I blinked and they were in love.
I don't even know what to say about this drama other than I have never been so confused in my life. I was lost almost every episode, I thought I was slow but having read many reviews I'm glad I'm not the only one in this train. The writer overcomplicated everything even the simple things. I don't know if I would say the story had potential, but it was definitely a smart idea if only it was executed better. This was my first Woo Do-hwan drama, he really did shine. I laughed and cried all thanks to him and I also found Prime Minister Koo intriguing, I hate what they did to her character at the end.I didn't like the two leads as a couple, I don't know how and why they began liking each other it was just so rushed and they did not go through any development. Im sick of Lee Min-ho playing the same freaking role (wealthy guy), we know he can pull that off well. At this point I'm beginning to doubt his talent. I hated the way each episode began, as well as the drama's ending. The time travel theme was a disaster and didn't help at all; additionally, the product placements in this drama is ridiculously excessive. Finally there's literally not much of a reason for anyone to watch this so I do not recommend.
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Had so much potential but fell flat of expectations
This drama had so much potential. Parallel universes, doppelgangers, and an all-star cast. But it fell so short of expectations.The plot had so many Holes. I feel like the writers tried to make things more complicated then they had to be and in the process, forgot to tie up some loose ends.
(i.e. when past Lee Lim killed the present Lee Lim but somehow got the memories of present Lee Lim)
That being said, it was still quite interesting with the time traveling twist. The story dragged a bit in the middle and some characters were just incredibly irrelevant. (The prime minister seemed like she was gonna play a bigger role but that didn't happen.)
The cast were mostly well renowned actors/Actresses but it didn't really do anything for me. Lee Minho played a typical Lee Minho character. Kim Goeun acted to the best of her ability, I guess. She had so much potential, but in the later episodes she's reduced to a damsel who cries everytime she remembers the male lead.
The real highlight of this drama is Woo Do Hwan's duel characters. You separate them from each other because they seem like two different people entirely. It's the only reason my rating for the cast is that high. It's such a shame that he doesn't have enough screen time and that there are more scenes of KGE crying then there are of WDH.
Speaking of, it's hard to realize at what point did KGE's character fall so in love with LMH that she would cry whenever she thought of him. I just never felt the chemistry between them and the relationship development was skewed if not stilted.
I would recommend you to watch this, but just skip the romance parts that's not worth the time. The action and WDH is worth it though.
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What an episode.. damnScene where tae eul confessed to her father about her having a boyfriend was soo cuteee.. dabek!
And
most of our theories were correct.
•Lady noh is from ROK.
•Shin jae's family in ROK is some how related to Lee lim's counterpart in ROK.
•PM has already killed her conterpart in ROK and she was the one who bumped into tae eul.
• PM's sister is already replaced and she's not killed but just left her in korea to live a miserable life.
•future lee Gon saved his younger self.
And somehow it feels like luna helped future lee gon to save his younger self... as if she already knew about all this.
It is a possibility that luna is actually future tae eul.... as once tae eul said her monther died of cancer. And even luna is suffering from cancer.. idk may be im overthinking and my brain cells are blasting with different theories but it can be a possiblity that luna is some how connected to all this.
And may be this time when lee gon travels back in time to save his younger self, he also travels back to ROK and save his counterpart too.. coz he will definitely try to save both his younger self in both the world's and not just in kingdom.
The best drama 2020 ❤️
Thank you Kim eun-sok nim , all the cast, director and all the stuff.
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A Fantastic Fantasy Drama
I won't even go into the science and mathematics theories kinda thrown into the story to explain the dimensional travel, but I really, really liked this one. There were a lot of naysayers about this one, and I can understand to some extent as to what issues they have with this, but honestly, don't think about it too much. This isn't Inception or some other incredibly well thought out science fiction, so don't try to analyze it too much.The story and cast made me think about Goblin. At times it felt slow, and the ending felt less than fulfilling and complete, but the overarching narrative was great, the acting was superb, the fight scenes rather lacking because of the slow-motion cinematography, and the emotions were well developed, complex, and endearing.
Taking Goblin and The King: Eternal Monarch into account, I would like to see Kim Go Eun in more fantasy romances. I think she is kinda a staple now. Now that Lee Min Ho is out of the military, I would like to see him in more similar roles. He has gotten a lot more mature of a look now than in previous years, which would make sense, so I want to see more of acting and roles like this.
Re-watch value is quite high, as I expect I will return to this again within a few months.
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Okay, so I am no fan of any actor of this drama except Woo Do Hwan. And I just finished this drama. I am telling this because I want to let you know that my review is not going to be biased because of Love or hate towards a specific cast.
The drama wasn't the best. I admit it. But it wasn't the worst either. It was a pretty good drama with a good cast and definitely a unique story. The story had me so confused throughout the drama. But guess what... It all made sense in the end. Everything was answered. And I think the writer did a wonderful job handling such a difficult story. Also the last episode was one of my most favorite last episode of a Kdrama ever. And even most high rated dramas have disappointed me with their last episodes like World of Married.
Anyways,
The middle part was a bit boring. Other than that drama is definitely worth giving a shot.
The drama is definitely unpredictable and have some really jaw dropping moments. So that's a plus point.
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Me watching this series in one line: Go girl, give us nothing!
I had such high expectations of this series, as I'm a big fan of the time traveling genre, but everything went downhill from the very beginning. I did my best to like this, but unfortunately nothing in this drama was able to make me feel anything, at allThe only things I liked about this series is every interaction between the two Do Hwans, the confrontations involving Lee Rim and what he did to alter people's fates by interchanging their lives in Korea and Corea. I also liked Luna, and it's unfortunate they didn't let her play a more complex role in the story. Another key player who could've been more powerful in the story is the Prime Minister. She was supposed to be an empowering character, but KES didn't make her character grow at all, but instead made her boiled down to just a jealous woman. The story was also very fast-paced, with characters making unreasonable decisions all the time. The product placement was absolutely ridiculous as well.
All in all, I'd describe this drama similar to the way I found licorice: it looked sweet but it's actually pretty bland.
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One of the most anticipated kdramas of 2020, that ended up being the biggest disappointment ...
Listennnnn, I’m not gonna sugar-coat anything in this review, and I am going to give my honest to god opinion from someone who’s finished this kdrama completely, from someone who’s watched 100+ kdramas, AND from someone who is a huge Lee Min Ho fan, this was by far the most hyped drama of 2020, but it ended up being the worst I‘ve seen in the three years I’ve started watching kdramas:Here’s why.
- Product placements: every five seconds there’s a promotion, not for the show, but for literal brands characters will use, and trust me, it got old real quick, I’ve seen this in every review so far for this show and it’s no joke. It happens a lot already in kdramas, but this one takes the cake for having the most brand promotions which had no purpose in the story or the characters.
- Messy plot: I’ve said it in the comments feed, but I’ll say it again, “if you have to go to discussion feeds to figure out wtf is happening in a drama because the 20 episodes you watched didn’t give it to you, the writers didn’t do their job properly” I’m seeing a lot of people try and justify this, it’s plain and simple, if you don’t understand what’s going on with the dialogue and the plot you’ve been given, there’s something wrong. This isn’t a kpop mv where you can search up theories because the mv was 4-5 min’s, of course that wouldn’t be enough time for you to figure everything out, but in 1hr to 1hr and 30 min episodes OF A SHOW??? Where you’ve been given characters, names of those characters, occupations of those characters, a villain, a time travel plot, a magical flute (that had no purpose in the end)???
Not to mention all the questions left unanswered?
Who had the flute first? What was the origin story?
Why did the villain hate his brother so much? For fun? For power? What did he do to him that was so terrible, we never did find out?
If an alternate version of you dies, do you feel it? Even though it’s an alternate version of you, can you feel it in your soul?
What was the purpose of Luna if she was going to die like that?
There are so many questions I’ve asked in this show, and I never got answers to them,
I have spoken ...
- Filler episodes: nothing .. and I mean NOTHING, pissses me tf off more, than watching a show where each episode had more than enough time to give you depth in characters, plot, and dialogue, and instead we get 3-5 episodes where characters literally just sit and talk ... It’s so frustrating. You have 20 episodes to tell you viewers wth is going on in your drama, and your viewers may I add are already confused ... but instead you waste it on scenes with nice faces and filter, with no action toward the plot or getting the villain smh.
- Pacing: this might be the screenwriter within me but this is important when I’m watching a show, off-cuts or unnecessary zooms are not a favorite of mine, and in all honesty, if a show has a cut every few seconds, that can ruin the experience for some viewers, because you’re not expanding your plot or characters by unnecessary cutting, your halting the progression of them, and that’s a hugeeee issue.
- Lack of chemistry: glad I’m not the only one who thought this, oof, the chemistry was not there for me, as a matter of fact it was more awkward than anything, it didn’t feel natural, it felt more Iike a marketing ploy for people to watch the drama because two big name stars were in it, that’s never a good thing. I kid you not, watched this show from beginning to end and even at the end, I never felt anything between Lee Min Ho and Kim Go Eun, I actually started with thinking if there was another actress instead who could’ve done this role, would the chemistry have been better? Same vice versa. NO hate towards Kim Go Eun either, I’m not denying her talent, I think what many agreed in the end was this pair, just wasn’t it, as in they didn’t fit well together, off-screen they had some good moments though :’).
- Lack of character depth: you’ll find most of the lead characters will be exactly the same as they were at the beginning of the show, when you reach the end, and that’s absolutely terrible lol. Where’s the change? Where’s the growth? Where’s the DEVELOPMENT? Kdramas do an amazing job of not giving a crap about character progression, this much I know, and this drama was no different.
- Writing / Dialogue ^: This could go with character depth, but holy cow ... Why was Yi Gon exactly the same guy after witnessing his girlfriend almost die and everyone around him dropping like flies? Even after witnessing time travel for the first time and being calm? Who tf is calm after witnessing time travel? Why did Tae Eul become a crying mess when she was being assaulted by a bunch of guys? WHAT HAPPENED TO THE MARTIAL ARTIST WE SAW IN EP. 1-2? LIKE EXCUSE ME? All of this can go with plot progression and well, but with writing and dialogue, the writer had more than enough chances to give these things a change, but she didn’t ... And it was honestly a low blow. Especially since we got a villain who had potential, but in the end was just another shadow in the crowd.
Sadly the only good things in this drama for me were the OST, beautiful cinematography, and Woo Do Hwan’s duel performance, you can take this review with a grain of salt, but hey, I’m sure a few others will tell you the same thing. If you wish to watch the show, watch it till the end (if you don’t get irritated by stupid plot choices or characters), then make your judgment, that’s all I got *peace sign*
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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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Story: Great...Romance: Average...Advertisment: Bad.
This drama has received a lot of criticism for various reasons and in many ways rightly so. The product advertisement is the worst I've ever seen in any drama by a mile. Yes, it's that bad. And the build up to the romance felt rushed and unnatural. However if you focus on the story alone by itself and the acting, I think it held up well and it's been a very good watch.If you aren't familiar with time travel and parallel world theories that are used in most movies of similar concepts and the fictional science behind them, this will confuse you a lot. Those who criticize the story I feel do so because it's difficult to understand and you will most likely not understand why and how certain things panned out the way they did on your first watch. It is so full of twists and turns and mysteries and everything that it becomes hard to follow sometimes. I get why some people won't like it but I relish that kind of challenge the writer puts before us the viewers.
The richness of the story for me meant that this should probably have been a 20-episode drama than a 16-episode drama. It would have allowed the characters a little bit more development, the romance would have orogressedynore naturally and more explanations could have been given to why certain events were happening. But due to the brevity of the number of episodes, certain major explanations of what was happening was sometimes made in a passing statement by the characters.
For the acting, I was okay with it. I agree with almost everyone else. Yeong/Eun Sop was the highlight of the drama in terms of the performance. LMH did okay. Another person may have done better but it was okay. I'm a fan of Kim Go-Eun so I'm very biased when it comes to assessing her so I won't. Watch and decide for yourself.
If you're looking for a good story and yet easy to understand like Goblin was, then isn't your drama. But if you relish the challenge of concentrating on a story and trying to figure out why certain events happened they way they did like I do, then try it out. I loved watching it. Tune out the product placement and overlook the romance progression and you'll be fine especially since in my opinion, as big a role as the romance played in the drama, it's not a romantic drama primarily. It's a time travel, mystery and power struggle drama first and since it nailed all that on the head, I won't judge it too harshly for a badly written romance.
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This review wont be as detailed as a normal review would be, I just want to get some words off my chest about The King: Eternal Monarch. I came into this drama with very high expectations in which was my mistake because when you have high expectations, you are setting yourself to be dissapointed.I did enjoy the drama to an extent but I may of been too exited to watch this. I first found this drama on Netflix when it was coming out and found out that Kim Go Eun is the main FL so I was intrigued. I really loved her role in Goblin so I was exited to see on the screen again.
The saving grace of this show in my opinion was the acting of some of the characters and the OST which is too stacked in terms of great singers to be on a drama like this.
I want to talk about the characters first. Kim Go Eun played the role of Tae Eul and Luna very well and she did not dissapoint. The main ML also did very well seen as it was my first time seeign Lee Min Ho. The actor for Eun Sub/Jeong was amazing and I loved how he played the two roles perfectly and was the only character in the show to make me laugh. I actually quite like the antagonist in this show in which was Lee Rim.
I first had my doubts about this show in episode 5 where Lee Gon kissed Tae Eul and i thought that their romance was way too rushed and it went from A-Z skipping every other letter but Tae Eul does say lets skip every other part so I that could be an excuse lol.
The whole parrallel universe troupe is a hard thing to pull off since the romance was between two people from different worlds and to have a good ending with that they'd have to do something stupid and thats what they did. They basically had Tae Eul remember everything that happened and it allowed them to stay in contact by meeting every weeking going to different eras to meet eachother.
One thing that I noticed is that they had the whole Lee Gon away from Tae Eul and come back with them running to eachother saying they missed each other in which literally happened ither 5 times and got reppetative.
Overall i would not reccomend this drama to someone who is wanting a well paced romance and something that makes sense. However if you can look past that which I did, then you can enjoy that acting by Go Eun and Min Ho, and also enjoy the OST by people like; Zion.T, Hwasa, Wendy, Zico, Gummy and more.
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