King the Lander (2023)

So much Sweetness that it will give you DIABETES!

"All the fan service and cringe of K-dramas rolled into one drama" would be the best description for this. What's the point that the writers wanted to convey would be one question few would have answers to. Another one of recent addition to K-dramaland which started strong but after 6 episodes became a chore with repeated sequences and cliched love scenarios. There is nothing in terms of screenplay and story building.
Positives: If you are in the 'honeymoon' phase of a relationship with your partner this would feel like a good watch. The side characters had better development than the leads.
Negatives: Should have been a 8 to 10 episode drama. People who don't like stories dragged like a chewing gum should avoid it.

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offensive drama

the answer provided by jtbc for ep 7 content was a diplomatic answer.
As if they didn't know it was offending.
I mean muslims and arabs in general are known for being conservative.
They would never do the things depicted in the drama.
It was highly offensive and thoughtless.
They have no excuse since a quick google search would have prevented the incident.
Their goal right now is to limit their loss, hence the half-baked apology. I hope thks incident prevents any more belittling to arab and muslim culture.
This incident is not the first in the kdrama world.
In shooting stars, africa was depicted as a hungry, poor coutry that didn't even have electricity waiting for the white korean to save them (for commercial purposes)
In descendants of the sun, arabs were depicted as terrorists and criminals.
This lack of respect for the arab and muslim culture needs to change.

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too corny

I guess they tried to make a wholesome kdrama but it turned out boring, because nothing ever happens! And even the "dramatic" scenes or the "dramatic" part of the story was emotionless.

The main couple lacked of chemistry and sometimes it felt like they were siblings. Maybe it was the acting but Gu Won lost his personality completely almost at the end of the show. Like I get he was in love and everything but it felt like I was watching a completely different character.

Some characters and situations doesn't make sense and I found the whole plot mid.

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A stress-free story with the theme of sincerity.

Whether it's romance, family, or career; the series shows us that if do things with sincerity, it will not go unnoticed. Not everyone will be moved by it, but there will always be people who will see and feel it. The story is simple, nothing ambitious or unique. However, the chemistry, the heartfelt moments, and honest interactions between characters made this series very memorable for me.

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● SHORT REVIEW
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LIKES:
-- Very likable leads and a mature relationship. Loved the chemistry. A very capable female character and a very green-flag and sincere male lead.
-- Good communications between the lead. Very drama-free relationship
-- Lots of cute moments


DISLIKES:
-- While I loved Ro Woon with Pyung Hwa, his inclusion in the Sibling Six or whatever they called themselves felt rushed. Would've loved to see more development and him building relationhip with the others.
-- The resolution for both Pyung Hwa's and Da Eul's felt too easy given the time we spent seeing their struggle.
-- Sa Rang's exile to the tourist hotel seemed pointless to me since she was easily brought back to King The Land. Just felt like a nice vacation to me.


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● IN-DEPT REVIEW
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[ --STORY/PLOT-- ]

The story around the workplace politic and the power struggle between the brother and sister wasn't something I was super interested in. I can't even say that it was the journey of their love that kept me interested as they got together relatively quick. What truly captivated me about the series were the characters themselves and the sincere interactions between them, whether it be cute, funny, heart fluttering, or just pure honesty.

Gu Won is our main male lead. Initially, he was just some chaebol who hated pretentious smiles and could not care less about his family's hotel business. However, he became more interested in the hotel when he meets Sa Rang, whom he falls for. What I absolutely loved about his pursuit of her is was his sincerity and willingness to learn how to be in a relationship. He got to know her bestest friends and her grandma, and they all had advice for him. The core advice was honesty and clarity. Showing how we feel with actions is great, but saying how we feel and what we're thinking helps avoid drama and miscommunication. It's also very romantic to me. Consent is also very sexy. Loved that he asked permission before kissing her during their date. Also, Gu Won's dad was a very likable parent for me. He never really forced his son (mostly since he knew he couldn't) and there were lots of nice father-son moments where he was understanding. The only thing I disliked was when he sent Sa Rang to the tourist hotel. I don't even know what the point was since Won easily just brought her back.

Sa Rang is our beautiful female lead. She is a very capable and hard working girl. She doesn't needs much saving for the most part and was able to take care of herself. The employees of King The Land did not like her at first but her sincere attitude won them over eventually. Sa Rang's growth in this series has less to do with her character development, but more a realization on what she truly wanted to do as her dream career. I wished we had spent more time earlier in the series to build up to the idea of Sa Rang wanting to start her own hotel. Maybe they did sprinkle the idea that she was not happy doing what she was doing subtlely and I missed it, but it felt sudden to me. I'm happy though that she found what she wanted to do at the end. I also absolutely loved Sa Rang's grandma. Most memorable for me with her was where she was helping Won set up a savings account, it really touched me.

They pair was great at talking to each other. There was a lot of honesty between the characters and I'm thinking that's what I like so much. Even the interaction between the villain and her brother was for the most part very honest. And the characterizations of the characters were honest in that we knew who to root for and who not to.


[ --ACTING/CAST-- ]

I can't lie, 2PM was the first KPOP ground that I really got to know so the members hold a special place in my heart, even if they aren't my favorite group. With that said, I think this the first series with Junho that I was interested in seeing. I might go watch some of his previous stuff later but they're not super high priority. Watching King The Land, however, did leave a good impression on me with his acting. And I loved his chemistry with Im Yoon Ah. She's so pretty. I need to dive deeper in Girls' Generations. I think everyone did a group job, I felt the feels when I needed to feel them. Special shoutout to Kim Sun Young who play Won's sister. Great antagonist!

[ --MUSIC/OST-- ]

"Yellow Light" from Gaho and "Confess To You" from Kim Ye Yim both stood out to me as my favorites, but all the OST were great! Need to relisten to some of them and see which ones I need for my playlists, but they're all great songs. Not much else to say in that regard.

[ --REWATCH VALUE-- ]

I can't say I will watch this in its entirety but there were so many cute, romantic, and funny scenes that I adored. So I wouldn't watch it again for the plot, but I would rewatch clips just to feel the butterflies.

[ --FINAL THOUGHTS-- ]

So my overall impressions was that this was a very light, fluffy cute series where I didn't need to stress about the villain, overthink anything, or even get overly frustrated by anyone. Very stress-free watch for me. It was funny and it was romantic. Checks both the boxes for a romcom for me. Also, lots of scenic scenes. Loved Thailand. Loved the forest vibe of the tourist hotel. Loved the cityscape shots. Yeah, this was an easy watch and very enjoyable watch. I've watch so much kdramas so one would think it would be boring and stale for me, but it wasn't. This series has a lot of charm due the characters and I definitely recommend watching it at least once.

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● NOTE
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I'll always conclude my review by saying that ratings and reviews is not really a indicator of whether you may enjoy something. We all have different criteria and standards. Don't let a bad rating, review, or comment discourage you from watching something. My advice will always be to give something a chance if the premise interests you, and only use the ratings/reviews to determine priority if you have a list, or if you're deciding if you want to continue it due to time limitations.

♥ Thanks for reading my review! Feel free to comment or hit me up if you want to discuss anything ♥

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Follows the RomCom blueprint.

There’s nothing particularly bad about this. To me it was boring and I background-watched it, meaning I was either doing sudoku, painting my nails, or scrolling through/playing with my phone while it played. The only reason I stuck to it was Lee Junho.
I'm not necessarily a fan who keeps up with everything that he does but to me, he's the best idol-turn-actor I've seen yet and if I'm scrolling and see his name I click. And yes he is magnificent down to every little detail of his character, and let's be honest he looked extremely dapper in a suit.
Other than that the story was a little boring to me because there was no real pushback from anyone ( the sister was a big letdown for me) and the big mystery surrounding his mother's whereabouts was revealed in the most anti-climatic way they could think of and it took less than an episode for the whole reveal.
Every problem the FL and her friends were going through got resolved in the most idyllic way too. As you know it's not very realistic.
Now why did I say there's nothing particularly bad about this? Because your enjoyment of this drama will depend on what you're looking for. If you're looking for fluff and love and rainbows, something to get you away from the harsh realities of this world, then this one is definitely for you.
I'm just confused as to why I was not particularly in love with this one. It had its moments where I was hooked because Gu Won was swoon-worthy, the comedic timing was wacky and I loved it and the little side noona romance was a win in my books. Maybe it was not my moment to watch it or maybe it was Yoonah because, for some reason, I always have the hardest time finishing anything that she's in.

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I tried so hard to like it...

I tried, I swear I tried so hard to like King the Land but with each episode that passed and I thought "oh, now I'm going to start liking this" and suddenly I was dragged down again
This was simply one of the worst scripts I've ever seen in my life... it has no story, no emotion, no substance, it's empty, superficial
The main couple is very cute and very mature, and maybe if the plot had stayed ONLY with the two of them the story would have been more enjoyable

The whole story of the hotel is just laughable and I can't believe an adult wrote this. When I was 10 years old, I would have written something more in-depth about work environment and equality.

The secondary characters didn't win me over too.
To be honest, nothing beat me and I could even give this Drama a worse rating .

But to be fair, I just watched Twenty Five Twenty One and it was a Drama that touched my soul so deeply, it was so well produced, so well set, with cinematography and scripts so richly made that I may be weighing my criticism of King the Land because I am completely biased by 2521.
But now I watch this and it's so poorly developed that the disappointment hits harder I feel.

I didn't expect too much about this drama but somehow it turned out worse than expected.

so I give it a 5, but I could easily give it a 3-4

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Rom-com for teens maybe

Nothing can impress you about this production if you have gained little maturity!!! Full with brand promotion !!

1. The ML has no work to do, no ambition, no motivation ( total spoiled brat!) until he met the FL and falls for her without any reason. This absurdness just got carried and repeated illogically for Arab prince in another episode. This raised a confusion if the FL is presented to be most beautiful?? if she is then why not every other male falls for her except selectively rich young males? WTH.
2. The ML had mommy-issues and the suspense around the mommy just was hype. However, the first maturity or sensible behavior was presented by ML only when he interacted with his mom . That was really great scene with a lot of sensible conversations and expressions. Most powerful part of the whole series, I would say.
3. The ML always wears very respectful mask around all the people rgardless how poor or rich the person is, but is unexpectedly rude towards his best friend till the end. I understand they are sketched to be very close, but that one-way insulting behavior is very contradictory to his whole personality.
4. No work, full of romantic talks are so damn boring. The ML just have tooooooo much free time. He even disrespectful towards FL's professional work time. I also dont understand how the FL falls for ML ? Maybe because he saved her life? Maybe
5. The side stories also have very weak plot but I enjoyed them more than the main story. The feminism brushed plot of Da Eul's married life had simply no logic. How she just was getting exploit by her husband and in-laws very very badly when she suddenly change the plot totally upside down in fraction of seconds??? It was most weird and unrealistic plot-twist. Same kinda goes for P Hwa's storyline too.
6. There was no logic when the FL was transferred to another hotel by ML's father when almost everyone knows where she went. What was the need for that drama? Maybe the dad had an ulterior motive and wanted to revive the broken business with help of the "best talent" and his super-talented son . Dang, he had really big brain, LOL
7. I think its just very very common story with full of unrealistic plots that only teens and starter drama-lovers can enjoy. If you have enjoyed really good K-dramas before, you will feel like waste of time.
8. Why I started to watch and finish it? Started it because it popped up in my suggestion list in NETflix with a good rating and finished it because I dont know, maybe wanted to change my taste and reset it to enjoy or find the next drama?

Summary: Nothing special, nonsense story, over-hyped and overrated.

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'Don't' king the land !!!

Ahhh!!! Where should I start from ?

First I will talk about the Reasons to drop this show ..and trust me I have plenty ..
1) this drama has absolutely no story ..I mean it .. no story at all. The plot is flat ..like you are watching few individuals vlogging their everyday life. Come on!!

2) the consipiracy and suspension which is barely there, has no pinch of creativity to it.

3) absolutely lifeless dialogue writing which is apparently full of cringe , I mean you cannot find even a single phrase in entire 16 episode show , that retains in your mind as a good dialogue iykyk.how can any writer be so 'talentless'. There is only go- hard ,go-hard type nonsense.

4) well I am not the fan of these lead actors either .. their looks are just average and acting is even more pathetic . How in the Mary's world can you call her smile 'million dollar worth' beautiful?? 5$!!! i will pay maximum 5 $ for her smile . And my dear ML has no expression, I don't know if it's his botox or something else that man has same expression throughout the show, when he is happy, jealous or sad he looked the same. While he is quite popular in the list of top actors on MDL ..but how and why he is popular ??? Please Don't ask me.

5) no msg to the story ... I know a lot of dramas fall in no msg category but they commonly compensate it with an entertaining story ...meanwhile this drama has neither story nor msg ..AN ABSOLUTE WASTE OF TIME.

Now I will come to the reasons for which you can barely sit in front of screen and pretend like you are watching this show ( no reasons to watch for real)

1) the cindrella story plot ... See!! if you are the type who can watch just anything as long as FL and ML are in love and if you are a fan of rich guy falling for pauper girl ..you can definitely give it a try.

2) the trip/vacation segments were okaish ..

3) the segments where FL and her besties celebrating each other special occasions were the best segments in my opinion. Those scenes were funny and entertaining.plus it was refreshing to see the emphasis on sisterhood.

In the end I still can't convince myself to convince someone else to watch this show ... This one was Totally waste of time and mood as far a my taste is considered.

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Watch with a cup of tea on Saturday, it's slice of life romance drama.

This drama piqued my interest because the promo said about "typical romcom". This sets my expectation on the right level as I don't expect them to have a big life and death plot or epic twist.
The great things of this drama imo is the chemistry. It build up, it breathes and let the couple talk a lot, stealing glances, shows their hesitation, shows their willingness to try, shows their disagreement and then makes them fall in love.
They aren't interested on each other right away but you know they will when you left them on the same work trip

What I appreciate the most is this drama feels like slice of life and full of relatable things despite the fairy tale base for the story.
Chaebol X Best Talent romance is not really happen in real life but as individual, the leads felt real.
You have female lead that works hard and prove that she deserve her spot with natural acting from the female lead.
You also got a very cliche male lead who actually listen to people around him and acted so endearing by the male lead.

I watch and finish the drama for this character and feel like life can be beautiful too and in my personal experience, strangely super relatable.
Perfect after a long hard day for me.
I think what sells it the most is the acting, not just from the main cast but for all of the cast, the supporting cast is dream comes true because they are really good on their own.

This drama has the cons, like the plot can meander to some places to do a side quest, the blatant product placement and the "vacation episode". So yeah if you waiting for the event to happen, it may not be a drama for you but do try, or you can watch the compilation of scenes on youtube to pique your interest.

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Good for close-ups of Junho, but that's it

"I could stare at Lee Jun Ho all day long cos that man is both gorgeous and a talented actor...." Sums up why people are still watching this show.

The plot is completely shallow... Close-ups of Junho while he's being kind, aloof, sexy, vulnerable, cooking for her, etc. are carrying this show.

However, for me, the complete lack of character or real plot development make it too boring to really enjoy

Yes, Junho is hot. Yes, it has funny moments... but they never give any backstory to why Evil CEO (lady hotel manager) is evil. We're on episode 10 and there's still no hint of what happened with either of their mom's for them to be at odds with each other. At the same time, it's a bit predictable, because it's obvious (I'm calling it now) that his mom will turn up at some point and stick up for Yoona in the darkest hour kind of thing. (I also just don't really find Yoona an interesting or compelling female lead, she reminds me of PMY in FLAW.)

*Yawn* I'm not sure I can finish this one... especially when Love To Hate You is so much better.

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Classic Rom-com style

This was a nice, old-fashioned Korean rom-com – no vengeance, no torture, no zombies, just two people trying to live their best lives and almost accidentally falling in love. Of course, you have to have either the evil mother, mother-in-law, or evil stepsister, and we had an supremely evil sister. There were two side romances, one featuring an rotten boss who needs a come-uppance, and the other a lazy husband who needs a reality check. Ahn Se Na lent comic relief very nicely.

And because this is a classic style, it all ends very satisfactorily, and it’s just feeling good at the end. Absolutely don’t turn off the last episode too soon – you don’t want to miss the Epilogue, which is a delightful gender reversal of one of the most tired rom-com tropes. Probably lovely to binge watch on a rainy day, or when it’s just too hot to do anything else.

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Honey dripping from the eyes (Sooo in love) ?

I haven't watched much Kdrama in the past 4 years, because of the heavy drama and angst. But this one was something different, it wasn't heavy, didn't have that rich man/poor woman cliche angsty story, instead the romance was just so sweet and beaitiful to watch. The friendship was beautiful as well.

Yoona and Junho has amazing chemistry in this, they looked so great together in this. They acted really well, you could see honey dripping from their eyes. You can tell so much how much they loved each other, the character development for the ML was great, both personal and professionally.

The OSTs in this was great, there were a few that played during sweet moments and they were sooo sweet, the melody was beautiful and matched very well with the romance.

I absolutely loved the friendship they all devloped and that there wasnt any unnecessary backstabbing etc.

If you want something sweet, simple and romantic then its an easy watch, i left feeling so content and happy. I blushed, laughed and smiles every episode. ❤️ 😍

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