“You who grasps so easily in your hand everything I’ve tried to have, everyone I’ve ever wanted… If you won’t grant me this one request…” Seriously Yang-myung, serously. What makes you think he has everything. HE DON’T. His life and Wol’s parents life went straight to hell after what happened. He can do whatever he wants but yet he rather hold on to the pass and think that his life is bad. Well i got news for you its not asshole. The King doesn’t not have a free will. The King does not get to live his life the way his wants to. The king does not get to choose who he wants to spend the rest of his life with, the king does not have people who is surrounded by him everyday that he can trust or support, the king can’t follow his own orders, the king doesn’t get the chance to run away or go on trips like you, the king does not have the opportunity to see whomever he pleases, i can go on for days hell years. I mean YM has everything in the world he has a great ass life yet ONLY HE doesn’t see it.

And don’t get me started on that ugly ass sister of his. She did the same thing that everybody else did in that palace. She knew what was going on and what happen but kept quiet for what because she wanted to marry her brother!?! Everybody keep saying that “she is a comic relief” well she is not! She’s a back stabbing conniving cunt and is the same as her fugly ass grandmother and big teeth sister in law and rat face father in law.

I don’t know what I’d do without the recaps. You’re a life saver.

Rant_

Viki’s subbers , (for some unknown reason } decided to skimp/skip on the subbing on the Hwon /Yang-myung scene where they’re discussing Wol.
I mean, really, you sub 98% of the episode and you skip/skimp that particular scene? WTF? Really? Thanks.

/rant

Yeah, Wol finally wakes up and hows a little spark. Why the king is so wishy washy is beyond me. I’d have killed Minister Yoon long ago.

From the late Three Kingdom’s period Muism has been primarily for women by women. (Cowardly) men abandoned Muism for the new Buddhism. This was in part because Confucianism and the switch to more of an agricultural lifestyle made a religion primarily female-based look uncool to men, thus when it lost its power, the religion was primarily run by women.

(The mountain spirits, for example, were all women… the sun was a male and the moon was a female. But the majority of the spirits before Buddhism seem to be female-based.)

Men like prestige in most societies, so being the cowards they are, they ran from the religion once the persecution started and there was nothing in it for them.

These days Muism is dying and it is hard for the female Shamans (Mudang, not Munyeo–like in the drama) to survive because of the pressures of Christianity (which likes to call anything outside of itself the work of the devil.) and also from the government. Paksu are male shaman, however, most of them in today’s society are outcasts, such as homosexual, transvestite, etc. There probably were more back in the day, but I have a gut feeling women basically still ran the show.

Unfortunately, I don’t think the real Muism is represented in this drama. Rather it borrows from Muism, such as making it female-centric. I would have expected more colorful offerings, an altar and some fast dancing–plus channeling of Gods and Goddesses (especially in the Northern style) I thought that would have been far more interesting to watch. I was a bit disappointed when the drama chose to go with the “safe” route to make muism look more tame and Shinto-ish. (Shinto is Japan. Praying to fire is more of a Japanese thing.) Oh well, maybe they’ll make a proper drama on the mudang someday, but for know we’re stuck with the Munyeo-wannabe-shintos.

Anyway, what I assume they are saying is that this Shamanism is dying (’cause it ain’t muism–if it’s supposed to be the author did less research than I did–and I do mean the author.) and the only thing stopping it is the Queen Mother’s belief in it–because anything female-centric in a Confucian state would have been demonized, but with the most powerful person in the country backing it, no one would dare to cross it. The Queen Mother might have even helped to revive it from the ashes from the way she acts…

I would have preferred to see more true Muism though… been much more fun and more Koreanish. You should look up Kkut on You Tube to see why I’m complaining. The style around Seoul is really cool.