This review may contain spoilers
Entertaining, but not for people wanting more substance.
The King: Eternal Monarch is difficult to review because, at face value, it is an entertaining drama: interesting premise, excellent cinematography, addictive soundtrack, strong female lead, suspenseful, and romantic. The problem with The King: Eternal Monarch, however, is that it fails to meet expectations, leaving many viewers feeling as though they watched an early, conceptualized version of a drama released as it was being written by an author with a vague concept of where the plot was going and no knowledge of how many episodes were left until the ending. We know what could have been, so our disappointment leads us to be overly critical of what we have been given.**Story: 7.0**
While the plot devices of interdimensional travel and a modern day Korean monarchy are nothing new, the combination of the two are unique enough to excite any fantasy lover. Throw in a dashing king, a tough female cop, and a villain traveling between dimensions, killing people and replacing them with their doppelgangers, and you have the building blocks for something special.
Sadly, someone somewhere thought more would be better, and all the elements that could have made this drama great were poisoned by the the addition of a time travel plot device, a surplus of ridiculously blatant examples of product placement, a female villain who served no real purpose other than to be an unlikable annoyance when convenient for the plot, a multitude of supporting characters and their doppelgangers who were difficult to keep track of, and a sometimes non-linear story-telling style that made the whereabouts and actions of the villain difficult to follow, with very little mystery or payoff because of it.
The addition of so many minor characters was, perhaps, the biggest downfall to this series because it detracted from the time that could have been better spent developing the main characters, in particular the relationship between the male and female leads. For a show that is built around a love story that spans multiple dimensions, it sure didn’t spend a lot of time developing the romance, and instead it relied heavily on the concepts of fate and destiny to carry the relationship while the leads spent a large amount of time apart in their respective worlds.
The main antagonist and biggest external conflict for the leading couple, villain Lee Rim, also suffered due to shared screen time with his many, many doppelganger minions. His villainy would have been much more impactful if his motivations for world domination had been expanded upon and all the corrupt doppelgangers were introduced as they were exposed, the extent of Lee Rim's reach being unveiled one doppelganger at a time. It was a missed opportunity that would have created suspense and kept viewers guessing as to who was good and bad along with the leading characters.
As the show went into its final four episodes, the plot began to feel rushed, as though the writer anticipated the series being 20 episodes long but was told half-way through production it was only going to be 16 episodes instead. Moments previously depicted in the first episode (Lee Rim being interrogated at the police station) turned out to be insignificant and irrelevant, and the downfall of the villain was less impactful and grandeur because it happened three different times, all rather abruptly and without much fanfare.
I suspect that a lot of fans were satisfied with the “happy” ending, but I found it to be a cop-out. While all our secondary characters found endings in the reset timeline deserving of their good--or bad--deeds in the original timeline, it was clear that the writer didn’t know how to resolve the love story that spanned two worlds and various timelines. While a together-but-separate ending worked in Crash Landing on You, it’s hard to imagine such a situation working out in the long-term for this couple, despite the clear implication that they do somehow manage to grow old together, when one of them is the king of a country that still expects its monarch to produce heirs.
I personally would have liked an ending where everyone, including Jung Tae Eul and Lee Gon, lost their memories of the other world after the reset--which would have been more in line with traditional time travel logic--allowing us to see Jung Tae Eul meet Lee Ji Hun and Luna meet Lee Gon and fall in love in their respective worlds, suggesting that the two souls are destined to be together no matter the universe. Of course, such an ending would have had to exclude the cute moment between Luna and Kang Shin Jae, but it’s a sacrifice I would have made, especially since he seemed to have chemistry with the therapist/doctor, who could have turned to be his love interest in the reset.
**Acting/Cast/Characterization: 7.5**
Woo Do Hwan stole the show with his dual roles as Jo Young and Jo Eun Sub, and I would watch this drama again solely for his performance. While the two characters were foils for each other, there were moments when you could see flashes of Jo Eun Sub’s personality in Jo Young, showing that the four-year-old Jo Young introduced in the first episode could have also grown up boisterous and carefree, had his parents not divorced and he not become the King’s Sword. Woo Do Hwan did an excellent job of portraying them as two sides of the same coin.
Lee MIn Ho fit the role of dashing, attractive king, but much like Prince Charming in Disney’s Cinderella, he had very little personality outside of being perfect. To be honest, I’m not sure if this is a symptom of Lee Min Ho’s acting abilities or a combination of the director and writer pushing for the idea of a fairy tale romance, complete with a royal leading man who excels at literally everything. If that’s what they wanted, then they succeeded. Unfortunately, as a viewer, I found that level of perfection unbelievable, and I feel like opportunities for Lee Min Ho to express deeper, less flattering emotions were skipped over in favor of having him look pretty for the camera. While I don’t mind seeing Lee Min Ho being paraded around in a bunch of dashing uniforms while riding in slow motion on the back of a gallant steed, the reality is that if he’s placed on such a high pedestal, both socioeconomically and personality-wise, it’s hard to imagine a police detective who values comfort over appearances forming a meaningful bond with him, definitely not in the time allotted to them as a couple in this series.
Kim Go Eun’s acting was hit or miss for me. As Jung Tae Eul, she had some real standout moments, such as the last twenty minutes of episode 11, but for the majority of her scenes her facial expressions were kind of flat and wooden. Perhaps that was an intentional choice in order for her to appear more like a tough-as-nails cop despite her petite appearance, but instead it felt like she had no personality outside of being a detective, which further widened the emotional gap between her and Lee Gon. I found her role as Luna much more intriguing and complex, and the blank-faced delivery of her lines felt more befitting of the street hardened thief dying of cancer than of a cop with a lot of friends, a loving father, and a princely suitor.
Most of the supporting cast did well in their roles, including several standouts, but there were a few characters that I wish had been excluded from the drama (Looking at you Prime Minister.) in order to tighten the plot.
**Music/Cinematography: 10**
I was extremely happy with the cinematography and music. With Netflix funding the production, it’s no surprise that the special effects and camera work seemed more on par with a Hollywood production. Every scene in which time stops is gorgeous, especially the moment it paused as Jung Tae Eul was tying her hair and the warm hues of fall dominated the color scheme.
The soundtrack was extremely catchy and was used effectively to compliment the various scenes. I am particularly fond of “Gravity” and “Orbit.”
**Rewatch Value: 9**
Despite all of its flaws with the plot and the disappointing resolution, this drama is immensely entertaining. If you acknowledge it for what it is, a drama that capitalizes on cliches and romance tropes, and that is your bread and butter, then you will be pleased with this drama and want to rewatch it for the vicarious fairy tale thrills. However, a lot of people want more from their dramas than unrealistic entertainment; this drama isn’t for those people.
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This review may contain spoilers
A wise person once said, "Understand the plot then skip to Woo Dohwan's scenes."
That person was me.Anyway, I'll be speaking about 4 main points.
1. The Pacing
2. The Villain
3. The Romance
4. The Plot Convenience
There are minor spoilers in here. If you watched 2 episodes then you are spoiler free from this review.
[ The Pacing ]
You can't feel emotionally attached to any of the characters. The author had created TOO MANY plotlines to focus on. The parallel universe, the romance, the investigation, the doppelganger, the villain, the side characters, the side character's side story, add all that and you get a messy execution. The pacing is all over the place.
Since this whole drama is written to center around romance, they could have simplified it by giving us less characters and unnecessary scenes. Characters like the Prime Minister (second female lead) held no importance to the plot. She is neither a good enemy nor a good ally by the end which makes her pointless. All that screentime, for what exactly? I love women in power but she didn't impact the story in any shape or form. She doesn't change anything. I don't understand why I had to watch all that set up just to come up with NOTHING!
This happened again (but much BETTER) with the second male lead. He had a good build up but he ended up being flat too. They should have connected his storytelling without the long gaps (to keep it heartwrenching) and gave him a more satisfying ending. He is one of the characters that you expect something from but it never gets delivered. The author just wasted all his potential by playing the self pity card.
Which brings me to another point. The investigation scenes are meaningless too. It was like running in circles. This author have learned the "show not tell" technique wrong. The male lead finds out all what the detectives found beforehand which makes me wonder why am I even watching them solve this case? Nobody cares about the flip phones, okay?
Anyway, I just wanna add this personal opinion but it would have been nice if the two worlds were more different.
[ The villain ]
Probably the most frustrating character in the whole drama because he's NOT supposed to be like this. He is evil for the sake of being evil. One of the worst villains we have seen in dramaland. He is an ABSOLUTE IDIOT! How did he succeed in creating a coup and gain followers is beyond me. His wickness is almost cartoonish. It's like I'm watching PowerPuff Girls. The amount of dumb decisions he made caused me to facepalm. The author didn't even try with him. He is smart when convenient and an idiot when convenient. His character exist to create tension and make our hero seem heroic. His plans were pretty smart and if he played his cards right, he would actually been a great threat but the author wanted a justifiable reason for the romance to happen. If the antagonist (involved in politics) have an IQ less than your average viewer then don't write him.
[ The Romance ]
The romance failed before it even started. IF it had a good setup, a lot of people wouldn't have called it forced. The problems started when our king here got the good ol' "saver complex" symptoms. Someone saved you? Instantly in love with them! I gave up on the romance from that moment. Everything about her is destiny or fate... he said "Be my Queen" in the 2nd EPISODE! MY GUY, YOU JUST MET HER IN THAT VERY EPISODE, DAFUQ YOU TALKING ABOUT? QUEEN MY ASS!
Where is the development? Moments that brings spark? Funny bickering of them trying to work side by side? Moments where they realized their feelings? Learning to understand each other? Make us wish they are together because they are cute to watch? We skipped all that. We got a girl who's uninterested, a one side bickering that isn't amusing because she is annoyed and a man, who apparently isn't interested in romance, suddenly in love with a girl over a badge photo. The chemistry doesn't build itself. It needs presentation.
[ The Plot Convenience ]
I wrote it in the comment of this review AND in the general comment section because it contains HEAVY spoilers. It hard to talk about plot convenience (and plot holes) without pointing out WHICH one were they. If you didn't watch this drama, I wouldn't recommend reading it. It won't make sense, trust me.
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Why was this given the green light?
Why did the actors agree to this project?
Why does the screenwriter keep getting work?
There really are no words to describe how bad this drama is regardless of how hard it tries to portray itself as a good one. Again I was suckered into watching this as the hype for it became to much and I succumbed to peer pressure. Every imaginable troupe that you can think of is in this drama: tough fl, sweet ml, product placement, sml secretly in love with the fl, evil character that wants to kill main character, product placement, beautiful scenery and did I mention the product placement?
The actual dialogue the mains would have with each other is the most contrived dribble I have EVER come across in a drama... EVER! It's so pretentious and full of itself that I couldn't help but just roll my eyes every time they were on screen; I fear I would have major eye damage towards the end.
Lee Min Ho- has never been a favorite actor of mine. I've seen several of his dramas and dude is just not a great actor... but he's really handsome so he has that going for him. Kim Go Eun- she's hit or miss for me; sometimes she pretty good (Monster) and sometimes she's really bad (Goblin) and this was a miss. Woo Do Hwan- I really don't need to say anything about the kid- he's PHENOMENAL in everything he does even when the script is crap- like how does he do it?! It's pretty safe to say the writing for this is straight up atrocious- like absolutely no logic at all. Any and everything you thought you knew was just thrown out the window.
If you've read this far then you should know that I do NOT recommend this drama, but if you're a glutton for punishment- go for it.
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This review may contain spoilers
I watched this one as it came out, and as a result I was disappointed for a lot longer than I needed to be. However with this I hope others don't need to be, and that those who will truly enjoy this drama find it well. NOTE: I added a whole star to the overall simply for the first ep which was really well done. And spoilers are general rather than being about specific scenes/plot points.
WHO THIS DRAMA IS FOR:
1. People who'd watch anything as long as Woo Do Hwan is in it
2. People who are all about aesthetics. Not just the actors/actresses, but also the costume design and scene comp is so pleasing to the eye.
3. People who have no issue with overused tropes, predictable plot twists, and romance that takes up half of each ep.
STORY ~ 3
This one had a strong enough premise, but starts to fall to apart at the end of the first ep. The first ep had the ideals for everything in this drama. The pacing was good, the characters distinct and somewhat likable, the dialogue told more while saying less. Starting from the end of ep 1 that attention to detail drops, only reaching such lvls of quality once in a blue moon. Many plot points were utter wastes of time as they didn't lead anywhere.
This drama also masquerades as Sci-fi when the writer clearly wanted it to be fantasy, using her usual deus ex machina to fix every.
ACTING/CAST ~ 3.5
--Screen time wasted on shallow characters, and star cast wasted because of bad writing. Protagonists win for reasons, and the antagonists look menacing on the outside but don't accomplish a single thing.--
Main leads: while the main male character was consistent he lacked depth, and while the main female character seemed to have depth with other characters, all of that went away when in the presence of the ML (AKA half the show). As for the acting, it's LMH as usual meaning you'll either hate him or love him (AKA he still hasn't learned how to act). Kim Go Eun gave a solid performance, but with how badly her character is written it's hard to distinguish if her cruddy scenes are due to inconsistent abilities or writing/direction.
WDH/Jo Yeong and Eun Sup: both characters are likable and have much more to them than many of the others. Also with a stellar performance from WDH it's easy to find habits, movements, and speech patterns (not just accent) held by one or the other.
Kim Kyung Nam/Kang Shin Jae: Thought he was gonna be a typical a**hole 2nd lead who was bitter from years of pining after 1st lead, however I'm happy to say that wasn't the case! In fact he easily stole the show for me. As much as I adore Eun Seop and Yeong, neither of WDH's characters had half the depth as Shin Jae's character did. He is such a well written character and he has the only satisfying character arc in this entire show. Kim Kyung Nam's portrayal of him was awe inspiring, really adding to the character.
Antagonists: The antagonists get a 1 star in total for the actors being great, however the two main antagonists accomplished nothing throughout the show.
Ensemble: There were some fun characters in the ensemble cast, however they were still under explored and some characters left me wondering why they were included if they didn't ever further the plot or have their own agency.
MUSIC ~ 3
I've heard it's got a great OST, but considering I can't remember a single word, nor any tune other then the opening one I can't rate this section any higher.
REWATCH VALUE ~ 3
Only worth it for specific scenes or if you can't sleep until you've figure out what the hell is going on.
TL:DR
Great premise but badly written. Great cast (for the most part) but numerous useless characters. A soundtrack that works but might not make you feel anything.
If y'all want specific examples or spoils lemme know and I'll spoiler tag them in the comments.
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When sci-fi leads to a mess
TKEM is a title that has undergone the exact same fate as Hotel del Luna. The drama has been hyped and declared a possible masterpiece even before airing, due to the combination of cast-screenwriter plus romance-fantasy. But as HDL, the plot didn't live up to the hype.The author wanted to propose an ambitious sci-fi fantasy that tells us the story of two parallel worlds, where each member of the cast has a double role and is involved in a "save-conquer two world plot-line". The main concept may be brilliant, but the script is not well written and definitely it is badly executed (editing and direction).
The author was unable to manage the amount of information she wanted to offer, failing on multiple fronts. Between plot holes, errors on space-time theories, which casually favor the hero while disadvantaging the villain, bad characterization of characters and useless characters who steal precious screen time, penalizing both the main plot and the main couple, who also lack chemistry due to a hasty and forced romance.
The director wanted to tell the story in a non-linear way, jumping between sub-plot, often using flashbacks. All this has unnecessarily complicated a plot that was already complex of his own due to the number of characters and plot-line, plus the space-time theory, and two different worlds that looked almost the same.
Add the bad CGI, an OST that lack of impact, the controversy over product placement and japan style building and what positive aspects are left? The great cast, some acting, the scenography & costume. Definitely not enough to save a drama. Overall TKEM is an ambitious project with great potential, which unfortunately has turned into a giant mess because both the author and the director wanted to overdo it.
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This review may contain spoilers
A story of tangled loose ends
The glaring ads didn't bother me. The cringey prince-charming-saving-Cinderella-in-a white horse-holding-a-sword-while-the-enemies-are holding-guns made me cringe too, but did not daunt me. I gave this series a chance after another, but the unrealistically happy ending was the final straw. I think a sad and tragic ending would have made more sense.After all the mess that the broken flute had caused, I thought LG would come to realize that the previous kings had good reasons for not playing God. Gon could have tried to do what’s right and seal the road to parallel worlds forever by leaving the flute in the baloon dimension, making sure no one can abuse its power down the line again. He could have decided to do that after finding Tae-Eul and fulfilling his last promise. Sure, he would be left heartbroken, but he would be making a decision bigger than himself or his royal family woes, and that would have been an amazing character redemption, no? Because in the end, if he doesn't choose what's best for eternity's sake, then his focus on killing his uncle and getting the flute would be nothing but a personal vendetta which would have made him somewhat of a narrow character with nada development.
Unfortunately, that's exactly what he has become. In the end, he chose to use the flute for his own selfish reasons, even if that reason is love, ignoring the fact that him and Tae-Eul couldn’t live like teens on a road trip forever, what with him being a king with the responsibility of sustaining the royal lineage by finding a queen in his world who could provide him with an heir.
Holding on to that note, here’s another flaw: if the children have the same parents in RoK and KoC, it goes to say that the worlds have ‘mirror’ couples too. Therefore, the hint that Luna and Hyeon-min could end up together while LG and Tae-eul are gallivanting through dimensions is breaking the series’ own set of rules.
In an alternate ending, I’m imagining Tae-Eul wandering the streets where she met LG for the first time, still teary-eyed and wistful, when a grown Ji-hun walks by. Only this time, she dropped her ID that she was holding as she was intently staring at his face, and Ji-Hun stopped to pick it up, looking at it first and then her face, before saying her name out loud and returning it to her with a smile…. While in Corea, Gon’s life is again in trouble due to some terrorists or another coup. Yeong was busy protecting him from the front, when a bullet was shot from behind. Luckily, a police officer shielded him from this bullet, who turns out to be Luna. If you think about it, Gon's obsession with Tae-Eul started with the thought that she had something to do with saving his child self. In a fixed timeline, Luna was actually the one meant to save him, and Ji-hun was the one meant to pick up Tae-Eul's ID.
All along, Tae-Eul is apparently fated to meet Ji-hun in her world, and Lee Gon to Luna. LG and Tae-Eul’s meeting was a result of the the strings getting tangled and mixed up, so when the flute got fixed, so does their fate and timeline. Finally tying the loose ends. Not a happy ending, but way more realistic and would make the title "Eternal monarch" more befitting.
Needless to say, I am sorely disappointed in the loose ends and lack of character development that I have created in my mind a more sensible ending while watching. They set a lot of rules, yet in the end, they fail to abide by the rules. And that, for me, is the most annoying of all.
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As the most anticipated drama of the year, this one disappoints BIG TIME!
Story: Writer probably thinks when you throw scientific BS in the story, it'd make the drama looks like highly intellectual. Parallel universe, doppelganger, time travel, mathematical computations/formulas thrown as part of a story, is a brilliant idea ONLY if you know what you are doing, if not leave it to the experts. Writer thinks she can get away with it, but she made a big mess and doesn't know how to solve it! Those people who think this is a masterpiece is either a LMH or writer's die hard fans.
Acting casts: Thank goodness to Maximus, WDH's character and SJ. The villains are just decorations, PPL appeared more than them. Writer probably lose interest and just throw some fillers and whatever she thinks will work with the fanatics. I am not even a WDH fan but he stands out in this drama, totally overshadowed the ML. The 3 stars is for WDH, KKN and Maximus.
Music: Good thing, I liked 2 of the OST's, if not I would give this 1 star!
Rewatch value: Probably just watch WDH's scenes OR maybe just go to youtube and look for clips instead. Not gonna waste my time fast forwarding a lot of awful and cringey scenes.
Overall, this drama is for the fangirls only, nothing more nothing less.
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WOO DOHWAN
the star of the show is easily woo dohwan. only his character was done some level of justice, his acting and his chemistry and bromance with himself is honestly the only thing keeping me through the episodes. everything else is just below par and not enjoyable. i don't know whats happening, and at ep 14 I've given up all hope at understanding the plot/characters/etc. i had so many hopes for this, but the under-done plot and absolute zero development of the characters and overdone romance is just. ew. I was actually jo yeong whenever something romanc-y happened, and this is coming from someone who LOVES romcoms and romances. i wish i knew what went wrong with the script and the plot for it to turn out this way. the romance is too much and too bland, like one second she absolutely hates him and as soon as she finds out hes a king shes suddenly in love with him??? what??? i dont understand the magic of the worlds, or the science of them and no effort has been made to try and make m e understand. we started out solving a mystery, a case but that is lost now?the characters are so bland. they know nothing about each other and neither do we??? lee gon is justa king with a pasion for math, and a weird obsession with tae eul, and what? the two dimensionality is ridiculous. jang tae eul is just a rude, unlikeable cop and i just ont understand what makes her that great and no one has even tried making her great?? prime minister koo could have been such a powerful, strong female lead but she was only dislikable. not the good kind either.
the only saving grace is jo yeong/jo eun sub. id give my life for these two, absolute cuties.
i absolutely love all the actors, and theyre what made me watch this in the first place. but this was just not it. not worth it at ALL (except ya kno, dohwan. he won)
the good thing about this was the production. a+. beautifully shot and post produced, loved it. the rest however just isnt worth it.
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I guess a lot of people simply give a good score based on star power alone.
The story mostly revolves around a king who is able to travel to a parallel world with the help of a flute that is passed down in the royal family and his close companions. The flute opens a portal that connects to 2 different versions of Korea in two different worlds.
Just like in most other works there is a villain and a heroine. Over the course of 16 episodes, the main character takes care of his business with the villain and the series ends with the main character and heroine hand in hand. Now, this is a tested and proven formula. This type of unfolding of a story is still enjoyed by billions of people including myself even though this same setup has been used 1000's of times. So even though the formula is good the way they put together this formula in this series is utterly mediocre and very forgettable.
The setup has a lot of potential but I think in the end they flushed it down the toilet.
The Story -- I couldn't care less even before halfway through. The series seriously failed to engage me mentally and emotionally. I only finished the entire thing because I hoped that they would turn it around but no. Towards the end, I was watching at 2x speed.
Acting -- The main character felt one dimensional and boring to be honest. the acting was bad and the character itself felt stagnant for the most part. The female lead was good at her role but it is wasted in this crappy drama ( I'm giving a 5 for acting only because of the heroine ). Then there is this other character that is the heroine's long time friend and her work colleague. His character and expressions in the role were so bad and always had that lonely and pitiful look that I wanted to punch him a few times ( No offense to the actor ).
Rewatch Value -- Gonna stay as far away as possible. Don't wanna waste my time re-watching a terrible drama.
Good Things I Can Say About This Drama -- The first few episodes were barely ok. That's about it...
My Thoughts After Watching This -- Why the heck did I complete watching this..... (LOL). On a more serious note and to those that concern, please don't make drama that revolves around the star power and fandom of the actors off-screen...... We get it, they are popular and so you want long shots of their faces, dramatic slow-motion scenes that may not be relevant when you look at the story or the events in the story (Not all the people who watch this are fanboys/fangirls of the actors)....... Instead, focus on creating a solid story and a setting, and the main characters with good character development that drive the story forward ( This is what made these actors the stars they are in the first place ). This is the thing that is going to make the majority of viewers connect with the show on a mental and emotional level and will make the show a success......
This one is a miss guys and gals... Don't waste your time on it... You can thank me later :)... Peace Out Guys I'm done talking.
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A drama that set out to show off to its viewers but ultimately failed to live up to its own hype.
That's the sense I got from the beginning of this show, it felt big headed and self satisfied, "please watch me, I'm so clever" Not.This show tried its best to dazzle us with the mystery regarding how time can be manipulated and with mathematical wizardry, but unfortunately as the story progressed all of this clever potential was discarded by the wayside and all we ended up with was very poor pacing and inconsistent storytelling.
I consider myself to be adequately well versed in things like music, literature, world events, art, philosophy etc; so as a viewer I really welcome it when a writer presents an unusual and unique story, and I'm quite able to keep up with the events the writer is unfolding. But in this drama I was constantly scratching my head wondering 'what's going on now?" "did I miss something ?" "wait a minute who's that?" all to culminate in this weak ending that rendered all the confusion null, mainly because the huge amount of characters that were introduced came to nothing, were never fleshed out and their stories were minimised towards the end.
This drama took its viewers for granted mainly because the majority of people already loved it even before it began. There was a great willingness on the part of the viewers to forgive some flaws and go with the flow, but I think that the flaws in this show are unforgivable, for example the show has very poor structure and the chronology is all over the place ( I know this is supposed to be explained by the time travel/parallel universe premise) the story is all over the place, literally; As a viewer I was often plunged into scenes without a clue as to the context, thus the head scratching.
In my personal opinion, my real time experience watching this was not enjoyable because as I watched it episode by episode I never got to the point of enjoyment because I was always searching for clues to help me understand the story better.
The acting mention I can give here is for Woo Do Hwan, his scenes are always engaging and he has a depth of delivery that is impressive. I also like Lee Min Ho, he's not a bad actor but in this show, the intention was to make him look cool rather than to act well. Kim Go Eun is the kind of actress that will act according to the quality of her leading man and supporting cast, and I think she failed to shine here; I was also not impressed with how she was written, from a strong, confident police lieutenant to a weak, weeping, lost in love damsel, it was truly awful.
Prime Minister was atrociously written, I can tell she's a good actress but really Jung Eun Chae had no chance with the cards she was dealt in this script, It's a role she should have refused to play; her character's descent into the typical jealous, mean and spiteful spurned woman was so disappointing, because this was a role with so much potential.
Lee Jung Jin as Uncle Yi Rim was a waste of a good actor, he was so badly written with weak motivation and back story, it was sad to see.
Kim Kyung Nam had depth as Shin Jae, but ultimately it all amounted to very little.
This show had flashes of brilliance, the concept is intriguing, unfortunately it was handled poorly.
The rating I've given is mainly for the production value, the cinematography and the few flashes of brilliance, oh and Prime Minister's wardrobe.
I understand the OST is good, but I actually never became too familiar with the songs except for the one by Gummy. The music was not used consistently so that's another lost opportunity to build poignancy because music plays a big part in that.
That's all I have to say, sorry but no.
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Amazing
What an amazing drama. Honestly, what can I say that's bad about it? Nothing. It was completely new and like nothing I've seen before. It was really different and fantastastical. It had romance, humour, fight scenes, and fantasy elements. All in all, it was just a really great drama. I loved it a lot and the ending was perfect and made sure everyone got their happy ending. I would for sure rewatch it and recommend it to anyone. Don't let the bad reviews get to you and stop you from watching because we all have different tastes and to those who are up for trying it out, I would definitely back you up! Good luck and enjoy.Was this review helpful to you?
After the first 4 episodes I had a blank mind, couldn't say if I liked or disliked the drama. I didn't feel bored, nor excited.
It's the same after I completed it, just that my head is now full of thoughts about all the questions that were left unanswered. I won't go into detail but if you like your drama end to tie all loose ends, look elsewhere because the writer left us with lots of empty room for interpretation.
What's positive about the story is the setting and the idea itself. I found it interesting and still think it could make a good drama. Sadly, as the drama kept going it only got more confusing. There were some moments when I wasn't sure if I missed something or the scriptwriter herself got more and more confused with all this traveling between worlds.
It might have been better to keep it more simple but that's not how it is. And yes I have to admit there are some filler scenes that we could do without and plot holes throughout the drama. But just as much plot holes there are product placements which personally I find just as distracting and annoying.
Bottles with coffee, chicken, food delivery service, beauty products, bakeries, car brands and more. The most annoying for me was the coffee and beauty stuff. More than once it looked like I had accidentally turned the teleshopping channel on. No joke. We even get praising lines with this products telling us how good it tastes or an explanation how to use the beauty product. This might be allowed but it's definitely not what I want to see in a drama. Sponsoring is okay and important, I get it, but please don't shove those products in our faces like that and mess up the flow and logic of the story with them. There were nice scenes that lost its meaning when another product popped up and stole the attention. There are way more subtle ways to do this...
The whole cast did a great job and the acting was really good. If anything I would blame the scriptwriter that made the female lead cry so often and not the actress for having to follow the script. It was my first drama with Kim Go Eun and Lee Min Ho and I liked them both a lot. Woo Do Hwan was the only one I knew from the cast/who was already among my favorites before this drama and he once again showed how good he can portray different personality types. I enjoyed every scene with him the most. I would wish for more scenes with him and Kim Yong Ji who also left a good impression. ^^ I liked the acting of Jung Eun Chae and Lee Jung Jin. Sadly their characters kept staying pretty much in the dark.
The OST is good, probably not going to be a favorite of mine but it's fitting the scenes of the drama and also nice to listen to on it's own.
As for the rewatch value. Chances I'm gonna rewatch this drama are pretty slim. Maybe a few scenes, mostly from the first couple of episodes when the traveling still caused funny scenes and didn't turn into a who's who.
I recommend everyone to go and see for themselves if this drama is to their liking or not. As I said, it received a lot of hate and I think not all of it was fair and appropriate so go and decide for yourself. Maybe this is your next favorite?
For me it was decent despite flaws in the writing and how the story progressed. I don't regret watching it.
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