The Laments of Empress Ki’s (International) Viewers

I always love sageuk or korean historical drama. There’s something different in sageuk than the modern drama can’t capture. As readers may know, I really fell in love with Empress Ki, a sageuk about Goryeo-born woman who made her way to be Yuan Dynasty Empress. This drama is already ended months ago, but I still can’t let it go because it holds special place in my heart. Sadly, while I love this drama, there come laments and sorrows, especially for international viewers.

The Laments

1. Small Sageuk Fanbase (at least internationally)

Compared to other Korean drama genre, sageuk is the least favorite one internationally. Only a small number of sageuks get popular in the international level, for example Jewel In The Palace (Dae Jang Geum) and Queen Seondeok. Empress Ki is not an international phenomenon yet, although the drama is broadcasted over several Asian countries and gaining international popularity. Empress Ki also has relatively small fanbase worldwide compared to other hit dramas in 2013-2014. As of now, Master’s Sun Facebook page has 271,041 likes, The Heirs gets 270,559 likes, My Love From Another Star or You From Another Star even has 2 FB pages, with approximately 500K likes combined. While Empress Ki only gets 142,080 likes. Many Korean drama fans, including in my country Indonesia, prefer romantic comedy rather than period dramas because they think sageuk is boring.

2. Recaps are Hard to Come By

The second lament is about finding Empress Ki recaps so we can understand the story and discuss about the drama. There are at least 2 obstacles for recappers to recap this drama, availability and length of the drama. This drama is not available widely to international viewers, both Viki and Dramafever don’t have the license to stream it. So Hulu is the answer, but Hulu is only for American and detect our IPs, unless we know how to watch it without being detected outside America. Then the length of Empress Ki (51 episodes) also deters anyone to recap this show. It calls for commitment for more than 6 months while other kdramas usually end after 2-3 months. The other issue is sageuk drama using sageuk (ancient) speech and not everyone well-versed with sageuk speech and can translate it well to everyday language. Thus, I only found 2 english blogs that write recaps and one blog, Koala’s Playground usually posted about Empress Ki news and previews. Big thanks to the owners and writers on The Talking Cupboard and Couch Kimchi who recap the drama till the (bitter) end. I also found some blogs recapped this drama in Bahasa Indonesia but since I’m used to english blog, I only read them sparely. Still, wouldn’t it wonderful if Empress Ki was recapped at Dramabeans? Arguably the largest and most famous kdrama blog, I always hope Dramabeans would recap this drama or post some review or afterthought.

3. Good and Fast English Subtitles

If you’re like me who always rely on English subtitles, then Empress Ki would be the biggest torture for you. The drama was aired on Monday-Tuesday but the english subtitles would be out after 2 days, usually on Wednesday or on some cases until Thursday/Friday. While the other dramas usually get subbed hours after airing in Korea, Empress Ki’s subtitle would be available days after it aired. It’s not the only problem though, the second problem is the quality of the subs. Thanks for MBC Translator, D.Bannon we learnt so many wonderful words that we would never even get in other dramas (snerk). Words like ohlala, gussy up, tush, tramp, wimps, maul will keep English-speaking viewers entertaining, while left the others confused. Note: some words written above are informal/slang and have sexual associations. Sadly, it’s the official one and Hulu viewers as well as other subtitles hunter most probably get this version of subs. Other alternative is of course fansubbed subtitles or subtitles made by fans community. As I know only Darksmurfsub subbed this drama and it takes longer time, usually 4-5 days after the drama aired.

  

Questionable subs from MBC Translator, D.Bannon

      4. The Story

Last, but not least, the story itself is a sorrow. It makes for great drama with many political intrigues, machinations, romance and many interesting characters. The characters are not simply black and white. Even Ta Hwan and Seung Nyang have dark sides inside them. But that doesn’t mean any less lament and sorrow for viewers. As I wrote before on the Empress Ki review, the writers are the real villains of this drama. They make everyone suffer, in one way or another, and give them only a little bit happiness. They make everyone wants revenge and driven by their own desire to reach their own ambitions or dreams. Characters got killed without mercy and at the end almost everyone died. The plot is rather silly sometimes and could be better if the writer not dragged the drama and pointless recycled plots. In the end, I was grieving over the drama that could be so much better, if they use the potential on earlier episodes wisely.

Despite the laments, Empress Ki also managed to earn some good points. Mainly on acting, (sometimes) directing and costume department. I watched this drama mainly for Ji Chang Wook but I also discovered some good acting performances by Ha Ji Won, Baek Jin Hee, Jin Yi Han, Jeon Guk Hwan, Kim Young Ho, and even the supporting and cameo actors are doing well. The directing are something hit and miss in the drama. Sometimes the PDs direct the scenes beautifully (Ex: coronation scene, horse-riding scene, CPR kiss). Sometimes it’s bad and all over the place (Ex: some battle scenes, some scenes I dare not mentioned here :p). 

The Grand Costumes

The costumes are also simply gorgeous and beautiful to look at, to the point that I want to buy that costumes too. According to Empress Ki’s costume designers there are as many as 100 different clothes for Seung Nyang (Ha Ji Won), but according to my own calculations, there are only 85 clothes. Nevertheless it’s still quite many. In episode 26, Seung Nyang even wears 8 DIFFERENT clothes. Compared to other characters in Empress Ki or even other dramas, Seung Nyang has the most clothes. The costume designers also admit because there weren’t many historical accounts for Yuan Dynasty, they have more freedom to create the costumes. Unlike account for well-known Joseon costumes, accounts on both Goryeo and Yuan costumes are limited, so it’s rely on the interpretation of the designers instead. Like how Ta Hwan wears white and gold costumes in earlier episodes to show his weakness while still maintaining the authority but in the latter part Ta Hwan wears black and gold robes to show his growth and force. As I love the drama very much, the hate and grief also come. That’s why I think as viewer I can share my experience to the lamentation of Empress Ki.