The King: Eternal Monarch episode 11 & 12 Discussion Post

[babyjenkski.livejournal.com]

Drama: The King: Eternal Monarch
Hangul: 더 킹: 영원의 군주
Director: Baek Sang-Hoon
Writer: Kim Eun-Sook
Network: SBS
Episodes: 16
Release Date: April 17, 2020 --
Runtime: Friday & Saturday 22:00

Cast: Lee Min Ho (Emperor Yi Gon), Kim Go Eun (Lieutenant Jung Tae Eul / Luna), Woo Do Hwan (Jo Eun Sub / Jo Young) Kim Kyung Nam (Gang Shin Jae), Jung Eun Chae (Goo Seo Ryung), Lee Jung Jin (Yi Rim), Kim Young Ok, Jeon Bae Soo, Seo Jung Yeon, Park Won Sang, Kim Yong Ji, Heo Dong Won, Jeon Moo Song, Ahn Shi Ha, Kang Hong Suk, Lee Hae Young, Lee Hong Nae, Park So Jin, Park Hoon, Lee Ho Chul, Baek Hyun Joo, Song Sang Eun, Kang Gi Doong, Kim Hyung Woo, Choi Woo Seong, Hwang Se On, Park Ji Yun, Yang Jo Ah, Jang Hae Min, Yoon Jung Hyuk, Kim Wook, Kwon Yool, Jung Hyun Joon, Jung Shi Yool, Joo Ye Rim

Plot: Yi Gon is the third Korean emperor of his generation. His citizens regard him as the perfect leader. But behind this flawless appearance, hides a deep wound. When he was eight years old, his father was murdered before his eyes following a coup. Today, instead of respecting his filial duty, he prefers to escape the palace to attend university conferences. During one of his escapades, he sees himself propelled into a parallel world where he meets Jung Tae Eul, an inspector with whom he teams up with to defeat the criminals but also close the door between their two worlds.

Source: Drama info and image from Mydramalist

You can watch on Netflix | Dramanice


How is it? I haven't seen these two episodes but will watch later. I've been checking out comments about the series on other sites and reactions of my friends in FB. And they confuse me. It's like we are all watching a different drama with the same title and cast. Parallel universe??? Some are extremely happy while some are not.

Comments

[timetobegin.livejournal.com]

I'm giving up. The only reason I made it ten episodes in is because I have the very bad habit of compulsively having to finish things I started no matter what. Sadly, this drama is just not solid or interesting and I can't say I'm invested in anyone other than Sin Jae. Which is also the one good thing I'll give this drama, letting me discover Kim Kyung Nam. I hope he snags a lead role for himself after this. I feel bad for Woo Doohwan - is he ever gonna star in a good drama that also does well? He certainly has the talent for it.

[babyjenkski.livejournal.com]

My Country did well and was well-accepted. and Woo Dohwan was really good together with the rest of the cast. I really hoped this follow-up drama would do well for him too but its still uncertain.

[timetobegin.livejournal.com]

My Country definitely has a positive reputation. Perhaps after he comes back from his military service KeyEast could hook him up with a quality project?

[yakuniku-8.livejournal.com]

These days, there are many dramas with older actors so it's not too late for him to find a good leading role when he comes back.

[yakuniku-8.livejournal.com]

I liked these 2 episodes OP.

Wa what an ending! I knew there was something strange with her but I didn't expect that.

This drama is so beautiful! Someone already mentioned that but when time stops it's beautiful: the red paint, the snow, the ring,... And when they were near the church, I could really feel Yi Gon's sadness.
The other scenes are stunning as well: the bamboo forest, horses running, the palace. The staff who worked on that did a fantastic job.

Also, finally we get some sweet moments between Yi Gon and Tae Eul!

[babyjenkski.livejournal.com]

OOOhhhh I love watching dramas with beautiful cinematography! I hope to finish my work early so I can start on these episodes already.

[yakuniku-8.livejournal.com]

Well, it's beautiful but it doesn't save the story. Don't expect too much ;)

[babyjenkski.livejournal.com]

Proceed with caution LOL

[mallmouse.livejournal.com]

the cinematography and the 3rd ML are literally what's keeping me from flouncing

[sweetestbliss1.livejournal.com]

Since there are only a few episodes left, I finally decided to watch the episodes as they come out instead of letting them pile up.

I think the drama is finally starting to pick up and get good but a little too late...The ending of ep 11 was great I thought. It was dramatic and I loved it (for once). That embrace was A+++, although I had to laugh at how fake and ridiculous it looked when Lee Min Ho drew his sword because you could tell he was riding a simulator and not on the actual horse (I think??). KGE's emotional acting is A+++. LMH did pretty well, too. I keep replaying the embracing scene in ep 12, although I felt like the dialogue was too long?? LOL. I was like she is clearly exhausted and wants to pass out, what's with all the talking (same with when she first wakes up)?? And I did not understand the gun part? Why did she need to point out there were bullets left?

I continue to hate how each new episode does not pick-up where the previous episode leaves off. It is annoying and kills the anticipation because you're just waiting for it to happen again and it really kind of makes the episode drag. When they first started framing the episodes like that, it was really confusing and made me think I missed an episode or was watching the wrong one.

Grandma Noh is from the republic???? Oh shizzzzzzz. I was not expecting that. Even more shocked about her than Shin Jae. Wonder why they brought her over and what her backstory is. I'm still trying to figure out why some people experience the lighting pain and others don't. Is it only if your doppelganger is dead? Did PM Koo kill her's?

Eun Sup better not die or I'll rage. He is easily (still) the best thing about the drama. Only watching for him and KGE. I am warming up to LMH, but I haven't watched him in anything since The Heirs (lol I know...) and before that was City Hunter.

If I had to describe this drama...it'd be that it is too complicated/confusing and too simple at the same time...there are too many characters to keep track of and they spent way too much time doing so (are they even that important??) and the main story line is just too simple and lacks depth. The episodes are so long and most of the time, nothing eventful happens.

[keytfelt.livejournal.com]

Out of all my complaints about this show, the plotting/editing/decision to continuously not start episodes where the last ended bugs me the most. I don't care at all about a cliffhanger if I have no idea how we got there and if we're going to see it happen again in context. And half the time it's still not explained well! If that was the decision they made once, fine. But continuously hoping around and confusing the audience was not a good choice.

The lightning pain is so interesting! It has to be about the doppelganger being dead because Tae Eul/Luna and Yeong/Eun Sup have dimension hopped and we haven't seen them in pain. But conversely Shin Jae has and his doppelganger is dead so maybe it's just if they were killed? Maybe it's if they were killed by someone from the other world? That would make sense for the majority of them, if the Prime Minister's is dead too. I don't quite get that though, did she potentially kill her so she couldn't be swapped out? IDK but she's shady and I'm disappointed she wasn't a better character.

I agree with your last paragraph. I'm still enjoying it and having fun watching and discussing, but it could have been so much more.

[sweetestbliss1.livejournal.com]

Yeah, the drama is already confusing enough, we don't need to add more to the mix with what I am assuming is a directorial choice. Just ughh.

Right, Shin Jae's doppelganger died by natural causes supposedly, so yeah, only if your doppelganger dies since Lee Gon's died and he didn't kill him himself. I think???

The drama really had great potential, but unfortunately the writer was a bit toooo ambitious (I think) and the overall execution was not that good. Pacing is a bit too slow, too. This drama is just confusing lol. I feel bad for the actors because this was being touted as the next big hit.

[babyjenkski.livejournal.com]

If I had to describe this drama...it'd be that it is too complicated/confusing and too simple at the same time...there are too many characters to keep track of and they spent way too much time doing so (are they even that important??) and the main story line is just too simple and lacks depth. The episodes are so long and most of the time, nothing eventful happens.

This is what most of my friends feels about this drama.

I still don't know how to describe it. It always goes back to...the plot is promising but they were not able to play it out well or fully utilize the capabilities of the actors.

[sweetestbliss1.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I feel bad for the actors as they probably thought this was going to be the next big hit! They did their best with what they were given, though.

Ughh I just saw some spoiler pics on IG by accident and now I'm mad I clicked on it lol

[babyjenkski.livejournal.com]

Ughh I just saw some spoiler pics on IG by accident and now I'm mad I clicked on it lol

LMAO awww shuckkkkss now I'm curious!

[sweetestbliss1.livejournal.com]

lol don't do it!

[juhli.livejournal.com]

I saw gifs of the neck kiss and wanted to start this but its not available in my countries netflix yet :(

[belintuchiha.livejournal.com]

The neck kiss was awkward af. At least the drama seems to be picking up. Not enough Woo Dohwan

[lechuza-yoya.livejournal.com]

when Yi Gon started to do all the calculations about the time stoping, what a drama queen is the writer but we knew! but we the ending he had less time. I really thought Tae Eul is gonna be luna but it looks like she does not wanna be part of it.

I think I miss the part when the minister goes to the republic.

[keytfelt.livejournal.com]

Talk about a twist with Court Lady Noh! That was set up really well and, for once, was a cliffhanger that won't be confusing and the next episode will have to go back and explain how we got to that point. I'm so over how they decided to tell this story. It's already confusing! We don't need to be jumping around in time more than we are! Explain things the first time please!

I saw a lot of people praising the end of ep 11 but once again the editing killed it for me. Tae Eul standing in the middle of the road, we hear a clamoring of footsteps, she's looking around and we see...no people anywhere near her at all? We honestly couldn't figure out if it was bad guys or the king's people because the bad guys never actually got near her in the frame? It was so strange. Anyway, the king and his men on horseback was fun, but when he started slicing down bad guys with the sword I was cracking up, the king is just killing or seriously injuring people, none of the SWAT guys are trying to protect Tae Eul, Gon could have just run up to her but instead had to sword slash so many people for the cool shots lol. And I still don't understand how he found her but whatevs. I'm never going to understand most of this show.

I swear, this better be the last time Woo Do Hwan gets shot/injured in this drama or I'm going to freak out. I'm glad he got more to do in ep 12 after 11 had like 15 seconds of him in it. A travesty. I need more of Yeong and Shin Jae together.

I've reached the point where if I forget the lack of lead up to the romance, I can be okay with them being cute now. I still don't totally buy it, but the characters are into each other, even if the writing to get there was horrid, so I'm happy for them lol. When they went to the church and Lee Gon asked the priest if he could keep a secret, my roommate and I were like "they're getting secret married!" and then it was just a picture, whomp whomp. I thought the neck kiss was surprising and well done. Get it, guys.

I thought the "every time time pauses it gets longer" was really cool, but once again, the writing and the editing are not showing that AT ALL and it's driving me crazy. Like, ok, I'm supposed to believe that during the time pause when they're outside the church, time is paused for like an hour? Sure. But the previous pause when Lee Gon throws the ring, it freezes, he grabs it and walks off, time is paused for like a minute or less. He walks away and his guard immediately catches up to him. If you're going to claim that there's more and more time frozen each time, show me that. I'm being told things that I'm seeing aren't true. It is super interesting though and I like that it shows that there has to be an end to this jumping back and forth. I am antsy to get to the time travel stuff though, there's only four episodes left and at least two time travel instances that we know of that we need to figure out how they time travel etc. Honestly would not be surprised if this writer pushes it off until the last episode and gives a very lackluster explanation.

[sweetestbliss1.livejournal.com]

I think one issue with the end of ep 11 also is that there was so much damn smoke? fog? They should have did more of a close up of the people running towards here for more impact. If I were LMH I would have just kept trampling people with my horse until I got to Tae Eul lol, but alas, needed the gratuitous fight scene shots. Yess I don't understand how he knew she was in danger or that she was in his world. I thought maybe he heard her message?? But he just somehow miraculously knew. And lol when he saw the video footage of her from the cop? He just.....sat there for a good minute? LOL shouldn't he had immediately rushed out??

If she just throws out any old explanation about the time travel at the last minute....-__-. Once again, an example of how she's being too ambitious?? Maybe she felt like she couldn't fit it all in 16 episodes, but like, not much has happened so far, so she could have? Maybe?????? IDK!! lol Too much of some elements, too little of others, just....womp.

[keytfelt.livejournal.com]

I also absolutely despise basically every item of clothing they're putting Take Eul in. There's not a single outfit in recent episodes I like any part of and it's bugging me because they're dressing her like that on purpose and it's so ugly. The king provides a closet's worth of clothing and she immediately goes for yet another tan coat and ugly outfit 🙄

[sweetestbliss1.livejournal.com]

lol I agree..the outfits they make her wear are a choice. They're going out of their way to make her look kind of tom-boyish and lots of layers and turtlenecks. I mean, I know she is a cop and supposed to be more "tough" and not your average female lead but ????

[4rang.livejournal.com]

The premise itself is interesting and could have made for a great story, but it's been really let down by the weak writing, directing, and editing. The few good elements and scenes are going to waste. I tend to watch dramas til the bitter end but I've given up, lol. Woo Dohwan is the saving grace for me and I'm just watching his cuts now. Yeong and Eunseob both better make it out alive and happy at the end.

[dafairyness.livejournal.com]

KES needs beta readers and her dramas should be in the can before airing.

I'm so exited Court Lady Oh's character is being used like this! I love Kim Young-ok!

[modestgoddess79.livejournal.com]

I almost quit watching because there was no Woo Dohwan. The editing is really testing my patience