Three Games of Baduk

After reading some of the other reviews here,I realized that there is a serious lack of critical analysis and thinking going on with some of the reviewers. They miss the point of the Title and of the significance of theBaduk games being played. The King and Kang Mung Woo play the games on an actual board and they play tge game in the court. The King is acknowledged to be a genius player and by the nature of the game that means he is highly strategic and many moves ahead of other players and the members of his court. The viewers are not always let in on the moves he is going to make until it is time to make them. The same is true of Mongwoo. Some reviewers accuse her of not having any plan just because they are not shown it or because they are simply unaware of it. In the game of Baduk,a player can not have a fixed plan because their moves are dependent on the moves of their opponent. They can only have a goal and be able to spot opportunities for action as the other player leaves them. They seize on those opportunities and build on them. Therefore,their plans are always fluid. Such Mong Woos moves. The King moves in the same way. He is surrounded by power mongers looking for any opening to grab more power for themselves. Particularly. The Director and Dowager,who see him as a puppet. The Director is playing his own game of Baduk as he seeks to hold the same power as a King.

This is a drama of subtlety not one of high jinks drama and action. The actress who plays Ming Woo is supposed to be a cypher. She can’t afford to let anyone read her,not even the King. So she. Does not give away her thoughts or feelings. She could never enter have entered then palace with thoughts of toppling the King if she had not mastered her own body language. It is clear that although she loves the King in spite of herself,she does not trust him. Her love is not whole hearted because of her earlier experience with the King. Each time she begins to trust him,she overhears or is told something that makes her shut down again. All of this makes her game appear to be erratic.

One thing she is very clear on,is the King’s ability to play Baduk and be many moves ahead of everyone else. So,she knows she is walking a tightrope with him. He is aware,too,that she may betray him but loves her too much to send her away. Each of the buduk players ,the King, Mong Woo and the Director play with each other and against each other. It is like a subtle dance as they engage and disengage. Too bad that some it was lost on many viewers who need straightforward characterizations and plot to follow a story.

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