[Drama 2020] The King: Eternal Monarch, 더 킹: 영원의 군주

[jerboa83]

2 hours ago, ponderings said:

 

Lee Gon loves mathematics and physics. They see the world differently, but what sets them apart is that Lee Gon believes in things that haven't been proven: the parallel world. If anything, I find Lee Gon to be a liberal arts major more than Tae Eul is. 

 

How can he NOT believe in it? He crossed the portal...

[briseis]

3 hours ago, The.Lannister said:

Waiting for tae eul to journey to his world now 

 

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 

[jerboa83]

3 hours ago, The.Lannister said:

I am loving Le Gon. I like how sensitive he is. Tae Eul is hurting him a lot by not believing him (I dont blame her at all ...anyone would think he is out to con someone!!) and yet he maintains this dignified air about him. Though he manages to get back a little....like disconnecting her call.......childish and so cute While he has this regal air about him he is not some arrogant jerk who drags her to his world against her will. I seriously get bored of the arrogant rich hero trope these days. He can take no for an answer Also thank god that they have shown him sharp. He is quick to grasp everything that's happening around him & to him...be it the existence of a parallel universe, or the time stopping, the differences in their universes, etc and adapts so well in Korea.  It gets boring when supposedly clever leads are shown acting dumb just for comic effect. Waiting for tae eul to journey to his world now 

 

 

P.S.:Does anyone here find the dialogues a little too ordinary and . Like what was that + sign symbolism even 

I totally agree with your comment, except for the post scriptum: what do you mean by "too ordinary"? It seems quite the opposite to me: Lee Geon's metaphors are far from ordinary, or lame.

[Joanna Alfson]

7 minutes ago, briseis said:

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 

 

 

Oh Woow! I am super bumped for this. I was anticipating this from since episode 1. I was thinking when! I was lowkey fearing for JTE that she would lose LG to Luna in the other world 

[scrawford]

3 hours ago, The.Lannister said:

I am loving Le Gon. I like how sensitive he is. Tae Eul is hurting him a lot by not believing him (I dont blame her at all ...anyone would think he is out to con someone!!) and yet he maintains this dignified air about him. Though he manages to get back a little....like disconnecting her call.......childish and so cute While he has this regal air about him he is not some arrogant jerk who drags her to his world against her will. I seriously get bored of the arrogant rich hero trope these days. He can take no for an answer Also thank god that they have shown him sharp. He is quick to grasp everything that's happening around him & to him...be it the existence of a parallel universe, or the time stopping, the differences in their universes, etc and adapts so well in Korea.  It gets boring when supposedly clever leads are shown acting dumb just for comic effect. Waiting for tae eul to journey to his world now 

 

 

P.S.:Does anyone here find the dialogues a little too ordinary and . Like what was that + sign symbolism even 

Yes, I feel like we see the sensitive side of Lee Gon and started feeling for him, and I love that you pointed out, thatsbits perfextly normal that Tae Eul is ignoring him. It’s realistic. 

[ponderings]

2 hours ago, lindas55 said:

Like Jung Tae Eul said “I still believe the earth is flat until you show me something different with my own eyes.” We people from liberal arts backgrounds like to challenge “the facts” with a lot of “what if”, “how come” and “why is that so”. It’s not that we can’t accept the science, it’s just that sometimes our brains can’t understand it until we “feel” in our guts that something is true. Science majors tend to lead with their brains (facts) and liberal arts majors understand things on an emotional level so we tend to lead with our “hearts”. 

You brought up a good point in what distinguishes these two educational backgrounds and how they accept the truth. Thank you for going deeper into clearing up my confusion and puzzling perspective on the liberal arts vs science discourse. 

[Joséphine.arjenia]

Any one get rating plz , 

[Geolyvseven]

I have a feeling that Luna will somehow enter next episode and I thought he was in pain from his right shoulder due to her hitting him there when they were eating and drinking? he got home and than he was in pain all of sudden? Is there is some sort of negative effects due to him crossing over from another multiverse or am I reaching for straws here

[Deepakmahajan]

My review.

 

Oh my God second half was way much better than first half. The second half is the one director needs to turn into full episode not into backstories. That is what people gonna watch and want to watch. Lee min Ho proved why he is the lead with show stealing screen presence, charisma in that half. I mean i am keeping my fan thing aside and as a viewer. If anything bores me, i say it , whether my fave is present or not.

 

 

First half left lot to be desired and shin jae backstory really didn't make any contribution to story and kim kyung nam needs to work on his skills a lot, if he ever wants to be leading man, because he couldn't hold my attention for a second there. Woo do hwan with least screen presence, proved he is on right way and has that leading man aura. Kim go eun saved the first half .

 

Love the maths dialogues of square root, zero. Calling her zero but as an compliment that how much zero holds so much power to nullify anything.

 

That zero equivalency, is a hint of future that Jung tae eul will be the key to king's power? The ultimate power in her hand when king is facing tough thing against the evil uncle? I think yes. I found dialogue writing clever there.

 

Prime minister - I am still confused, does she wanna upstage the king or she want to be his queen? She desires power , no doubt , but i am still confused she want to hold power as queen or just steal everything from the king? I liked the character growth here. And her mother is poor. So reaching this position. She is smart. 

 

Also liberal arts vs science thing lol. Atleast asian students can related to that lol. How science is forced upon us during 11th standard

 

Just loved the time stoppage moment and fighting scene. Huge fan of city hunter. So it was good to see him performing action and haha he was so hurt when queen didn't share ice cream with him. So magic wand is the key to door and by precap , evil uncle has found out that king has found the door. And evil uncle has already created his own army in Corea. He is step ahead right now.

 

But king is smart enough and i think he will figure it out , like he figured it out that uncle is still alive. Kim go eun was amazing in fight scene as well! She has slowly started caring for him, without realizing it.

 

I wonder the pain in his shoulder, is due to someone else opening the portal? Because when he opens it, that doesn't affect him. That is i am curious about.

 

Second half saved the episode and i think if not tomorrow, by next week the story will pick up. I am not expecting much growth in ratings today but just make story fast now, keep useless backstories aside, add more time thing, magic , fight scenes, romantic scenes between the leads when necessary, show will get ratings!

 

Also kim go eun is forest next episode. I think tomorrow's climax will be her entering Corea!

 

Regarding jung tae ignoring part. Imagine a random rich dude comes to you and say i am king of some other dimension and wanna marry you. First reaction will be running away from the dude, no matter how handsome he or rich he is. Her reactions are normal, even to stay in touch with the guy and keeping his horse lol. In real world girl will be filing complaint  to police. She is very easy on him so far lol.

[Dramafreak]

Still reading all the posts
But i have to say that I enjoyed episode 3 way more than episode 2. Thank heavens.

 

@ponderings you are not alone, i do feel that the humour is too wry (or something) or for some reason it doesn't hit the spot (editing? dialogue itself?) and the worst point is I can see the potential situations and can almost imagine what the intent is/was. 

 

That said the 0-rootsquare confession was such an aww moment for me. My heart melted. @briseis your analysis of what it means is interesting. I actually felt bad for him as she was heartless then for not even trying to understand the maths if not his confession. But why does he feel that she is the 0 for him -- i feel as bewildered about it as she does and she says it best: why did you fall for my cool looks in the last few days?

 

I for one feel that the liberal arts v/s science debate is there for humour but it is a bit off for me -- science in this particular drama is like magic and which liberal arts person is not interested in philosophy or magic. Her saying I don't believe you is fine but not listening to knowledge is a bit  . Also, strangely she never asks him any personal questions, usually he volunteers information about himself. I would rather put JTE as a practical-organized-orderly person who is black and white and has forgotten the importance of imagination. What she sees is what she believes but strangely she is pretty scientific as she is the one asking questions about practicalities (why is this true, how did this happen etc etc) and scientific spirit is about questioning, no? I still want answers with regard to different characters and their motivations.

 

*Edited: arts=feel and science=facts yet it is our hero who is busy feeling while our heroine keeps asking for tangible facts+proof. How does that work? **

 

I see that PM was poor (not well to do!) and she is ambitious -- her ambition is being the queen.

Hyung-nim likes our FL and has always been on the edge because of his family circumstances. He actually joined the defence classes after his family fortune was lost? Will he cross-over to the dark side? Whose blood is there on his face in the trailer. Interestingly he tells Maximus that he is not a bad guy...
I want to explore this character more. Also... I need more background to the FL-Hyung-nim and Social Worker's friendship. How deep is it?

Btw if I were LG, i would have pressed hyung-nim a bit more to find out where did he see the symbol!

Also, today their conversation in the first 10-15 minutes of the drama conveyed the fact that he was hurt and I was surprised when he still kept trying to win her favour given that he was the King. He really seems to be very very patient with her -- because she is his saviour? Yes but because he loves her ---hmmm a bit too far fecthed, no? But who cares... love is love, anything is possible. In episode 2, when he says that you are the only person I know in this world I was still routing for the heroine, today I felt that if she is kind then it doesn't come across in her behaviour towards him. He helped her+her hyungnim fight the bad guys and then she doesn't thank him or even ask if he is ok or think about sharing an ice cream with him. Even if he is an unwanted guest, he did help you!

 

The cop is brave and according to the buildup, i think team Lee Gon is going to need all the courage (and brains) that he can get.

 

The poem connection was so romantic. I totally succumb to any literary stuff--- the way she refers to the poet and his poem's line in a bickering moment-LG remembers- and before he goes he finds out what she was speaking about-I wondered who would remember whose shattered name when they die because my gut feeling says this one will be about separation (either through death or because of parallel universes), then again I could be wrong. What a choice for a poem and poet!

I wonder whats up with lightening and the king's body.

Why does she call her colleague hyung-nim?

The end credits song is also meloncholic so are the light moments over?

PM's mom is shown in passing in episode 1 when the mourning is announced, she also had uncle as a guest in 2019. I wonder why uncle deliberately stays at this lady's place and how in the world could be leave his umbrella (which had the flute in it) at her place.

The Uncle's army had such a volemort army feel. Will Harry Potter references prevail in this drama?

I am looking forward to tomorrow but something tells me the wait for episode 5 will be bad as that is when JTE will go to LG's Corea. So many things to look forward to...

 

Just a thought: are they shooting till June because there might be an extension by some episodes or a special episode or something?

 

Edited**
The signal reference. Isnt that drama about two cops working on a case during different time periods. Hint of where we will go with this story? JTE working in this world and LG+his guard working in the other?

But really... the sequence with the reference could have been so funny but it wasnt for me! Give me nice humour please... as it is we are moving towards darker times with Uncle Voldemort's army already in place!

  

[Deepakmahajan]

Sigh hope ratings will make them pace it up. We can ask for more setup but general public don't care about backstory.  They hookedup last week for lee min ho's comeback drama but actors can give initials.  Its story which carry it forward. Clearly audience has no patience  for stuff. They want only great fast paced action.

 

7.8 ,9.0 % nationwide

8.2, 9.4 % seoul

 

Clearly second half showed they want more of lee min ho. Pds need to get it in head. And second half was so good but first half dragged it down. Though 3 episode is average is still over 10% and 13 rpisodes are enough to get ratings in better range, but they need to get their act together by next week.

 

This is not good and disheartening for whole crew. But it is also important for PDS and director  to know that they have to bring more fantasy and thrills now. Slow pacing not gonna cut it. Tomorrow episode needs to do better and next week promo needs to be full of suspense and thrills

[SaiSai1988]

Episode 3

Nationwide

PART 1 - 7.8 (1.578 Million Viewers)
PART 2 - 9.0 (1.856 Million Viewers)

Seoul

PART 1 - 8.2 (1.047 Million Viewers)
PART 2 - 9.4 (1.252 Million Viewers)

* Rated 4.9% nationwide in the 20-49 Demographic

•  

[leeminhosny]

I think ep 3's music is lacking, so part 1 a little boring ,music is most important part for a drama, I love EP 1-2 so much but almost there isn't music until  end of EP3 and I like OST but still most beautiful OST didn't come, where are KES dramas hitting OST? Really rating make me sad for 1 weeks but today I am so sorry again 

[scrawford]

4 hours ago, lindas55 said:

I don’t find it odd that they are making a distinction between liberal arts majors and science majors.  For a long time people have done that as the two majors tend to approach materials and problem solving from different standpoints. Science majors tend to look at facts and just the facts.  Everything is based on what is known and can be proven, hypothesis are built on from that standpoint. The liberal arts major looks not only at what is known or proven but also what is not proven. From that standpoint everything or nothing is possible. Facts might be facts but again maybe they are not. Like Jung Tae Eul said “I still believe the earth is flat until you show me something different with my own eyes.” We people from liberal arts backgrounds like to challenge “the facts” with a lot of “what if”, “how come” and “why is that so”. It’s not that we can’t accept the science, it’s just that sometimes our brains can’t understand it until we “feel” in our guts that something is true. Science majors tend to lead with their brains (facts) and liberal arts majors understand things on an emotional level so we tend to lead with our “hearts”. Both types can get to the same place but usually by traveling different paths. I think this drama is going to do that. Challenge all of us to look at not just the fact but also the stuff that is hard to accept.

Already I am beginning to understand that there are tons of small clues that have been introduced that don’t make sense now but will later. This one of those smart dramas that I will have to watch again just so I can see all of the clues that are dropped along the way that will like bread crumbs lead us on the right path to the real reason why things turn out the way they do. I know that’s hard for some people who like their dramas spoon fed to them, but for me that makes the drama fun and a challenge to watch.

Thank you for speaking my mind, since episode 1, i have notice that this is one of those drama that requires a lot attention and some insignificant things are part of the story line.

[Deepakmahajan]

4th episode will be crucial for next week ratings. If they serve a episode full of great actions and timeline thing, female lead finding out about corea,  more move between dimensions, time stoppage etc. It will have double digit rating.

 

And that sets next week for better response, if the end tomorrow's episode on high note. Hope is not lost yet. We have 13 episodes left.

 

They need to up their game in 4th episode and next week or so. The next 2 weeks will decide the fate of the drama.  Actors deserve more than 9%.

 

Director is lacking to be honest. Both leads are throwing everything in drama,  again shooting the drama when it was preproduced. Now i guess the reason for re shoots. The final result must not be satisfactory  for channel and pds. So they wanna change some things in future episodes. Please director up your game.

[Geolyvseven]

 

[leeminhosny]

Whenever Rating drop netizens start to criticize everything (actors, actress all of them) insebsibly , I hope they can stay strong  ( and me too)

[sal2]

I actually loved episode 3. yes it slowed down but it did give time to develop Lee gon and Tea eul relationship as he explained more to her about the parallel world. at the end she was kinda curious about what the crazy stuff he was talking about. Beside introducing other characters background. To me it is important to give time to the character so we as audience care for them, beside giving breadcrumbs for the world and hint to the meat of the story. I find is sad that we as audience find slow pace story boring because to me it give space to give life to the characters. I guess we have gotten used to fast food story that often forget to care for the character as they care more for fast story telling and many crazy development. To me character should always come before the story. writer should take time to give characters breathing room to show the audience who they are. To me it is sad that we do not have patience to give time for the meat of the story to come. 

[syntyche]

 

The third episode of the SBS Friday-Saturday drama "The King-Eternal Monarch" (written by Kim Eun-sook/directed by Baek Sang-hoon, produced by Jung Ji-hyun/produced by Hwa & Dam Pictures) aired on the 24th (Friday) recorded 8.2 percent of Nielsen Korea, 8.2 percent of the first part of the Seoul metropolitan area, and 9.4 percent of the second part. It also topped the entire channel's same time slot, surpassing double-digit ratings of 10.6 percent at the moment, along with a 4.9 percent rating.

 

http://pop.heraldcorp.com/view.php?ud=202004250742355013432_1

[Heretorant]

5 minutes ago, Deepakmahajan said:

Sigh hope ratings will make them pace it up. We can ask for more setup but general public don't care about backstory.  They hookedup last week for lee min ho's comeback drama but actors can give initials.  Its story which carry it forward. Clearly audience has no patience  for stuff. They want onpy great fast paced action.

 

7.8 ,9.0 %nationwide

8.2, 9.4 %seoul

This is not good and disheartening for whole crew. But it is also important for PDS and director  to know that they have to bring more fantasy and thrills now. Slow pacing not gonna cut it. Tomorrow episode needs to do better and next week promo needs to be full of suspense and thrills

I’ll keep rooting for this drama to do well. I still believe it has something phenomenal to unfold but unfortunately, it’s taking longer than some expected. I just hope viewers are not giving up and leaving for good. Hopefully as the story gets more exciting, it’ll win Koreans over. 
 

That being said, I’m not surprised with today’s ratings. The first half was moving nowhere. And some of you have pointed this out already but I also feel Kim Shin Jae is just bland. His story did absolutely nothing to move the plot along. But this is just a problem with writer Kim and her 10 main characters. Sometimes, she writes intriguing side stories and sometimes, we just don’t care about it. I honestly care more about seeing and knowing everyone else. 
 

Waiting for a more exciting episode tomorrow. I found the later half of today’s episode much more engaging and interesting and it ended off on a good note. I actually felt my heart beating faster as the poem was voiced over and ending off with LG’s deep voice was a chills.