[HanCinema's Drama Review] "Goddess Of Fire Jeongi" Episode 3

This episode was about a jar. No, I'm not kidding. From beginning to end, there was not one scene that did not revolve around this jar. And guess what: it's coming back next episode, too.

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Why would the production team spend an entire episode on a jar? The only conclusion I can fathom is to show that Jung is so awesomely talented that she can fix an ancestral jar. But doesn't history already tell us that?

Admittedly, the episode is not just about the jar. It' about how the jar brings together our young lovebirds and how it allows the two warring potters to wage pottery war and how all the young people have jealousies flying this way and that. But all of that could've been done through a more interesting vehicle. By the time the episode was through, I wanted to smash the newly repaired jar. Enough with the jar!

Jung from Goddess Of Fire Jeongi Episode 3

Basically, idiot prince Imhae breaks the ancestral jar and Prince Gwanghae has to clean up the mess; only, it's treason to break and fix the jar. So Gwanghae sneaks off to have Jung repair the jar in secrecy and we get some cute, albeit overwrought, romantic hijinks: flying off a horse into his arms, awkward face-to-face meetings. Jung thinks she broke the jar and so offers to fix it without knowledge that it's treason. When her father Eul-dam finds out Jung "broke" the jar, he literally collapses.

I take issue with the overdramatics like that in the show. Eul-dam seemed to be too cool-headed to collapse and hyperventilate. When he was tortured in the first episode, he remained stoic. Imhae's character is also very over done. Earlier, when he broke the jar, he stomped about and yelled like a child . The acting is just so over-the-top, that I'm sure it's a directorial decision. That decision needs to be undecided if they want me to take these characters seriously.

Last review I made a big deal over the politics, which were virtually negligible this episode. The Queen and her cronies spun their wheels over the jar issue. Kang-chun obsesses over catching Eul-dam in the treasonous act of fixing the jar. Kang-chun's son, Yook-do, agonizes over not being chosen by Gwanghae to fix the jar. I understand that this story is about a potter, but there needs to be something else in Joseon besides a ceramic pot and potter that can make or break a single political plot. I would actually be interested in a political scheme or two if they were finely executed.

Prince Gwanghae and Yook-do from Goddess of Gire Jung-yi Episode 3

I did enjoy watching the pottery moments. It was interesting to see the craft in action, but in truth, no one would entrust a relic to a child. That was merely a convoluted ploy to get Jung onto Gwanghae's radar as a potter and as a love interest. It's so contrived. I want this story to feel more organic. I can see the plot wheels turning, and that's really not interesting.

Neither was the cliffhanger interesting because it included the jar. Cliffhanger: Yook-do admits that the pot was broken. Really? That's it? Throughout the episode there were plots to unveil Eul-dam as the jar repairman and we get Kang-chun's son admitting the treasonous act? I suppose it's a "tense" moment because he is the Royal potter's son, but it still rings false.

Maybe when we bring in the powerhouse actors we'll get some inspiration on screen. Oh yeah, I never want to see another ancestral jar again.

Written by Raine from Raine's Dichotomy