This drama has been promoted so much that I always expect more when it's finally released. This drama had so much potential, but there was just too much information for 16 episode drama.
Lee Gon (Lee Min How and Jung Tael Eul (Kim Go Eun) had no chemistry filming. One episode they were in disagreement the next they were in love. It didn't make sense. There was no relationship development. True the main points of the dram was related to the flut, but for any good relationship the audience needs to be able to see the evolution of the characters feelings for each other.
Those who had to play two roles showed a lot of acting potential. They were able to stay in character as the universe changed. The one actor that was extremely convincing was Woo Do Hwan who played Jo Young and Eun Sub. His characters were the polar opposite of each other.
The relationship between Lee Gon and Jo Young was the best. King and bodyguard, brothers and best friends. They are perfect for having each others backs.
One main Con side of this drama was that there were TOO much product placement. Where there was one there was always another nearby. It was almost as if they had to be put in last minutes that made them stand out so much. as the products were being promoted it didn't help that the actors had to say some cheesy lines that work better in ads then in a drama.
The one actor that I had no love for was Kin Go Eun. I did not believe that she was the perfect fit for her characters.
The story line is one of the most confusing ones I have ever seen. You really have to think and find all the hidden clues that connect everything together. Each episode gives us a little bit of information. Any story line that has any relation to time travel and alternate universes has the right to be a little confusing.
This drama was worth it because of Woo Do Hwan. I think he was the main attraction and may have stolen the action light from his fellow actors.
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Not worth it
The most confusing part of this drama is the high quality production and great acting that’s paired with a terrible script.I thought the premise of the drama was very unique, and I was super excited after seeing what a bada** the female lead is. However, the sequence of events doesn’t make a ton of sense. The ending is very lazy and rushed which just doesn’t cut it for what this drama was trying to pull off. The acting and production quality though was so good which made the terrible writing all the more confusing and disappointing because after finishing the drama, I keep on pining for what it could have been.
With the romance, I thought the dynamic at the beginning where she thought Gon was crazy made sense. There was lots to fun banter. But then they all of a sudden fall completely head over heels for each other with basically no reason. I couldn’t get over that the whole show. The neck kiss made no sense to me given the conversation they were having which killed any chemistry I might have detected between them. The lack of chemistry also made it lackluster when Gon saves our main female, telling the guards that she’s the future queen.
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The King: Eternal Monarch is the most complicated drama I've ever witnessed and even after reading bunch of threads and explanations about the episodes and parallel universes, I still can't wrap my head around this story. You have to be really observant, pay attention to every little detailed and even take notes just to grasp the direction of the plot. The different universes are the main pain in this drama. Especially at the end, it became really confusing and annoying, I've never known in which universe we are now, and the attempts to understand the plot, when it's pace was so fast, took away all the joy I had.And to be honest, the beginning was really boring, the side plot about japanese threat unnecessary (probably they put it just to maintain the typical 16 ep duration), the whiplash of Tae eul emotions gave me headaches. In first eps she is so against Lee Gon - and as she should, she didn't know him then - she's really wary of him BUT by ep 3-4 they already kiss kiss, and then bum, the love confession from TE (which was the most unemotional and driest confession I've ever watched) and whooop! after 10-11 ep we have crying and love-confessing Tae Eul almost in every ep - it's just not really believable! (I think it's because soemone noted the lack of emotions from TE side and decided to change that... but in my opinion the change was too drastic at this point of drama).
And of course, the most annoying thing this drama had - THE FREAKING PRODUCT PLACEMENT. The could tattooed all the promoted logos on the Lee Minho forehead and it would be less irritating then puting products in almost every freaking scene (WE GET IT, YOUR BBQ CHICKEN IS GOOD, STOP MAKING LEE GON EATING ONLY CHICKEN, THE POOR BOY MUST BE REALLY HATE IT AT THIS POINT).
Of course, there were some ray of sunshine - for example the scene when Lee Gon comes Tae Eul to the rescue (CHEF KISS! ICONIC!) and... basically all the scenes with Jo Eun Sub (Woo Do Hwan was the best part of this all drama, his acting was superb, and at one point, I just watched it only for his charakters).
All in all, this drama wasn't the best Kim Eun Sook work, I would much rather put it at the The Heirs level than Goblin or Descendants (it's not even clode to this two drama jewels). In short: this drama is really complicated, but not really satisfying.
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I could go a whole lifetime without seeing someone eating chicken and beer ever again
The sets, the action, the ideas and scenes looked beautiful and exciting… but those can’t carry a weakly written story.Identity crisis:
So this show had somewhat of an identity crisis. The first episode was really epic and things were set up in an exciting way, the direction and action showed a lot of promise – I was sure I was in for a legendary ride, the budget was through the roof(not without consequences). Then some time later as the king arrived at Korea the tone suddenly shifted into ‘quirky romance s shenanigans’ for a bit, and tone shift was way too jarring as compared to what I had seen earlier. Then over time it meanders into like a police/detective (?) show, then some more fantasy, time travel, then slow dramatic romance all over again, history and even politics with naval combat? Like just pick one or two overarching themes and focus. You can’t just jam in romance, detective, history, fantasy, revenge, politics, monarchy, war and expect them all to gel and make sense nor expect to properly explore any of them when you have literally no time in just 16 episodes to deal with all those themes.
Product placement:
I’m sure this has been talked about a lot but I’ve never cared about product placement in any show I’ve seen before, but Jesus H Christ was it way too distracting in this show. Halfway into it or so there was up to 3 blatant adverts every single episode, to the point that the camera would obviously zoom into the product so you can read the name while the characters were CONSTANTLY eating and snacking and drinking the same shit all the damn time. They even made Lee Min Ho actually say a line about the coffee how it was ‘just as good as the coffee served at the palace woow it’s so good’ like damn that’s just too much. Not to mention how many times these people were eating chicken and beer it must have been almost ten times over 16 eps – at that point I had it at the back of my mind that if the ‘parallel universe stuff’ doesn’t kill them then their eating habits will anyway. When I’m watching a show what the characters eat kinda matters, it shows a lot about them, but if they’re forced to eat unhealthy snacks and massive bottles of coffe and plain chicken with beer constantly, I start feeling a bit sick despite myself and am taken out of the show every time. It’s understandable that a show like this would cost a ton, but at what point is it worth it when the product placement breaks your immersion so much that the beautiful sets and locations isn’t enough to get you immersed anymore.
Characters:
I liked the dynamic between Lee Gon and Tae Eul initially since I find it fun to see dislike to friends to lovers develop, but for some reason Tae Eul went from dislike towards Lee Gon to suddenly in love with him very abruptly, I was really really confused about what had she found out or what even happened?? Why does she suddenly like him so much? Even in the first place we weren’t given enough reasons why Lee Gon even liked Tae Eul all that much besides him thinking she saved him, she proceeded to treat him badly all the time but it didn’t deter Lee Gon at all, which was boring and a missed chance for more drama down the line, at some point in the first half of the show I started wondering why does Lee Gon still like her so much again? As for Tae Eul, she found out that Lee Gon had not lied to her and had been truthful about who he was the whole time and then she was in love with him… wait… why?? If she didn’t like him in the first place, it didn’t mean she would suddenly fall in love with him just because he wasn’t lying about being a king from a parallel universe unless him being truly rich and famous is all it took, yikes.
Tae Eul herself was a cool character if they managed to keep her that way the whole show, once she was for whatever reason in love with Lee Gon she would be constantly crying or super affectionate with him, and the writers had her stare vacantly into the distance with her mouth open or at Lee Gon way too many times - it just didn’t feel like the same no-nonsense, independent character anymore. Not to mention, sadly the chemistry just wasn’t there, likely because of how as explained their relationship wasn’t developed properly. Honestly, not joking when I felt more chemistry between Lee Gon and Jo Yeong in some of the initial episodes, would have been interesting to see that play out instead lol.. the way Lee Gon looked at him.
Jo Yeong/Eun Sup were definitely the best characters to see on screen, Woo Do Hwan managed to out charm and charisma everyone else few times over and the acting performance was great. Best part in this drag of a show.
I had an ok time, but any show that’s just 16 episodes long and makes me think ‘gosh is it over soon? I do want to move onto something else’ halfway through will get less than 5 stars from me.
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A LENGTHY WASTED SUSPENSE THRILLER ROMANTIC DRAMA
Story was good, no doubt. But extra sequences made the drama completely boring. Emphasis on useless emotions at some point by the female lead role, made a bit boring.40% of the budget used on food,
45% of the drama goes on eating food, I don't know if the female lead made a deal on food in exchange for payment. Why should a suspense thriller movie always have scenes on eating. Are they always hungry. And this is a complete waste, interrupting the thrilling goosebumps
Old times drama between lead roles.
Ok, the story how it began, was great, but needless plots and scenes is a complete waste. Many times, the main story theme is forgotten, leading to unnecessary direction. Some scenes even don't have connection with main theme.
A Slow drama, too lengthy as per the central Storyline.
Time lapse, was a good idea, but poorly presented that doesn't made a great sense.
Better watch some other kdrama, instead this.
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Gros potentiel mais ...
Nous avons pour ce drama un excellent casting et un gros budget mais cela n'a pas été suffisant! En effet nous avons Lee Min-Ho qui interprète le rôle du roi mais je n'ai ressenti aucun attachement pour ce personnage qui me semble trop parfait physiquement (toujours bien coiffé, bien habillé et beaucoup de plans qui le met en valeur) mais aussi moralement, je trouve vraiment dommage que son personnage ne soit pas approfondi. Quand à Woo Do Hwan il joue le rôle du bras droit du roi mais malheureusement j'aurais aimé ressentir l'amitié qui lie ces personnages, puisque l'on a plus l'impression qu'il est son "esclave" (il n'a pas d'émotions) que son ami, mais j'ai beaucoup aimé l'autre personnage qu'il a incarné puisqu'on le voit prendre conscience de ce qu'il est et il évolue tout le long, c'est un personnage très humain et attachant. Kim Go Eun incarne une policière qui est présentée au début comme une femme forte qui sait se battre mais je trouve qu'elle perd tout son charme par la suite car je ne ressent plus la femme charismatique qu'elle était, je trouve que le couple qu'elle forme avec le roi manque d'alchimie, je ne ressent pas assez leur complicité, il aurait peut être fallut plus développer les sentiments de chacun. Le "méchant" est aussi un peu décontracté, il est trop sûre de lui j'aurais aimé ici aussi que ses motivations et ses sentiments soit bien plus approfondis pour pouvoir ressentir une forme de haine pour lui.Passons à l'histoire, le concept un peu fantastique avec deux univers parallèles, avait l'air vraiment sympa mais ici aussi je suis encore déçue, le début est bien mais par la suite il faut bien suivre pour ne pas se perdre, elle manque beaucoup de fluidité nous avons des scènes à rallonge ou inutile, mais paradoxalement nous manquons beaucoup d'approfondissement comme sur l'origine des deux mondes, les règles qui s'y appliquent... A vrai dire je me suis ennuyé à cause du manque de fluidité mais j'ai tout de même apprécié le début ainsi que le dénouement.
Ce gros budget a été acquis notamment grâce aux placements de produits qui sont beaucoup, même trop présent ils ne sont pas assez discrets et peuvent déranger à la longue. Je trouves aussi que l'on a trop voulu nous montrer les richesses du palais (qui s'inspire plutôt du Japon que de la Corée) sans nous montrer la richesse du pays et de ses habitants nous restons toujours dans le même cadre ce qui est dommage... (Je tiens à souligner que les effets spéciaux comme le lissage de peau ou même le ciel violet entre les deux mondes sont vraiment de mauvais goûts.)
Je pense que cette série a été beaucoup trop mise en valeur avant sa sortie et que l'ont s'attendaient tous au drama du siècle mais il n'est pas pour autant un mauvais drama, il faut simplement savoir l'apprécier à sa juste valeur et surtout rester concentré pendant tous les épisodes pour ne pas perdre le fil de l'histoire !
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If you love a good story and a good romance, this isn't where you will find it
This is probably the most overrated drama i've seen that not only disappointed in every trope it dipped it's hands into, but made me question if i should give up on kdramas altogether.It has a lot going for it if it wanted to make it work. be it the sci-fi aspect, the crossing over worlds aspect, the "i broke the world for us" aspect, the secret identity, the villain who crosses over for the hunt aspect-- all of this has incredible potential but i truly wondered if the writer wanted to achieve anything at all story wise except make the audience confused because none of the premise is ever followed through on.
The male lead is insufferable. i have tried to think of other words for him but this is truly the only word that describes him best. even a sad backstory is no excuse for the attitude he has and he is so underwhelming as a character all together. meaning he himself has no defining traits that set him aside or make him a believable character. the female lead is a cop who is a self-proclaimed flat-earther and while she tries to present herself as smart strong female lead, the things she does is far from it. Not only do the main leads not have any chemistry, their 'romance' is so sudden and out of no-where that it genuinely makes no sense. Not even the excellent cinematography can make you believe their is anything worthwhile between these two in the entire sixteen hours of your life you waste on this show.
The only redeeming factor this drama has is Woo Do Hwan, who exhibits incredible variety as an actor as he plays a dual role, switching almost seamlessly from a stoic bodyguard to a mellow confused fellow who takes care of his siblings with his whole heart. I hope he moves onto better projects where he can showcase his talents better because if you want to watch this drama for him alone, you can. But the rest of the story will leave an incredibly bitter taste in your mouth.
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Detail:
ARGH! This one frustrates me so much, I like the actors involved, it has parallel worlds in different dimensions, it plays around with alternate realities and presents a world where Joseon style royalty remains to a modern "Kingdom of Corea", it has time travel - I mean, this SHOULD have been perfect. So why wasn't it?
Couple of key areas... but fundamentally it really just boils down to there seeming to be far too much skipped out. I found it extremely hard to track where each scene was - one minute you're in the Corea world and the next cut of the camera you're seeing the same person in the Korea world, and thinking... hang on, but that person isn't in both, or is he? few minutes late rit dawns - no, they've actually travelled between worlds, I mean could they not just spell that out?
This is both a complex and a simple story combined. The principals are pretty simple but it sets out a stage that has two different parallel worlds with slightly different versions of the same characters, so Kim Go Eun's character is both Jung Tae Eul (in Korea, our world) and Luna (in Corea, the other). Multiply that up for almost all characters including side characters. Now randomly flip between worlds without giving the player any hint as to which world you're in and try to keep up. It's not impossible, I *think* I just about managed it but i'm positive I missed plot points while trying to figure out if person A is talking to the person B from one world or the other because there's ramifications if it's the other and they're impersonating - which does happen.
I don't mind being misled a bit but it really felt more like chunks of story left out.
Next you've the problem with this Uncle and what his whole game is. He's a bad guy, ok we get that. He's doing bad stuff, yep, with you. But what's his goal exactly and what's his plan to achieve it? It seemed like he was doing "stuff" over the 25 years or so from the original treason to where the story actually picks up - but then there's really no actual pay off or benefit from him doing that at all, or indication as to what it should have been and at what point this was foiled and brought crashing down. Again, I think this is just a victim of the cliff-note storytelling, except it's bad cliff notes as it's clearly missing major plot points!
The time travel was quite nicely done.
The whole thing was set up to be absolutely brilliant, I can see the skeleton of what was intended (I think) and it was an incredibly ambitious project, it had a great cast and the production values on it were sky high. What it needed was either 20 or 24 episodes to actually do its epic tale justice. 16 was just too short for a project of this magnitude.
Some people are upset about it having too much product placement but honestly i'm immune to it, I find it amusing and still prefer it to advert breaks. Sometimes I like to play Product Placement Bingo when I'm watching a drama! :) Perhaps they went too far but... honestly it didn't bother me at all.
My favourite actor in this is definitely Kim Go Eun - big fan of her work anyway - but her character is tough, strong and skilled. She knows her stuff. Sometimes the story does have her be the victim to be rescued but I actually don't see a problem with that either - you can't be strong all the time, and a balanced character will lean on others as much as be leaned on.
Lee Min Ho... comes off as a mix of the strong regal king, and an arrogant ass, but overall I thought it played well for the character.
Final episode was good which just reinforces my belief that his was a well thought out project but far too ambitious to squeeze it into the timeslot it was given.
Watch if you like the actors, particularly Kim Go Eun, but expect to have to pay attention to keep up and fill in the blanks.
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Magical
I first watched this drama back in 2022, and really liked it. Though I found the plot a little confusing at first, I absolutely loved the male lead and the romance between him and Tae Eul. Personally, I love Tae Eul as a female lead and I would let her kick me if she really needed to. Maybeee her character seemed a little fiercer in the initial episodes, but she didn't turn into a complete damsel at all. I really loved the bickering and banter between her and Lee Gon, who is super funny himself. I loved Lee Min Ho's delivery of his lines in the show. Sometimes, it could be a little cheesy, but overall, I have rewatched this show twice, and loved it again and again. Both times, I only watched the romance between the leads to be honest, but it really hits😭💞 Even if the love story starts rather abruptly, especially from the female lead's side, I still love it so much. I mean, Lee Gon literally went through every universe to find Tae Eul... that's commitment!Esta resenha foi útil para você?
The set up and plot were enough to make you binge watch it. I like how things played out however I was a bit thrown off by the express growth of feeling, like out of the blue, that area was not fully developed. But it’s still worth the watch.
What I liked most was that our leads didn’t have extreme drama and overly complicated situations.
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