A feel good romance!
King the Land follows the traditional troupe of classic contemporary romances involving a Chaebol and Candy leads but this drama gives it a new life and breath to the story by making the characters (all of them) well rounded, with background stories, and agency.Won is a great leading man. At first he comes across like any other chaebol character but quickly you realize he's nothing like it. He's confident, not cocky, has good manners and treats everything fair and square. Those who cross him had it coming tbh and even then he doesn't resent them for what they did. He simply puts them in their place.
Sarang comes from a working class family, and her parents passed away, but she never feels inferior to anyone and treats people with sincerity. She's also an independent, fun and lovely young woman who likes to go dancing with her friends, date and hanging out with her grandma. Sarang it's not, under any circumstances, the typical Candy heroine shouldering a hard, pitiful life. Sarang's life is full of color, warmth and joy.
Pyung Hwa, Da-eul, Ro-woon and Sang-sik complete the found family group of friends and they are equally enjoyable to watch. They all have strong, nuance personalities and have to deal with their own issues. They are not just background decoration for the leads to rely on when something happens.
The story is solid, angst free and really fun to watch. It's nothing new but, at the same time, the characters make it feel fresh. I particularly enjoyed the soundtrack, which I found to be perfectly placed at all the right moments. The cinematography it's also good, editing and directing wise there's no complains.
Overall, I recommend this drama to fans of rom-coms looking for a quality watch!
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So boring!
Is this really a 2023 drama? It's like one of those 70s productions on a budget! If you have time, it's something you can watch together with the kids and grannies, while cooking food on the stove too!The only nice thing to look at is the ML, who obviously has WAY MORE potential than he can display here. His acting range and expressive features dont benefit at all from this no-action drama... Nothing daring, nothing worth remembering. Plz give me a crazy lakorn instead of this!
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This review may contain spoilers
Such an unrealistic and frustrating kdrama
I absolutely love Lee Junho's acting ever since seeing him in Just Between Lovers (Rain or Shine), but even his acting couldn't save this show for me, especially since I didn't even love his acting in this lol Spoilers ahead, though not big ones...I just could not with the way they handled the relationships in this show. They constantly show the FL having birthday parties and I get that it will mean something later, but it just makes me feel like all she has is birthdays and her friends are just set pieces, there to throw her a party constantly and talk about her hard life, while getting ignored themselves. It just doesn't feel like a friendship to me.
Then there's the ML and FL together and I need more info about the smiles and his issues because this drama moves molasses slow. It could not keep me interested. I wanted to get to the good stuff, but there was just so much pointless drivel getting in the way of anything meaningful.
I dropped the show the moment I saw a scene that asked for way too much bending of reality. I could not handle it. This woman falls off a freaking mountain ledge and lands like 15 feet down. She should be hurting bad, but it seems like a minor thing. She'll have to stay out on the mountain all the night in the cold mountain air and get hypothermia, but that's no biggie. She dropped her phone, so she's stranded. This guy manages to find her with her phone gps or something, but she's on a mountain guys, a mountain. Not gonna be that accurate nor, easy to find just where she is, but he does so easily, at night, in the rain, from a helicopter. Has them drop him, then proceeds to just jump off the side of the mountain she fell off of and land just fine beside her like 15-20 feet down. What?! Makes no sense! Anyways, I'm ranting quite a lot, but I could not take the stupidity of that scene and simple dropped it right then and there.
No idea where it goes from there, but, up until then it was so boring and unrealistic and they gave me no reason to care about the leads. The ML became pretty weak and wimpy looking in there several times and that's not my style, so I guess I was doomed to dislike this one anyways. Oh well, here's hoping the next Junho show will be great and he'll have a chance to play a character with depth again
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Falling For The Boss
Review:Leads: Leads have chemistry maybe because of their collaborations over the years or that they both have always been entertainers. I also think they are the same age as well, which makes it even better.
Now, I can put them together in real life and not just as K-pop stars, actors, and etc. Just look up their performances from not long ago and I think one from almost a year ago. Credit-MBC World.
Actors: The support roles seem to have good stories going as well and they are not skip-worthy. One friend will experience new love. One friend is married to a bum. They all suffer at the hands of superiors or seniors at work. But, much later they will get their resolutions that will lead to their happy ending.
Story: This is a good story but I can say I am mainly here for the leads. It’s not the best story but it’s fair enough to continue.
It’s cute, funny, and adorable. The actors bring this story to life. Some stories could have C-list actors as leads but as long as the plot and execution were great, it would be a hit and the actors would become well-known. This is the polar opposite. It’s not the best story but the actors make it worthwhile. Hopefully, the later episodes change my views.
Added: This romcom is like any other romcom known to the audience that involves Kdrama writers. Let's not pretend that drastic changes in writing patterns are always welcomed. That could totally end up as a failure. Writers have tried time and time again to step out and experiment with their writing only to be told by the audience it sucks. I can’t blame them for being cautious.
Is there a family rival? Yes.
However the twist is in his mom’s death and that his half sister deemed her a nobody.
Is there a boss and subordinate relationship? Yes.
Is there a comparison with other Netflix dramas? NO. Well, aside from a hotel chain in my 19th Life, the buck stops there.
Is there a rich heir falling for someone of a lower class? Yes.
There will always be rivalry, antagonist, family drama and a couple falling in love Cinderella style in this style of writing. However, that’s why most of us love them. We don’t escape to entertainment involving romance to see harsh reality. We escape to be entertained and shift our hearts from the reality of the world. When you watch a horror do we say they always get killed and someone always murder the monster? No. We just watch the same style writing over and over because we enjoy it. There will always be an introduction, rising, climax, falling and resolution in writing. Those are the key components. Pride and Prejudice has the same style with the Cinderella falling in love with the rich heir but we love it just the same. Fifty shades of Grey had a rich heir. Memoirs of a Geisha had a rich man saving the damsel in distress sold off by her father to save the sick mother who passed anyway. We have seen it a thousand times but we love romance and understand.
JMO
Rewatch: I would watch again but as of now it wouldn’t be often.
OST: Seems fitting.
Elephant in the room:
South Korea has tried hard to pull away from those older production writing styles from decades ago. They are trying more modernized approaches and views for a global audience but it's sometimes a hit or miss. Episode 7-8 My takeaway was a spoiled rich kid who loved women and money. Half of the entertainment world portrays most of the rich in such a negative way. I will hand it to Koreans, you guys can laugh at yourselves and think that we all can and I wish that were the case.
I do appreciate that they are really trying to reach more audience members. If whatever country, race, or culture involved takes offense to something they deemed inappropriate, racist, or xenophobic, then they do have a right to that. Also I think Netflix has a streaming session for some of their movies, shows they create if not all. I’m sure it will be a learning experience for all involved.
Happy Viewing🫰🏾
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Formulaic Love Story that Falls Flat
This floated up to the top in the Netflix global rankings so it got my interest, I also have seen the ML in Red Sleeve which he exceled in his role. If you want a light romance comedy that pretty much sticks to the typical tried and true KDrama formula of rich handsome chaebol and commoner but special girl who catches chaebol's attention, then this is it. Nothing about it stood out for me, it was just tried and true recycled themes assembled together in a new KDrama.The ML is a rich chaebol heir who has a weird competitive relationship with his step mother and he hates fake smiles. Typical cold inaccessible chaebol KDrama male lead. The FL is innocent doe eyed multi-talented girl next door who gets hand picked for her job as a gym equipment butt sweat cleaner until she gets promoted to the hotel desk lobby and eventually by the side of Mr. Rich Hotel Chaebol. Their initial meeting is full of misunderstandings and for some reason she is sooooo NICE to everyone except him who she mixes up as a Pervert. The FL's personality not the actress herself isn't too interesting, she's just Nice.
I started to get bored by the fourth episode, they need to add some color and complexity to the characters and to the story line. Perhaps it might get better but don't think I will continue with this and will sit this out for later episodes.
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Good drama, but.....
I can see why this drama had mixed reviews. I'm enjoying it so far, but one thing I find frustrating is the class disparity in the workplace. The higher ups treat the subordinates as trash and give them Little respect. And this goes down the chain from the very top to the bottom. I was shocked when that head person drank up the coffee drink of the subordinate and then proceeded to do the same with the manager. And also made a snide remark about why she shouldn't be drinking it. I can see why the ML is frustrated by his half sister and the way she has little regard for the employees and everything is about making money. Even when the ML asks his father have you ever rescued just one person. And his father replied with something like people are preoccupied with making money as if to imply that making money takes priority over saving one individual's life. My question is does this really happen in Korea and is this drama based on reality in terms of how the workplace is run? Or is there is a bit of fiction here for drama's sake? At any rate, will continue watching it as I do like the two leads and I appreciate some of the side stories like the grandma.Was this review helpful to you?
Racism
All i need to say that any director or show who thinks they can make fun of us you are wrong , we are not a subject to make fun of and make such a controversial characters and scenes about us as a Muslim and an arab this is such an obvious offensive thing especially that it’s directed to Saudi people so my message try to fix your problem instead of trying to create one in our community and culture respect us and you will get respected don’t u ever try to represent us in such an offensive way if it ever happens to black peoples or anyone else you would apologize in such fast statement even if you didn’t mean it but with us you use our language and our culture in such time when you can just search up if it offends anyone and you still used it so mind it if it ever happened again we will take care of it for uWas this review helpful to you?
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Their chemistry
I wasn’t so sure if I wanted to watch this drama at first but I gave it a chance and definitely don’t regret it! The acting from both leads and supporting actors is so good. Junho and Yoona’s chemistry is literally phenomenal and ep8 definitely proved it. Their kiss was chef kiss 🤌 It wasn’t awkward like so many kisses in kdramas, if anything it was one of the best kiss scenes I’ve seen in a kdrama before. Each episode never fails to make laugh. One of my favorite scenes was with the cop who gave Guwon (Junho) relationship advice. I look forward for the next episodes to come, Saturday and Sunday please come already 😩‼️Was this review helpful to you?
Relaxing fun
Lets be honest...Lee Jun Ho is just adorable and one can just appreciate his handsomeness forever. The series is lighthearted and somehow uncomplicated which is a welcome reprieve from the highly intensive dramatic series that abound. So far at least. I am really looking forward to the rest of the series even if most of the actions are somehow predictable, but it is nice to wait for what you know may very well happen and then appreciate the moments right from the first second. If Lee Jun Ho look at me like he looks at his girl I will be lost!Was this review helpful to you?
just not for me
Since this show was really talked about and had really good reviews. People raved about the chemistry between the leads so I decided to tune it. However, it didn't keep me engaged, so i stopped watching it. I planned on giving this show another chance but then the racist and offensive part became news and i found out about it and just made me lose my interest. Huge fan of Junho but I'm not vibing with Yoona's acting. Love her but girly acting is just not for me. I just don't think this show will be my cup of tea, I've seen quite a few other clips but it was just not dragging me in.Was this review helpful to you?
I wouldn’t recommend this to anyone,
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def not for me
the first episode was unbearable to watch tbh. it was awkward as hell. they were trying to make some scenes comedic, but they failed because the comedy felt rather forced. remember the awkward silence during Cheon Sa Rang's interview? yeah, the silence was too long, i thought my wifi was acting up.the second episode was better than the first one, but i didn’t have any particular feelings about it.
beside the forced comedy, i don't like how our main leads always seemed to be "accidentally" in the same place at the same time.
- like them standing basically two meters away from each other at the hotel lobby AND THEN walking away at the same time just for the sake of the slow-mo effect.
- remember that time at the park, where they AGAIN were standing just a couple of meters away from each other looking at the beautiful city skyline. why THAT park? is there something special about the park? because you can see the city skyline from other places too.
- and then, there's this scene where they were standing on the balcony outside their hotel rooms. and guess what? they did it AT THE SAME TIME.
you see, that kind of thing is soooo outdated. i can tolerate if they do it once in a while, but not every episode.
as for the characters, i can't say anything because i only watched three episodes lol
sadly, this drama doesn't work for me.
but if you find this drama enjoyable, well i'm happy for you :)
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