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

[mychoiyoung]

1 hour ago, AgentQuake said:

I've decided that I love the ending with JTE NOT becoming Queen.  And it's one last FU to the original PM.

 

JTE doesn't want to be Queen, she wants LG.

LG wants HER, and by association, she would become the Queen.  But he also really enjoyed living in anonymity in ROK and the privacy he got without having to sneak past all the guards.

 

This is literally the best of both worlds. They do their jobs (very well) in their weekly lives, then get together on the weekends and step away from it all.

 

When LG's ready to retire, he can pass along the throne to Sejin, since Evil Cousin got er...cracked. 

 

So JTE literally got the King, the Queen position, the power and respect that comes with it, and she stepped away from all  of to have just LG.   ISSSS BOOTYFUL

 

When LG retires, he must turn-over the sword & the flute to Sejin, along with the stories attendant to them. And if we based it on the ending, he kept the flute till he & TE were old.  That means he remained King.

 

If TE did not become an official Queen, then we have a problem with the Kingdom wanting an heir and rightfully so. If we assume that they had kid/s - cos it is nearly unbelievable that they did not in all that time - then the offspring/s is/are considered illegitimate without the legalities of TE's ties to LG.

 

That's why I feel that the ending is lightweight.  Suddenly my very promising & favorite sci-fi romance turned into something Disney-esque. That is not to say that being Disney is bad.  It's just that with so much gravitas through all episodes, the finale turned into a beautiful yet almost like fan-service. Great for me as a shipper but not so much as a viewer.

 

That is not to say that I will not miss TKEM. I bet I will enjoy rewatching it several times over.  And I will miss the company of people here who made the viewing more pleasurable & memorable. We had a blast racking our brains with all the theories, right? Glad that my love for math & science became relevant to enjoying a LMH kdrama - who knew?

 

Thank you Soompi for being a wonderful host and @syntyche for creating this thread.

 

 

[rocher22]

 

 

[SweetButters]

With the whole JTE/LG thing, I would like to hope that LG would have found some way for them to being together. I mean if his grandfather King Haejong managed to do it for Lady Noh, I don't see why LG couldn't. For all we know, Luna will get cancer (or maybe she already has cancer) and die naturally or LG could create a new identity for JTE saying how she's Luna long lost twin from somewhere else in the world like America or something lol. Side note, I would have still like to know what happened to Luna's parents.

 

I'm pretty sure KES was trying to tell us that they would have kids by having Lady Noh say "royal ancestral shine to be completed hopefully next year". I mean if there's one lesson we should all learn is the power of praying to the gods in TKEM. For example, look at LJH's mom, she prayed to the Gods her husband would die and even after the whole reset or whatever, her husband did die! And we all know how Lady Noh had basically been praying for 3 things in the throughout this series:

 

1) For LG to find a lover/queen

2) For the safety of the royal court by having LG produce an heir (it is a king's duty after all lol)

3) For LG to win the battle against LR

 

After rewatching the episode again, this is what I concluded:

 

1) The whole flash of their old hand holding each others' wasn't suppose to in my mind signify that they weren't going to get married, rather it symbolized they would love each other forever. They probably did end up getting married and her being Queen, but we just didn't get to see that lol. We as the viewers just got a small glimpse of a moment. The moments after that we probably may never get to see, but one thing that resonates throughout it all is that their love for each other never dies and will continue to persist regardless of whatever happens next. 

 

It's like that saying "where there is a will, there is a way". Therefore, I am sure LG would have found a way to have JTE to be Queen in KOC and JTE would have found a way to balance her career in ROK or heck maybe she would bring her dad over to ROK and let him be the part time babysitter for their child lol.

 

2) JY and ES will meet again! All of ES dreams did come true if you think about, even in the reset he completed his 64th dream of getting a license. Therefore, he will complete his 65th dream of meeting JY again lol.

 

"THRILLER ROMANCE THAT'S GOING TO BE A BIG HIT" (Still wish we got to see it play out lol) 

 

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1 hour ago, Indianfan said:

The crown prince whom YEONG saved and the baby Yeong who befriends the prince, what happens to them? When they grow up why don't they meet their avatars from future?

@Indianfan They still become best friends since lady was there lol. Plus if you think about it, baby LG was still lonely since his dad still died. So again since LG and JY made the decision to end this thing together, they still were fated to becoming best friends !

 

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1 hour ago, Wanderer062287 said:

Hi hello!!! First of all what an ending! I want to feel all the feels for now but I just have a few things I really need to understand huhu:

 

1. Why did the events of the treason night play out differently? E.g. why didnt bb LG attack LL with the sword (resulting to the cutting of the manpa in half), why did L's bodyguard aim the gun at bb LG before he strikes the sword, and why did LL order his bodyguard to kill bb LG when in episode 1 he told him to leave bb LG to him.

2. I'm happy that in a way, Chief Park's arc was resolved BUT I STILL DON'T UNDERSTAND WHAT HAPPENED HAHA

 

As for everything else I think KES was able to resolve all my pending issues hehe. I'm so happy and my heart is still fluttering 

@Wanderer062287 1) I guess the Gods must have been the ones who broke the ceiling glass. If you think about it, all those situations didnt happen because of the choice 2020 LG made of one bringing JY with him and also the decision to be brave of not letting JY fight alone. With the Chief I still have no clue what was that all about, no clue either on the names of the people mentioned in his scene.

[Cara]

1 hour ago, Wis dom said:

 

Ofcourse they had to do that since they can't give us another 16 episodes about their ending life but touch on some points while leaving things on good terms. 

 

I think the ending was satisfying and KES saved her life with the fans. She retained her reputation here otherwise the backlash would have been great like ridiculously huge backlash she dodged a bullet and deserves a pat on her back for this great coup of avoiding the backlash.

 

I am gonna say it right now.. There will be second season you heard it here first even if KES declines Netflix will lobby for another season

 

yes all Korean Minoz alone could sue her for giving him the saddest character ever esp it's his comeback which supposed to be memorable one not make them feel traumatic afterwards lol and not to mention from KGE fans for giving her the same kind of sad love story  

[Danielle Isabella]

I'M SO HAPPY Y'ALL FINALLY YEONG AND SEUNG AH ARE DATING!!!!!

 

Even though it's a secret affair but still!!!!

[rocher22]

That was a touching scene...

 

[ms_inquiry]

1 hour ago, mychoiyoung said:

Everybody happy with the finale?

 

Happy that our OTP was given an out for the unconventional circumstance of their love story but I just find the finale... lightweight. Given that the premise has so much gravitas.  I enjoyed watching the finale but am not entirely satisfied. I will just leave it at that.

 

 

I'm incredibly thankful and happy that we got a happy ending  and I appreciated the comedy a lot

 

I suspect though that the drama ran out of time to tell its story, I think starting from around ep 14 especially. There are some story beats and clues that I believe were given different and much shorter "conclusions" than what the writer had set up from the beginning. 

 

Loved JY choosing to save young LG. Maybe that whole segment and LG finally managing to kill LL was shortened and/or re-written so they could manage time-wise. Pretty sure there was at some point a draft where JY dies saving young LG in front of adult LG. I'm very happy he's alive though haha.

 

So in that way I did find some things a bit unsatisfying as well. Wish JTE's character, backstory and her line about bravery had been explored more. Also LG could have been explored more. Him losing the scar in the end thanks to his friends and allies was an amazing story beat. It would have had an even bigger impact if he had struggled with it a bit more - with the trauma and/or with just simply losing his immediate family. It was still great though and I did like that they did explore it.

 

Being a liberal arts graduate when theorizing I have written some theories, most of which I have shared here. I have been right at times but also wrong quite often . I'm sure I'm wrong about plenty but if the drama had had more time I believe that for example:

 

- LL was at some point going to either try to take over or simply terrorize KOC using fear and propaganda. This since he wanted LG to reveal that he was alive in ep 11. LL could have tried to spin his "return" to KOC as him being literally back from the dead. Later on I thought for a second that he would do an even better version of this by "returning" with the dead "Queen" as well. Basically trying to scare people in some way into submission or make them distrust their government and/or LG.

 

- I suspect that the PM's alliance with LL was also going to be more elaborate. Quite a lot of time was spent establishing her ability to influence the public narrative and taking opponents down in the press. I also thought she would end up choosing to do the right thing for a while, but I like @bebebisous33 analysis about her character and why it would make sense of her to side with LL better. 

 

- Luna probably had a more elaborate backstory as well. @bebebisous33 I remember you stating at some point quite early that you think the drama had changed her. Would love to hear more of what you think she was going to do in the latter part of the drama as well  

 

- Maybe at some point there might have been a draft where KSJ, the most skilled at shooting, was going to save young LG and leave the ID-card. It could just have been a red herring though (his shooting skills). I did really like the part where he had his confrontation with LL and then him siding with LG. He was built up as a pretty tragic character and his love for JTE was such a major part of it. His arc was still very touching here though. His and JTE scenes and lines at the end of episode 15/16 were breathtaking and heartbreaking (the music in that scene as well!)

 

I'm worried now after having written all this it will seem like I'm complaining or saying the drama wasn't good. I think it was actually amazing. I just like analyzing stories and I feel a little bit bad for those involved since I am pretty sure that things had to be shortened and re-written. So grateful about the happy ending and the best parts of this drama were honestly brilliant.

 

Apologies for yet another really long post! 

[Edgar Pordwed]

Yayyyyyyy nobody died!!!!

 

Secretary Mo became Prime Minister @Heretorant!

[Lara2020]

Okay, I've decided to delurk, because I'm soooo over the moon with the ending! I love the ending, kudos to all the casts, producers and KES!! I voted that there would be a wedding for the king and queen, no wedding, but that's fine as this ending is even better. It's beautiful! I predicted it will end beautifully but I can't read KES mind - how beautiful it would be. She wrote it beautifully. Lee Gon found a beautiful solution for his parallel worlds equation!

[mychoiyoung]

13 minutes ago, ms_inquiry said:

- Maybe at some point there might have been a draft where KSJ, the most skilled at shooting, was going to save young LG and leave the ID-card. It could just have been a red herring though (his shooting skills). I did really like the part where he had his confrontation with LL and then him siding with LG. He was built up as a pretty tragic character and his love for JTE was such a major part of it. His arc was still very touching here though. His and JTE scenes and lines at the end of episode 15 were breathtaking and heartbreaking (the music in that scene as well!)

 

I could not believe that SJ's character let TE go to the portal alone with LR. Whether TE is someone SJ loves, or his best friend or as next to family all his life or even just as his partner in the work force, how can he? Does not compute at all... Show why did you? Why?

[Ameera Ali]

she is so priceless 

just keep doing whatever make you happy 

 

 

 

 

* get him married mission still on 

[Joje]

Just passing through to appreciate and celebrate KGE.. She basically played 6 different characters in the finale...Though most were short scenes, she embodied them all… Whoaaaa!!!

 

Can't get enough of Jeong Tae-ra … I want to be a member of Tae-ra Byte 

Such an amazing and talented actress.

 

Have to check out some of her dramas or movies.

[Ameera Ali]

She waited, waited &  waited for him to come back 
 

Spoiler

 

 

 

[ck1Oz]

Good morning and thank you in advance. No judgment please as I chose this choice and will get to ep 13- 15 later.

 

Juat checking what I watched. Everyone bar the OTP can't remember. LG always finds JTE during the weekends. Working on that premise can someone answer these questions please?

 

1. JY can't remember JTE but likes the PRD lady? Luna is Go Seo- something but the sister of the jailed PM?

 

2. How does the 1994 Kang Sin Jae seeing the car crash or reporting it significant? His father still stayed rich and he became a rich adult? The 1994 learnt taekwando early rather than in high school and never met JTE.

 

Huh? The Corean police officer Sin Jae met Luna or the new Go and are together? When did I miss that in ep 16?

 

3. Eun Seop became a NIS agent and married Na Ri who may not be JTE's friend now?

 

4. Then who is Seong Min who stole from the safe and what is the grandmother and snowy roof for?

 

5. The Korean LR is still wheelchair bound but somehow the " King " still died?

 

They LG and JTE decided since Luna or aka Goo Seo- something is still the doppelanger they can't get married so he never has a heir or kids.

 

Shesh.

 

So what did I just watch again? Oh yeah the Korean Ji Hun is extremely good looking and both the Korean Ji Hun and Sin Jae is my best bet of a happy ever after ending?There's nobody in Corea I care about bar JY? Since the Corean JH is comatose or not shown. 

 

Thank you again for the answers. Well I did miss Lee Minho and one has to admit he does look so good in his outfits here. I can finally wipe the BoF memories out of my mind. I am just going to enjoy having multiple gazillions images online gif now of him in navy whites and the other uniform versions.

[sal2]

Really found the ending nice. In the end of the day it was a love story between our two out of the world characters.  lol, I found it funny that they become weekend couple traveling. At least it was more stable than before when they did not know when or if they could see each other again. 

 

Aww, I love seeing a more happy and confident SJ and Luna getting more stable life. So fate brought them together again falling in love. lol, no wonder we got that kiss. 

 

ES and Nari husband and wife with kids. aww so cute. 

 

JY missing ES so sad him not seing ES again. But he got his own girlfriend. SO many couple we got in the end 

 

Have to say some of the world building felt convoluted as it seems like writer have many things she wanted to tell but not time to explore everything. But I think we got the most important answer and frankly to me we do not need another season as I think to core story is the romance between our king and detective. At least we know they will love each other for a long, long time.

[AgentQuake]

LMHoes.

 

I just realized that we were BLESSED TODAY.

 

Last night, we felt cheated out of two scenes.  The wedding scene, and the rice pounding in the bedroom.

 

Wedding scene - our own @Heretorant has destroyed the brutal PM and is now the FIRST FEMALE PRIME MINSTER in the Kingdom.  With Parliament's approval, she can start working on a bill to demand that the King marry JTE.  I'm sure it will pass.  Who needs a wedding when this group is now the Parliament?  We are powerful.

 

Bedroom Scene - So it wasn't a bedroom scene BUT IT WAS A VOYEURY SCENE.  THEY WATCHED SOME FANFICTION AND THEN WERE INSPIRED.  WE SPENT SO MUCH TIME BEGGING FOR BEDROOM SCENES THAT WE NEVER EVEN IMAGINED THAT THEY WOULD CHRISTEN THE SECURITY ROOM.

 

I hope they Lysol-d the place down after they were done.

 

 

[ms_inquiry]

Just realized something - I think: In the flower scene from episode 10. LG seems to be saying goodbye, probably visiting JTE before going to the night of treason, right? I think the flute took him to that specific moment because it is this event/memory which will cause JTE later to get involved - to act and be the one to take LL through the gate (ep. 11 and 15). 

 

Why do I think this? Because I think the flute took LG back to that moment because, as revealed in ep 14, the flute will take the person back to the moment which will save them.

 

JTE decides that she will risk her life to save him because of that memory and fear of him disappearing.  Maybe in some earlier draft she did something which directly saves him in ep 16 but it could also be that she saves him from loneliness/from being without her by going into the in-between and therefore being able to remember him, which is why the flute in that time line took him to that moment. 

 

Maybe this was stated in the episode or was crystal clear, I just thought it was rather neat 

[rocher22]

Yep... so striking...

 

 

 

[SweetButters]

5 minutes ago, ck1Oz said:

Good morning and thank you in advance. No judgment please as I chose this choice and will get to ep 13- 15 later.

 

Juat checking what I watched. Everyone bar the OTP can't remember. LG always finds JTE during the weekends. Working on that premise can someone answer these questions please?

 

1. JY can't remember JTE but likes the PRD lady? Luna is Go Seo- something but the sister of the jailed PM?

 

2. How does the 1994 Kang Sin Jae seeing the car crash or reporting it significant? His father still stayed rich and he became a rich adult? The 1994 learnt taekwando early rather than in high school and never met JTE.

 

3. Eun Seop became a NIS agent and married Na Ri who may not be JTE's friend now?

 

4. Then who is Seong Min who stole from the safe and what is the grandmother and snowy roof for?

 

5. The Korean LR is still wheelchair bound but somehow the " King " still died?

 

They LG and JTE decided since Luna or aka Goo Seo- something is still the doppelanger they can't get married so he never has a heir or kids.

 

Shesh.

 

So what did I just watch again? Oh yeah the Korean Ji Hun is extremely good looking and both the Korean Ji Hun and Sin Jae is my best bet of a happy ever after ending?There's nobody in Corea I care about bar JY? Since the Corean JH is comatose or not shown. 

 

Thank you again for the answers. Well I did miss Lee Minho and one has to admit he does look so good in his outfits here. I can finally wipe the BoF memories out of my mind. I am just going to enjoy having multiple gazillions images online gif now of him in navy whites and the other uniform versions.

@ck1Oz 

 

1) JY does remember JTE hence why when LG brings JTE back to KOC, she waves at him and LG tells JY "its that situation" again. The only people who remember who happened are the people who went back to save the two worlds aka LG, JTE, and JY!

 

2) Not sure how KSJ seeing the car crash was significant at all lol.

 

3) Pretty sure ES, Nari, and JTE were all childhood friends still so JTE is still besties with ES. Also I'm thinking that since ES's 64th dream of getting a license regardless of the reset had come true, his 65th dream of meeting JY again will also come true too although we just didnt get to see it lol. Probably all happened in 2023 lol

 

4) Not sure who Seong Min is, I thought the whole Chief Park's backstory and scene in ep16 could have not been included.

 

5) ROK LR is still in a wheel chair because that was his fate all along and with his brother, he still died because he was a bad person to begin with. Plus as I mentioned earlier the power of prayers in TKEM (if you pray to the Gods, they will grant your prayers aka Lady Noh's prayers of LG finding a lover/queen and to produce an heir....thinking it would have happened in 2023 given Lady Noh's last comment in ep 16, LJH's mom prayers of her husband dying and the Gods finally giving their blessing for LG/JTE to be together/be married) lol. LJH's mom had prayed so many times her husband would die (since he was abusive regardless of whatever reset) so that she and LJH would have a better life.

[JungRok]

5 minutes ago, ck1Oz said:

Good morning and thank you in advance. No judgment please as I chose this choice and will get to ep 13- 15 later.

 

Juat checking what I watched. Everyone bar the OTP can't remember. LG always finds JTE during the weekends. Working on that premise can someone answer these questions please?

 

1. JY can't remember JTE but likes the PRD lady? Luna is Go Seo- something but the sister of the jailed PM?

 

2. How does the 1994 Kang Sin Jae seeing the car crash or reporting it significant? His father still stayed rich and he became a rich adult? The 1994 learnt taekwando early rather than in high school and never met JTE.

 

3. Eun Seop became a NIS agent and married Na Ri who may not be JTE's friend now?

 

4. Then who is Seong Min who stole from the safe and what is the grandmother and snowy roof for?

 

5. The Korean LR is still wheelchair bound but somehow the " King " still died?

 

They LG and JTE decided since Luna or aka Goo Seo- something is still the doppelanger they can't get married so he never has a heir or kids.

 

Shesh.

 

So what did I just watch again? Oh yeah the Korean Ji Hun is extremely good looking and both the Korean Ji Hun and Sin Jae is my best bet of a happy ever after ending?There's nobody in Corea I care about bar JY? Since the Corean JH is comatose or not shown. 

 

Thank you again for the answers. Well I did miss Lee Minho and one has to admit he does look so good in his outfits here. I can finally wipe the BoF memories out of my mind. I am just going to enjoy having multiple gazillions images online gif now of him in navy whites and the other uniform versions.

It seems you need to rewatch it again.

 

1. JY remembered her since Lee Gon brought him back to the current time in KOCorea. The timeline is renewed as Lee Rim died in the bamboo forest. Check out the few moments of Lee Gon brought Tae-ul into KOCorea, and dozens of guards appeared. Lee Gon said "this is one of those situations". JY sighed deeply. 

2. Yes. As a result, his father didnt get prosecuted and he turned into a chaebol. Kang Sin Jae

 

3. In the recent ROK where Jeong Taeul existed, Nari and her are still friends. Nari called her about a guy with a horse, and JTE sped through using the police sirens

 

4. I dont know which Seong Min tho. 

 

5. Republic of Korea "Lee Rim" had that disease and wheelchair bound. No. The doppelganger hasnt died; he became a Naval officer Lee Ji Hun, Tae-ul noticed it while she is wating for Lee Gon

 

Well, the current situation is that Lee Gon and Jeong Tae-ul doesnt want to disrupt doppelganger life; ripple effect to the parallel dimensions or whatnot. Even though Lee Gon had power to give her position or new ID, what is it for? Happy marriage as a Queen? 

So far, I noticed Lee Gon is not THAT interested in becoming the King. I assumed in their future adventure, traversing through dimensions & time, Lee Gon might decide to abdicate the throne. He had the intention to give it to his uncle grandchildren (Prince Boyeong descendant) in ep 15, so I guess he will go with that plan in the future. He wants to spend more time with Tae-ul. As of now, his loved ones are still alive in the Kingdom of Corea; Lady Noh, and sveral others - I believed he took the time before decided to retire and having more adventure across the dimensions-time again. 

 

Put your self in Tae-ul position, if she wants to settle with Lee Gon. What would happen to her father? I bet she waited for the right moment, and move on peacefully like retired from the police force and told her friends, she is travelling or somewhat. That kind of future. 

 

As of now, they are happily dating in the weekends. Let them. the glimpse of growing old together, At some point in the future, they might have lived together. 

 

In Kingdom of Corea, it seems Luna is having a thing with Kang Sin Jae. So happily ever after for them. Imagine Tae-ul makes a debut as a Queen and Luna is surprised having the same face with her. A mess would be. 

 

that is my story for their conclusion. They travelled across dimensions, and waiting for the right moment - to be together forever; with no worries or trouble to shift and change into daily lives and the weekend honeymoon lives