The King : Eternal Monarch (2020)

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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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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Short: I wanted love this one. I tried. It feels like you're getting abbreviated Cliff Notes of a 20-24 episode story. Production quality is outstanding, but it's really hard to keep up with who is who between the two worlds. This should have been much better, it had everything it needed except time and a more developed story.

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!

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This series starts out upbeat and stays that way throughout the series. It is absolutely unique in comparison to other fantasy series of this nature. It revolves around dual worlds, borderline time travel. There is humor, action, mystery, suspense and romance. The acting was great. The clothing was perfect. I got a few good laughs, genuinely.
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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First drama where I loved totally unlogical scene even knowing its unlogical -ep11

How to describe this drama...
START of drama was little boring lot of exposition to get you into story
MIDDLE of drama was nice to look at and I enjoyed it...
END of drama .... PLANAR/TIMETRAVEL MESS

this drama had few nice action and romance scenes I will remember and I rewatched these scenes few times. Think its worth to see just for them... almost all of these scenes are in middle part of drama.

plot - ML is emperor of korea from parallel world1.
FL is South korea detective from parallel world2[probably our world]

ML manages to travel to another world and meet FL there starts romance storyline which crosses boundary of time and plane and reality.
Add to it traitor uncle of ML which wants become emperor and got same power to cross borders.

genre - romance, plane/timetravel, action, slight myster

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Strong beginning, disappointing end :(

Spoiler alert!

I watched the series by chance and my enthusiasm grew with each episode.

It really has everything: tension, romance, a well-constructed plot with unpredictable twists, the perfect cast and a great soundtrack.

I saved the last episode specifically to postpone the end a little longer.

Spoiler alert:

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Yesterday the time had come and I sat spellbound and full of expectations before the season finale. And then? I'm so disappointed!!! What kind of unsatisfactory ending is that?!

For me that's everything but a happy ending! ☹

I've seen her as a queen at his side, but no, they're still forced to live in two different worlds for the rest of their lives - with a few weekend trips. That's awful! You can also see her aged hands from time to time, which doesn't even leave room for another thought. Let's summarize: He is king and needs a queen and an heir. If he forgoes it in his world, then he might as well go into her world. She might as well go into his world and visit her dad/friends every now and then. With so many better options, why do you choose such a sad existence when you love yourself?

Other things aren't really conclusive either. After he restores order, everything that previously had to do with the two of them disappears - except for their plant and their memories. Of all things! However, this is not explained. It's just like that. I would be interested to know why exactly that doesn't go away. That is more than crucial.

The role of the little boy playing yo-yo also leaves some question marks. At the end it is shown that he was present more often than one thought. In the scene with Luna he is a child, but at a chronologically earlier point in time he is shown as a teenager and an adult. That makes no sense. It won't be resolved either.

And another question is on my mind... if Lee Gon can travel into the past and influence it, couldn't he have prevented his father's murder? It is later shown that he can not only travel back to this day, but much further.

This series would have had so much potential and instead so many opportunities are wasted ☹ In the end I found some things to be very cheesy (e.g. the scene(s) in the timeless space), but I can handle that. 😃 However, I have to digest the ending itself first.

I know, tastes are different and some of you may have celebrated the ending with satisfaction - because at least she remembers and they can see each other every now and then, but it left me deeply disappointed and with the corners of my mouth turned down.

Actually, there should be clues as to whether there is a happy ending or not - then you can save yourself the trouble of watching. Of course, I realize that this is not possible due to spoilers. But for anyone who doesn't like "non-happy endings", this is really depressing.

To end my post on a positive note: I found Woo Do Hwan really strong in his dual role - that was an unexpected surprise for me. And Lee Jung Jin, who likes to take on the role of the villain (see e.g. The K2), also played his part really convincingly.

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Doesn’t need all this hate

A lot of people said over the time how bad the drama was. It is not. The plot isn’t bad and the acting is amazing. It is refreshing to see Lee Min Oh on a different kind of role which until this series, remaines mostly the same.

The scenery is beautiful. I mean the drama is indeed gorgeous. It took us so many of us to visit the filming locations. Not just because it is a drama but because it’s beautifully filmed.

The only regret might be the ending. Some regret that it ended well (which is a spoiler tho). The problem to me is that they tried to make a complex ending and I understand it. The directing process is complex and also a reason why so many people didn’t approve. But towards the end that complexity wasn’t necessary or at least not necessary once you finished the whole drama. Not necessary to a point that instead of finishing on a good note it gives you a “unfulfilled feeling”.

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The role behind which I can stand

Finally, Lee Min-ho proves that he actually has talent and isn`t just a pretty face. I have to be honest for a second and say that after watching "Boys Over Flowers" and "Personal Taste", I really started to lose hope for him and deeply questioned his hype. I still do that, as this is my first time seeing him actually ACT convincingly. I was about to give up, my guy!

I think that most actors here do a good job, but they also have a solid script to back them up. This is my first Kim Go-Eun drama and first off, I have to say:she is STUNNING. I am not usually one to comment on actor`s looks, as they don`t and they shouldn`t determine their ability to do their job, but she is a looker. And she`s also great in the role of uptight, serious, sarcastic police detective. I have to admit, I haven`t watched "Goblin" and I probably never will(the reason for that can be referred to in my "Coffee Prince" review), so I didn`t know what to expect from her, but she really did good. And the chemistry between the two is great as well. For sure the best leading lady alongside whom Lee Min-ho had the pleasure of acting. As for other notable performances, Woo Do-Hwan and Lee Jung-Jin give their all and their roles were also the trickiest to pull off and I`d say they succeeded. Jung Eun-Chae was a bit of a hit-or-miss but overall pretty stable acting across the board.

Cinematography is done beautifully and many shots straight up look like they belong in a fairytale, especially time stopping sequences. Those are just stunning. I`ve seen people criticize the soundtrack for this drama, but I felt like it was a perfect fit, but then again, I do prefer my dramas with atmospheric compositions, rather than distracting songs, which can sometimes take away from the actors` performances. There is also criticism about the sponsorships they basically shoehorned in, but in reality, I felt like there was the same amount of sponsorships as in any other modern Korean drama.

Now, for the bad parts. I really dislike how convoluted the script becomes after episode 14. Like, I can follow time travelling lingo pretty well and I was even like?Wait??? Also the way Lee Lim ended up leaves a bit to be desired and I wish we saw Tae-eul and Lee Gon married, maybe with kids, but definitely married as that was kind of an important plot point. Their time hopping dates seem fun, but like after everything they`ve been through because of that power, if that was me, the last thing I would want to do for a while is time travel. But to each their own. This was a pretty good drama for dramaholics like myself and I would recommend it.

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This had so much potential, so where did it go wrong?

Let's start with the positive. The acting was superb and the cast was full of people who committed to their roles wonderfully. I enjoyed everyone's characters and journeys along the way. I do want to see LMH as a bloodthirsty villain now because I enjoyed him so much as a smart but unyielding ruler. If you're looking for plot (there was a little to much but we'll get to that later) this has that too. Smart and badass female lead, lovely relationships, and wonderful comedic moments also graced The Eternal Monarch. Watching this was very much delving into a fanciful world of time travel, plot twists, and star crossed (or in this case world crossed) romance. It was a fun ride that arrived at a satisfying destination.

Also, I will forever treasure my little ghost ship of Jo Young and Lee Gon. Okay, moving on.

So that brings this to where it went wrong. First of all, the editors should be fired, and the writers bonked well on the head. The plot was there and had so much potential, but somewhere along the way it got lost in the war between the romance and the plot twists. There was so much world and character building that there were simultaneously too much going on, and still a few loose ends to be tied up by the end. Secondly, the editing was all over the place. There were honestly moments where I was looking at the screen lost, my brain trying it's best to tie all the lost strings together. Not sure what happened there. The romance between the two main's was a little abrupt as well, but they had good chemistry so I didn't mind. Third, and very last, was all the BLATANT product placement. Not even Thai dramas are that bad. I understand the need for it, but it definitely could have been toned down to be a little less in your face. It interfered with moments and brought me out of the setting.

In the end though, it really isn't bad, and the acting is what kept me going until the very end. It's full of plot twists, worthy characters, and sweet relationships. All in all, give this a try and see for yourself. Not a masterpiece, but worth a watch.

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