The King : Eternal Monarch (2020)

I just completed The Eternal King Monarch and thought I would love this show because I really like the lead actress and the writer. I was never a big fan of Lee Min Ho, not even his looks but seeing him as a king and his prefect hair , I see his charms. I want his perfect hair.
But one thing that annoyed me majorly was how they show that the king has no skill in shooting using the gun n that’s y he went to the navy to serve. And then there is one scene where he goes on a killing spree with his gun n killing everyone at one shot, even those who r standing far. (Insert “hands in the air” emoji”), plot hole or what ??
Other also had so many problems with this show too, with what it portrayed and stuff.
It’s not a show I would rewatch again but a show where I would watch some 30 seconds scenes again. I liked all the side actors, <3Eun Seop<3 in the show. I wonder how I would feel if I binged the show than watch each episode weekly, most likey keep fast forwarding as there are a lot of repetitive scenes.
The actors looked like they had great chemistry and shippers were going crazy, and of course I’m one of those shippers. But in the drama, u don’t see any moments which is really touching.
My fav part was how she falls in love with him after she realizes he’s a king, my kind of gal.:)) But again , not at all real for a drama n wouldn’t convince audience. I really couldn’t see their love, it was rushed. And her crying everytime she saw him, I couldn’t feel the emotions and relate.
And also in the end, Tae Eul who has all her memories dint care to even ask for her childhood buddy and wasn’t even curious about him? I guess the time traveling and the diamond coat buttons was enough for this justice seeker who lives to protect people.
And the ending is a long distance parallel universe dating relationship? Should I be happy with that ending ? How does that make sense? Until when will it last ? Shouldn’t a King settle down n produce a heir ? So bring her to his universe, when and how ? So many unanswered questions just like how 2020 has been.
Not so much character growth and the story is supposed to be confusing with parallel universe and such and had so much to explore and get in depth with it but was very lacking and fell flat in the end, there was no mystery to anything. And everyone knew how it would end. And I wouldn’t even look forward to watch this show every Friday and I would forget it as soon as I watched it. Really wanted more from the writer, she usually has such good stuff. Maybe I had too much expectations. And omg the product placements, the story was written around the products more!!! 2020 continues to disappoint.

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Didn’t live up to the hype

I was really disappointed bcz it didn’t lived up to the hype that was created. the 1st half of the show was really boring and slow and It was hard to understand what is actually the theme of the show What’s the purpose ? Besides the concept of parallel universe nothing else was fascinating as it should have been. .There were soo many supporting characters that made the show more confusing. Time travel event was a lot not explained properly. I didn’t liked the chemistry between the lead characters , The chemistry between Jung tae eul and kang shin jae was more interesting.Also Kang shin jae was better character than lee min ho’s character,bcz it had more story and character development. I feel like supporting characters were more strong and interesting than the leading characters. End was also really boring.so much more could have been but it was just not that interesting.

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HI! This is my first time writing review, I normally don't like to write a review, I prefer to read other reviews that leave mine, but on this one, I really had to. I saw all the comments and reviews about this drama, about the lack of many things, but in my case I really Loved it! I really love Romance dramas, it just my cup of tea.

I read some reviews about the lack of chemistry or why the ML & FL love each other so much in so little time, I normally see those comments on the modern dramas, but on Costume/History/Period dramas they are just like that , they fall in love at first sight and they barely touch each other hands and they give each other lives like there is no tomorrow and they still get good reviews.

Going to the point, I really liked this drama, the story line, the actors where amazing, they had great chemistry, the OST just beautiful, for the ML & FL I understood their love for each other, I was happy with them and I was sad as well, I could feel how much he loved her, despite how little time they had since they met, every time they see each other again, they hug so tidily that made cry, I will feel the same way if my beloved one is been missing for days with out not knowing what happen to them, for me every time they were together it felt real( I just missed probably few more kisses in the forehead or cheeks every time they meet).

How can someone be so young in his actions and at some point and them so little change to be this strong king like that , but I see why, He loved her, and will fight the world and time for her love. FL has strong character and she is a girl in love as well, she can't act like nothing has happen, when she hasn't see him in some time, knowing that something might happen to him, she escaped from danger and din't back down that easily, and still fight for her love as well, knowing that might not be tomorrow.

The supporter characters where amazing, just on the down side for me, they where a lot of them, sometimes it was hard for me to follow some of their stories, but it wasn't anything major problem for me, the main support characters I liked their stories, and help the story line as well. They only one that I find that has to much screen time was the Prime minister and she didn't help to much in the story, if she would be the main villain that would it be understandable.

The story line about time and parallel universe, I really liked and liked the ending, because I understood why is that ending ( Not a sad ending at all), but I understand, I can see the point of view of the writer. The ML/FL put the well been of everyone, not just their own lives and still manage to be happy.

The OST! I loved it so so much! The song My Love by Gummy, I felt in love with that song and Maze too, they are so beautiful.
Rewatch value, Yes! I probably rewatch it in few days, just in case I missed something the first time and will rewatch all my favorite parts of the drama again, I felt like if there were questions they answered it. If I don't understand a part of the drama, I go back and rewatch again, so I can understand, why not? That is why I like to watch the dramas once they're finish, so I can replay the parts that I might not understand.

I really recommend it, if you really like romance that goes beyond time and space, I wish that they had more beautiful scenes together. they were beautiful on each of them. I really enjoyed this drama!

Thank you!

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I like kim eun sook drama like heirs, goblin and the king: eternal monarch. Actors in drama also good especially Kim go eun and Lee min ho.. I like them.. Even though the storyline in the king:eternal monarch is little bit confusing with two personality in different world, has past and present time but the drama is still very good..the actors who have the two personalities also must hard for them to act but stil give the best.. For the kim go eun, i must give the thumb ups,because when she act for the sad scene.. I also want to crying.. She is really good with all expression, and emotion.. #Sorry, I'm not good in English..

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I watched it with low expectations because of what other people's reviews about it, but from an unbiased point of view, I personally didn't find it that bad. I think that there are some draggy parts but the premise is quite interesting, and the plot was okay. The ost didn't stand out either. The acting wasn't amazing 100% of the time, though I think that the writing also played a big part in making the drama not as good as it could have been. I think that the best part of the drama is Woo Do Hwan and his characters Jo Yeong and Eun Sop. They're definitely my favourites and allowed Woo Do Hwan's acting skills to shine. I also liked Kim Kyung Nam's character. Another issue is that there are quite a lot of plot holes and not all the loose ends were tied up. One thing to note is that my friend watched it on a website where the location (Kingdom or Corea or Republic of Korea) and year were not shown so she was quite confused. Since I watched it on Netflix and the year and the location were written, I was not as confused and so I enjoyed it more than her.

TLDR, in general, the show was alright and if there's any reason to watch it, it would be Woo Do Hwan and his characters.

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I wonder what my parallel self thought of this drama because in this world I'm pretty confused

STORY
The story was okay i guess, there was a lot more potential then what was delivered but it certainly wasnt the worse i have seen.
Other than that i wish they had focused a little more on the backstory of side characters as in my opinion we got like one defining thing about a couple of the characters but that was about it , there wasnt any real depth (in my opinion). honestly this could be just because I'm a sucker for a lot of deep backstory.
In the same breath some of the characters seemed to have a rushed closer to aspects of their plot and storyline which was a disappointment because it was built up to make us seem their was more to come
Despite that i did enjoy the dynamics of a few characters and that's honestly what kept me watching.


ACTING/CAST
The acting was pretty good no complaints here, the fire exit door can remain shut there was no catastrophic acting and it was actually a pretty enjoyable performance from everyone I think the dramatic juxtaposition between both of the characters wdh played is one of my favourites (such an original thought ik I'm not like other fans)

MUSIC
The music I didnt think stood out enough but that also means it wasnt bad tbh I'm not a huge focuser on the music unless it was one of the defining things from the drama.

RE-WATCH VALUE
I might rewatch tkem just to grasp some things better as parallel universes tend to f**k with my brain and confuse me upon first viewing but I dont see myself reaching to rewatch it all for any other reason.

OVERALL AND EXTRA
Overall I think it was written okay with the best part of it being the acting.there is a lot of product placement , for me it wasnt the most annoying I had seen but it wasnt woven into the story as well as I couldve hoped but props on them because moneys money I guess.
I think if you are going to watch this go in with no expectations and just dont think too much and then maybe youll enjoy it more than me.

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TKEM -Investigating the break down of a Super Car that should not have broken down.

In the automotive world, performance cars are segregated into 3 main categories: sports cars, super cars, and hyper cars.

The King Eternal Monarch advertised itself as a super car, capable of high performance, drama and prestige that reach beyond the bounds of regular dramas with its story , cast and budget. The potential was there and looked high level. Like a Lamborghini Huracan with a top speed of 185 mph in the form of writer-nim Kim Eun Sook and a price of $255 000 in the form of Lee Min Ho and stellar cast .

Watching TKEM ; its obvious that one is unfortunately watching a complete breakdown of a super car that has broken down but should not have. What happened?Was it a script that never should have been purchased? A concept that no one could have made work? Or did the problems start in pre-production, perhaps with the wrong cast or tech team being hired? Maybe the whole thing went to hell during production with a director who couldn’t manage tone or actors who were not feeling the script? Or maybe it was in post-production and the editing team messed it up?

Perhaps all the above happened because this Lamborghini was smoking in the back.

Or maybe it was a hyper car in a super car ? You know - like an Iphone 6 with IPhone XR software and the phone just crashes? Because ultimately hyper cars bring with them a level of performance that requires a professional with loads of experience to process and manage the mechanics of the machine . This script and direction really had no deftness and the mechanics of time or whatever themes explored fell all over the place. And much like a Hypercar , the script felt frantic and like it could barely contain its own potential.

Characters were one dimensional and barely fleshed out . It’s really important for a drama to have characters that have their own central conflicts and then the resolve of each of these conflicts adds to depth and dimensions to the overall piece as a whole.Not here.

The chronology stylistic choices were too advanced and superficial for its vehicle. So many scenes ,though objectively good, actually lost their poignancy because of insertion. Case in point -death scenes fell flat and romance was misguided and took away from dramatic effect when really romance , like speed in a car , usually makes our characters have dimensions and layers . Not here.

However , the paint job was pretty good. Cinematography was high impact and the actors were gorgeous. The soundtrack was pretty impressive but was inserted dismally. Music director should never be hired . However - in the end , it came across as a 'just because' drama. Just because I am a super car / Kim Eun Sook , I CAN as she is quoted as saying herself that"I don’t believe I should try to do art with other people’s money." OR "it is about the viewers and their feelings and opinions rather than depth or critical praise."

Ladies and gentlemen - I repeat ! The Lambo is STILL smoking in the back.

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The cast and crew did an amazing job executing this drama. Personally, I found the storyline to be unique and complex, unlike other dramas that I have watched, and I loved it for this reason. It kept me on the edge of my seat the whole time, and I couldn't wait till the next episode came out. This truly is a drama that starts off slower but progresses quickly after the first 4 episodes. That being said, I do think the slower pace was necessary in the beginning, as looking back, it helped ensure viewers were not overwhelmed by the plot. This drama reminds me of other Western fantasy series that I've watched, and I feel that perhaps this storyline would have benefitted from a longer format-similar to Western series. *hint hint please have a second season!* Overall, this is a must-watch drama on my list, and I sincerely hope that those who dropped the drama, give it another chance! It's truly a drama that gets better and better with each episode.

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More of an eternal ordeal

I put off watching this show for various reasons, the first being that the trailer gave me major Goblin vibes and I couldn't shake off the feeling that the writer(s) wanted to ride on that show's brilliance. The cinematography, the story of two ill-fated lovers, and the FL (who I thought was just juxtaposed from the Goblin world to this show's world and asked to love Lee Gon now instead of Kim Shin).

I'd be lying if I said I wasn't prepared to be projected to a pretty flimsy plot. I knew what I was getting into. The plot chasms ( calling them holes would be too generous ), made it so difficult to follow the story many a times. And I need to mention the absolutely horrible way the episodes were linked. There seemed to be no sense or reason or pattern or explanation to connect the scenes. One moment you'd be watching an event in present day and the next you'd be suddenly taken back to a distant past (even a different world) with characters who were not even there in the present scene nor does the scene hold any relevance to current events! What am I, as a viewer, supposed to make of this. Now I just have information that I think might be useful but turns out to just be a filler. This was just one of the ways that the writer(s) tried too hard to make the show seem smarter than it was. It really wasn't. It was more or less a sad and unnecessary rip off of, yes you guessed it right - GOBLIN.

I liked the FL's work in Goblin, and was looking forward to seeing how she carries a more or less similar character. Absolute disappointment, although I doubt it had anything to do with her acting skills but rather just the way her character was written. But I also think there is always something an actor can do to liven up a dead script. I kept seeing flashes of Ji Eun Tak and I swear I wasn't even trying. The crying, the snarkiness, the love sick behavior, right down to her mannerisms. There were moments where I'd almost anticipate her to break into one her signature "Ahjussi!" Lee Min Ho is an absolute eye candy, and served the purpose of nudging me towards the end of the show. Let's be honest, he's not really one of the finest actors out there, but he still did a better job than Go Eun-ssi. I wouldn't give up on her altogether, maybe just chalk it up to bad writing, God knows how many ships that iceberg has sunk. I saved the best for the last. Woo Do Hwan. What a masterpiece that human is. I confess I fell in love with both his roles. I shed tears for his characters more than I shed for the lead pair (zero). There was a depth and a meaning to his characters, and he played them both brilliantly. If Lee Min Ho nudged me along to finish the show, it was Woo Do Hwan (Yeong, or Eun Seop, really) who's hand I wanted to grab and run off into the sunset with. I waited for him to appear on screen, but alas, the writer(s) by this point had probably just thrown all care or respect for the art of storytelling and sold their soul over to the advertisers.

Did this show even have music? The first time that guitar melody plays, I paused and stared at the screen in shock. Had they, had they really? Could they? HOW could they? Was pasting the same fall/winter aesthetics not enough? Really? And it didn't even sound good! I kept waiting for a good ost to play, or stick to my brain, and I'm still waiting, and probably will be waiting eternally. They really should have just played the Goblin OST and had some saving grace.

Will most definitely not rewatch this and do my duty as a responsible KDrama viewer to stop others from watching this too. Unless you're doing it for a case study. A case study of how not to rip off a successful drama and turn it into a circus; of how not to chart a love story; of how not to write flat characters; and basically how no matter the star cast, the production, the backbone of a show is the script and without it, it might take off spectacularly but then crash within a couple of episodes never to pick altitude again.

The intensity of my disappointment with this show far exceeds the intensity of the love that the leads shared which the writer(s) were trying to shove down the viewers' eyes. I get that these are two people who love each other very much, but for God's sake, pace it out. Although I do understand it would be very difficult for any sane woman to resist the charms of a man who looks and talks like Lee Min Ho for more than a minute, but that's besides the point. The love felt forced, the dialogues made my eyes roll far back into my head, the scenes which were orchestrated to make the viewer bawl left me staring awkwardly at the screen waiting for the cringe to be over with. I do need to mention the other relationships in this drama were far, far superior. The bromance was heartwarming. I was more invested in the friendships and bromance than I could manage to be with the lead pair.

The makers had a fine and easy on the eyes cast, a swanky budget too I'm sure, and could have made a memorable drama but sabotaged it all up with poor writing and poorer execution. The finale was the last nail on this coffin. I'm a sucker for fan service endings (forgive me as I wipe a tear recalling Crash Landing On You's end) BUT, that does not mean I will consume anything in the name of a happy ending. Theoretically my brain understands that these are two very very in love, and the rules of the world don't really hold any ground, since the story itself spans worlds and ages. But that doesn't take away the emotions and depth, which again the writers probably traded for product placements. "Here, take about a month long worth of bonding, and give me the milk tea latte with chewy tapioca seeds, which I should taste before stirring" "Ah, still, refreshing". Not.

My verdict would be to steer clear of this show for as long as you can. It's addictive in the wrong way, almost as if you want to watch how much more they can botch show. I will have to watch Goblin again to rinse my mind off of the badly recycled piece this show was. There are definitely better dramas out there, I'd skip this one if I had Manpasikjeok and could go back in time to stop my foolish self from watching this. Or maybe I was fated to watch it (and discover the brilliance that Woo Do Hwan is), and I'm fulfilling my destiny by writing this review and stopping others from watching it.

Lire davantage

Best thing about this series is how it looks, Serious money was spent on costumes, makeup, locations, settings, props, and special effects Very slick, smooth and real eye candy -- probably too much product placement, at least that's what it looked like. I could be wrong.

The actors were clearly buffed, polished, brushed, waxed, and well-dressed - also easy on the eyes, even the villains. I think they did they job they were told to do to the best of their abilities, which is considerable.

After that, this show becomes a trainwreck. I am a lifelong SciFi fan, and I appreciate fantasy as well. This gave token -- beautiful visually, but token attention to any kind of fidelity to either genre or even with a blend of it. It was sad -- all of it was either garbed in fake, unconvincing jargon, or truncated when they forgot where that idea was going. Bad. Dumb.

And, here's the spoiler: The ending was identical to that of "Crash Landing on You" with the exception of period costumes and props. I was disappointed in CLoY, but this, coming out so soon afterward, was a real letdown.

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The Power of Lee Min Ho

To be honest, among all K-dramas I've watched, this one is very hard to describe. Took me weeks after finished watching to embrace myself writing my review here. And I decided not to read other's opinions, good or bad, on this since I believe they will affect my objectivity. I want to be very honest pouring out my review about The King: Eternal Monarch.

1. The Power of Lee Min Hoo
I don't see myself as LMH's die-hard fan who's passionately waiting his comeback after discharge for military service. Since I started watching K-dramas, LMH is, sadly, not on my most favorite actor list though. But for real, I can see clearly that LMH is one of few actors who has such a strong aura. His persona is out of this world and this I believe becomes the reason why he always gets those rich man or prince roles. Specifically talking about The King: Eternal Monarch, I can tell that Lee Min Hoo is the strongest X factor this drama is a bomb.

2. Ads are crazy
I've never seen a drama with too many ads before. Like, the product placements are everywhere! But don't get me wrong. I'm totally okay to that. The ads are beautifully capsulating through the drama so it doesn't bother me too much.

3. This drama is not for everyone
This kind of story is not for everyone, like for real. If you're into science fiction-thingy, this one is for you. But to me, this one is watchable and I really enjoyed my time watching this back then. I didn't find TKEM is hard and very complicated to watch like most people are saying. I remember, I cried so hard on the last 3 episodes. Some scenes are very touching and I praise all the casts for their excellencies.

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I have been a fan of Lee Min Ho for more than a decade. Yes, it's true.? Thus, among his long list dramas, this one was totally a mind-boggling series. I tried to let myself to focus in this show and remind myself that it's lee min ho's drama. Also, Woo Do Wan is here also as a scene stealer.?
This drama has a great casts but the story itself is a soso...Please don't get me wrong just watch it yourself and be ready for the tones of product showcasing hahaha.?✌?
Still, the show is quite a stealer in terms of visual. Thus, my rating for their visual is 10/10.
And let me remind you with the effects, it's totally amazing. BUT THE STORY...again...watch it hahaha✌?

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