It might just be due to the fact that I’ve been elbows deep in zombies, binging the OCN drama, Dark Hole, but the upcoming special episode of Kingdom: Ashin of the North has put out a trailer, and unlike all the other ones that came before, this one makes me go “oooh zombies!”.
Before the teasers didn’t give us much insight into the plot or even why this episode was coming out. It didn’t make me interested in the world or the characters, and it didn’t freak me out instantly. These are all points that teasers for the original series brought out in spades. I left the video going “eh, okay” which was a real disappointment.
This teaser which was dropped last week? While a little light on terror, heavy on revenge, is what more what we were looking for in a trailer. We get flavor into the world-building, we know that this is a completely different area (or possibly kingdom) than the Joseon dynasty where the original stories were set. We get to see more of Ashin and what she’s gone through, what she’s seen that brings us to where we see her in the final episode in Kingdom. It gives me hope that this character could be badass and have enough story to actually launch a Kingdom 3. I can see this as more of a launching pad rather than the placating afterthought I originally thought the episode was.
While watching the teaser, we found out that its written by the same writer who wrote seasons one and two, which is great for so many reasons. 1) She did a great job writing the first two seasons, despite how much I disliked the ending of the second season. 2) Having the same writer for all three parts helps make sure the tone and voice are the same throughout all the stories. This episode, though completely different than the others, isn’t going to stand out there like a sore thumb that will eventually be eaten by a zombie. 3) She writes really strong female characters which are essential for what this storyline appears to be.
We also found out that the director of this episode directed season one of Kingdom and The Tunnel. I had no idea the same director hadn’t done season two! As I love season one way more than season two, this is awesome news that bodes well for the quality of the show.
This is me getting pretty excited! Here’s the trailer:
This reminds me of the part of Kindom where we learned that the original use of the death flower wasn’t actually the first time it had been used to bring someone back to life, why they had brought in the original doctor in the first place when the king got sick. So in this teaser, it shows that Ashin holds a great grudge against the Joseon kingdom/people and pretty much hope they all die. I wonder if the reason she wants revenge (I think it was her mom’s death) came about with the first round of using the flower? Like they tramped around trying to find it originally? Or tested it on her people? It’s been a little too long for me to know for sure if the timelines match up for me to know for sure but we do know there is some time between when the flowers were used and we can see there are probably 10ish years at least between her vowing revenge and her entry into the world in Kingdom 2. So perhaps?
Also, I’m really looking forward to seeing some zombie tigers. How can tigers get more badass? Turn them into zombies that want to go crazy on human flesh!
This special episode premiers later on this month, so I may watch it then or I may wait to watch it when I visit my friends the McFeeleys in August. At least now this is something I want to do rather than something I have to do in order to complete the set.
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