[HanCinema's Drama Review] "Six Flying Dragons" Episode 7

Incremental progress is made toward the characters finally catching up with the plot. I can't help but find it a little amusing that Do-jeon is the main character actually doing stuff, and yet he's also constantly out of focus because, well, because the younger characters haven't gotten that far yet. But then he's not the only one. Seong-gye finally makes an important appearance having been out of action for so long, and the scene is telling.

Everybody who does something distasteful tries to convince themselves that it's for the greater good. The rather nasty ruling powers in Goryeo are no different. For Seong-gye, though, betrayal doesn't go down that easily. He has to really, seriously believe that the morally proper thing to do is further the Goryeo regime, and when confronted with evidence that Goryeo is little better than a foreign occupying army, well, there's just not anywhere to go from there.

What with all the wacky adventures lately it's easy to lose sight of the general bleakness of the overall situation, which goes a long way to motivation. Ttang-sae and Boon-yi are taking this talk of revolution more seriously than Bang-won and Muhyul because they have a more direct appreciation of the stakes. This isn't to say that Bang-won and Muhyul are slouches, just that neither of them are quite as ready yet to take this all the way. We're definitely getting closer to that, though.

Take the entire climax. "Six Flying Dragons" has built this episode up to a massive battle of shock and awe- and these battles are important because they confer legitimacy. The way Goryeo has been running Korea has been from behind the curtain. If they have to actually fight for their goals, that requires some sort of serious justification on their part. And any argument inevitably favors Do-jeon because all Goryeo has going for it is the power of inertia

So, more of the usual. "Six Flying Dragons" has billed itself as this epic extended historical battle- and it seems like we've finally gotten to the part where it really does become a serious battle. No more slinking about in the shadows, even if the major action always seems to end up happening at night. The only real flaw is that right now "Six Flying Dragons" has more of an epic feel than it does an actual epic narrative arc. So once more the watchword is patience.

Review by William Schwartz

"Six Flying Dragons" is drected by Sin Kyeong-soo written by Kim Yeong-hyeon, Park Sang-yeon and features Kim Myung-min, Yoo Ah-in, Shin Se-kyung, Byun Yo-han, Yoon Kyun-sang and Chun Ho-jin

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