Oh gosh what is going on with this drama. I am so incredibly perplexed by the entirety of episode 9 of The King: Eternal Monarch. It had a chance to reboot heading into the second half of its run and instead it stagnated and then gave me the giant middle finger that it wasn’t going to even try even if I gave it like the 20th chance by now to genuinely get going. The ratings are abysmal at 5.8% and 6.3%, the lowest yet and is poised to take over the biggest flop of recent year crown from last year’s tvN drama Arthdal Chronicles which averaged 6.550% on cable which is about 2.5x what would constitute a prime time channel ratings. We’ll see if The King can at least beat Vagabond which is it’s equivalent competition.
Vagabond aired on SBS Fri-Sat so same time slot and same channel type and averaged 9.3% through its run and was rightly considered a major disappointment vis-a-vis the huge budget and big name cast, which feels like a sad deja vu with The King. Narrative wise episode 9 stalled in explaining anything and once again spent time in awkwardly written scenes solely for PPL – this time Lee Min Ho wears the male version of the beauty mask which Woo Do Hwan first models like it’s the Iron Man mask, the same fried kimchee pack makes an appearance and Woo Do Hwan has to eat it, and both Kim Go Eun shows us how to order fried chicken from a mobile app and eats it on her date with Lee Min Ho. Trying to give this drama a chance makes me feel like my future self will time travel back and snerk at me “I told you so.”
I AM LITERALLY SPEECHLESS NOW
Same here. I wonder how their brains think ……I am soooooo miffed
I was a Lee MinHo’s fan but this drama is extremely disappointing in so many areas. I wonder what Lee was thinking when he read the script of this utterly confusing story from the writer. Her world of imagination is now turning into too ridiculous drivels.
Also Lee looks too feminine to portray a powerful king.
“Korean viewers have no taste because it’s no.1 on Netflix.”
Lol. The ‘best’ explanation for ratings I’ve seen from stans.
They do forget the fact that the drama is primarily made for korean viewers,no.matter how much hallyu there is if it’s not doing well there then even the ppl is a waste ?
I’ve never understood that justification for any drama unless it was completely financed by Netflix like “the kingdom, extracurricular, love alarm, my first first love.”
—because the production team desires good ratings domestically to help pay for a huge chunk of their expenses. Other licensing deals bring them money too but it’s a one time payment and not depending on viewership.
^ exactly.
Then why make a description for the drama you don’t like just leave your theories to yourself whatsoever those small details
That irked me as well. I already wrote a post about it but it just disappeared here.So let me repeat. TKEM is not no. 1 everywhere.Sure they are trending in some countries as HK,PH, Malaysia etc. But Japan has the highest number of Subscribers .King premiered at top 3 in Japan initially.But yesterday , CLOY was at no. 1, IC at no. 3 whereas King was not even present in top 10. Viewers have surely lost interest. And its not like Japanese have difficulty in comprehending complex stories. I was amazed when found people laughing at Korean’s thinking capacity as King got low ratings.
its number5 today in Netflx Japan.
Some forgot that Vagabond, Encounter and Arthadal Chronicles were also no. 1 most viewed in Netflix during their airtime.
**correction Encounter in Viu.
Not sure about that coz Netflix introduced the daily ranking this year. What I only know is Vagabond was 10th overall in Netflix Korea last year.
Encounter’s average rating was 8.5% and it’s on tvn so it was hardly a flop unlike some people kept claiming.
How come is the rating that low!I actually luved it.As a matter a fact , sm feeling I noticed witb arthral.I was waiting for new ep every time while ratings were aparntly low. Is it maybe that thefe are Netflix shows? I just don’t get this!!!
They’re not wrong. It’s no. 1 in annoying PPL marketing. ?
I really don’t understand. How come the rating was very low when it says it is No 1 in Netflix in korea and several other countries just wondering who is doing the survey how did they get that figure.
I love the drama. It may be a flop as you say in sk but international fans are cheering for this. You may have difficulty comprehending some details because most are not revealed yet. But for me i love the suspense like next week’s episode. We all have diff taste but dont say its a flop coz its not. Its just not your typical drama where commonly your version in your past life. Its a version of you happening at the same time in another reality. I love the writer’s imagination on this! I hope all of their efforts be spared. It is seriously good.
Rating wise in Korea is a flop in Korea. It can’t cross over 10% and it is already at episode 9-10. Plus, it is the Korean who watched, paid and produced the dramas. The others’ overseas don’t contribute at all. The main network that produced is SBS, not Netflix. It is screened and broadcasted on Netflix only.
A lot of international ‘fans’ sitting home due to COVID 19 are getting the first glimpse of Lee Minho’s and the other dudes’ handsomeness. They are in that mode that a lot of us were in the first time we saw the dude in Boys over Flowers. IMO, people are tuning in to look at hot guys. You can’t see them outside, might as well kill time watching one on TV.
Thats true…..I agree
I completely agree…they rate the good movies as poor and vice versa…I can never trust a kdrama rating after this.
Whenever I think that arthdal chronicles and vagabond also were rated poorly, I get baffled all over again…likkkkeeeee…..dont they get it?
I am here for the comments from LMH’s fangirls.
Lol, again, so toxic. This whole site is so toxic lol. Of course all LMH’s fault that the rating has been poor! Why did the poor guy even think about acting in dramas again! Right, again we go with how LMH’s handsome face means he is not a hardworking actor and he just lets his face speak for himself!
If you are that sensitive, why don’t you go to the sites that love his drama only?
if you cannot handle the heat, don’t get yourself near it. The blog owner and the readers are just voicing out their opinion and if you don’t like it, just ignore it. Everyone have their own taste and preferences and nobody will succumb to your faves as the world doesn’t revolve around your faves only.
He can’t act
1/4 of episode 9 was literally mini commercials spread through-out, it was so disruptive to an already non-cohesive story flow. It felt like many scenes were puzzled together at random, it was so unnatural. It’s quite a disappointment because I loved episode 8 so much but episode 9 regressed. It’s like the production team gave up and decided to turn their episodes into a huge advertisement vehicle for the highest bidders.
And that kissing scene was so SAD. I can’t believe half-way into the show and they gave us that light tap of a kiss, it’s like they were introducing a new type of kissing to accommodate social distancing, “1sec kiss.” too long and you’ll contract the virus lol
so funny the comment about a new type of kiss to
accommodate social distancing hahaha. i noticed that too, agree the skinship on the series has been a bit lacking and awkwardly blocked for the most part (i do think when they’re really working for it the two leads have chemistry but they’re not being directed or the story is not being steered to milk that romance.
my take on the drama: i think they are working overtime to make cures or corrections. the latest episodes where they make aure lmh and kge have stronger skinship or loveline scenes seems inserted or added at the last minute to help salvage
the show. im a little heartbroken because i am a fan of KES but i think her writing and her storytelling here is a little all over the place.
Did vagabound really have that low ratings?
Wiki pages show otherwise…
I just looked at Wikipedia and it is the case. The average is 9.3 percent
9.3 is average for 16 epi for VB. At least every week is past 10% for the highest episode. I think all know which is lower, at least till epi 9, don’t even need to count.
@Minikifan I agree with you that VB’s individual episodes atleast touched 10pc for one of its parts.Its ratings were somewhat stagnant unlike King which is going downward every week. Even VB fans can claim that it was an international hit and fans loved it outside Korea..And it could indeed be true because there were no Netflix trending list back then.
However at the end of the day rating may not be the only factor but it holds a major stake while quantifying the popularity of a drama.
Actually, Vagabond got double digits in almost their every episode. In episode 9, they got 10.6 – 10.8% in 3rd part of the episode.
The problem and disadvantage of VB is it got 3 parts in every episode thus it resulted lower average than expected.
Another difference is, with the set of ratings, VB is one of the highest rated SBS drama in 2019. But 2020 ratings are just too good so the King is behind among SBS shows in 2020 (first half of the year) Both LMH and KES need another chance.
Yeah vagabound had majority of double digit record and it has rise and fall and mosstly it was constant at the range i don’t remember a constant fall for vagabond,it had rises I even remeber the soompi articles about it bieng no 1 in the timeslot
And it’s finale had 13%rating
Vagabond episodes were split into 3 parts in an attempt to get higher ratings, usually the third part would get the double digit.
Which would not be a bad performance for a drama if it wasn’t for its crazy budget, mad hype (they didn’t even get 15 percent for any episode, forget 20) and the fact that multiple SBS prime time dramas made on much lower budgets outperformed it in 2019. Including two in the exact same time slot (The Fiery Priest and Hot Stove League)..
Vagabond is a flop because it didn’t make the ratings to turn a profit on its massive budget or live up to the hype.
It’s just that The King is also a flop. A bigger flop now.
Yes but hot stove league is considered a 2020 drama. It will be in SBS drama award this year, not last year. That’s why VB flop but still highest rated among SBS 2019 drama, with fiery Priest and VIP.
Well done ! Lee Seung Gi, another overrated actor casted in roles too big for him when guy should seriously consider taking acting courses. Should do like Jackson Yee and studies hard.
Don’t get me started on pouting Suzy
…LMH were my bias back then but then I started to notice that this dude does’nt have versitility acting wise of an excellent actor,he remains in stagnant role of its always about rich,expensive,handsome and always dresses to empress guy…I mean why not try others to build his acting growth.You know viewers likes eating and actors are the food,if the food always taste the same,then there would be time that they would poke it out no matter how good the food is eventually they would get tired of the same taste after all…come on, who want to eat chicken in every breakfast,lunch,dinner day after day,dude its unhealthy!…To be honest its saddens to see LMH did’nt grow(acting wise) and reach his potentials over the years after the BOF.
He has never grown cause fangirls like you keep encouraging him in acting like a “Poseur” in all of his roles. I repeat his portrayal of the male lead in the kversion of City hunter was pure shit ! Ryo Saeba is a layered character “poseur” could not act. Maybe one reason the Korean PD decided to make CH that thing that had nothing to do with the original material. A great actor is someone that studies the character of a book, respects it and ends up doing it justice like Zhang Ruo Yun did for Fan Xian in “Joy of Life”. LMH doesn’t can’t relate. Always same “posing face”. People criticize the likes of Lee Yeon Hee but at least she tries
So agreed! A good metaphor of LMH’s limited acting ability. I originally fell in love LMH’s authentic acting in his showing of teen’s angst on memorable scenes.
Oops,ggg, my reply below is meant to be responding to your post above!
I wanted to say LMH impressed me with his teen acting chop on Boys over flowers.
I can already write some of the comments XD
1. Haters gonna hate
2. If you don’t like it, then stop watching.
3. It’s #1 on Netflix in *insert mid-size to small-ish country*
4. It’s airing against The World of the Married!
5. Lee Min Ho is playing his character exactly as written!
6. The OTP have great chemistry because I feel they do and anyone else who thinks otherwise is wrong/mean/hurtful.
7. The drama is so deep and smart, it takes careful viewing to understand it.
8. Criticism of Kim Go Eun is so sexist, women should support other women!
9. PPL is in many dramas, why focus on it here?
10. I enjoy this drama, that’s all that matters.
Of the collected comments on The King posts, only #10 matters and as always everyone enjoy whatever you love. I nor anyone else cannot take that enjoyment away from you if we don’t also see it the same way as you.
P.S. I’m stupefied, it feels like The King is a parallel universe drama written by Kim Eun Sook. I have been mad rewatching the best bits of Heirs, DotS, and Goblin all last week and laughing/snarking/crying/gasping. Where is all those emotions she can elicit from her viewers here. There is nothing. That’s the saddest part of it all, the vague worry that an end of an era is happening and she’s lost her mojo…..
It looks like you had a grand ball of a time writing this post. I can’t stop laughing LOL
I never really thought about it that way of her losing her mojo. I’m sure it is just a minor blip in her mighty career, and hopefully she’ll come back strong in the future. I’m hoping for her to return with something warm and beautifulI, a drama with a huge beating heart. I want something “city hall-esque.” I want her to come back with a deep human drama with complex characters.
what a time to be alive to see how fanatic a fan can be and them being major losers for condemning others who are not on their sides. They can’t grasp the fact that although this drama trended on Netflix, the fact that it is not successful in Korea means that it is a failure in Koreans’ eyes. International airing doesn’t really mean thing because at the end of the day, only local supports matter for the drama if it is aired on national television channel. Unless it is aired on cable channel or wholly produced by Netflix, that would be another thing to be compared about. I would give a pat to myself for saving my time and brain to watch this drama on Netflix.
deep disappointment.
lol on “haters gonna hate” Im already sick and tired of hearing that ’cause actually most of the users arent haters, they are disappointed and hurt waiting so long for a big budget drama with A-lister cast also LMHs comeback written by legendry KES.
Some fans are dissing entire Korean population..lol!! They are even more angry as at one place TWOM got its best ratings whereas King got its worst. While defending King, they have started to downgrade TWOM now???..”You don’t require much thinking while watching a cheating drama”, “What is so special in it.It is not even original”.” Do Koreans feel inferiority complex that they adore foreign remakes”??.These were some of the comments that I found.
I just came here from reading those. And I agree with the previous commenter. A lot of us are disappointed (not haters). But some of the fans feel that if we don’t like it we don’t have enough brain cells to follow a complicated story (which isn’t even that complicated TBH). It’s the bad screenplay, weird editing, tepid chemistry between the leafs and failure to connect with them (both second male leads are doing a better job IMO) that’s snatching viewers away. Not TKEM or Netflix
Well it is not a loss for the Koreans anyway if people bash them. It will BE those who put down the KOREANS as the dramas come from them.
I never understood that train of thought. Who cares if a story is complex and original? The art is able to translate a difficult story into a compelling and tasteful story. As an analogy… If you have a smart teacher that fails to explain a difficult subject, do you still consider the teacher good, because he is smart? Same story here, a “smart” story does not equal a “good” story. I also laugh at the fact that many people blame the Koreans for being too stupid to understand the story. Korea is one of the highest educated countries in the world… Their high school math tests give first-year US university math exams a run for their money in terms of difficulty… You are telling me that they are too stupid to understand some awfully-written Kdrama? Japan is another example. It is only number 4 in Japan, after CLOY and IC (that both have already finished…) Are you telling me that the lack of popularity in Japan is attributable to the low IQ of their nation? The Japanese? I know what I am going to say next will hurt a lot of people, but the truth is that the majority of the fans from The King come from countries that are still developing and have factually one of the lowest IQs worldwide due to their bad education systems.
@Watcher King was at 4th position in Japan only when new episodes were aired.For the other days it would slip to many places below and sometimes even bows out of top 10.Whereas other shows like CLOY and IC were consistently at the top for many days.Yesterday ,King was not in top 10 but today it has a chance.
The fans of The King are so delusional, I am sure that soon enough they will have an 11th excuse and actually believe it:
11. This show is recording record viewership ratings for SBS… in a parallel universe
But the PPL on this show is so banal. I am hoping for the moment that LMH will drink one of his sponsored coffees again and end it with: “disguurstingg shaattt”. But that is wishful thinking as this show and its fans take themselves way too seriously. I am already happy that they have stopped promoting that multibalm. That product will 100% lead to another apology. I can already predict you the headline: “The King apologizes for increase in Covid-19 cases after promoting multibalm on the show”
#11 advertising and 30% profit
This list is hilarious, especially No. 7 ???
The 30% profit statement is also perplexing. At 32 billion won ($25 million USD) reported production cost that would mean Netflix paid $32.5M USD to license The King. That is just impossible, those numbers are on close to the range with the top shows Netflix has licensed from Hollywood like EVER.
If The King got that license deal then sweet but what a bad deal for Netflix, this drama doesn’t have legs and that’s a big problem. Netflix uses algorithms and views to calculate its upfront deals so I hope the contract has a backdoor to claw back the losses from a dud rated drama.
As for production costs, the filming hasn’t finished so the P&L isn’t even done, I expect it’ll end around 35-38 billion won after hiring the new PD, reshoots, and general end of shooting cost overruns.
I don’t think The King’s fail will be a stain on K-drama expansion, all the industry needs to do is keep costs steady and deliver a tried and true product.
This.
From the very first news reports to the ep 1-4 ratings continue going down, already felt that there is no way Netflix is paying that much to get the TKEM license.
The burden of the production cost lies mostly with SBS (IMO) and if want to reap profits, through more PPL, which we can clearly see is what’s happening here with the actors doing all sorts of annoying PPL stunts.
baffling as it is, I pity Netflix paying that amount of money for a project like this.
this drama was totally waste of money,time and potensial.
TKEMs failure doesnt affect the expanding progress of Kdramas but surely remembered as a big disappointment of all time.
Agreed but even after the did of Asdal both the producers and Netflix are pushing ahead with another season. There has to be a different algorithm for both their math and logic. Either that or they’re hoping the low budget dramas like extracurricular and love alarm will make up for the loss they incur from big budget dramas as both dramas have high popularity.
Kingdom, Love Alarm and Extracurricular out there making up for the loss.
@ockoala whether it recovers or not, KES will continue to write and YOU will continue to follow her next succeeding works and continuously write about it too. The same goes for LMH, he will continue to do dramas and YOU will also continue to follow his works and blog about it. Blogging about KES and LMH will continuously bring in clicks and money for you and you will continue to be happy. After all, it boils down to money 😀
@Koala I find it VERY hard to believe that Netflix would pay $32.5 mil to license The King when the production cost of their biggest hit show, Stranger Things, was $48 mil. The cost on this is absolutely going to be eaten by SBS which thought (not without reason) that a KES drama would be a ratings bonanza and bring in advert ₩₩₩₩.
@MamaMia – sure, KES will write more dramas, LMH will star in more, and Koala will continue to write about them…..if they remain relevant enough to write about. Would you really like it as a fan if they weren’t even worthy of comment?(good or bad)
#12. Ratings are not important at all.
I wonder if the super-big-fans of the drama who love to use this excuse ever think that who is going to sponsor, finance and determine the award at the end of the year, without ratings. All they think is, we contribute to them, as we watched Netflix. LMAO.
Without ratings? Then the show would need critical acclaim or achieve cult-series status (think X-Files).
The thing is, the show doesn’t have either one; ratings/critical acclaim/cult-like popularity.
So, what’s left? Trending twitter hashtags and “boasting” about “trending” on Netflix in countries w/ not that big Netflix subscribers.
@Mel
Well, they can resort to witter hashtag and boasting about Netflix only. Now that TWOM has ended, I wonder what else are they going to blame or say if the ratings are still below 15%
@Catherine
Same old justifications; It’s huge on Netflix, etc.
Revert back to koala’s list LOL.
Wait did I miss out on the drama? XD Where and who bashed the Korean viewers for having no taste and no thinking capability for failing to enjoy The King? (genuine question out of curiosity).
@Hye Mi
Go and read previous posts on Koalas Playground, Soompi and other Korean’s entertainment site.
On Twitter, all the forums. Most of them bashed Koreans or non-Koreans who do not like it for “not having the intelligence” nor the “brain capability” to understand the drama.
That’s laughable when you take into account the average intelligence of South Koreans or the Japanese people (Netflix biggest subscribers in Asia).
The drama lacks nuance for the characters, it has pseudo-science all over the plot; it wants to feel intelligent but it’s actually not.
WE ARE ALL HATERS.
shame on us for lacking required intelligence and brain capability to figure out this complicated Shelock Holmes show =)))
Another one
#13.”It is someone’s conspiracy to drag this drama down with multiple controversies every week. First it was Jung Eun Chae ,then Japan resemblance thing.Koreans are turned off by such controversies even though they may not be true”.
Lol!! It reminds of LBH,who had a drama with the same writer. He had so many scandals but still his works are well received. Mr. SUNSHINE also had some Japan related controversy though?.
Miss Koala spilling the TEA!!! So funny because they’re now blaming the writer for being cliche and mediocre, but were hyping her to the heavens before airing saying that their oppa is the biggest star and only gets to-quality projects lol. Nah, KES has been mediocre for years, but her dramas became mega hits due to the star power AND acting prowess of its leads, especially the male leads. Let’s face it fangirls, LMH oppa can’t carry a drama to success like some of you claimed no matter how many excuses you make. 🙂
@ockoala, is that you also????
money must be hard nowadays.
😀
Maybe she’s going the Hong Sisters trajectory. A hit followed by a miss and so on. This drama doesn’t have any of the KES feels but maybe next time and hopefully a better cast.
@ockoala, hurry for more clickbait.
It must be so difficult for you to keep on writing on something you don’t like. But for the purpose of generating more attention to your blog. I can really understand. After all, chances like this happens once every 2-3 years.
It must be so disappointing to blog on artist or drama that you like but do not bring in click & cash for you. After all survival is the name of the game.
I am here to make all your TKEM articles reach 100 replies!!!
Your mama must be so proud after reading your blogs 😀
@Mamamia Honey, you’re embarassing just like the guy you stan.
@Gem no reason to be embarassed. If someone should be rmbarassed, it should be you.
@mamamia
—the owner of this site has a full time job, I believe in the legal realm. This is just a hobby and she doesn’t need to generate income here, maybe just to pay off the hosting fees.
If you are here about Sunshine’s and rainbows here, I think you are in the wrong place. Maybe you should just join a TKEM fanclub or something.
Plus, are you jealous of the owner @Mamamia?
@MamaMia you’re seeking validation for enjoying a work that is mediocre at best and terrible at worst from other people. When they refuse to do so, you are resorting to petty attacks resembling the tantrum, a child would throw when somebody takes their favorite toy away at bedtime, in your case its other people not swooning over your favorite actor and refusing to say his drama is good. Not everybody has to like or love the actor you adore especially when his reputation as an actor has always had question mark on it. Just enjoy the drama…stop causing drama for the sake of it. It really is embarassing.
@Gem – hear, hear!
@Koala ????? and I will humbly contribute no.
14. It’s trending on [insert social media site] abd therefore it’s a success!!! Young people don’t watch tv anymore so hashtags are the real measure of success ??
@Royal that’s a silly suggestion. I hope you do not believe in that. Unless you are here to prove that koala’s commenta are as silly as yours.
@Royl – no. 14 was merely paraphrasing one of the types of comments that other people make in defence of the low ratings of this big budget drama.
You don’t like reading it, don’t shoot the messenger!
I will watch it til it last. I love all the cast of the king specially LMH?
I know people have got different tastes and preferences but it really angers me when I see people dissing at TWOM for its highest ratings while defending The King over its lowest rating. Many people are downgrading TWOM saying it is not famous internationally and playing the Netflix card that The King is trending everywhere.I did some internet check and OKAY ,so it is indeed trending in some Asian countries like Malaysia, Philippines,HK,etc.. But let us talk about Japan which has got highest number of Subscribers in Asia. Yesterday ,even after so many months CLOY was still at no.1 while IC at no. 3. King was nowhere in top 10. Whereas King premiered at top 3 in Japan initially.This shows it has lost audience there
.And don’t tell me that Japanese cannot handle complex stories cause I found some people mocking Koreans for lack of understanding of this drama. In SK also, Hospital Playlist, Extracurricular and another drama was ahead of it.
Sure it may enter Japan’s top ten today as new episodes will be aired. But my point is why people are comparing it with TWOM international popularity as King already has an advantage having aired in Netflix. Also Vagabond was a flop but its ratings were higher than King. And who knows it coupd have been popular on Netflix and loved by international fans cause at that time there were no trending lists.
Yeah, but those sasaengs tend to forget that The World of the Married is extremely popular on VIU. Number 1 in all the countries with VIU. Heck, check Han So Hee’s IG… She is literally scolded in Indonesian and other exotic languages because she plays Da Kyung… So TWOTM is also popular in countries where TKEM is popular.
The Guardian (UK newspaper), South China Morning Post etc. all ran stories on how good and popular the show is. The Guardian did not do the same for The King. Also, I am not sure how algorithms work on Twitter etc., but I would not be surprised that it filters out what people want to hear/ want to read. So there is a possibility that these people are duped by the self-selecting algorithm that also played with the US elections, Brexit and give rise to all conspiracy theories surrounding Covid-19, Obamagate and the dangers of 5G. On other platforms such as Naver, Nate etc., that work with rankings-systems, I never see The King trending.
If going by what the Kpop idol fans do, they tend to trend a hashtag on Twitter by posting tweets with the # hours prior to a show, or a VLive session, most fans of idols or certain groups do that. And it’s very military-like in the implementation.
So it’s fairly easy to trend in each country going by that “duping” of algorithm.
@Mel These delulus are so annoying and they are protected by these biased moderators. Just check Soompi Forum. Write one negative comment and you are banned. The fans are literally living in a bubble. They are so hard in denial that they take a while or straight up refuse to update the viewership ratings on Wikipedia. For fun, just check it. When Nielsen reports high ratings on the King (when they hit double-digits a few weeks ago), it literally took 5 seconds for them to update the ratings table on Wikipedia. Last week, these amateur contributors of The King’s wiki-page (i.e. these sasaengs) waited a few days before recording the crap rating. Yesterday, it took also at least a few hours before they updated the table… This is literally censorship from these fans. The most painful idea that circulates on these forums such as Soompi is that there are literally people saying that TKEM is KES’biggest international hit – bigger than DOTS and Goblin. That is the biggest baloney I heard. I do not see TKEM being actively advertised by Korea as part of their “Visit Korea”-campaign like they did with DOTS. I also do not see anyone in their right mind building a TKEM theme park, which they did with DOTS prior to the Song-Song divorce… But I should take a chill-pill, but it aggravates me when people are writing comments doubting Korea’s pride/ intelligence/taste and accusing them of having no originality or having a herd mentality
Ironic, to be watching Korean dramas and commenting on sites dedicated to Korean entertainment, but go around bad-mouthing the drama tastes of…..Koreans.
People are smoking some strong stuff if they think this is some massive smash hit ‘internationally’. Or that Netflix paid tens of millions for this like they did for freaking Stranger Things (their biggest show, their exclusive production, and also – sorry for the burn – actually successful).
(Seriously, 5 percent? People called dramas like Scarlet Heart a flop for doing 2x that and getting a billion views on youku!)
Nothing can save it, not LMH, not a big-shot writer or a second producer. This drama has nothing to show except hype and big names
*leads and I meant TWOTM and Netflix. Sorry
I wonder how this is gonna affect KES.
hope she bounce back. knowing she cant fool audience by some kind of mixing-all-genre and rich-boy-falls-in-love-out-of-nowhere stories.
Im giving a her a chance to fix this in her next drama.
Yes. That kind of storyline will probaby work if we’re still living in 2009. Not anymore I guess.
But TKEM not doing as well as her other dramas isn’t a reason for us to write her off. Perhaps she’ll come back with a successful project next year.
I think she will go back to her roots. I am so excited what will be her next drama after this disaster. It must be a fabulous comeback for her to regain her top writer status.
AGREE.
she definitly needs some update.
Im welcoming as long as its not the same rich-boy story. I rather be positive and say she will write sth that repairs the damage done to her reputation by TKEM with a new intersting story.
Just as long as she don’t re-use the same plot and cast from TKEM for her next drama.It can be a saeguk, a political-thriller, or medical genre. Just not how a poor girl meets a rich guy and falls in love story.
@Nad
Some may hate me for saying this, but this has proven that in recent years KES rested heavily on the hard work of her co/ sub writers. It’s a well known fact that DOTS was co-written. And that recently a couple of her sub writers have moved on to write their own scripts for successful dramas. So maybe what happened was that KES provided the broad strokes, the general direction of the plot, but her sub and co-writers were responsible for the dialogue and placement of each scene. The viewers can clearly see that the witty dialogue is almost nonexistent in this drama, and the scene progression doesn’t make much sense. Time for KES to go back to the drawing board and work on restaffing her team, if she wants to continue producing quality big budget productions under pressure. The differences between King and her other hits is too big to ignore.
Yes, I agree. KES gave a general outline and the co-writers did the heavy lifting if I had to guess. I think in DOTS she did, as you say, have a full on co-writer and I wonder if he wrote the secondary love story which many actually preferred. I just think she rested on her laurels and with a different PD, it all came to a head.
Agree. KES is clearly underperforming this time either being drunk or lazy.
but how come Heirs (that drama love story stank) and DOTS (SHK aegyo expression were unbearable, and the way the story was unfolding was just confusing) still sucked ?
It’s understandable to be defensive about something that you like despite some negativity going around and I believe everyone has a right to argue over their own perspective and openly express their opinion if they disagree and truly like story, couple, chemistry, characters and etc. Because at the end of the day everything is the matter of taste. But if someone didn’t watch the show, but still has something bad to say, it’s simply wrong. The only thing you can’t argue over it’s the fact, that The King (at least in the first half) flopping rating wise in SK. I don’t even watch the show anymore, I just read comments and seems like there is a lot of hurt feeling going on around. But the show that you like doesn’t need to be “the top dog” for you to genuinely enjoy it…
I personally fine with enjoying drama because they like it more than sugarcoat it with good “productio “.
It’s fine to like a silly drama, not well produced drama but then when they masked it as some “your IQ doesn’t get it”
Well, of course, I’m talking about intelligent discussion and disagreement. Like if drama is working to you explaining why it does and why you think it’s good. But it also is true for the opposite. Saying just “I saw 10 minutes of the first episode and it was boring” is not a valid criticism. You can feel bored, but that’s not enough to write lengthy big comments about why this show is bad and it comes across as more like being negative for the sake of being negative. Balance is the best thing. And as I said, I stopped watching show around ep.4-5. It’s just a drama, but a lot of people take things personal or too far. I understand why though, because everyone is invested in this matter. I can be like that too))
I was excitedly looking forward to ep 9 after watching ep 8 and I fell asleep halfway! What happened? It’s like a flip flop. For me, it’s been 3 yawning episodes, 3 this-is-looking-quite-exciting episodes, 1 I-feel-like-dropping-this episode, 1 hey-the-story-is-finally-moving-forward and now this W-T-F episode.
I’m sorry fans or nor fans, all this eternal king cares about is his bread and chicken? *insert roll eyes* The PPL is horrendous in this episode. Truly awkward and badly timed. And the story didn’t move again till the latter quarter? Let’s see ep 10. If it’s bad, I’m gonna drop this completely and wait for recaps to finish the story.
But 6.5% tvN cable is still considered higher than ~6ish SBS, isn’t it?
Yes, koala already stated that. Its like 2.5x on public channel
You forgot the bread!
I am now absolutely convinced that KES had that one writer that left her team ghost writing most of her stuff because this is absolutely ridiculous. No charm, no chemistry, no semblance of logic – this drama is an epic failure on pretty much every level.
And the PPL man……….what the actual hell is going on. I wanted to bash my head against the wall several times during the episode because of how ludicrously ALL of the products were jammed into the plot. I naively thought episode 8 was the worst PPL they were gonna torture us with but clearly I underestimated this show’s ability to dig the knife in deeper.
@Vee
I’m thinking along those lines myself. Someone must have ghost written her scripts while she sat back and took credit for it. Now that ghost writer is gone, and her script is exposed to all the world for how crappy it is. Smh. And it’s not because the subject matter is uninteresting, but that the quality of the script is just sh!tty.
ghost writer must be shit as well since “Heirs” sucked with that sh.tty loveline between the leads and DOTS was an overrated pos
LMH fans mocking Vagabond when it flopped last year, but TKEM is doing even worst now. Karma hahahaahahaha
They chose a man who can’t act to be the main lead. They chose a main lead lady who is not pretty at all and yet her acting skill is just normal, not fabulous. Is it a trend now that “plain looking” actress is equal to great acting? Seriously? If you were to observe KGE acting throughout her films and series, her acting is not skillful at all, what happened to directors these days, they have no observation skills? Her acting unable to stir emotions. LHM is worse. With these 2 main leads, it’s a disaster waiting to happen. With the confusing plot, no wonder it’s a flop.
LMH is a fantastic actor, he was outstanding in BOF, Gangnam Blues, he can certainly act but the trouble is he is not aiming high enough,the roles he is choosing for himself are keeping him down.He is at his best in gritty ,raw parts not the soppy , pretty college boy looks. He will always survive and he won’t care if his acting career flops because he is an incredible human being who has done many good things in his life.He will be gorgeous when he is much older as he is now. He is also a very talented singer,hear his amazing voice in the the song with Goo hyeSun,” You are my Everything to me” . I just thing the script is bad and the leading lady is not really convincing enough to play his lover. I don’t get any real chemistry between them
Forgot to submit my last comment ,but in defence of LMH I think he is a brilliant Actor ,he was outstanding in BOF where I first saw him and brilliant in Gangnam Blues.The Rich Pretty boy roles just don’t really suit him, he needs to be stretched as an Actor.The plot of KEM, is just to long winded and complicated with many wasted viewing time in long drawn out scenes.The leading lady is boring and there is no real chemistry between them, it is all hyped up.He will survive all the criticism because he is a good man in his private as well as public life. He also has an incredible singing voice “ You are My Everything to Me” which he sings with Goo Hye Sun.
I don’t know why anyone expects KES to write great stuff. KES storylines are out dated. The world has moved on but she hasn’t. In the past, the best comment I have read from someone about Heirs was it felt like watching a long MV.
LMH is 33 years old (34 K-age) and still relying on looks alone is not good enough. He really needs to put some effort into it.
I won’t be surprised that Lee Min Ho will become a has-been. Sure he is still popular, but how long can he continue like this? He will certainly not be the first to return from the army and have a career that is totally in shambles. Time will tell whether in ten years he still has the staying power of someone like Won Bin or not. The truth is that the average fan is getting younger and he ain’t getting hotter. His fame might get ruthlessy decimated like the careers of Rain, Boa, TVXQ, Super Junior or even Big Bang and SNSD, who all had immense cross-border success initially. I think he will become the Korean male version of Halle Berry or Jennifer Lawrence, who after winning an Oscar fell from grace hard
Won Bin is a rare case though. Very few A-Listers can choose not to have any projects for years and yet still remain relevant.
@Nad, you are absolutely right about Won Bin. But ironically, the A-listers that you refer to are people such as Jun Ji Hyun and Gong Yoo… Guess what they have in common? They were the real stars hard carrying the previous dramas of the MLs of this trainwreck drama… Both LMH and KGE are both riding the coat tails of the endaevors of JJH and GY. Just check out all the negative comments surrounding LOTBS and Goblin… They are always aimed at the acting skills of LMH and KGE… Apparently KES thought that two negatives make a positive. But that only works in math, not in acting…
Halle Berry and Jennifer Lawrence really? Lee Min Ho is an ICON. Alot of people don’t know this but he really is an ICON. ICON never die. I think LMH will be famous even long after his gone. He just left a huge foot print all over the world
His career will take a hit because he can’t be assured of bringing ratings, but I think there is enough blame to go around it won’t be all on him. He will just charge less per episode. I am interested if he jumps immediately to another drama like JCW did after that melting drama or if he says forget it like Hyun Bin after HJ&I and GY after Big. Most of the people mentioned by @Watcher are k-pop and that is pretty normal to have some years of being super successful and then either dissolving your group or continuing like Super Junior but without the huge success (though they won a music show so they are still living their best lives). Rain was hit with his military scandal and dating news so I think that had as much to do with it as anything. The thing about the entertainment industry is people who really want to entertain (not just get cfs) want longevity in their careers and you don’t stay on top forever except a very few A listers.
There is a bit of irony that GY got burned by a Hong Sister’s drama but ended up in a KES drama that brought him back to the tippy top of k-dramaland.
@watcher fir someone who is do uninterested in LMH, you seem to have commented so much about him. Dont waste your yime on him. Be more productive and positive. It will bring you more good.
@Kat. GY has many successful movies before finally agreeing on Goblin (he rejected KES offers many times). GY is a solid actor. LMH has no big movie credits, he only has one-dimensional acting like Suzy. Maybe they can be paired up for next drama, at least the visuals will be better than The King ?
@MaryAnn My point about GY wasn’t about acting talent, it was about being gun shy to jump into another drama after Big crashed and burned. Some don’t jump back in right away and others rip the bandaid off and go for it again. That’s the only point I was making. For LMH it probably has more to do with CFs than anything else i.e. can he still make bank selling stuff.
I am no hater of LMH. Really liked Faith a lot as well as some of his others shows but he does have a limited range. Likewise,not even GY could keep me invested in Goblin even though it was a huge hit. It just is what it is.
Idol groups are not good comparison because they come with finite lifetime and a set fanbase that supports them steadily past prime. For actors, Lee Min Ho has acted alongside Park Min Young, Son Ye Jin,Kang Haneul, Kim Ji Won, Shin Hae Sun, Jun Ji Hyun, Kim Woo Bin, Kim Hee Sun. Even actors playin side characters in his drama have all hard carried dramas and have managed to establish good reputation as actors. So, only he still does roles that are similar in writing and background, never challenging himself. He does have a rabid fanbase who will kiss the very ground he walks on but clearly that no longer is enough in his home playing field, may pay the bills generously though. So, my question is will he start putting more effort or is he on track to be next Seung Sung Hoon.
@Watcher that would be really sad. I know he isn’t exactly the most exciting and talented actor out of KDrama land, but I do have a soft spot for him.
However, if he’s smart and actually care about his craft (the art itself not just the fame), this disappointing experience with TKEM can be a great opportunity for reinvention. He finally has a reason to break the mold and do something different.
@Negativewatcher I have never said that I was uninterested in LMH. In fact, I used to quite like him pre-army. But what triggered me and I wrote about it earlier, is the fact that i-fans have started blaming Koreans for the failure of their god. This is as disgusting as all these fans posting fancams of their idol groups on hashtags of dead people. When Ji Chang Wook and Hyun Bin got out of the army, they had flops as well. But their fans were less aggressive and were willing to eat humble pie. LMH-fans, on the other hand, went full attack mode, bordering racism… That in my book deserves all the hate in the world. To all the others correcting me that I compare him with idols. Thank you, you are right. But also realise that his support is more idol-like in terms of extremeness. So comparing him with idols is justified in a sense. In terms of comparison, he is indeed a modern-day Song Seung Heon, but SSH does not have these obsessed fans from Africa and South-East Asia that try to lecture the Koreans on what is right or wrong.
There are lots of younger actors who are good looking with better acting skills and dare to take risks in accepting challenging roles…..If he keeps living in his own bubbles where he is the center of the universe, the showbiz world won’t goes easy on him.
With the declining rating with each episode, he will deters any investors and advertisers in his next drama. So this so called 30% profits from TKEM will be one hit wonder.
I think KES has great ideas for kdramas and not outdated at all, as do many writers for kdramas. The concept of TKEM is really cool. It’s just fleshing it out that is where these writers fail. Also, they really need to cut down on episodes.
LMH fan saying actors/actresses who bring in single-digit ratings have no star power. Well, now a WEEKEND DRAMA on a PUBLIC BROADCAST channel is pulling ratings in the 5% range… this must mean he has no star power at all lol. LMH is past his prime. He needs to stop being the eternal chaebol, and take on more challenging roles. He’s not respected in SK and is only known for his face that hallyu-obssessed fangirls fawn over. But I doubt he will since his rabid fans will eat anything up and will make 2390230 excuses for his wooden acting.
I actually think this is his best role along with Faith and City Hunter. It’s not really a chaebol role since the focus of his character is fantasy instead of class issues; just like I would not call LJS in W and GY in Goblin chaebols despite both being filthy rich characters.
He is still rich/in a high and mighty position, just as his previous roles in Boys Before Flowers, Heirs and so-on.
Lol!!Who goes on a shopping spree by selling diamond buttons and that too in a parallel universe..??.Only eternal chabeol can do that.
For your information Gong Yoo and LJS’s wealth in Goblin and W was acquired and not inherited from their chabeol parents.
Kang Chul’s money was hard earned and his journey to that position was also summarised.
In that sense, Monarch is indeed comparable to a Chabeol drama.
@Catherin
I think it actually works for the lore of the story though instead of being superfluous to the plot like in many chaebol romcoms. The legend of the flute (an actual legend in Korea), which grants the power to world-hop and possibly time-travel, is tied to the royalty, so it’s necessary for him to be a king in this drama. Honestly, I find the alternate history interesting too; with Crown Prince Sohyeon surviving in this timeline, NK and SK being united, and this alternate Korea never being occupied by Japan. But I digress lol. That already makes his character more interesting to me than Gu Junpyo and Kim Tan (I haven’t watched his other dramas to compare). Also, the conflict is not with meddling and overbearing chaebol parents like in BOF and Heirs, but with a powerful fantasy-like villain. His struggles with Lee Jungjin’s character reminds me more of sageuks tbh but with a modern and fantasy twist. The conflict regarding the romance is more like in time-travel kdramas too, with LMH and KGE’s characters not being able to be together because they literally live in different worlds. So from that aspect, it’s not really a chaebol drama.
Sorry that this reply is too long. I’m loving this drama and its concept, but I understand why others don’t like it lol.
@hhhhh
I disagree that it’s a chaebol drama, and I explained my view in the first part of this comment. I respect your opinion though.
Once you watch many of his dramas, you will know what I am talking about (Not just 1 or 2). They are more or less the same.
I commented before that he should follow the choices made by idol/actors D.O. And ImSi Won, for example, to change his resume. These guys take on different roles in their movie and dramas. He still can change that image, but some really get defensive and are not able to discern constructive criticism.
He knows his limitations, his acting is mediocre at best in these easy flower pot roles, how can he take on more serious roles. If there’s no improvement in over a decade, clearly he doesn’t have the talent in acting. He also needs to protect his image to secure those CFs, which are his bread and butter.
Everutime I said he really need to choose different type of character , his fans always called me haters and said that cz he had luxury face thats why he only play rich flamboyant character lol … if he really a passionate actor he wouldn’t afraid to look ugly on the camera
His fans logic is really crazy
@bbc yeah I think so too .. he knows that he can’t play other role so he always play save .. but his career has beeen over decade ..
If he doesn’t want to be known for hus lack acting he must challenge himself
The mistake LMH made was altering his face, trying to appeal to his massive teen fan base and subsequently getting roles in shows such as “Heirs”,mediocre…
He really was outstanding in BOF, absolutely compelling, passionate, sexy with ever changing expressions. He is 33 now but acts the part of a schoolboy still? Also his concerts in Asia are cringeworthy, bad sound effects and a weakened voice whereas his voice was incredible at one time.He has done himself no favours changing his face from rugged to pretty boy which limits his career prospects if he wants to stay relevant in the movie world. I hope he will “ come again” and get a really good part offered to him which will show what he is truly capable of. He just needs to grow up and TKEM is not helping….
I have been following Koala for awhile and she follows the wrong concept and carries herself on this blog as if she is the ”Head-office” of the Rebel resistance movement and have been in a guerrilla war with what she in her mental capacity view as ”Brutal celebs” Who are stealing from others? This is how she generally thinks and views the world in. She geninuely thinks that these celebs like LMH and KES who are at the top of entertainment for more than a decade are stealing from others or overshadowing them? So she feels like the need to become a Rebel and start a resistance movement against them? which is a flawed mindset to have to begin with.
Having this sort of mentality is unfortunate and likewise to all these who feel that way? What Koala failed to do in all of these years is humanize the people she is leading a public rebel campaign against for years. They never warranted this to be honest with you nor have they stolen from anyone and just regular working people like everyone else just because they have passion support and fans dosen’t mean it’s okay to rebel against them or start somewhat resistance movement against them in all honesty it’s a messed up place to be at mentally and thats what I generally think about her I think she is a mess.
The strange thing is that if they were somewhat arrogant people such resistance movement could have somewhat slightly make sense but not when they are good people Like LMH, KGE or KES have you ever seen these people interviewed etc etc they are nice people and soft spoke who dosen’t deserve all this mumbo jumbo rebel resistance movement Koala has going on. Specifically Against LMH whos an adorable and overly very nice guy but Koala has been on his heels for years almost over a decade waiting for this moment to come. She saw herself as Robin Hood and saw him as the King who was unlawfully stealing from people hence she started a ”Rebel resistance movement” that is over 10 years old now. The problem stems from Koala holding certain celebs at higher pedestal than they deserve to begin with which causes the rebel resistance movement syndrome.
Since bashing the drama or the actors didn’t real help we know find ourselves in ”target the fans” episode. Someone clearly using multiple accounts is calling them repeatedly delusional and what not. Are they not free to like what they want? In truth they are just random casual viewers who tune in to watch
Face it, NOT everyone love LMH and the drama. Everyone is free to like or dislike and even voice what their thoughts on a drama, be it pleasant or unpleasant. Besides, did she encouraged others to stop watching other LMH or any of the cast’s members’ other work? Plus, what about TKEM’s fans who bash Korean viewers, bash JTBC, bash TWOM and so the non-fans of the drama, who couldn’t stand watching the drama?
You can visit twitter and all other platforms where you can find fans of this drama they are not bashing TWOM nor Koreans just questioning their taste. saying stuff like they like makjang and something they can relate to not something complicated which is somewhat true and that is no offense. The problem dosen’t stem from fans but non-fans
@Catherine, I do not think anyone has ever stated that everyone SHOULD love LMH and his drama. You are right in saying that everyone can like and dislike his dramas. But everyone has the right to “defend” who he feels he likes.
But what puzzles me is that I sense that koala is using TKEM to boost her blog. Her blog does not get good attention or response for a long time. She is now capitalizing on TKEM to get back, even if only for 8 weeks. Whether she likes or dislikes KES and LMH is beside the point, KES, LMH & TKEM sells, it generates clicks & gets so much response. This is also the reason why even if other dramas are better, they don’t get praised or mentioned as much here. TWOM is good according to some folks. But it doesn’t get written as often as TKEM, and the response isn’t that much either, Is koala a sadist? Lol. Of course not. Blogs are here to help generate revenues for the blogger. Just as journalist would go where the money is. Some people sell their principle to live. So I don’t wonder why a drama koala considers flop gets so much attention from her. She slanders and sells at the same time. This is really great. Her parents raised you well.
@Base
“… just questioning their taste. Saying stuff like they like makjang and something they can relate to not something complicated which is somewhat true and that is no offense.”
Wow, did you re-read this before pushing the post comment button?
Just questioning their (Koreans) taste and deeming them only liking makjang is not considered bashing for you?
Wow.
I’ll tell you what NASA scientist and MIT mathematician, the story of TKEM? Not that complicated. Want something complicated/intelligent but still provide good drama and story telling? Watch Numb3rs or Sherlock. Heck, watch Secret Forest.
If you like the drama, just like the drama, no need to go on and insult other people who don’t like the drama or mouthing off about “trending on Netflix”. Especially if majority of those people you insult are the main target of the drama (SK viewers), not you, the international viewer.
Saying an ahjummas only watch tv and not knowing how to use the Internet is not bashing… I guess you have not read much at all or trying to deny the worst.
I saw a post written by a Korean postgrad or an academician getting bashed just by voicing what South Korean thinks about the TKEM.
@Catherine. No one stated that everyone needs to love LMH and his drama, that is your own perception. Every artist has his stan who will like his drama and defend their fave, whether you like it or not. No one also mentioned that koala encouraged them to stop watching TKEM or any drama. Bashing? that’s common. Your post is also an example of simplified bashing.
What I want to point out is that this blog gives too much attention to a drama which the blogger considers “unworthy”. I do not think there is any other drama that gets this much “negative” space from this blogger (more than once a week at times). The reason is simple. LMH, KES & TKEM sells.
Blogs are written to generate income for the blogger. More clicks, more advertisement, more income. TKEM sells. Regardless of whether the drama is good or not, it sells. It gets more than a hundred clicks or response on almost every article which other articles can only dream of.
This blog, koalasplayground, is not getting much response or attention for a long time. If you take a look, some don’t even get replies. But with continuous blogging this drama, it generates so much for the blogger. There is no other article on her blog that gives her an overwhelming response like this drama. Thanks to both stan and anti.
I do not think this blogger waste her time thinking about liking or disliking TKEM. What matters most is to grab the opportunity to get more clicks and more money. It feels great to be alive again after sleeping for years.
Other than this, I couldn’t find any other reason for this extreme interest on this drama. I’d hate to think that this blogger is a sadist who only finds joy in writing negative blogs, neither do I believe that her blog in anyway will contribute to betterment of the industry lol.
There is always a reason why we do things. Well, everyone wants to earn. If writing negative stuff makes you earn more and makes you a better person, then do it. You’d continue to make your parents proud.
it just not a good drama, if the fans can agree that they watch is just for the eye candy, then move on.
Stop trying to prove everyone who aren’t enjoying the drama as haters, this is drama blog and some people watch drama aimlessly, doesn’t mean the drama is any good
If you were telling the truth you would have moved on long and not watch this drama. So why you even here. You said drama so? whats keep you going? Oh yeah? because you have a stake on it
If people were just watching for eye candy, you wouldn’t see pages worth of speculations and theories regarding the story from fans of the show lol. I’m annoyed too by the overly defensive fans who bash thosw who make legitimate criticisms of this drama, but you’re being disingenuous with the equally legitimate reasons to love the show. I can tell you my reasons why I like the shkw (without resorting to shallow comments about the actors’ visuals), but it seems like you wouldn’t care to listen.
not really, I watch it like days after, usualy a week after while I am ironing.
I don’t mind the drama being bad as I agree with it, I watch it as background noises, better with Kdrama than gossip show and agreeing with a review about it being bad while contributing to the viewership is all I am talking about.
It’s perfectly rational for a bad drama to get a high rating and because we are all not critics, some people just tune out and this drama has both bad reception and bad critics, it’s fair game.
Just because someone keeps watching to “pass the time” doesn’t mean the drama gain another good review.
Some people is not critics and those people also aren’t bothered by the drama being called bad, it just another drama.
Do you people all watch drama or show with full concentration and make a critically acclaim post after it? wow, take a chill, it’s not that deep
What? Are you high on the wacky tabaccy?
My exact sentiment. I have also been reading Koala for on and off since 2014 and she has been consistent if anything. She is by definition the che guevara blogger
This comment is so underrated you left it there short and impactful. Yes I agree Koala is certainly a Che Guevara type of blogger and I would throw Fidal Castro in there as well.
Tho I agree with the up it’s a misplaced rebellious campaign and ill informed. Some times she acts like a cat that is about to lose her kittens. She should re-prioritize things and realize the saga has not given her any fruits except increase the people she is campaigning against. It’s just mis-placed intentions on the wrong people
“Che Guevarra” XD Au secours !!! Please stop
@Inaire. Nice people who cannot do a good job still need to be fired. There is no free cash in this world. People who like watching this poor drama can continue, no one is stopping you. But others can still express their disappointment. We can agree to disagree.
here comes the conspiracy theory….koala wants to start a rebel movement on behalf of other actors who don’t get spotlight. This is fun. Oh, so many 100 word essays trying to shield Oppa. Dude go search ber posts during DOTS run or Goblin. You sound like you live in a land of fantasy filled with unicorns.
@Inaire – sincerely, please tell me what you’ve been drinking, I could use some of the strong stuff rn and you certainly seem like you’ve had some ?
And then we have usual comments everywhere like “U haters don’t have brain cells to understand such intelligent story”.. “Only Netflix popularity matters ok”.. “World of married is boring cheating drama .stupid people watch that” … “Whole SK audience don’t have taste”… “LMH n KGE hv best chemistry”.. Blah blah blah.. Yeah keep living in delusion
Speaking as a non-fan..one unsuccessful drama isn’t gonna jeopardize LMH’s career. Lol
Shame. Episode 9 is a huge disappointment. I feel really bad for the actors. The editing in this drama is crap. I was so hopeful that the drama would improve, the last few episodes were narratively better and episode 8 ended up in a suspenseful cliffhanger. I thought episode 9 would continue from that scene and pick up the momentum, instead it falls flat. Might as well have stuck with the old PD, I don’t know why they changed PD’s mid drama, it isn’t helping! I’m so disappointed.
The PPL dialogue is so many levels of cringe. The drama is just a long commercial but worse. The Innisfree web drama that LMH and Yoona did was far better.
@ockoala, you made your mother proud !
Lol. You get it koala you love yourself
I meant we get it you love yourself enough to use multipe accounts praising yourself
People can think what they want . Like it or not. All the big productions have one goal RATINGS , they want to make money . The don’t care about if the drama is the silliest or the smartest drama ever . They want money ! With that said, o the success of a drama is not only about star power !
I mean the rating look especially bad considering Choi Kang Hee is giving double digits with ‘ Good Casting’ on SBS with little to no promotion…her fame is nowhere near KES, Lee Min Ho and kGE.
I think for a Very high budget drama like this, it’s just better if ads are shown during actual commercial breaks, this is just disastrous.
The criticism is warranted.
I really like the series however the plot has restrained the antagonists from developing and being fleshed out into the story.
Time jumps, math science needs to be explained more to be believable instead of haphazard jargon or written on a wall.
its abit too slow in pace.
One serious critical flaw is in promotion of series.
Be in a united message and as a team. Get a communication director for all in its duration.
I have seen a couple articles that actors didn’t believe particular elements of storyline were not believable. That’s a serious detriment to the hard work involved in bring a series to life.
What do you mean? Sorry, just want to clarify. Even the actors find it hard to justify the elements of the story, you mean? They are questioning the story trajectory as well?
@William Brule
Too late. It is already at episode 9.
Sorry but we are more interested in Heirs 2…with Park Shin Hye and Lee Min Jo…that for sure will be a big hit!
Well, although not meet expectation but I think Vagabond is still better than TKEM, at least acting and directing in Vagabond are good overall, it delivered well as an action drama, only the plot is the problem, if the writing and character development are better, it could be great, so it’s a pity. As for this drama, it’s a hot mess, from writing to directing to acting, no chemistry as well. In time people stay at home, the rating like this is very low.
The biggest problem is the fans not aware and admit there are problems. How can you improve? The acting skill is so poor
@Beaver even if fans admit there is a problem, yhere’s no way to improve since they do not write the script and fo not act. By the way, why change username and then commrnt twice?
I only comment once.
@Beaver yourself on the parallel world did it XD
Even i m bored. It was like watching big commercial. Disappointed tbh. Messy writing direction. But u mocking him is nothing new considering u used to make gay comments on him during heirs days to insult him. Have fun btch. An old fart like u should worry about ur kids instead of making comments on actors who gave away a year for the projects. Easy for u to mock their hardwork! Dont worry they all will bpumce back. They are not like woozie @mary. A flop has been!
“Flop has-been Woozie” is still getting better ratings than the eternal chaebol. If anyone’s a flop, it’s him lmao. Imagine getting 5% range on a weekend public broadcast drama hahahaha. Not to mention K-media are tearing him apart for his wooden acting of 17 YEARS lol. He’s on the downfall hun.
@marie
???
Sorry for my ignorance but who is “woozie” ?
Ady. I don’t think Suzy has ever gotten lower than 6% ratings. You are losing big time here in this round. Can’t help you. LMH has no star power.
How about this…. they’re BOTH has-beens resting on their past successes?
As for “actors who gave away a year for the projects”….you know they get paid, right? Their “hard work” isn’t done for free, but the people you should be worried about are the staff and crew on this mess of a show who make a fraction of what the actirs do and might not get even that now.
I remember reading here from a LMH fan asking his fans to watch and support to get a higher rating. Where is she now? Also that Ady who saw from her crystal ball The King would reach 30% and says single digit drama is embarrassing? I guess this drama will get 3+0=3% rating as it is going downhill from now on.
Well, looks like she changed her tune now from defending her-once-perfect-drama that has now become one-of-the-worse drama that SBS has ever produced when it comes to LMH.
Reality has now set-in now that it has reached EPISODE 9/16 and the rating keeps falling.
LMH has NO star power!!
@SMH yeah and your username speaks a lot.
Too bad you are correct.
@Joker no wonder you chose joker. Koala, must be you from parallel world.
I’m sorry for the viewers, fans, … But i do really think that’s a good thing that the drama did bad. KES should see this failure as a warning to stop serving us always the same menu and see an opportunity to challenge herself to write something different.
I really like this series. It really appeals to my imaginative spirit. Always believe there is a parallel universe somewhere…
Call me a hater and I’m proud! Dropped the drama after the first 2 episodes.
Honestly, I like the story. It’s pretty entertaining. The cinematography is beautiful too.
The main issue is the love story. If I can understang why the King would fall in love with TE, I don’t undertstand why she would… There was no chemistry between the actors, so all the love story is pretty bland.
TE-ShinJae have a better backstory.
LMH is pretty but brings nothing to his character and KGE is shining more with WDH or KKN. I think LHM has a better chemistry with the Prime Minister.
They should stop focusing in the love story and more about the main story. They ended the episode 8 with a great scene and started the 9th with a boring scene…
It is the most exciting drama I have seen I don’t understand why is it being so underrated.
How many K dramas have you watched?
@Nashmiya
May i know what drama are you talking about? i will watch it to. I watched The King eternal PPL and i didnt find it exciting.
Cant wait for the succeding SBS drama to air.
The comments section should be moderated. There are certain individuals here who seem to think it’s okay to throw insults and swearing words cnt, btch being some of the insults thrown at the blogger and the people leaving comments. You can argue for your drama without using filthy words and insults (which are only a reflection of yourself). These people should be blocked from the website.
@AA207 I do not see anyone throwing insult at the blogger. It’s a blog, it thrives on comment and what the blogger needs now are more comments, good or bad. Don’t forget the main focus on why they put up blogs and what they want to achieve. Money changes everything. It feeds families and makes your parents proud.
By the way, if this blogger’s blog success is based on one theme only, then it becomes certified FLOP BLOG.
Imagine writing Ruby Lim blog with only 4 response, and even CEW articles gets less than 50, go support blogger!!!
Mama is crying ?
It’s actually one particular individual that is doing this. Lol , you only need to scroll up a bit to see such comment. And it’s been that person who I’ve seen repeatedly using filthy words under any articles related to this drama in this blog. I agree that one should feel free to comment in a blog, be it bad or good, in agreement or disagreement with the post. However it must be done with respect, not calling people old fart, btch and what not. Disgraceful really.
MMM is another fake account by Mama Mia because she is sad that her LMH couldn’t get enough love from South Korea and other countries.
I agree, it’s one thing to be defensive but calling people names like btch, biatch etc for calling your fav a flop and then having the nerve to claim people are ‘misogynistic’ (in a previous post) for calling out the very same person’s namecalling and use of misogynistic insults against so-called “haters”….really takes the cake for hypocrisy.
And to those claiming it’s their right to “defend” their poor oppar and his “hard work” against the big bad koala who committed the defamatory act of saying a bad drama is a bad drama – they need to get a grip. And grow up.
The rating is too absurd, i am not trying to sell The King nor LMH nor the other casts, but athe King maintained rank 1 at netflix last week, top 2 as of this time.It the movies doesnt makes sense peoe wont watch.I myself like it.there maybe flaws as u said but nevertheless it can’t put the movie down the sink as u rate it. Its just ep 10 and there are so many stories kept untold that makes the movie interesting.If you cant understand the cruz of it yet, then continue watching. If you hate the casts, dont use it as your gauge of rating. If you dont like LMH, dont watch and give is the freedome to say our own rating. But for me, i like the story and the cast. I may not give it a perfect 10 but i dont give below 5 either because that is way unacceptable.
It is more than halfway, plus it is determined by Korean viewers themselves, not the people here.
I guess this isolation has turned everyone to his/her rabid sides lol It’s happening everywhere in all hot topics.
I want to watch this drama with Javabeans and Girlfriday, laughing at all its ridiculousness. That would be really fun
The “tea” allegedly that Kim Eun Sook’s side/junior writers left her team. Conspiracy theory suggests that she selected the leads, despite past controversies surrounding their casting, as a fail-safe {persons to blame}, if the drama under-performed compared to her past works with the departed writers.
I just don’t understand why we always critise first by looking at comments it look like u guys watch this drama to find mistakes and points to barg abt ?? if u don’t like it then go to hell and don’t watch next ep if u only want to write such comments which make others to say such think ??
I dont care about the ratings as long it gives me satisfaction. Im okay. J love the story wherein you will give full attention bec if u skip you will lost the whole story.
????????
???? to the cast and production and director
Good for you. i hope SBS and the actors in the drama feel the same way- that they dont care about the ratings. lmao.
All the emojis commentators above are from one person. STOP. You are the only one watching now. LOL.
Lool stay pressed. TKEM is being mass consumed you don’t know this fact unless you have been living under a rock
Too bad, Netflix has removed all Korean dramas from region except those they’ve produced.
It says the The King is a Netflix original produced drama but this too is no longer available in my region.
Woo, woo!!!! The TKEM is rising up the heat!!!! I have come to love this drama and really Appreciate all the improvement that the whole staff have put in their work to please their audience. The storyline is exceptional!!!!! It could take awhile for some to comprehend it because of its high caliber that could be challenging to many who are not familiar with this concept. Too bad for those who can’t understand it, therefore are trashing it out and not even willing to give it a chance. You guys are missing out on the beauty of something big! This drama storyline is extraordinary and therefore a brain teaser. I like it that it is bringing my understanding of life to a new level. I love this idea of having another “me” that could be having a better life somewhere in a parallel universe (ei.Lee Gong as king and him as Ji Hung who had died as the 8 year old boy in a life of misery). This idea makes me feel good about my life now! Lol!!!
By the way, I don’t mind at all the PPL as they must bring more money for the show to be produced, especially for the actors. They deserve it.
P.S. I’m an international viewer.
@Gem* i was totally shocked seeing that post about a rebel movement, like koala obviously has better things to do with her time. And for those who have read her blog, you would remember that she usually does continuous posts on dramas that she likes or dislike. Koala practically posted an article everyday for dramas like DOTS,WWWSK, HDL, Encounter and they were positive articles. Prior to the release of the king, Koala hyped the drama and released numerous articles that clearly showed she was excited for this drama. I don’t get why people are bitter just because she expresses her disappointment in the show.
Same, koala has been around for years and writes about dramas she anticipated, even when they turn out to be ones that she doesn’t like.
I don’t see Lee Jun Ki or IU fans in dozens throwing tantrums and namecalling when she didn’t like Moon Lovers Scarlet Heart. Same with fans of Scholar Who Walks the Night or other dramas koala expressed frustration with.
It’s always the fans of mediocre-but-pretty actors with underperforming dramas but popular outside Korea who go around swearing at koala and other commenters, I guess we know why they get so defensive.
Dim artists got airhead fans. Both LMH and Suzy are the living proofs ??
Me too! Koala has been around for so many years is only doing what a blogger does, blogging about her likes and dislikes. To those who feel like she’s masterminding a rebel movement, then obviously you are not open-minded enough to other people’s opinion. You can always agree to disagree with her.
I think it’s just a matter of taste. I usually watch things for the plot more than the actors/actresses themselves since I’m more of a fan of reading than I am at watching things. More than half the time I don’t even remember the actors’ and actresses’ names. But I really enjoy this drama. Some people think it’s slow paced, understandable, but I personally feel because the whole beginning is meant to be there for the build up. If one was to look at all the scenes in the beginning, there’s a reason why it’s shown and can be linked to the later episodes. If one was to check Soompi’s main forum for the drama, you’ll see many pages of discussion on theories and what not. Many viewers made references to Alice in Wonderland, Through the Looking Glass and King Authur for the more obvious reasons, but then there are other interesting relations people bring up in regards to Socrates and other Greek philosophies. There’s even mentions of Korean culture itself with people hinting at the old Korean mythologies. I, for one, like to analyze everything I read and watch so this drama is right along my alley. That isn’t to say there are no flaws and could’ve been executed better but overall I enjoyed it. I’m sure some people won’t like this as I know there are many mainstream things I didn’t enjoy, namely BoF and Heirs… sorry the female lead in BoF was too passive afterwards and didn’t seem like the manga character at all and Heirs is actually a drama where one can actually say there’s no real plot. But those are my opinions so just saying we can all enjoy different things, but please don’t bash people for not liking it. Same with please don’t bash people for liking something as well.