Title : The King: The Eternal Monarch, The King: Monarch of Eternity, The King, The King: The forever sovereign
Episodes : 16
Genre : Fantasy, Romance, Drama, Parallel Universes, Politics, Mystery
Story : 5 out of 10
Characters : 6 out of 10
Cinematography : 6 out of 10
The King: The Eternal Monarch tried hard, but it didn’t make it.
Story
Yi Gon is the king of Corea, a kingdom in a parallel universe. He had lost his father in an ambush, arranged by his uncle, in which the latter intended to kill young Yi Gon if it wasn’t for a stranger who arrived just in time to save him.
The stranger had left behind a police badge with the name Tae Eul on it and the date of a future year. Since then, Yi Gon had been trying to access the gates of time and to go through them in order to find Tae Eul.
And, after years of trying, he finally crosses to contemporary Korea, where police officer Tae Eul arrests him for riding a horse in the middle of the city. At first, Tae Eul isn’t convinced that the crazy man with the horse is indeed someone from another universe, but Yi Gon is persistent. And, when he takes her along to his world, Tae Eul will start to discover that they weren’t the only ones traveling through space and time.
The King: The Eternal Monarch had a nice start and an interesting idea, however, they didn’t handle things that well.
First of all, there were problems with the romance. The couple lacked chemistry, which didn’t aid their weak and absurd love story. The pace was also awful, as Yi Gon confessed to Tae Eul as soon as they met and then, even though she didn’t really fall for that, she somehow decided that she loved him after all.
The whole romance was out of the blue and unconvincing, which harmed the rest of the drama, as that was its main plotline. The rest of it focused on the mystery of the uncle and the travel through universes.
The whole evil uncle who manipulated time and the course of events, though it looked cool and intriguing at first, it ended up tiring and over the top confusing. There were too many characters who weren’t properly developed, too many events that were linked to each other, and too many flashbacks for that matter.
Also, the product placement in this drama seriously disturbed the plot, as they were ridiculous and too often used.
Characters
Yi Gon is the young emperor of the kingdom of Corea. He lost his father when he was young, in a coup where he almost got killed himself. Since then, he had been trying to find the way to meet his savior, a woman who traveled through time and space.
Though Lee Min Ho gives a strong appeal to the drama, the weak script along with the repeated patterns just didn’t help him.
Tae Eul is a police officer whom Yi Gon is looking for. She was raised by her father, who owned a Taekwondo academy, and she is a strong, energetic and loud young woman who can do anything to discover the truth.
Kim Go Eun had a nice dynamic at first with Lee Min Ho, but their romantic chemistry didn’t really work.
Jo Young is the king’s bodyguard. Knowing him since they were kids, Jo Young is a cold, realistic character who can risk anything to save his best friend.
Woo Do Hwan was a nice addition to the cast and he did a really good job with his double character swap.
Catch up with Woo Do Hwan by watching his other drama KDrama My Country: The New Age
Shin Jae is Tae Eul’s colleague. They’ve known each other for years, when Shin Jae joined Tae Eul’s father’s academy. He has been in love with her, but hadn’t told her, as his life is difficult and complicated.
Kim Kyung Nam did a great job with his characters and his performance was really good.
Catch up with Kim Kyung Nam in the KDrama Special Labor Inspector Jo and K Drama Where Stars Land
Cinematography
The drama tried hard to make a fantastic cinematography, however, it often felt like it was forced and created to impress. Also, some of it looked fake.
Overall
My overall rating for the korean drama The King: The Eternal Monarch is 4 out of 10. The story was confusing and boring after the first few episodes and the romance was unconvincing.
Take a peek at the trailer
Disclaim : I do not own the pictures or videos on this post. The links for those are under the pictures. Credits to the owners
K&J Reviews 
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