Hey guys, it's Anton.
Today I'm going to go over the synopsis and explain the ending to Kingdom: Ashin of the
North.
I'll also give my take of the drama and what I thought of it.
The special premiered yesterday July 23, 2021 on Netflix and I watched the whole thing the
moment I saw it show up in my watchlist.
I've been waiting for this one.
There will obviously be spoilers in this video, but I wanted to share my thoughts on how this
little mini movie ended because it did kind of end confusingly.
So anyways Ashin of the North is supposed to be a special introduction to the character
of Ashin, played by the one and only My Sassy Girl, Jun Ji‑hyun.
She was also in "My Love from the Star" and "The Legend of the Blue Sea".
Needs no introduction.
I've been waiting so long to see her in a drama again.
Kingdom: Ashin of the North goes over the story of her character, the titular Ashin who is
from a small border village of the Jurchen tribe.
The events here happen before the events of Kingdom season one.
The local magistrate slaughters some people from the nearby Pajeowi tribe and blame it
on her village.
In response, the Pajeowi tribe slaughter everyone in her tribe and take her father, the village
leader, as a prisoner.
She was unaware of this as she was out looking for the resurrection flower to cure her mother's
illness.
When she comes back, everyone is slain, and she joins the Joseon settlement until adulthood.
She then finds out the truth about who betrayed her tribe after finding her father during
a spy mission for Joseon and reading the official report about the incident from a scroll.
She unleashes the zombies on the settlement using the resurrection flower and slaughters
everyone, only bringing one victim back to her village where she proceeds to feed him
to her zombified family.
The scene is juxtaposed with scenes of her living family, in a sort of metaphor to imply
that this would be what she would be doing if they were still alive, helping to feed
them after going on a hunt.
Remember she was trying to catch a boar from earlier.
The rest of the show sets up the first season of Kingdom by showing Ashin introducing the
doctor to the resurrection plant, who ultimately uses it to revive the king in season one.
The very last scene is Ashin facing off with the Pajeowi tribe, the ones who were tricked
but were the direct killers of her village.
And then it ends, there you go, I don't think you can shrink down this story any shorter
than that.
So I wanted to talk about what I felt about this, and maybe you felt the same way.
I was waiting for adult Ashin for most of the movie.
I don't know, I think many K-drama fans were.
Reviews online currently are raving about the child actress for Ashin, and yeah, she
was good, but I came in waiting for Jun Ji-hyun and she doesn't show up until the last 2/3rd
of the movie.
Don't worry, I kept track so you guys don't have.
She shows up at exactly 50 minute zero seconds of the one hour and a half movie.
50:00, talk about cruel.
I was waiting for her for so long that I got kind of distracted from the young version
of Ashin.
I just couldn't concentrate on feeling for the character yet.
It also made the pacing of the first part of story feel a lot slower.
The only thing that was slower to appear than adult Ashin were the zombies themselves.
The first two thirds of Ashin of the North could have just been a straight historical
drama.
The atmosphere for this special didn't really feel as ominous or foreboding as the first
season of Kingdom.
The forest and nighttime just wasn't as menacing or scary.
The cinematography was great though, don't get me wrong, but I thought they were reusing
some of the shock factor scenes from the first two seasons, like when the Joseon officer
gets pile dove by zombies, I think it was sort of an iconic moment from season one in
the original village that just got redone again.
We've seen it already.
Otherwise, I thought overall Kingdom: Ashin of the North was okay.
I think if you haven't seen the original Kingdom seasons then I would go for those first because
they set the mood better, but if you have been waiting for more Kingdom content then
Ashin of the North can hold you over until the third season.
I was sort of blown away by Kingdom season one and had to binge it when it was first
released, watched season two and started feeling like the series was moving in an odd direction,
and in Ashin of the North, I guess I just feel indifferent.
I am interested in Ashin's character and think she makes a great antagonist.
The backstory is sort of so-so for me; like, her village of maybe a few dozen people and
relatives get slaughtered, so now she's going to slaughter thousands of innocent people
in ancient Korea?
I don't know if that holds up too well.
But we'll see, I definitely admit they made the character interesting, so it does have
me hyped up a bit for season three.
Let me know what you guys think down in the comments section below.
Anyways, that’s all I have for you guys today thanks for watching.
If you are new to the channel, welcome, and remember to subscribe to get more content
like this in the future.
Sorry I didn't go into more detail about Ashin of the North and Kingdom in general, but I'm
on vacation at the moment so I can't make the videos too long.
Anyhow, my name is Anton, this is Asian Drama News, I’ll catch you guys in the next video.
Bye!