I’ve been quarantine baking for two months and finally decided to tackle the Mount Everest that is sourdough bread, complete with raising my own starter (lil’ EJ is his name). My first loaf was an unmitigated disaster, looked good with the crust but was a hard solid glop inside. It didn’t rise *cries*. So much experience goes into the crown jewel of baking bread and I don’t mind the failures and flops because it goes into making the next one better until I succeed one day. The rise is what I equate to a drama storyline coming together, the right speed and the layers are all so important. The King: Eternal Monarch has been like unrisen dough for 12 episodes and finally in the 13th it’s like a phoenix rising (sorta) and for that I am truly grateful.
Whatever story Kim Eun Sook had in her mind that was terribly conveyed so far with poor directing, bad chemistry, limited acting, and intrusive PPL finally reared its cute head. The time travel element is just as important as the parallel worlds as both Lee Gon and baddie uncle Lee Rim are responsible and participated in setting things in notion 30 years ago. I’m guessing things are coming to a head where Lee Gon needs to force a reset even if it means losing Tae Eul because their love won’t have happened or she doesn’t remember him. I’M SO GOOD WITH THAT! The romance has been the weakest of weak links in this drama and episode 13 had the least amount of it and the most amount of actual plot progression. I’m finally hooked.
I feel like the drama is going towards a Back to the Future 2 trajectory. We learn the hero and the baddie go back in time and set forth their previous selves motions and will therefore need this new time line to go back yet again and reset to before all the events took place, namely the killing of Daddy King and the splintering of the flute.
It will likely mean Gon and Tae Eul as we know them probably won’t end up together but their selves in the new time line and perhaps even in both parallel worlds we see will end up together. Maybe Luna was orphaned by Lee Rim’s killing spree otherwise she would grow up like Tae Eul and fall in love with Gon. And Ji Hoon would not be killed and Shin Jae won’t be in ROK so Tae Eul would be with Ji Hoon.
The events as we have seen it need to be reset because what Lee Rim is doing is splintering the balance between the worlds, hence the lightning scars on people whose dopplegangers have died and who have traveled between worlds. I hate the idea that so many people agree to help Lee Rim to go to the other world, kill their own counterparts, and take over their lives. The PM doing is so casually is such a cheap conceit in turning her character fully evil.
I also wouldn’t be surprised if Gon and Tae Eul have been lovers in prior lives and prior lifetimes, or maybe as their own ancestors, ala Legend of the Blue Sea. A lot more context and background however cheesy or trite would have made this OTP actually make sense. With only 3 episodes left and so much to explain and wrap up, I hope the drama doesn’t waste more time on maudlin moments and PPL and just charge full speed ahead.
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it would do better if it was zero romance drama.
I agree, or at least priority should have been given to the central conflict, and mysteries; and the romance should have taken a back seat. But it seemed that the PD didn’t know what genre he wanted to convey, so he tried everything and ended up with a huge mess.
yeah agree.
dunno if the pd didnt know what genre he wanted or he intentionly mixed genres all together so the drama has the taste of every genre in it - which it didnt end up to a good combination sadly.
its comforting to hear the drama is doing better in final episodes.
Not really. I guess it's the storyline & directing, as long as romance is only on the side. Highlight should be on LMH versatility as an actor
Ratings still hovering 5% even avoiding Three Meals, is SBS going to exempt next Friday too?
How high is 3 meals??? I enjoy that show so much.
Three meals was 11.4%. Can you imagine the ratings for TKEM if it was shown on Friday night? Definitely below 5% as Friday’s are its weakest days. So good call bySBS.
i wish 3 meals reaches 20~% rating like world of marriage
Yep. Episode 13 was really good. Tied up everything neatly and ended on a high note. Wish the drama had been this way from the start. But better late than never, I guess. On another note, showing only one episode this week was the right move, it gave them enough time to edit the episode properly.
I agree if they had this kind of pacing and direction from the beginning and not letting us guess what Lee Gon or Lee Lim was thinking or having forced the romance that is rather far fetched on us since Ep 1 unless he was already in love with her by then and have met her before which would be entirely confusing. Out of topic, I tried the brown sugar creme brûlée’ at the Alley, its actually quite good just a tad sweet. ?
How high TKEM's rating for now?
I really enjoyed this episode and thought this should have been the way right from the start. I honestly think the concept of this drama and the style of narration is a bit too ambitious for a green PD to handle. It's such a shame for the drama to take 2/3 of its run to reach this height, because had the stars all aligned this could have been a great one for me to watch over and over again.
I wonder how JCW's drama will perform after TKEM's run. KYJ fans always comment that it will be the most successful drama of this year (even greater than TWOM, lol!). I know the PD is good but we cannot expect that it will perform like Fiery Priest considering both leads are not ratings magnet in Korea.
It will do mediocre rating. If it's good, it will do Suspicious Partners. If not, Melting Me Softly.
Fans, in general, are mildly delusional. Be honest here, no other drama is gonna beat TWOM in ratings.
Okay, I’m going to be the debbie downer of the comment section because everyone above seems to like episode 13. For me episode 13 was very bland and lacks thrills.
It gave so many reveals but it was predictable. From episode 1 you can already tell the only actor build that matches the ninja hero is Yee Gon.
Granny Noh being from ROK is a waste of scenes. It does nothing to propel the story.
Prime minister is just pathetic. She’s the typical mean second female lead.
Luna kissing Shin Jae...Why? What’s the point?
Yee Rim, I still don’t understand why he is doing all this? For glory and for power? That’s his main purpose?
So many unnecessary secondary characters like that pregnant woman. She add nothing to the story.
What gripes me the most is that Yee Gon took a long time to finally realize that Luna was masquerading as Tae Eul. That’s true love there hahah It’s mental because Eun Seop little sister was able to recognize her brother immediately.
I felt like plot didn’t move much at all in this episode.
By the way kkoala nice analogy with the bread baking! Haha
The editing was way better. They started the episode with the last scene of the precedent episode for once. Not by a complete different scene that makes the viewer completely lost.
I'm ok with a love story but a better one. Shin Jae- Tae Eul relationship is way better written and the actors have a better chemistry. I have no idea why TE fell for Lee Gon, his "I'm a King" attitude is tiring.
I'm not sure that I like the travel time part because it looks like Lee Gon will interfere a lot in the past, even in TE's life. It kinda reminds me a Japanese drama where the guy went to the past and changed some events. It changed the FL's memories about her best friend too.
@Sayaris
I agree - According to the plot, Shin Jae- Tae Eul’s love relationship would have made a lot more sense. But that’s water under the bridge at this point. Hoping the last three episodes keep up the momentum. It might have been a different viewing experience if I had marathoned this drama instead of following each episode as it was released. I may have either dropped it in the first few episodes, or liked it a lot more. I’m ambivalent to the drama, but I still want to finish what I started. ?
I agree, it's way too late now. But what I meant it's that a good love story would have been possible in this story. But they messed up.
Yeah and Tae Eul knew her doppelgänger had infiltrated her life but didn’t bother to tell her boyfriend, to protect him? How do you gloss Over that too?
Why would the story reduce a Prime Minister of a very important nation to a simpering crush bunny boiler, like really?
EPISODE 13 was kinda redundant
I wonder if KES will ever work with the PD and actors again.
KES is not off the hook herself. actually Im wondering if other A-listers continue to have the previous desire to work with her after this drama haha.
she needs to cause major changes in her writing style for her next project.
from what I see now, the project is relaying on LMH fandom. KES gonna owe LMH fans for not letting this drama get even lower numbers than what its getting now,, and defend the project with whatever explaination/excuses they have toward the negative feedback or the hate drama is getting thro SNS.
just imagine if the ML was a less famous actor with a smaller fandom..
KES will be hugely affected, although LMH and his FL will not suffer a great deal as they have tonns of fans out there, supporting their dramas. KES will need to change her scripts to change with the times and korean audiences.
yeah I hope KES and Leads learn and then move on from this project.
I want them to bounce back and entertain us with better written and directed projects.
You make sense. It is so sad how a one drama will taint someone's reputation. Hoping the very best for KES. I know it will be very hard for her to bring back her glory after the disaster that is TKEM.
and hard isn't impossible :]
I wish them all best.
Well to bring back her glory ,she will need her ghost writers back which contributed a lot in her previous hits.
KES fails in this drama. Writing is so poor, and execution is a mess. She should restart from the basics, or maybe it’s time for retirement.
? yes, retirement! She should have worked on Heirs 2 instead. ??
I have thoroughly enjoyed the whole show here in the USA. It's entertaining and I love most of the characters. Yes, some details would help explain some of the story points. But overall I think it's a good show.
This is the best drama so far for this year, its interesting to create a story full of plotting and i'm getting more curious for the next eps. Am i the only one thinking that this story kind of same as the vampire diaries which is full of surprises in each eps
What a joke
Haters and critics are working too hard to ensure this drama a flop but in reality its currently the most watched show in the world. Its even no 1 in korean Netflix. I think people just prefer not to watch it on tv. That's all.
It is a good fantasy romance drama. Not meant for everybody nrvetheless it's delightful to watch.
Haters will always hate. Let them be.