review the king eternal monarch

The Fangirl Verdict

Completely biased reviews and fangirling.

Review: The King: Eternal Monarch

THE SHORT VERDICT:

This show is very ambitious, in just about every sense of the word. It aims to be this very shiny, expensive, mind-bendy parallel worlds thing, with an epic romance at its center, and it therefore aims to blow your mind and sweep you off your feet, in one fell swoop.

Because Show is that ambitious, though, I feel like it doesn’t quite manage to keep all its ducks in a row, all the way through.

Sometimes it kinda-sorta blows my mind, and sometimes it kinda-sorta sweeps me off my feet, but it doesn’t manage to do either with any degree of consistency.

Ultimately, Show is neither as brilliant as its fans say it is, but neither is it as terrible as its critics say it is, either.

It’s actually not bad, with some slightly hefty lens management.

THE LONG VERDICT:

You might be wondering how I ended up checking out this show, since many of you had requested me to check out this show while it was airing, only to be met with an answer declaring my early decision to give this a miss, because,

1, I don’t typically do well with Kim Eun Sook dramas, and

2, Heirs gave me a bad Lee Min Ho allergy that I still hadn’t gotten over.

So what changed my mind?

Well, awhile ago, my sister watched this show, and enthusiastically declared that this was brilliantly written. And when I asked her about whether things added up (since I’d heard that they didn’t), she said that she’d watched this show twice, and things did add up.

Plus, she suggested that I check out certain bloggers who’d taken the time and trouble to break down and analyze Show’s fantasy logic around the parallel universes.

You guys know that shows that get very polarizing responses from viewers tend to pique my interest. I always wonder where I’ll land, and end up checking out the show, if only to be able to form my own conclusions.

..And that’s how I ended up watching this show, which I’d originally decided to give a hard pass.

Now that I’ve emerged on the other side, I can safely say that, unfortunately, I don’t think Show is as brilliantly written as my sister contends. I have no issue with the mathy stuff; that adds up, as far as I’m concerned.

But there are lots of narrative logic leaps and stretches which don’t sit well with me (which I’ll talk more about later).

On the upside, though, Show isn’t that bad. I actually found various stretches genuinely enjoyable. AND, importantly, Show seems to have cured me of my Lee Min Ho allergy, which had lingered insistently with me for years after Heirs.

That’s quite an accomplishment, I’d say. For that alone, I consider this watch worthwhile.

OST ALBUM: FOR YOUR LISTENING PLEASURE

Here’s the OST album, in case you’d like to listen to the admittedly pleasant OST while you read the review.

As a general rule, I did feel like the OST worked to lift my watch experience, and I count that as a plus.

In terms of tracks, I find myself gravitating to Orbit for its dreamy yet hard-edged badass vibe. Gravity is also very moodsy and has a similar-but-different ethereal but classic rock kind of feel.

I also like Maze, for its wistful and melancholic sound.

MANAGING THE VIEWING LENS

Because Show seems to shift its emphasis during different portions of its story, I’ve found that it’s necessary to switch lenses from time to time, in order to maximize one’s enjoyment of the show.

Sometimes Show reminds me of Crash Landing On You

In broad strokes, this show sometimes kinda-sorta reminds me of Crash Landing On You , but with the genders switched.

Instead of a rich girl landing in an unfamiliar place, and who quickly gloms onto the first familiar face that she finds, we have a king from a parallel universe landing in the Republic of Korea, quickly glomming onto the first familiar face he finds.

We even have the similar repeated phone calls, where he calls her for almost nothing at all, to the similar frustration of the recipient.

When Show is in this space, it has a similar light, undemanding vibe that I got from CLOY.

Unfortunately, what I think this show doesn’t have that CLOY does, is a pair of lead characters that I can easily believe belong together.

Show doesn’t take the trouble to tease out why our OTP belongs together; they just do, because it’s destiny. The sooner you’re able to just roll with that, the easier your watch will be.

Sometimes Show reminds me of Memories Of The Alhambra

By Show’s halfway point, I started to come to the conclusion that the marketing for this show, which implies that this story is all about the romance between Lee Min Ho’s parallel world king and Kim Go Eun’s cop, does this show a disservice.

Which kinda reminds me of my conclusion about the marketing around Memories Of The Alhambra too.

With Alhambra, it never was about the romance; Show was much more about one man’s adventure quest.

And with King, while the romance in this is more important than in Alhambra, Show seems to spend a lot more time on the conspiracy surrounding the colliding of the two worlds. I feel like understanding that right off the bat, is helpful.

As we get deeper into our story, the focus on the fragments of information surrounding the conspiracy ramps up, and sometimes the supposed key romance feels like it’s relegated to the sidelines.

In fact, now that I’ve completed my watch, I think that the main romance was just a cover for writer-nim’s real Main Event, which is the parallel worlds and how that all works.

In my opinion, that’s why it feels like the OTP relationship is undercooked; it wasn’t writer-nim’s main focus to begin with.

I feel like keeping this in mind is helpful, because with this in mind, I question the OTP relationship a lot less.

Any time the emotions don’t ring true to me, or feel sudden or rushed, I file it away as being due to it being a secondary arc, shrug, and move on.

Sometimes Show reminds me of Nine

I found that as I progressed deeper into my watch, my main concern became: does Show still make sense? Rather than, say, do I care about these characters?

I’ve concluded that this is one of those shows where it engages me more on a mental than an emotional level, kind of like what Nine was like, for me.

Show doesn’t always provide solid answers in terms of the mechanics of the parallel universes and the time travel, so dialing down expectations on those will be helpful.

I figure that if other shows that I’ve enjoyed didn’t have a bulletproof theory around time travel – like Nine – then it’s only fair that I accept the same from King.

Essentially, when it comes to the parallel worlds and the details around it, you do need to work to keep on top of things, but you also need to keep your analytical lens a little blurry, to accommodate Show’s occasional lack of answers.

Yes, it is as tricky as it sounds.

STUFF THAT WORKED OUT TO OKAY OR NOT BAD

I’m starting with the ok stuff, because that’s where the key characters and relationships land, for me.

That said, let me state for the record that I did not hate our key actors or characters, at all. I just didn’t find them very well fleshed-out, in the overall scheme of things.

Also, some of the character actions don’t make narrative sense – which I’ll save to talk about in the section on logic lapses and stretches.

Lee Min Ho as Lee Gon

To be brutally honest, I started this watch feeling like Lee Min Ho did not have the gravitas or regality I expected of a king (I feel that a king should have a regal, commanding kind of presence, just by being ).

For about half of our story, I found his delivery too laidback, to the point where I could understand why some viewers said that he seems to be sleepwalking through this role.

HOWEVER. What I’d heard was true; Lee Min Ho does exude a lot more gravitas and regality in Show’s second half.

I cannot begin to tell you how relieved this made me, because I found it so perplexing that our king didn’t feel like what I felt a king should feel like, in Show’s first half.

It was comforting and assuring to realize that the lack of gravitas was an acting &/or directing choice, and not a lack of ability on the part of Lee Min Ho.

As a bonus, I thought Lee Min Ho did really nicely in the action scenes. It gave me very excellent City Hunter feels. 🤩

Show goes to great lengths to make Lee Gon a likable character, and I found myself enjoying him quite nicely, after a somewhat perplexing start.

Which, as you’d recall, is a Huge Deal for me, since I was struggling to get over my Heirs-induced Lee Min Ho aversion.

[SPOILER ALERT]

E2. Lee Gon is not unlikable; he’s generally pleasant and quite patient, even when Tae Eul doesn’t talk to him nicely, or ignores him, or manhandles him.

The royal-speak is also fitting for the character, and gives him a quirk that sets him apart, while feeling organic to his station.

E2. I do find it quite funny that Lee Gon, with his math genius of a brain, didn’t figure out that his diamond buttons were finite, and that he’d run out of money if he kept spending like he was doing.

I guess our king is either too used to being royally well-off, or not very bright in normal everyday things?

E3. I must say, I thought Lee Min Ho did very nicely in the action scene where Lee Gon takes down the gangsters with his riding crop. His moves are swift, sharp and lethal, and I enjoyed watching his badassery very much.

I wouldn’t be opposed at all, to Lee Gon showing off more action moves in the episodes to come.

E4. I do like it when Lee Gon exerts his kingly authority.

When Prime Minister Koo (Jung Eun Chae) barges into his study, he’s patient and polite, but when she lets slip that she thinks he’s indebted to her, he stops her from leaving, and firmly informs her that as the King of Corea, he cannot be indebted to anyone, and he even checks for her understanding.

And later in the episode, when he instructs the royal guards to take 10 steps back in order not to startle Tae Eul, that’s a really nice combination of kingly authority, mixed with gentlemanly consideration.

E4. It definitely helps my watch experience, that Lee Gon is not a cold, distant jerk of a king. Instead, he’s polite, pleasant, patient, smart, gentlemanly, and a bit idealistic, while finding time to be a math nerd.

That’s all quite.. nice, really.

E4. Lee Gon’s suspicion that the autopsy report for Lee Rim (Lee Jung Jin) isn’t a reflection of the truth can only be put down to a hunch.

There’s no evidence that indicates otherwise, but I rationalize that he doesn’t find it plausible that his uncle, as tenacious and self-serving as he’s known him to be, would end up dead in the manner that the body showed up in.

I do like the gentle and respectful manner in which he nudges his uncle Prince Buyeong (Jeon Mu Song) about the matter. He basically urges Uncle to tell him the truth, in good faith, and then gives Uncle the space to think about things, while waiting for Uncle to make the first move.

That feels strongly benevolent.

E7. I like the idea that Lee Gon is analytical and quick-thinking. The way he creates evidence of the time-freeze for Yeong (Woo Do Hwan), even before Yeong asks for it, is pretty cool. And it also shows that he knows Yeong very well.

Also, I like that it doesn’t take long for him to realize that the time-freezes have to do with Rim moving between worlds, and that Rim is living in Tae Eul’s (Kim Go Eun) world, and needs to be eliminated.

E9. I appreciate Lee Gon’s strong conviction that the appearance of a person doesn’t mean anything, and that a person’s face is purely a symbol of the person themselves.

I like how resolutely unaffected he is, by the fact that Jeong Hye (Seo Jung Yeon) shares the same face as his mother. It takes a strong mind – and a strong heart – to be so unmoved by the idea of seeing his mother’s face again.

E9. I finally got my wish: Lee Min Ho is a lot more regal as Lee Gon this episode, and I like it.

It seems that Lee Gon reserves his regal, commanding air for when he’s actually facing important matters of state, and when he’s traveling to Korea and canoodling with Tae Eul, that regality is switched off.

I personally prefer the idea of a king who’s innately regal, whether he’s being laidback and casual or being commanding and fierce. That makes the royalty feel much more.. in his blood, if you will.

But, I can also roll with the idea of a king who’s able to switch the regality on and off, as he pleases.

E9. The way Lee Gon anticipates Lee Rim’s call is both smart and regal. Smart, for being able to anticipate it, from piecing information together, and regal, in the way that he delivers his message to Lee Rim, quoting from the Four Tiger Sword, in such a low and controlled voice.

It feels like he’s holding back a wrath that could prove formidable if unleashed, and that makes me feel that he has power, but is reining it in as an initial courtesy.

E10. Lee Gon is much more interesting to me, when he’s being intent and fierce, and he’s both of those things in this episode.

And the way he gives orders to his men, is sharp, fast and firm. He doesn’t panic even when things go awry, and that’s pretty cool.

E11. It was a little hard for me to watch Lee Gon basically killing a lot of people this episode. I guess it just feels a bit jarring, after Show’s set him up to be this romantic, idealistic, benevolent, nerdy guy.

My rationalization is that the situation that he’s dealing with, is treason. And treason, no matter which way you slice it, ends up being a bloody matter.

He’d lived through that as a child, and seen – and shed – the blood that went with it. I guess that’s why, now, in the face of treason – by the same traitor, no less – he’s quite quickly in bloodshed mode.

I rationalize that he has no time to spare on trying to capture enemies alive. Perhaps, capturing them alive involves a degree of risk, since they are traitors who are willing to die, to overthrow him.

E11. Lee Gon’s math nerd comes to the fore, to figure out the pattern of the increasing length of the time freezes.

I don’t follow the exact logic of his calculations, but it’s enough for me to understand that he figured out the pattern because of his mathy genius, and that it wasn’t an obvious pattern (square root of the prime numbers!), and that the conclusion is that if the time freezes carry on in the same pattern, the time freezes will eventually last forever.

I quite like that Lee Gon is smart in a nerdy way.

E12. The scene at the church, where Lee Gon cries during the time freeze, is the first concrete sign that he feels fearful. It must hit him quite hard, to see Tae Eul frozen in time, because it confronts him with the truth, that the one he loves is directly affected by the crossing of worlds.

And his theory, that eventually, time would stop forever, given enough crossings made between worlds, must weigh heavily on him. It means that he and Tae Eul cannot just keep crossing worlds to see each other on an indefinite basis. This must be a daunting prospect to him.

I know he’s promised her that he would cross the universe for her, but really, as royal as he may be, he’s only human. And that’s what strikes me most, in this scene.

[END SPOILER]

Kim Go Eun as Tae Eul

To be honest, I’d been a little wary coming into this show, because I’d seen quite a few comments by other viewers, that Kim Go Eun’s character Tae Eul is quite brash and annoying.

Basically, these viewers saw Tae Eul as an abrasive, unreasonable, unlikable character.

Now that I’ve seen the show in its entirety, I’m gonna hafta respectfully disagree. For the record, I did not find Tae Eul annoying the way those viewers did.

In fact, I found Tae Eul very reasonable, generally speaking. Funny how that worked out, eh?

Overall, I thought Kim Go Eun did a very nice job of whatever she was given, in this show.

Granted, sometimes I did feel rather bemused at what Tae Eul was written to say, and also, I felt that the character development was rather choppy, AND, I never actually became fond of Tae Eul, but for me, Kim Go Eun’s delivery was not one of Show’s weak links.

E1. I’d been wary that I’d hate Tae Eul, since I’d heard that she can be quite brash and annoying. So far, she isn’t brash or annoying to me.

Even when she’s ordering Lee Gon to get off his horse, she doesn’t come off as giving him attitude. She just seems to be doing her job, while kind of tired, because she’s had a long day.

E2. I feel that Tae Eul is understandable and far from being the abrasive, unreasonable character that I’d heard her to be.

So far, she’s perplexed by Lee Gon and his refusal-cum-inability to cooperate with her in her attempts to ascertain his identity, and she’s also somewhat annoyed by his incessant phone calls. I’d be annoyed too, honestly, if someone left a horse in my garden without seeking permission first.

I find her completely normal, so far, in the context of a kdrama heroine.

Sure, in real life it wouldn’t make sense for a woman to be so patient with a man that she thinks is crazy, but in this fantasy world, I think the various bits and pieces of “evidence” that what Lee Gon says might just be true, give her pause for thought, and that’s why she’s not throwing him in an asylum for being crazy, and still listening to what he has to say.

I don’t yet have an affection for her character, but that might change.

E3. I actually think Show is doing a reasonably good job of making Tae Eul more open to the idea that Lee Gon is telling the truth about coming from another world.

Bit by bit, as she becomes more bemused at how things don’t add up – like with his DNA test, and with how Maximus is such a rare breed that she shouldn’t exist in Korea because there’s no record of such a breed being brought in – she starts to wonder a little bit more, about the truth of his words.

E4. It seems fitting that Tae Eul’s job not only requires her to examine evidence in order to arrive at a conclusion, but also gives her access to investigative services that help to authenticate Lee Gon’s claims.

As she goes through piece after piece of evidence, the likelihood of Lee Gon telling the truth becomes more believable.

I really like the way Kim Go Eun plays Tae Eul’s response to this. It’s clear that her brain is rejecting the possibility, because it goes against everything that she knows and understands.

But her heart is increasingly persuaded, and I believe that’s why she increasingly gets tears in her eyes, as she considers the evidence.

Every time Tae Eul says something to Lee Gon along the lines of accusing him of making up stuff, I see it as her head talking.

And every time she hesitates and gets tears in her eyes, I see it as her heart responding to the truth that is taking shape before her.

E5. Now, about Tae Eul’s reaction to arriving in the Kingdom. I’d heard that her behavior is demanding, rough and generally off-putting, but I don’t find it that bad.

Yes, I’d prefer if she didn’t grab for the gun and then aim it at Lee Gon, but Kim Go Eun does add a nice layer of pathos to everything.

The hint of tears in her eyes, and the slight quiver in her voice both speak to the uncertainty, and, to some extent, fear that she’s feeling.

Additionally, while it’s illogical that she would seek out people by the names that they’re known by in her own world, since she already knows that alternates have their own names in the Kingdom, I rationalize that she’s really not quite thinking straight, in this very strange new reality that she’s experiencing.

And, I can understand why she would seek out the alternates. On the one hand, it’s to verify what she’s experiencing, and on the other hand, in the case of her mom, it’s to be able to see her again, alive and well, even if she’s living in a different world.

E6. I actually like how Tae Eul handles the unexpected meeting with Prime Minister Koo.

I mean, to express right away that she’s a fan, and also, that she’s not local and will be leaving soon, is diplomatic, vague and a smart way to allay any fears that Prime Minister Koo might have, which might drive her to.. unexpected behavior.

And, I think that if Gon had had more self-control, and hadn’t smiled at Tae Eul with such amused affection, and hadn’t put his arm around Tae Eul as they’d walked through the revolving doors, Prime Minister Koo’s hackles mightn’t have been so raised.

E11. Tae Eul’s big escape from her kidnappers is very dramatic and tense, and it definitely kept me on the edge of my seat, even though my brain knew that she’d make it out alive.

It’s quite trippy to realize that she was brought over to the Kingdom while unconscious, but it makes sense that Lee Rim would do that, since his aim to let Luna take over Tae Eul’s place.

It was pretty awesome to see Tae Eul’s training all come to the fore and stand her in good stead, so that she’s able to fight her way out of her prison, with enough wits about her to grab the car keys and drive away.

Plus, her ability to sharp-shoot her pursuers’ car tire while the car is going at high speed, is impressive too.

And then, her ability to throw down her attacker even after being knocked over by the truck’s impact with the phone booth is extra admirable, given how exhausted she is by then.

E8. We get our first longer look at Luna, and I must say that Kim Go Eun does a great job of portraying her. Credit to Kim Go Eun, Luna may look like Tae Eul, but even though both women are tough types, Luna feels completely different from Tae Eul.

Luna comes across as jaded, with her patience wearing thin, like she might turn around and kill you, if she gets ticked off just a little too much.

E11. I actually feel like Luna’s words to Lee Rim say a lot about her. She says she’s hurt by his words describing her sad life, and won’t be his ally. “I may use other people’s weaknesses, but I never poke others’ wounds.”

There’s a baseline of principles and compassion built in there, despite her amoral actions, and that’s more than I can say for Lee Rim.

E11. Luna comes across as a completely different person than Tae Eul, down to her very soul. And yet, her delivery doesn’t feel exaggerated to accentuate the differences between the two characters.

Her delivery leans organic and natural, and I like that a lot.

E13. I do find myself needing to rationalize Luna’s sudden show of emotion, this episode. Before this episode, she’s mostly been sardonic and impassive, but this episode, she actually looks sad, and maybe even guilty and wistful.

I rationalize that being confronted with the warm people who fill Tae Eul’s life makes her sad for herself, which is a reaction I prefer compared to anger, for example.

The OTP relationship: Lee Gon and Tae Eul

Overall, my experience with this OTP was.. an uneven one.

In past shows that I’ve watched by Kim Eun Sook, one of my usual beefs with her is connect-the-dots writing that clumsily strings together Big OTP Moments.

In this show, I don’t have that same beef, and I concede that there seems to have been a lot more thought put into building this drama world and figuring out how the different pieces are related, and how they affect one another.

However, the trade-off, it seems, is that the believability of the OTP connection in this show is even weaker than usual, and therefore, the Big OTP Moments all tended to fall rather flat for me.

At first, I tried to rationalize all the sudden feelings and intensity between our lead characters, but in the end, rationalization was futile; there was just no way to rationalize it all.

I had to accept that there is this Big Destined Love between the OTP, never mind that it sprung out of nowhere.

In terms of OTP chemistry, I mostly found it reasonably ok, though I wouldn’t say that it’s particularly sparky. In particular, I think the OTP chemistry would’ve been better in Show’s first half, if Lee Min Ho hadn’t been playing Lee Gon so laidback.

The laidback vibe takes away energy from his screen presence, and that doesn’t help him match Kim Go Eun’s energy onscreen, I think. On the upside, the OTP chemistry does get better later in the show, provided you’re on board with the whole idea of a Deep Destiny between our OTP.

E2. Lee Gon’s sudden decision to make Tae Eul his queen feels like it came out of left field.

I was ok with him being desperate to spend more time with her, since he’s been searching for her his whole life, almost, and I was also ok with him looking at her with some kind of burgeoning intent, since he’s been curious about her all this time.

But to suddenly have him announce that he wants her to be his queen feels very abrupt, to me. Am I supposed to think that he’s just fallen for her at first sight, pretty much? (Eventual answer: yes, that is exactly what Show expects me to think.)

E3. I am not fully convinced that Lee Gon loves Tae Eul with A Big, Deep, Destined Love, but, I’m willing to believe that he’s fascinated with her, and that fascination, combined with his curiosity about her for the past 25 years, is enough to make him unwilling to say goodbye to her.

E4. I must have a soft spot for the concept of a modern monarchy in Korea, which might have something to do with the fact that my gateway drama was Goong .

The sight of Lee Gon being acknowledged as king in front of Tae Eul is quite thrilling to me, and I’m looking forward to seeing Tae Eul witness the truth for herself, as Lee Gon shows her his world.

Also, I appreciate that Lee Gon doesn’t come across as proud or preening.

He’s considerate of Tae Eul and how shocked she feels, and his words, “See, I was right,” gently spoken, don’t sound like a taunt; it seems to me more like he’s asking for vindication from all her accusations of him being a liar.

I rather like that.

E5. It’s sweet of Lee Gon to sneak out of his room to keep Tae Eul company, because he guesses that she’d be scared to be by herself.

And, I thought it was cute that he’d let her follow him on his day, dressed as a security officer.

Plus, it was considerate of him to let her wander around on her own to satisfy her curiosity with Yeong on stand-by as her hidden guard, while escaping the boredom of following him around on his schedule.

On the downside, I felt like the kiss was a very sudden leap forward.

All this time, I’ve registered Lee Gon’s interest in Tae Eul as fascination and intrigue, and even though I accepted that he’s looking at her with a romantic sort of lens, I categorized it as more of interest and intention, something still young and as yet undeveloped.

So when he leans his head on her shoulder, and then moves to kiss her, in response to her remarks that he must not have dated before, that felt really strange, to me.

How exactly did we get from “oh look, we are showing each other our individual worlds – do you believe me now?” to “we’re dating now”?

It feels like there wasn’t much of anything in between those two stages, and I feel quite thrown by it.

E5. It seems that Show ending on a high, where Lee Gon gets to bask in his kingly stature, is becoming a bit of a pattern, since this is two episodes in a row now. But, I honestly can’t complain too much.

First of all, like I said, I seem to have a weakness for Korean modern monarchy stories, and secondly, there’s something swoony about a king who would singlemindedly suspend everything and change all his plans, and risk the royal image, for the sake of the woman he loves.

So even while I rolled my eyes a bit at how Lee Gon turns his helicopter around to swoop in to save stranded Tae Eul, I couldn’t help but swoon a little, as well.

E6. So it seems that the feelings between Lee Gon and Tae Eul are full-blown romantic, and mutual as well. I don’t feel it instinctively, meaning, I don’t think Show’s done that solid of a job teasing out the development of their mutual bond.

In order to keep enjoying this show, I’m going to rationalize that just as sharing a dangerous experience can accelerate the bonding between people, that the sharing of something as momentous as their world-tilting, world-hopping experience has accelerated the bonding between them.

For example, they are the only two people – that they know of, anyway – who have experienced both worlds, and therefore there’s a special solidarity there.

E6. Yeong being so alarmed and horrified at Gon’s open display of affection for Tae Eul in the helicopter is very amusing.

But I have to agree with Yeong’s unspoken dismay; given that Tae Eul’s existence and identity needs to be kept a secret, I can’t help feeling like Gon’s letting his royalty give him a false sense of confidence. He really should be more discreet; you never know who’s spying on you.

E6. I like that Gon knows his way around a kitchen, and made it a point to cook for Tae Eul, because he’d heard from Yeong that she hadn’t eaten much during the day. He’s very detailed and thoughtful, I have to admit.

I also like that while he cooks, they talk, and the conversation feels honest and personal. I like that Tae Eul starts to think empathetically about Gon’s experience in her world, musing that he must have felt lonely.

I also like that he immediately picks up on the fact that she must’ve been lonely that day, and moves to pat her on the head – although, he does it with his forehead coz his hands are busy, pfft.

E6. The running hug that Tae Eul gives Lee Gon, when he finally shows up again, is, again, hard for me to swallow. It feels like this relationship is vaulting over milestones like nobody’s business.

I am rationalizing that her recent discovery about her case being connected to the Kingdom and the royal family, has amped up her feelings of missing him, which themselves have been amplified by the unspecified long stretch of time in which he hasn’t visited.

I do have to admit that I feel bemused at having to rationalize the OTP connection so much. I shouldn’t have to do that, and yet, here we are.

E7. I do concede that Show attempts to explain the big leaps between relationship milestones, with Tae Eul’s remark that they don’t know when they’ll be able to see each other next, when she upgrades their skinship from handhold to having Gon’s arm around her.

E8. This episode, we get a voiceover from Tae Eul talking about how our decisions shape our fate, but sometimes fate chooses us – and she’s decided to love the fate that chose her.

I mean, it’s not a whole lot, but I am somewhat mollified that Show acknowledges that her love for Gon is basically sudden and unexplainable.

It’s just fate, and just as she is simply choosing to accept it, I get the idea that we are also invited to simply accept it.

Ok then. I’ll try to stop quibbling about this and just accept that Tae Eul and Gon are just Deeply In Love.

E9. I somehow find it rather endearing, that Tae Eul is jealous of the idea that Lee Gon might have made the steak with rice for Prime Minister Koo.

That’s a small petty jealousy that neither Tae Eul nor Lee Gon take seriously, and somehow the fact that it exists in the midst of all this dark treason talk – and that they can jest about it – gives me a mild sense of sweetness.

E11. Curiously, Tae Eul says in voiceover that she was able to tell that the Lee Gon who’d brought her flowers and then disappeared, was from another time, not just from another world. Interesting.

I guess we can put that down to lover’s instinct? Also, when she says that she probably made up her mind about a lot of things, in that moment, it’s interesting that she speaks the way Lee Gon speaks.

I’m no expert, but that sounds like the more formal courtly language that Lee Gon uses, rather than the way she usually speaks. Is that a hint of her decision?

E12. Ok, as I expected, Lee Gon was already looking for Tae Eul, and had harnessed all his people and technology to search for her.

It’s a nice touch that the detective who called Lee Gon had already been tasked to search for Luna, and had called Lee Gon, thinking that he’d found her.

I like the idea that Lee Gon is able to recognize Tae Eul, even though there’s someone who looks just like her.

E12. I do rather like that our OTP gets some cute couple time together, with Lee Gon remembering Tae Eul’s petty jealousy about whether he’d ever cooked rice for someone else while wearing his navy uniform, and doing just that, for her.

I mean, since the OTP was the main draw that was advertised, it only seems right that Show remembers to deliver on its promise, at least sometimes.

E12. In some ways, I feel like our OTP relationship vibes like some kind of arranged marriage, in that they come together very suddenly, almost like they’re at the mercy of an external force (in their case, Fate / Destiny, instead of Family), and it’s only afterwards, that they seem to get to know each other, a bit at a time.

That scene in front of the church feels that way, to me.

After all the big love declarations, they realize that they haven’t shared big pieces of themselves with each other; he tells her about his mother and how she’d died, and she tells him about hers.

E12. Well. I must say the kiss on the neck was unexpected. I found myself immediately looking at the top right hand corner of my screen, just to double-check what network this show aired on, ha. Bold move, SBS. That was quite sensuous and lovely.

I’m quite impressed by the fact that this scene managed to land with some feels for me, even though I have had a fair amount of struggle in rationalizing the speed and intensity of the development of this OTP relationship.

Or maybe I’ve come to accept that Lee Gon and Tae Eul really are just that in love. Whatever the case, I did believe Lee Gon’s longing and desire for Tae Eul, in this moment. Nicely done.

Jung Eun Chae as Prime Minister Koo

Prime Minister Koo is written as a character whose main goal is to snag the king as her husband. And I totally get why people would roll their eyes at this.

As a Prime Minister, it’s just not very businesslike at all, to flirt with the king. I agree with other viewers before me, that she would be much more interesting if there was more to her than her ambition to be queen.

On this point, I know that some viewers found it problematic that a female prime minister is portrayed as being man-hungry and flirtatious. I do think that Prime Minister Koo didn’t need to be made out to be man-hungry and flirtatious.

However, I also concede that women like her exist, and therefore, characters like her should be allowed to exist.

Importantly, Show doesn’t seem to be saying that her behavior is commendable; quite the opposite, in fact. And, because Show doesn’t say that it’s good and right and expected of her to behave this way, I’m ok with that.

Also, color me surprised, but I came away from my watch with a small measure of grudging admiration for PM Koo.

E2. I do find it rather disappointing that our Prime Minister of Corea is written as a man-hungry vamp who somehow managed to make it into office.

That remark that she made, about being dismayed because she’d thought that she’d be surrounded by handsome men after entering office, tells me everything I need to know about how writer-nim intends to position her.

That remark just makes her look like she has no smarts, competence, or any kind of political ambition, unless it has to do with her snagging a man.

She specifically has her sights set on Lee Gon, and it seems that all she cares about is how their photos turned out, and whether netizens feels that they make a cute couple.

E3. Although Prime  Minister Koo is set up to be a scheming man-hungry character, I do like that she is cognizant of the need to take public opinion on cabinet salary into consideration.

This is our first indication that she’s not just a man-crazy airhead who likes red lipstick, and I find that quite welcome.

E4. I’m actually quite pleased to see Prime Minister Koo actually overseeing national affairs, and asserting herself and demanding that her ministers do better.

I don’t know whether her political stance is benevolent or not, but I just like the idea that she knows what she’s talking about and isn’t just a pretty face.

E6. For all of Prime Minister Koo’s fixation on wanting to date Lee Gon, I find that she’s also a competent Prime Minister, and that’s important to me.

I like that even though she’s surrounded by people – mostly men – who seem to doubt her knowledge and her abilities, she’s quick to assert herself and prove them wrong.

E8. To Show’s credit, Prime Minister Koo’s brain doesn’t implode on realizing that Luna isn’t the same girl that she’d met before. I like that she asks the more logical question, of whether Luna has a twin.

This seems like a much more logical human conclusion, and I just like the idea that our characters can behave like normal human beings.

E9. While I don’t exactly like that Prime Minister Koo is written to covet the position of Queen, “because there’s no limited term for the Queen,” I have to admit that I rather like how she owns her ambition.

The way she puts it to her ex-husband (Tae In Ho), that she’s simply being sincere with her emotions, and that greed is the most sincere emotion, is so frank and unapologetic.

From the way she describes it, she has a habit of getting what she sets her mind to, and that makes her come across as quite capable, really. Wanna be an announcer? Done.

Wanna marry a chaebol? Done. Wanna be Prime Minister? Why not? Done.

So.. why not be Queen?

There’s something quite badass about her bold, unabashed manner. She doesn’t care what other people think or say; she just wants what she wants, and focuses herself on her goal, while blocking out the naysayers.

I may not like what she sets her mind to do, but the chutzpah and audacity is quite admirable.

E13. I’m not entirely surprised that Prime Minister Koo decides to set herself against Lee Gon, since all her efforts to become his queen have failed. The only other way to her goal, then, is to replace him, basically.

I’m wondering why she (presumably) killed her alternate while in the Republic. I’m guessing it was for insurance, so that Lee Rim wouldn’t have the option of replacing her.

That makes the most sense to me.

Lee Jung Jin as Lee Rim

I thought Lee Jung Jin does a nice job of being our resident baddie. Show makes Lee Rim a bit of a larger-than-life sort of villain, and Lee Jung Jin delivers an appropriately theatrical performance.

As a villain, Lee Rim is consistent mainly in one thing: he’s evil. In terms of his smarts, he’s sometimes presented as pretty sharp, but at other times, he sometimes comes across as not that sharp after all.

I honestly don’t feel like a whole lot of thought was put into crafting his character.

For me, he remained a two-dimensional sort of villain, there just to fulfill the role of the Big Bad that our story needed.

STUFF I LIKED

Kim Kyung Nam as Shin Jae

You guys. I am not exaggerating when I say that Kim Kyung Nam is my favorite thing about this show, hands down.

Even though Shin Jae is a supporting character, and often doesn’t have a lot of lines to speak, in Kim Kyung Nam’s hands, he has a way of consistently grabbing my heart and not letting go.

To my eyes, he literally stole every scene that he was in, with his heartfelt, nuanced and layered delivery of Shin Jae.

He basically didn’t actually need dialogue, to communicate to us in a detailed manner, exactly how Shin Jae felt, at any given moment. So good.

I would watch an entire drama with Shin Jae as its protagonist – provided he’s played by Kim Kyung Nam, of course. ❤️

E3. Unsurprisingly, Kim Kyung Nam already has me by the heart, with his underdog set-up and his mournful longing wistful gazes in Tae Eul’s direction.

A lot of the reason Shin Jae is working for me as a character, is because of how Kim Kyung Nam is playing him.

Somehow, he just pops for me, and I feel his discomfort at having a handsome stranger hang around Tae Eul, whom he’s been quietly crushing on, for years.

E4. Shin Jae’s arc really hits me right in the heart.

That scene where he gets so frustrated with his mom (Hwang Young Hee) for gambling, and for playing into the gambling house’s hands, is heartbreaking. It’s clear that he feels deeply conflicted, and it’s also obvious that it pains him to have to choose between his duty and his mom.

I feel gutted for him, as he steps aside to allow the raid officers to take everyone in – his mom included. Plus, we learn that he’s been experiencing nightmares, and had gone to consult a therapist.

Poor Shin Jae. My heart really goes out to him. I want to comfort him with ice cream and hugs.

E5. Poor Shin Jae. He’s all alone this episode, and I feel extra lonely for him, because he’s feeling down about having just allowing his mother to be arrested, and yet, Tae Eul’s not answering his text, and has even gone off with Lee Gon.

He looks quietly disappointed about that realization, and I want to stroke his hair and offer to keep him company.

With everything Chief Detective Park (Park Won Sang) had been telling his wife about how Shin Jae had asked him to have a drink with him, I’d thought that at least Shin Jae would be getting some company.

So I’m quite bummed when Chief Detective Park reaches out to Shin Jae – only to ask him to be his alibi for the evening.

Aw. There’s a distinct sadness in Shin Jae’s eyes that makes me want him to be surrounded by people who love him, always.

E6. Every time Shin Jae has a flashback, he makes my heart squeeze. That scene of him getting beaten up by 6 other boys back in high school, is heartbreaking. Why would they do that to him?

Tae Eul’s quite the hero, getting involved, calling the police, then beating up all of the boys and saving Shin Jae, then inviting him back to the judo academy, so that she can teach him.

I can see why Shin Jae’s got his heart firmly fixed on her; he’s like a baby duckling that’s glommed onto the mother duck who’s saved him. Aw.

E8. We get a big reveal this episode, that Shin Jae is actually from the Kingdom, and is the son of the palace worker who’s his mom’s alternate. And his bio mom turns out to be the spy who’s putting information in the book at the bookstore.

Poor Shin Jae. His entire world is spinning right now. What a revelation to have: that your entire life in Korea has been a lie, basically.

Kim Kyung Nam plays Shin Jae’s complicated emotions so well. His expression, as he eats dinner with his mother after getting her out of the holding cell, is a mix of sadness, resignation, wistfulness, helplessness and hopelessness.

I can feel that he dearly wishes things would be different, but knows that they are unlikely to be, and feels really sad about how things will likely turn out.

And his expression is so perfect, as his new realizations and old, forgotten memories collide and cause his entire world to spin.

I can feel his mind going at a mile a minute, all the cogs working overtime, trying to piece things together in a way that makes sense, and yet, he’s unwilling to embrace the conclusions that his brain is coming to, and can only reel from the shock and disbelief in the moment.

Oof. I feel so bad for Shin Jae, in this moment. He’s already struggling with his life, and now, he’s realizing that he’s got a whole other dimension to worry about, too.

E9. I feel for Shin Jae, who’s hiding away from Tae Eul, and trying to drink himself to oblivion – and failing. He even goes to the therapist, to try to get a prescription to help him sleep. Poor guy. He looks so quietly tortured. I just want to give him a hug.

E10. The quiet angst in Shin Jae’s eyes, even as he tells Tae Eul what he knows about his background, makes me feel for him, so much.

How overwhelming it must be, to realize that your entire life is likely a lie, and that you’ve been plucked from your true home, and planted in a different universe, for some kind of political reason probably rooted in treacherous conspiracy?

I appreciate him for having the courage to be vulnerable and share this with Tae Eul, rather than keep everything to himself.

The plaintive lost-little-boy way in which he looks at Tae Eul, and the slight occasional wobble in his voice, as he admits, with tears rising in his eyes, that he’s not sure who he is, and asks if she’ll welcome him, is so heart-pinching.

I love that Tae Eul hugs him and cries with him, in this moment. She doesn’t need explanations; she’s more interested in his well-being, and I really appreciate that.

E13. I rather like the grudging partnership that’s forming between Yeong and Shin Jae. Shin Jae wants nothing to do with him, but there’s a growing mutual respect and acknowledgment between them that I like.

And even though Shin Jae says he doesn’t want information on anything, Yeong knows, without Shin Jae’s admission, that he’d be curious about his mother. Aw.

E13. Shin Jae’s all messed up from the encounter with Luna, because he’d been thinking of Tae Eul, coming from his conversation with Yeong, and then he’d believed he’d been kissed by Tae Eul, only to be told, seconds later, that it was Luna.

That’s quite the rollercoaster, and I can understand him needing a time-out. I’m annoyed with Luna for messing with him, and I want to comfort him and rub his back, to help him get over the shock. Poor Shin Jae.

Woo Do Hwan as Yeong / Eun Sup

Woo Do Hwan was my second-most favorite thing in this drama, after Kim Kyung Nam.

I thought he did a very solid job of toggling his two very different characters, Yeong and Eun Sup.

Even though I feel like his delivery of Eun Sup could have been handled with more restraint (more details in the spoiler section), I was impressed with Woo Do Hwan’s wide acting range. I believe this is the most range I’ve seen from him in a single drama, to date.

Even though it was quite a hoot to see Woo Do Hwan embracing physical comedy and spouting Satoori as Eun Sup, my favorite thing about his performance, was when he’d inject Yeong’s stoic expression with small flecks of emotion.

I thought that was really nicely done, and I felt that perhaps showcased his acting skill more than his performance as Eun Sup.

E1. I am suitably amused that Precocious Crybaby grows up to be the very decorous and rather stiff Captain of the Royal Guard. Dare I hope that he’s still got some of that precocious crybaby inside of him?

E2. Woo Do Hwan’s doing a nice job toggling his very different roles, and I think part of the fun is just seeing him be Eun Sup, all bubbly and spouting Satoori.

I do like Yeong’s seriousness and his dedication to his job, and the fact that he’s kind of a celeb among the people, for being Captain of the Royal Guard, amuses me.

E7. I did quite enjoy the comedy around Yeong meeting Eun Sup, especially when Eun Sup muses with wonder that he’s quite handsome after all, and Yeong quizzically asks if he really hadn’t known that, since people around him would’ve surely told him so. Ha.

I also appreciate extra, Woo Do Hwan’s portrayal of Yeong this episode. Even though he still plays Yeong mostly as stoic and expressionless, there are distinct nuances that we can see, in the fluctuations in his gaze.

The exasperation morphing into fearful concern, as he verbally wrestles with Lee Gon over their combined trip between worlds, just makes my heart go out to him.

Poor Yeong; he’s trying to grapple with so much new and weird information, while trying to do his job in protecting Lee Gon.

E8. Ha. Eun Sup going undercover as Yeong, and getting busted when Gon calls on Yeong to fight off the bunch of gangsters, is quite funny. Gon fighting them off himself is cool to watch; he’s got such a sharp way of wielding his riding crop. Yeong flying in to take them all down, is badass.

But what steals the entire scene, is Yeong breaking into Satoori, in order to make the detectives believe that he’s Eun Sup. Lol. That was unexpected. But I can believe that Yeong is smart enough to have thought ahead of the possible need for a cover, and quick enough, to pick up Satoori so quickly.

E9. Yeong might be good at going undercover as Eun Sup, but I can’t say the same for Eun Sup. His efforts to act like Yeong are terribly stilted.

Also, the more they play with this idea of Eun Sup and Yeong switching places, the more we see the limitations in Woo Do Hwan’s delivery, I feel like. When Eun Sup and Yeong were kept clearly separate, his delivery of both characters felt solid, distinct, and entertaining.

But here, when he’s required to mesh the two together into different permutations, with Eun Sup pretending to be Yeong and vice versa, I feel like we can see the struggle to create shades of Yeong in Eun Sup’s disguise, that feel like Yeong but are not Yeong, which requires more nuance and skill than I think Woo Do Hwan is perhaps ready to deliver.

As a result, we get a lot of overacting from Eun Sup, which I personally find rather cringey to watch.

But, I rationalize that maybe this level of overacting is exactly what PD-nim asked for..?

E10. Eun Sup is an earnest dearheart, for literally putting his life on the line to protect Lee Gon, all because Jo Yeong had promised to protect Eun Sup’s siblings the same way. Aw.

E12. I hate to say it, but I find Eun Sup quite caricature-y, in delivery. I know he’s supposed to be a comedic character, and more theatrical than Yeong, but there’s something about how Woo Do Hwan’s playing him, that makes him feel more cartoony than real.

I think if Eun Sup could’ve been portrayed with a touch more restraint, while retaining his exaggerated style in essence, that would’ve worked better. This OTT delivery is distracting, I feel.

But, it is still rather amusing that Eun Sup is doing such a terrible job at acting like Yeong, and still gets so pleased with himself, thinking he’s rocking the Yeong persona.

Special shout-out:

Kim Young Ok as Court Lady Noh

I basically think Kim Young Ok is great, and I mostly love her in anything she does, so it comes as no surprise that I really enjoyed watching her as Court Lady Noh.

Court Lady Noh’s exasperated fussing over Lee Gon felt so motherly; given that Lee Gon is a character who’s grown up without his mom, this was very sweet to see.

STUFF I DIDN’T LIKE SO MUCH

Show’s handling of where we are in terms of universe & time

In terms of what I’d like Show to do better, I wish Show would be clearer in terms of, 1, which universe we are in, in any given moment, and 2, the passage of time.

Switching worlds

Oftentimes, when we start a new scene having switched worlds, I find myself having to cast about madly for clues as to where we are, before I find a piece of information that helps me get my bearings.

This feels disorientating, and if done on purpose to increase viewer immersion in some way, then I think it’s unnecessary and ineffective, because I find it more distracting than immersive.

It doesn’t happen all the time, but it happens enough that I furrow my brow and want to give someone a Good Talk about why it doesn’t work.

The passage of time

We’re often not told how much time has passed between story milestones, and I found this confusing and unhelpful.

For example, towards the end of episode 4, three or so weeks pass from the time Tae Eul applies for her new ID, but we don’t actually know it, until we’re told that it’s the 11th of November.

That makes me wonder at how long has passed between Lee Gon’s first visit and his second one, but.. I really have no clue.

In drama time, it feels like mere days, but now, I know it’s been at least three weeks. Maybe more. Maybe quite a lot more.

But Show isn’t clear on this, and while it’s not a deal-breaker, it does niggle at me.

Alongside this, I experienced trouble placing characters, especially characters that don’t appear much, and then have a change of appearance because they’re now in a different timeline.

In episode 4, I was utterly confused this episode, when Lee Rim visited Jeong Hye.

First of all, I wasn’t clear which world he was in, and then, I couldn’t place her because so much time had passed since we saw this character, that she was being played by a different, older actress. I had to do some searching online, in order to figure out who she was.

That’s really not helpful either.

One more thing

One thing that Show does sometimes, that I kinda wish it wouldn’t. There are times when Show mashes up a scene to include people from two different worlds, in apparently the same space.

We saw that with Lee Gon and Tae Eul in the library in episode 4, and then in episode 5, we see it with Tae Eul and Shin Jae, in Shin Jae’s old neighborhood.

For a while, Show had me going, thinking that Tae Eul had come face to face with Shin Jae’s alternate, but it just turned out to be Shin Jae in Korea, crossing the same road as Tae Eul in the Kingdom.

I found this confusing, and it made me feel like Show was messing with me on purpose. Since it doesn’t really serve any real purpose, except for maybe a “clever” way to switch scenes, I would rather Show not do that.

Show keeps up this vague and confusing treatment of universe and time all the way through to the end, and the deeper I got into my watch, the more confusing it felt, because we’d toggle between the two worlds so much, that I’d start to get confused over where I was at any given moment.

And it really didn’t help that we had multiple doppelgängers walking around, on top of it all. *Grumble*

Logic stretches, lapses & unanswered questions

As promised, here’s a collection of the things that made me raise my eyebrows during my watch.

Some of them are mere logic stretches, which only niggled at me, and which were easy enough to shrug off. Some of them are, I think, actual plot holes or logic lapses, and then a bunch of them are questions that Show disappointingly doesn’t provide answers for.

As a general rule, I found that things felt messier in our later episodes compared to our earlier ones.

If you have answers to any of the questions I’ve listed, feel free to share your insights in the comments!

E5. Stretch: I was admittedly a little thrown by the Mysterious Pink Sunset In-between Place that is apparently between the entrances of the two worlds.

I think it’s hard to accept because from the way Lee Gon exits this world and then comes galloping into the other one, it looks like the portal is a direct entryway.

But, since this is fantasy, and Lee Gon’s already stated that this Pink Place can’t be explained by science, I’ll just roll with it. I’m guessing that this Pink Place will have more narrative significance later; otherwise, why create it at all, right?

At the same time, that whole balloon thing makes me imagine Lee Gon riding into the portal holding a balloon to release while he’s the Pink Place, and that’s a very ludicrous mental image that I wish Show could’ve spared me, ha.

E5. Stretch: Turns out Maximus is at least 25 years old, and horses that age shouldn’t be ridden regularly.

Now I feel uncomfortable at the thought that Lee Gon made Maximus take the weight of two riders, and, after making mention of her old age, gets her to take her two riders to the stable, at a bit of a gallop.

Why, though? A gentle trot would’ve seemed more suitable, given his concern.

E6. Stretch: So I get that Gon took Tae Eul through the portal to the Pink Place and let her go on her own from there.

But.. I do find it hard to believe that with a possible threat of war imminent, that Gon could have taken time to escort her to the bamboo forest, without everyone else throwing a fit.

How would he have explained it? “My guest will be leaving via the bamboo forest; I’ll be right back after escorting her there”?

E7. Unanswered: With regard to Rim’s slow-aging because he’s in possession of half of the flute, wouldn’t it make sense that Gon would also experience slow aging?

However, so far, that doesn’t seem to be the case?

E7. Stretch: I find it a bit silly, that people in our story react so strongly to seeing people with the same faces. They go straight to mind implosion, skipping over more normal explanations like lost twins, and doppelgängers, which are an actual thing in this world.

That seems a bit of a stretch, to me, especially since there’ve been viral stories of people bumping into their doppelgängers.

E9. Unanswered: What is this, about Lee Gon watching a video off Yeong’s laptop, that seems to be from the future?

And why does the lightning in that video activate the pain in his shoulder? This is something new. Also, how did that video get on Yeong’s laptop to begin with?

E10. Unanswered: Why is Tae Eul suddenly crying so much this episode? Is there a reason that hasn’t been revealed, or are we to simply assume that all this long distance loving is getting to her?

Her tears at Lee Gon’s return at the beginning of the episode felt like they came out of left field. I mean, she was outright sobbing and clinging onto his jacket.

Her tears at the end of the episode, when she sees Lee Gon in the garden, and he gives her flowers, are just as dramatic.

I feel like we are not given enough access into Tae Eul’s emotional landscape, so while she may have a perfectly good reason for crying so much, or, there’s a perfectly logical progression of her emotions to back it up, we are not privy to it, and I am left feeling rather blindsided by her tears.

E10. Unanswered: How did Lee Gon know to go to Haeundae to meet / lure Lee Rim? Or, if he went to Haeundae to lure Lee Rim out, rather than hunt him down, how did he know that Lee Rim would go to where the king was announced to be?

Or was there an equal possibility that Lee Rim would have hidden from him and avoided Haeundae, and Lee Gon was just taking a chance?

E10. Logic lapse: What is this about Eun Sup’s internal organs being protected by his bulletproof vest, but he’s suffered muscle and ligament damage?

I thought he was shot in the shoulder? There are no internal organs there?

E10. Stretch: How is it that Prime Minister Koo could become Prime Minister despite having an ex-husband in jail? I guess the Kingdom is very understanding of such connections..?

E11. Logic lapse: I get that Lee Rim’s offering Luna a new life by way of stealing Tae Eul’s, but what about Luna being terminally ill? Switching lives doesn’t change that.

What’s the point of switching lives, if Luna’s going to die anyway, and soon?

E11. Unanswered: What’s the reason that Prince Buyeong’s son cannot stay in the Kingdom, nor be considered as a potential successor to the throne?

Did he do something against the throne in the past, or is this some kind of royal protocol?

E11. Unanswered: How curious, that apparently Prince Buyeong knew that his trip to the bookstore would be a hint to Lee Gon. What did Prince Buyeong know about the bookstore?

Also, if that is the case, he seemed to expect that Lee Rim would come for his life?

E11. Stretch: The scene of Luna cutting her hair and preparing to take over Tae Eul’s life, is quite trippy, because in this scene, finally, Luna is starting to look more like Tae Eul.

I do think that part of the effect is achieved by altering how the skin makeup is done for Luna.

Previously, her skin looked all rough and freckled, but now, it seems more even. That’s kind of a stretch.

E11. Unanswered+logic lapse: Why do the streets of the Kingdom look so completely deserted? It feels like some kind of dystopian future.

Also, it is odd that everyone shows up on horseback wielding swords. It’s not like swords are the default weapon of the Kingdom, since Yeong carries around a gun instead of a sword.

I went back to check, and the gang of men is literally running around carrying swords too.

Ahahaha. This is quite funny, seriously. Why are they running around with swords? Surely they aren’t all running towards Tae Eul to stab her?

E11. Unanswered: Who is yo-yo boy, really? Increasingly, he’s coming across as some sort of neutral, almost deity-like presence.

There’s the way that he keeps saying cryptic things whenever he appears, and seems to be a neutral observer of events without much or any emotion, and then there’s the way he says that there is only one of him (and he’s been in both realms – how?), and the way he tells Tae Eul that he’s helping her because of a need to restore balance.

Who is he? And is he even human?

E12. Unanswered: Lee Rim is basically forcing Jeong Hye to stay alive, despite her efforts to end her own life. He says at the end of the episode, that she’s the best bait because she shares the face of his nephew’s mother.

But.. why does he ask her about the lightning scars? I mean, why would he think she knows? I thought he’d know more about it, since he’s the one who’s been traveling back and forth between worlds?

Also, why does he keep visiting her, even though she hates his guts? Did he used to love her alternate or something?

E12. Unanswered: I find it interesting that Tae Eul doesn’t tell Gon about their other meeting, when he’d come to her with flowers.

Why not, though? If they’re in this together and trying to figure things out, surely sharing information is better than withholding it?

E13. Unanswered: Why does Luna kiss Shin Jae? I mean, I know he’s a handsome man, but this feels like it came out of nowhere?

E13. Logic lapse: I don’t understand why PM Koo digging into information regarding the traitors is considered treason?

Looking for them doesn’t imply anything about her intentions? An investigator could look for them too?

Show’s heavy-handed with the PPL

Y’know, I’d heard that the PPL is at an unreasonable level in this show, and while the PPL in Show’s first half is quite a lot, it feels particularly aggressive past Show’s halfway mark.

The PPL is often accompanied with actual lines said in favor of featured products. During my watch, I felt like I was running into a featured product every few minutes, almost.

I know this is a very expensive production and so they need more PPL to pay the bills, but this really is A LOT. 😳 And it’s distracting.

SPOTLIGHT ON EPISODE 14 [SPOILERS]

This was a very solid episode that I enjoyed a lot. Everything gets mind-bendy in a good way, and I’m surprised by how engaged I felt.

It almost-sorta feels like Show was keeping its best ammunition for its later episodes, because where most shows tend to slump in the later stretch, this one actually feels like it’s becoming stronger. I mean, there are things that are still unclear to me, but I felt the thrill of this episode, and I’ll count that as a big plus.

I like that we finally get to see Lee Gon go back to save himself. The twist, that Lee Rim goes with him – and the reveal, that the portals they are using, are different and run parallel to each other – was very interesting, I thought.

The new bit of information, that when the flute is whole, the time axis opens up, is interesting too. I also find it macabrely poetic, that Lee Rim dies by his own sword – wielded by his suspicious younger self. I guess younger Lee Rim just decides that he won’t go back in time, when he reaches 70?

How interesting, that Lee Gon meets Court Lady Noh, while at the scene. No wonder Court Lady Noh has seemed to know much more than she lets on, all this time.

I like how Lee Gon figures out that with only half the flute, he can only travel laterally, and therefore goes to the Republic to meet young Tae Eul, in order to give her a message via a new created memory.

I rather dig this idea of the new memory forming in present Tae Eul’s mind, thus clueing her in to where (and when) Lee Gon is.

I get this new memory forming thing is unique to this show, ie, most other shows dealing with time travel would probably not allow the characters to be cognizant of new memories forming, or would at least have an explanation for why they’d be able to recognize that these are new memories, but I like the effect enough to just accept that it can happen in this world, and just roll with it.

However, I’m really curious to know how Lee Gon is managing to travel through time, the rest of the episode. It’s not like he suddenly has more flute on him.

And what does he mean when he says that the flute’s cracks are deepening? Is it because the other half disintegrated when Lee Rim died?

Despite not knowing that (yet, I hope?), I actually really enjoyed watching Lee Min Ho this hour. When Lee Gon is intense and focused, he’s much more interesting.

Also, I found it interesting to see how his time traveling and message-leaving creates differences in events that have already happened. The way Tae Eul reacts to his episode 1 arrival at Gwanghwamun Square is quite different, and this time, she’s the one hugging him, not the other way around.

My question, though, is why she does that? Can she actually sense the urgency of Future Tae Eul, who’s telling her to grab onto him? Can all this memory-leaving flow backwards..?

It dawned on me just before it dawned on Shin Jae, that the patient in the room was his alternate.

I appreciate that we find out what happened to Original Shin Jae, and how Lee Rim had made the deal with Original Shin Jae’s father because he’d wanted to buy the care center in order to have a place to store inconvenient dead bodies.

I thought Shin Jae’s reaction to seeing his alternate on the hospital bed was quite perfect. There’s shock, disbelief, and a sense of being overwhelmed, both mentally and emotionally. Kim Kyung Nam’s great.

He pulls me into every scene, and it feels so organic and effortless.

SPOTLIGHT ON THE PENULTIMATE EPISODE [SPOILERS]

Watching this penultimate episode, I feel like I’m at a crossroads and need to make a choice.

The choice to try to analyze Show’s internal logic and attempt to makes sense of it all, or the choice to surrender to the story that Show wants to tell, and not think too hard about whether the narrative pieces actually add up.

I’ll say that I watched this episode with my analytical lens set to very blurry, and even then, I can tell you that this episode skips around the various timelines like it’s tapdancing between them for dear life, and it is very whiplashy.

Every couple of minutes, we change scenes, and I find myself floundering, trying to get a clue as to where we are in our timeline, and which set of characters I’m seeing on my screen, not just in terms of which world we’re in, but which time we’re in, and which Lee Gon I’m watching; the 2020 one who traveled back in time to try to stop Lee Rim, or Original Lee Gon, who’d crossed over to the Republic.

It’s all very confusing, especially when that scene-switching, timeline-switching, character-switching sort of thing is done every couple of scenes.

I didn’t think very hard this episode, and I still felt tired by the time I got to the end.

And even then, I have a sneaking suspicion that logic takes a beating this episode.

Let me just throw a few questions out there, before I effectively shut down the analytical part of my mind to try a more visceral angle with this episode.

1. Show still doesn’t explain how Gon travels through time with just half the flute. How did he get back to 2020 with only half a flute?

Are we ever going to get an answer on this? My best guess is that he just spent a lot of time in the In Between Place, where time stands still, and waited for real time to pass, outside of it?

2. If Lee Gon had always gone back to save himself that night, that means that Lee Rim would’ve always gone back with him, since the whole flute is needed for time travel.

If Lee Rim survives past that point of going back, which is what we see in the updated present, doesn’t it mean that he didn’t go back, this last round, as he was supposed to?

Wouldn’t that have broken the cycle and prevented Lee Gon from saving himself, and therefore changed everything in the present?

3. If Lee Gon has the whole flute in his possession, why does he still need the flute to cry, in order to bring him back to the night of treason?

4. Why does Gon have to think of his second attempt at stopping Lee Rim as a suicide mission? He’s traveled through the portal with other people before.

As smart as he is, why didn’t he think to take Yeong with him, to ensure his own survival, while taking down Lee Rim? It all seems overly dramatic for nothing?

5. If PM Koo cares so much about her mother’s safety, why didn’t she try to get her to a safer location, rather than just give her a code word?

But ok, I concede that once I take all these questions, put them firmly in a box and shove it all out of the way, Show does manage a rather viscerally affecting watch.

Poetry without the need for prose (or sense-making), if you will.

The emotional scenes this episode did manage to land quite nicely for me, even though sometimes it felt like there was little context for it.

First of all, Lee Gon’s reunion with Tae Eul is tearful and full of pent-up emotion, and their desperation and relief at seeing each other again, kinda works, even though part of my brain is (a) still confused about the details (which I’m trying not to think about), and (b) still not fully convinced of their epic love (but ok, I’ve decided to just accept it).

And, although I don’t think Lee Gon needs to think of his mission as a suicide one, I can appreciate the dread and wistfulness of the prospect of saying goodbye to Tae Eul again, without a guarantee that he’ll ever see her again.

The emotional goodbye between Yeong and Eun Sup took me by surprise, because we’ve had very little context for this. And, it also seems quite sudden to me, that they would be looking at this goodbye as a forever goodbye as well.

(This idea of forever goodbye seems to basically take over the entire episode, without warning, and I do feel a little confused by it.)

But, the tears in both their eyes sell the moment for me, and I quickly rationalize that they must have become quite fond of each other, while being together in the Republic for this unspecified period of time. Yeong dropping his things and moving in for the hug, is also pretty significant, since he’s always been the more stoic one.

I also appreciate that Shin Jae gets to meet his real mother and ask her about whether she’d lost him or abandoned him, because it’s a question that haunts him.

Poor Shin Jae looks so broken and hurt, even as he looks as her, that I just want to pluck him out of both worlds, and put him somewhere safe and happy where no one will hurt him again.

As for the interrogation scene where Lee Rim is held in custody, out of curiosity, I went back to episode 1, to where we start our story, because that scene is apparently from the same incident, since Tae Eul and Lee Rim are wearing the same clothes.

And it occurs to me that immediately, Show doesn’t make sense, because why would Shin Jae have a record of Lee Rim in the Republic, if Lee Rim only exists in the Kingdom??

But in episode 1, Shin Jae holds a record of Lee Rim, printed on paper that has an emblem of the Republic, and questions him on why he doesn’t look 70 years old, even though he’s born in 1951.

Dang. I’d hoped that this was a show that would make more sense when revisited, not less.

But anyway, ok. The ramping up of everything to prepare for a final showdown is appropriately dramatic and emotional, and while I find it a bit of a stretch that Tae Eul would trust Luna enough to let her live in her place while she purportedly puts her own life on the line for the sake of her love for Gon, I appreciate that Yeong refuses to let Gon go alone.

That’s deep loyalty, and I dig that. And, much as I’m kind of not super confident that Show will wrap up its logical threads in a satisfying fashion in its finale, I’m still in, for the emotional ride.

THOUGHTS ON THE ENDING [SPOILERS]

I think this finale is definitely a case of: your mileage may vary.

If you’re hoping that this finale will answer all of your questions about time- and dimension-travel, then I’m afraid you are likely to be disappointed.

But, if you’re focusing more on the emotional journey and are ok to rationalize what you can, and let go of what you can’t, this finale could work quite nicely for you.

Personally, I was surprised to find myself enjoying this finale quite well. I think that keeping a flexible lens has helped me a great deal, in my quest to enjoy this show to the maximum of my ability.

While I did say earlier in this review, that Show shifts its focus in the middle stretch, to emphasize the time- and dimension-traveling and Lee Rim’s treacherous plans, in this last stretch, I find that Show shifts the focus back to the emotional experience of the OTP.

Even in the midst of this finale’s action scenes, I feel like what Show cares about – and what Show wants us as an audience to care about – is the emotions of our characters, rather than the mechanics of the magic flute &/or the ripple effects of the time- and dimension-hopping.

I thought it was quite a waste of time for Yeong and Gon to argue over who would go to Cheonjongo to face off with Lee Rim and his men; I always thought it made more sense for them to go together, to ensure young Lee Gon’s survival, and to fight shoulder-to-shoulder, against the traitors.

For the record, I did think it was kind of odd that Lee Gon just left the Four Tiger Sword by the palace back gate.

I mean, it’s precious and royal, and it would make more sense to me if Gon had taken it with him.

But, I was pleased that I got what I wanted in the end, and Yeong and Gon make a cool dual hero entrance, guns blazing in unison. Nice.

My heart fell to the ground when Yeong got shot multiple times (where is that amazing Kingdom bulletproof vest in this scene, huh?) and I thought Gon had left him to die.

Happily, Gon goes back for him – after hunting down Lee Rim, and sentencing him to beheading for treason, which Gon then carries out himself.

(Technically Gon only slits his throat, but I guess it’s hard to detach Rim’s head for the scene, ha.)

As for Tae Eul and Lee Rim in the In-Between Place, I rationalize that once Lee Gon succeeds in securing the whole flute, that somehow, the two In-Between Places (darn, I should’ve come up with a better name), which I now reason must have been previously separated because the flute had been chopped in half, now merge into one, and time and space start to function again, when the flute functions as a whole.

I rationalize that that’s why Tae Eul is able to shoot Lee Rim, and I rationalize that this is also why Tae Eul is able to retain her memories of Lee Gon.

It seems to me that those who were dimension-hopping while history was being changed, are not affected by a memory reset. Gon, Yeong and Tae Eul all retain their memories of the original timeline.

Shin Jae tells his mom the truth about her real son, and takes her to see him. Mom kinda goes berserk for a bit, and rails against (our) Shin Jae, blaming him for everything.

Poor Shin Jae. But Mom makes up for it all, when she chases him down and hugs him, crying that she’s sorry, and that it’s not his fault, and that he’s her son too.

Aw. The tears running down Shin Jae’s face tell me that this is the very thing that he’s ached to hear, all his life. Poor baby.

Thereafter, things get pretty trippy.

First of all, we’re still not told who Yo-yo Kid is, but we see him grow up in an apparent instant, and hear him say in voiceover, as he looks at the red string of his yo-yo, “I thought this would break. But it sprouted instead. The door will close, and only the memories will remain.”

And then, we see scenes of Yo-yo Kid at various ages, appearing in various locations, blending in with the crowd. “Should I break it? Or just let it be?”

I.. do not understand. This is very obtuse, especially for a mainstream drama, and I do not even have a good guess as to who Yo-yo Kid is supposed to be, or what he’s supposed to represent. Fate? A deity? A time- and dimension-traveling wizard? No one will ever know.

Also, we never do get an explanation for the scene in episode 10, where a time-traveling Lee Gon visits Tae Eul with flowers. What was that supposed to be about?

This, I consider negative trippy.

On a more positive note, I thought it was quite a positive trippy thing, to see how everyone’s lives turned out, in both dimensions, after Gon changed the course of history by killing Lee Rim and stopping his treacherous plans.

Some key things change, but notably, some things remain roughly the same. For example, Seong Jae (Lee Rim’s alternate) survives, but Jeong Hye’s husband still gets killed (except it’s presumably not by Lee Rim, since Lee Rim’s dead).

This makes me feel like some things are just meant to be, with or without human interference.

Hyun Min (our Shin Jae) and his mom are, again, saved from a watery death, but this time, it’s Prince Buyeong that stops the double suicide. Kid Luna tries to steal from Koo Seo Ryung’s (PM Koo) mother fish shop, but ends up getting adopted instead, and grows up well, and becomes a police officer – who works alongside Hyun Min.

Aw. I do love that little detail, that she calls him “Hyung-nim” just like Tae Eul used to do, with Shin Jae.

We also see that it’s Luna (now named Seo Gyeong) and not Tae Eul who’d appeared in the CCTV footage walking past the bookstore – but I still question how that footage had made its way to Yeong’s laptop. That’s something we never find out.

Apparently, Luna in this version of events doesn’t suffer from cancer, and is a much more well-adjusted individual, yay. It’s Seo Ryung who ends up in prison for stealing taxpayers’ money as an Assemblywoman, and it’s her former secretary who ends up as her correctional officer, hur.

Also, Lee Ji Hun (Lee Gon’s alternate), who’d been killed by Lee Rim in the original timeline, grows up to be a fine, well-decorated military man.

In the meantime, Lee Gon travels in search of Tae Eul, because, as it turns out, there are multiple worlds, not just two, and in each one, a version of Tae Eul exists.

This.. feels like it’s being thrown at us kind of last minute, but I’ll rationalize that this is something that Gon discovers only now, because the flute is finally whole, and its powers are only able to function at their full capacity when it is whole.

After traversing many worlds and visiting many versions of Tae Eul, he finally finds her, and their reunion is tearful and emotional.

Lee Gon and Tae Eul continue their romance by continuing their day-jobs during the week, and then spending their weekends dimension-hopping, popping into whatever timeline or dimension the portal spits them out at, kinda like a world-tilting version of spin-the-wheel.

Any ripple effect implications are completely ignored, and we are meant to take this in a light and positive frame of mind.

Significantly, during one of their travels, Lee Gon saves original Shin Jae from ever having his accident, and Shin Jae grows up into a dignified chaebol prince. Eee! The handsome! 😍

We also find out that Eun Sup married Na Ri, which is cute. In the Kingdom, we also see that Yeong seems to have a secret romance going on with Seung Ah (Na Ri’s alternate), ha.

Gon and Tae Eul continue their world-hopping for a long, long time, and we see their clasped hands morph from young to old, as we hear them say in voiceover, that no matter what kind of a door opens before them in life, they wish to be able to love tirelessly, and love the fate that chose them, “just for today,” everyday, until everyday becomes forever. The end.

All in all, because I managed to keep my analytical lens to a blurry setting, and ramp up my emotional lens to a high setting, I found this finale quite gratifying, not least because my favorite characters – Shin Jae and Yeong and their alternates – all get to live and not die, and where applicable, experience better lives than what they’d had before.

(I mean, isn’t Chaebol Shin Jae so handsome? Cough .)

We don’t know if spending all this time in the In-Between Place actually makes Lee Gon and Tae Eul stay young forever (wasn’t that what Lee Rim wanted, in the first place?), but after all is said and done, I find their happy ending unobjectionable, and quite sweet.

THE FINAL VERDICT:

Uneven in pace and focus, and overflowing with PPL, but a reasonably pleasant ride, given the right lens(es).

FINAL GRADE: B

PATREON UPDATE!

The next drama I’ll be covering on Patreon, in place of The King: Eternal Monarch, is 18 Again . I’ve taken an initial peek, and I’m kinda shocked by how much I like it, right away!

If you’d like to join me on the journey, you can find my Patreon page here . You can also read more about all the whats, whys, and hows of helping this blog here . Thanks for all of your support, it really means a lot to me. ❤️

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The thing I find most unbelievable about this whole show that revolves around parallel universes and time travel is that Lee Gon, a King doesn’t have the obligation to marry and produce an heir? Although he can continue to time hop and travel with his girlfriend willy nilly. To me that is the most unbelievable part of this whole show because that would never happen. If Lee Gon were King with no one else but him to be the next in line to rule he would have to marry and have a child to carry on the family bloodline. The fact that plotline is the most Farfetched says something.

Thank you! Your review helped clear my KEM-induced brain fog and I fully agree with all of your points. For me, time travel plots have more mythology holes than a slice of Swiss cheese and KEM was no exception. The production was so stunning that it kept me engaged while waiting for things to make sense (and scenes with Kim Kyung-Nam). KEM just isn’t at the top of my list.

Agree, agree, agree. I watched this right after my post-CLOY high so I unintentionally had high expectations (unfair, I know). The premise of King: Eternal Monarch seems interesting enough, an alternate Korea….but there were so many parts where I was frustrated with the characters and the not-so-smooth storyline. I also find LMH’s King….just pretty to look at, but not so memorable.

this drama was so all over the place i rather erase it from my memory. my biggest issue was the ending; lee gon is king so he needs an heir, but he obviously wont get one if his girlfriend is in ANOTHER WORLD and he sees her on weekends?? like what even is that. hes still the king, he cant just world hop whenever he wants i cant rationalize that situation. i also wish lee min ho would branch out and stop playing powerful rich boys, it makes it hard to respect him as an actor/ want to watch any drama hes in.as for the dramas good moments, the only time i felt something was when he saved her on horseback. i digress.

Dear Fangirl I am from India and follow your detailed reviews regularly. You are possibly one of the best reviewers of K-dramas in the world. Thank you. Please tell us more about yourself. Where are you based? Are you on fb and Instagram? There’s a huge following of K-dramas in India. I do look forward to your response. Thanks again.

Hi Sanjay, it’s great to meet you! 😃 Thanks for enjoying the blog. ❤️ You might be interested in this podcast episode where I was a guest with the ladies at Dramas Over Flowers.. you’ll find out lots about me there. And yes, I am on FB ( here ) and IG ( here ).

My take on this show is this… I would not rate it an A or A+. But, I watched this multiple times, not sure what is drawing me to it, possibly the on screen chemistry between OTP.

Like you , I liked the ending. Can you think of any other way they could have ended it? Tae Eul would not leave her world, Gon would not abdicate. I am glad they did not make Tae Eul any weaker and give up her life in our world.

As I noted elsewhere, this is precisely the kind of genre in KDrama story telling I have problems with, and I dropped the show after two episodes, because I could not buy into the basic trope of multiple realities, past and present, existing simultaneously. (I like sageuks, even some with fantastic elements, but multiple realities just do not do it for me.) This like so many hit me as gimmicky from the get go. Probably the reason for the schism in critical response is that so many really must dig this kind of story, while others like me respond negatively. There are so many of these kinds of dramas that are popular in contemporary KDrama it makes me wonder if this kind of storytelling has a folkloric antecedent in Korea. Does anyone know?

Hm, I don’t know if this has any folkloric antecedent, but it’s true that there are many who like these types of stories, and many who don’t. I personally don’t mind these types of stories, as long as the story’s internal logic is cohesive and respected. But that’s harder to do than it sounds, it seems, because so many of these stories fall apart in their logic at some point. 😅

Well, I did like Chicago Typewriter, but I liked the period part better, and wonder if it had been a straightforward period piece if it would not have had more punch to it. There is an American sci fi writer, Connie Willis, who wrote a couple of novels I really like about the WW2 blitz on England with time travelers from the future as the lead characters, but the novels themselves were immersed in the events of WW2 on the English in England, the time traveler bit more of a hook for science fiction fans who would not ordinarily read historical fiction.

And I can add that while I have absolutely no interest in zombies–has anyone ever portrayed a zombie with any specificity or complexity, really? And yet I really like Kingdom…because the actors are so great and it is a perfect vaccination against getting caught up in government conspiracy stories (everyone’s worst nightmare about such all portrayed in an over the top, riveting drama; thus when one’s crazy friends or uncles, so to speak raise them, one can say, “Have you ever seen the K Drama, historical period zombie series, ‘KIngdom’?”).

What led me to my question is that this type of story telling while common enough elsewhere is so overwhelmingly popular in KDrama it struck me that there must be something embedded in the culture that renders it thus.

The Kim Eun Sook’s dramas that I have seen lately, like Goblin and this one, have a very strong sense of Korean history and mythology mixed in with the usual fairy tale element so common in kdramas. In this drama in particular these fictional “two Koreas” felt very much like a metaphor of the two real Koreas: the South one and the North one. I mean, the Kingdom of Corea has nothing in common with North Korea, but the idea of two worlds so similar and yet so distant from each other is reflected in this drama perfectly, particularly in the love story at its core: the hopeful message of two worlds coexisting side by side, building something new in the in between, living day by day. As Fangirl said, there are a lot of similarities between this drama and CLOY… I believe this is the reason why Kim Eun Sook is so popular and wins so many awards: She knows how to connect with her Korean audience and what their minds are at.

You mention that you don’t generally like Kim Eun-sook’s dramas..I totally feel the same way. But could you, like, generalize exactly why that happens to you? I feel like I have really wispy ideas as to why that happens to me, and I think you could help me realize why in a concrete sort of way (since your reviews tend to do this)??

Well.. when it comes to big romancey stories, my general beef with Kim Eun Sook’s writing, is that she tends to write big romancey moments, but the context around it tends to be very skimpy, so it feels like connect-the-dots writing where the only things that seem to matter are the Big OTP Moments. That lack of cohesion bothers me. And the lack of context for people falling in love also bothers me.

I know lots of folks love Mr. Sunshine, but I couldn’t get into it. The OTP didn’t ring true for me, and I also somehow failed to get invested in the various characters’ stories. I’m not sure why, since lots of people cared about these characters. 🤔

As for Mr. Sunshine – I watched the first third in total boredom but yet I wasn’t completely turned off because of the lushness and epic scale of it (and the interesting time period). But the conflicted nature of the character Dongmae made the show for me. Also the bits of humor between the three male leads was very good – moments of relief amidst the soaring high stakes of life or death/freedom or slavery. Show may have been a difficult start but over all it was worth it. If given the chance to instruct the writers, director and producers, I wouldn’t change even the slowness of it. It’s just that type of show – kind of the same feeling you get from Misaeng. A perfectness that the slowness somehow contributes to.

I get it. Because it was such a long story, Mr. Sunshine takes two full episodes to spell out all the main characters’ back stories, demanding a great deal of patience from a viewer. This makes me think of Tolstoy’s sweeping novel, War and Peace, a similar retrospective of one’s nation under invasion in part attempting to capture a national sentiment coming to the forefront during that crisis. Many people reading it cannot get out of the initial section in which all the major players, many not all that inviting, are being introduced. And yet for those who love the novel, and I count myself among them, having read and savored the novel on several occasions, especially loving the unbelievable realism by which Tolstoy at times can lift one completely out of oneself and become immersed in some ongoing scene whether for a few paragraphs or a hundred pages at a go, his taking the time at the novel;s beginning allows the reader to really understand and appreciate how his characters change and grow.

Also in the US, Mr. Sunshine would have likely been presented in three seasons–The Bank Note, The Fall of the House of Go, the Japanese Takeover. Now I do believe the show did an excellent job with cliff hangers, especially the reversals in the ongoing romance between Eugene Choi and Go Ae Shin, and there were a whole raft of plot devices, not just the humorous interactions between the three male leads, but the way the writers combined support characters in pairs that provided comedic relief. And what made the show so slow paced, vis a vis, the characters, also made the payoff of the final five episodes so very moving. The viewer who might not have gotten into the characters all that much in the first few episodes has a serious emotional stake in the lot of them by the end.

I have also worried that folks, especially those not used to K Drama, would find My Mister too slow to begin with. I feel like I have to warn them that the comedic exaggeration of the workplace drama never really occurs again with one exception. What appears to be a lack of affect in IU’s portrayal of Li Ji-An at the beginning turns out to have been a tour de force of the minutest episode after episode character growth if one sticks with it. When recommending Secret Love Affair, I ask those to whom I am making the recommendation to at least give it to the second episode when the two leads play piano together. Unfortunately for Mr. Sunshine, I can only say if you get to episode 19, you will definitely get it…episode 19, yuk.

I tend to find the length of K Dramas often daunting, often at the back end as well. Certainly Six Flying Dragons, a simply terrific series, is exhausting to finish. I tend to watch about fifteen episodes at a time and then take a year off. I should finish the whole thing in a couple years. And I found Money Flower went on and on and on. You gave it an A- grade. Shave four episodes off at the end and imo it would have been an A+ series.

With The King, somewhat like Hotel Del Luna, I gave it 3 episodes hoping to be hooked, but I just could never buy in. Perhaps it got better as it went along, but I did not care about the characters, and so without the story hooking me, I gave it up.

I feel differently about Kim Eun Sook’s talent. Secret Garden is for me a master class in romance writing: it was the precision of the dialogue, the tenderness underneath the petulance of the hero, the subtle social and cultural commentary what truly elevated that show which, at first sight, appeared to be just like any other fluffy romantic comedy. In King the Eternal Monarch I feel that the romance does also develop at a character level: Lee Gon appears like a Don Quijote the minute he sets foot in the Republic of Korea. He is the crazy, idealistic and wide eyed person the fierce realist and cynical Tae Eul needed in her life. Their rapport is immediately endearing, or so I felt. It is the way in which their intelligences are matched, the way in which they provoke each other: “guess what I’m trying to prove, whether I have dated before or I’m dating right now?” That’s how Kim Eun Sook sets her couples. It’s always in the dialogue more than in the action.

Thanks for sharing your insight, Gloglo! 😀 I personally have struggled to enjoy her works, quite consistently, so I guess her brand of talent just isn’t for me. But, judging from the high ratings and the legions of fans, I’m in the minority! 😉

I admit that I don’t enjoy all her writing choices, but I find her interesting and original for the most past. This could be because i’m still new to this kdrama world and still learning about the different types of stories out there.

I take this opportunity to thank you for all your very thoughtful and well written reviews and for sharing your opinions and advice about so many shows. It was you who introduced me to Healer and the delightful Lee Chang Wook!

Thinking back to when I watched Mr. Sunshine, I thought it was B++ or better at the time. Now having watched a lot more KDs, it is slipping in my ranked list. KTR was/is easy on the eyes, so that may have contributed to my skewed view at the time. King-EM in my opinion is lot better.

@Kfangirl – I think it says a lot about Show’s storytelling that so far no one has tried to answer your questions… because Show makes no sense! It alllllmost does but alas – as Snowflower so aptly described – it’s just misfit puzzle pieces that don’t even inspire me to take out my hammer and try to make the pieces fit.

But here’s my attempts at some of your questions:

E5. I got nothin’ about that pink timeless place that is there only when Show needs it to be there. There was a point where I thought Tae eul existed in a time travel paradox and was there endlessly waiting for Lee Gon who was romancing it up with her other self (not Luna) while Tae eul was lost (trapped?) somewhere between Pink Timeless World and the Portal Forest. There’s a scene where she is crying while on the forest and saying “I was waiting for you!” but, at least in my mind/memory – that was left hanging.

E5 Maximus – I can’t believe you didn’t mention Maximus’ mighty morphin’ from a miniature pony to a beautiful steed 😆 (can a steed be female?)

E6 I agree. But it was romantic that he escorted her himself (I guess). I found it weirder that there was a scene (I can’t remember when exactly) where Lee Gon had the helicopter he was already in, fly him all the way back to the palace to get Maximus saddled up to rescue Tae Eul instead of continuing to fly directly to her. But again, it gave us the knight-in-soft-velvet-with-shiny-buttons riding in on his white steed for the rescue!

E7 Seeing dopplegangers – For reelz. Geez.👀

E9 The video of future events on the laptap. Dang it! This was one thing that I think show answered (later on) but I don’t remember how. It was around the same time, I think, that Tae eul was waiting in the Pink Inbetween and there was something about Luna visiting the library and YoYo boy. Oh yeah, what exactly was her relationship to YoYo Boy? As you can see, I’ve got more questions for you than answers.

E10 – The flowers in the garden – as you mention later in the review, Lee Gon is not aware of that visit because he was time hopping (hold it. Ice cream headache and not a good one like the kind you get from a movie like Twelve Monkeys).

E10 – Eun Sup’s internal organs – typical Kdrama wound hopping without the need of a portal or magic flute. Where you see exactly where the person was wounded but in the next scene he’s limping on the wrong leg or the bullet did a 1960’s grassy knoll type of thing and ricocheted off various organs

E10 PM’s convict hubby – I’m thinking Show is trying to say The Kingdom is less ridgid than S.K (where people are guilty for whatever their relatives did/do. By that logic/standard I’d be tarred and feathered by everyone that met me.)

E11 Luna’s cancer and world exchange – MADE NO DAMN SENSE… WHAT.SO.EVER!

E11 Prince Buyeong’s son – I’m assuming (and this is before the obvious reason was known that he’s a traitor), may have something to do with trying to keep down the temptation of factions striving for a coup or as was the case in the establishment of Joseon’s government, the King’s relatives and family could hold no positions or have anything to do with government? But did Prince Buyeong had official duties which would blow that theory out of the water?

E11 Prince Buyeong and the library hint. I got nothin’ and don’t even remember that part at all.

E11 As I said in another comment- I want to believe YoYo Boy is a physical manifestation of the flute. I can’t remember exactly why I thought this.

E12 – Lee Rim and his sister-in-law. Really! Most interesting part of the show and we’re left with no answers!

Well there you have it. Isn’t it fitting that me with my Swiss cheese memory is coming up with half baked gapin’ holey answers to the holes in this show?

Strangely enough, I can’t believe it, but I kinda sorta want to watch Show again. It must be that unexplainable LMO factor.

BTW- I think he’s a better actor than he’s being given credit for. Just from small scenes throughout his career that suggest he may have more range than we’ve seen. But he hasn’t been given the type of roles that require more.

Ahaha, thanks for attempting to answer my questions Beez! Very kind of you! ❤️Yes, I saw the furore over young Maximus being portrayed by a miniature pony, but decided not to nitpick on it, since Show had so many other plot holes and inconsistencies, hehe. 😜As for doppelgängers, there’s a YouTube channel called Twin Strangers that explores that, here’s one of their videos just to show that it’s a real thing:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L4jv1Vafpgo

And I’ve seen news articles and other social media posts of people running into their doppelgängers, so I found this thing where everyone just jumps to brain imploding shock and thinking it must be something out of this world, quite a stretch. At least ask if there’s a long-lost twin in the mix, right? 😆

Dang, I’d really like to know when Show answered the question about the video from the future being on Yeong’s laptop; that’s one of the big plot holes Show has, from my perspective. (If anyone else knows when and how Show answers this, please let me know!)

As for Lee Min Ho, I’ve been told that he’s acted better in movies, so you might like to check out something like Gangnam Blues. Just from the trailer he looks like he’s more compelling than in Dramaland:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DEquXkWyjn8

I saw Gangnam Blues. Let me put it this way – the movie came out during the height of Lee Min ho madness and yet, it faded into obscurity pretty quickly. At the time, LMO’s fan base was as big as it gets (this is pre BTS-Army fandom days). If the movie had any type of excellence, I believe there would’ve been more hype and it would’ve broken some box office records. It did well in its early days, but I attribute that to his fanclub whom, I’m speculating, probably relayed the message that “you’re not missing anything” to the rest of the fanbase. Now, I personally believe LMO is a better actor than he’s given credit for and just needs the right role to show it but Gangnam Blues certainly wasn’t it.

Whoops, my bad. 😝 I haven’t seen Gangnam Blues, so my guess that he does better in it, is based purely off the trailer, and hearsay that he seems to be more compelling in movies than in dramas. 😛

I won’t know until I get around to Bounty Hunters. He’s only had two movies (that I know of) so whomever is touting “he’s better in movies” sounds like a die-hard optimistic fan. You know how we Oppa-Love-Fangirls can be. 😄

Lee Byung Hun is better in movies.

Yes I totally felt that for Yeong, Lee Gon was his ultimate love, and I was OK if they left it ambiguous whether it was brotherly love or romantic love. So the tagged on romance with Na Ri’s alternate really didn’t work for me.

I feel a bit bad for you that you had to put yourself through this show, but at least it has reaffirmed that we have very similar tastes in dramas! Ha ha. The King was probably the second Korean drama I’ve ever watched, after Crash Landing on You. If I’d watched more dramas I would probably have dropped it earlier, I was sorely tempted to in the last stretch but I wanted to know how the elaborate and complicated conspiracy that Lee Ron had plotted would play out. The opening of the series wowed me, the violence was more intense than I expected and Lee Rim seemed impressively charismatic and evil. His replacement body snatchers plot was ambitious and appropriately menacing as it looked like it would work. Unfortunately it ended with a whimper. He started off strategic then his replacements got more random and unpurposeful. The final confrontation was underwhelming. Like you the OTP never rang true for me. So I only watched for the conspiracy plot ha ha. So much potential, but didn’t come together in the end…

Oh yeah! One last quibble. I didn’t like that Detective Tae eul vouched for the King to the pawn shop guy when, at that time, she was still debating how dangerous this possible lunatic was and if she should lock him up.

Ahaha! Yes, it does seem that we have similar tastes in shows, Elaine! 😃It’s so uncanny that it was the conspiracy plot that kept you going, because that was a big part of what kept me going too! 😆 Well, that, and I couldn’t just abandon Shin Jae.. ❤️❤️❤️ And YES, I did find Lee Rim as a Big Bad less interesting and compelling as we got deeper into our story. His smarts seemed to erode as we went along, y’know? Maybe the preservation of youth only applied to his appearance and not to his brain..? 🤭😅

I’m glad you ended up checking out this one 🙂 Our final ratings were pretty close. I appreciate seeing ambitious stories that try new things, and this one certainly did that. I tend to really like Kim Eun Sook dramas and all of her dramatics, so I figured I would enjoy this one, and I did. I liked the grand romance and the sci-fi storyline. It was a hot mess when it came to the details with lots of loopholes and logic stretches though. But I found it epic and fun for the most part. It was very entertaining 🙂

Aw! Maybe I should’ve used a hot mess viewing lens instead, for maximum enjoyment of this show? 😆 It’s just that my sister was so convinced that this was brilliantly written, that it never occurred to me to try a hot mess lens. 😅 And yet, somehow our final ratings are very similar – I guess that confirms this show’s caliber? 😅

“Hot mess lens”! 😂😂😂 I’ll have to add that to my viewing tool box. 😆

😂😂 It does sound like it has lots of potential, no?

Sounds like if I’d had a hot mess lens earlier, I could’ve tolerated and liked more makjang stuff. I did love The Last Empress with my entire heart. So maybe I can find more shows like that with my new lens.😄

You should definitely add the hot mess lens to your viewing basket, beez. I use it frequently, and it magically makes terrible shows a whole lot more fun 😂

Kay – that made me laugh out loud!

Happy to bring a little extra laughter to your day, hehe 🙂

Haha, yeah, I definitely think it helps to embrace a show when it’s a hot mess as quickly as possible for maximum enjoyment. It’s just another lens in the viewing basket. But you’re pretty good at seeing both a shows strong points as well as weak ones, so maybe you didn’t need the lens. Or maybe if you did view it with the hot mess lens you would have completely loved it and given it an A! We’ll never know 😂

I have a soft spot for Lee Min Ho, because he was in the very first kdrama I watched, Faith. I liked him in City Hunter too. I have not seen Boys Over Flowers or Heirs, and, judging by the the comments here, I probably should not. Shin Jae, Lady Noh, and Yeong/Eun Sup were my favorite characters in The King: Eternal Monarch.

Here is my piano piece inspired by TKEM. I imagined Lady Noh reading poetry under the strange moon.

https://soundcloud.com/user-858010722/mystery

Me too Snow Flower – Faith was one of the earliest kdramas I watched and I feel the same. I do think his acting is improving. Life experiences should help that process. Love the piano piece. Listening to it now as I type. Lovely! Thanks!

I haven’t seen Faith, but I did like LMH in City Hunter! 😃I have, unfortunately, seen both BOF and Heirs, and I would not recommend either show. 😅

Thanks for sharing your piano piece, Snow Flower – it’s got a lovely melancholic tinge to it that works well with your imagery of Lady Noh under the strange moon. Love it! ❤️

Awesome fair and balanced review. Thanks a lot.

Thanks for enjoying it, Jonan! 😃

Thank you very much, kfangurl, for a very nuanced review. I think it’s admirable that you tried to make sense of the time/place logic. I gave up very quickly and concentrated on the relationships.

Lee Min Ho: He fights like he means it and he kisses like he means it. But I suspect it’s the guy himself, not the actor who brings these things to the table. The rest of his acting abilities leave room for improvement. He does better with a more sensual female lead, like Jun Hi Hyun. I liked them together in “Legend of the Blue Sea”. But he was ok here, (probably one of the few who can wear such operetta uniforms with any kind of conviction) and I agree with you on the appropriately gentlemanly vibe.

I loved seeing Kim Go Eun as Luna, the weariness, the pain, the fear and the violence. I really hope to see her in more unconventional roles. She’s got such raw emotional expression. She was excellent in “Goblin”, too, but didn’t really click with her love interest, either. Maybe these tv series are not her best format?

Some really great and enjoyable performances there, but in the end, there was no meaning I could take away. And I’m still not a monarchist.

ngobee, that’s so funny you just commented. I haven’t noticed you comment in a while, yet literally 60 seconds ago I sent you a note on the Her Private Life thread.

With the switch to the new blog format, all my requests to be notified of new comments to certain pages were lost. So I’m going back to the reviews of shows I care about and finding some excuse to comment again just so I can check the “Notify Me” box again.

Thanks for enjoying this review, ngobee! 😃As for trying to make sense of the logic of the show, I mostly didn’t feel anything much for the OTP, so the relationships I cared about were secondary ones, and therefore Show’s logic around world-hopping and time traveling were the big pieces left that I felt I should invest my attention in. Though that did turn out to have mixed results. 😅

I’ve been told that LMH does better in movies (the more recent ones) than in dramas, so you might want to check out something like Gangnam Blues. I’ve only seen the trailer, and already I feel like he’s rising to the occasion there, more than what I see of him in general, in Dramaland. 😉

On that note, I have the impression that Kim Go Eun has a stronger movie track record as well. She probably has more room to play unconventional roles there as well, I feel like.

Gangnam Blues – meh. (My definition of “meh” is not bad but not especially good either.)

@kfangurl ,

Both LMH and KGE are great in their movies. I recommend Gangnam Blues for LMH and Tune in for Love and The Muse for KGE, and I know you will like the male lead in TIFL.

Ngobe, this is exactly the way I feel about LMH too. He has a very attractive, charismatic presence with a flair for the dramatic, even in the most preposterous “operetta” outfits (that made me lol 😆), but his acting does really get tested in this long format productions where, I suspect, the editing process is not as ruthless or the scripting as tight as in films.

Yup! I’d say the show had a great start.

And apart from the fact Kim Go-eun was there and the overall story on paper was good . It did fall pretty flat for me too.

I enjoyed the aesthetics. I too thought Prime Minister koo was surely Pretty, Smart and competent. And I was really hoping for a better arc for her (a potentially good character not utilised to its potential)

Definitely fell short of the hype it created.

But hey if Lee min Ho fans are watching it, I’m sure they won’t mind. So good for them.

Can’t deny. It was a pretty looking show. But that’s all.

I enjoyed it but was let down. Maybe Kim Eun sook on the writer section creates high expectation since Goblin was pretty nice.

Cheers (even though I’m sure many people won’t agree with you. Lol)😂

Yes, this one could’ve definitely been better in many ways.. and as someone who’s not an LMH fan, I found myself struggling to accept his laidback delivery, especially in the first half. It was pleasant enough, but definitely not as amazing as its creators had hoped, I’m sure! (And yes, I do think you’re right that many people wouldn’t agree with me..! 🤭😅)

“I too thought Prime Minister koo was surely Pretty, Smart and competent. And I was really hoping for a better arc for her (a potentially good character not utilised to its potential)” – I thought the same – I dont know if it is a gender thing, but I know people who think she wasn’t good at all, just pretty. I haven’t found other dramas starring her.

Have to agree with you Fae. Time travel hasn’t been proved scientifically yet. So, I don’t expect time travel shows to give me accurate scientific hypothesis.It’s enough if they make me wonder whether this is possible. Guess that’s why this show worked for me. I also thought that the broken flute must be malfunctioning or not at it’s full capacity. Hence, the ending where they’re able to use it without any glitches.

I didn’t think you would watch this…hehe.

For me, I will give kudos for trying to make a grand and intriguing world. There were some entertaining scenes and overall the story was interesting.

I have a lot of complaints with the show. I may not like KES dramas completely but I have always loved her humour but that was not present here much. It was just okay. There were too many threads and characters without proper purpose. PPL was on another level! Time travel was not explained properly. There were no rules of the fantasy world and the rules kept on changing conveniently and it’s funny how most of the questions had one answer — destiny. The main romance was too melodramatic and I never felt any emotional connection with them. I can go on and on…lol..

Overall, if expectations are low, there are few things to enjoy here.

Ahaha, I didn’t think I would watch this either, snow! 😆😆 But after my sis talked so enthusiastically about how brilliant Show was, my interest was piqued, and I had to know how I felt about it myself. 😅 And you’re so right, managing expectations is key, with enjoying this one, faults and all! 😊

And yes, the PPL was totally on a different level! 🤪🤪

So, we have the most amazing canvas pitched to us in the initial stages of The King. Instead of me going “Ooh Ah Glen McGrath” (don’t worry, it’s a cricket term, but in short it means sensational), I went Que? (think Manuel from Fawlty Towers).

Snow Flower’s description of a puzzle is so apt. Except, I decided halfway through not to complete the puzzle. In fact, I didn’t even put the pieces back in the box.

As the “colours” melted or slipped off the canvas (Salvador Dali style re his Clocks) very quickly, I found myself reaching for my lens adjuster, except it didn’t happen. What I did find interesting kfangurl, is your mention of the visit by Le Gon at the end to multiple parallel worlds. This would have been much better served at the start and made it Slideresque (Sliders) in terms of concept and I would have welcomed that, except the Sliders crew never knew where they would end up next.

I did think Tae Eul was terrific. Shin Jae stole the show for me (well, what I saw of it) and I had a soft spot for the PM, not because she was a man-hungry vamp (lololol), but because her character made sense. As for Lee Gon, I am glad he became more regal in his portrayal in the second half, but there is no way he would get away with what he did re his disappearances and so on, unless he was a tyrant.

To my mind, the Kdramaverse is trying way too hard with all these time travelling stories. The only one I have really enjoyed so far is Tomorrow With You (Although Tunnel appealed to me for different reasons). I might have to have a dabble at Nine, then. If the Kdramaverse had a dabble at Doctor Who, that would make my day – heh heh heh 😜

We’re watching Rooftop Prince right now (as a palate cleanser, following the great My Mister.) I’m not sure if RR even counts on your list, since it doesn’t presume to delve into the mind-bending contradictions of time travel. There, it’s just a setup for amusing fish-out-of-water pratfalls and destiny romance.

But I do love mystery box shows like Lost or HBO’s Westworld. I like being stumped on how it all fits together. But only if I trust that the writers actually figured out themselves. As Snow Flower put it so well.

Sadly, Merij, Rooftop Prince falls into my I couldn’t bail out quick enough list. I tried more than I normally would, but I didn’t appreciate it at all.

We were talking about Lost the other night. I only liked the middle episodes. For me it was a wasted, brilliant concept. I must get back to Westworld. So many people I know have said I should give it another go. The one dystopian series I am enjoying at the moment is The Barrier, a Spanish sci-fi drama that seems to have it right regarding its subject matter.

I enjoyed Lost until the last two seasons. It annoyed me that they pretended to know where there were going and then threw away their rich investment in individual back-stories in a failed attempt to prove that they really did know all along, since it required introducing an entirely new storyline for two seasons to get to where the original idea for the last 15 minutes would make any sense. I didn’t care whether they knew where they were going before they go there, as long as it was awesome.

I was expecting Charles Dickens, to be honest, with all those stories coming together at the end. Who was, btw, another guy who didn’t know the end until he got closer yet still performed magic.

I’m also a big fan of unresolved ambiguity. The explanations for Lost that passed through my mind were much more interesting than what they actually came up with. Everything’s still magically possible until you’re told the official answer. Then all the mystery dies.

Westworld season 1-2 worked for me, but some people only liked S1. I was not fond of Season 3, but I didn’t hate it. It just didn’t have the same specialness.

As for Rooftop Prince, I’m telling you, man, it’s MUCH better if you’re a little drunk. The ridiculousness of the broad humor works better — duh — and some things that weren’t intended to be funny end up being hilarious as well. lol

Merij1, I am a huge Lost fan and I have to say that the show makes perfect sense to me, even after multiple rewatches. I liked the first season of Westworld, but the second was a disappointment. Did not even bother with the third season. As for parallel universes and multiple timelines, Fringe is the best!

In dramaland, both Signal and Tunnel are good shows dealing with time travel. Nine too.

Fringe was simply, awesome 😎

I haven’t seen Tunnel yet. I started Nine but have to get back to it. But as to Signal, I can’t say enough good things about it. A show that involves Time Travel and there are no plot holes (at least none that I could spot in my first watch). I’m sure, eventually, I’ll be watching it again .

@merji…So happy ya’ll are watching Rooftop Prince! This show gives a whole new meaning to omu rice, prince shoes, rainbow colored track suits and changing in an elevator!

We finished Rooftop Prince and are now watching Be Melodramatic/Melo Is My Nature!

Mostly we enjoyed RP a lot. The romance and the humor, in particular. We’re very fond of Han Ji-min.

But it is so ham-handed about assuming viewers are too dumb or inattentive to remember stuff (5-second flashbacks every single time something happens that’s relevant based on prior events) and the good guys/bad guys plot went totally stupid in the later episodes.

It felt like another of these shows written to be 16 episodes and then clumsily stretched to 20 based on the ratings. Suddenly the previously smart good guys turn into small children with zero capacity to anticipate their opponents or even think at all beyond the immediate moment.

Fortunately the final episode back in the Joseon era was great! I imagine they’d already planned that out prior to the decision to “go for 20.”

Def glad we watched it, but it felt like it was targeted to a 12-year old audience.

Korean humor is a bit like that…twelve year old!

For the humor, I was able to adjust my viewing lens with Tequila and laughed out loud frequently.

But the later-episode plot idiocy was beyond even Tequila’s reach!

@Sherry Baker – Ha! I loved it (except the bathroom humor). And you have to admit that the banter between most OTPs is pretty witty.

Also, I’m watching Vampire Detective and it’s hilarious. The writer has actually put him/herself into the mind of what a zombie must be thinking: I’m rushing as far as I can but I can only drag my leg and take one sloooow step at a time. 😆 And how can he earn money to buy the copious amounts of thick BB cream he needs to cover his veiny decomposing skin… 😆

Beez, you’ve watched enough Kdramas to know that they Love toilet humor! I’m always amazed at how often we go to the restroom in dramas to discuss important matters. 😉.

CORRECTING MY MISSPEAK – I’m watching ZOMBIE detective, not Vampire Detective (which I’ve heard is very good).

Beez – Zombie Detective is weirdly addicting in its campiness. I just could not stop watching it even when it made little realistic sense. In fact, I waited each week for new episodes to be released. I never lost interest in it. Go figure!

@phl1rxd – I finished Zombie Detective yesterday and 😆 😆 😆 I also loved the cameos on the movie posters with Yoo Jae suk and crew. And my favorite line SPOILERS FOR OTHERS SPOILERS DON’T LOOK HERE the line of what Zombies are most afraid if – Ma Dong seok ! 🤣🤣🤣 And how they described with awe and horror how he was hitting zombies with “those arms and that fist”.

For anybody still reading and if you didn’t get the Ma Dong seok reference – then you having seen Train to Busan, I highly recommend it and I HATE zombie and horror shows with a passion but it’s really good.

How is the FL in Zombie Detective ? I confess the only reason I was considering giving it a try is because I really liked her a lot in Netflix’s Extracurricular , and as a noob actress, more or less, I wanted to see her do well in her next project.

(Everyone else seems to be gushing over the ML, an established star whom I haven’t seen before…)

Trent – to be honest FL Park Joo-Hyun was just in ‘A Piece of Your Mind’ where her voice was a major part of her role. For the first 2 episodes I kept thinking of that drama every time I heard her speak (she does have a beautiful voice).

Once I got over that I realized that she was pretty good in this and owned her role. She jumped right in and got just as ridiculous as everyone else. I really felt like these actors had a good time making this drama. I know I had a good time watching it.

Choi Jin-Hyuk, the ML, was well cast in this drama. The dance scene was over the top and the raw meat scenes were super cringe. He is most certainly gush-worthy (all 6’2″ of him) and his acting is improving. I almost did not watch this but I saw Sean was and so I jumped in and I am glad I did.

The second leads all held their own from Kwon Hwa-Woon to An Se-Ha (love him!) to Hwang Bo-Ra (the toilet paper rolls – I just died) to Tae Hang-Ho (an anchor in the sea of nuttiness).

This kind of campy ridiculousness is right up my alley. This is more geared to that kind of vibe and there is not a lot of romantic ‘goings on’ a’going on. But if you like dramas that think outside the box you may enjoy this. If you prefer rom-coms you may want to pass.

Interesting, thank you. I’ve been meaning to finally get around to upgrading my viki.com standard pass to “plus” so I could watch Love in the Moonlight , and maybe this Chuno rewatch they’ve been talking about, and once I do, I’ll be able to dip my toes in the first couple episodes of this and see how it goes…

@Trent – I’d just like to chime in here to say that I’ve found what works best for me when it comes to streaming subscriptions – I have Viki Plus which does not give me access to Kocowa shows (the locked stuff on Viki). I have subscribed separately to Kocowa because sometimes they’ll have a show that’s not available at all on Viki even with a VikiPass subscription. (Case in point, the masterpiece Nokdu Flower was not available on Viki at all at the time it aired.) I keep my Viki subscription for shows from networks like TVn and JTBC and I find the cost evens out by paying the lower price of VikiPlus (instead of VikiPass) and then watching the locked-on-Viki stuff on Kocowa.

@Trent – well, hmmmm🤔 – I’ve never seen the FL before but I do recall thinking “anyone could have played her role”. Not that she’s bad and I did end up liking her. There’s just nothing special about her in this role. I do think her age and perkiness are fitting and cast well here. I think the reason that people (myself included) are singing the praises of ML is because he’s always the straight guy in other shows and that very serious weighty “presence” that he has adds to the humor of this show.

Don’t get me wrong, Zombie Detective is not some great show. It’s just a funny, campy and interesting take on “what if you woke up and discovered you were a zombie?” 😆 I didn’t have any big pressing desire to click on the next episode. It’s not that kind of show. But it made me laugh and every few days, I’d watch an episode or two. It’s just a nice break. And only 12 episodes.

Bathroom humor is a part of Kdramaland. There are very few that don’t have some toilet humor in it…certainly the rom-coms and such. I wasn’t a fan to begin with myself…but it’s grown on me and I have to admit I now RITFL laughing sometimes. I do find Khumor is less crass than American tv humor about toilets and such.

@merij1 – I used to think, and be so irritated, by the flashbacks. It’s like “The scene literally just played 15 seconds ago. Do I really need a flashback so that I know that’s the reason the character is looking sad and that’s what he’s thinking about?” But now I think it’s more of a case that the episode is short on time and they’re filling space.

Of course, when I really need a flashback to remember why a character is angry about something that happened 6-7 episodes ago… nothin’!

Perhaps the point of these flashbacks was to anticipate your current need? In which case, how thoughtful!

@merij1 – even my super short memory doesn’t need a 15 seconds flashback!

grumble merij1 just full of jokes lately. 😠 😀😆

As you can imagine, I’m quite relieved you weren’t offended by my edgy-dark/too-soon? humor!

@merij1 – I’m never offended by a good joke, and its never too soon (for me) as long as something is actually funny. lol But ‘lo if it’s not. It’s GOT to be really, really funny. Are you familiar with comedian Bill Burr? His humor is often at the expense of women but it’s not mean-spirited (it rings true) and he keeps me in stitches!

I raised my son that way too, but it was a little tricky to try to teach him “you got to hold it in with other people and know when most people would think it is inappropriate.” It was very hard getting that through to him when he was a pre-teen. You know, church and funerals and stuff. But when we got home… if it was funny, it was funny. _(ツ)_/¯  Even for me, the adult, the more inappropriate it would be to laugh (church especially) the harder it is to hold it in. 😆

Aw, another one that bit the dust for you, Sean! I suppose the silver lining is that you saved drama hours and therefore can spend them elsewhere? 😅

Shin Jae DID steal the entire show for me, and I agree that Tae Eul was very good – not at all the annoying brash character that I’d heard about, via rumblings on the grapevine. Just goes to show that one should take the grapevine with a suitable helping of salt! 😆

Indeed, time traveling seems to be A Big Thing in dramas lately, especially with parallel universes thrown in the mix. It was big in 2012 too, but without the parallel universe thing. This kinda feels like fashion coming back in style, but with a twist. 😆 I thought Nine was pretty solid on the time traveling front compared to the other time traveling dramas I’ve seen, but even then, there were things that didn’t quite add up, and Show also did not answer some questions that it raised. Still a strong effort though, especially when compared to most of Dramaland’s other time travel offerings. 😉

Thanks for your review, lots of good insights!

This was actually my very first K-drama, but I enjoyed it enough that I’ll finish my 20th when Record of Youth finishes on Tuesday…

It does have a lot of confusing logic holes and inconsistencies that it never really satisfactorily resolves. But I liked the Lee-Kim OTP more than you did, and also the parallel world Koreas, and that was enough to carry a lot of weight for me.

Oh! An official big welcome to the weird and wonderful world of kdramas, Trent! 😃🥳 That’s great that this show worked for you well enough, that you’ve gone on to explore other dramas! I hope you’ve been enjoying your drama journey so far, and if you’re ever looking for more dramas to check out, you could check out my Full List of drama posts here . 😊

Thanks so much for that link to the Full List; I’m in awe at how many of these you’ve seen and reviewed! I’ve been writing up my reactions to each of the dramas I’ve finished, so I know how much effort it is to do these.

I’ll definitely make a point of consulting your list when I’m at loose ends for a new one to tackle! (right now, I just started Reply 1988 , and I’m following along in the middle of two first runs that are up on Netflix: DoDoSoSoLaLaSo and Start-up ).

A wonderful review, as always! You perfectly encapsulated my feelings about the show. It hurt my brain, but blessed my eyes and I found myself enjoying it for the most part. What interests me about shows like this is that no one actually knows how time-travel would work if we could do it and it’s intriguing to see the different interpretations represented in different media. Eternal Monarch seems to combine linear time with circular time, which the science part of my brain found both mind-boggling and thought-provoking.

With regards to some of your questions, here are my interpretations/theories: (spoilers, I guess)

Because the flute has been fractured, it malfunctions sometimes. This is why Lee Rim doesn’t age after opening the portal. Lee Gon also doesn’t age for the few months (or however long) after he opens the portal until the flute is whole again. The anti-aging effects only seem to occur once that part of the flute was used to open the portal. I think Prince Buyeong, like Court Lady Noh, knew a lot more than he was letting on. He conducted the autopsy on Lee Rim’s counterpart and is also shown to be a man of science. Also, he was quite close to Court Lady Noh (who knew about the parallel worlds) and as an elder member of the royal family, is probably quite knowledgeable about the flute… so maybe we’re supposed to infer from that that he maybe sorta knows something? I don’t think it’s explicitly stated or anything, but in the back of my mind, I always thought that Luna needed a transplant or something. And who would be a better match than your alternate self? Although it’s entirely possible that I fabricated this myself in an attempt to make sense of the show XD. Otherwise, maybe living the last of her days in a life she never otherwise would have had was enough to tempt Luna?

I finished Eternal Monarch a while back, so some of the details are a bit hazy.

Side note: was I the only one who thought that Yeong’s feelings for Gon were maybe more than platonic? Or was I reading too much into it? XD

Anyways, thanks for the review! I’m glad you’ve recovered from your Lee Min Ho allergy 😉

Hi Fae! I’m so glad you enjoyed this review! ❤️I love what you said about it hurting your brain but blessing your eyes, that’s so funny and so true! 😆😆

Thanks for sharing your theories and insights – it does make sense that Prince Buyeong knew more about the flute than was shown. I wish they’d been more explicit about that, because he’d seemed to know that Rim would come for his life. How did he know? 🤔 Also, that’s an interesting possibility, about Luna potentially benefiting from a transplant from Tae Eul. Although, that begs the question why they’d then take Tae Eul to the Kingdom and try to kill her? It’d have made more sense to keep Luna and Tae Eul in the same location, if they’d planned for a transplant..? 🤔

Sigh. This show. I wanted it to make more sense than just in the mathy department. Most folks wouldn’t know or care if the math didn’t add up, and yet, they went to such pains to make sure the math worked out. Why couldn’t they have put that effort into making sense of stuff that normal viewers would actually be able to keep track of? 😜

Hm.. In terms of Gon and Yeong, I hadn’t felt the romantic vibes that you mention, though I’d accept if Yeong felt like Gon was a platonic soul mate. That’s completely plausible to me, especially with how he puts his life on the line for Gon without hesitation. 😊

@fae…if I recall right, EunSeop asked Yeong if he had feelings for Lee Gon and Yeong said there were rumors, but that it wasn’t true.

Thanks for the review. Totally agree with you when you compare it with memories of the Alhambra. I started watching the show for the OTP pairing, but continued for everything else. Once I adjusted my viewing lens to accept the haphazard arc/story development of the OTP, I began to enjoy the other aspects of the show much better. And I believe that Lee min Ho was in his vibe much better when he was in his turf – the kingdom of Corea. It felt like he was like a fish out of water in the other world, somehow his charisma and charm was 10x better in three other world.

Glad you enjoyed the review, Pulsarspirit! Yes, adjusting your expectations and viewing lens helps so much, which I absolutely had to do with Alhambra as well. And I so agree that Lee Gon was much more compelling when he was in the Kingdom and being kingly. I wish they’d allowed him to show more regality during his time in the Republic as well. I think that would’ve added nicely to Show’s watchability.

Loved your analogy snowflower. I found Goblin to be boring, but this one I kept on thinking about it long after the show was over. That’s a win in my book 🙂

Great review ! You really nailed what I was thinking (I laughed so hard when you mentioned the arranged marriage vibe, this is so true 😂). The show is a roller coaster to watch; between epic and less-than-ok moments. It is visually beautiful, and the story is catchy, but it is not balanced. Even after seeing it, I am not sure I could pinpoint exactly what I loved and what did not work for me. Let’s say that for me, it is a drama that had so much potential but never knew how to tame it.

Thanks for enjoying the review, Nerisone! And hi5, that you felt the arranged marriage vibe too! 😆 You’re absolutely right that this story wasn’t balanced; I did feel a bit of whiplash from having to adjust my viewing lens so often. 😅

Thanks for the review! I finally found out what happens in the end, since this is a show I dropped… I guess I couldn’t adjust my viewing lense so as to let go of all the inconsistencies in the script and the bland OTP. I only watched it up to episode 9 or 10 because I like Kim GoEun (who still did well, I think, even if she had to work with almost nothing) and I find Lee MinHo to be a very good looking man (that I have never seen in a show I liked, unfortunately, although at least this time he acted better, in my opinion). Still, by reading this review I think I am kind of glad that we decided to not finish this!

Ahaha, I’m glad I was able to provide some closure for you, Natalia! 😆 Yes, this one requires more lens adjustments than average, and it proved to be tricky, staying on my toes and adjusting my lens as I went. I can totally understand why you’d decide to drop it, since it wasn’t working for you!

I’ve only felt enthusiastic about LMH in City Hunter, so that might be something you’d enjoy checking out – if and when you find yourself in the mood for more LMH on your screen! 😉

Perfect review Fangurl!

As I have said before I got so confused with the time issues that I had to go back and start all over again. I will say the second watch was a little easier.

Kim Kyung Nam was, without a doubt, the best thing about this drama. He was so solid in this role. I hope that he get recognition for this performance. The scene in the street with his Mom – whew – I was just in tears at that point. I was moved every time he was on my screen.

I agree that the OTP got better as time went on. The first time I really felt a decent connection was when they went out for coffee (you have a screen shot of this scene above) and Kim Go Eun laughed at something Lee Min Ho said and it was the kind of laugh that real couples share while discussing everyday events.

The scene in E8 with Woo Do Hwan pulling such a quick save was pretty darn funny. The PPL was just shameful to say the least but Maximus was a joy. I also got a kick out of the fan pages and the crazy theories that this drama generated.

I am glad you watched it Fangurl! Thanks for such a detailed review made harder, I am sure, by illogical time issues. How the heck to keep track of everything and keep it organized for a final review? All of your questions at the bottom have all been asked by many others. I am still a fan of both leads with a much deepened respect for Kim Kyung Nam’s mad skills.

Other than being good-looking, is there a show where Lee Min Ho shines as an actor?

We enjoyed Personal Taste, but his acting in that was unidimensional. Basically he stared blankly to the left or right side of the camera, so we could project whatever hidden thoughts we chose into his head. Pretty much like the stills for this new show.

I actually mean it, btw. Is there a show one should watch because of his contribution?

That’s my problem with Lee Min Ho, despite his tall built, he lacks screen presence and rarely has chemistry with his co-stars. Unfortunately, I don’t find him good looking either. I checked out a few episodes for Kim Go Eun, but had to eventually drop it.

If you find one, please tell me! I personally find LMH very good looking but unfortunately lacking in acting skills. Of the shows I have seen him in, The King was the one he was best in. At least he was calmly regal in that and didn’t tell “ya” 3 times per episode. I think someday, when he grows older, he will make a fantastic conglomerate president/evil dad that despises his daughter’s boyfriend because he’s poor. Although I do hope I will get to enjoy him in something else before that!

Hmm Merij1 – He was so-so in Faith but that is because he had to be stoic for most of the role. Kim Hee Sun was a good balance and covered up a lot of his shortcomings. I do think he has gotten better and is not as wooden as he once was. Hmm, I really do not have a recommendation.

That being said, I like to watch him because It gives me a lot of time to ponder the great and solemn universal question “Why do some folks hit the jackpot in the DNA pool and others..not so much?”. 🤣 My conclusion is that he must have saved the country in his last few lives. Every time I see him I think of Elvis (minus the hips). I see why he is popular. He is so very easy on the eyes.

The best I can come up with is:

He’s Lee min ho _(ツ)_/¯ 

Since the only show I actually enjoyed LMH in was City Hunter, that would be my suggestion. But I must qualify that his acting may not have been so amazing in that either; I just liked the vigilante badass angle. I also liked his action moves. Also, fair warning that the romance in it takes a backseat and so isn’t very key to the story, and that suspension of disbelief is required, especially with Show’s more melodramatic leanings. 😅

Also, I’ve been told that he tends to do better in his more recent movies. So you might want to check out something like Gangnam Blues – though I haven’t seen it myself, so I can’t vouch for the movie’s quality or watchability.

merij1 – Hi! I think I’ve only seen it mentioned once in this thread, but I would strongly recommend LMH in “The Legend of the Blue Sea”, where he plays two characters and where’s he’s SO much more engaged and reactive than in other roles I’ve watched him do, such as Personal Taste. “The Legend of the Blue Sea” seems like a seismic leap forward to me from his role’s portrayal in “Faith/The Great Doctor”, for instance.

On topic: for me, TKEM really worked like gangbusters from a character-, performance- and relationship-level. If this thread were not so old (and probably dead) I’d add some answers to some of fangirl’s questions. But I’m not so blinded by my enjoyment of the aspects of the show I really strongly enjoyed and identified with not to agree that, plot and motivation-wise, the show needed a beta reader and a good, strong edit.

As usual, Kfangurl, you’ve summed up almost everything I was feeling as I watched Show.

I did feel like Yo-Yo Boy was a representation of the flute itself but maybe that was me just wanting Show to be deeper (more poetic) than it actually was?

I also felt the ending of happily-ever-hopping between worlds was too pat when you consider all the effort LMO went through to find his way back to the correct time/universe previously. But heck, that may be due to my losing track of what was going on with the fantasy storyline, which I kind of stopped trying once I realized there were no hard rules set up or adhered to by Writer-nim. I can go along with, and immensely enjoy, any fantasy or sci-fi if a show establishes its rules and then sticks with them throughout. Changing the rules only works if the solution to why they can change is totally logical within the parameters of the world building.

As another commenter said earlier, it was nice eye candy.

My favorite character(s) was Woo Do Hwan as Yeong / Eun Sup. And I liked each doppelganger equally even though they were complete opposites.

That’s an interesting hypothesis that Yo-yo Boy was a representation of the flute, Beez! I somehow doubt that writer-nim actually had that in mind, or, if she did, she surely didn’t give us any indication or hints towards that.

As for the world-hopping, yes, that was too pat for sure. No ripple effects of their visits whatsoever, even though the whole show has been exploring the way our characters mess with reality when they world-hop? That seemed like an oversight. As for finding their way back to the right universe, I rationalize that they must’ve found a way to remember which doors led back to their respective universes, so that they’d be able to make their way home after every weekend of world-hopping. Still, even with that rationalization, it was one of those endings where logic needs to take a backseat in favor of the neat bows and happy endings. 😅

Well, I’ll just jump in here. I haven’t read all the reviews, but enough to judge that the impact of this drama is somewhere between a magnitude 2 and 3. And that is what I gleaned from your review also, Fangirl. We all agree that Woo DoHwan’s star is certainly rising, but so is Kim KyungNam’s! With those wonderfully expressive eyes KHN should be on every casting directors map. What a scene stealer he is. TBH… I believe both male second leads characters were dramatically better than the leads. That being said…ladies, didn’t your heart go thump, thump when Lee Min Ho came dashing across the screen? How can you argue with a man wearing a velvet jacket with diamond buttons and riding a white horse??? And just how many angles can one view a person’s face? Cinematographer-nim had many a late night coming up with those. I thank him with my whole heart for his superior efforts. To costume designer I also express my thanks for dressing King Lee Gon in his couture clothing. This man is such a clothes horse…put anything on him and he’d look immaculate! Heirs…don’t even go there. It was one of my first 10 or so dramas and it did leave a very poor impression. Actors way to old for their parts. One bright spot was the soon to be fabulous actors: Choi Jin Hyuk and Kang HaNeul. Not to mention FG’s favorite Kim WooBIn. But I do believe LMH has taken some acting lessons…he does seem better than before military service. Take some more, sweetie! We so deserve to see that face more ^^* Now for Kim EunSook’s story. I have to agree with the assessment of a Hot Mess. By the second half I’d just given up trying to figure out ‘where in the world’ they were. There’s a lot to be said about the universal truth of accepting your destiny, but trying to change it if you can. This the drama, I thought, did well on that. The ending..I didn’t like at all. Time hopping on the weekend to be together hardly seems to be a happy ending. What kind of relationship can you forge when you don’t have some grounding in a real world. Oh, I almost forgot, this is Kdramland. Ya’ll know the KISS Theory. Keep It Simple Stupid. What if when the Magic Flute came together…the separated worlds came together and our OTP could live together? How did I come away from this drama? A bit disappointed. The acting was superior by some…Kim GoEun and others. Loved me those big screenshots of LMH. Questioned the flow of said drama, but finally just watched for the pretty and the action!

I was just telling someone that LMO is attractive but I’ve seen more attractive Chinese and Japanese stars but it’s that skin though! They can push the camera within 1/4 inch from his face, and talk about velvet! And with those close ups – between the skin and eyes, he’s hyptnotizing! And he’s not even on my bias list so I’m saying that even though I’m not a big fan.

@Beez, let’s jut talk about that big ole nose that sets on his face. But somehow it’s works magic ! And the skin. Do you think they used filters for that velvet look? Or did he sit in the aesthetician’s chair for 100 hours before and during filming? The ‘Lazer’ mask that was PP in every other scene must have paid for those treatments 😂. Anyway, he is truly one of the most attractive men I’ve ever seen. Hope he’s as pretty on the inside as he is on the outside.

@Georgia Peach – believe it or not, I liked his old nose better. ☺ As for his skin care, I don’t know what he does but I know that years ago, Netziens were shocked when Song Seung heon revealed that his everyday at home skin care regimen involved 22 products!

In my youth, I was a very vain woman but even I wouldn’t have invested the time (nor probably the money) for 22 products every day and night!

Beez, don’t care how many surgery’s KMH has had because he is so pretty and dreamy to look at! Kudos to the plastic surgeon who worked magic on an already very handsome face. Agree the 22 skin products are over the top, but look at the results; and when you make your living off of your face go for it.

@Georgia Peach – LMH’s nose is eye-fixing. I can’t stop staring at it. Whereas in his Boys Over Flowers days, I stared at him, not his nose (even though that was already a nose fix from his days before BOF). It looked more natural in BOF. Same goes for Ji Chang wook. I’m just saying I preferred their old noses. Both their noses bother me as I can’t unsee that fake “ridge” piece they’ve got stuck in there. Especially LMO’s is over whelming in it’s beakiness. Another one is Choi Jin-Hyuk. That point is so unnatural it looks like it would hurt if it pokes someone. I’m always worried for the actress’ eye when he films a kiss scene 😆

Ah, Beez, you are funny! But I do know what you’re talking about. When Kim JaeJoong got out of military service he’d had his nose done (again) and gotten ‘new teeth’! I still find it distracting at times…especially when he gives a big toothy smile. Alas, he didn’t ask his American halmonie what she thought…🙁

@GeorgiaPeach – I always noticed that Hero always covered his teeth when he smiled but from what I could see of them there was nothing wrong with them at all! And they didn’t protrude or anything. I just assumed it was part of the persona that he put forth or maybe actual shyness.

Beez, he’s just pretty anyway! Then and now. I just read your comment about Asian men and the masculinity factor. You have encountered it…he looks like a girl! HaHa! Seems it is an acquired taste. Now, European/ American men look too rugged and somehow too big?!? ^-^*

@Georgia Peach – true dat

Beez, he’s just pretty anyway!

Thanks for enjoying the review, phl! ❤️ I know you enjoyed this one, so I’m relieved that my dissatisfaction with Show’s imperfections didn’t turn you off this review! 😅

Kim Kyung Nam is just wonderful in this show, and honestly, I found his performance so affecting, that I’d consider the entire watch worthwhile, if only to see him as Shin Jae. 🤩😍 He made me feel the most, out of everything and everyone else in this drama. I saw that Kim Kyung Nam will be the main lead in an upcoming family drama ( https://zapzee.net/2020/10/12/the-king-eternal-monarch-actor-kim-kyung-nam-joins-jeon-hye-bin-in-new-weekend-drama/ ) so I think I’ll need to put that on my list, even though I rarely watch family dramas nowadays! 😜

As for keeping everything straight for this review, that’s what episode notes are for – exactly the ones you’ve seen on Patreon, so you’ve technically seen how I do it! 😉

And he’s the MAIN LEAD! SQEEEEEE I fell in love with him in that Star[something] Five Points[or whatever ] airport show. And as Kfangurl said throughout this review, he was very good in The King Eternal Monarch. It’s good to see he’s next up for “the grooming” (where they cast upcomers on dailies or weekenders to see how well they go over with audiences). I’m sooooo pleased because, honestly, I thought his short-on-plastic-surgery-natural-manly-good-looks-that-don’t-meet-the-flower-boy-standards might cause him to be over looked.

I KNOWWW! I’m so excited that he’s going to be the main lead!! I completely concur with your assessment of his rugged good looks, and I can totally imagine him making us go weak in the knees as a romantic lead! 😍😍 I really hope Show does well, for his sake and ours! 🤩

SQUEEEEEEEEEEEEEEeeeeeeeeeee÷÷÷ ing so much I’m running out of air 😆

Ah, this show. Imagine you see this huge puzzle box in the store, with a beautiful and dazzling image on the cover. You just have to buy it and put all the pieces together, while marveling at the ingenuity of the team who prepared the puzzle. So you start trying to put the pieces together, only to find that they don’t click together. Frustrated, you reach for another piece from the box, hoping that maybe this time something will click. It does! Great, let’s get another piece to click. Oops, this one does not click…try another, and so on… Somehow you manage to complete the picture, but in the process some puzzle pieces ended up never fitting and were just left out. Other pieces had to be slightly trimmed in order to fit. So how does the final picture look? Not too bad, but not like what you expected. I did enjoy parts of the show though. If Goblin bored me, The King left me confused but still intrigued; but I still think that the pay off did not match the build up. Time to rewatch Mr. Sunshine!

Wow Snow Flower – what a great analogy! Very clever indeed – bravo!

I wanna say you couldn’t have said it any better! Cuz that’s an accurately painted picture!

And that’s exactly how i felt too!

(I liked Goblin though lol)

But regardless, I think this show is a win in some ways. Since It’s popular a show, I’m happy Kim Go-eun is the Lead, and its sure to boost her career more as she’s an amazing actor!

@Prashil Prakesh – I agree about Kim Go eun and I was predisposed to not like her because I didn’t like her debut movie. I thought “Oh, another actress trying to make it because she doesn’t mind doing illicit nude-sex scenes”. But she proved me wrong. She was great in Memories of the Sword. And I loved her in Goblin with that totally insincere yet sincere “I love you”. It melted my heart right along with the Goblin who seemed to take it the exact same way that I did. Both our thoughts seemed to day “She’s so cute because I know, and she knows I know, she doesn’t mean it… yet”. 😆 I also think her presence really helped The King Eternal out a lot. I just can’t see another actress bringing believable weight to the role of a police detective. Most of them are too bubbly cheery. Kim Go eun brings the right mix of charisma with gravitas. The few other actresses able to combine those traits are either older or if they do have a serious persona, can’t pull off the lighter notes in tone when the story switches over to them.

But back to the topic at hand – I love Kim Eun sook’s writing -all of it (that I’ve seen). Love everything about it – even her messed up ML’s. That just makes their turnaround all the better! 😄 I’ve said it before, I think she’s had more iconic moments than any other writer out there. Moments that become memes or skits on K-SNL, or that the casts of every variety show imitates and/or quotes. I ❤ her.

@beez I’m surprised you mentioned Eungyo!

Honestly She was great in Eungyo (imo) but if I’m even more honest. I was traumatized after that film!

I had first seen her in Goblin. Where I loved her (it was one of the first few kdramas that I had seen as well) Her bubbly and “even though life kinda sucks, I’ll not let it affect me so much” attitude was really endearing.

The insincere I love you that you mentioned… So cute! I wanted to give her a hug.

Which is exactly why when I saw Eungyo afterwards, it messed me up…Bad. Maybe if the order was the other way around it would have been less traumatic I guess. Lol.

Trauma aside, I saw that she has range and her scenes showed a vulnerable and a lonely messed up side to the character.

I see a bit of Jeon Do yeon in her. They both did movies by the same director and had to do Erotic scenes which had a mental impact on both of them Also both of them took a break afterwards as well.

I believe Jeon do Yeon mentions this somewhere as well that she sees Kim Go eun as her younger self (or something along those lines)

I really hope that one day she also attains the legendary status Jeon Do-Yeon has and we get great films and TV series with her in it.

Talking about Kim Eun Sook I haven’t seen ‘Mr Sunshine’ or ‘Secret garden’ yet but it’s on my radar and they both look soo good!

(Btw Goblins ost still gives me chills, class!)

@Prashil Prakash – Yes, I saw Eungyo before I saw Goblin. As for actress Do yeon – she took a break? When? It must’ve been fairly late in her career because every film I’ve seen her in except Memories of the Sword she was butt nekkid. lol I mean, that’s her choice and obviously it hasn’t caused critics or movie goers to question her acting skills the way doing nude scenes can sometimes negatively impact an actress. I’m just saying that everything I’ve ever seen her in had very adult, erotic and just short of “X” ratings.

Haha Yeah I think it was after the movie ‘Happy End’

You mentioned Kim Eun Sook and her writing. And the thing is, I just watched ‘Secret garden’

Don’t get me wrong. I loved Goblin.

As for her other shows, I did like ‘My love from the Stars'(that was my first kdrama) And DOTS wasn’t too bad either.

But after watching ‘Secret garden’ I’m really questioning myself. And also the other shows written by her. Was I biased cuz it was something new? Was I biased cuz Jun Ji-Hyun is great? Idk.

I’m generally very forgiving with shows. And I try to look for merits in all shows.

But Secret garden was really a challenging show.

I think they only thing that was going on in its favour was that I still wanted to watch it knowing it was bad. And the performances weren’t bad. But In all honesty, it felt wrong watching it.

It really was a problematic show. And most of the actions made by the characters made no sense (also it introduced me to the character who plays Hyun Bin’s mom and I think I haven’t hated anyone more in my life I think (yeah even more than Joffrey Baratheon))

But that just clarifies what you mentioned about her writing. That is No matter how many holes it has, You still wanna watch it!

So I guess you are right. But it’s honestly scary that many people swear by that show. Calling it one of the best shows. I mean I wouldn’t recommend secret garden to anyone Cuz It’s my dirty little Secret.

Anyway. I do realise the fact many shows before 2013-14 ish were kinda like that so maybe it gets a pass. And her newer works, even if it had holes, weren’t problematic at least. And Goblin was pretty great actually.

Having said that, I guess I won’t be giving up on ‘Mister Sunshine’ and I hope it’s good (cuz it really looks promising)

@Prashil Prakash – I’m actually giving Secret Garden a rewatch now. I have heard Kfangurl say it doesn’t hold up and others have agreed with her. So far, I’m still loving it (maybe even more than I did years ago as I understand better what they’re talking about or maybe the subtitles on Kocowa are better than when I watched on Viki years ago). I’m only up to episode 5 so we’ll see. I anticipate loving it all the way through, again.

@beez for sure. I mean don’t get me wrong.

I Don’t think it was NOT an enjoyable show, in fact since I did finish the whole show and did care what was happening to the characters. I’ll definetely say that it was an enjoyable show.

it was more that it was “problematic” show. And I generally don’t nitpick male characters being A-holes to females since I have an understanding that they are supposed to imperfect characters.

And How else do you get a nice rewarding arc.

But here The Arc of the main characters was pretty crappy till the very end. I hated the mother way more.

I quite liked Oska though. And also his girl-friend. Their arc was well done. They didn’t seem just like one dimensional character. They had actual growth.

And even though Oska was loud and annoying, I definitely loved him and his relationship with his cousin, his entourage and even with our female lead. (I loved him even more in ‘I hear your voice’ (more than the mc!) )

My main issue was the other characters having virtually no depth.

And I really couldn’t explain myself why our female lead liked the rich chaebol back? Was it ” Bad boy, me likey”? Idk

Btw I’m pretty sure Mr Sunshine won’t be like this since it’s a newer show and its of the Goblin era so I’m sure it won’t disappoint.

PS: Trust me I don’t hate Hyun bin (I really liked him him CLOY), if it seems like I’m saying that.

I’ll stop talking now.😅 Others might think why I’m ranting about everything other than ‘King: Eternal Monarch’ lol

Anyway! Really enjoyed having this discussion with you beez . There’s literally no where else I can discuss these 😂

@Prashil Prakash – it’s clear you were talking about Hyun Bin’s character and not him, the actor so no worries. 👍

By the way – the mother-in-law character – Secret Garden was one of my firsts and it was the first time I saw that actress and I hated hated HATED her! And I’ve hated her in probably 15 dramas since – almost all in the exact same role. However, believe it or not, lately I’ve come to appreciate her in those roles. Maybe it’s because I’ve seen many more of these same typical M-I-L characters but, somehow, she’s grown on me. I guess I can categorize her as a character I love to hate. 😆

@Prashil Prakash – I forgot to mention – although you may feel my tastes might not coincide with yours since I still love Secret Garden – but Mr. Sunshine is a quality show with a very strong heroine. It starts how very slow but bills to epic proportions and storytelling.

We watched Secret Garden this year — for the first time — and enjoyed it. Based on foreshadowing by others, I expected to maybe not like how it had aged, especially the dated notion of how men treat women. (Is Hyun Bin a determined man in love . . . or a creepy stalker? etc.)

It’s not at the tippy top of our list, but I gave it an A- on my “already watched” list. And, to my surprise, the idiotic macho behavior was treated as . . . idiotic. That was the joke, I thought.

Although there were some of the annoying tropes I’ve come to dread, much of the storyline seemed fresh.

@merij1 – Yup nodding Another thing I’m enjoying about Secret Garden – when I first watched it, to my eyes then, the men just were not masculine at all! But now that I’ve acclimated to what’s what in a different culture – EVERYTHING about Hyun bin’s character and Oska reeks masculinity. 😆 I’m laughing at myself.

I concur with everyone else, Snow Flower. This is a brilliant analogy! So accurate! 😆😆

the wordy habitat

book recommendations, blogging tips, & asian dramas

The King: Eternal Monarch Kdrama review

The King: Eternal Monarch  was on many viewers' lists immediately after its release announcement. Not only is the story intriguing—following treachery and love across parallel universes—it also stars two of the most popular actors: Lee Min-ho and Kim Go-eun.

The drama was Lee Min-ho's first project after returning from military service. There were high expectations for due to the cast, the writer, and the promising story.

I watched this drama as the episodes were released, with two new episodes every weekend. As each episode is ~72 minutes long, a ton happened story-wise and I have proper notes for this review. Let’s get to it.

what is The King: Eternal Monarch about?

The concept: +2, the execution: -1, the direction: -1, the romance: -3, lee gon: -3, jung tae-eul: 0, the love triangle: 0, kang shin-jae: +1, koo seo-ryung: -2, the comedy: 0, the villain: +3, the supporting characters: +2, the supporting romances: +2, loose ends and confusion: -2, plotholes: -3, discussion (includes spoilers), check out more kdramas.

The drama mainly follows two parallel worlds —one has the Republic of Korea as how it is in real life and the other has the Kingdom of Corea which is very different from current day Korea.

Lee Gon is the King of Corea. When he was a kid, his father was murdered by his (born out of wedlock) uncle due to jealousy. Lee Gon was almost killed as well but was saved by a masked person who left behind an ID card bearing the name “Jung Tae-eul”.

The uncle’s main goal was to obtain the manpasikjeok (henceforth referred to as “the flute” in this review), a famed object that allows its owner to travel between worlds and time.

Due to some skirmish, the flute gets divided in half. The uncle escapes with one half and Lee Gon obtains the other. Decades later, Lee Gon travels to the parallel world searching for his saviour. He meets Jung Tae-eul and hence begins their love story.

Lee Gon also finds out that his traitor uncle is still alive and hiding in this parallel world. In order to get vengeance, the King begins hunting for him.

This fantasy series is about purpose, revenge, and love. It is mainly for the fantasy and action buffs and for fans of Lee Min-ho.

my thoughts on The King: Eternal Monarch

As I said earlier, I watched this Kdrama as the episodes were released. So I had ample time between episodes to properly think about the story and analyze it. This is probably why I’m being so critical*.

A friend of mine also watched it as episodes were released and we discussed every episode immediately after both of us were done. This is another reason why I thought so much about the story and nitpicked all of it.

In order to quantify my thoughts on each aspect, I am doing this review in points.

*but also, maybe not. The show did tank in overall ratings and viewership.

It’s the reason why this drama was on my list. Parallel worlds mean that every character has a counterpart in the other world, living a completely different life. I was super excited to see how they’d handle the intricacies of this concept, especially with a mystery/thriller story.

And I have to say,  the basic plot and storyline were quite good . They did explore the vastly different lives of people and their counterparts. There were many switcheroo cases which were fun to watch.

It was fine in the beginning when things were relatively easy to keep track of. As a viewer, I was not confused and could not see any mistakes. 

But as the drama went on, things got convoluted. Since the concept is quite tricky,  there should have been more thought put into the story.

My friend and I were confused about the intention of certain scenes as well as how they play into the bigger picture. By the time we got to episode 10 (out of 16), I was clearly seeing plot holes.  There were facts and scenes that were logically questionable.

Episodes 10, 11 and 12 were simply bad and I hated them. Everything was jumbled, nothing made sense, and there was no point to those episodes. There were also random romance scenes in the middle which completely shifted the ongoing vibes.

Direction and editing are super important for any TV show or movie. When dealing with confusing topics and timelines, it is important that the viewer is not confused. Shows usually handle this by changing the colour tones just a little bit or by adding a border to differentiate between times or universes.

But there was  no distinction between the worlds in this drama . Especially in the first couple of episodes when some difference is needed in order to get used to it. There was not even a mention saying which world we’re seeing. 

I got used to it later but it still threw me off in the beginning.

I HATED IT.

It was fine in the beginning before Lee Gon and Jung Tae-eul developed romantic feelings. They had a spark. Their conversations were actually funny and entertaining. They  bantered .

All that personality vanished when they caught feelings.  They became two extra sappy characters who were sad every time they met. And they pined whenever they were apart. All the actual banter and personality which I liked was gone.

Plus, I didn’t actually like the two actors together. I couldn’t ship them. In my opinion, they were cast only because they’re both popular actors and their chemistry was not seriously considered.

It is clear through multiple romantic scenes that the goal was to show Lee Min-ho and Kim Go-eun together for some time instead of actually having a point to those scenes.

There were scenes where the characters simply stared at each other with sadness and longing. And these scenes were thrown in at random times. 

For example, there would be something  intense  going on and that scene would get cut abruptly to show these two with a pointless supposed-to-be-romantic segment.

Even when there were genuine scenes between the couple,  the dialogues were SO BAD . I cringed at most of them. Some lines that were supposed to be critical made no sense. Maybe it makes sense in Korean but not English? I don’t know.

Some of the scenes honestly gave me secondhand embarrassment. I had to look away from the screen and wipe my face to deal with my frustration.

So yeah, the romance was a no-go for me.

Lee Gon’s character was made only to show Lee Min-ho off.

This is Lee Min-ho’s first drama since coming back from mandatory military service. Hence, this drama got a lot of attention. But the character itself was so bad.  Lee Gon, or the King of Corea, is portrayed as a perfect person in the worst sense.

The King is:

• A GENIUS because he is super into math and can solve equations really quick in his head. He can also draw conclusions about fantasy concepts like travelling between worlds through math and physics equations pretty fast. 
• ALL-KNOWING. He is well-read, knows about every topic under the sun, draws conclusions quickly and before any other person, comes up with the best plans because he is the smartest ever, and is almost like God.
• The MOST HANDSOME man to ever exist. Throughout the show, his good looks are given extra attention and brought to the forefront with and without subtlety. Multiple times, strangers will double-take and comment about his looks, even in a world where he is not the king. There were several scenes where he is lit with a glow behind him to emphasize his beautiful smile. 
• Great in tense situations. He is at ease, in control, and NOTHING FAZES HIM. People around him cannot keep up with the speed of his brain.
• VERY ROMANTIC. When he likes Jung Tae-eul, he goes all out to spend time with her and protect her. She comes first to him and that is hella romantic.
• CHARMING. He can charm anyone with his smiles and words. 
• A TRUE HERO.

The King’s only flaw is perhaps his inherent pride since he is King. He is used to ordering people and getting his way. But that is also portrayed as something to admire, so it is not really a flaw.

Lee Gon was like every woman’s dream guy.

I mean, who can  resist  such a charming, smart, and capable leader? There has never been a King like Lee Gon and there will probably never be again. You can clearly see that he is in an entirely different league.

Every time he does something, another character will react like “he’s so charming/smart/great/handsome/cool.”  Ugh.

The King is simply unreal and that is why I could not  stand  him. Every time I saw his smug face and in every scene where he is shown as a holier-than-thou person, I wanted to print out a photo of him and tear it up.

I won’t lie, I definitely appreciated Lee Min-ho’s good looks. But after a certain point, I need more of the personality than just looks.

Lee Min-ho is a good actor. My problem is the character itself. The only thing that gives this character some depth is his tragic past.

It’s almost as if everything about this character was polished a little more because Lee Min-ho was cast for it. It felt like the show’s creators/writers/producers banked on Lee Min-ho to bring in a ton of viewership. Hence, they showed him off with this perfect character.

Jung Tae-eul was more real, with a snarky personality and flaws. She is a cop, has smart instincts, and does not need to be saved from every single situation. She is not a damsel-in-distress. She is strong and tough.

Much of her personality vanishes when she is with the King. She turns into a pining, cry-baby. There were some scenes where she was shown as a damsel-in-distress in order for the King to rescue her  even though she didn’t need it .

Jung Tae-eul had some good scenes but they were nullified by the really bad scenes. I was   annoyed when she’d turned into the King’s love interest and ceased to be her own person. What a shame.

I usually hate love triangles but this one didn’t actually bother me. Probably because there wasn’t much outright tension between the three of them. 

Kang Shin-jae, who is Jung Tae-eul’s long time friend and colleague, mostly pines after her in silence and doesn’t try doing anything about it. I felt bad for him right from the start because obviously, he won’t end up with her.

The reason I didn’t dislike this love triangle is that there weren’t drawn-out scenes showing the love triangle. Kang Shin-jae likes Jung Tae-eul but we don’t see the guys fighting over her or having much tension because of her. 

Personally, I didn’t think Kang Shin-jae and Jung Tae-eul were right for each other anyway so I wasn’t invested in the possibility as well.

Kang Shin-jae was a good character. He had much more depth than the primary leads of the drama. He was also the only one with issues apart from the parallel world thing. Most of the time, he wasn’t even involved with Lee Gon and Jung Tae-eul. He had other problems to deal with.

Being in love with Jung Tae-eul didn’t determine his role in the drama. I appreciated that. He had issues with his mom, his childhood, and more. He had a positive character arc.

She was THE BEST female character in the show.  I was in awe of her right from the start.

Koo Seo-ryung is the Prime Minister of Corea. She started at the bottom of the ladder and worked her way to becoming the  PM . How cool is that? She has ambition, is ruthless, and is a role model.

The drama even highlighted the issues of being a woman in politics. The men constantly undermine her even though she is smarter than them. They say that she should resign and stay at home but Seo-ryung pushes through and proves her abilities.

The writers were really onto something with this character. And they messed it up royally.

Koo Seo-ryung was portrayed as a villain because she is ambitious and goes after what she wants. She wanted to become the Queen because that is the highest position achievable and there is nothing wrong with that. A PM can only serve two terms but a Queen’s term never ends. And she vied for that.

You know, I get it. She went about things the wrong way and wanted to marry the King for non-romantic reasons. But not everybody has the privilege to marry for love. Her prioritizing being in a position of power because of all that she's been through is valid.

But I HATED that she became a tool to create shadows that would make the King shine brighter rather than being a powerful character on her own . The King constantly undermined her and made her look like the villain.

Even when the situation was political and she deserved to know the information, the King simply told her to  mind her own business . She would have been able to help him as the PM but he told her no simply because of personal reasons. 

She asked for honesty because it’s her JOB and he gave her stupid horse-riding riddles.

Through it all, the King is the good guy and she is the witch. That is a strong no in my book and it affected my overall opinion of this drama.

There were some really good humorous scenes but they weren't enough to redeem the drama for me. The segments I actually liked were ones with supporting characters and not the main characters.

Towards the end, there were barely any funny parts. The drama seemed to consist of only:

• scenes with the main plot and

By the end, The King: Eternal monarch was just a mess and I couldn’t wait to be done with it.

The villain of this show is the King’s uncle. Lee Lim was born out of wedlock and hence could not inherit the crown even though he was older than Lee Gon’s father.

The royal family is in possession of a powerful flute but Lee Gon’s father was not interested in exploring its powers. Considering that a waste, Lee Lim leads his followers so he can steal the flute and have infinity and eternity in his hands.

The King is portrayed as the smartest person ever but in my opinion, he is nothing compared to the villain.  Lee Lim is cunning, clever, patient, and ambitious*. Lee Lim is smarter than the annoying King who can only say cringe-worthy lines he thinks are romantic.

I was awed and engaged every time the villain was on-screen. You could not make me pause watching. Keeping up with the villain’s plans was interesting as hell.

But Lee Lim was another character that the writers messed up at the end.  He had a few out-of-character scenes where his actions did not make sense with his personality. That’s all I will say because I want to avoid spoilers.

*do you see a pattern with the characters I liked?

I wish The King: Eternal Monarch only included the supporting characters and did not show the main couple. They were much more interesting and entertaining.

Any time the supporting characters had a good scene, I gobbled it up with affection. Their scenes without the King and Tae-eul were even better.

Besides PM Koo Seo-ryung,  my favourite character was the King’s right-hand man and (kind of) best friend Jo Yeong.  I. LOVED. HIM. He is badass and pure and any time he showed emotion, I was swooning . His counterpart in Korea, Jo Eun-sup, was hella entertaining as well.

Since we’re on the topic,  I would like to show my appreciation for Woo Do-hwan.  His acting is BRILLIANT. He played two very different characters and pulled it off so well. His acting was better and more complex compared to Lee Min-ho’s. Woo Do-hwan deserves recognition for his roles. I would like to see him as a lead in the future.

An underrated supporting character was Head Court Lady Noh. She raised the King and always had good intentions for him. She’s also a mother-hen and frets over the King all the time. Her character, especially with a random twist mentioned, had so much potential and it was wasted.

The supporting characters deserved more spotlight. One of the reasons I like Kdramas is because they usually give attention to the plot and characters arcs of the supporting characters as well. It’s not only about the main characters.

But  in this drama, everything was about the main characters.  There were barely any scenes that focused on the supporting characters alone. This really disappointed me.

In the last episode, there was ONE scene about a random character that we never got much of. It was very off because that character’s role in the plot was minimal at best. They got time in the  epilogue  when other supporting characters didn’t.

Supporting characters falling in love was better than the main couple .

I was so into the romance between Jo Yeong and Myeong Seung-ha in the Kingdom of Corea. And I was also into the romance between Jo Eun-sup and Myeong Na-ri in South Korea. Basically, the same people but in both parallel worlds. 

This pairing was so good and even though there wasn’t much attention given to their relationships, it was enough for me to love them.

Confusion is warranted and expected in shows with mystery plotlines. This drama banks on viewers being confused and anticipating a resolution.

But this drama caused too much confusion. My friend and I had tons of questions. If I look back on our texts from episode 8 or so, I can see us asking each other questions to see if we missed anything.

The worst part is that  many questions went unanswered .

While there can be elements in fantasy stories that cannot be explained, this drama simply chose to NOT explain some things. The questions were raised and forgotten.

Before the finale aired, my friend actually went through all recaps to understand things better and even read theories. I did not spend that much time on it and I am glad. Because those efforts did not lead to anything. Many viewers were confused.

I generally keep up with the logic and analyze things. I’ve noticed plot holes in other shows and dramas as well. Plot holes are never good to notice but they can open up conversations through which you may find out that you missed things.

This drama had the latter, where we figured out what happened through discussion. But it also had a lot of unresolved plot holes. 

There were massive plot holes in this drama.  So huge and obvious that you’d think the writers deliberately ignored them.

The concept of parallel worlds is tricky even without adding time travelling into the mix. When both are used together, there needs to be much more thought put into the story. The writers should spend time going over timelines to make sure that everything makes sense.

That was clearly not done for this drama. The plot hole in the last episode is so glaring and massive that I really wonder, how did they not think of it?

It’s almost as if viewers are expected to not analyze anything because we’ll get distracted by Lee Min-ho’s face.

This review on dramabeans  (which includes spoilers) accurately describes many of my opinions.

If you don’t want spoilers,  click here  to skip to the “overall” concluding section.

I had a lot of questions and noticed many plot holes. But due to the number, I will only talk about the bigger ones here.

• If all parallel worlds were the same until one event which split them, then how is the flute in only one world? Won’t there be multiple flutes, one in every world?
• Lee Gon went back in time to save his younger self  twice . How is it that the second time he went back, only one older Lee Gon was there? What happened to the dressed-in-black Lee Gon from the main timeline? If you think about the logic for a minute, you’ll realize there are supposed to be 2 older Lee Gons in the past at the same time. Time travelling doesn’t work however you want it to. It’s tricky and messy.
• The epilogue showed the couple going on dates by travelling to a point in the past. But Lee Gon is the  king . He has to marry and have heirs at some point? How will that work?
• Why do they always travel to the past when all eternity and infinity is at their hands?
• A main point in the plot is that time stops longer the more times Lee Lim and Lee Gon travel between the worlds. But Lee Lim has been travelling for almost three decades. How is it that time started slowing down only when Lee Gon started travelling? Makes no sense. And when time did stop for longer periods, what Lee Lim and Lee Gon did was not shown. They could have done crucial things when everything is paused but they didn’t.
• Due to the altered past events i.e. Lee Lim dying in 1994 itself,  many  things would have changed. It appears that the writers of this show did not consider the butterfly effect at all. Several people in both worlds died at Lee Lim’s hands and since he was killed, they would be alive. The world would look very different. That was not shown or accounted for. 
• Also, according to the new past where Lee Lim is killed and young Lee Gon is saved by Yeong and doesn’t have the ID card, Lee Gon’s memories would be vastly different. Those memories were not shown. If a point in past is changed, everything from then changes. And yet this show had the past changing massively but the current day remained the same.  It. Makes. No. Sense.
• What was up with the scene in the epilogue where the new PM’s kid comes up on stage and asks the King who he is? And that glow behind the King when he smiles? Ugh. Barf.

If you have theories or answers for any of these, let me know in the comments. And if you have any questions, feel free to mention them below as well.

final score: -5

I  really  liked this drama in the beginning. The concept was cool, the characters were interesting, the editing was proper and all my attention was engaged. But as the episodes went on, I started losing interest and became increasingly annoyed.

I had high hopes for this drama and   was disappointed by the execution. I regret wasting 19.2 hours watching it.

If you would like to simply look at Lee Min-ho, this drama is good for you because he looks very handsome. But if you care about the plot and substance, I suggest skipping this because it will only confuse and irritate you.

what did you think?

Have you watched The King: Eternal Monarch ? Did you like it or are you here to commiserate with another person who hated the drama? Did you notice the plotholes? Did I miss anything in this review? Tell me in the comments!

Sumedha spends her days reading books, bingeing Kdramas, drawing illustrations, and blogging while listening to Lo-Fi music. Read more ➔

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Oh dear....I just started watching. I'm so confused even with your review. Oh....how I miss Back To The Future. Guess I'll not waste time on this K-drama if the next few episodes gets on my nerves. Thanks for the explanation.

Your review of The King: Eternal Monarch is spot on! The only thing that I enjoyed was the excellent performance of Woo do-Jean especially when he was playing Jo Yeong as Jo Eun-sup. I have become addicted to Kdramas after watching The Incredible Attorney Woo. My favorite so far is The Crowned Clown that I almost didn’t watch because I thought the title was silly. The performance of Yoe Jin-goo as the tormented king and his clown stand in was incredible. The scenes between Yoe Jin-goo and his mentor Kim-Kyung were mesmerizing. Kwaj Hae-Hyo was the creepiest villain ever. I was hoping that The King: King Eternal would have the same impact. It didn’t!

I loved The Incredible Attorney Woo as well! I haven't seen The Crowned Clown but I will watch it, all I needed to hear was it has a good villain haha.

Because of this drama somehow i started to doubt Lee Min Ho's acting which i never doubted before. By the way i am minoz since 2011. But after watching pachinko and Minho's other dramas one more time, i'm starting to understand that it's not his acting that's the problem, it's his character as Lee Gon. And because i used to like Minho's dramas like City Hunter, Faith and Legend of the Blue Sea. I don't understand how their relationship can be intertwined so quickly. Even Boys Over Flowers, The Heirs and Personal Taste are not as strange as this drama's love story.

This drama has 16 episodes and suddenly in the fifth episode and so on, they're already riding horses together, then kissing and (their fans say) in the script they make love. It's not only weird, but i find it kinda disgusting, even in the real world newly dating couples take some time to do. I really don't know what the writer was thinking, like their love relationship is only used as "escape". I still don't understand the reason Tae Eul is in that drama apart from Lee Gon who doesn't have a partner.

I think the writer herself was confused about what she had written but released it as a drama anyway because she depended on her popularity for having written another popular script, but it doesn't work for this drama. I actually prefer the criminal version of Tae Eul's character because her existence has more reasons than the real tae eul. And yes, i think that woman is actually fascinated by Lee Gon's wealth unknowingly, it's just that she is described differently from the honest and outspoken Koo Seo Ryeong.

Ah one more thing, i saw on the other blog's side that mention that this drama is confusing and doesn't logically because this drama is a "fantasy" genre, therefore the writer is free to imagine anything. But i actually laughed when i read her review. Even Hollywood fantasy films have theories that make sense and can be explained logically. She really defended this drama with her illogical too.

I AM OBSESSED WITH THIS REVIEW (AND ALSO ALL OF YOUR POSTS, BASICALLY)!!! the format is SO SO NICE AND ALSO I LOVE HOW DETAILED IT IS!!! AND ALSO ENGAGING AHHHH!! i don't usually watch many kdramas, but the plot actually sounded amazing?? but haha, the rest of your review definitely convinced me to not watch it, SO THANK YOU FOR THAT! the villain and Koo Seo-ryung LOOK REALLY INTERESTING, AND I KIND OF LOVE THEM ALREADY, i'm so sorry they ruined both of them towards the end though ?? SORRY THIS DIDN'T LIVE UP TO YOUR EXPECTATIONS, AND AM HOPING YOU SHALL FIND SOMETHING AMAZING TO WATCH TO MAKE UP FOR THE DISAPPOINTMENT ? OH AND DID I MENTION I LOVEEEE THIS REVIEW???

ahh so glad you loved this review, Anoushka!!! haha i was actually wondering if i should post this because it was a lot of ranting for no reason but i wanted to convince people not to watch it lol. i did find better dramas afterwards!

Hey! I’ve watched this show a few times and I actually love the entire premise. Plus, I’ve always made it a point of never relying on someone else’s opinions about a show. Watch it yourself and form your own opinion. As far as the characters being close by episode five, it’s possible because time flows differently at certain times in the show. I don’t want to spoil the reason for you here, just in case you decide to watch it. Just remember, it’s fantasy, sci-fi. There will always be inconsistencies and plot holes in things like this. Kind of inevitable, but when all is said and done, it’s a story about destiny and love.

Well said, I loved the show, I really don't understand the confusion some had with the story line. Like you, I will stick to my own opinion on what's good or not. Also who doesn't love a man that can handle The Four Tiger ?️.

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The King: Eternal Monarch Full Review

Welcome to The King: Eternal Monarch – Full Review.   This drama about a dynamic leader who travels through time and universes.  Enjoy the read and feel free to leave a comment. If you haven’t watched this one yet, you might want to check out my unspoiled review with a simple summary and information here.

The King: Eternal  Monarch

♥ Aired:  April 17- June 12, 2020

♥ # of Episodes:  16

♥ Where to Watch:  Netflix

♥ Genre:  Fantasy Romance

♥ Starring:  Lee Min Ho and Kim Go Eun

Lee Gon became the King of the Kingdom of Corea when his father was killed in front of him at the age of 8.  One night as the ruler is out riding his horse through the woods, he mysteriously crossing into an alternate universe.  This universe is our modern day Korea.

After crossing over, King Gon meets a woman detective named Jung Tae Eul, who he has been searching for his whole life.  He has kept the ID badge with her picture  that he found the night of his father’s death.  Now that he has found her, he hopes to put together the full story of what happened that night 25 years ago and how the mysterious alternate universe plays a role.  The only problem is that Tae Eul has no idea whaKing t he is talking about.  Together they will work to find the whole truth about what happened that night and what it means for the Kingdom of Corea.

Lee Min Ho as Lee Gon

Lee Gon has been the king of Corea since he was 8 years old.  But despite his unfortunate rise to the crown, he has become a dependable and popular monarch.  Credit for this is largely due to the people who have stepped up to support him, particularly his body guard, who is also his childhood friend, and the Head Court Lady who has raised him like a grandmother since the death of his father.  But the mysteries that hang over his father’s murder still haunt him.  Most especially the stranger who saved him from being killed as well, leaving behind a picture ID badge dated November 11, 2019.  This mystery will take him on a journey across universes and time.  

While I don’t think this is Lee Min Ho’s best drama, I do think it is his best acting ever.  Whether it’s due to his age or his time away from the screen, he has grown into a mature and talented actor.  It is so fun to see him taking on a role with more depth and sublety.  Lee Min Ho carried out this role perfectly and his natural chemistry with all of his cast mates really shines through

Kim Go Eun  as Jeong Tae Eul/Luna

Jeong Tae Eul is an outspoken, tough police investigator.    When Jeong Tae Eul first meets Gon, she has no idea who he is, and yet there is a strange feeling of trust and familiararity.  Of course it is hard to believe the crazy story that he is telling her;  that he is a king from a country he has never heard from in a parallel univers.  Who wouldn’t think he was crazy?  But when Gon offers to take her there and show her, things start to become very real.  Now she will do whatever it takes to find out the truth about his father’s death, who saved Gon’s life and how.

Strangely, while her “alter ego” is a girl with a bad attitude, on the other side of the law, their personalities are not that different.  She has been diagnosed with liver disease and only has a few months to live.  When she is offered the opportunity to cross over to the other world and assume Tae Eul’s life, she jumps at the chance.  She will have to fool all of her friends and family if she is going to stay long enough to get treatment.

After Goblin, Kim Go Eun has plenty of fans, and I enjoy watching her.  I wish her 2 characters would have had more distinct personalities, so she could show off her talent more.  To her credit, she was very convincing in both roles, as a social rebel who refuses to let anyone tell her what to do.

Secondary Characters

Woo Do Hwan as Jo Young/Jo Eun Sub

Well, where do you even start with Woo Do Hwan?  For many fans, he was the reason to wade through the complicated storyline and keep watching.  Jo Young first met Gon at his inauguration, when Young was 3 years old.  Young is the son of one of the top military advisors in Corea.  From that moment the king and Young become brothers and best friends.  As his bodyguard, Young never lets Gon out of his sight.  The faithful friend is stoic, logical, and on high-alert, despite the king’s efforts to get him to lighten up.

Jo Eun Seop is a sweet guy with lots of dreams.  Unfortunately, none of those dreams have come true and are ever changing.  He has spent most of his life helping his mother raise twin siblings.  Serving his military duty as a civil servant, his current dream is just to be a civilian.  Eun Seop has been friends with Tae Eul for years.  Once he gets over the shock of a man from another universe who looks exactly like him, he joins in to help reveal the truth and even switches lives with Young for a short time.

Woo Do Hwan brought these two opposite characters to life and made us love them both.  Neither character felt forced or unnatural.  Really the only question is fringe or forhead.  Can you chose?  I don’t think I can.

Kim Kyung Nam as Kang Shin Jae

Kang Shin Jae has been pining for Tae Eul since he was a high school student.  Together, they have studied judo and joined the police force, but he has never got the courage to tell her his true feelings.  Due to his father’s imprisonment and his mother’s  gambling addiction, his relationship with his parents is strained.  But this all makes more sense when we find out that the real Kang Shin Jae is laying in a coma.

Shin Jae is actually  Hyun Min from the Kingdom of Corea.  When the real Shin Jae became ill, his parents were approached by Lee Lim with a deal to give them the healthy version of their son in exchange for a medical facility Hyun Min’s father owned.

Lee Jung Jin as Lee Lim/ Lee Seong Jae

Lee Jung Jin plays a flawless villian.  Brother to the king, he was the one who organized the coup to kill Gon’s father and take the throne.  Everyone assumed that he was dead when he disappeared that night.  But he has been in hiding, travelling between the 2 universes of present Korea and the Kingdom of Corea.  Of course, like all good villains, he isn’t planning to hide forever.  Treason was not the only crime he had planned the night of the King’s death.  What he really wanted is a magical flute that will give him eternal life.  In the struggle, Gon accidentally broke the flute in half.  Lim took one half when he fled.  The other half is somewhere within the palace.

Things I Liked

♥  kang shin jae.

Shin Jae’s character was unique and interesting.  Unlike some one-dimensional second leads, his character did more than just pine after Tae Eul.  His story, as someone living someone else’s life without even knowing it, gave great dimension to his story and his character.  His journey to forgiveness and healing was a great touch in an already full plot line.  I am so glad that Shin Jae was able to explore and grow as a character.  

Abundance of Genre

The King: Eternal Monarch may not have gotten it perfect on every level, but the scope of this story is deserving of praise.  There is barely a genre left untouched by the ambitious writers.  First, parellel universes can be hard enough to portray, but to add time travel to the mix was fresh and unexpected.  Second,  I also loved how a story that took place in 2020 could feel like a historical drama.  And these are just the unusual combinations.  There was also murder, intrigue, betrayal, romance, and a bit of comic relief.  This drama went above and beyond to give us an epic story that is larger than life.

Boys Over Flowers Reunion

Okay, who doesn’t love Kim Young Ok.  As Korea’s grandmother, she is adored by fans.  And have I mentioned that I am a huge Lee Min Ho fan, because of a little drama called “Boys Over Flowers”.  So, I was thrilled to see these 2 together on screen again.  Of course, Young Ok didn’t let me down.  Her portrayal as a stand in grandparent to the king was adorable and sweet.  A stroke of genius on the casting side, I know I’m not the only fan who loved Young Ok and Min Ho’s endearing interactions.  

Things I Didn’t Like

Koo seo ryeong as mini-villian.

Koo Seo Ryeong is a good actress and I don’t have any complaints about her abilitilies, but I just didn’t hate her enough to be a real villian.  And if that was the case, I wish they would have let Lee Jung Jin have the full spotlight as the villian.  Honestly, she would have been fine as the sophisticated and sometimes irritating Prime Minister, who had hoped to marry the King.  Just my opinion here, but I think they tried to do too much with her character, and it fell flat for me. 

The Naval Battle

So, I will be the first to admit that my heart swooned to see Min Ho in that stunning white naval uniform.  Well played, writers.  But, what did the scene do to support the story?  Yes, it explained why Gon was temporarily delayed, but it came out of nowhere.  It started suddenly and was done just as suddenly.  Was it normal for Japan to just spontaneously send war ships?  I guess, for me it just felt out of place.  Anyone else have that thought or is it just me?

Ad Placement

Since it has been all the talk, it would be remiss of me to not mention the excessive amount of obvious advertisements throughout The King: Eternal Monarch”.  Yes, I understand that dramas need sponsors to be able to produce their shows, but did the writers use up all their creative energies with the script and then let the interns throw products into the middle of the scenes?  I must admit, I have heard people complain about it before and I didn’t get all the fuss, but this was pretty bad.  They seemed to disrupt the scenes rather than blending into them.  I know they could have done better. 

The ending for “The King: Eternal Monarch” is a complicated one for me.  They tied up all the loose ends well, and showed what happened to each character.  Most of their outcomes were positive; budding romances bloomed, career paths were chosen, and relationships were mended.  It’s hard not to love all those happy endings.  And, most would say Gon and Tae Eul had a happy ending.  They were still together, spending their weekends on romantic trips.  But I felt like this ending was kind of a cop out.  How sustainable is it for the King to have a love and life completed hidden from everyone?  Like Goblin, it was cute in the moment, but it left me with more questions about their future than answers, and that didn’t leave me feeling satisfied.

Should I Watch

There was a lot of hype surrounding” The King: Eternal Monarch”, partly because it was done by the same writers who gave us Descendants of the Sun and Goblin, and partly because it was Lee Min Ho’s first drama in 3 years.  Unfortunately, many felt that it didn’t live up to that hype.  There were complaints that the shift between universes made the story confusing and hard to follow.  Maybe it’s just because I am a diehard Min Ho fan, but I don’t share the hate.  I wouldn’t say this is his best drama, but I enjoyed it nonetheless.

If you don’t like sci-fi or find supernatural stories to be hard to follow, “The King: Eternal Monarch is probably not for you.  It requires a little more work and attention than your average kdrama.  But the combination of fantasy, romance, and intrigue make it worth the effort.  If you’re on the fence, you owe it to yourself to at least give it a try.  I give The King: Eternal Monarch 9 out of 10 ramen.

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• Cast & crew
• User reviews

The King: Eternal Monarch

A modern-day Korean emperor passes through a mysterious portal and into a parallel world, where he encounters a feisty police detective. A modern-day Korean emperor passes through a mysterious portal and into a parallel world, where he encounters a feisty police detective. A modern-day Korean emperor passes through a mysterious portal and into a parallel world, where he encounters a feisty police detective.

• Woo Do-Hwan
• 406 User reviews
• 5 Critic reviews

Episodes 16

• Jeong Tae Eul …

• Kang Shin Jae …

• Koo Seo Ryeong

• Court Lady Noh Ok Nam

• Myeong Na Ri …

• Detective Shim

• Jang Michael …

• Detective Park

• Secretary Kim …

• Shin Jae's Mother
• Secretary Mo …
• Lee Jong In (Prince Buyeong)

• Jeong Do In (Tae Eul's father)

• Lee Lim's assistant

• Seo Ryeong's Mother
• All cast & crew
• Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

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Did you know

• Trivia "The King: Monarch of Eternity" is Lee Min-ho 's first acting role since he was discharged from the South Korean military on April 25, 2019.
• Soundtracks I Just Want To Stay With You Performed by Zion. T. Lyrics & Music by DOKO, Son Jae Min

User reviews 406

• Apr 26, 2020
• How many seasons does The King: Eternal Monarch have? Powered by Alexa
• April 17, 2020 (United States)
• South Korea
• Official Site (South Korea)
• The King: Monarch of Eternity
• Gwanghwamun Square, Seoul, South Korea (Lee Gon and Tae Eul's first meeting)
• Hwa and Dam Pictures
• Studio Dragon
• See more company credits at IMDbPro

Technical specs

• Runtime 1 hour 10 minutes
• Dolby Digital

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