pcharlotte787

then just before the closing credits, the camera will show their backyard with imaginary flowers and bamboo trees and deep underneath the bamboo trees will be an antique box with a flute :)

The boy does seem to be some sort of a guardian of balance. The height, long legs, carriage, feet and shoes of the savior look like Lee Gon's. However, if he went back in time to reunite with Tae-eul after 25 years, I wonder how he can accomplish this since Tae-eul would fall in love with the grown-up Lee Gon, not the savior, unless the grown-up Lee Gon dies? This could explain the significance of Kim Sowol's poem. Lee Lim's bday is Feb 1951 and he is supposed to be 70 yrs old in the first scene, meaning it happened on or after Feb 2021, so yes, it's in the future. I wonder where Lee Gon is that day? And are there still parallel worlds? Maybe he is a rowing-enthusiast mathematician cooking dinner for his detective wife and their kids that very moment. I am getting goosebumps just thinking of the possibilities :)

in other discussion groups, the attacks against Kim Go-eun and her perceived lack of chemistry with LMH are relentless. koreaherald recently repeated the controversies that the productiom team had already apologized for. even product placements are now being nitpicked on. and the poor SK ratings would ultimately affect the actors too

My heart bleeds for the cast and crew of this show. Amidst the Covid-19 pandemic, controversies, criticisms and poor SK ratings, they must be horribly demoralized, yet they bravely plough on. I count The Lord of the Rings, The Chronicles of Narnia and Star wars among my favorite shows and consider The King Eternal Monarch worthy to be placed alongside them. But it had been hounded by controversies that some quarters refuse to let go. One would think that the apologies from the production team and that glorious victory Corea won in episode 6 would have made up for the mistakes, but still the nitpickings flood in. Even Oscar and Emmy award winning shows have mistakes (see https://www.moviemistakes.com), but those did not condition viewers to be highly critical of the shows as what happened with The King. Why this relentless and brutal attacks?

Thanks for this reply. I was just about to leave this site altogether as nitpicking and such is not my kind of a discussion forum about tv shows but your post is exactly the type of comment I was looking for. You have a great point. He must have lost Tae-eul for him to be carrying her ID. And he wants his young self to find her again. He must have found a way to travel back in time. But if he could travel back in time, why not travel back to when she was still alive and make sure she does not die? Oh, perhaps she has already died of old age, but he does not age, so all he can do is go back in time to be reunited with her, but maybe he cannot control what time he can go back to. Now I'm excited to find out what Kim Eun-sook had planned for this drama :)

i'm actually feeling sorry for the actors in this industry. they work so hard creating something beautiful that only gets lambasted for such trivial matters as product placements! who cares about product placements when one is focusing on the story? people can't get this drama because they are focusing on trivial matters. aren't we surrounded with branded products all the time? just around me now, i have more than 20 pieces of products with trademarks. this poor show...

I feel so sorry for the actors. they work so hard only to have their work trampled on. it's like being gladiators. who would want to live like that?

i was expressing an analysis of my observation of those who have been nitpicking on the show, including critics and publications that seem to have a vendetta on the show. the nitpicking is brutal. but I just found out that this seems to be normal in kdrama world? I just got introduced to kdramas with crash landing so this is a culture shock to me

Crash Landing got top reviews, even the Baeksang nominations, but I didn't love it as much as The King, which is why I feel there is something in the latter that viewers are missing, or because of the controversies and other criticisms, they had gotten conditioned to be critical of it

@Jeana I admit I'm new to South Korean contemporary culture, and have been curious about some things I heard. It seems that bashing movie personalities is normal? that some actors are being driven to commit suicide? also, that some writers are trying to sabotage Kim Eun-sook?

I read about them in Koreaherald

aside from Crash Landing, i watched Boys Over Flowers, Memories of Alhambra, The Heirs, Cheese in a Trap, the movie The Negotiation (or something like that), Mr. Sunshine, among others. I just joined kisskh. I had been following other discussion groups before this.

I started watching kdramas with Crash Landing then watched every kdrama I can find in Netflix. For some reason, I got most emotionally drawn to The King

In fact, it's the writing that I am in awe of. The bickering between Lee Gon and Tae-eul is priceless. This is why there is never a dull moment for me because their every interaction is delightful. The way she treated him like a criminal in the police station and his patience with her, when he likened her to a bear and the number zero and she mockingly told him to 'fine, take me to your world so I can declare myself queen of your people' always has me in stitches, and many other precious nuggets like these. this show is as good as any Oscar or Emmy award movie. this is why it is such a pity that it is being brought down by nitpicking. I can't remember any other movie that has suffered as much.

I love Star wars. I have re-watched all episodes countless times and consider "Han Solo and the Princess" theme the best movie theme of all time. I even like the much-maligned episodes 1 to 3. But I don't compare it with The King. They have different places in my heart. The latter has some artistic bent. The slow-no sequences, during the coronation and when time stopped while Lee Gom and Tae-eul were in the park, were breathtaking. I don't remember screaming with anticipation in Star wars as I did in The King when Lee Gon brought Tae-eul to his world. This is what I mean with "understanding". One needs to to be drawn into that parallel universe, to feel the magic, e.g. be moved to tears by Kim So Wol's poem , to understand why Lee Gon laughed when Tae-eul mentioned "liberal arts" and why the prime minister was mad about it (it showed how LG loved JTE).

While I was watching this show, I was at awe at how beautiful it was and thought that South Koreans must be so proud to have produced such a show. I am truly baffled as to why it has been nitpicked to pieces instead. Even Oscar and Emmy award winning films and TV shows have flaws (https://www.moviemistakes.com), but these flaws were not sensationalized like those in this drama. It's heartbreaking

A few seconds of a flaw sweeping aside several minutes of a magnificent scene where Corea gloriously defeats its enemy, not to mention sensationalizing such controversies, is obviously sabotage. According to https://www.moviemistakes.com, Oscar and Emmy award winning films and TV shows have mistakes. But were any of these sensationalized to this level?

Those became glaring flaws only because they were sensationalized by quarters intent on sabotaging this drama. Most viewers did not notice them. The temple was onscreen for about a second or so. Who noticed the design of the warships? Did anybody even consider that both Corea and Japan bought those from, say, the US or Russia, that's why they looked the same? This is a fantasy film, anything can happen. Complaining about the imperial seal looking Japanese is like telling Australians they should denounce their flag because it looks British. It is abhorrent how people who wanted to put this drama down used South Koreans' sentiments to sway their opinion.

Copying what I wrote above about constructive criticism - i definitely agree; constructive criticism is always the best policy which is why I am appalled at all the destructive criticisms thrown at the series. My post is about people "understanding" the show, something that can change. It's not about "intelligence" which cannot, or is not easy to, change. Understanding requires interest in something. If one is not interested enough, he would not try to understand it fully, but it does not lessen the fact that some degree of understanding is missing. It's not a condemnation. It's a statement of fact. I am not interested in horror films, so I don't try to understand them, so I would forever be in the dark for why people love them. So I would never criticize "Scream" or "The Shining".

I come from a country that had been subjugated by foreigners for centuries so I fully understand the significance, which is why I decry how those items were used by some quarters intent on sabotaging this drama to sway public opinion. Did the production team intend the temple and warships to look Japanese? Viewers who were focused on the story did not even notice them! Using public sentiment for nefarious purposes is downright revolting.