This review may contain spoilers
VERY Long Fever Dream.
I'm so mad that I don't even want to write a full review at that...In the beginning during episodes 1-5, I enjoyed the show. I was confused a little bit but still enjoyed! But somewhere in the middle just ticked me off. Like... what the hell is even happening?!
The story is basically about time traveling at this point. The female lead sucks a bit, the male lead is way too nice. No personality after that. The second female lead is just annoying. Woo Do hwan's character was the only one I enjoyed. In fact, he's on my new favorite actors list.
What's even happening in the story?? I have so many questions! How did so many people time travel?? How did it even work?? Why is Luna even involved??
The romance. Oh. My. IT SUCKED! When did they fall in love?! Didn't Tae Eul literally not like Lee Gon the first few episodes?! When did they start dating!? Like. What?
OH! And DONT let me talk about the villain or villains if their were more but, they SUCKED. THEY WERE SOOO BAD! Where they even a main??
The acting was average. Nothing made me feel emotional. Expect for that one scene with both of Woo Do Hwan's characters.
OST reminds me of Goblin but just way worse? It was alright though, nothing that made me die in the inside. I actually enjoyed 1 or 2 soundtracks
I am NEVER, repeating again, NEVER watching this again! Unless I wanna, 1, cringe, 2, change my score 3, just watch for my 3 favorite actors again, or 4, just for memories.
Finishing this show was like a chore. I won't lie, the endings did make me hooked for more even though I skipped basically 80% of the show.
This show is whole damn fever dream. it's like taking Benadryl one day and you dreamed about this. Then woke up and said "what the hell was that?"
Anyway, this show tried to be Goblin a bit, it failed. I don't recommend but if you are THAT much of a fan of any of the mains, check it out. Not even Lee Min Ho, Kim Go Eun or Woo Do Hwan could save this show.
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The Power of Lee Min Ho
To be honest, among all K-dramas I've watched, this one is very hard to describe. Took me weeks after finished watching to embrace myself writing my review here. And I decided not to read other's opinions, good or bad, on this since I believe they will affect my objectivity. I want to be very honest pouring out my review about The King: Eternal Monarch.1. The Power of Lee Min Hoo
I don't see myself as LMH's die-hard fan who's passionately waiting his comeback after discharge for military service. Since I started watching K-dramas, LMH is, sadly, not on my most favorite actor list though. But for real, I can see clearly that LMH is one of few actors who has such a strong aura. His persona is out of this world and this I believe becomes the reason why he always gets those rich man or prince roles. Specifically talking about The King: Eternal Monarch, I can tell that Lee Min Hoo is the strongest X factor this drama is a bomb.
2. Ads are crazy
I've never seen a drama with too many ads before. Like, the product placements are everywhere! But don't get me wrong. I'm totally okay to that. The ads are beautifully capsulating through the drama so it doesn't bother me too much.
3. This drama is not for everyone
This kind of story is not for everyone, like for real. If you're into science fiction-thingy, this one is for you. But to me, this one is watchable and I really enjoyed my time watching this back then. I didn't find TKEM is hard and very complicated to watch like most people are saying. I remember, I cried so hard on the last 3 episodes. Some scenes are very touching and I praise all the casts for their excellencies.
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This drama deals with parallel universes and anything related to it. Whatever knowledge you have regarding this, forget it; it's much better keeping your mind open on the rules of parallel universes because the whole drama has rules of its own. It would be easier to understand everything if you don't try to overanalyze how things happen.
Now let's talk about why The King: Eternal Monarch was a decent drama despite all the shortcomings:
-The cast is nothing short of amazing. On the surface, just the thought of Lee Min Ho and Kim Go Eun is amazing in itself; they are definitely stars, albeit Woo Do Hwan was personally my favorite in this drama.
-Woo Do Hwan: He deserves all the love in the world. His acting versatility was somewhat showed through this drama and his role itself was just the best.
-The visuals of this drama are amazing! This is to be expected from a high production cost drama.
-There were a lot of nice scenes in this drama and I loved all of them, but the underlying problem comes from the overall combination of all these scenes and how they mesh.
If you were expecting some kind of bubbly, full of heart-fluttering moments kind of drama, this isn't it. The romance was fairly nice, despite the speed of it all, but it isn't the main interest point of this drama. What makes this drama special is its complicated structure, which is parallel universes. It's very interesting but confusing at the same time; a double-edge sword. I rated the rewatch value 10/10 because this is the type of drama where you'd want to watch everything again to catch all the details. As I said, this drama could've been a lot better; if only they managed to write a more cohesive plot. Overall, this drama is interesting, and something new; certainly not the best but would still recommend.
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Starting the review on a sour note may not be the best of ideas however this will give you a better understanding of why I rated the drama so high (at least for the review). So going back to the review, when I rewatched it, (I wasn't looking forward to watching it) but when I did something just clicked. The show that was so hard and complicated to watch while it was airing finally made sense. It was just an enjoyable and fun show.
The show has several plot inconsistencies and many plot holes if you paid attention. Yet it's enjoyable and fun which is the main criteria for rating dramas. However, there are so many better directions this show could've gone and the duo roles were complicated and hard to know. While some were obvious solutions others weren't. I think the greatest flaw of this drama is the Parallel Worlds story itself.
The story is often too complicated and fails to capture audiences eyes until the second half. It's quite confusing and often irritating to watch. The science in the show is quite basic and didn't give a very complicated air to it. The writer bit off more than it could chew with the story. Thus causing certain parts of the story to look laughable. The story's main fault was definitely that it lacks focus and adds too many characters.
The acting wasn't flawless but rather satisfactory. LMH at first is unconvincing as a king yet in the latter episodes when they have to show a more ruthless side shows a charismatic performance. Do I think he was perfect in the role? No. However was he bad? Not really. He displayed his acting well and with this role showed some great performances. Yet like both the leads, he lacked in carrying this show as Lead.
KGE is also pretty good in this role. She delivers her performance well and even though this wasn't her best role it is still a good one. WDH is also good though lacks screentime however when he is there he captures the screen fully and to best of his abilities. He was also the only character who played a double role throughout and does it well. KKN is equally good though he gets even less screentime as we've seen KKN is a great actor and is wonderful in whatever he does.
LJJ is wonderful as a villain yet as many of these characters he also doesn't have enough screentime though he's the main villain. His story is interesting and can be expanded yet isn't like many of the characters. I firmly believe that the writing was more at fault than any other aspect of the show. As the messiness of the writing caused the drama to underperform (at least to what it was expected to get).
Now here's the main reason why this show is worth watching. It's fun. It's a very fun show to watch. I've been having a certain Kdrama drought but this show is really fun to watch. The story as stupid as it gets at points is enjoyable. The show overall is so fun when you binge it because it's more interesting to watch and its easier to put things together. Especially the second half pulls you in and I think if they utilised the action sequences and made the characters greyer the whole show would've done better.
These small solutions like reducing the main(ish) characters and making an overall more tight story the show could've easily been one of the best shows. I think the ending is really what made me happy. Especially how nicely tied everything is for how messy the story was. I think for me the ending was what made the story worthwhile the most yet there were other things.
In a short review of the story, it would go like:
TKEM is an enjoyable show with numerous plot inconsistencies yet is fun and worth watching. If you watch it while it airs the show is disappointing but if you're watching it casually the show is fun and engaging. Overall, I would recommend you to watch the show if you're looking for something enjoyable.
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This review may contain spoilers
I think people are being too harsh on this drama just because it was overhyped. The intricate storyline (that had me confused most of the time) was very entertaining and had me wondering what was going to happen next. Woo Do Hwan completely stole the show with his double role. However, the storyline did start to feel a little repetitive since whenever Lee Gon was gone, Tae Eul was sad and when he came back, she was crying because she got to see him again. The ending was a little unsatisfying for me though, just because are Tae Eul and Lee Gon going to just travel together the rest of their lives? Also, the way some things ended kind of didn't make sense and it seems they only ended it that way to tie up the loose ends. Was this review helpful to you?
This review may contain spoilers
I just completed The Eternal King Monarch and thought I would love this show because I really like the lead actress and the writer. I was never a big fan of Lee Min Ho, not even his looks but seeing him as a king and his prefect hair , I see his charms. I want his perfect hair. But one thing that annoyed me majorly was how they show that the king has no skill in shooting using the gun n that’s y he went to the navy to serve. And then there is one scene where he goes on a killing spree with his gun n killing everyone at one shot, even those who r standing far. (Insert “hands in the air” emoji”), plot hole or what ??
Other also had so many problems with this show too, with what it portrayed and stuff.
It’s not a show I would rewatch again but a show where I would watch some 30 seconds scenes again. I liked all the side actors, <3Eun Seop<3 in the show. I wonder how I would feel if I binged the show than watch each episode weekly, most likey keep fast forwarding as there are a lot of repetitive scenes.
The actors looked like they had great chemistry and shippers were going crazy, and of course I’m one of those shippers. But in the drama, u don’t see any moments which is really touching.
My fav part was how she falls in love with him after she realizes he’s a king, my kind of gal.:)) But again , not at all real for a drama n wouldn’t convince audience. I really couldn’t see their love, it was rushed. And her crying everytime she saw him, I couldn’t feel the emotions and relate.
And also in the end, Tae Eul who has all her memories dint care to even ask for her childhood buddy and wasn’t even curious about him? I guess the time traveling and the diamond coat buttons was enough for this justice seeker who lives to protect people.
And the ending is a long distance parallel universe dating relationship? Should I be happy with that ending ? How does that make sense? Until when will it last ? Shouldn’t a King settle down n produce a heir ? So bring her to his universe, when and how ? So many unanswered questions just like how 2020 has been.
Not so much character growth and the story is supposed to be confusing with parallel universe and such and had so much to explore and get in depth with it but was very lacking and fell flat in the end, there was no mystery to anything. And everyone knew how it would end. And I wouldn’t even look forward to watch this show every Friday and I would forget it as soon as I watched it. Really wanted more from the writer, she usually has such good stuff. Maybe I had too much expectations. And omg the product placements, the story was written around the products more!!! 2020 continues to disappoint.
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"the" drama of 2020? don't think so...
I still remember when this drama was announced and later a picture of Lee Min-ho in a horse was all over twitter driving everyone insane with theories. This drama caught my attention from that moment. The hype around it was really high. It had a famous screenwriter Kim Eun-sook, really known and loved actors ( Lee Min-ho, Kim Go-eun, and Woo-Do Hwan) and a story that was really interesting. I really enjoy dramas/movies with modern monarchies so I was set to like this drama. However, I think the expectations I had for this drama were way too high. So my take-out of this drama was:It had everything to be an amazing drama and had the potential to be the drama of the year but it wasn't half of what I expected. I have to say that I was and still am disappointed at the outcome of this drama.
The first episode started well but, as it advanced, we were introduced to too many characters really fast to the point that I didn't know who was who. To make things worse, we are presented to "same face/different people" type of characters and with no help to distinguish which universe we were watching (sometimes yes, you could see that it was the monarchy one or the other, but most of the time it was mostly me and my mom wondering where the characters were in certain scenes). This lack of a clear distinction between universes complicated the story so much to the point that it made it so hard to watch because you couldn't understand what was going on which was really sad because the story itself had so much potential. As the drama moved forward, you could start to distinguish the main characters and their respective universes but the doppelgangers (if you could call them that?!) of extra characters (like the restaurant guy, and the veterinarian in the palace) randomly presented in the drama began to annoy me.
A thing that most people talk about is the amount of publicity that was shown throughout the drama. I'll be honest, that was the least aspect that bothered me. If you watch other dramas, you'll see advertising of a lot of things. Sure, with this drama they went all out with publicity but that didn't bother me, not even a little bit. Instead what annoyed me was the lack of connection between the main characters. At the start, it was funny to see the interaction between tae-eul and yi gon. But there was no build-up of interaction that made me get attached to their romance. It was so plain and fast-paced that made it so boring. I acknowledge, there were certain scenes that definitely were worth it. But overall, two words that fit the romance between the characters are plain and non-memorable.
Alright, so I just vented out everything that I thought was bad in this drama. But this drama was not a complete and total disaster. And the one thing that made it worth watching this drama was Woo Do-hwan's acting and bromance with Lee Min-ho. Despite all the confusing scenes and boring romance, his scenes were hilarious, the interaction between his character and Lee Min-ho's character was really cute and his acting amazed me. playing two characters that were the complete opposite but that managed to interact so well. With this drama, he really showed what he could do and in my personal opinion, he was the highlight of this entire drama. I could spend the rest of the time just talking about him but I'll leave that for another time. I just have to say: Personally, if you ask me for one reason to watch this drama, it's Woo Do-hwan.
Overall, I think this drama had everything it needed to be a great one and from the moment that it was announced, everyone had its eyes in it. From a screenwriter that had given us worldwide loved dramas, actors that are widely known and a story concept that was different, new, and interesting.
However, its shortcomings made it hard to watch and made just another drama that didn't reach its full potential.
Don't take me the wrong way, it was not the worst drama and many people actually quite enjoyed it, myself included in some parts.
But what could actually have been a contender for drama of the year, just passed as "another drama of 2020".
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This review may contain spoilers
I'm not a fan of cheesy romances so I didn't really care much for the relationship between Lee Gon and Tae Eul. In fact, I wanted to fast forward their romance scenes because I found them too dragging. That said, if you're into that kind of thing, you might consider watching for that reason. I have friends who did enjoy the drama for this purpose.Despite my disinterest in the main couple, I try not to give up on dramas right away. I found the side characters to be my redeeming factor. Many people have probably mentioned Woo Do Hwan's impressive acting as both Eun Sup and Yeong. But I also enjoyed the Sin Jae, JangMi and Nari's appearances in the story. In fact, Sin Jae's story was one of the reasons I kept with the show when they started dropping hints about it.
The main plot of the story was my main disappointment. As the story progressed, they kept dropping all these hints that felt like they would be important. But then they didn't quite connect and didn't actually lead to any grand conclusion. I guess it helped when Lee Gon explained the math behind some of the events but I felt most of these were not relevant in the end. The whole time traveling concept also left a lot of unanswered questions.
It didn't help that the last episode seemed rushed just so we could see more scenes of the happy couple in the end. I wasn't very satisfied with the ending for the other characters either.
All in all, if you're a fan of Lee Min Ho (which I'm not) or Kim Go Eun (she's okay) and cheesy romances, but don't mind sci-fi mumbo jumbo, you can give this show a try. Otherwise, I suggest you skip this show.
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Kim Kyung Nam was great in his role, too. I hadn't seen much of him before and it was nice to do it here, but again, his character was just plain.
The only saveable characters are Woo Do Hwan's. Jo Yeong and Eun Seop lightened up this show, the acting was killing and the writers still tried to take that away from us giving him so little screen time. I'd have liked to see his background story alone and not only his story with the king, but obviously, there really isn't any space to delve into the characters and they just rushed everything, again.
The rest of the characters, like the villian, aren't worth mentioning. So poorly written, no background story, just there to make the ML look heroic and to the FL look dumb.
The real mess comes with the plot, tho. We can endure some badly written characters if the plot is good, right? But this wasn't the case. It had so much potential but it was just wasted. While I was finishing the drama I started feeling like the writer just didn't know how to finish this and tried to fool us with a lot of emotions (most of them didn't work). A lot of things stopped making sense, things that were shown to us in previous episodes that were intriguing just weren't brought up anymore in the whole drama and we were left staring at the screen like fools- wondering where they went.
This happens with a lot of things like the doppelgangers (Luna, especially), the travelling consequences and some characters I won't name to avoid spoilers.
The romance on this drama is just superior and not in a good way. Tae-eul seems to hate Lee Gon, but after he proves her his world exists she's deeply in love with him. The same goes for him, wanting to make her his queen the second they meet. Boy, you didn't even know if she actually existed a few minutes ago, calm down. The kisses are good and I somehow managed to see some chemistry between them, but it wasn't enough. It felt really rushed.
In conclusion, I was entertained with this drama because I only had to watch 2 episodes a week and they ended the episodes in a cliffhanger of questions that were never answered, so I feel pretty fooled. Still, I laughed a lot with Eun Seop and even shed some tears in the ending episodes. Didn't really get to feel empathy towards most characters, though, apart from Woo Do Hwan's and maybe a little for Lady Noh, ignoring the leads.
Give it a try, you may like it, but don't get your hopes really high because then you'll end up really disappointed.
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Surprisingly very enjoyable
I was very hesitant to watch this show because I saw that the writer also wrote Goblin and Descendants of the sun. Both of which are commonly very highly rated. I attempted to watch both of them previously but I couldn't bring myself to finish them. I did not really like Goblin and I thought DOTS was only okay. For me, they both seemed quite slow and drawn out at times. I got through about half of both and then just read summaries of the rest.Anyways, I saw this on Netflix many times and skipped over it because I wanted to save myself from disappointment because I figured that I probably wouldn't like it. But alas quarantining was getting the best of me and I just decided to go for it and wow am I glad I decided to try it!
TKEM has a very complex story that is unique and full of twists. I do acknowledge that the complexity isn't for everyone. Honestly, I didn’t really know what was happening for like half the first episode haha. But after that, it definitely started to pick up for me. Even though there are a few parts that I will probably never understand I still really enjoyed the show very much!! I found the story very compelling and was so invested that I finished it all in 4 days. The show was very interesting and felt refreshing since it wasn’t filled to the brim with typical romance. This show is certainly not perfect but let's be honest no show is, so just keep to minimal and realistic expectations and you'll be in for quite a treat. All in all, TKEM is a success for me because at the end of the day it is simply just an entertaining tv show so I say it is definitely worth a try at least. I don’t regret watching it all!!
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WDH's Appealing Facial Expressions
No SpoilersInside this parallel universe screenwriter, Kim Eun Sook penned a hidden gem that I cannot find my way back. It had an excellent premise that fell into limbo. At times, I felt like I was viewing an AD commercial in some scenes, and other times it was deft scriptwriting and acting buried underneath all the mess.
The writer's incoherent complexity strained the audience's patience. It exploits the same paradox elements in Nine: Nine Times Times Travel (2013). Maybe if you turn your brain off and try not to think everything will make sense to you. The Director who brought us Secret (2013) and Descendants of the Sun (2016) I was expecting a tightly knit plot, but instead got stunning visuals; nothing else.
Woo Do Hwan was the beaming light of TKEM. His dual role as Jo Young and Jo Eun Sub was visually sublime. Woo Do Hwan's perspicuous rapport with Kim Yong Ji, had me on the edge of my seat, hinting at the fervidness. I got to shout out to the roles of the Jo Eun Sub's twins siblings, for they were a time-out in so much occurring.
Kim Go Eun is an amazing actress except for her character in TKEM was dull and one dimensional. You may have a different opinion that would not be so cryptic to me. One Korean actor that is loved and hated Lee Min Ho. His potential appears to have a set limit because the characters he portrays in dramas fall short on many fronts; It is my opinion.
I am not going to explain it in detail. Yi Gon is an engaging character that suited Lee Min Ho, but the inconsistencies in the plot threw the chemistry of the leads off for me. The intenseness of the romance scenes between the LMH and KGE was muddy from the staggering plotholes.
The supposed villain of this drama wasted potential. The character development was weak on all fronts, causing me problems. It is a simple story dragged out a few episodes too long. The music was not bad, helping me through this show even though it was not original.
Watch this if you have nothing else to watch, and you might like it or might hate it. Even though I was not too fond of it, it does not mean you might not like it. If you have the willpower to propel through sixteen plus hours, You have the final say. Will the King solve his Mathematical problem/equation?
Final Rating: 5.28/10
Story: 5.26/10
Acting: 5.69/10
Rewatch Value: I would rewatch it, but a long way down the road when I have nothing to view, maybe on a rainy day or snowy day. Perhaps an episode here or there I would see, WDH scenes.
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This review may contain spoilers
The good parts about this was when it felt like I was watching Inuyasha or some other early 00's anime like that. At other times it felt confused, contrived, and also extremely focused on product merchandising and on Lee Min Ho's face.I mean - there was this single episode even my parents couldn't stop counting how many product placements happened. I think it was around episode 10/11. Almost every scene featured the king drinking some royal coffee or eating some royal instant kimchi. This suits my taste!
Oh God.
PS: Giving the acting a high grade for Kim Go Eun and Jung Eun Chae, they didn't deserve this mess
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