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A 20 hour long commercial with beautiful horses
First of all: so much advertising! I mean, at times it felt like watching an elaborate commercial.It was really distracting and my main reason for the low score.
Normally, I'm super into space-time paradoxes (among my absolute favorites within the sci-fi genre), but this is messy and, most of all, terribly boring (I'm so very disappointed in Kim Eun-sook).
I fell asleep multiple times.
By episode 5 one can easily guess the masked savior's identity and still fail to understand the mechanics of the parallel worlds created by the writer. For instance, how is it possible for universes that diverged for hundreds of years to have the same people, born on the same year and day from the same doppelgangers?! And how does it make sense to base everything on this premise and still assert that a different choice or being a second late can cause chaos in the space-time continuum?!!!
Despite their individual talent, the main couple was tepid throughout. The characters were dull and their love just came to be so suddenly that it was as nonsensical as the plot.
At one point I rooted for the prime minister, she looked like an interesting one with her political schemes and feminine outfits, but even that fell to nothing.
Honorable mention for Woo Do-hwan that tried his very best here and kept me watching to the end.
Female Empowerment Score 3/5: the three points go to the cool building owner and, in a smaller percentage, to the prime minister lady.
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Cinematography 10/10, messed up story
This drama brings me a lot of emotions. I’ll start first stating the positive things about it. The cinematography, the lightning, and the shots are out of this world. They’re simply beautiful to the eye. The locations were beautifully planned and the shots portrayed the characters different emotions and deepest fears. Secondly, Lee Min Hoo performed well in this drama. (First time I say that)! Aside from him, the villain (the actor) his skills at acting are amazing, he never disappoints. He was probably the best actor in this drama. In the beginning, I was not convinced with the protagonist that they choose because they don’t have that much chemistry. Here we come to the negative, the lack of chemistry and the worst thing: the scenes and the jumping. Most scenes didn’t follow each other and the story was pretty confusing most of the time. I think it’s okay to make us viewers think, but we are mostly watching a show to entertain ourselves ... not to be resolving puzzles that don’t make sense. The final episode was pretty satisfying to me, I won’t state how. However, there is a lot of things that I did not understand even till the last episode. I don’t know why they choose to make it so confusing. This drama was really hard to watch and got boring in a lot of episodes, I had to force myself to keep going and I think it was worthy to what I was expecting, but I wouldn’t recommend you watching it if you have better things to do/watch. Another thing I dislike was the promos/ ads that were too obvious and kept appearing repeatedly through different episodes. I may have forgotten one or two things that could be negative too about this drama. Overall, the negatives are bigger than the positive ones. For my liking, I only watched it because I like to appreciate it the cinematographers work and how hard they work on it.Esta resenha foi útil para você?
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Good beginning, horrible at the end
The King: Eternal Monarch was one of the most hyped dramas of this year. Lee Min Ho, Kim Go Eun en Woo Do Hwan were all superb in their acting. That's about all the nice things I can say about it.The story started off nicely, but the character development was horrible. You didn't get attached to the characters or feel for them, they were the same from the first till the last episode.
The drama had way too many storylines that weren't finished, as if they wanted this to be a 24 episode drama but after episode 13 they got notified that it would be cut down to 16. For example: they put lots of time in for Prime minister Koo, but her character didn't develop all this time and then within 5 minutes she's out of the story. And no, she's not even dead. Why bother giving her so much screen time then??? Or bodyguard Yeong who didn't have much interaction with his counterpart, suddenly states in the last episode that he misses him? Like why would he miss him if they were in other universes in the first place? Where does this come from?
The ending of the love story isn't satisfying either, it is hinted that they will only date during the weekends until they are old. This is just so dumb in a love story. Nobody would accept only dating during the weekends for the rest of their lives, especially if you're the king of a country.
The last few episodes felt dragged out as well. We got the idea, everybody was being replaced. There is no need to show us another 10 times. Instead they could've given us some closure on the other storylines or put into character development.
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A drama that left me with mixed feelings about it. I literally stared at the screen for a few minutes trying to process the last episodes. I was stoked for this drama and hyped myself up for it which was a mistake to begin with. I pretty much set myself up to be disappointed. I know the ending could've been worse, but unfortunately, I was still left unsatisfied.Story
To start off, the plot-line was something absolutely new to me. I had never seen a parallel universe type of drama as far as I can remember, so this concept was refreshing to see. It started off slow but promising. The first half of the drama seemed to lean more towards a full on rom-com genre with the always so present weak villain story-line. That obviously changed by the second half when it got serious and the writers started throwing everything at us. This was a huge mistake. There was now a time constraint to fully explore and execute the thriller side of the story that by the time the focus switched the audience had no idea what was going on. There was so many different conflicts back-to-back that were then quickly resolved without further or very limited explanation. We were just supposed to go along with the it. Up until episode 13, I was able to make inferences through context clues to find a suitable explanation and justification for an action that had taken place and how it progressed the story. After ep 13 all reason left the chat. Time traveling came to the picture followed up with a half-@ssed explanation for it's cause. I was honestly confused the whole time up until the end, it was hella rushed.
As for the romance, it quickly progressed in the first few episodes which was a bit unexpected. I was a appalled by the way Jung Tae Eul quickly accepted the fact that a parallel universe was possible and especially how she just suddenly fell head-over-heels for Lee Gon, almost overnight. Some scenes were just too forced. I saw no buildup to the the romance, If there was then perhaps the leads lacked the chemistry to relay those emotions to the audience.
Although, mostly all the romantic scenes were cliche af, I must admit at some point I became fond of their love. I did notice the main leads scenes began to turn repetitive, aka the running towards each other for a long deep embrace, with tears in their eyes followed up with crying. At first it was heart-wrenching to see them temporarily part ways, but it eventually became tiresome seeing the same thing play out every other episode. Romance was pretty much filler because director had no idea how to progress the main plot.
If the romance had been a slow-burn type this drama might have been more positively received. The concept was too ambiguous for the writers and directors to then go and purely focus on romance. It just became a watered down version of something that had the potential to become extraordinary, if only it focused more on the technicality and function of parallel universes. One thing I will add is that some of the plot-twists, I did not see coming. They added a great deal to the story.
I honestly expected too much from this drama.
Acting/Cast
The main reason watching this, made it worth it at the end. Props to all the actors for taking on the role of two different characters and doing it extremely well. It was very convincing that at times I truly believed they were two different people, it never felt awkward or obvious. The main cast were very likable and each character had their own persona and quirks which made them unique. You can go from absolutely loving one character to despising the other even though they are played by the same actor.
Rewatch Value
Will maybe rewatch from time to time for those cute scenes between the leads when they were in kingdom of corea. Of course also for Jo Eun Sub and Jo Young's funny scenes.
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The female actresses acted the male actors off the screen. I especially liked the female prime minister and her ending seemed to be fitting. I am not sure what happened with the male characters as they seemed to do very little and had so little emotional depth. I did not really end up caring what happened to them. It really is a flaw when half the characters are just not interesting.
The villain was bland and yawn inducing considering how little we say him, which was often just in the same flashback, and his ending just did not make sense. There was very little backstory to the villain to explain what made him do what he did so it was very difficult to find him interesting.
However, what really disappointed me was what I consider to be a very sad ending for the king and detective. I have already thought of at least half a dozen endings for them that would have been better and I find it hard to believe this was the best ending the writers could think of. Just to make it clear, the ending for most of the characters was suitable, appropriate and/or happy but the ending for the two leads sucked. I am sure others will disagree and say it was a happy ending. I do not think so.
There are better Korean dramas out there where the ending does not make you feel that you just wasted 16+ hours of your life.
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Good Acting with Sci Fi and Supernatural Elements. Storytelling could have been better.
Lee Min ho has done a brilliant job. He was acting with his eyes. I believed that there was another world and he was the real king! Omo! The female lead's acting was also very good. In fact everyone acted very well! And o-m-g the supporting actor and actresses' storyline were also very interesting. Normally I don't enjoy that much the supporting stories because they would be not much detailed and so on. But this one was really good.But personally I think the chemistry lacked a little bit. Nevertheless, the romance and chemistry was not that important for me in this show. I watched it for other scenes.
The story was good. Of course there were some plotholes in the supernatural side. (But it is the same in all supernatural, science fiction dramas.) Generally the story telling was really good. There were some episodes, which felt like , they were written a little bit sloppy. Normally I guess how the things are going to end up, but there were lots of elements, that surprised me. Also I dont recognize seeing a more fullfilling and satisfying end and last episode for a long time!
So if you like sci-fi and supernatural stuff with good acting and good scenes, give it a go.
special note: The villains were very really good. LEE LIM was fantastic! I wanted more of his scenes :)
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It's a Simple yet beautiful drama, Don't keep your hopes too high.
Lovely Drama...Also Most awaited. ??The Storyline was refreshing and without any doubtful twists, it goes smoothly with rhythm and ended beautifully.
Oh...Lee Min Ho, If he is in the drama, it's definitely not a waste of time. His sweet yet strong character...Omg I loved it.
Kim Go Eun, She did really well in both roles. I admire her.
Woo Do hwan, No doubt He was the attention seeker of this drama. Act totally amazing, his both characters are so different and he did so well. Each and everyone was so good. They should have concentrated on OSTs a little bit more
You can't expect high level of twists and turns. Because it itself an interesting drama in its own way.
If you want to watch a drama that goes simply without any frustration.This one is So Good. ❤️❤️
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And I'll admit that a lot of the things I liked about this show were circumstantial stuff... What do I mean by that?
The past few shows I've watched were very "light" ones that I could easily predict, so I was in such a mood for something heavier and more thought-provoking. This show brought that to me along with a bunch of other... things -_-
Let me just get straight to the point...
Story 〆(・∀・＠): I was so excited about this show before I watched it. It had a bunch of actors I was familiar with, the premise of parallel worlds was hella interesting, and just the whole aesthetic was beautiful. I waited till after it finished airing, so I didn't have to wait for a new episode each week, but that left me time to hear other people's reviews on it.
And that's when a big red flag was raised on how this show might now be what I expected. I ignored it and went on with it regardless, but after wrapping it up, I could see what everyone means.
The beginning, to me, was not that bad. I really loved the world-building and all the characters that were introduced. Sure the story's main conflict wasn't revealed until much later, but for some reason, I didn't mind watching this beautiful world come together. I mean seriously!! I would love to watch a show all about the Kingdom of Corea and the world it resides in. Sure there were some questionable character choices but nothing too out of the ordinary.
The problem with this show comes in the second half... more specifically, episode 13 and beyond.
The show could be a little confusing since the setting was continually changing from one world to the next without any clear way of knowing which is which. Unless it's explicitly stated or some prominent symbol is shown, you can get confused about exactly where the character is. So you always have to pay attention and use your head—something I wanted in a show at that specific time. But even with all the other not so clear choices and events that happened, the show didn't become difficult for me to comprehend until they brought in time travel.
THAT is when things went wrong for me.
The writers just kept adding new things into the already full supernatural mix. You already had parallel universes, but now there is time travel, alternate timelines (I think), and moments that I still can't understand even after doing so much research!!! Like... why writers!?
The characters started becoming unpredictable (not in a good way), and so many things were added just for a dramatic flair without consideration of what was already standing.
* sigh * It was like having to solve some complex math equation.
But then again, I always found a way to explain things to myself and even went out of my way to look up other people's theories and explanations. I think just doing that was somehow really enjoyable for me.
(I sound messed up... right) XD
I'd also like to mention how the scene order for this show makes NO SENSE!!! What I mean is that an episode will end on a cliffhanger, and then the next one will begin god knows where. They try and build things up while leaving other stuff a mystery. An example is how they'll show a scene, you watch it through and think it's done, but then two episodes later they'll cut back to it with whole new dialog that the writers wanted to be left a surprise...
like... NO... that's not how scenes work!!
Putting together everything I just said: the beginning was enjoyable since I personally enjoy fantasy world-building, but other stuff got incredibly confusing towards the end. After research and just talking to myself, I can put together 98% of the scattered pieces, but I know most people won't go out of their way to do that. So instead, this show is going to seem like an incredible unplanned out mess.
Acting ｡゜(｀Д')゜｡: As I mentioned earlier, most of my problems are in the writing and filming itself. I personally enjoyed the actors a lot. I didn't always like the characters, but that's because of the writing rather than the actors. I've seen these people in other works and know that most of them are incredibly talented. And when having to show it, they can.
For example, Woo Do-hwan had to be two different people with two different personalities. He pulled it off really well, and everything from posture to just tone of voice was carefully portrayed.
So I know that the flatness and unpredictability of a character comes from the writing instead of the actors.
Of course, some people may know more than me since I'm not an expert on acting, but using what I saw from the past, I know that these people have talent and don't want to say they don't because of this show's poor writing.
They tried hard in my eyes.
The relationship chemistry was... okay, I guess.
The romance kind of just popped up out of nowhere and shocked me a bit, but it was cute to watch nevertheless.
I liked the bromance and trust between some characters much more than the couple stuff.
Too bad the show was too focused on it, which ended up sacrificing a lot of what I loved...
Music ヾ(⌐■_■)ノ♪: I really did like the music. I think the music and all the scenery fit well together.
There were those happy songs that played at happy moments and sad ones during sad moments.
What made me raise the score a bit was the songs that played during the opening and ending portions of the show.
I could honestly re-watch the opening over and over again! The music and the whole abstract editing bit looked so flipping cool.
I know that doesn't connect much to music, but It was just soooo cool!
Overall, music was more enjoyable than those from other shows I've watched, but nothing revolutionary.
Other (ง°ل͜°)ง: Oooooof
Where do I begin with this mess?
I'm just going to repeat that I didn't mind having to solve a lot of the loopholes. For some reason, I found it fun and brain-racking, which was something I wanted in a show at that specific moment.
I was still irritated since it definitely was much messier than I would've liked, but not so much to where I wanted to drop the show.
The parallel universes bit wasn't the part that was hard to grasp... it was everything else. What the legendary flute could do, the boy who likes yoyo's, memories from alternate times, just the whole shebang was so disorganized.
From that disorganization comes so many unanswered questions and plot lines that just don't make one ounce of sense.
I will not say which ones, but just be warned that past episode thirteen, your brain will want to explode.
Although I've listed so many problems (that were major ones), I still couldn't give the show that low of a score.
I did like a lot of it and would watch it again one day. Maybe if I watch it again, then things will finally make more sense XD
I'm a huge fan of world-building, and TKEM brought me something so interesting that I just wanted to know more about the kingdom and its monarchy.
I don't think I'd recommend it since the main things I loved about this show are more focused on my interests rather than what I'd think most people would like. In fact, I wouldn't recommend it to any curious person.
This show had so much potential and was beautiful in all things except the writing and editing.
If you're ready to use all your brain power, then go for it. But otherwise... run
Happy Watching <3
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Let's give it a shot until it ends though, they are making ways to make it worthwhile for the viewers.
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On YouTube i watched a few korean channels review this drama and they said that the FL was annoying at the beginning because she refused to acknowledge the parallel world. However, i found that when watching the drama, the majority of the Korean reviews were very unfair because the acting for me was on point. She was't hateful but she acted appropriately to the possibility of another world, aka not being stupid and bi**hy but not falling for the idea at first glance either. Also, they complained about the romance and how it wasn't enough or it jumped to fast when it got to ep 8 or 9 but i think that it was just enough. It's not sickening with love but you can see how she changes and develops feelings for him through how she looks and talks and acts around him once she experiences his world. You don't need to make it stupidly obvious that she slowly falls for him and that's why i think that this drama is actually better than what people initially said. also i just want to add that the product placement. for me, wasn't too noticeable, well if i didnt watch the videos on youtube i probably wouldn't have even noticed, especially because im not looking for it, if that makes sense.
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Pls don’t waste time on this
You should watch DKDKTV’s review on this.https://youtu.be/FUV_xWDDMvo
This show really sucks. Mainly bcs it is so tone-deaf. It appears as really sophisticated and smart but when you watch it.... it’s really not that deep lol. It’s pretentious and shallow.
Irks the heck out of me when dramas try so hard to be something they are not.
The saving grace is Woo Do Hwan, like for real. Don’t bother watching scenes he isn’t in. The whole parallel world thing might also keep you intrigued for the first few episodes? After that they keep overusing it in an attempt to make it fancier that you wont be amused to it anymore haha.
Frustrating watch, leaves you hanging. Only reason I watched the whole thing bcs I kept trying to figure out why is it so bad and I kept hoping something will turn round to make it better
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