley, and from the looks of the CGI creatures running around, someone appears to be playing Duel Monsters. Yet he keeps getting messages that the time is not right, everyone needs to wait another fifty years. So Dong Yoon turns around and returns home, refusing to reveal where Ja Mi Won is. The head shamaness ain't happy about it and has him tortured and blinded in one eye.
Jump ahead ten years to 1352. Brutal soldiers are beating up village men and rounding up the young village women to send them to the Chinese empire. This is overseen by Lee In Im (played by Jo Min Ki), who is disgusted to be serving such a weak king. Back at the palace, however, King Kongmin (played by Ryu Tae Joon) is throwing a swinging party, with acrobats a-flippin' and a-flappin' all over the place. The guest of honor, Chinese/Mongol ambassador Lee Ga No, is not entertained and ends up killing the lead dancer. (Perhaps he's in such a bad mood because of his awful haircut.)
Only the women have the balls to stand up and say anything. First, Queen No Gook threatens to kill Ga No. Her husband sends her back to her quarters. Then another princess, Young Ji (played for now by Lee Jin), stands up and chastises the foreigner. King Kongmin orders her taken away to be executed.
That was just a show for Lee Ga No. Young Ji has a private meeting with the head shamaness and the king. They know she used to be very close with Dong Yoon and urge her to convince him to reveal where Ja Mi Won is.
Dong Yoon has been imprisoned all these years, honing his skills and eating bugs. Young Ji promises him if he shows her the way to the sacred site, the king will release him and shower him with riches. Dong Yoon, Young Ji, and a group of soldiers ride out to that waterfall that appears in every Korean sageuk ever made. Dong Yoon makes his move and escapes his captors. The soldiers think he'll go one way, but Young Ji knows he'll be heading for the nearest river to make his escape. Alone she catches up to Dong Yoon and handcuffs herself to him.
When word reaches the palace of what happened, Kongmin orders Lee In Im to find the pair and follow them, but not to interfere with their quest. Once Ja Mi Won is found, the two should be allowed to go their own way. This is the king's orders. Yet later In Im is contacted by a head priestess (and woman he's been having some hot and spicy time with even though she knows he's in love with another woman) and Lee Ga No. The ambassador makes a better deal with In Im: let him know where the sacred site is and he'll introduce the Goryeo general to the Chinese emperor, a much more powerful man than the wimpy Kongmin. Oh, and while In Im is at it, Dong Yoon and the princess should both meet with an "accident" and never come back.
Our doomed pair are heading for where Dong Yoon's young brother, Dong Jin, lives. Yet when they get there all they find is a burned out village. The only living person they find is a scared little girl. She claims a "monster" came down from the mountain and took everyone away to eat them. Naturally, Dong Yoon and Young Ji (who are no longer chained together, I should mention) head towards the danger.
They go up into the mountain and straight into Eaters of the Dead territory. They're captured by a group of wild men who wear animal skulls for hats. They think the pair are spies for the "Moodi" and prepare to kill them. Young Ji speaks up and promises to help them find the base of their enemy, just don't kill them. Using basic sense (which these wild men seem to lack), Young Ji and Dong Yoon figure out where the best place would be to set up camp.
Sure enough, there are the Moodi. The head warrior (that we'll learn later is Lee Sung Gye, played by Ji Jin Hee) reckless steps out alone into the open and starts shooting off arrows at lightning speed. With the guards at the camp gate dead, the rest of the wild men emerge from the woods and begin to attack.
Kinda confusing. Who are these Clan of the Cave Bear people? Who are the Moodi? What's this got to do with anything? Still, the episode at least held my interest until the end.
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