O Rei: Monarca Eterno (2020)

I don't know why but I really enjoyed this drama, I think because it was different, like a story that you don't usually see in dramas.

I think I enjoyed the two different like worlds I guess, like how you were different in another world, and even if you see each other, it's not like you disappear or something!

I think I also enjoyed the mystery of it as well, like it was kinda murder mystery! This is also the drama that made me really like Woo Do-hwan, he was such a good looking bodyguard and was able to portray like two different characters, it felt like two different actors as well ! -

Yeah, I feel like all the different actors were able to portray the other side of them really well, you'd think it was two different people but it was the same! - and I do love the actors outfits in the more richer side of the world - with the glow facemask! Made me really want one -

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The story about the other dimension

Alurnya memang berbeda dengan film pada umumnya. Jadi menontonnya harus dengan suasana yang santai. Menontonnya tanpa di skip2 karena film nya harus berpikir keras......................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................

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The math isn't mathing... except for Woo Do Hwan that man's math mathes everyday

So I'm not going to lie, I really enjoyed the setup and even the middle of this show. It's entertaining, fast paced and has just the sort of tropes I like. The issue I have with it it's the story's resolution and most of the characters.

While there are no hateable characters. I found most of them to be pretty average. ML is okay I guess. He's a little bit flat in his delivery, but I think that's because he's this royal person who has to be stoic... but still, because he had some childish behaviors at times I didn't think he was completely stoic so it was odd. I found it hard to connect with him most of the time because of his lack of expression.

FL started out great, but ends up becoming a bit too dramatic. She honestly just cries for no reason at times, every time ML showed up she cried. Girl, this man hasn't been hurt once and ALWAYS came back for you, what made you think he was going to stay away? This dynamic just became tiring. If they had given us reason to worry about ML I would have bought FL's worry, but hoenstly? He's never in any sort of real danger. We know it, they know it... so the crying FL became unnecessary and just annoying because it kept happening after a certain point in the drama and it took a lot of screentime.

On top of that, the love story went from zero to a hundred. Maybe I'm more used to slow burn, but in one episode FL is annoyed at ML or at least she acts rudely towards him. (Understandable btw- the guy seemed crazy) And the next one she's confesing her LOVE? I understand if after proving he's not lying she decides to give him a chance but instead she confesed love? That escalated quickly.

However the love story is not awful, they do have chemistry on screen and the characters are okayish most of the time. All in all the love story has its cute moments at times, but it was more draggy than lovable. The leads are not entirely unlikeable , in fact I think I like them more when they are separated. They are much more interesting characters apart than together.

I really liked ML when he had to deal with the treason part of the plot and the FL when she had to do cop stuff - also the cop team is nice. I think my favourite was the "ganster" cop who was actually so soft and liked macaroons. What a jem.

The rest of the characters are okay. But there's a shit ton of them and I gotta be honest I lost track of whose mother suffering for her son I was watching at some points. Just how many crying moms are there in this drama? There was also a pregnant lady who got replaced by her counterpart in one world and that plot line went nowhere. There's just so many side plot things that go nowhere. Everything gets fixed somehow in the end by pure magic.

Honestly the saving grace this drama has and the reason for this rating to be above 6 is Woo Do Hwan. This man can act and he carried every scene he was in. He is a joy to watch on screen as both his roles and his characters are the most fun. I wish Jo Youngand Jo Eun-Sup were the protagonists instead... I flipping love these boys a lot. Their stories seemed to have the most heart in my opinion, and the most personal stakes. Young's undying loyalty and also respect for his friend the king and his duty as a personal guard... or Eun-Sup's love for his family and his relationship with his little siblings and Na-ri. Give me this drama instead. I loved how by the end Young became a bit more open towards people while Eun-Sup became a bit more professional. These two actually learnt from each other and became friends... and then--- those memories got erased. Lmao.

Ok here's where it gets tricky.

The writer tried to make this really convoluted plot involving one of the trickiest tools to pull off because it can create a lot of plot holes --- time travel. Now I'm all in when it comes to time travel, when it's handled well it creates majestic, adrenaline inducing stories that just leave you in awe and feeling extremely satisfied. When it is not well handled however, it creates time paradoxes and obvious plot holes.... this one, I am afraid, falls in the second category.

You had me until ML went back to fullfill his destiny and save himself as that was the start of the show. Brilliant. Saw it coming yes, but loved that things came full circle. THEN you lost me when he did it AGAIN to kill antagonist before he run off to the other world. Sir, are you aware that creates a huge paradox that means ML wouldn't have gone back in time in the first place to safe himself if he never had gotten the half flute thing? Are we just going to ignore that? Ok sure. Oh what is that? We're also conveniently have the two leads remember everything despite the huge sacrifice this impossible deed just did? Of course, no consequences. And also lets make most of these characters we care about forget about everything we just watched.

Heavy long sigh.

Look I'm all in for happily every afters, but they need to feel earned. This one just felt like plot armor for the sake of the love story. Simply put, the writer wrote herself into a corner and used time travel magic to fix everything, deliberately erasing everything from the reality we just watched but from ML's and FL's memories... also Young's at least he gets to keep his memories.

Towards the end things got unnecessarily complicated. The drama is not terrible, but it's very infuriating. There is some brilliant acting from Woo Do Hwan and some really good moments, but nothing that can make me rate this one higher than a 7.

TLDR; Watch it with low expectations and suspend your disbelief. Throw logic out the window and you'll get a tropy enjoyable time.

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Jo Young and Jo Eun Sup saved the show

I only watched and finished the series because of Jo Young and Jo Eun Sup because I liked them and wanted to know, if things will end up well for them. The romance of the main couple came out of nowhere - no depth and no chemistry. He was the exaggerated filthy rich prince charming on a white horse and she a wanna be tough girl. Why did she point Jo Youngs gun against Lee Gon and asking over again if it is real? Girl! Why do you have to see the gun and then point it towards a human without being threatened? There is absolutely no reason for that. Besides you are working for the police! You should know better how to handle firearms! Absolutely nonsense and stupid! And this minister was such a status hunter. After all there were too many points that upset me. Without Jo Young and Jo Eun Sup I would have droped the series quickly. I can not recommend it after all.

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Une histoire qui traite la théorie des cordes dans toute sa splendeur.
Je vais pas faire d'avis tres long qui prendera des minutes a lire mais j'ai fait ce review avant tout pour encourager les personnes qui m'ont pas encore visionnée cette merveille à le faire ...je n'allais pas le faire et je remercie dieu pour ne pas avoir cédé aux maivais reviews .
Je pense que les gens qui n'ont pas aimé n'ont soit pas compris le déroulement de l'histoire avec la théorie des univers parallèles_ que je comprend _n'est pas au gout de tout le monde...soit ils s'attendaient à une histoire banale sans cassement de tête.
L'histoire :est magnifique avec une cohérence surprenante où aucun detail n'est laissé au hasard.
Le travail des acteurs : une alchimie magnifique entre les différents acteurs qui donne un jeu fluide LMH a fait un retour en force .
La musique :est tres bonne sans être mémorable.
Je voulais pas vous gacher la série mais plutôt vous poussez à la regarder car elle en vaut la peine .
Par contre si vous chercher un scénario banal passez votre chemin.

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complicated plot

Complicated to bad plot with a happy ending!!
Let's start with the fact that I have seen dozens of fantasy dramas, most of them had both logic and some kind of message. I don't understand how the drama's ratings are so high when the reviews and plot are so bad.
The plot has every possible flaw, and only the casting of the main leads is what kept me going until the end of the episodes.
I started watching the drama several times and couldn't get past the first episode, in the end I decided to try again because of the ratings and the casting. ..what a disappointment, what a complicated and confusing plot (even for fantasy), so many characters, so many names (at a certain point you no longer remember who belongs to whom and in which universe).
I just want to say that even in fantasy dramas there is a certain logic, and in this drama I found nothing, so disappointing..
The music is okay to average.
It probably looks like a sophisticated drama, but - it really isn't
Plus, it's hard to ignore the amount of commercials in this drama.
Recommended viewing only for those who are really bored and still want to see favorite actors.

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The role behind which I can stand

Finally, Lee Min-ho proves that he actually has talent and isn`t just a pretty face. I have to be honest for a second and say that after watching "Boys Over Flowers" and "Personal Taste", I really started to lose hope for him and deeply questioned his hype. I still do that, as this is my first time seeing him actually ACT convincingly. I was about to give up, my guy!

I think that most actors here do a good job, but they also have a solid script to back them up. This is my first Kim Go-Eun drama and first off, I have to say:she is STUNNING. I am not usually one to comment on actor`s looks, as they don`t and they shouldn`t determine their ability to do their job, but she is a looker. And she`s also great in the role of uptight, serious, sarcastic police detective. I have to admit, I haven`t watched "Goblin" and I probably never will(the reason for that can be referred to in my "Coffee Prince" review), so I didn`t know what to expect from her, but she really did good. And the chemistry between the two is great as well. For sure the best leading lady alongside whom Lee Min-ho had the pleasure of acting. As for other notable performances, Woo Do-Hwan and Lee Jung-Jin give their all and their roles were also the trickiest to pull off and I`d say they succeeded. Jung Eun-Chae was a bit of a hit-or-miss but overall pretty stable acting across the board.

Cinematography is done beautifully and many shots straight up look like they belong in a fairytale, especially time stopping sequences. Those are just stunning. I`ve seen people criticize the soundtrack for this drama, but I felt like it was a perfect fit, but then again, I do prefer my dramas with atmospheric compositions, rather than distracting songs, which can sometimes take away from the actors` performances. There is also criticism about the sponsorships they basically shoehorned in, but in reality, I felt like there was the same amount of sponsorships as in any other modern Korean drama.

Now, for the bad parts. I really dislike how convoluted the script becomes after episode 14. Like, I can follow time travelling lingo pretty well and I was even like?Wait??? Also the way Lee Lim ended up leaves a bit to be desired and I wish we saw Tae-eul and Lee Gon married, maybe with kids, but definitely married as that was kind of an important plot point. Their time hopping dates seem fun, but like after everything they`ve been through because of that power, if that was me, the last thing I would want to do for a while is time travel. But to each their own. This was a pretty good drama for dramaholics like myself and I would recommend it.

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“And even if the door closes, open all the doors in the universe and return to me"

So I’m confused...why are we hating on this drama? I had to create a whole reddit post to ask people if I should watch this. Most people told me to save my time, but, against everyone’s better judgement, I went and watched it anyway. And I loved it? I’ve heard so many people say it’s a trainwreck, advertisement-saturated, no-charisma, rushed-romance, plot-holes-galore, confusing mess of a drama, but I must have missed something, because I didn’t really encounter any of those things when I was watching it. I may be a tad biased because Lee Min Ho and Kim Go Eun are some of my most favorite actors (Still can’t get over Goblin and Legend of the Blue Sea *sigh*) but I thought this drama was actually incredibly high quality. While I do admit that the romance could have been paced better, I understand that the author was just trying to allow for their affection to develop quicker for the sake of the plot. Because the main story was not about them falling in love; it was about their relationship across two separate worlds and their fight against a power hungry lunatic. It’s kind of hard to pull off that type of story unless the leads fall in love quicker than what we are used to. As for product placement, I honestly found it extremely entertaining. To be honest, I didn’t even really notice it at first until it dawned on me that usually kdramas blur out logos that they are not sponsored by. Nonetheless, I thought their chicken dates were absolutely adorable and helped move the plot forward rather than provide an unnecessary distraction from the main story. The charisma between the leads was off the charts, so I have no idea what y’all are talking about. This is one of my favorite kdrama couples ever, and I rarely give a 10 star rating to a drama, so color me impressed. I definitely hopped on that Woo Do Hwan bandwagon and loved him in every single scene that he was in. The man is a genius. To be honest, there’s so many things I want to say about this drama that made it amazing for me, but I just can’t put it into words. The character development was some of the best I had seen in a while. I expected the ending to be horrible judging by the reviews, but it was actually very easy to understand and accept. As I said in another review, science fiction dramas are bound to have some plot holes, and while I felt that there were some things that weren’t entirely explained to me, I’m content enough with the ending, and I don’t feel that the discrepancies actually matter as much as some people think they do. I thought the ending was absolutely perfect, and I appreciated how the drama spent the last 30 minutes tying up loose ends and showing us what happened after the leads finally reunited. Overall, if you don’t think too deeply about any of the science-fiction aspects of the drama, you have a wonderful drama on your hands. I loved every single character (Yes, even the Prime Minister. I thought she was freaking badass) and I definitely plan on rewatching this drama in the future because of the wonderful blend of romance, action, and science fiction that it had. Thank you, Kim Eun Sook, for blessing us with another incredible drama. I can’t wait to watch more of your works!

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absolutely worth it

At the heart of the story is Lee Gon, played with charismatic finesse by Lee Min-ho, a modern-day Korean emperor who discovers the existence of a parallel universe. The concept of parallel worlds isn't entirely new, but "The King: Eternal Monarch" manages to infuse it with fresh energy and intrigue. The show explores the consequences of altering one's fate and the butterfly effect that ripples through time and space.

One of the show's strongest elements is its meticulous world-building. The Kingdom of Corea, set in a parallel universe, is a visual spectacle. The attention to detail in creating a world that is both reminiscent of and distinct from our own is commendable. From the majestic palace to the modern cityscapes, each setting is crafted with precision, contributing to the immersive experience.

The chemistry between Lee Min-ho and Kim Go-eun, who plays detective Jung Tae-eul in the Republic of Korea, is palpable. Their love story unfolds against the backdrop of political conspiracies and power struggles, adding depth and emotional resonance to the narrative. The romance is beautifully interwoven with the larger plot, preventing it from becoming a mere distraction.

The show also boasts a stellar supporting cast, including Woo Do-hwan in a dual role as Jo Eun-seob and Jo Yeong. Woo's performance is a highlight, providing both comedic relief and emotional weight to the series. The dynamic between the characters, whether it's the camaraderie between the palace guards or the tense political alliances, adds layers to the storytelling.

While the series excels in many aspects, it is not without its flaws. The pacing, especially in the early episodes, may feel slow for some viewers. The intricate plot requires patience as it unfolds, and those seeking instant gratification might find it challenging to invest in the story initially. Definetly worth a watch!

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Unique 2020

I don't know why a lot of people criticizing this drama.
For ad?! After reading their reviews only I got, what they're telling ad's that it's used here. And those are not really relevant in the story line.
First of all I get a Hollywood style vibe from this Drama. It was actually perfect in it's every aspect. Acting, OST, Story, Production and Plot. It was really a unique story so far.
The OST are really good and especially, Gravity (I'm using this one as my caller tune) and Maze.
In Acting aspect I've seen a lot of reviews criticizing Lee Min-ho I don't get this why?! He's perfect for his role as both wise and spoiled King. Hats off to those are performing double roles. I was wondering how they choose the cast?!! Bcz each and everyone got perfect role and they did their best.
It's a drama for those who loves
Fantasy/ Sci-fi (parallel universe)
Thriller/Mistery
Melo/Romance
Smart ML and FL
Happy Ending (Most satisfying one, we can get 4
couples at the end)
Plz don't get swayed by the negative reviews it's really a good Drama. I've watched it about 5 time's.

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Top class drama

This drama used Korea's leading script writer. The production values are at cinema movie standard throughout. The monetary cost of some of the scenes is way beyond almost all other dramas. The plot is tangled and can be taken at different levels. Mathematics is a theme and Einstein's theories are referred to in the set up of the story and this is a clue to understanding the plot. Better educated audience members will appreciate this drama more fully than those who are not. But it doesn't matter, because the show has a strong fun element, frequently poking fun at itself, so if like me you are not strong on Einsteinian spacetime math, it is still enjoyable and you can get the gist. However, this is hardly your average k-drama TV. That is why it did less well when it aired than expected. It is too high order for the average TV audience.
The casting is perfect. Lee Min Ho's screen presence in every shot for the whole series is strong. The director used Minho's beautiful smooth deep voice like a sound track throughout. His voice becomes almost mesmerizing as it is seldom out of one's ears for long. This is a unique and unprecedented feature in a k-drama and it is a strong point giving a fairly subliminal aural continuity throughout the episodes. It was very soothing too. This drama is a truimphant showcase of Minho's acting talent and it is impossible to imagine any other Korean actor able to perform so naturally and commandingly and with that voice.
Goeun has a very difficult job. First she is Minho's love interest when as i have just said his brilliance is shining and any co-star is likely to look second-rate or worse against him. Goeun also has to play a tough cop at the same time as a girl Minho, a King, would fall for, plus she has to play a part in 2 timezones and a double of herself in both timezones. Most Korean actresses couldn't get near acting this part. She gets better with each episode. She deserves an award for her achievement. She is the emotional epicentre of the series and her diverse part compliments and off-sets Minho's needing to stay magisterial all the way through. Although, hilariously, Goeun knocks him of his perch quite a few times!
This is the most postmodern hybridized drama ever made. It is a historical, political, romance, melodrama, comedy, farce, action, pychological drama all at mixed up, sometimes doing two or even three genres simultaneously. For an audience that can see and appreciate this it is easily the best k-drama ever made. But also, the intelligence of the drama was its weakness and why it wasn't able to retain a wide audience despite the large sums spent on the hype and marketing before and after it started airing, and why it's not a drama that the average viewer is going to like, because its going to be over their head.

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