‘The King: Eternal Monarch’ is probably one of the most expensive dramas produced this year. From incredible settings to top tier actors, this drama is for sure one of the most interesting ones I have watched this year, and it is also our feature of the week.
Parallel Universes
Written by Kim Eun-sook and directed by Baek Sang-hoon, Jung Ji-hyun and Yoo Je-won, ‘The King: Eternal Monarch’ develops between parallel universes, the first one being the Empire of Korea ruled by a monarch, and the second one being the Republic of Korea. Every person has a ‘twin’ in the other universe with the same face and the same name, just with different life stories.
Both universes are connected through a gate and only the King from the Korean Empire is able to move back and forth between both universes, however, treason takes place and the gate is open to more than one person.
Starring Lee Minho as the King of the Korean Empire and Kim Go-Eun as Jang Tae Eul, this story develops with this pair trying to save people surrounding them and stopping the King’s uncle (Yi Rim) who killed his father from ruining the equilibrium of both universes.
Yi Rim (Lee Jung Jin) is an ambitious man who wants to rule the Korean Empire, and nothing will stop him from trying to do so.
Quality Acting
This drama does not just have the incredible actors Lee Minho and Kim Go-Eun, but also includes the rising star Woo Do-hwan and none other than the legendary actress Kim Young-ok.
Top tier actors were included in this drama and made the full story even more enjoyable and interesting.
Do-hwan plays two different roles and he absolutely amazed me in both. In the first one he plays The Emperor’s right hand, a close friend and protector with a cold and rather distant personality. His second role is the warm, goofy and very cute friend of Tae Eul, who has a lot of love for his family and very defined life dreams.
Both of these characters were super different and very special in their own way.
Lee Minho’s role as the Emperor Lee Gon was as expected clean, heroic and one hundred percent cool. I really liked how he portrayed and separated his persona as the King and the other one as the human behind the role.
King Lee Gon is smart, very precise and righteous in any matter related to the country he rules, both as Lee Gon the person and also Tae Eul’s love interest he is more loose and a bit self-obsessed but in a cool, controlled and kinda cute way.
In Go-Eun’s case, her both roles in the two dimensions are super cool, clever, fair and very good at what they do for a living. Both roles are kick ass women with no fear, and interesting lives. As expected she portrayed both roles incredibly but I personally liked her role as Luna (a citizen of the Korean Empire).
This role carried way more inner conflict, palpable in every single scene, with a lot of character development that made it enjoyable to watch.
Along with this character we also get female power with Goo Seo Ryung (Jung Eung Chae) as the very ambitious and clever Primer Minister in the Korean Empire, who wants to become the Queen of the Korean Empire, but things don’t go the way she expects.
Final Thoughts
Despite general critics and a few controversies around this drama, I truly enjoyed watching ‘The King: Eternal Monarch’. It is a drama that will spoil viewers with a few of the most breathtaking settings, and visuals to die for.
It was stunning from start to end, and absolutely well thought out. At the end, big names carried this drama, and made it of high quality in every minute.
This drama is available on Netflix. Check out the trailer below.
