The King: Eternal Monarch (2020)

It's not all that bad

Sometimes the reviews on here will have you believe that if you start watching a drama, hands will come out of the screen to choke you or something.

After reading the numerous negative reviews of this drama, I just had to see what this train wreck was all about and...it wasn't that much a disaster that I thought it will be.

I admit...it felt that between episode 10 and 11 there should have been another episode in between explaining what the HECK was going on, which threw the entire show...but I guess I've watch enough dramas to fill in the blanks not to be bothered by it much.

Also admitting, some OST's are so outstanding that they just stick out against non-emotional scenes. I found myself smirking numerous of times while beautiful music played against a scene that did not match the mood of the song.

Someone on here complained about the kiss scenes, and although I never really talk about these in my review, the complaint stood out so much it was hard not to notice the kisses between the main leads while watching this show. They were not all that bad...I've seen a million times worse...okay since you are curious on a scale of 1-10 I give the kisses a solid 6.

Now my major complaints
... from having a powerless villain...He was evil, but was really stupid in the long run...and to be honest, the actor was so good at playing such an evil character, I felt bad for him in this role.
...to having "so what" characters, like the prime minister, that really had no real role and took up too much screen time. And the little boy and his yo-yo, who should had more of a background to his story instead of a 5 second montage of nothing.

...I always give time travel and multiple universes a pass when story-telling because although it could be confusing and accepting things without question can be hard for some people...it all boils down to imagination.

So overall: I give this drama a solid 7, if you like your story tied up in a nice bow at the end...this may not be for you...you may be left scratching your head at the end, wondering...but, what about this??? What happened to this character???

Until my next review... I'll be watching another drama.

I'm out.

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Product Placement Show

When Netflix started promoted the Drama a month before on-air it normally to expect many things from them.
Especially, Male and Female leads are very famous among international fans.
After I watch first episode I still confused about the plot and theme of this drama but it's okay because it just started.
I try to give a chance many times but I cannot get along with it. Actually, the storyline was very strong but every scenes has so many PPL (for example, Bubble Tea, The Balm coming from nowhere, Kimchi, Lightening mask(?) etc..)
I known that this is Big Project and production team need a money for budget. BUT every scenes was TOO MUCH for me.
So I gave up to understand the drama and need to say goodbye to this show.
I hope the actors will choose another better project for them.

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Messy but enjoyable

It took me a while to get back to this series after watching the first episode. It failed to grab my attention so I moved on to other shows. I finally came back to it once I ran out of things to watch.

I did enjoy the show for the most part and the parallel universe concept, albeit clumsily done, was kinda cute. I thought most of the characters were done/acted fairly well except the king and the traitor. Both of them were wooden and emotionless throughout the show. I chalked it up as a character trait from being a part of the loyal family. I really loved the side characters, especially, the head court lady and the unbreakable sword/his other self. I loved their acting and roles they were given. Fantastic. I didn’t like the prime minister character. The acting didn’t seem genuine and she went from being ambitious to being evil big time fast. It’s one thing to play political games but conspiring with a traitor and letting her friends get killed…. Hmmm…. As for Tae Eul, her character development went from a strong female cop to a cry baby girlfriend. Hmmm….

I read a lot of complaints about the king being a super human, kingdom of corea being a super power and the lack of solid foundation for time travel/parallel universe concept. I do agree with most of what I read but it didn’t bother me much since this is a K-drama and they tend to dial things way up to the unrealistic realm. But once they introduce the time travel element, things started to get real messy fast. The show was already confusing because of the chaotic nature of the way they edited scenes from different universe. It was hard to follow along with how the king was able to travel in time and impart different memories to people without changing anything? If I learned anything from all those Marvel movies is that you can’t change the past because it’ll birth another timeline. ??? And the Kingdom of Corea smacking Japanese navy around. ??? It’s a wet dream for Koreans. I’m Korean and I found it stupid.

And the ending!!! The way everything and everyone was changed except the king, unbreakable sword and Tae Eul… pretty unbelievable but I guess I saw it coming. But how the writer chose to make sure everything turned out well except for the traitor and the prime minister… I feel like it was a cop-out which led to the absolute worst case scenario for the main characters. A long distance parallel universe relationship? What? This just doesn’t make sense in so many ways but that’s what happens when the writer doesn’t have a clear vision. I think she should’ve been more bold and given herself permission to not give every single person the “best ending”. Sigh…

I think the writer got drunk on her own past successes and figured that she could write anything and people will watch it. The word “Indulgence” comes to mind. After all, this series seemed to have a huge production budget and a stellar cast. I do remember Mr. Sunshine, one of her other works, getting real messy toward the end so I’m thinking the writer knows how to start good story threads but doesn’t know how to wrap them up. I see this in a lot of other K-dramas, too.

I’m hoping Netflix will start carrying Goblin. We shall see.

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Had great potential that wasn't met

When I first started watching The King: Eternal Monach I was very excited. There was an interesting plot revolving around 2 parallel universes; one pretty much like modern Korea and the other one based in modern Korea if they had kept their kingdom. The cinematography was top notch and there was also the very handsome Lee Minho and his handsome white horse. I thought it was going to be a ripper of a drama but a convoluted storyline really ruined The King: Eternal Monach.

Things i didn't like was that the once awsome kick ass cop FL ended up being a damsel in distress, the product placement was too much (in fact that's what this movie is best known for) and the series went longer than it should have. My Dad who never watched Kdramas started watching the King Eternal Monach because he really liked the sound of the storyline and the parallel universes but he gave up after 4 episodes.

I remember I liked the soundtrack.

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Disappointed does not begin to cover it

A major disappointment, especially because I have loved most of the writer’s other works. Story was rushed and nonsensical in parts; the chemistry between the two main leads was lackluster and their rushed love-story was off putting. Secondary characters (Jo Young/Eun Seom, Sin Jae, the PM) that were more interesting became wall decorations and their stories and characters were completely underdeveloped. The villain was entirely 1-dimensional even though he had the potential to be so much more interesting. And let me not get started on the stupidity that was the time-travel aspect. What even were the rules for that? This show was a major let down.

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The drama had good premise but somehow failed to really translate it for viewers. It tried to repeatedly create tension and add so many mysteries for many episodes but when the twist came, it was a little anti-climactic.

Also the drama should have capitalized more on KGE acting prowess. Although she sells the female police officer JTE well, the drama could have been more compelling had they focused as much on Luna character as well. As for LMH, as always he has a regal air which is just right for his kingly role. Sadly not much opportunity to show his acting range was given for the character.

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Indian review

Lee min ho’s first drama after his military must’ve kept your expectations high but watch the drama with no expectations for a good ride. The drama has almost no background music, if you care about bgm in what you watch then it’s going to be difficult for you to watch. Watch it for THE CAST, THE STORY and THE MUSIC. Watch the drama and love lee min ho and Kim go eun for their chemistry and themselves! Enjoy the drama in a binge watch session on Netflix or other sites like kissasian. Hope you’ll like the series and if you’re new to korean dramas then make sure you watch a wide variety without sticking to the same leads! Happy kdramas❤️

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My first complicated kdrama ever

I don't know where to start but this is not a drama one will understand with a one time watch.

Story:
This drama involves two parallel worlds, royalty, science fiction, doppelgangers and unexplainable mythical stuff (The flute /deity boy)
The first episodes are slow but tolerable , telling myself that I'm diving into a drama so I need character development and such. Things got out of hand when each character got a look alike (parallel worlds right? using the rule of Yin and Yang) and I had a hard time realising who got switched and to what world. The show doesn't tell what world the characters are in untill it shows either the palace or the Taekwondo center. I was coping up with space traveling between the same timeline but I didn't expect the writer to introduce time travel into the mix. This hurt my head given I was binge watching. So I had to pay extra attention when time travel was introduced, I didn't even have time to notice product advertisements as I was immersed in the story so that I don't get lost. Lee Gon going back in time several times at that, I was like "what the heck am I watching? " . It's not like time and space travelling were new to me but each time Lee Gon time travelled, they were implications, to which some I didn't understand. His arch enemy Lee Lim was a villain but I just didn't understand the motives behind his actions. Any way, if someone has time to rewatch or read recaps after each episode to better understand the story, I would advise one to do so.

Acting:
The acting was good. The actors brought the characters to life especially the guy who acted Jo Young and Eunseop. He's a versatile actor. I could visibly tell the difference between the two guys who had the same face.

Music :
The music was okay. I personally liked Orbit by Hwasa which played at the end of the first two or three episodes.

Rewatch value:
I would recommend it for better comprehension, ofcourse if one has the time, after all it's not a story where everything is laid out for the viewers to figure out.

Romance :
I have to point this out. I didn't like the romance between the leads. To me it was like forced and fast. It doesn't have a foundation as to why Lee Gon would love Tae Eul and him being a monarch and her being a Lieutenant who is not ready to sacrifice her life, career, friends,and family in a parallel world , I just didn't like their love story given that we had a mysterious story we had to rack our brains for. The show would have been better if they were more comrades fighting against a villain who is wrecking havoc between the two worlds than lovers who in the end didn't become a royal couple.

Overall:
If you are someone who wants to put your brain to work. This is a drama for you but if you want to be purely entertained, I wouldn't recommend The King eternal Monarch.

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I literally had high expectations for this drama. Reading the plot of the drama already gave me the vibe it'll be a bit confusing, however... I was expecting an impressive resolution for it especially for the other aspects of the drama but I didn't get any of it.

Let me start with the plot. I despite my low rating of the plot, I really thought that it was refreshing to have a drama that tackles parallel universes. However, I think that it was executed and written poorly. The drama focused on so many things at the same time and I think that I didn't have the time to immerse myself with the whole drama. I can say that the romance was really nice by the end, but I still couldn't feel any butterflies from the lead couple. I thought that it was too fast and thought that everything should've had more time. Even as an avid fan of Lee Min Ho, it's really not his best drama. I was so sad because I was rooting for more highlight or emphasis when it comes to the other characters of the drama because I saw that they literally had so much potential to develop. It was just so disappointing that most of the characters stagnant and the whole plot twist seemed obvious from the beginning.

When it comes to the cast and their acting, I thought that it was really good. Despite the bad writing, I really saw that the cast did their best in executing their characters. When it comes to the romance of the drama, I'm really glad that Lee Min Ho and Kim Go Eun didn't make the romance awkward by the end of the day, but as I said, their whole romance lacked so much backbone and it felt so rushed. I would really like to applaud for the other cast such as Woo Do Hwan, Kim Kyung Nam, Jung Eun Chae, and Lee Jung Jin. Despite the bad writing of the plot, they were still able to execute such lively characters that made me a lot more interested in them than the leads. Lee Jung Jin definitely gave off such a different and excellent vibe as the antagonist of the whole drama.

I think that the OST of the whole drama was alright. There are actually many songs that are good and I don't have much to say about it.

To summarize it all, I think that the whole drama tried to make an outcome of so many genres good, that it ended up lacking so many aspects that had to be emphasized such as the romance or the character development content of the other characters. I wouldn't mind seeing another drama wherein Kim Go Eun and Lee Min Ho as the pair because I definitely saw potential. However, despite the bad writing of the plot, the cast is GOLD. I just really hope that this drama wouldn't let the audience think that the cast is bad because they definitely did their part well. The drama had so much potential if the writing was done well and if everything was executed with an equal balance of the genres.

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Underwhelming relative to all the hype

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

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

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

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

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

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