Hwarang: Episode 1 recap

EONNI
Aug 21, 2021
4 min read

Updated: Feb 27, 2022

Hold on to your wigs.

Below you'll find a Speed Recap (i.e. the full episode in ten bulletpoints or less) and then some hot takes on the highlights. As always, spoilers ahead and if you're confused as to who's who, check out the...Who's Who post.

Speed recap: Hwarang, episode 1

In the kingdom of Silla, the young king Jinheung has been living in hiding for years while his mother, the Queen Dowager, rules in his stead. To quell the grumbling of the nobles, she tasks Lord Wi-hwa (one of her former enemies) with gathering their sons to form a new king's guard in order to secure loyalty to the crown. This may be the first and last time something in this show makes sense.
We meet our hero DogBird (Park Seo-joon), of mysterious origin (shorthand for 'almost definitely a prince in disguise') and his bestie Mak-Moon, who was separated from his family at birth. They decide to sneak into the capital city in search of Mak-Moon's family, which conveniently gets the story started.
King Jinheung also sneaks back into town, accompanied by a hot guy (“Executive Murder”) whose sole job it is to cut up anyone who recognises his majesty.
Ah-ro (Go A-ra), who makes her living by telling Mills & Boon-esque stories, presumably because Silla has no broadband connection, makes her first appearance. One thing leads to another and she drunkenly falls into DogBird's arms not once, but twice, in two minutes. It also turns out that she's probably Mak-Moon's long-lost sister.
Mak-Moon accidentally locks eyes with the king and narrowly avoids being sliced up by Executive Murder.
Meanwhile, the Queen springs her old enemy, Lord Wi-hwa from jail on one condition: secure the loyalty of the court by forming a king’s bodyguard out of their sons. And so, the Hwarang is born. This might be the first smart thing anyone in this show has done.
In the medieval version of the club, the rest of our potential Hwarangs are in two mean girl cliques surrounding Ban-ryu (Do Ji-Han) and Soo-ho (Choi Min-ho) respectively, enjoying whatever the Sulla equivalent of bottle service might be.
Mak-Moon sneaks into the club in pursuit of Ah-Ro, who he suspects to be his sister on the basis of a necklace he recognised, but gets himself into trouble with the Mean Girls, leading to DogBird squaring up to fight them.
Meanwhile, King Jinheung is back incognito and asking Ah-ro to tell him some stories, but electing to do so in an unnecessarily creepy way.

What did we learn?

Please, someone locate this in time and space

The first 20 minutes or so would have us believe that this is a standard historical dramedy: hero with humble origins destined for greatness, royal intrigue and sassy female lead.

And then this shows up:

And all of a sudden, the 6th-century Kingdom of Silla has a nightlife culture that vaguely resembles upmarket Ibiza.

Meanwhile, the tea-house appears to be delivering pour-overs like Park Slope in 2019:

In this first episode, there’s also a shopping experience that recalls a medieval idea of Urban Outfitters (the store is literally called "Dayiseo") and a tavern so new-looking you can practically smell the wood shavings.

The indicators are clear: this show has zero fucks to give.

BangWatch 545A.D.

Immediately apparent from the get-go here is the significance of bangs vs no bangs. The presence of bangs appears to indicate living one's own truth - to sweep away bangs is when the character is playing a part.

Exhibit A: King Jinheung arrives with a sensible face covering and BANGS

Exhibit B: King Jinheung goes to visit mummy at the palace with NO BANGS

Exhibit C: King Jinheung is up in the club, asking a woman he's never met before to tell him bedtime stories, avec BANGS

Exhibit D: Soo-ho, charming and boyish and the bangs to end all bangs

Exhibit E: Ban-ryu, stick up his arse and absolutely no fun at all and NO BANGS

Our hero is full of surprises.

In the opening of our show, DogBird seems to be positioned squarely in the 'lovable rapscallion' quadrant of humble country bumpkin. However, as soon as we sneak into the capital city, he seems transformed into the stoic badass type that likes to intervene in fights, with zero explanation. The closing moments of the episode see him striding into the club in Mak-Moon's defence and somewhere a guitar literally strums.

Curse of the bestie

Mak-Moon, naturally, is doomed. A sweet and innocent soul in search of a lost past, not for him is getting a love interest, or a tearful reunion with his long-long sister and father. This is a historical drama and that means that he is almost certainly going to die a tragic death.

Archive of our Own, 545A.D.

The best part of this episode comes with Ah-ro and a gaggle of huns in the 6th-century equivalent of the girls' toilets at the club. Here, Ah-ro enthralls the ladies with saucy stories as they swoon, a concept that's referred to as 'sewing' because presumably that's what they've told the lads that they're doing.

Firstly, this is a cute mirror held up to us swooning drama enthusiasts. Secondly, this is a nice acknowledgement of the intricacies and secrets of women's spaces that I would happily watch an entire show about. Sadly, that almost inevitably means that I’ll never see this again in the show.

When did the brief become 'young and beautiful'?

Lord Wi-hwa was briefed to gather the sons of nobles into a royal bodyguard. Inexplicably, the spec evolves somewhat between then and this (rather strange) conversation with the tea-shop owner:

No uggos for MY military cadre, please and thank you.

Bad Ajusshi

In this episode, we are also introduced to the Bad Grandads - the nobility who've got their eyes on deposing the King. You can usually tell if someone is a baddie by how slowly they talk, and this one is practically slithering.