The King : Eternal Monarch (2020)

Underwhelming relative to all the hype

7.5/10 is my rating. This is a 2020 fantasy romance drama with 16, 70 minute episodes.

Lee Gon/Lee Ji-hun (Lee min-ho) is the King in a country called Corea that exists in a universe. parallel to the Republic of Korea. As an eight year old he witnessed the assassination of his father by his half uncle who also intended to kill Lee Gon. Jeong Tae-eul / Luna (Kim Go-eun) or her parallel counterpart saved Lee Gon from death and then disappeared. Since that time Emperror Lee Gon has been looking for his mysterious savior with the help of his friend and Captain of the Royal guard, Jo Yeong / Jo Eun-sup (Woo Do-hwa). Lee Gon’s uncle, Lee Lim / Lee Seong-jae (Lee Jung-Jin) killed the former king to obtain a flute that has magical powers including the ability to render the person who possesses it eternal. In fighting his Uncle, young Lee-Gon broke the flute in half with a sword and now has the other copy. Lee Lim opened the portal between the two universes and is reeking havoc along the way. Emperor Lee-Gon plans to put an end to his Uncle’s evil and close the portal between the two universes.

Spoiler***There was so much hype around this one in drama circles that I expected this to be one of the great ones. And, reading reviews, a lot of people really liked this but this is not my favorite role for Lee Min-Ho. I also did not see much chemistry between the two leads - they seemed more like two people that would be great friends. It was hard to see the transition from her more or less being annoyed with him to liking him then loving him. It may have been easier to see that transition if there was chemistry there but with the friend like aura I just wasn't getting it. Netflix also puts a particular spin on dramas that I am not as much a fan of - they Americanize things a bit and I actually started watching Asian dramas because I did not like a lot of what was going on in American dramas. What I mean by Americanize is there is this theme of over the top "strong, independent woman" who is just fine alone. I get that, I do, but I also think many people are overall happier when they are together with the right person.
Most single people I know and have observed are lonely on some level. I also could not get why he seemed so taken with her so quickly I know he thought she had some role in saving him when he was young but that wasn't enough to understand why he would be romantically interested in her. She was not very nice to him in the beginning so for someone with all the options he had to fall for her in particular, it was a hard leap to make. This was a parallel universe/time travel drama and I rarely find that premise compelling so it could be that I am a bit biased and have high expectations. I was often unsure which character from which parallel universe was speaking. That may have been partially my fault as I watched it very slowly as I was having a hard time staying interested. It moved back and forth and between a lot and was confusing at times. The ending where they travel every weekend together to different places and times and that is how they were together has to be one of my least favorite endings but is not uncommon with time travel. Not necessarily traveling together but it is common that they meet infrequently. I think, if anything, traveling every weekend to see the person you love would become tiresome. And you wonder about simple things like - what would they do if they had children. Would they become part of the every weekend travel?
There wasn't much to the plot either just his Uncle was a traitor who wanted to take over the throne and gain control of the magical flute for immortality. I would not re-watch this readily and would only recommend it to someone who is serious fans of either lead or who particularly like the time travel and/or parallel universe them.

Lire davantage

Don't understand the negative reviews

This was the second Kdrama I ever watched, after Crash Landing On You. Lee Gon was immediately my new image of a knight in shining armor.

The acting is top notch. I completely believed in Lee Min Ho as a king. It took me a lot longer to warm up to Tae Eul, but not because of Kim Go Eun's acting. Woo Do Hwan stole every scene he was in as Eun Sup and absolutely nailed playing his alter ego's polar opposite personality as well.

My method of judging the quality of a show's soundtrack is whether or not listening to it on its own recalls the emotions I felt while watching the drama. Most of the tracks in The King's OST definitely do that for me.

I will say that the story and pacing had some issues. There was a LOT going on at any one point, and it wasn't always clearly explained. However, I have now watched this drama all the way through twice now and on the second watch I realized that a lot of the things I thought were plot holes actually weren't. Without the constant speculation about the plot, character relationships, etc. that's usually going on in my head during my first viewing I picked up on a lot of things that I didn't notice the first time around. I think the writer tried to be a little bit too clever at times, but it wasn't incomprehensible at all. The plot does kind of start to collapse under its own weight towards the end, meaning some of the episodes feel a little slow and plodding as the characters try to sift through some of the various threads, but overall I felt the cast pulled it off.

Some have complained about the relationship between the main leads feeling off as far as how quickly it progressed, but that also gets more or less explained. Saying too much would be giving spoilers, but it's very in sync with the characters' personalities and the situation they find themselves in.

Product placement is another criticism I see a lot of people have, but maybe since I'm not in Korea and don't see most of the advertised brands in stores it doesn't usually bother me that much. As long as the "commercial" doesn't interrupt the narrative flow (which it doesn't with this show, imo) a lot of the time I don't even notice it.

It's a beautiful drama with great acting, a unique story and compelling soundtrack. It's not without its flaws, but those flaws don't ruin the whole thing. I will probably watch it for a third time in the near future. :-)

Lire davantage

Tried to be the next Goblin, but didn’t quite get there

I didn’t love this drama, but I didn’t hate it either. It’s 💯 worth the watch for LHM and KEG alone. Their chemistry was absolutely something special. LMH was charming as usual, and KEG is such a breath of fresh air. The characters were fresh and simple, which I enjoyed, especially a female lead that is fierce and can rescue herself (honestly the rescue scene stopped my heart). The music was beautiful (but too much like the Goblin OST to really be unique imo) but Gravity really did stick out. The Cinematography is gorgeous, and the costumes are really something Spectacular too, especially his. But the wonders really stop there. The plot line is kind of all over the place, which is mostly due to the parallel universe aspect of the show. Lots of storylines don’t really go anywhere, or feature useless characters that you end up forgetting. There is a large cast, but that’s mostly due to the fact that everyone is playing a dual role because of the parallel universe aspect. It gets confusing and that you sometimes don’t remember which universe or world they are supposed to be in right now, especially when it comes to switching around the worlds. The show tried a little too hard to be ingenious, and relied a little too much on the fantasy aspect, meanwhile all I wanted them to do was go back to the main love story. Which getting onto that was kind of rushed, on the female side anyway, but I mean it’s LMH so I get it. Lastly the product placement in this drama took me out of it a lot. I definitely felt at times but the actors were going to turn and wink to the camera they were selling some thing so hard.

Lire davantage

not sure why the rating is so high...

the drama is not all bad, it has good comedy scenes (especially with woo dohwan)
captivating story and beautiful set design & CG
you can tell they had a big budget
there is great chemistry between leads in the beginning, but it seemed ambiguous on taeuls side (not sure if her feelings), and romance seemed a little sudden
also it was annoying how taeul spent most of the show just crying

i also found certain things confusing such as the laws and family structure of the prince - it was hard to understand why lee gon reacted the way he did

joyeong and myeong nari were the best imo wish we more scenes of them

Lire davantage

THIS DRAMA IS ONE OF ITS KIND ... SO STOP WITH YOUR UNNECESSARY HATE!

I just don't really understand why this drama is getting so unnecessary hate?
You did not like it ? Then move on .
I am not saying that the drama itself is perfect .... there are flaws ... there are over the top advertisements put in the scenes ... a bit overrated production ...But here people are just demeaning it like anything !
I liked the concept with which it started ...a parallel universe and the monarchy system which made somewhat sense cause previously there were very few dramas with present day monarchy setting (ref Goong , Goong S , The Last Empress etc ). Many might even argue that the plot was somewhat like W ... so what ? Well for me it does not really matter cause it is watch worthy and the efforts of the cast , music production and the graphics was clearly praise worthy (In this context I just want to say I personally loved the ost maze it was sad at the same time beautiful ) .
Coming to the cast ... many are arguing that LMH is back with same acting style...guys just understand its his own way of portraying characters that makes him different from others ....he was great here and nailed his character too . The rest of the cast were great as well .
Now coming to my personal opinion I enjoyed it overall ... some of the dialogues were really great ! Don't pay heed to the negative reviews and give it a go ..... and finally be a judge for yourself if it was worth your time or not

Lire davantage

Not the best, not the worst

I'm on episode 11 so I can't yet review how I will like the ending of it but I feel like some people are giving this show too much credit and others not enough. If you want to watch it because it seems like a romance drama, don't. The romance starts off cute with potential but then they skip the whole dating and getting to know one another part and when she randomly blurts out I love you I literally said "What the hell?" out loud, it was that random and awkward. If you want to see a dramatic love story that will move you, this isn't it.

That being said, I think the overall story is actually somewhat interesting. Yes, it's a bit cheesy but as the show went on I got more into some of the characters and how they are linked to one another and the past. We all have different tastes in films, so some people hate this plot and think its awful but I think the storyline is actually pretty cool. Will I rewatch it again? No. I think it's a good show to binge real quick when you have nothing else to watch or are waiting for new seasons of your favorite shows to come out.

The actors were decent, the set was pretty. Not the best, not the worst.

Lire davantage

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. ❤️❤️

Lire davantage

Refreshing!

Before this series even aired it had received lot of criticism plus the bad reviews kind of steered me away From this drama but I was just curious! This drama is not everyone cup of tea It was slow paced at first but I found it picked up after a few episodes I quite enjoyed it cause it made me think of all the possible theories! It was refreshing to see a mature straightforward relationship between the two leads people are complaining that their love story moved to fast but It will all make sense later in the drama I found it beautiful! There was a lot of PPL in this drama but it didn’t really bother me I thought some were funny! LMH is just mediocre his acting I think has improved a little it’s more of a matured role for him compared to heirs which I couldn’t finish. KGE has always impressed me she so expressive in her eyes! I think WDH outshined the ML in my opinion! cinematography was beautiful and ost was so good!! I’m glad I didn’t skipped this one!

Lire davantage

Drama of the year? Are you kidding me?

I spent at least 2 days to finish just the first ep. The drama is boring in every sense of the word.
This drama had all the potencial to be good. Before it come out i was very excited about it, the trailer was good, the cast is perfect, the story is interesting, but the drama? Well i don't think so.
Everything happened so, so fast and it destroyed the drama.
The lead couple just do not match, they have 0 chemistry.
Everything is so confusing. There are people who didn't understand the story of this drama until today.
Do you know what is it good in the drama? Just the visual fx.
To finish, this drama is so close to be similar to Goblin. Even a song of the ost is similar. I know that this two dramas have the same screenwriter, but, are you kidding me?? Do you wanna have success again copying a old drama from you that is famous???

Lire davantage

Very disappointing, I had really high hopes for this show.
The production was great and all when it came to the setting, animation, director, and acting cast, but sadly this all couldn't carry the overall show when it didn't even have a half decent delivery. The product placements were BEYOND disturbing and cringe inducing, and I didn't even complete the show to see the rest of what I'm sure was going to be even more of a cringe-fest . The chemistry between the male and female lead was simply bad; the sole reason he was even interested in her was because of some admiration due to him thinking she "saved him" and his vague knowledge that she was female, THAT'S IT. It honestly felt like it was targeted at 12 year olds on freaking wattpad! She was constantly treating him like sh*t (literally, she called him dog sh*t basically) and he would just take it, she was supposedly the female lead who was immune(?) to his charms I guess? And she was never grateful to him or even nice when rejecting him, it was truly infuriating and painful to watch someone in such an obviously toxic relationship from the get-go and obviously it was glossed over because it's a girl, the music playing would either be romantic or playful, and that he was supposedly "letting her do it" or "happy with whatever". He was obviously starstruck and blinded by the illusion he made of her in his head along the years, and couldn't see her toxic behavior, it honestly reminded me of 'Boys Over Flowers' how Junpyo would just let Jandi do hurtful things to him. Let me guess what happens next, he has to leave her for her own good, says a bunch of hurtful sh*t and pushes her away, then she realizes her feelings for him because apparently girls need to be hurt to feel and realize love or something. I'm not gonna lie, the side characters were the best thing about the show (at least up to where I watched the show), and I couldn't wait for the main couple's scenes to be over as quick as humanly possible. I really wanted at least some of the feels the main couple delivered in some of his other really great dramas that I loved him in like Legend of The Blue Sea, The Heirs, and Personal taste. At the very least I want to see a healthy, or trying to be healthy couple who genuinely care for each other's happiness, is asking for a healthy relationship with compatible personalities that hard to deliver?
The acting of the other characters was the best thing about the show, especially the evil uncle, he really knew how to set the mood for the scenes he was in.
At the end of the day, after this show I wouldn't blindly expect too much of a show just because it a huge production, good casting, and a famous director.

Lire davantage

El final me mató, soy super feliz

Comenzare por explica esta relación amor odio que he tenido con la serie.
Generalmente solo veo series que ya se completó la temporada, pero una amiga me insistió que la viera sin saber que todavía no había terminado. La comencé a ver al principio sin tomarle mucha atención, y poco a poco quede pegada.

Actuación
Yo no conocía a Lee Min Ho antes de ver esta serie, entonces, comience a buscar información y veo que es super famoso y muy querido. Ahí comenzaron mis mil dudas, como puede ser tan famoso si no es tan buen actor? Decidí ver todas las series que ha hecho, mientras esperaba mas capítulos de esta. Fue frustrante dame cuenta que todos los papeles que he visto son los mismo, chico con plata que se enamora de una chica de otra clase o inalcanzable. Reconozco que ha mejorado con el tiempo, aunque no mucho. Hice toda mi resistencia para no seguirlo, igual caí rendida ante su encanto. Así que ahora asumo que tiene su encanto, y una razón por la cual crean estos roles para él. Este rey le queda perfecto.
Así como la actuación de MinHo decayó ante mi mirada, la de Woo Do Hyan, fue subiendo y emocionándome cada vez más. Me dí cuenta que este chico es un camaleón, al enterarme que es el protagonista de The Country. Fan total de este chico, destaca totalmente.
El otro actor que le comencé a creer todo sus sufrimiento es Kim Kyung Nam, me parece un chico muy tierno a pesar de su papel tan duro.
Kim Go Eun, No la conocía. De verdad le creo su papel, entiendo perfectamente alguien que puede ser muy dura y que después que asume sus sentimientos, puede ser super emocional e intensa en lo que siente, me sentí muy identificada, sufrí con ella.
Hay muchos personajes geniales, hay varios que me encantaron, otros que me confundieron, igual, los disfruto todos.

Historia
Reconozco que me encanta la historia, soy super fan, soñaba con ver el final, y no me decepcionó, sigo soñando con un príncipe como él que quiera pasar el resto de la vida de aventura en aventura.
Que importante para mí es que el final me guste, me deja buen sabor de boca. Es como comer rico y no te guste el postre, hecha a perder toda la comida. Ya me ha pasado esto con otras series. Así que aqui estoy feliz de haber visto esta serie, y haciendo un total caso omiso a todos los que no les gusto. Criticando este cuento de hadas para adulto que me mantuvo feliz y emocionada mientras lo ví. Claro que tiene errores, pero son mínimos para mi, comparados con la historia total. La actitud con la cual uno ve las cosas, hace que uno lo disfrute o no. Demasiados dramas en la vida, para no disfrutar una serie, por detalles, jajaja.

La producción:
Es espectacular, la disfrute mucho, incluida la música.

Conclusión:
Si sabes disfrutar una historia de fantasía, con principe, princesa, villano y viajes en el tiempo, les aseguro que podrán disfrutar esta historia, Sobre todo porque cuando una historia termina de este modo, me siento feliz y emocionada, y con unas ganas de soñar, volar, viajar, y cuando eso pasa, me hace tener ánimos y muchas ganas de cumplir mis sueños. Por eso la recomiendo, en especial en estos tiempos.

Lire davantage