briseis
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Posts posted by briseis
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2 hours ago, Heretorant said:
Yes and unfortunately, a slow build up might lead people to lose interest and affect ratings negatively. With dramas like this, sometimes I wait and wait and still nothing happens. I hope tomorrow is a turning point though. I have a feeling JTE will find out the truth.
I do wish they’d give us more Lee Gon because I find him to be the most interesting character at this moment. He needs to peel the layers of this mysterious magical world so we can see what’s going on. Lee Gon moves the fantasy aspect of the plot forward. Of course I am currently more interested in how this flute works so I’d like the plot to move forward in that direction but, I do understand whatever is happening with JTE will all eventually connect. I don’t mind waiting for the story to unfold but I do think the ratings are on the line here.
I completely agree with the fact that this is truly a very smart drama. There are so many puzzle pieces which need to fit together; that's why I've been enjoying it so much. Though, while I think a proper build-up is necessary it has to be said there is a huge difference between a dynamic build-up which is seamlessly incorporated into the flow of the story and a static set-up which does nothing to move the story foward and I have to admit that I've been a little disappointed with episode 3 because that what one third of the episode felt like - particularly Shin Jae's prolonged backstory and screentime combined with some unnecessary police station hijinks which, frankly, completely lacked the humour it was intended for originally. Those 20-25 minutes could have been used in a dynamic way, showing more of Lee Rim, Lee Geun, Jo Young, Tae Eul, Seo Ryung, the LG&TE relationship and most importantly, the parallel world mystery. These are the main points of the story - when these characters and storylines appear on screen it immediately moves the story foward.
The fact that the actor playing Shin Jae is as charismatic as a cabbage and he is no Yoo Yeon Seok or Byun Yo Han who had the acting ability to make the absolute maximum from a very limited screentime doesn't help the matter either. Just look at Woo Do Hwan who appeared as Jo Young for approx. 2-3 minutes on screen in episode 3 but he managed to convey a huge variery of emotions just with his facial expression and very few lines. I feel like those 20 minutes were wasted, Shin Jae's storyline is something that should have been edited and cut by 70% and Kim Kyung Nam is the weakest link of the entire cast.
Frankly, this the biggest flaw of The King: Eternal Monarch in my opinion and because I really like the whole drama a lot it makes me even sorrier to say this - for such a complex story with so many complicated aspects, like time travel, parallel worlds, doppelgangers, how it all works, complex characters, a love story across space and time, a conspiracy and a coup decades in the making,... - it's wasting too much time on useless backstories and static exposure while there is so much interesting material and issues to cover instead, fascinating characters and relationships to develop. It's even more palpable because there are only 16 episodes to cover the whole story.
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Making math sexy again.
Because this is basically Lee Min Ho being a good samaritan and making a free Math-Is-Cool commercial promoting Math to the audience worldwide and pretty much single-handedly answering and solving the problem ministries of education the world over have been racking their brains about for decades - how to make young people like math.
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Mathematics + 0 + Lee Geun² = Epic Romance
SpoilerSo this happened - Lee Gon has just become the first person in the history of kdramaland to confess his love and admiration for his female lead using math. Who knew numbers could be so romantic, right? I guess this pretty much answers the agelong question whether math has the ability to express someone’s emotions.
It’s such a Lee Geun thing to say, really, but also quite an admission coming from the man who possesses the closest thing there is to an absolute power in a democratic world. He might be extremely powerful in normal circumstances but all that power and influence is useless with her - it won’t make Tae Eul like him or believe him, so it’s up to her to decide whether she will nullify/ignore him or stand by him, making him powerful. It’s really a loaded metaphor - on one hand, it’s about him having a chance at a relationship with her, on the other, about her importance in the fight with his uncle.
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On 4/19/2020 at 12:21 AM, Ameera Ali said:
That interesting why friend detective drawing
kingdom of Corea on his little notes again & again
My theory is that the murders which they are investigating are all part of Lee Rim's wrongdoings and therefore he must have encountered the emblem before. It's possible that Lee Rim or his subordinate have it engraved on some of their belongings and perhaps one of the witnesses noticed it before.
Regarding the allegations that the production design takes inspiration in Japanese architecture and symbolism, even though I fully respect and sympathize with Koreans and their sad history, I have to say that in this case it's purely hysterical reaction of some individuals. The Corea Kingdom symbol is clearly the Imperial Seal of Korean Empire and not the Japanese Imperial Seal. Even a blind person can see that. While the pagodas and palaces are variations of historical buildings which exist in South Korea. It seems to people forget that that Korea, Japan and China share similar cultural background. I'm sad to see the people in SK can't even recognize their own culture and that the production of the drama had to apologize when they clearly did not do anything wrong and had gone out of their way to create all these designed based on Korean cultural background.
The Imperial Seal of Korean Empire The Imperial Seal of Japan
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I’ve noticed quite a lot of people pointing out that Lee Gon’s scar is on the left side of his neck and that the director messed up, showing Lee Rim injuring him on the right side instead. However, these people are mistaken.
When LG cuts the flute in half, LR becomes livid and decides to kill Gon with his own hands in the most brutal way possible. He uses his left hand to pick up the fallen half from the floor and uses both halves of the flute to kill the boy. Most of the time, the camera shows Lee Rim pushing the flute in his right hand to LG’s neck, but we never see him actually cutting him with this half because he isn’t, instead LEE RIM IS USING THE RIGHT HALF TO PUSH ON LEE GON’S WINDPIPE, SUFFOCATING HIM. On the other hand, there is an an actual shot of LR slowly cutting his nephew’s neck with his left hand. And then LG faints. Not because of the blood loss since the cut is still too shallow and he hasn’t lost too much blood but because of the lack of oxygen (you can actually his heavy breathing as he tries to catch his breath).This basically proves that LR didn’t use his right hand to slit LG’s neck.
SpoilerHe would have completely slit LG’s neck with his left hand but couldn’t because he was interrupted and shocked by the masked man, letting go of one half od the flute. My guess is that the writer and director chose this detailed and explicit way in order to show LR’s ruthless nature in this brutal assault on his own relative, someone he should have protected with his life, but instead uses the most brutal way to murder him - suffocating him AND slitting him throat.
He could have shot him with a gun or stab with him with the Tiger sword but instead he chooses to use the flute. The first reason is, as I mentioned, the need to kill Gon with his own hands while the second is that he doesn’t want to let go of the flute and risk losing it after waiting for so long and going to such length to obtain it. The flute has been his lfelong obsession which is clear from the fact that whenever we see him he is either holding his umbrella, which has the piece of the flute in it, or it’s placed within his reach.
SpoilerThere are several interesting facts which I think will be crucial in the future:
- It was Lee Gon who heard the flute’s sound when it was still whole.
- It was Lee Gon who cut the flute in half, injuring his uncle.
- Lee Rim’s half of the flute is stained with his blood which was spilled by his nephew whose half is stained with Lee Gon’s blood because of Lee Rim.
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It really looks like the next episode will have some major developments, particularly the last few seconds of the preview got me excited because it shows LG being physically affected and hurt by his traveling across the universes. It might be a trick of light but it seems that there is a new scar on his back. Did he cut himself on the shards of glass from the destroyed ceiling 25 years ago or is it something recent caused by what's happening to him?
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Some things never change regardless of the different drama universes.
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21 hours ago, Heretorant said:
Your post is absolutely thought provoking!
I’m sold with your provided screen cap proof. The person who saved Lee Gon is definitely himself! How can I not recognize my beautiful man?
Interesting point you brought up about the time loop. I was believing that to be the case since there’s absolutely no way Police JTE could have existed during the time Lee Gon was 5. My only question is, if what we’re witnessing now are events that already happened and Lee Gon will eventually go save himself, who saved him in the first place? He would have died and would not have been able to grow up and eventually go back to save himself. I’m also now really interested in seeing the other loop, how did he meet JTE? Who was she to him that he needed to leave evidence to his younger self? This is reminiscent of Nine, if any of you have seen it.
I think the writer is working with the same theory of time travel, that of a single time line, as was J.K.Rowling in Harry Potter - Harry could save himself and Sirius from the dementors in The Prisoner of Azkaban because he already did it. The same can be applied to Lee Gon saving his younger self in episode 1.
SpoilerEpisode 2 has convinced me even more that there is truly a time travel and time loop at play instead of a third parallel universe:
- Lee Gon admitted that he is trained in martial arts which supports the theory that it's him fighting his uncle's men in 1994
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- Lee Gon actually talks about Einstein whose theory of relativity laid ground for time travel theories
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- Lee Gon walls and windows are covered in mathematical formulas
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- The focus at Lee Gon's watch
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- There is the curious fact that the court lady was hiding the talisman "clockwise" and "counterclockwise"
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- And finally, there is a huge hint in the drama's logo which incorporates clock and when this logo is shown in each preview a sound of ticking can be heard and the clock hand is always going backwards
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23 minutes ago, Khôi Xuân Trúc Đinh said:
Hello everyone!
It occurs to me that in the first scene when Lee Rim was interrogated by the female lead, he was said to be born in 1951 and be 70 years old this year, doesn't it mean the year should be 2021?
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Tomorrow, Hwa Sa's OST Orbit is going to be released and I can't wait. It's my favourite OST song in the drama so far because it suits the story perfectly and hearing it play during the previews is always such a thrill for me.
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Tangled!!!
Lee Gon really named his white horse after a Disney character, didn’t he? That’s some next-level fairy-tale obsession. Clearly, he is a king who leads by example. Perhaps he can exhange his sword for a trusty pan next.
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As someone who’s rewatched City Hunter way too many times for it to be considered healthy, I’m 99% sure the masked man is Lee Min Ho. The height, the body type, nose,...it’s all there. Frankly, it looks like the whole appearance might be even a homage to his iconic look and stunts in CH. The stylist went even for the same black sneakers he wore back in 2011.
SpoilerMy personal guess is that it’s actually Lee Gon and not Ji Hoon, his counterpart in the Republic universe whose fate we still do not know. There might be a possibility of a third parallel universe but considering that it would complicate the story way too much it’s an unlikely option.
First of all, it was shown that LG is someone very athletic and the assassination of his father must have lead to him learning how to shoot and defend himself. Moreover, the masked man knows the attack would take place and appears to know the layout of the room (jumping through the window into an alcove to protect himself from getting shot). Most importantly, Lee Rim is his main target - the whole time he is trying to kill him.
Another crucial fact is that the man clearly knows Tae Eul, that’s why it’s unlikely that he comes from a third universe or that such universe even exists since it’s been established that people don’t have the same names in the different universes. Finally, the man comes either from a different universe or time and so far, only the holder of one half of the flute can travel between the universes. (Luna is the big unknown here since it’s only her reflection which TE saw.) If a broken piece of the flute can do that, the complete flute must lend its owner immense powers and somehow these powers are connected with time - stopping LR from aging or freezing time as seen with the falling cup. Perhaps it has the ability to send its holder or perhaps its rightful owner back in time. One of the possibilities is that there is a time loop in play and that the events we’re witnessing now already happened once.
If this theory turns out to be true and the man is really Lee Gon, it makes this whole scene even more special and poignant because it’s not about Lee Gon meeting his counterpart from a parallel universe but both his past and future self at the same time. And if so, has this “future” LG managed to make the flute whole again? Another interesting question would be whether the flute exists in every universe or only in the Kingdom.
Also, what if Lee Rim by some twist or irony of fate actually didn’t kill his doppelganger but his actual future self. So many questions and possible answers.
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Preview for tomorrow - Haru says that the person who killed DO was him
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Hold still my heart! The only thing Haru fears is a world that doesn’t have Eun Dan Oh in it while his own existence is of no consequence to him. The love he feels for her is so selfless and unconditional while Baek Young always makes everything about himself. Even he is shook by Haru’s declaration and it almost appearss as if, deep down, BY wanted to be like Haru but some inherent part of him prevented him.
It really makes such a perfect, yet heartbreaking sense why Haru is so ready to make himself out of the equation for Dan Oh’s sake - be it in the previous manhwa or now, he never had anything; no family, no friends, no home. It’s therefore only natural that she would become the center of his universe.
When Haru stands up to Baek Young, it’s such an epic moments because while previously he was always defending only Dan Oh, now, he is actually standing up for himself. He basically declares that he isn’t the writer’s puppet, not matter how much some people want him to be or push him into that role. IT WASN’T THE WRITER WHO GAVE HIS LIFE A REASON, IT WAS DAN OH. IT WASN’T THE WRITER WHO MADE HIM LOVE DAN OH, IT WAS HIS CHOICE. His alone and no one else’s, be it in the previous webtoon, or now.
The conviction with which Haru is ready to give up his own existence to protect Dan OH might seem shocking until you realize that he can’t live in a world without her. She gives his life a meaning so when he’s protecting her, he is also fighting for his right to live.
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Source: as tagged
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New BTS released by KHY's agency featuring the Goryeo story filming
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I’ve always thought that it was only a matter of time before Haru gave Dan Oh the moon because he was never able to deny her anything to begin with. Obviously, I underestimated him and his ability to overcome even the most insurmountable obstacle and challenges with his strong will and unconditional love. SHE WISHED TO SEE THE STARS IN A WORLD WHERE NO STAR EXISTED SO HE WENT AND CREATED HUNDREDS OF THEM FOR HER. Haru who has always had so very little continues to give Dan Oh his everything. And it’s also such a Haru thing to do because instead of saying something is hopeless and impossible, he always manages to achieve a miracle.
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MEET MY SECONDARY OTP! One part of me always wishes that Haru would punch Baek Young in the face while the other desperately hopes they’ll start to makeout against the wall.
I swear Haru and Baek Young exist in some sort of an alternative universe, which is basically a secret story within a story, where they are the OTP and Dan Oh their foil because from the moment they met for the first time on screen their chemistry has been out of this world, be it in the Goryeo manhwa, which feels like a prequel of Frozen Flower, or the high school setting, which reminds me of a HIStory installment. I mean I know that the Goryeo BY sees Haru as nothing more but a loyal dog and the high school BY can’t stand him because he’s his love rival but if you take away those premises, you’ll get a BL romance.
Both actors are so freaking pretty and tall (190+ cm) and whenever they share screentime together their characters have incredible dynamic and the air is literally charged with tension, sizzling attraction, double meanings and innuendos. Even their dialogues work perfectly. I’ve never seen anything like this in another kdrama and I’ve been watching those for 13+ years.
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One look from Baek Young and Haru kills without mercy. He’s absolutely devoted to his master and seeing how ruthless and power-hungry the Goryeo version of BY used to be I get the feeling that while it might have been Haru who swung the sword which killed Dan Oh, it was Baek Young who gave the order because it’s clear that Haru is unable to defy his command. If it’s true, then it’s so damn messed up but at the same time utterly brilliant.
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Haru coining the term “Extra-Ordinary You” to describe Dan Oh was such a beautifully poignant and meaningful moment. On one hand, because she was the one who named him first which means that now the Korean title for the show reflects the name she gave him, while the English title refers to the moniker Haru came up with for her. On the other, because from the moment Baek Young became self-aware he’s been using the word “extra” as the ultimate insult to Haru, and both directly and indirectly to Dan Oh, which is much worse than calling him any other vulgar name because by labelling him a “mere extra” Baek Young belittles his very existence as insignificant and almost useless, basically questioning Haru’s right to live and suggesting his sole of his existence is to serve others (how damn symbollic of Haru’s and BY’s Goryeo counterparts).
BY makes it sound as if being an extra were something inferior and dirty. It’s something that really troubles Haru and not so much for his own sake as for Dan Oh’s because he’s heard her multiple times calling herself an “extra”. So when he coins that “Extra-Ordinary You” nickname name he is basically turning BY’s insult of her into a precious endearment, something truly special and singular. It’s not about your set-up in life, it’s about how you use the time you were given and live it to the fullest. It’s no wonder Dan Oh ended up falling for Haru; because even if you take away the whole “past-lives-lovers” scenario, he is the one person who treats her as if she were the main protagonist and he were her most devoted fan.
Considering BY kept calling him and DO mere extras for so long, it was only a matter of time before Haru snapped and when he did, what an amazing sight it’s been! The whole episode is basically about Haru proving to Baek Young that extras matter and are actually much better than him because, unlike him, they try so damn hard to live their lives. It’s as if he were on a mission, constantly one-upping Baek Young in every aspect, bet it sports, academics or admiration of their classmates. Because it’s clear that when the odds are even, Baek Young just can’t compare to Haru in anything or win against him fair and square.
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Cutie pies
SpoilerSource: MBC
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The newest stills of the kiss
Spoilersource: MBC
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I thought it was a dream, but it wasn’t. Will it happen in the future? Or did it already happen?
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[Drama 2020] The King: Eternal Monarch, 더 킹: 영원의 군주
in k-dramas & movies
Posted
You're not the only one and I think that we're going to get our wish next episode because TE and LG are wearing the same clothes in episode 4 preview as they do in the teaser scene which shows them riding on Maximus in the bamboo forest so expect EPIC LEVEL OF SWOONWORTHY in episode 4