Chemistry, Kissing Scene, Comedy Scene
Chemistry yang kuat antara Yoona dan Junho menjadi salah satu faktor yang membuat drama Korea ini sangat menarik untuk ditonton. Selain itu, drama ini juga menyenangkan karena sisi komedinya.Drama ini dimulai dengan seorang wanita bernama Cheon Sa-rang (Yoona) yang bekerja sebagai pelayan di sebuah hotel mewah. Cheon Sa-rang adalah wanita yang baik hati dan pekerja keras. Suatu hari, Cheon Sarang bertemu dengan seorang pria bernama Goo Won (Junho), yang merupakan putra dari pemilik hotel tersebut. Goo Won adalah pria yang dingin dan tidak ramah, tetapi ia juga sangat tampan dan kaya.
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King The Land is a new-breed of kdrama rom-coms even with a generic plot
KTL: Welcome to King the Land, where we invite tropes in, but they must leave as different creatures from how they arrived. What we’re trying to say is that we only fly green flags here. Disclaimer: We do allow for umbrella scenes, slo-mo walks, falling into each other’s arms, identity mishaps, silly meet-cutes, and staring longingly while a banger OST plays. We do NOT allow for miscommunication between partners, time skips, noble idiocy, misogyny, nonconsensual kisses, forced separations, social status as a barrier, or mere pecks on the cheek. [This is what I found on a reddit written by some user, it perfectly summed up my thoughts on the show so i decided to put it here]
The show gives you exactly what it promised the Romance and the Comedy and both in balance enough that you don't bother thinking about the painfully generic plot..
Lol before starting I thought this show was gonna be some wannabe 'Business Proposal'+ 'Whats Wrong With Secretary Kim' fiasco but boy was I suprised, pleasantly at that, Gu Wo has to be the most Greenest Flag Chaebol male lead k-dramaland has ever seen. I’m just so happy that this drama didn’t do the “let’s keep them childish and immature until the last 2 episodes.” Or “let’s have them break up and make up every single second” troupe.
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This review may contain spoilers
Review: Lee Junho Shines, But the Story Falls Flat
First and foremost, let me declare that Lee Junho has never appeared more dashing. From the moment he leaps from the helicopter, fans and even non-fans will undoubtedly swoon. His acting is impeccable throughout. However, this cannot mask the fact that the story lacks excitement and a compelling climax.The drama aims to deliver a sweet romantic comedy, utilizing all the essential formulas while avoiding the typical pitfalls like childhood connections, unnecessary separations, or lurking killers. While I appreciate this attempt, it ultimately falls short. Around episodes 9 or 10, the drama begins to lose momentum, leaving me wondering, "Is this it?"
For instance, the synopsis presents Guwon, the male lead, as the third-generation heir of a hotel group, embroiled in an inheritance battle with his half-sister. Yet, there is hardly any screen time or intelligent strategy showing how he wins this battle. Throughout the drama, we rarely see him at work or displaying his professional acumen. We were eager to see how this Oxford/Cambridge graduate could lead and transform the hotel group, but that aspect is sorely underdeveloped. Even the subplot of his missing mother, which was supposed to significantly impact his upbringing, feels underutilized.
Every romcom has its sidekicks for both leads. Unfortunately, these characters aren't effective here. The comedy between No Sang Sik and Guwon feels forced, and the subplot involving Kang Da Eul and her husband/in-laws adds no value to the overall story.
As a Junho fan, I want to say this is a great drama, but sadly that is not the case. The first half was enjoyable, filled with charm and promise, but the second half fails to deliver on that initial potential. The plot becomes repetitive, and the lack of depth in both the main and supporting storylines leaves much to be desired. Ultimately, while Lee Junho's performance is a highlight, it is not enough to save a story that falls flat and struggles to maintain its momentum.
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Nice, but no cigar. Chunks of borrowed storyline?
So.The hype all indicated that KTL was going to be a really great watch. And LJH is definitely worth waiting for. I duly waited for this drama to finish airing so that I could watch at my leisure without the need to wait for next episodes to arrive.
In all...........I'm sorry, but when I had finished watching, I was quite disappointed. The lead characters were good but somewhat two-dimensional. The scripts were also fairly flat most of the time, and the storyline left little opportunity for the actors to put across any real depth of character. The two girlfriends of the female lead took forever to pull themselves together enough to stand up to their respective bullies - which was neither helpful to, nor reflective of, most women in such situations these days. There were enough k-drama cliches to feed the entire cast and crew cliche cake for a year, and enough tedious PP to make a profit after paying their wages for the duration of their next shoots. I did watch to the end, but only because romcom is my guilty pleasure, and kdramas generally do that SO well. There was definitely some rom and some com in here, and those swoon and chuckle moments kept me ticking along.
Now here's the thing I can't get past. All the webinfo (Google, Rakuten Viki, Netflix and MDL) tells me that this is a 2023 release, and nothing shows that it's a renamed or remade series. Also, I began watching only three days after the last episode aired. Therefore it's highly unlikely that I am REwatching KTL itself , right? However - I have seen substantial sections of this storyline before. Some kdrama I saw before this (possibly six months to a year ago) definitely had amazingly similar situations within its storyline. I don't think the following will be spoilers....
1. The rise of the female lead through the ranks quickly through competence, while her colleagues are mean/jealous. This is probably a situation in dozens of kdramas so I can let it go. But then..
2. At the BigBoss house dinner, an incident happens to her which is pretty much identical in setting, activity, dialogue, action and reaction to the one in KTL. Here it starts to bug me more but I carry on.....and then....
3. The child's lost toy. All details are the same here as in the drama I saw before. A) when everyone else gave up the search, she won't. B) She has the same out-of-the-box idea to look in the same specific place for it. C) She must hurry because the family has to leave shortly. D) When found, the toy even turns out to be the the same type of animal AND the same colour as that used in the drama I saw before.
There are more similarities too, but the toy incident served as a full confirmation to me that I was indeed watching regurgitated drama lumps.
I've searched my extensive watched list and the internet, but I'm unable to name the drama I originally saw that contained these storyline lumps. The similarities are substantial enough and numerous enough, though, that I came out of it feeling quite cheated. It feels like I was served reheated waste food instead of the freshly-cooked meal promised by the hype. It's fortunate for me that the child's toy incident came late because if it had arrived earlier I would have been tempted to quit and move on. I might have missed LJH in the kitchen, and that wouldn't have been good.... :)
Bias aside, I really think highly of LJH as an actor and like what I see of him as an individual too, so I hate leaving a negative review for a drama of his. Unfortunately there was little in this storyline to showcase his remarkable acting skills, so this time even his charismatic presence as lead didn't camouflage the numerous and blatant shortcomings this series has. That really saddens me.
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liked the actors did not love the storytelling
I really wanted to love this drama but the story was just too thin for me. Too many characters, too many subplots and too many aspects were touched upon, but not densely told. That's a pity because I really liked the actors. The female lead was very likeable, a nice person through and through, you could imagine being friends with her and begrudge her all the happiness in the world. I would have liked to have had more insights into her inner conflicts and thus get to know her even better. However, there was little opportunity to suffer with her during the plot in order to get closer to her. The male lead was not only very attractive on the outside, but above all a great partner for the leading lady. Any woman who finds such a partner, who is not a bit fickle and remains level-headed and steady even under family pressure, can count herself lucky. Perhaps a few rough edges would have done the main roles good. The actors in the supporting roles were also, without exception, of high calibre and delivered as far as the story allowed. Unfortunately, however, all potential conflicts were only touched upon here as well. I would have liked it better if the story had concentrated on a few conflicts in order to dive into them fully. In my opinion, this is well done in "One Springnight", "Something in the rain" but also in "Call it love". If it should be a romance at the workplace, "Romance is a Bonus Book" or "She would never know" set the standard for me. I was hoping to find a drama that I like to watch every now and then. Too bad, that is not the case.Was this review helpful to you?
Not the first time KDramas are culturally insensitive.
So for some reason in this show theres a character present for 2 whole episodes. A rich Arab prince with many white women around him who frequents bars. Okay, that alone is clearly sending signals of how they perceive Arabs, but even the prince's character throughout the two episodes is this very pushy man who is using his position and money to be weird and creepy to Sarang. Sarang clearly doesnt want to be with him and obviously finds him an inconvenience but they only tolerate him because he has a lot of money. Let me reiterate. Sarang is basically being harassed at her workplace by this rich man (who by no coincidence is made very clearly an Arab of high esteem in his land) who uses her power to try to get her to like him?! So not only are they making a joke out of workplace harassment but also making light of Arab people and their character.For those saying well it's not Muslim. First of all there is no Arab country in the world with a non Muslim royal family. Second of all, Arab Christians are just as conservative and good charactered people. They also do not go around flaunting women and harassing them.
The only reason people are defending yet another racist caricature by KDramas is because this is how they view us, Arabs, too. It is so normalised but its not how anyone would like their culture to be viewed. This happens time and time again to POC, like when Shooting Stars made it seem like Africa is one country and they are all poor and resourceless waiting for the first white man (or Korean) to save them (for publicity, too). Backstreet Rookie had a racist character playing an African man with dreads and quite literally had insects fly around the mans dreads. Implying Africans are dirty and that he can casually spray paint tan on his face to depict them.
DO BETTER.
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Turned out to be the OPPOSITE of good.
Why did I pick this drama ?Because I've watched Rain or shine & The Red Sleeve, liked them both. I THOUGHT this one would be excellent. Turns out its not (and worse, far from good)
It was my first drama of Yoona as FL. A good plot and a good acting are two different things. I haven't really covered Acting, because I found the characters ridiculous (and acting was based on that. They did well)
(I loved Jun Ho's acting in The Red Sleeve, cant really comment on this one , coz I hate Gu Won).
I dont understand how and why people repeatedly compare this with business proposal. They're so freaking different. Business Proposal was damn good & King the Land is not even close.
I felt BP had a much better plot compared to this. Not just the ML &FL but SML &SFL we so worth watching. It was humorous, had depth in the story as well as the characters, also the romantic development was gradual (& made a lot more sense).
King the land has lots of cons. Still, I think why people like it so much is because it presents the story like a fairy tale. (Too shiny, but unrealistic )
There are dramas, that keep you awake all night, but this one turned out to be a sleeping pill for me. Initial couple of episodes were so boring, I literally fell asleep.
Who is Gu Won? Seriously, they glamourized him so much in the drama, that they forgot to show his character development. No matter what the situation, our prince charming solves the issues in a blink. The first episode did mention how he went back to europe , finished his education and came back years later, but still, the ease with which he does things is just so fancy and unreasonable. We almost never see him working . All he does whole day is, sitting in his comfortable chair and gawking at Sarang's photos and texts (or worse disturbing her at work ), and when reminded of his duties by manager No, drives him out of the office, throwing cushions aimed at him (& sadly, often misses the target) .
During the initial days of joining the hotel, the way Gu won behaved was utterly ridiculous. Him being a crybaby everytime someone smiled, or mentioned his mother was just too much. Given his status , educational background & the competitive environment at work, his character should be a lot more serious and mature.
Why does Sarang like Gu Won?
Why does Gu Won like Sarang? Their relationship lacks development. It shouldn't have been so spontaneous.
Some things just makes no sense at all (especially the employee trip (horrible plotline). There are just too many loopholes in the story.
In terms of comedy as well, its definately not on the same page with Business Proposal. It has humor, I agree on that. The plot has its share of hilarious moments ( my favorite being : This place looke familiar though(followed by an overcoat flick)) (The Red Sleeve reference) .
(But, the comedic elements in BP; much better).
Its an entertainer, agree. But, so not worth the hype. Truth be told, it wasn't surprising to watch the ratings stoop down from 8.8 to 8.4 (I think it'll go lower🤞🏻).
I'm still wondering. Is it really worth my 6.5 rating 🤔?
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All over the place.
I have a confession, I've forwarded past most of the episodes. Don't even ask me what's going on in the plane with the flight attendants or the shop. It's not the best drama. There I said it. The story is so slooooow. The only thing going for it is the kiss. But take that away and there's not much left. Also maybe the sister. It had so much potential. Even without the cultural issues prince episode, the story arc made little contribution to the story. And what was with that fake wedding. I don't know. It's just too much. I stuck around for the love story between the leads but I'm not sure that's enough to keep me around anymore.Was this review helpful to you?
No story to back the sizzling chemistry.
Despite being a huge fan of Junho and Yoona couple (I really loved them when the performed señorita together ) , I am writing this review , as the story is just pathetic.There was no element except romance till episode 9 . Nothing that will hook you to the screen . There was nothing to act as well , for such power packed performers , except smile , fake smile and real smile (duhhh). I liked the girl friend bond , but I think they kept the story revelation to the last part of the show (I hope , if at all) , but they should understand , who is going to watch it without any element. At least they could have shown any 1 of the friends' story anything for that matter . Junho totally forgets why he joined the hotel . And female lead character is the worst , this is common to all chaebol K-dramas though , they would act nonchalant in front of the boss , while are submissive with others. Here also the female lead is impudent even when she had done wrong to him . (Calling him a pervert , then using his washroom etc) , although she is easily told off by rest of the employees. If she wasn't favoured by Junho's sister , she would have still been wiping the sweat off .
Anyways had to drop off the show , Cant waste my time over something as rubbish as this one.
I wish such talented actors choose good scripts ahead.
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Sickeningly Sweet
This show gave me a toothache! It was so disgustingly adorable and I’d gladly watch again. Did it have a strong story? Eh. Did it have a main couple with good chemistry? Absolutely! Sometimes I enjoy a kdrama that isn’t super soapy and has a couple breakup or dumb misunderstandings. Sometimes I like to see meaningless fluff and that’s okay. Sure, many plot points were added in as a second thought, but I didn’t mind. I believe this show was created just to be cute and nothing else, which is great. If you need a pick-me-up just watch this one. Junho and Yoona’s lead chemistry was so good that it had me believing they were a real couple.Was this review helpful to you?
Some good, a lot of bleh
This is one of those shows that hook you in the beginning, only to end of nowhere with the story. I'm not gonna lie, the last 6 episodes I only had on in the background as white noise, just so I could say that I finished it. Which is a shame because I genuinely really liked the first couple of episodes. The characters seemed interesting, they had good chemistry and it just seemed like a simple and fun k-drama. However about half way through, the plot takes a bit of a turn and just turned into a boring nothing story. It seemed so forced and like the writers didn't have any idea how to make the story interesting anymore. I wished that they had instead focused more on Yoon Ahs character and built the relationship more slowly, instead of rushing it.Don't get me wrong though, I mostly enjoyed the drama and could see the appeal for it. If you just wanna see pretty people fall in love in a simple, light-hearted k-drama you will probably enjoy it. I though the cast did a serviceable job with the relatively flat storyline they had to work with.
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Cute and funny drama that doesn't take itself too seriously
There were a ton of things to love about this drama and some things that fell a bit flat for me.Things I love:
- The cast (I'm biased cause I'm a fan of SNSD) but loveeee Yoona, and Junho my goodness (I might be a new fan of 2PM now too oop)
- The supporting cast were all great too and found myself enjoying their subplots
- The chemistry between Yoona and Junho, they felt so natural and believable as a couple and had so many cute moments
- The humour! I think this is the funniest drama I've watched so far (I haven't watched loads but still) nearly every episode had me laughing out loud at something! Could be a bit random at times but I lapped it up
The things I didn't like as much:
- Holy product placement! It was a lot, that last episode especially it was like they were going for the world record of how many products can we plug in 5 minutes. Very jarring.
- The story started off quite strong but did get quite slow to the point I had to force myself to keep going a bit (mainly the cast/characters got me through it)
- Some of the situations got resolved a bit too quickly/conveniently which isn't super realistic, but who's watching kdramas for realism eh?
- it's a bit cliché but to be fair that didn't bother me too much. I feel the show doesn't take itself too seriously and is just a bit of fun which is quite refreshing
Anyway 8/10 for me I think it's cute and worth a watch, especially if you're looking for a sweet romance with some funny moments.
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