We’re back with a new K-drama Review, this time we’re delving into the world of ‘Kingdom’. This review is about both season 1 and season 2.
‘Kingdom’ was written by Kim Eun-Hee who created both the webcomic and the script. The director of both seasons is Kim Sung-Hoon. A singular episode of ‘Kingdom’ has a whopping budget of almost 2 million USD. Each season is six episodes.
We spoke about Kim Eun-Hee in our podcast episode on Prolific Screenwriters in the K-drama world, check that out here.
Plot
We travel back in time to the Joseon dynasty where the King has fallen ill. We follow the crown prince as he escapes and travels to Jiyulheon, a clinic where the physician Lee Seung-hui resides.
However, at Jiyulheon a tragedy takes place and a zombie outbreak takes place. Only the physician Seo-bi (Bae Doona) and Yeong-shin (Kim Sung-Kyu) survive the initial outbreak.
The zombies take over and the Crown Prince Lee Chang (Ju Ji-hoon), his bodyguard Mu-yeong (Kim Sang-Ho) end up working together with Seo-bi and Yeong-shin to try to take them down.
The story has two layers to it. On the one hand we have the political machinations as the Cho clan tries to take over. The clan leader Cho Hak-ju (Ryoo Seung-Ryong) will stop at nothing to get the Crown Prince out of the picture. So that his daughter, the Queen Consort (Kim Hye-Jun) can give birth to her baby. That way her position is secured and a successor to the throne is born.
On the other hand, we have the zombie outbreak and our main characters who try to find a way to bring people to safety and find a cure.
Actors
There’s an insane amount of high profile actors in the series and you can feel it through the quality of acting. Each character has their own story and they all perform it really, really well.
The story is very thrilling and it flips from political thriller to scary horror at the flip of a hat. It’s intense and there’s no boring episode.
A couple of highlights are the characters of the Queen Consort and the character Cho Beom-pal (Jun Suk-Ho) who is part of the Cho clan.
The Queen Consort is crazy, scary and so well played. She has a ruthless streak a mile wide and it’s so awesome to watch her performance.
Cho Beom-pal is a bit of a stumbling idiot, but he means everything so well and tries his best. His character was very much needed as he brings some lightheartedness in a show that’s otherwise filled with very dark, very serious people.
Overall
This is definitely a must watch if you’re into horror at all. The budget is insane and well used. I can imagine it’s very expensive to create such an army of zombies.
I definitely recommend watching both seasons at once, as it’s not that long and it begs for a binge-watching session.
There should be a third season coming, but Netflix hasn’t confirmed that officially yet. What I hope to see in the next season is a bit more development in the character of Seo-bi. We know that she’s very smart but beyond that, we don’t know a whole lot yet.
You can watch the trailer for ‘Kingdom’ below.
