Regele, Monarhul Etern (2020)

This drama had potential to be good considering its parallel universe plot line featuring doppelgangers. It became quiet clear however that all that potential was thrown out the window as the drama focused heavily on a forced love line between the Prince and Lieutenant. The Prince barely knows anything about the Lieutenant, other than her badge, and is obsessively in love with her already, wanting to make her his 'Queen' right from the very start of the drama. The Lieutenant bares this oddity of affection and due to the solid acting skills of Kim Go Eun, makes you think she loves him back. I must say, Lee Min Ho truly drags this drama down with his lack of acting ability and the story being too focused on him. All of his lines sound the same and are delivered in a manner that is cringe-y or as bland as if he was reading off a sheet of paper.

As you progress on in the "story", it becomes a jarring game of hot potato between dealing with the main villain [Uncle Baddie] of the story and the romance with the shots happening either too quickly or too slowly and then BAAMM suddenly, we get romantic moments between our leads confessing their love ever-so desperately. This is a heavy handed attempt to make things thrilling without offering any development or consequences. The side characters with enveloping stories that interact with defeating our big uncle baddie are constantly placed on the back burner or simply not given the proper time to develop. The ideas for product placement has more intended use throughout the drama then the actual plot lines which only deepens the disappointment of this drama.

The timeline in this drama is a complex layer of complete garbage that neither makes sense nor can be resolved to any full effect. The drama was clearly not properly thought out and it shows with how chaotic episode 12-16 episodes are. It serves up unwarranted fan service over quality story and characters. The characters themselves are either too flat to be brought to life or stand on their own due to the poor quality of the script.

Woo Do Hwan's Jo Eun Sub / Jo Young, Kim Kyung Nam'sGang Shin, and Jung Eun Chae's Jae Goo Seo Ryung / Goo Eun Ah characters are scene stealers and make the drama more bearable but aren't necessary outstanding in their own right just by lack of competition. Woo Do Hwan has straight up WON the heart of so many MDL'ers and has been meme'd endlessly, which can be the only true accomplishment this show has achieved.

Finally, the saving grace of this drama is that it is dressed well in terms of cinematography and costume design. With a budget so high, it is hard NOT to be dressed well. It's money, however, could've been spent better. This is truly the type of drama that once you finish it, if it disappeared from your life the very next day, you wouldn't be losing out on anything.

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A lengthy review...

An over ambitious project from star scriptwriter KES, that buckles under the weight of it's own arrogance. This drama fails to respect the intelligence of it's viewers, by littering it with a minefield of plot holes, cliches, overwrought acting, and ineffective filler characters. In fact, one can't help but think that out of the hundreds of plot lines this drama attempts, if it had just focused on one, it would not have been as bad.

For a supposed modern drama, you would think that the writer would move away from emulating 1960's Disney shows, where characters were either morally black or white. But no, she chooses to portray the the Villain and Heroes in KTEM as either Extremely black, or Extremely White; there was nary a grey character to be spotted. And the few that were grey were rendered useless, as their characters morality are swiftly demolished in the latter episodes. The character in KTEM end up being very boring one dimensional character, lacking any depth, character, and complexity.

The writer does a poor job of showing neutrality in her writing as her bias for the hero character of LG is shown again and again versus the incompetent villain in LR. From episode 1, all the way to episode 16, we are bombarded with repetitive propaganda on the merits and accomplishments of the main lead LG. In fact almost all the scenes with LG and another character, whether hero or villain, exist to show us the viewers, how amazing LG is. This pervasive themes of omnipotency in the drama is a real turn off for me, as I cannot relate nor feel any sort of emotional attachment to such a privileged character, fiction or otherwise.

To be fair, the concept on paper sounds good. In fact many viewers may have already seen time travel, parallel worlds done properly in other shows, and thus were excited to see KTEM. KES
could have just used existing time travel/parallel world theories and put her own mark on it. But that isn't what happened. What we ended up with instead, is the case where a writer is trying to be too clever and failing miserably. What happens when you create and misuse so many plot devices? They slowly morph into glaring plot holes. The story employed ineffective plot twist, reset buttons, and retrograded many of it's time travel/parallel world theories as the foundation of the show. A foundation that was built shakily, and was easily decimated by the intelligent viewing population.

In fact, one can argue that the writer, in her hubris, made a drama so inexplicable, that she believes viewers who do not understand what is happening, will just immediately assume that the drama is too smart for them, and proclaim it a masterpiece. The problem here is that, even though KES did not bother doing any actual research on such a technical genre as science fiction, the smarter local/international audience, did. So the improper logic, false theories, and faulty scientific explanations, all just serve to further instigate a viewing audience, that is already reeling and cringing from a hyper unrealistic and bland romance.

Based on KES previous works, like DOTS, Goblin, and etc... Most fans know that in her dramas, romance is at it's core. Somehow, KTEM did not get the memo. Although the romantic scenes are plentiful, albeit forced, the show's insistence on inserting poorly researched time travel theories, for the sake of increasing the show's IQ, is very distracting from the already weak romance it is trying to build. So instead of attempting to build a proper romantic connection between the two main leads, the show instead waste a lot of time building a pantheon of side characters, who in the end serve no purpose to the plot, other than to make us laugh at the absurdity of it all. The moments between the ML and FL are suppose to be punctuated by a beautiful set design, production value, and mellow OST. But because of the ineffective buildup, much of the emotions you are suppose to feel, do not line up.

Themes, metaphors, and symbolism, all serve important roles in many literary works. But, instead of focusing on one central theme or motif for the entire shows, it appears KES has pulled in symbolism and metaphors from various literary works (Alice in Wonderland and Greek Mythology for example) and tried to forcefully insert it into the plot to give the show the appearance of depth. But just like with most of her writing in KTEM, these insertions serve no real purpose. They do not add a deeper understanding of the story, but rather exist to continually clash with each other, and further confuse it's audience.

Compared to most reviewers, I actually don't mind PPL, I understand it's importance in a show, and I often can easily ignore it. But the PPL in KTEM is a whole different beast. The PPL's in KTEM are so poorly timed, that they distract you, and forces you to shift your mindset away from the plot, and onto their sales pitch. There are even a few occasion where a PPL takes front row seats over a supposedly important scene. In fact BBQ Olive Chicken PPL may be the least obtuse of the all the PPL's on the show, and that is saying a lot.

The show attempts to emulate a "Memento" (US movie) type of editing, where the past is being shown in clips in future episodes. But what was so effective in "Memento", absolutely fails in KTEM as the editor/director spliced, and restructured the scenes in a very pointless way, that in the end you ask yourself, "What was the point of that scene?". The poor editing also made sure that any emotional impact of the show is never felt, because just as you are about to process an emotion, whether it is love, sadness, or anger, you are already being dragged to the next contrasting emotion. The drama would have benefited from less episodes, in fact it boggles my mind how they were able to stretch it out for so long. Oh wait, I remember now, they had so many slow mo romantic scenes that lasted at times 10-15 minutes in one take. And Since there is no emotional attachment early on, all these scenes really accomplishes is to make you feel as awkward as seeing two siblings making out.

The boring pace of the drama isn't helped by both Main Leads. As if LMH could not get blander, he somehow finds another lower notch in his acting belt. I don't even think LMH knows how he should be acting, and it shows. What we get is an incredibly haughty, emotionless, monotone speaking, narcissistic ML, who KES decide to make omnipotent. Compared to other more traditional actors, who don't rely on looks, LMH's stiff acting, emotionless voice, and lack of any facial muscles, makes his acting as tiring as watching paint dry. The only emotion that you feel watching him is emptiness.

KGE on the other hand, tries her best to illicit some chemistry from LMH, but you can only get so much water from a stone. I am biased against KGE, because I hated her in Goblin, and still remember her character from there as incredibly annoying. But I will take her nubile Goblin Bride over this hardened female police office, who WILL NOT stop crying about everything. But STILL, she does better in her role than LMH.

The only advantage I can see about the parallel world concept is that it allows the better actors in the drama to show their acting range. Best example of this being WDH. His portrayal of ES and JY is superb, you feel more chemistry between these two than the Main Couple. SJ, is another standout from the show, as you could not help but root for him to have a satisfactory ending given his hardship. KES does a satisfactory job of creating supporting characters that we can care about. But unfortunately, after these characters are created, the plot then proceeds to either place them in the meat grinder, or remove their screen presence completely. This is tragic, because if you get as far as episode ten, you will start to appreciate the backstory, life, and character development of the supporting actors more than the Main Lead, only to see all that emotional investment go to waste. I myself have been absolutely devastated with the way the writing has treated the PM, a strong, independent woman.

One last thing I would like to touch on. Almost every cliffhanger in the show, has been anti-climatic, the cliffhanger happens at the end of the show, or is a minor/major plot twist in the middle. As viewers, we are often fooled by these plot devices because we think that they are important pieces of the KTEM puzzle; more often than not though, the logic, and reasoning of these plot device fall short of our expectation, and viewers often end up feeling disappointed to see such buildup, explained away in one to two sentences. The show really does a great job of pushing you away from the edge of your seat.

Long story short, KTEM is essentially a below average drama that was dressed nicely with a high production budget and big stars. The only thing KTEM manages to accomplishes in it's 16 episode run is to constantly disappoint it's viewers each week.

Would not recommend this drama even if you are a fan of the LMH and KGE.

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In all honesty, I actually really enjoyed TKEM. The buzz around the writer with LMHand KGE being high profile stars, I think was the cause of the "failure" of it in the eyes of many. I mean the pressure for TKEM to live up to all of the writer's previous massive successes like Goblin/Descendents/Mr. Sunshine....that's a lot of really high expectations...which means a much higher chance of failure. Not to mention, tackling time travel/parallel worlds and basically creating an entirely new world is not easy, especially trying to explain it all in 16 hours WHILE giving a story with conflict, action, romance, etc. I almost feel bad because the chance of success in the eyes of critical viewers was very limited.
The drama did start out slow and I think a lot of people from then on had their mind set that TKEM was a flop. Then proceeded to watch the rest of the drama basically searching for aspects to criticize. And I think that is one way to approach dramas by analyzing and scrutinizing anything and everything. But personally, I think that with that kind of mindset, you limited yourself to only a couple of shows that you actually like. I am not trying to discredit anyone and how they felt towards the show, however, I think a lot of the discussions centered around how bad the drama, actually deters a lot of people who would actually really enjoy the show.

Story-wise, the parallel world concept was fascinating and refreshing. I found it pretty easy to follow, but with any concept messing with time and space, it's bound to have cracks. There were plot holes(most of which I didn't even know were plot holes until I read discussion posts--so just don't read those and you will probably be better off) and areas where I wish the show would have done more in-depth. I also do think that in some episodes the story was stagnant and it wasn't doing a lot to move the plot forward, a missed opportunity to further develop the world/clarify some side stories. But if you don't focus on those aspects, they aren't bothersome and the main plot is interesting and at least for me, something new/different.

Acting: I liked KGE and LMH together, and I think that they did well with the roles. I'm definitely no expert, but I think I have around the normal person's ability to tell if the acting is stale, so for me, their portrayals were convincing and I really felt for and became invested in their characters. KKN & WDH also really delivered! I mean Jo Eun Seob and Jo Yeong were perfectly portrayed, props to WDH, I can't wait to see him in another drama. Not really a point on acting, but worth mentioning, the main thing that bugged me with the characters (not the actor's portrayal) was Tae Eul sudden switch from showing no interest and annoyance for Lee Gon and then suddenly her tough/snobby demeanor was gone. I think the writer could have made her feelings for Lee Gon melt away a lot more smoothly. Although, I don't agree with the criticism on why Lee Gon was in love with Tae Eul from the get-go. I can picture 8-year-old Lee Gon spending hours and hours holding onto the badge thinking of this mysterious savior, and pretty much becoming infatuated with the mystery girl (also, when do the falling in love process ever really "make sense" in dramas, I just enjoy the love story without questions! >∀ <)

Most of the OST playlist is still stuck in my head and while it's not the iconic Goblin OST, it's still great.

The cinematography and production is probably the least debated area because, well the millions of dollars backing the project went somewhere! Seriously, the scenes were beautiful, especially in the moments of the time stops. If anything, watch it for the visual appeals!

I never write my opinions/reviews on dramas so please forgive me if this is not super helpful/insightful, but I really wanted to do this because I hope someone will read it as realize that go into it without preformulated negativity around it, watch it and enjoy it for what it gives.

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Low expectations lead to thorough enjoyment

I think this show is the perfect example of how hype and anticipation ruined the experience.

I've been holding out watching this drama because of all the negative reviews but decided to give it a shot, and I can honestly say I was HOOKED. I'm so glad I watched it because I actually really enjoyed how complicated the story was because it left me wanting more. I found myself trying to connect the dots between the little details sprinkled into each episode to figure out what would happen next, and that's usually what makes me stick with a drama till the end. I feel like there were a lot of twists added to the stories that I just did not expect at all, and though some of the twists revealed sort of fell flat, I still found it exciting enough to keep going. To me, it was really the overall story driving the show rather than the characters (if that makes sense at all).

The acting was okay, I expected more from Lee Min Ho as I knew how much everyone loved him and this is the first drama I've watched with him in it! I thought that Woo Do Hwan's acting was absolutely breathtaking in this drama. He did such a good job that I was genuinely convinced Yeong and Eun Sap were different people. I expected a bit more chemistry between the main couple but I just loved the story so much that I overlooked this part.

I can understand the criticisms for this drama as there is definitely a lot left unsaid, but it's just one of those dramas that I expected so little from but ended up absolutely loving it. I would recommend everyone give it a chance despite the reviews! It may not be everyone's cup of tea but it quickly became one of my favorites by far.

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BEST DRAMA EVER!

I have watched a lot of dramas but The King: Eternal Monarch has by far been the best.

I loved the acting.
Lee Min Ho's acting was spot on. The way he portrayed his character was so life-like. The emotions he displayed were so on point that I often found myself tearing up in the sad moments and laughing in the playful ones.

Woo Do Hwan's acting was absolutely perfect. His acting was superb. His acting as Jo Yeong and Jo Eun Sub was so great, that I actually had to research to see if Woo Do Hwan had a twin brother. He portrayed both characters expertly. He gave each character their own personality and behavior. I could just make out who was who.

Kim Go Eun's acting was done amazingly. I don't think anyone could have done a better job. She captured the emotions just right and I felt as if I was really there watching them instead of sitting on my couch.

The OST was epic. I really have no words to express how perfect it was. The OSTs set the mood. If it was romantic scenes, heartbreaking scenes, happy scenes, or action scenes, the OSTs captured it perfectly. It was so great that I downloaded all the OSTs

This drama I can positively say was a work of art. Everything, to the acting, OSTs, the professionalism of the different sets made the drama more realistic and enjoyable.

I would definitely recommend this drama to anyone and everyone. It will make you want a season 2!

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Fantastic story captivating actors

This is one of my favorite K-dramas, I've watched it 3 times already. and each time added clarity to the complicated story. Will probably watch it again to figure out a few more characters. This is the first time I watch actor Lee Min Ho, and he is captivating. His portrayal of a King is eloquent and perfectly measured. A King's face may be taught to be stoic, but his feelings can't hide from his eyes. I ended up searching all his works on Netflix, Prime, Viki and YouTube and seem to watch him grow up from the time he was a teenager. What a delightful performer and actor he is. I look forward to seeing all his future work. The leading lady, Kim Go Eun, is naturally beautiful, she can show such strong raw emotions. I had delayed watching TKEM due to seeing some poor reviews, but I'm totally fascinated by this powerful fantasy movie. I saw many reviews saying the love between the King and plain Detective to be rushed and not believable. But I can understand why she would have developed caring and protective feelings for a King who had been orphaned from childhood. She, herself, having lost a Mother at age 5, would definitely have soft feelings for another soul who lost a parent at an early age. Perhaps some viewers just saw a powerful King living in a rich palace, but she would’ve seen a sad soul who had to appear strong, but had all the hurts and loneliness of being an orphaned child, as only those who have experienced it would know. Had you seen him from that angle, you would’ve given him a loving hug and understanding as well. She Immediately loved him, because they understood each other’s pain behind their masks. As a King, he must hide his feelings. As detective, she chose to be brave to hide her inner hurt as well.

For me, the concept of parallel worlds and existences was fascinating. Imagine if Korea fought off its aggressors in the 1800’s, avoided being colonized, and maintained its Kingdom till modern times. How different a world that may be. Why was it even compared to real world as we know? Who is to say how this fantasy world should be like?

We all think of other worlds and existences in various forms. I found it fascinating !

I am a retired from the US, with plenty of time to rewatch this drama, and others that touch the heart !

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Amazing

What an amazing drama. Honestly, what can I say that's bad about it? Nothing. It was completely new and like nothing I've seen before. It was really different and fantastastical. It had romance, humour, fight scenes, and fantasy elements. All in all, it was just a really great drama. I loved it a lot and the ending was perfect and made sure everyone got their happy ending. I would for sure rewatch it and recommend it to anyone. Don't let the bad reviews get to you and stop you from watching because we all have different tastes and to those who are up for trying it out, I would definitely back you up! Good luck and enjoy.

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The nerd in me loves this drama in its entirety.
The cast, the directing, the production, the storyline, the screenplay and even the multitude numbers of product placements which at one point simply became amusing...
I guess; it was very expensive to keep up with the Haute Couture fashion for the entire royal crew from the Kingdom of Corea. They needed those product placements.

Although I enjoy watching it to the very end; I feel rather unsatisfied with Lee Gon and Tae Eul‘s ending. Traveling into different parallel universes and time periods are all fun and game; however, I wanted to see a royal wedding, a royal queen coronation and a stable lifestyle... So to speak...
The scientist in me understands that it is against the rules to have both Luna as a detective and Tae Eul as the crowned queen living in the same universe.
Nonetheless, the irrational romantique in me wants Lee Gon and Tae Eul to be the royal couple that rules over the kingdom.

*All in all, both the scientist and the romantique in me adored this drama.

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To be honest this drama is not for everyone.
You might have to watch a few episodes more than once to understand what the writers are trying to show us.

The main idea is pretty good and well thought even if sometimes the execution fails to make us understand what is going on.

However I enjoyed every minutes of it and was excited each week to discover a new episode.

The first 3 episodes have some boring moments but after that it’s hard not to get into this drama. despites a few plot holes (but which drama doesn’t have some???) this was very unpredictable and entertaining.

The music and the actors are pretty good. It was my second time seeing a drama with Woo Do Han after Mad Dog and I’m not disappointed.

I’m just sad to say goodbye and I can’t wait to watch another drama with these actors. I’m gonna miss this drama

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HI! This is my first time writing review, I normally don't like to write a review, I prefer to read other reviews that leave mine, but on this one, I really had to. I saw all the comments and reviews about this drama, about the lack of many things, but in my case I really Loved it! I really love Romance dramas, it just my cup of tea.

I read some reviews about the lack of chemistry or why the ML & FL love each other so much in so little time, I normally see those comments on the modern dramas, but on Costume/History/Period dramas they are just like that , they fall in love at first sight and they barely touch each other hands and they give each other lives like there is no tomorrow and they still get good reviews.

Going to the point, I really liked this drama, the story line, the actors where amazing, they had great chemistry, the OST just beautiful, for the ML & FL I understood their love for each other, I was happy with them and I was sad as well, I could feel how much he loved her, despite how little time they had since they met, every time they see each other again, they hug so tidily that made cry, I will feel the same way if my beloved one is been missing for days with out not knowing what happen to them, for me every time they were together it felt real( I just missed probably few more kisses in the forehead or cheeks every time they meet).

How can someone be so young in his actions and at some point and them so little change to be this strong king like that , but I see why, He loved her, and will fight the world and time for her love. FL has strong character and she is a girl in love as well, she can't act like nothing has happen, when she hasn't see him in some time, knowing that something might happen to him, she escaped from danger and din't back down that easily, and still fight for her love as well, knowing that might not be tomorrow.

The supporter characters where amazing, just on the down side for me, they where a lot of them, sometimes it was hard for me to follow some of their stories, but it wasn't anything major problem for me, the main support characters I liked their stories, and help the story line as well. They only one that I find that has to much screen time was the Prime minister and she didn't help to much in the story, if she would be the main villain that would it be understandable.

The story line about time and parallel universe, I really liked and liked the ending, because I understood why is that ending ( Not a sad ending at all), but I understand, I can see the point of view of the writer. The ML/FL put the well been of everyone, not just their own lives and still manage to be happy.

The OST! I loved it so so much! The song My Love by Gummy, I felt in love with that song and Maze too, they are so beautiful.
Rewatch value, Yes! I probably rewatch it in few days, just in case I missed something the first time and will rewatch all my favorite parts of the drama again, I felt like if there were questions they answered it. If I don't understand a part of the drama, I go back and rewatch again, so I can understand, why not? That is why I like to watch the dramas once they're finish, so I can replay the parts that I might not understand.

I really recommend it, if you really like romance that goes beyond time and space, I wish that they had more beautiful scenes together. they were beautiful on each of them. I really enjoyed this drama!

Thank you!

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A masterpiece lost because of the haters

I don't know where to start lol
For me, it was a very wonderful drama, I enjoyed every moment while I watched it .. It was really a luxurious drama ..
I don't understand the reason for all the fuss about this drama as it was badly criticized! And the biggest reason for criticism was the large number of ads! Is this really a convincing reason! Is the story really badly complicated! For me, it is a distinct drama in that the story is written with a plot, and this is what distinguishes the writer, and also you must follow the episodes at every moment in order not to miss a new secret .. Really amazed me by the beauty of the story so that it was not just a fairy tale about love and revenge, but rather a well-written story ..
As for the ads, that did not bother me at all, because because of the large budget of the series, they had to compensate for that through advertisements, but the director tried to place ads in several ways, but they were very visible, but that's okay. This is not a convincing reason to hate the series ..
As for acting, the whole crew has excelled in acting. I really lived in the series hahaha
If you like special, luxurious and extraordinary series, follow this series. I promise you will not regret and Do not take the words of the critics into account .. Really, this series has been wronged by some of the haters ..
I fell in love with the series and the entire cast. It's a show for high-end minds only, not for the trivial ^^

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Outstanding female characters...

This drama is a must watch.
The first few episodes may come of as confusing, but once you're past that this drama will take you in for a ride. And it's an amazing ride.
The casting is perfect, the female characters are complex, smart and strong (every single one of them). The second male lead is another perfect character with so much to tell. Overall all the actors have done their characters perfectly.
The villain is great too.

Personally this is a perfect drama with time travel, adventure, thriller, a crazy villain, best female and male characters, romance, heart wrenching drama, having perfect dialogues and ending.

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