Episode 9 of The King: Eternal Monarch Drops in Ratings to 5.8% and 6.3% and the Most Memorable Part of the Episode is the Repeat in Awkwardly Inserted PPL

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• 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 :D

    • @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.

      :D

  • 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 :D

    • @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 ?