Thoughts On The King: Eternal Monarch

The chemistry between the leading actors felt odd. I really could not understand how they could mess this up since this is Lee Min-ho. He is just perfect for the role. The scenes with Lee-gon and Jung Tae-eul lacked that romantic feeling that kdramas are notorious for. I even found myself cringing during kissing scenes. When Jung Tae-eul confessed her love to Lee-gon, I was like "wait,... what!... already!" Their courtship, which should have been like a 5-course dinner in a restaurant, felt more like drive-thru at a fast food.

Product placement was distracting, awkward and shameless. All the kdramas I've watched had some form of product placements (sandwiches, cosmetics, cars, fried chicken, cup noodles) but none so blatant as this. It's like watching a short commercial within the drama. Product placement, if done well, is a brilliant form of marketing. (Until now, I still can't forget Rachel Green's apothecary table from Pottery Barn!) But if the execution is not tasteful and subtle, then it just comes off as annoying and awkward. It would have been more effective if the product was thoughtfully incorporated into the script and not just inserted like an afterthought. I especially did not see the relevance of that facial contraption that looked like Ironman's mask!

Characters left hanging with no purpose. This drama had a very promising beginning but lost its momentum in the middle and fizzled out in the end. Some characters were developed and then nothing. An example would be the lady Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Corea Koo Seo-Ryeong. She was driven with ambition to reach the top. Her character was being groomed as a hurdle for the main leads' love story or perhaps as an opponent for the throne. In the end, she really did nothing. Her character ends up weak, helpless and disregarded.

Disappointing ending to an ambitious science fiction. The premise was interesting but too ambitious. First, parallel universes: each actor plays 2 very different characters living in parallel worlds. So evidently, your cast is doubled. To make it more confusing, some characters switch places with their counterparts. Some are killed off and replaced by their counterparts living in the world they don't belong in. To top it all off, it turns out that time travel is also possible! So while watching this, my brain is trying to process the following: 1) In which Korea/Corea is this scene happening? 2) Which character is this actor playing, really? 3) Which period in time am I watching?

Here is where the problem lies: too many layers and not enough focus on the core of the drama. Before I can even appreciate what's happening in the story itself, I'm already too confused and tired to care. I continue watching expecting an ending that will tie up all the loose ends neatly. So how does Lee-gon stop the overwhelming attack of his uncle? He goes back in time to when it all started, kind of like "Back to the Future". I mean, it's a solution but I was expecting a more original ending than this. Having endured the plot twists and confusing overlaps in characters, plus the awkward love story, time travel seems a little bit too convenient of a solution for me. In the end, everything just felt half-cooked.

That legendary flute. The Manpasikjeok, the legendary flute, had the power to stop wars, end famine, travel through time and save the world. In the end, Lee-gon and Jung Tae-eul used it for dating?!!

So, would I recommend King: Eternal Monarch? No, I would not. If you are a Lee Min-ho fan, there are other kdramas out there for you.