O Rei: Monarca Eterno (2020)

BEST KDRAMA OF 2020, ITS NO WONDER ITS TOP 10 WORLDWIDE

i have watched quite a handful of Korean dramas and only few seem to have my attention like this and The king is definitely one of them . The story is totally unpredictable,very different from Goblin and it has the right amount of comedy, the king actually flirts in science which is totally new and cool to me because it tells me he is going to use his brain as a mathematical and science genius to solve the problem in the kingdom . i also love the way the leads acts with their eyes, that where the chemistry between started becoming visible to me and i can see its building up although the king seems to have fallen harder. UPDATE- the chemistry is currently on fire as at episode 12, they almost burnt my screen, thankfully its SBS and not TVN because its definitely rated 16/18.

Th evil uncle is also working behind the scenes like he is building an evil army and i really cant wait to see where that leads, how will they eventually close the door of the parallel world, can they survive in each other's world and eventually be able to stay together while solving the problems created by evil uncle Lee rim.

its been a while that i watched an asian drama that challenged my brain like this and gotten me all excited. the dramas these days have predictable plot with the usual cliche scenes which is okay but shouldn't be grossly overused to avoid cringiness or the dramas has so much toxicity that drains me even as a viewer.

But this drama 'The King Eternal Monarch' just gives me hope and refreshing feeling and i hope it lives up to my expectation.
Episode 1-15- i am short of words, the story is amazing, the chemistry is ridiculously NATURAL,almost too real to be acting, this drama is a must watch, its just too explosive to explain, but not without its faults which i will definitely overlook because this story entertains me.

Leia Mais

Low expectations lead to thorough enjoyment

I think this show is the perfect example of how hype and anticipation ruined the experience.

I've been holding out watching this drama because of all the negative reviews but decided to give it a shot, and I can honestly say I was HOOKED. I'm so glad I watched it because I actually really enjoyed how complicated the story was because it left me wanting more. I found myself trying to connect the dots between the little details sprinkled into each episode to figure out what would happen next, and that's usually what makes me stick with a drama till the end. I feel like there were a lot of twists added to the stories that I just did not expect at all, and though some of the twists revealed sort of fell flat, I still found it exciting enough to keep going. To me, it was really the overall story driving the show rather than the characters (if that makes sense at all).

The acting was okay, I expected more from Lee Min Ho as I knew how much everyone loved him and this is the first drama I've watched with him in it! I thought that Woo Do Hwan's acting was absolutely breathtaking in this drama. He did such a good job that I was genuinely convinced Yeong and Eun Sap were different people. I expected a bit more chemistry between the main couple but I just loved the story so much that I overlooked this part.

I can understand the criticisms for this drama as there is definitely a lot left unsaid, but it's just one of those dramas that I expected so little from but ended up absolutely loving it. I would recommend everyone give it a chance despite the reviews! It may not be everyone's cup of tea but it quickly became one of my favorites by far.

Leia Mais

I'm not a fan of cheesy romances so I didn't really care much for the relationship between Lee Gon and Tae Eul. In fact, I wanted to fast forward their romance scenes because I found them too dragging. That said, if you're into that kind of thing, you might consider watching for that reason. I have friends who did enjoy the drama for this purpose.

Despite my disinterest in the main couple, I try not to give up on dramas right away. I found the side characters to be my redeeming factor. Many people have probably mentioned Woo Do Hwan's impressive acting as both Eun Sup and Yeong. But I also enjoyed the Sin Jae, JangMi and Nari's appearances in the story. In fact, Sin Jae's story was one of the reasons I kept with the show when they started dropping hints about it.

The main plot of the story was my main disappointment. As the story progressed, they kept dropping all these hints that felt like they would be important. But then they didn't quite connect and didn't actually lead to any grand conclusion. I guess it helped when Lee Gon explained the math behind some of the events but I felt most of these were not relevant in the end. The whole time traveling concept also left a lot of unanswered questions.

It didn't help that the last episode seemed rushed just so we could see more scenes of the happy couple in the end. I wasn't very satisfied with the ending for the other characters either.

All in all, if you're a fan of Lee Min Ho (which I'm not) or Kim Go Eun (she's okay) and cheesy romances, but don't mind sci-fi mumbo jumbo, you can give this show a try. Otherwise, I suggest you skip this show.

Leia Mais

WDH's Appealing Facial Expressions

No Spoilers

Inside this parallel universe screenwriter, Kim Eun Sook penned a hidden gem that I cannot find my way back. It had an excellent premise that fell into limbo. At times, I felt like I was viewing an AD commercial in some scenes, and other times it was deft scriptwriting and acting buried underneath all the mess.

The writer's incoherent complexity strained the audience's patience. It exploits the same paradox elements in Nine: Nine Times Times Travel (2013). Maybe if you turn your brain off and try not to think everything will make sense to you. The Director who brought us Secret (2013) and Descendants of the Sun (2016) I was expecting a tightly knit plot, but instead got stunning visuals; nothing else.


Woo Do Hwan was the beaming light of TKEM. His dual role as Jo Young and Jo Eun Sub was visually sublime. Woo Do Hwan's perspicuous rapport with Kim Yong Ji, had me on the edge of my seat, hinting at the fervidness. I got to shout out to the roles of the Jo Eun Sub's twins siblings, for they were a time-out in so much occurring.

Kim Go Eun is an amazing actress except for her character in TKEM was dull and one dimensional. You may have a different opinion that would not be so cryptic to me. One Korean actor that is loved and hated Lee Min Ho. His potential appears to have a set limit because the characters he portrays in dramas fall short on many fronts; It is my opinion.

I am not going to explain it in detail. Yi Gon is an engaging character that suited Lee Min Ho, but the inconsistencies in the plot threw the chemistry of the leads off for me. The intenseness of the romance scenes between the LMH and KGE was muddy from the staggering plotholes.


The supposed villain of this drama wasted potential. The character development was weak on all fronts, causing me problems. It is a simple story dragged out a few episodes too long. The music was not bad, helping me through this show even though it was not original.


Watch this if you have nothing else to watch, and you might like it or might hate it. Even though I was not too fond of it, it does not mean you might not like it. If you have the willpower to propel through sixteen plus hours, You have the final say. Will the King solve his Mathematical problem/equation?


Final Rating: 5.28/10
Story: 5.26/10
Acting: 5.69/10

Rewatch Value: I would rewatch it, but a long way down the road when I have nothing to view, maybe on a rainy day or snowy day. Perhaps an episode here or there I would see, WDH scenes.

Leia Mais

The good parts about this was when it felt like I was watching Inuyasha or some other early 00's anime like that. At other times it felt confused, contrived, and also extremely focused on product merchandising and on Lee Min Ho's face.

I mean - there was this single episode even my parents couldn't stop counting how many product placements happened. I think it was around episode 10/11. Almost every scene featured the king drinking some royal coffee or eating some royal instant kimchi. This suits my taste!

Oh God.

PS: Giving the acting a high grade for Kim Go Eun and Jung Eun Chae, they didn't deserve this mess

Leia Mais

Well laid out intriguing story line, pay attention From episode 1

Started this drama without much expectation of it being better than Goblin and i wasn't disappointed at all, its actally totally different and better, The story wasn't told the typical kdrama way, so a lot of patience is needed for unveiling its sci/fi plot plot hence its not predictive , also the romance in this drama isn't your regular girl runs foolishly after a boy for 75% of its episodes, no its pretty straight forward and matured and certainly realistic in line with the characterization of the leads, above all you will experience the most amazing chemistry ever seen in kdrama land with pure sincere romance , the story progressed with a chemistry jackpot as i have never ever seen two kdrama characters so comfortable with each other as the leads of this drama by episodes 15 .

Please do not drop this drama because of some silly unsubstantiated reviews from people who had already decided to review this drama negatively because their favorite actress wasn't paired with Lee Min ho and the fact that Lee min ho was going to become more popular than their favorite internationally , their backlash and anger started upon the news of the pairing and worsened when they were shocked at how well the two leads synced with each other as the episodes progressed, these outrageous people complained about everything plus typical product placements like the drama is supposed to fund itself and they are sorely dissapointed that despite their back lash the drama retained its spot and yet they didnt drop it,that tells you how amazing and addictive this drama is and of course it has retained number 1 position in so many countries on netflix and its been number 1 on wavee a streaming platform which like Netflix in south korea, people actually prefer to watch on this platforms than via the national tv called SBS so as to rewatch it again. This drama is the only drama that is now on number 6 most watched shows on netflix in the world, and its a drama in korean language, that speaks for itself.

Re watch value is 10/10 if you loved it once you will always go back to find more clues of what you may have missed.

The story is centered around a protagonist Lee min Ho a king in the Kingdom of Corea, who is trying to restore balance that his antagonist uncle disrupted by committing treason to steal a wooden flute that has mysterious powers, he was almost murdered on the night of the treason and he was saved by someone who left an ID card of a Lieutenant played by Kim Go eun , he held on to this ID for 25 years waiting to meet his savior only to find himself mysteriously led by the flute through a maze to Republic of Korea where he meets the woman who is supposed to be his savior and falls instantly for her and she thought he was nuts because he was rambling on about how he was a king.

The story progressed deeper as we understand in a time loop by episode 15 why the king had Tae eul ID card all his life and why she fell so fast for him and how their long distance relationship across parallel universe became a sad love story for them so they always have to live in the moment when they get to see each other, and Gosh their chemistry together is sizzling as their hugs and stares alone burns the screen not to talk of the beheading kiss, this is one drama that delivers real romance progression, from being shy and awkward and blushing to plenty of clingy skinship and you will certainly think you are watching real life romance oncsreen, there stares, tears an longing gazes will tug at your heart.

Waiting for the final episode this Friday and i sincerely hope everyone gets their happy ending because the millions of this fans of this drama are clearly going to revolt as i have never seen a drama where people are so heavily invested in as The King Eternal Monarch

Leia Mais

Me watching this series in one line: Go girl, give us nothing!

I had such high expectations of this series, as I'm a big fan of the time traveling genre, but everything went downhill from the very beginning. I did my best to like this, but unfortunately nothing in this drama was able to make me feel anything, at all

The only things I liked about this series is every interaction between the two Do Hwans, the confrontations involving Lee Rim and what he did to alter people's fates by interchanging their lives in Korea and Corea. I also liked Luna, and it's unfortunate they didn't let her play a more complex role in the story. Another key player who could've been more powerful in the story is the Prime Minister. She was supposed to be an empowering character, but KES didn't make her character grow at all, but instead made her boiled down to just a jealous woman. The story was also very fast-paced, with characters making unreasonable decisions all the time. The product placement was absolutely ridiculous as well.

All in all, I'd describe this drama similar to the way I found licorice: it looked sweet but it's actually pretty bland.

Leia Mais

One of the most anticipated kdramas of 2020, that ended up being the biggest disappointment ...

Listennnnn, I’m not gonna sugar-coat anything in this review, and I am going to give my honest to god opinion from someone who’s finished this kdrama completely, from someone who’s watched 100+ kdramas, AND from someone who is a huge Lee Min Ho fan, this was by far the most hyped drama of 2020, but it ended up being the worst I‘ve seen in the three years I’ve started watching kdramas:

Here’s why.

- Product placements: every five seconds there’s a promotion, not for the show, but for literal brands characters will use, and trust me, it got old real quick, I’ve seen this in every review so far for this show and it’s no joke. It happens a lot already in kdramas, but this one takes the cake for having the most brand promotions which had no purpose in the story or the characters.

- Messy plot: I’ve said it in the comments feed, but I’ll say it again, “if you have to go to discussion feeds to figure out wtf is happening in a drama because the 20 episodes you watched didn’t give it to you, the writers didn’t do their job properly” I’m seeing a lot of people try and justify this, it’s plain and simple, if you don’t understand what’s going on with the dialogue and the plot you’ve been given, there’s something wrong. This isn’t a kpop mv where you can search up theories because the mv was 4-5 min’s, of course that wouldn’t be enough time for you to figure everything out, but in 1hr to 1hr and 30 min episodes OF A SHOW??? Where you’ve been given characters, names of those characters, occupations of those characters, a villain, a time travel plot, a magical flute (that had no purpose in the end)???
Not to mention all the questions left unanswered?
Who had the flute first? What was the origin story?
Why did the villain hate his brother so much? For fun? For power? What did he do to him that was so terrible, we never did find out?
If an alternate version of you dies, do you feel it? Even though it’s an alternate version of you, can you feel it in your soul?
What was the purpose of Luna if she was going to die like that?
There are so many questions I’ve asked in this show, and I never got answers to them,
I have spoken ...

- Filler episodes: nothing .. and I mean NOTHING, pissses me tf off more, than watching a show where each episode had more than enough time to give you depth in characters, plot, and dialogue, and instead we get 3-5 episodes where characters literally just sit and talk ... It’s so frustrating. You have 20 episodes to tell you viewers wth is going on in your drama, and your viewers may I add are already confused ... but instead you waste it on scenes with nice faces and filter, with no action toward the plot or getting the villain smh.

- Pacing: this might be the screenwriter within me but this is important when I’m watching a show, off-cuts or unnecessary zooms are not a favorite of mine, and in all honesty, if a show has a cut every few seconds, that can ruin the experience for some viewers, because you’re not expanding your plot or characters by unnecessary cutting, your halting the progression of them, and that’s a hugeeee issue.

- Lack of chemistry: glad I’m not the only one who thought this, oof, the chemistry was not there for me, as a matter of fact it was more awkward than anything, it didn’t feel natural, it felt more Iike a marketing ploy for people to watch the drama because two big name stars were in it, that’s never a good thing. I kid you not, watched this show from beginning to end and even at the end, I never felt anything between Lee Min Ho and Kim Go Eun, I actually started with thinking if there was another actress instead who could’ve done this role, would the chemistry have been better? Same vice versa. NO hate towards Kim Go Eun either, I’m not denying her talent, I think what many agreed in the end was this pair, just wasn’t it, as in they didn’t fit well together, off-screen they had some good moments though :’).

- Lack of character depth: you’ll find most of the lead characters will be exactly the same as they were at the beginning of the show, when you reach the end, and that’s absolutely terrible lol. Where’s the change? Where’s the growth? Where’s the DEVELOPMENT? Kdramas do an amazing job of not giving a crap about character progression, this much I know, and this drama was no different.

- Writing / Dialogue ^: This could go with character depth, but holy cow ... Why was Yi Gon exactly the same guy after witnessing his girlfriend almost die and everyone around him dropping like flies? Even after witnessing time travel for the first time and being calm? Who tf is calm after witnessing time travel? Why did Tae Eul become a crying mess when she was being assaulted by a bunch of guys? WHAT HAPPENED TO THE MARTIAL ARTIST WE SAW IN EP. 1-2? LIKE EXCUSE ME? All of this can go with plot progression and well, but with writing and dialogue, the writer had more than enough chances to give these things a change, but she didn’t ... And it was honestly a low blow. Especially since we got a villain who had potential, but in the end was just another shadow in the crowd.

Sadly the only good things in this drama for me were the OST, beautiful cinematography, and Woo Do Hwan’s duel performance, you can take this review with a grain of salt, but hey, I’m sure a few others will tell you the same thing. If you wish to watch the show, watch it till the end (if you don’t get irritated by stupid plot choices or characters), then make your judgment, that’s all I got *peace sign*

Leia Mais

"the" drama of 2020? don't think so...

I still remember when this drama was announced and later a picture of Lee Min-ho in a horse was all over twitter driving everyone insane with theories. This drama caught my attention from that moment. The hype around it was really high. It had a famous screenwriter Kim Eun-sook, really known and loved actors ( Lee Min-ho, Kim Go-eun, and Woo-Do Hwan) and a story that was really interesting. I really enjoy dramas/movies with modern monarchies so I was set to like this drama. However, I think the expectations I had for this drama were way too high. So my take-out of this drama was:

It had everything to be an amazing drama and had the potential to be the drama of the year but it wasn't half of what I expected. I have to say that I was and still am disappointed at the outcome of this drama.

The first episode started well but, as it advanced, we were introduced to too many characters really fast to the point that I didn't know who was who. To make things worse, we are presented to "same face/different people" type of characters and with no help to distinguish which universe we were watching (sometimes yes, you could see that it was the monarchy one or the other, but most of the time it was mostly me and my mom wondering where the characters were in certain scenes). This lack of a clear distinction between universes complicated the story so much to the point that it made it so hard to watch because you couldn't understand what was going on which was really sad because the story itself had so much potential. As the drama moved forward, you could start to distinguish the main characters and their respective universes but the doppelgangers (if you could call them that?!) of extra characters (like the restaurant guy, and the veterinarian in the palace) randomly presented in the drama began to annoy me.

A thing that most people talk about is the amount of publicity that was shown throughout the drama. I'll be honest, that was the least aspect that bothered me. If you watch other dramas, you'll see advertising of a lot of things. Sure, with this drama they went all out with publicity but that didn't bother me, not even a little bit. Instead what annoyed me was the lack of connection between the main characters. At the start, it was funny to see the interaction between tae-eul and yi gon. But there was no build-up of interaction that made me get attached to their romance. It was so plain and fast-paced that made it so boring. I acknowledge, there were certain scenes that definitely were worth it. But overall, two words that fit the romance between the characters are plain and non-memorable.

Alright, so I just vented out everything that I thought was bad in this drama. But this drama was not a complete and total disaster. And the one thing that made it worth watching this drama was Woo Do-hwan's acting and bromance with Lee Min-ho. Despite all the confusing scenes and boring romance, his scenes were hilarious, the interaction between his character and Lee Min-ho's character was really cute and his acting amazed me. playing two characters that were the complete opposite but that managed to interact so well. With this drama, he really showed what he could do and in my personal opinion, he was the highlight of this entire drama. I could spend the rest of the time just talking about him but I'll leave that for another time. I just have to say: Personally, if you ask me for one reason to watch this drama, it's Woo Do-hwan.

Overall, I think this drama had everything it needed to be a great one and from the moment that it was announced, everyone had its eyes in it. From a screenwriter that had given us worldwide loved dramas, actors that are widely known and a story concept that was different, new, and interesting.
However, its shortcomings made it hard to watch and made just another drama that didn't reach its full potential.
Don't take me the wrong way, it was not the worst drama and many people actually quite enjoyed it, myself included in some parts.

But what could actually have been a contender for drama of the year, just passed as "another drama of 2020".

Leia Mais

I was excited to start this drama because I was expecting something epic. However, I ended up very confused for more than half the drama. The machinations of our villain, Lee Lim, were not explained well in the beginning. I didn't understand why he was doing what he was doing - how he was choosing some of the people and for what reasons. Things slowly started to be explained, but it seemed like a lot was being left out. The story wasn't tight and there were plot-holes aplenty! I thought that at the end it would have made a good re-watch to have the knowledge that I didn't have before - that maybe things would be more clear with all the puzzle pieces in place. But I don't have the desire now to go back and see it happen. The product placement was pretty cringe-y and in your face also. I'm guessing the big budget required a lot of PPL, but it was not integrated very well and almost seemed like a complete commercial break to promote this or that product. The last episode was a good wrap up, seeing how the changes in the past changed and re-shaped the characters in the future. I actually did enjoy that part, even if it took up a lot of the last episode. Some people would say that this was a waste of time, but I liked it in this instance (and I always love a good epilogue in both dramas and books!).

Woo Do Hwan was the scene stealer of this whole drama. He nailed his dual role - I could legit believe they were two different characters. You never had to wonder if it was Yeong or Eun Seop in the scene. WDH needs his own lead role STAT! Kim Kyung Nam continues to impress me as well. I am always sold on his emotional scenes - I'd really like to see him take a lead role soon also but he seems relegated to supporting actor. I know that this was LMH's comeback drama and he was supposed to be the shining star of the show, but LMH's acting skills just never "wow" me. He seems to have one expression and sometimes a little glisten of an unshed tear when he needs to be emotional, but he does not sell it to me. He's somewhat pretty, but a pretty face isn't all it takes to carry a big budget drama. I think he's relied on that too long and hasn't developed his acting skills. Kim Go Eun did a decent job of her acting, except for the change over to her doppelgänger "Luna". If it hadn't been for the bad wig and the freckles they added, her second character would have been virtually indistinguishable from her main character. And then to add insult to injury, the writer then completely butchered Tae Eul by turning her into a weepy mess instead of the strong bada$$ we had gotten to know once she "fell in love". And speaking of which.....

The insta-love in this drama was so unbelievable. I thought it was going to be a slow build to romance-town for Tae-Eul and Lee Gon, but instead the writers rushed it and had the couple confessing their feelings before they even really got to know each other. That was one of my biggest peeves in the storyline other than Tae Eul's abrupt personality change.

The drama also set up too many things that they just dropped with no explanation. Sometimes a character was left in one spot, doing a thing, and the drama just moved on to the next scenes and never got back to what the side characters were supposed to be doing. They just left them in limbo. And there were a few characters seemed wholly unnecessary, and too much time was spent on them without having a connection to the plot.

I know it seems like I have so many criticisms for this show that I didn't enjoy it at all which isn't completely true. I was entertained to a point, but there were definitely certain aspects of the show that bothered me. Without being super spoiler-y, I don't feel like I can mention many of those here. It's an ok watch, but not the epic masterpiece I was expecting. They dressed the show up real pretty, but it didn't fail to hide the inconsistencies or fill in the holes in the plot. I am neither encouraging, nor discouraging viewers. There are parts you'll really like, and I think parts you'll really hate, but I think it's best to go into it with your expectations firmly in check.

Leia Mais

This show had so much potential, but the organization was terrible. The general story is amazing! However, the explanation was poorly done and everything was mixed up. That being said, this show still passes as one of my favourites. Please read this all before deciding if you should watch it :)

Plot:
Like I mentioned above, the story was amazing, unpredictable, and requires a lot of thinking. I loved the story and everything about it was so well thought out. For that reason, the writer did a great job. However, the directors mixed it up way too much and that made it very confusing and difficult to understand. There were many unnecessary details to the show that I feel would've been better off eliminated. They tried to squeeze so much into a short plot and didn't give the reader the chance to understand a topic before moving on to the next. This sounds really confusing, so I'll give you a real life example. Let's say a really old person is asking you how to call someone on their phone. You write a list for them with the steps 1. turn on the phone, 2. Click on the phone app, ect. After you hand them the notes, the first thing they ask you is, "how do I turn it on?". To you this is common sense, but they don't know since they weren't exposed to it beforehand. This is kinda how this plot was. We were given a sequence of events, but with many of them, they almost assumed that we already knew of figured out the basics of when we really didn't. That being said, the most important parts of the story were understood and explained by the end, so even with the confusing parts, you still are able to understand the plot and story on a more general level and love it.

Characters:
Honestly, in my opinion, this is the part that kept me watching. I fell in love with the characters and their personalities. They chose the perfect actors for each character and the acting was on point. Even the cast for the villains was absolutely amazing and did an outstanding job performing their roles. Each character had something special about them and ughhh I just love and miss them all.

Camera/editing/visuals:
This was also very well done. The camera angles, the colours, costumes, setting, props, aesthetics, and editing were stunning! Visuals in general were just wow. It's difficult to find a drama that has such amazing visuals and this gets a 10/10 for that. This was also a major reason for me to not drop this drama.

Music:
It was absolutely perfect for the plot and I fell in love with the music. Overall, the music was amazing and well chosen for each scene. Loved it!

Rewatch value:
This is probably the highest rewatch value I've ever given. I'm the type that doesn't like rewatching anything since it feels like a waste of time. However, the confusing parts and very cute scenes are the reason why I will be rewatching this drama. I want to focus on the details this time and really think about everything and understand. There were also way too many cute scenes that I want to watch again.

Overall:
This drama is one of those that you either love or hate (or both like me). It kinda reminds me of The Heirs and how some loved it and others hated it. You really have to try this for yourself to know and don't trust all the reviews. It's also a drama that is really really confusing and you have to watch a few episodes to start to understand. The first episode was the most confusing, but it does get better. The ending was also very cute and I couldn't think of a better one for this plot, however, I wish they explained a couple things with a bit more detail. I feel that apart from the confusion, this story was amazing and the characters, music, and visuals balanced it out. I'd totally recommend this drama. You might not like it, but it deserves a chance.

Thanks for reading :)

Leia Mais