The King : Eternal Monarch (2020)

Honestly, this show was that one show I was more than happy about last year. I am a huge fan of KGE and her paired with LMH was like a dream come true for me. I didnt want to watch the show as soon as it released because I wanted all the episodes out ( I have a tremendously weak will power and probably go crazy if I had to wait for a week) but I was extremely curious because of the 'bad' reviews on the show.So I said Okay, I'll see it for myself. I absolutely loved the story line , for me it was 'amusing' with the twists and turns , probably people out there dont like it because it isnt your ordinary Cheesy Kdrama with the ceo, rich girl poor girl shit. Yes I agree LMH played the character of a king but seriously he did nothing whatsoever like those cliché kdrama plots. The only thing that did disappoint me was the way it was potrayed, I mean the cinematography was hats off but throughout the show I was confused af, I mean at one point he's leaving her world ,to come back after wards and KGE starts crying seeing him and I was like, wait how long has it been I mean where the hell is the time frame? Moreover people say they dont have chemistry?????? Like are you guys serious ,did you guys look at the BTS?, As I watched I understood its not that they didnt have sparks ,its just that they weren't really potrayed. I mean you know the small things that make you fall for the person , I kept thinking no there has to be some , until one episode she just turns to him and goes ILY and I remember I was like 'when, where , howwww?' I just feel they over worked the storyline to the point that they forgot to build a genuine liking between the leads. And the points where Ive been confused , dont even get me started there were scenes where Ive been like 'what happened, did I miss out on anything?' I mean it was like random scenes put together. I GENUINELY, HONESTLY feel like either they should've made more than 16 episodes to elaborately show what they wanted to potray, or make it a bit more SIMPLER to understand, Ive had friends who dropped the show at the very start all because it seemed too "complex".Yes, I am a bit disappointed with the outcome because somewhere at the back of my head I wanted more of KGE and LMH , not them discussing about the antagonist, but actually opening up a bit and focusing on their feelings. I feel it wouldve been more natural. Anyway , I hope they come back together, because their scenes are to die for. P.S. If there was one thing I absolutely whole heartedly enjoyed It had to be WOO DO HWAN I mean that character , you could just look into his eyes and know if it was Eun sub or Yeong. I loved his character and every scene he acted.

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This is the drama I've recently finished watching. I expexcted it for quite a long time and I had a high expectations about it.
The story is set in two different worlds- the modern Republic of Korea and the Kingdom of Corea. The series' genre is not only a fantasy but also a romance, so the main part of the story is the blossoming love between the King of the Kingdom of Corea Lee Gon(played by Lee Min-ho) and Jung Tae-eul(played by Kim Go-eun), who is a police officer in the Republic of Korea. The other thing in drama is the appearance of Lee Lim (played by Lee Jung-jin) who is the uncle of Lee Gon. He wants to become the King so he kills Lee Gon's father and tries to do the same with his nephew. Unfortunately the traitor manages to escape and go to the Republic of Korea thanks to the Manpasikjeok(a magical stick, which can open a portal between the two worlds). Lee Gon has the mission to stop him in order to keep both worlds safe.The drama has exciting and intricate plot so if you are interested in love stories with fantasy elements you'll definitely like it!The special effects were amazing! I could easily feel the difference between the two parallel worlds.The acting was so on point! Maybe it was very challenging for the cast to portray double images. For example Jung Tae-eul's counterpart in the Kingdom of Corea is called Luna and she is a thief.
All OSTs were good, but my favorite are : Orbit by Hwasa(MAMAMOO), Please Don't cry by Davichi, Heart Break by Gaeko and Kim Na-young and My day is Full of you by Wendy(Red Velvet) and Zico(Block B).
I hope my review is useful and I was able to make you check out this k-drama! Expect reviews on other series soon!

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It really started out great. The first ep was good enough to catch my attention. Frankly, the first ep gave an impression that this will be a different Kdrama, that it will be a intellectual sci-fi drama. Something I haven't seen in Kdramaland. Well, this is definitely NOT a sci-fi drama. It wished it was a sci-fi drama but it didn't even come close. Towards the end of the drama when they can no longer scientifically or logically explain all the time and parallel universe jumping they just threw all explanations in a basket called Manpashikjeok, the magic bamboo flute. So in the end, after all the use scientific words and phrases such as doppleganger, quantum theory, relativity theory and after using lines like " your universe is still flat" ; " the X and Y axis meets at this place and that" and all the mathematical solution to the square root of the prime number mumbo-jumbo it all comes down to the magic flute being the one and only reason they are time-space traveling. No science there. So you'd think that for all the power of this magic flute at least a single episode, or even half an episode will be dedicated to tell us about the background of this flute. Instead we have a less than 5 sentences in ep 1 that tells us that it was passed down from previous kings and has been in their possession as a symbol from "Memorabilia of the Three Kingdoms " for who knows how long.

And what's with the overuse of this editing technique where they leave out a scene from a prior episodes to be revealed in the beginning or early part of the next episode? I've seen a lot of Kdramas that used this technique effectively but not in TKEM. First, you can't use the same strategy in more than 2 consecutive episodes and/or more than twice in the drama because it loses it's shock value when you do. Second, the scene you are trying to hide from the previous episode MUST be vital to the development of the ensuing episodes. Sadly, this is not the case in TKEM. They can omit those scenes entirely and nothing would have changed in the story. I can deal with too product placements in this drama because I understand that quite a huge amount of money was spent in the making of this drama, but of course the producers will do everything to recover the money and more if possible. But the editing technique and the story telling - I just can't.

I don't find the romance between the 2 ML believable. Up until the time the female lead went to Kingdom of Corea she was being rude to Lee Gon (the King). Sure there were moments when she seems to worry about him but the overwhelming emotions that was conveyed was more of curiosity rather than developing love. Then she went to the Kingdom of Corea where she was treated lavishly and personally by Lee Gon. They shared a ride on a private plane where they flirted a little, the king himself cooked food for her and even picked her up somewhere in the Kingdom ( I forgot where it was but it was from a tall building, chatted in the bedroom and that was that. But apparently this is enough to convince us that she suddenly became hopelessly "in love" with him to the point she confessed it first? There was a lack of emotional development there. There was also a lack of character development with the main villain - the King's uncle. I mean was he just evil incarnate that the writer forgot to bother us with his background or his motivation for all the bad things he did? Just for power? to live eternally? I mean I've seen a lot of Kdrama about fight for corporate and real power (in historical dramas), the villains - as bad as a person and hungry for power as they were, they always had a justification for their actions. The villains always have someone or something they want to protect and so they act the way they do. So as disgusted as we are with them , we know where they are coming from. But the villain in this drama has no solid ground to stand on in terms of justification. The other villain - the woman prime minister role started as a really strong character. Like at par with the King's evil-incarnate uncle but she ended with just a puff. Defeated by a mere voice recording which will not even stand in court. Such a waste of character when she was the one with the right justification to be the real badass in this drama.
And all this confusion with the parallel universe traveling and then time traveling in a universe that Lee Gon don't even originally belonged to is soooo unnecessary and soooo distracting. it was hard to enjoy this drama with all the unnecessary plot twist and characters. In the end all that confusion about time-space travelling was just meant to make us believe that Lee Gon will travel in all universes in different timelines just to be with the FL. So Ok, we get it you're in love but must it really be that complicated?

The Acting:
Lee Min Ho for sure was an eye candy. BUT, a big part of me wishes that he could act as well. There literally is little to no difference in his acting from The Heirs, Legend of the blue sea, BOF, City hunter from his acting in TKEM. It's the same facial expression, the same monotonous delivery of lines. I can't help but sigh. He sure is lucky he is that handsome.
The only actor that stood out in this drama is Woo Do-Hwan, thanks for the double roles he played. It also helped that the roles he played was so different from each other in personality even when they looked the same. It gave him a lot of leeway to play around in terms of acting.

What I like about this drama? one word. MAXIMUS.

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King: Eternal Moron

I’m going to start off with the good parts of this drama aka the parts that can pass off as decent.
- The cinematography
The scenes were shot beautifully, everything was grand and extravagant as expected of well, a king and his palace. I might even go as far to call this a cinematic masterpiece if not for the dry, non-existent plot. But for now, I digress. (I will delve into that soon).
- The casting
Let’s face it, the casting was easy on the eyes and the main reason why most of us kept watching this boring ass show. Because in the end, we’re just humans who want to see pretty faces. Lee Min Ho was enough a justification for me to click this show but Kim Go Eun as well? No shit I decided to stick to the end. I have loved her since watching her appearance in Goblin and I must say I adored her character in this series because she was a badass cop with a backbone. I’m not a fan of woo do hwan but he was the only one who showed real versatility in the roles played here, him acting as a serious bodyguard and then taking a whole 360 with his other role. Kudos to his superb acting skills. The rest of the cast were perfect and their acting was on point. If there’s one thing I’m not complaining about, it’s the cast.

Now, it’s time to get down to business about why exactly despite the stellar cast and brilliant cinematography, I gave this drama a withering 4/10 stars.

- The plot or lack thereof
Okay, the idea of parallel worlds and doppelgänger sold the show AT THE START. It was what made me click besides LMH and KGE and it was what made me finish that first episode. Great start with the history of this magical flute that had to potential to connect both worlds. Yay, sitting on the edge of my seat. Well, until LMH started to get on his horse and trod into the other world. The first thing he said to KGE was literally something like “finally, I have seen you.” or some shit. Cue the swooning and fangirling because wow this handsome dude i’ve literally never seen my whole life is now hugging me?!?! After that, what happened from ep2 to like 11 was literally nothing but him travelling back and forth, flirting and dating and using that half broken flute to return to his kingly duties. I’m not even sure when the romance started because there was no slow-burn, no tension and NO CHEMISTRY. The next thing I knew, they were kissing and saying cheesy things. I don’t even want to talk about that over-the-top, dramatic scene where his whole troop of bodyguards went to save KGE, the crying damsel in distress. It was ultimately, a waste of bloody resources.
The ending was confusing to say at least. I spent many episodes wondering who was the one who saved LMH when he almost got killed by his uncle on the night of the treason…only to find out it was LMH himself from the future. BOOM mind-blown. Was that the expected response?

K. More like poor, convoluted plot and a pathetic attempt to salvage an already broken storyline. And if you think about it, LMH from the future gave LMH in the past an ID card with KGE’s face on it so that LMH in the future would find her? Seriously. But anyway, the most messed up part was when he literally opened all the doors to the universe to find KGE. Hey, I get it all you romantics like this kind of stuff but at this point, it’s just getting tiring… This drama was just 90% romance and 10% fantasy where the action ONLY PICKED UP AT EPISODE 16 OR SO. All the times when LMH approached his uncle the traitor, they only had dramatic eye contact before he let him slip away. And then somehow, he managed to catch him so smoothly towards the end? I would’ve liked to have seen the uncle outsmart LMH given how that’s what he’s been doing all along. Quite disappointing for a villain.

- The romance
Was there chemistry? I’m pretty sure they already got together during the first ep. I loved KGE’s badass cop character at the start but afterwards…I’m pretty sure it’s not her acting but more of the character she needed to play…she became dry and just lovesick throughout. The whole time she was waiting for him and then crying when he finally came. The dramatic scene at the end of ep11 (I think) where she waited for him, crying in the middle of the road was over exaggerated. And to be realistic, if LMH was really a king, how could he even have time to travel between both worlds and how did no one impeach him for neglecting his duties? Unless head court Lady Noh did all his work for him while he was busy playing boyfriend with KGE. There was no swoon worthy moments for me, not even that neck kiss which was overhyped. Seriously, it was just a brief peck on the neck. And the cooking scenes where he wore his navy uniform? I’m sorry, I skipped it because it was way too cringe. By the way, I think it was ep 4/5? When they confessed their love for each other despite the fact that their only interactions being limited to the chicken restaurant? Alright, people fall in love fast sometimes but i did not see that coming :)

- The place where time doesn’t exist

They just wasted time filming a balloon and an empty vacuum of space. Nothing happened there except when LMH brought KGE there to gush and show off his brainiac knowledge. Oh, and I guess the part where the traitor died there and KGE was trapped inside for a while. Other than those parts, nah.

- Who saved me? Future me😍😍
I’ll never stop. This plot twist had no twist and was just, just—Maybe because I don’t quite understand it but I say for sure that i know i won’t be the only one who didn’t grasp that concept. You know why? There was NO EXPLANATION WHATSOEVER. Then again, what sort of explanation could they possibly come up with to support this wacko theory? Physics? Alright.

I’m done here. Please, watch this show if you’re looking for a cheesy royal romance because rest assured, it’s the only one with a high budget and a stellar cast. But really, don’t even waste your time to finish this drama because I can assure you, you’re not missing out on anything but a measly neck kiss ;)

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Ok so... this drama had potencial but they just focused on the cliches and ruin what could have been and excellent story.
So many open holes left, they made us believe the villan was DANGEROUS but he didn't do NOTHING to save himself, ploted revenge for 20 plus years and at the didn't move a finger or HAD a plan like c'mon.
The romance between the leads was FORCED. The female lead treat him bad always never showed a feling for him but all of the sudden they started dating and the viewers are supposed to shawlow that? The chemistry just wasn't there like. Kim Go Eun acting was good but LMH acting was ehhh always with a straight face no emotion just trying to be cute and mandly.
They just focused on romance with cliches and more cliches alot of crying always for no reason.
Honestly I didn't knew Woo Do Hwa but he was PERFECT only good thing about this drama and they give him nothing at the end.

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Twitter fans and I watched a completely different TKEM

Poor LMH! I’m a fan but this isn’t the right comeback.

Love Team: Dislike. No chemistry. Not matching from looks standpoint. King is fully smitten at first sight and we’ve no idea why. (The ID is too trivial)

Male lead: Dislike despite being LMH fan. ML had unrealistic reactions to everything. Eg overly calm when transported to parallel world, expounding nonsense and calm in gun fight.

Female lead: Dislike. FL was too weepy from halfway and became Katie Waitey in the end (the label on Kate Middleton when she didn’t really pursue serious career and was just waiting for Prince William).

Evil uncle: Dislike. He could’ve been a worthy antagonist but was utterly powerless and futile. All these years of planning - it’s not just his plan didn’t succeed, his plan didn’t make sense

Prime Minister - Dislike. It’s not that I felt she was evil. ButThere was no point for her role. True, we had some cute scenes on ep16. But ep1-15, there was a lack of coherence and sense of purpose for her role. It didn’t move the plot at all.

Supporting cast: good to very good. They were put to good use. Woo Do Hwan the bodyguard served a good purpose and bromance with himself was fun to watch, Shin Jae the police officer acting was good, Luna served good purpose (even if I didn’t like her as I disliked the actress), the court lady, old prince uncle were good plot insertions that painted a richer world.

Writing . terrible terrible terrible. There is nothing good I can say about the writing.

Directing - overall ok as scenes were pleasant to watch. But 2 big sins - (a) excessive use of slow-mo which backfired. (b) lack of tensions in crucial parts

Music - it’s ok. Not a personal favorite but I can’t criticize the music.

Cinematography- scenes were pleasant to watch but some cheesy insertions (the red balloon, slo-mo photo destruction). But overall good.

Cannot recommend to anyone except drama newbies.

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Time travelling is messy as it is add in multiple dimensions. I skipped so much that i had trouble understanding the show which is on me. But i just couldn’t sit through it all. The show itself is SUPER Boring. As a fantasy enthusiast i was badly disappointed. The female leads characters starts of strong, excellent intro but somewhere along the way they completely lost it. It feels like she is crying every ten minutes. I couldn’t roll my eyes enough. The male leads character is well written but the actor was unsuccessful in conveying the emotions and the passion he feels for the female lead. The romance part of the show is ruined thanks to the male leads robotic stiff acting. They tried to make the male lead cool with some action scenes but it just made the scenes really fake and impractical. The Action scenes are more glamorous than realistic.

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This one was highly anticipated one on my list but i am kind of disappointed. Plot has many holes and from time to time didn't make sense. Too many flash back scenes. Though they show FL as kickass but she cries buckets in the drama and at times it's beyond me to understand why so much crying? what is the reason to cry? for e.g. when she was running away to LL goon's and sees LG her crying i couldn't understand was that a relief to see him or she was super upset?? every scene FL appears she is crying on the screen. It really does not portray strong FL when you see her cry on every scene with LG and just becoz she can throw few punches does not make her strong. Strength mainly come from internal being which i found was not there. I was bored while watching this and only sat through this becoz of Lee Min Ho. It's a one time watch .

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This drama isn’t absolutely perfect because nothing is ok
BUT ITS PRETTY DAMN CLOSE

I must admit, ever since I watched Goblin I haven’t been able to find a drama that competes

The beautiful combination of gorgeous cinematography, fantasy, romance, comedy and of course an incredible cast and music

I’d been craving a fantasy thriller romance and lo and behold I’ve been given one
Having still released only four episodes yet, this drama has managed to captivate me...there’s a reason it’s proclaimed it’s position as the highest rated weekend drama
I’ll try and break down all main aspects as well as I can with having only seen two episodes

Story:
The story is nothing new time travel, parallel universes...
But the fresh perspective given to this one with the same country in existence at different places in different ways, murder, immortality, magical instruments :D
The romance element which I can already see is going to be very well developed

Acting/Cast:
I won’t lie, I love Lee Minho the guy has that effect with that killer smile and no doubt great acting skills,
it’s a stuck up guy with issues and soft heart of course it’s played by him and he’s nailed the facial expressions, tone, gestures, everything
He plays an easily irked, haughty yet soft hearted king eager to run away from his royal duties and do maths forever if he could :D
after encountering a gateway to a parallel universe he meets his long time obsession a Lieutenant played by Kim Go Eun who so far has also done a great job at portraying her role.
A police officer, ‘a little crude yet serious about her job’ gal who is suddenly forced to deal with a wacko claiming to be royalty from a parallel universe and continuously confesses how he’s waited for her forever
I’ve been finding her quite entertaining with those sarcastic remarks and sassy comebacks, the way she keeps putting him in his place :D

She’s been getting some hate for not acting well or that she’s not pretty
She’s unique and that what makes her so refreshing, I honestly like her acting so far and can’t wait for her character’s development since we already know Minho’s supposed to stay the same till the end plus some love confessions and a few emotional breakdowns Added
It is what it is :/ (I hope we’ll see versatility in him this time since so far he’s done pretty much similar characters in terms of dramas)
She’s the one who’ll really get lots of character development considering what’s coming up for her!

The side characters have been intriguing, Prime Minister’s character really caught me I’ve never seen her in a a drama before, she has something to her can’t point it out but she’s pulling off her character super well
THE BROMANCE BETWEEN YEONG and Eun Sup has successfully trumped the bromance he has with him
that banter dear lord ❤️
The VILLAIN YALL is something else he’s shaping the drama and the dramatic dialogue, fight scenes everything is on point
The evilness can be felt radiating through the screen throughout the four episodes
Can’t complain about the cast it’s pretty phenomenal

Music:
I’m obsessed I’ve literally been playing then all non stop
We’ve got a star line up with Hwasa and Zion T Wendy from red velvet and Zico
The vocals and themes of each ost are stunning


Anyways guys GIVE IT A SHOT, ITS BEEN PRETTY EPIC SO FAR

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It was a very confusing experience

Expectations were high, it was THE Lee Min Ho comeback, Kim Go Eun working again with Goblin's writer Kim Eun Sook, who created some of the best dramas in the last decade, and lastly, it was on netflix for the global audience delight. But expectations were not met. I'll go through the good stuff first: Wo Do Hwan portrayed two of the most endearable and funny characters I've seen in a long time, and with such fluidity, it was so easy to tell them apart and he had a great chemistry with... Himself (?); music, editing and production design, were fine, even with the difficulties about japanese symbols and all that. Also, the chemistry was good between the leads. NOW THE CONS: I have to reckon it was very confusing for me and I did kind of finished out of a feel of commitment, also hoping everything would be explained in the end, it was not. 1: I didn't understand how and when they fell in love, one second she was so prickly with him, and the next they were kissing, like, what? 2: sometimes it could be hard to tell the two worlds apart, because they looked basically the same 3: Conditions on portal usage and travelling between worlds were all over the place 4: Everything went down when they add timetravelling, like, still haven't figured out the rules of it and how it works with timelines and stuff 5: some subplots didn't go anywhere 6: most of the time it is VERY hard to know what's going on and characters reasoning, i guess they failed at creating suspense, leaving everybody confused instead. Beside that, there are some cheeeeesy lines, but thats a given with LMH characters so i didnt actually mind. Also, i guess a big turnoff for some is the abuse of product placement, there was a lot of it, and not very well done. Although if you ask me, the food delivery service ppl is a gem. Still, DO KOREANS ONLY EAT BBQ FRIED CHICKEN?. And, last objection: The ending is sooooooo unsatisfying.

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