Welcome to the first recap of Three Kingdoms (2010). This drama may not be historically accurate or faithful to the original novel, but it’s certainly a masterpiece storytelling-wise.
A few quick words before we begin. If you are looking for detailed recaps with in-depth analyses about this period of time, these posts are probably not it. I tend to only focus on the most important plot events (which may be hard to do because everything looks important in this drama).
EPISODE 1 RECAP
The glory of the Han Dynasty is fading. Things get worse when an unlikable guy named Dongzhuo deposes Emperor Liu Bian and appoints a baby prince as emperor. This allows Dongzhuo to rule in the emperor’s name as Chancellor.
And let me say that this guy is UNLIKABLE. He’s an old goat who has no manners and is only in control because of brute strength. He would stand in the middle of the emperor’s hall and sneeze and everything.
Now, a Minister Wang is throwing a birthday party, but they’re so afraid of Dongzhuo that the party invitations aren’t handed out the usual way. Wang has to get a palace eunuch to pass on the message to the people he wants to invite in secret.
Wang is friends with a lot of courtiers but there’s one he does not plan to invite: Cao Cao (styled: Mengde*)
Why? Well, Cao Cao himself is about to tell you. He confronts one of the courtiers and asks why Wang has excluded him from the list.
The courtier tries to be polite but Cao Cao is like: drop the mask, I know ya’ll don’t want me there because of a tiny little reason, I AM THE LAPDOG OF THE NATIONAL VILLAIN DONGZHUO.
Yep, that’s how Cao Cao is. He yells that at the top of his voice while standing in the middle of the courtyard. The courtier nearly foams at the mouth from fear and anger as Cao Cao walks away, laughing satisfactorily.
Anyway, the birthday party.
When Minister Wang and his friends are drinking to his health, Cao Cao comes and demands he be allowed to join. I don’t think he’s come to give a toast to Wang.
Inside, they all call him names and urge Wang to drive him away. But Wang says, let’s show some manners, and invites Cao Cao in.
Once Cao Cao is seated, the party resumes. Wang reveals that they’re not here to celebrate his birthday, but his death day. Huh, interesting.
He’s invited them all here to cry together about the fall of the Han Dynasty.
All of them feel this so much to the core that they all break down in tears.
The drama excellently portrays how these men wear the mask of virtue; they act like they love their land and emperor but they’re actually just weak and helpless men who choose their own safety and comfort over the empire.
Cao Cao laughs at this. He has a signature laugh that you’ll see throughout the entire show.
Wang has Cao Cao dragged out of the hall but then secretly asks him to stay behind to talk. Hmm, at least one of these old men has some sense.
In private, Cao Cao tells Minister Wang that he hasn’t been hanging around Dongzhuo for fun. He’s doing it to gain Dongzhuo’s trust so he can kill him one day.
Cao Cao has learned that Dongzhuo wears a special suit of armor underneath his clothes and can’t be easily killed. Lots of people have tried it already and the only thing they achieved is a death sentence for themselves, their entire families and households.
If they’re going to kill Dongzhuo, they will need an extra sharp blade and the right timing.
And yo, Minister Wang just happens to have such a blade in his house. It’s a special dagger that can cut through jade and gold.
Cao Cao offers to do make the assassination attempt himself if Wang lets him borrow that dagger. He’s gonna kill Dongzhuo like a pig. I didn’t make that up, by the way, Cao Cao really says that.
Wang tells Cao Cao that if he does this, he may not come back alive. And Cao Cao is like: it’s either my head or Dongzhuo’s head that’s gonna be on the wall of the city, I’d look cool either way.
Wang bows to Cao Cao in admiration and gives him the dagger.
The next day, Cao Cao walks into Dongzhuo’s palace. It’s true what Cao Cao said before, he is so trusted that they don’t even ask for his ID at the gates.
Dongzhuo introduces Cao Cao to his new adopted son: Lu Bu. A mountain of a man who is said to be famous among warriors. He wields a halberd and has never known defeat in combat. Why do I feel like Dongzhuo only adopted Lu Bu for his muscles?
Dongzhuo moves on to talk to Cao Cao about a lord named Yuan Shao who is leading an army against him. With the way this Dongzhuo guy is, I’m surprised there’s only one guy who’s rebelling.
Later on, Dongzhuo takes a pig nap. No wait, I’m sorry, that’s an insult to pigs. Pigs are actually cute and intelligent. Cao Cao and his pig analogies had a bad influence on me. Let’s just say: he takes a nap and looks repulsive while doing it, ok. Cao Cao hangs around and waits for him to be deep in sleep then brings out the dagger. Ooooh.
But Dongzhuo is so lucky. He wakes up just in time to see the dagger coming, causing Cao Cao to stop and pretend like he’s actually gifting the dagger to Dongzhuo. Darn it! We can’t assassinate him and now we’ve lost a good weapon too. Cao Cao is not happy about this.
Talking to Lu Bu later, Dongzhuo puts two and two together and figures out that maybe Cao Cao was trying to assassinate him.
Dongzhuo gifted the dagger to Lu Bu and orders him to use it to kill Cao Cao.
And that’s episode one: Cao Cao going from a trusted high official to a hunted convict.
COMMENTS
What an awesome introductory segment.
This episode strikes a balance between action and politics. It also does an excellent job of making its main characters’ personalities clear. You can see that Minister Wang’s heart is in the right place, but he is weak, and this climate just doesn’t tolerate weakness. Lu Bu, on the other hand, is buff, but rather softhearted and vain. Cao Cao is of course a character empire on his own.
Even in his early days, we can see how Cao Cao is such a convincing and charismatic speaker. And even though he meets with a defeat here, there’s no telling what he is capable of once he is given the right resources and enough power. And of course, it’s Chen Jianbin, nothing else needs to be said about the acting.
Several reviewers have said before that this adaptation is pro-CaoCao, which I believe is a slight exaggeration. It’s only aiming to give us a more human side of Cao Cao, something to sympathize with while his villainous side is still on full display.
*Mostly everyone in here has a full name and a style name. In some cases, there are “baby” names too, which are not normally used unless the goal is to insult that person.
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