The King: Eternal Monarch (2020)

First of all this tv series is not for everyone. It tackles parallel universe and time travel and that in itself can get confusing more so if you're the type of viewer that doesn't really focus on watching or you like to do other things while viewing.
I personally like this series mind you I had low expectations because of the reviews that I have read however I watched episode 1 to 9 from morning to night and I was surprise that it got me hooked. I finished the whole series in 2 days and I was on edge the whole time because I just couldn't predict what would happen or how the character would react to difficult moments.

If you want to watch this because of the romantic LMH that you have seen in other series don't expect that here. There are some very romantic scenes but not a lot. Its not your typical romcom. I like the way he expresses love here though it's more realistic lets say compared to his character in The Heirs or BOF. When I watched those shows I always say no such guy exists.
Main comment is Its a complicated tv series even the flow of the scene is not typical. It starts one scene and very subtly ends that scene and you will think that was it. However in the next episode it will show an in-depth view of the scene. This is where I would say a lot of people think it was messy. For me doing it that way gave me that "ahhh" or "gotcha" moment while watching the next ep. Had the director and writer done it the usual way of doing the whole scene in and then a cliffhanger could have change the viewers perception. I like the way they did it but its not everyone's cup of tea. Reminds me of the movie Inception wherein there were so many layers to the scene.

What I like about it was almost every episode there is a "twists" and that got me. Acting was superb, I think they all did a brilliant job I was crying in a lot of scenes but the best actor was the 2nd male lead. He showed a wider variety of characterisation.
What I didn't like -- the ending - i wasn't happy with that "compromise" but that's just me (can't say much w/out spoiling).. Secondly like any other time travel/parallel universe movie there will always be loopholes look at Avengers for instance.

So many negative comments about the sponsored ad have you seen Goblin and other TVN shows they have heaps of them especially with subway brand. This is how tv shows make money and almost every hollywood film does this too so I wasn't very bothered with it. I have seen more blatant advertising

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This drama had potential to be good considering its parallel universe plot line featuring doppelgangers. It became quiet clear however that all that potential was thrown out the window as the drama focused heavily on a forced love line between the Prince and Lieutenant. The Prince barely knows anything about the Lieutenant, other than her badge, and is obsessively in love with her already, wanting to make her his 'Queen' right from the very start of the drama. The Lieutenant bares this oddity of affection and due to the solid acting skills of Kim Go Eun, makes you think she loves him back. I must say, Lee Min Ho truly drags this drama down with his lack of acting ability and the story being too focused on him. All of his lines sound the same and are delivered in a manner that is cringe-y or as bland as if he was reading off a sheet of paper.

As you progress on in the "story", it becomes a jarring game of hot potato between dealing with the main villain [Uncle Baddie] of the story and the romance with the shots happening either too quickly or too slowly and then BAAMM suddenly, we get romantic moments between our leads confessing their love ever-so desperately. This is a heavy handed attempt to make things thrilling without offering any development or consequences. The side characters with enveloping stories that interact with defeating our big uncle baddie are constantly placed on the back burner or simply not given the proper time to develop. The ideas for product placement has more intended use throughout the drama then the actual plot lines which only deepens the disappointment of this drama.

The timeline in this drama is a complex layer of complete garbage that neither makes sense nor can be resolved to any full effect. The drama was clearly not properly thought out and it shows with how chaotic episode 12-16 episodes are. It serves up unwarranted fan service over quality story and characters. The characters themselves are either too flat to be brought to life or stand on their own due to the poor quality of the script.

Woo Do Hwan's Jo Eun Sub / Jo Young, Kim Kyung Nam'sGang Shin, and Jung Eun Chae's Jae Goo Seo Ryung / Goo Eun Ah characters are scene stealers and make the drama more bearable but aren't necessary outstanding in their own right just by lack of competition. Woo Do Hwan has straight up WON the heart of so many MDL'ers and has been meme'd endlessly, which can be the only true accomplishment this show has achieved.

Finally, the saving grace of this drama is that it is dressed well in terms of cinematography and costume design. With a budget so high, it is hard NOT to be dressed well. It's money, however, could've been spent better. This is truly the type of drama that once you finish it, if it disappeared from your life the very next day, you wouldn't be losing out on anything.

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THE BEST TIME TRAVEL/PARALLEL WORLD DRAMA I HAVE EVER WATCHED! AT LEAST FOR MY KDRAMA ASS!

I have never written a review before so ignore all the grammatical mistakes and typos you may come across. It's my first time writing a review and this masterpiece literally pushed me to write one! <3

Okay, i have come across many reviews and read them almost all were critical so yeah i don't mind. Every one has their opinion based on their taste and preferences alright? But many were almost negative and like giving a major NO NO vibes that honestly manipulated me to ditch this drama whenever i thought of starting it.
But,
Again as i have said earlier everyone has their own penchant so i made up my mind to give this piece of work a chance. An honest one as it's LMH we are talking about and he NEVER ditches me.
So i gave it a shot!
And AIGOOO I REGRET NOT WATCHING IT EARLIER. IT WAS A FUCKING MASTERPIECE AND A SPECTACULAR PRODUCTION!
The cinematography, acting, wadrobe, music, storyline, editing and almost every freakin thing was on point and so good!
I appreciate every single member who was involved in making this a put together drama. Really all the actors did a perfect work.
I don't want to give away anything as i want you to all who are hesitating to watch this and have a mindblowing journey as i had while watching this drama. A great journey indeed. The experience was really a bliss for me.
I accept that plot is kinda complicated but everything unfolds gradually explaining every thing in a really amazing manner. I loved every part and never skipped a scene. The chemistry was there, bromance was there, action was there, a marvellous plot was there, even beautiful music and humour was there! What more do we need?
Don't overthink and i'm telling yall to give this an honest try. It's really worth it!

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Lee Min-Ho at his finest, doing what he does best

If you are a Lee Min-Ho fan and you love action, mystery and quality sword fights, this is the drama for you. I can watch this a million times and never get tired. The FL was super annoying until she finally fell in love and softened up.

Lee Min-Ho brought me there, I could watch him all day. But I can confirm that he and his masculinity did not disappoint. The other cast also did an impeccable job, especially the King’s sidekick, played by Woo Do-Hwan, who I would argue did the best, most complicated job at playing two COMPLETE opposite versions of himself.

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A lengthy review...

An over ambitious project from star scriptwriter KES, that buckles under the weight of it's own arrogance. This drama fails to respect the intelligence of it's viewers, by littering it with a minefield of plot holes, cliches, overwrought acting, and ineffective filler characters. In fact, one can't help but think that out of the hundreds of plot lines this drama attempts, if it had just focused on one, it would not have been as bad.

For a supposed modern drama, you would think that the writer would move away from emulating 1960's Disney shows, where characters were either morally black or white. But no, she chooses to portray the the Villain and Heroes in KTEM as either Extremely black, or Extremely White; there was nary a grey character to be spotted. And the few that were grey were rendered useless, as their characters morality are swiftly demolished in the latter episodes. The character in KTEM end up being very boring one dimensional character, lacking any depth, character, and complexity.

The writer does a poor job of showing neutrality in her writing as her bias for the hero character of LG is shown again and again versus the incompetent villain in LR. From episode 1, all the way to episode 16, we are bombarded with repetitive propaganda on the merits and accomplishments of the main lead LG. In fact almost all the scenes with LG and another character, whether hero or villain, exist to show us the viewers, how amazing LG is. This pervasive themes of omnipotency in the drama is a real turn off for me, as I cannot relate nor feel any sort of emotional attachment to such a privileged character, fiction or otherwise.

To be fair, the concept on paper sounds good. In fact many viewers may have already seen time travel, parallel worlds done properly in other shows, and thus were excited to see KTEM. KES
could have just used existing time travel/parallel world theories and put her own mark on it. But that isn't what happened. What we ended up with instead, is the case where a writer is trying to be too clever and failing miserably. What happens when you create and misuse so many plot devices? They slowly morph into glaring plot holes. The story employed ineffective plot twist, reset buttons, and retrograded many of it's time travel/parallel world theories as the foundation of the show. A foundation that was built shakily, and was easily decimated by the intelligent viewing population.

In fact, one can argue that the writer, in her hubris, made a drama so inexplicable, that she believes viewers who do not understand what is happening, will just immediately assume that the drama is too smart for them, and proclaim it a masterpiece. The problem here is that, even though KES did not bother doing any actual research on such a technical genre as science fiction, the smarter local/international audience, did. So the improper logic, false theories, and faulty scientific explanations, all just serve to further instigate a viewing audience, that is already reeling and cringing from a hyper unrealistic and bland romance.

Based on KES previous works, like DOTS, Goblin, and etc... Most fans know that in her dramas, romance is at it's core. Somehow, KTEM did not get the memo. Although the romantic scenes are plentiful, albeit forced, the show's insistence on inserting poorly researched time travel theories, for the sake of increasing the show's IQ, is very distracting from the already weak romance it is trying to build. So instead of attempting to build a proper romantic connection between the two main leads, the show instead waste a lot of time building a pantheon of side characters, who in the end serve no purpose to the plot, other than to make us laugh at the absurdity of it all. The moments between the ML and FL are suppose to be punctuated by a beautiful set design, production value, and mellow OST. But because of the ineffective buildup, much of the emotions you are suppose to feel, do not line up.

Themes, metaphors, and symbolism, all serve important roles in many literary works. But, instead of focusing on one central theme or motif for the entire shows, it appears KES has pulled in symbolism and metaphors from various literary works (Alice in Wonderland and Greek Mythology for example) and tried to forcefully insert it into the plot to give the show the appearance of depth. But just like with most of her writing in KTEM, these insertions serve no real purpose. They do not add a deeper understanding of the story, but rather exist to continually clash with each other, and further confuse it's audience.

Compared to most reviewers, I actually don't mind PPL, I understand it's importance in a show, and I often can easily ignore it. But the PPL in KTEM is a whole different beast. The PPL's in KTEM are so poorly timed, that they distract you, and forces you to shift your mindset away from the plot, and onto their sales pitch. There are even a few occasion where a PPL takes front row seats over a supposedly important scene. In fact BBQ Olive Chicken PPL may be the least obtuse of the all the PPL's on the show, and that is saying a lot.

The show attempts to emulate a "Memento" (US movie) type of editing, where the past is being shown in clips in future episodes. But what was so effective in "Memento", absolutely fails in KTEM as the editor/director spliced, and restructured the scenes in a very pointless way, that in the end you ask yourself, "What was the point of that scene?". The poor editing also made sure that any emotional impact of the show is never felt, because just as you are about to process an emotion, whether it is love, sadness, or anger, you are already being dragged to the next contrasting emotion. The drama would have benefited from less episodes, in fact it boggles my mind how they were able to stretch it out for so long. Oh wait, I remember now, they had so many slow mo romantic scenes that lasted at times 10-15 minutes in one take. And Since there is no emotional attachment early on, all these scenes really accomplishes is to make you feel as awkward as seeing two siblings making out.

The boring pace of the drama isn't helped by both Main Leads. As if LMH could not get blander, he somehow finds another lower notch in his acting belt. I don't even think LMH knows how he should be acting, and it shows. What we get is an incredibly haughty, emotionless, monotone speaking, narcissistic ML, who KES decide to make omnipotent. Compared to other more traditional actors, who don't rely on looks, LMH's stiff acting, emotionless voice, and lack of any facial muscles, makes his acting as tiring as watching paint dry. The only emotion that you feel watching him is emptiness.

KGE on the other hand, tries her best to illicit some chemistry from LMH, but you can only get so much water from a stone. I am biased against KGE, because I hated her in Goblin, and still remember her character from there as incredibly annoying. But I will take her nubile Goblin Bride over this hardened female police office, who WILL NOT stop crying about everything. But STILL, she does better in her role than LMH.

The only advantage I can see about the parallel world concept is that it allows the better actors in the drama to show their acting range. Best example of this being WDH. His portrayal of ES and JY is superb, you feel more chemistry between these two than the Main Couple. SJ, is another standout from the show, as you could not help but root for him to have a satisfactory ending given his hardship. KES does a satisfactory job of creating supporting characters that we can care about. But unfortunately, after these characters are created, the plot then proceeds to either place them in the meat grinder, or remove their screen presence completely. This is tragic, because if you get as far as episode ten, you will start to appreciate the backstory, life, and character development of the supporting actors more than the Main Lead, only to see all that emotional investment go to waste. I myself have been absolutely devastated with the way the writing has treated the PM, a strong, independent woman.

One last thing I would like to touch on. Almost every cliffhanger in the show, has been anti-climatic, the cliffhanger happens at the end of the show, or is a minor/major plot twist in the middle. As viewers, we are often fooled by these plot devices because we think that they are important pieces of the KTEM puzzle; more often than not though, the logic, and reasoning of these plot device fall short of our expectation, and viewers often end up feeling disappointed to see such buildup, explained away in one to two sentences. The show really does a great job of pushing you away from the edge of your seat.

Long story short, KTEM is essentially a below average drama that was dressed nicely with a high production budget and big stars. The only thing KTEM manages to accomplishes in it's 16 episode run is to constantly disappoint it's viewers each week.

Would not recommend this drama even if you are a fan of the LMH and KGE.

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Well laid out intriguing story line, pay attention From episode 1

Started this drama without much expectation of it being better than Goblin and i wasn't disappointed at all, its actally totally different and better, The story wasn't told the typical kdrama way, so a lot of patience is needed for unveiling its sci/fi plot plot hence its not predictive , also the romance in this drama isn't your regular girl runs foolishly after a boy for 75% of its episodes, no its pretty straight forward and matured and certainly realistic in line with the characterization of the leads, above all you will experience the most amazing chemistry ever seen in kdrama land with pure sincere romance , the story progressed with a chemistry jackpot as i have never ever seen two kdrama characters so comfortable with each other as the leads of this drama by episodes 15 .

Please do not drop this drama because of some silly unsubstantiated reviews from people who had already decided to review this drama negatively because their favorite actress wasn't paired with Lee Min ho and the fact that Lee min ho was going to become more popular than their favorite internationally , their backlash and anger started upon the news of the pairing and worsened when they were shocked at how well the two leads synced with each other as the episodes progressed, these outrageous people complained about everything plus typical product placements like the drama is supposed to fund itself and they are sorely dissapointed that despite their back lash the drama retained its spot and yet they didnt drop it,that tells you how amazing and addictive this drama is and of course it has retained number 1 position in so many countries on netflix and its been number 1 on wavee a streaming platform which like Netflix in south korea, people actually prefer to watch on this platforms than via the national tv called SBS so as to rewatch it again. This drama is the only drama that is now on number 6 most watched shows on netflix in the world, and its a drama in korean language, that speaks for itself.

Re watch value is 10/10 if you loved it once you will always go back to find more clues of what you may have missed.

The story is centered around a protagonist Lee min Ho a king in the Kingdom of Corea, who is trying to restore balance that his antagonist uncle disrupted by committing treason to steal a wooden flute that has mysterious powers, he was almost murdered on the night of the treason and he was saved by someone who left an ID card of a Lieutenant played by Kim Go eun , he held on to this ID for 25 years waiting to meet his savior only to find himself mysteriously led by the flute through a maze to Republic of Korea where he meets the woman who is supposed to be his savior and falls instantly for her and she thought he was nuts because he was rambling on about how he was a king.

The story progressed deeper as we understand in a time loop by episode 15 why the king had Tae eul ID card all his life and why she fell so fast for him and how their long distance relationship across parallel universe became a sad love story for them so they always have to live in the moment when they get to see each other, and Gosh their chemistry together is sizzling as their hugs and stares alone burns the screen not to talk of the beheading kiss, this is one drama that delivers real romance progression, from being shy and awkward and blushing to plenty of clingy skinship and you will certainly think you are watching real life romance oncsreen, there stares, tears an longing gazes will tug at your heart.

Waiting for the final episode this Friday and i sincerely hope everyone gets their happy ending because the millions of this fans of this drama are clearly going to revolt as i have never seen a drama where people are so heavily invested in as The King Eternal Monarch

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I really don't understand why people don't like it. The story is really good, a little complicated at first but after you try a bit more you start liking it a lot, and it doesn't take that long to understand. All actors were perfect they did a very very good job, the couple was really good and they did a great job. The production was amazing one of the best I have ever seen and the songs were really good. Honestly try watching this drama, and one little thing that you must understand is that you have 2 worlds. 1 is the korea that we know and the other world is were you still have a king but in the modern year, using their old costume on specif times.

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One of my favorites!

I know a lot of people don't love this drama, but I absolutely adore it! The OST is to die for, and it makes the drama 10 times better!! It can be a bit confusing, but everything gets cleared up later on. I wouldn't recommend it as a good first drama for anyone, it may be too confusing for people who are new to k-dramas and don't quite know how k-dramas run yet and because of that, it could give them the wrong impression about them.

Lee Minho's and Woo Do Hwan's bromance in this is literally the best! Also, the bromance between Jo Eun Sup and Jo Young! I live for bromance and this is everything. Definitely give it a shot! 1000/10 recommend!!

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The King: Eternal Monarch is about parallel worlds with one being the Empire of Korea and the other the Republic of Korea. The emperor (Lee Min Ho) of the Korean Empire teams up with a detective (Kim Go Eun) from the Republic of Korea to try and stop an evil man from gaining control of the kingdom and causing havoc in both worlds.
Lee Min Ho plays the emperor of Korea, Lee Gon. He was thrust into power when he was a child after his father was murdered during an attempted coup. Those events have haunted him as well as piqued his curiosity surrounding a mysterious person who saved him during that time.
Kim Go Eun is Jang Tae Eul who is a detective. Her reality gets shaken up when Lee Gon suddenly appears and she discovers he’s from a parallel world. As she works to help him stop a traitor from his world, she begins to fall in love.
Next is Woo Do Hwan in dual roles as Jo Young, the stoic right hand man and close friend of the king as well as the good-natured Jo Eun Sub in the Republic of Korea.
Then there is Kang Shin Jae (Kim Kyung Nam) as a conflicted man who works with Tae Eul. Next up we have Yi Rim (Lee Jung Jin), the man from the Korean Empire who attempted the coup and still seeks to gain power by traveling between the worlds.

The latest drama from hit writer Kim Eun Sook is The King: Eternal Monarch. As usual, there was a lot of anticipation for this one. I usually fare well with her dramas, and luckily, that was the case here.
The opening episode was strong with a good hook as we were introduced to the back story that sets everything in motion. The next few episodes move into more set up as we learn an interesting story of parallel worlds with one being the Korean Empire and the other the Republic of Korea. A bit of a mystery and a struggle for power is also introduced.

Then there’s the romance. Of course, love between worlds has the makings of a grand story. Lee Gon and Jang Tae Eul have a fun banter in the beginning that nicely progresses into a very dedicated and powerful relationship. Lee Gon is very regal with a matter-of-fact type personality. He’s kind but blunt and doesn’t hesitate to say what’s on his mind. I found this to me a mix of charming and bland. I definitely liked it when he relaxed a bit more and had fun. He never becomes super engaging, but I liked him more as the drama progressed because of how much he had to overcome and what a honorable and dedicated man he was.
Jang Tae Eul is also very straight forward. She’s a solid character with a bit of roughness around the edges. I enjoyed seeing her soften some as she grew closer to Lee Gon while also maintaining her strength and never-give-up attitude.

We also get a bit of a bromance here between Lee Gon and his right hand man Jo Young. Gon was more playful while Young was completely serious. It made their relationship fun to see. These two also completely trusted each other which was a great thing.
And be prepared for a serious villain here with Yi Rim (Lee Jung Jin). There’s not much to him other than the fact that we wants the throne, and he will stop at nothing to get it. He mostly works behind the scenes moving the pieces of his plans into place and appearing at key moments. He’s not the most thrilling of villains, but he does his thing and causes plenty of trouble for everyone.

There are a few things to be aware of concerning this drama. First, it really takes some paying attention to catch everything. Some parts of the story were a bit confusing because of how the information was presented. There are several times you may be left feeling a bit perplexed as to exactly why things happened a certain way.
This drama also has plot loopholes galore. Mixing in parallel worlds and time travel just opens things up for all sorts of problems. I think the show tried to do a bit too much as a whole. There were so many characters and plot lines mixed in with some iffy rules as to how the worlds worked. The story is grand, but in a very messy sort of way. I think this is definitely a case that you just have to role with it or you may end up very frustrated with how things play out.

So in the end, I had the exact same experience I do with all of Kim Eun Sook’s dramas. I always love the grand plots and world building with interesting stories to explore. I tend to find the humor on the dry side which is not my favorite, and the characters are very matter-of-fact at times. The finer details are a little rocky too.
The grand stories and high stakes romances tend to outweigh those things for me though. So with an interesting story, a big romance, a good writer, and solid production, The King: Eternal Monarch was a very entertaining watch.

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Not a background TV show

Overall I actually really enjoyed watching this drama, but I know a lot of people that didn't. I get that many people thought the storyline was messy and too complicated but that's why I enjoyed it as most kdramas I can guess basically the whole storyline from the first episode.
The acting is on point as expected from Lee Min Ho, Kim Go Eun and Woo Do Hwan and their characters are enjoyable to watch, especially Jo Young and Jo Eun Sub (both played by Woo Do Hwan) meeting each other.
The music from the drama is actually one of the best I have ever heard, the songs used are so good I listen to them a lot more compared to other drama OSTs.
The only reason I didn't give it a 10 for rewatch value is that I feel the mystery is what makes it worth the watch, if you know the ending I don't think it's as interesting and I can image it would feel like it drags on.
Overall I wouldn't suggest watching it if you're looking for something you don't need to focus on. I would definitely recommend this drama to my friends though.

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