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The math isn't mathing... except for Woo Do Hwan that man's math mathes everyday
So I'm not going to lie, I really enjoyed the setup and even the middle of this show. It's entertaining, fast paced and has just the sort of tropes I like. The issue I have with it it's the story's resolution and most of the characters.While there are no hateable characters. I found most of them to be pretty average. ML is okay I guess. He's a little bit flat in his delivery, but I think that's because he's this royal person who has to be stoic... but still, because he had some childish behaviors at times I didn't think he was completely stoic so it was odd. I found it hard to connect with him most of the time because of his lack of expression.
FL started out great, but ends up becoming a bit too dramatic. She honestly just cries for no reason at times, every time ML showed up she cried. Girl, this man hasn't been hurt once and ALWAYS came back for you, what made you think he was going to stay away? This dynamic just became tiring. If they had given us reason to worry about ML I would have bought FL's worry, but hoenstly? He's never in any sort of real danger. We know it, they know it... so the crying FL became unnecessary and just annoying because it kept happening after a certain point in the drama and it took a lot of screentime.
On top of that, the love story went from zero to a hundred. Maybe I'm more used to slow burn, but in one episode FL is annoyed at ML or at least she acts rudely towards him. (Understandable btw- the guy seemed crazy) And the next one she's confesing her LOVE? I understand if after proving he's not lying she decides to give him a chance but instead she confesed love? That escalated quickly.
However the love story is not awful, they do have chemistry on screen and the characters are okayish most of the time. All in all the love story has its cute moments at times, but it was more draggy than lovable. The leads are not entirely unlikeable , in fact I think I like them more when they are separated. They are much more interesting characters apart than together.
I really liked ML when he had to deal with the treason part of the plot and the FL when she had to do cop stuff - also the cop team is nice. I think my favourite was the "ganster" cop who was actually so soft and liked macaroons. What a jem.
The rest of the characters are okay. But there's a shit ton of them and I gotta be honest I lost track of whose mother suffering for her son I was watching at some points. Just how many crying moms are there in this drama? There was also a pregnant lady who got replaced by her counterpart in one world and that plot line went nowhere. There's just so many side plot things that go nowhere. Everything gets fixed somehow in the end by pure magic.
Honestly the saving grace this drama has and the reason for this rating to be above 6 is Woo Do Hwan. This man can act and he carried every scene he was in. He is a joy to watch on screen as both his roles and his characters are the most fun. I wish Jo Youngand Jo Eun-Sup were the protagonists instead... I flipping love these boys a lot. Their stories seemed to have the most heart in my opinion, and the most personal stakes. Young's undying loyalty and also respect for his friend the king and his duty as a personal guard... or Eun-Sup's love for his family and his relationship with his little siblings and Na-ri. Give me this drama instead. I loved how by the end Young became a bit more open towards people while Eun-Sup became a bit more professional. These two actually learnt from each other and became friends... and then--- those memories got erased. Lmao.
Ok here's where it gets tricky.
The writer tried to make this really convoluted plot involving one of the trickiest tools to pull off because it can create a lot of plot holes --- time travel. Now I'm all in when it comes to time travel, when it's handled well it creates majestic, adrenaline inducing stories that just leave you in awe and feeling extremely satisfied. When it is not well handled however, it creates time paradoxes and obvious plot holes.... this one, I am afraid, falls in the second category.
You had me until ML went back to fullfill his destiny and save himself as that was the start of the show. Brilliant. Saw it coming yes, but loved that things came full circle. THEN you lost me when he did it AGAIN to kill antagonist before he run off to the other world. Sir, are you aware that creates a huge paradox that means ML wouldn't have gone back in time in the first place to safe himself if he never had gotten the half flute thing? Are we just going to ignore that? Ok sure. Oh what is that? We're also conveniently have the two leads remember everything despite the huge sacrifice this impossible deed just did? Of course, no consequences. And also lets make most of these characters we care about forget about everything we just watched.
Heavy long sigh.
Look I'm all in for happily every afters, but they need to feel earned. This one just felt like plot armor for the sake of the love story. Simply put, the writer wrote herself into a corner and used time travel magic to fix everything, deliberately erasing everything from the reality we just watched but from ML's and FL's memories... also Young's at least he gets to keep his memories.
Towards the end things got unnecessarily complicated. The drama is not terrible, but it's very infuriating. There is some brilliant acting from Woo Do Hwan and some really good moments, but nothing that can make me rate this one higher than a 7.
TLDR; Watch it with low expectations and suspend your disbelief. Throw logic out the window and you'll get a tropy enjoyable time.
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Let's give it a shot until it ends though, they are making ways to make it worthwhile for the viewers.
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This review may contain spoilers
On YouTube i watched a few korean channels review this drama and they said that the FL was annoying at the beginning because she refused to acknowledge the parallel world. However, i found that when watching the drama, the majority of the Korean reviews were very unfair because the acting for me was on point. She was't hateful but she acted appropriately to the possibility of another world, aka not being stupid and bi**hy but not falling for the idea at first glance either. Also, they complained about the romance and how it wasn't enough or it jumped to fast when it got to ep 8 or 9 but i think that it was just enough. It's not sickening with love but you can see how she changes and develops feelings for him through how she looks and talks and acts around him once she experiences his world. You don't need to make it stupidly obvious that she slowly falls for him and that's why i think that this drama is actually better than what people initially said. also i just want to add that the product placement. for me, wasn't too noticeable, well if i didnt watch the videos on youtube i probably wouldn't have even noticed, especially because im not looking for it, if that makes sense.
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Pls don’t waste time on this
You should watch DKDKTV’s review on this.https://youtu.be/FUV_xWDDMvo
This show really sucks. Mainly bcs it is so tone-deaf. It appears as really sophisticated and smart but when you watch it.... it’s really not that deep lol. It’s pretentious and shallow.
Irks the heck out of me when dramas try so hard to be something they are not.
The saving grace is Woo Do Hwan, like for real. Don’t bother watching scenes he isn’t in. The whole parallel world thing might also keep you intrigued for the first few episodes? After that they keep overusing it in an attempt to make it fancier that you wont be amused to it anymore haha.
Frustrating watch, leaves you hanging. Only reason I watched the whole thing bcs I kept trying to figure out why is it so bad and I kept hoping something will turn round to make it better
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What was that? So dissapointing.
The advertising on netflix was good, it was kinda anticipated and i was looking forward to it.When the story begin, i was like okay what is wrong with the bad acting, and no chemistry with movie production this level, and the famous duo ml and fl.....maybe it will build up by time. But the story itself was confusing. Maybe because it was just started....
Then the more i watch episodes the more i dread it.
It became more and more confusing, even the main leads seemed to be disconnected.
I don't want want to pick here there, but it was really waste of time, even just 10 episodes i forced myself to watch. I don't think my intelligence is to blame when i saw the very low rating it has...
Well, surely won't watch it again. But i think on another screenwriting and maybe different pairing, the main leads could do much better job.
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The first episode was very very hard to watch, they really just threw all the plot in an hour and it felt heavy but either i was kinda interested to see what would happen. But the ep that showed me that it wasn't worth it was ep 3, I'll try to explain it but usually when you see a drama of course you know an actor is saying a script but it doesn't show but it seems natural. But watching that ep was, wow, you could SEE the script, it was just so obvious that they were just SAYING those things like they just memorized it. It wasn't pleasant to watch. The remaining four episodes I watched were mainly just watching Lee Min Ho and Woo Do Hwan's faces.
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The story tried too hard
It all started so well.Then it became confusing and forgettable. I couldnt even remember if i'd watched the ending so had to double check (I had).
However, Woo Do Hwan stole the show and deserves a 10/10! Luckily I can rewatch all WDH parts on Youtube clips so I dont have to rewatch this drama.
It's sad because the drama is generally well acted and beautifully put together.
Even though I would not rewatch this drama, I don't regret watching it because the drama was not bad, it just got too confusing and lost it's way.
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At first I was kind of confused with all the hate this drama is getting including the superficial romance between the leads who are from parallel universes.
Kim Go Eun has always been an amazing actress especially her character in Goblin where she really shined. I didn't have any problem on how she would carry Jeong Tae Eul as a character. That is how I trust her acting abilities. She played the bad-ass female lead so well that it convinced me that this show could survive with only her and her adventures. I was confused though at first at how moody her character was when she is in the presence of the male lead. I mean, come on girl! You can hold your own, you don't need no man. Her doppelganger Luna is a contrast of Tae Eul and this reminded me how versatile of an actor KGE is. She depicted the abandoned, hurt, and desperate for survival character so well it was too different from her main character.
Ah, yes. Lee Min Ho. I have a love-hate relationship with this actor. He portrayed the aura of a king well with his aura but I had problems with the way he acts most of the time. He played the dashing male lead so well it sometimes overshadows the emotions he should've been putting into the character. Did he make your heart flutter with his scenes? Yes. Did you think that he had the depth of the character on point? Sometimes. I don't know.
The bromance was there, not gonna lie. The story had a bit of a development but not the type where I would curse it for eternity. The chemistry between the leads was surprisingly there. What saved the drama for me is the OST. Despite the drama having plot holes, the OST saved me.
Will I recommend this drama? Maybe. Give it a try and be the one to judge.
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Few episodes were good
Starting few episodes were good then story was getting bored as it was too much stretched and uselessly creates the scenes to entangled the audience , I didn't understand that it was about two world or about living once again in the past to correct the error.Last episodes confused me a lot that gate was separate two worlds but at the end when they crossed the gate they all the time reached in some years where same person but in different character and their professional was different .I think it would be better if they get engaged at the end and she became the queen of his world and they manage to leave in both the world.
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Magical
I first watched this drama back in 2022, and really liked it. Though I found the plot a little confusing at first, I absolutely loved the male lead and the romance between him and Tae Eul. Personally, I love Tae Eul as a female lead and I would let her kick me if she really needed to. Maybeee her character seemed a little fiercer in the initial episodes, but she didn't turn into a complete damsel at all. I really loved the bickering and banter between her and Lee Gon, who is super funny himself. I loved Lee Min Ho's delivery of his lines in the show. Sometimes, it could be a little cheesy, but overall, I have rewatched this show twice, and loved it again and again. Both times, I only watched the romance between the leads to be honest, but it really hits😭💞 Even if the love story starts rather abruptly, especially from the female lead's side, I still love it so much. I mean, Lee Gon literally went through every universe to find Tae Eul... that's commitment!Was this review helpful to you?
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Set in 2 parallel worlds, one in the Kingdom of Korea and the other the Republic of Korea. Lee Gon, the present Emperor of the Kingdom of Korea sets foot on the alternative universe of the Republic of Korea. He comes across a familiar face, Detective Jung Tae-Eul, whom he recognizes years ago, during his father’s assassination. Lee Gon assumes that this woman saved him from the wrath his uncle Lee Lim, who assassinated Lee Gon’s father. Overwhelmed with curiosity, Lee Gon tries to discover the complexity of the parallel universe, by going back and forth between the two-parallel universe.The writer, Ms. Kim Eun-sook never disappoints. Her works contains a perplexing, yet imaginative series of dramas which makes it more appealing to her viewers. Similarly, The King: Eternal Monarch (TKEM) was one of the series that keeps you guessing. In the beginning of the series, it seemed ambiguous and overwhelming, with all the plot holes and the use of flash backs. Nevertheless, episode by episode, the series was slowly unraveling. Every problem I had with the show was answered, and the ending was well-written.
I grew fond with the series’ characters, especially with Captain Jo Young and Jo Eun-Seob’s characters. Woo Do-hwan has portrayed both the characters with the charisma and humor, I think many will also approve of this. Unquestionably, Woo Do-hwan has a remarkable acting skill. Moreover, I also liked the character of Prime Minister Goo. She presents someone who’s underprivileged. But because of hard work and ambition, she became successful. However, because of her ambitions, she became too greedy.
The problem that I have with this show is that it lacks accuracy in telling the stories of the different characters. For example, Captain Jo Young, as a child, was a bubbly and a loquacious friend to Lee Gon. He also explained as a child, that his father was close to Lee Gon’s father. I wondered if maybe there was more to this relationship, between Lee Gon’s father and Captain Young. More so, I even pondered the character development of Captain Young as a child and as an adult.
Another problem that I faced was, there was a lack of connection between the relationship of Jung Tae-eul and Lee Gon. Their relationship should have been more solidified. There should have been more of a connection, and how their feeling progressed over time.
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