K-Drama Rewind, The King Eternal Monarch: Lee Min-ho and Kim Go-eun reign supreme over a royal mess of a plot

There’s always that one show where you say, ‘I understood nothing of it, I just stayed for the chemistry.’

 It echoes a similar conversation that I had with a fellow K-Drama fan about The King: Eternal Monarch, where we both flatly agreed that the show tied itself into pretzels after Episode 10, but Lee Min-ho and Kim Go-eun were just so magnetic that we couldn’t really stop watching. My friend admitted sheepishly that she might have fast-forwarded a lot, and so missed out on a certain ‘twist’, a twist that needn’t have been a twist at all, but more on that later.

For those who know Lee Min-ho mainly as the star of somewhat toxic dramas like Boys Over Flowers and The Heirs, it’s time to update that impression. Min-ho has worked hard to shake off that image, and The King: Eternal Monarch is one of his attempts. The show plays like K-drama meets Christopher Nolan’s Tenet, whisking us between two parallel worlds: one is ‘Corea,’ where Min-ho reigns as King Lee Gon, a monarch haunted by the childhood trauma of witnessing his parents’ murder; the other is Korea, where Kim Go-eun plays a rather disillusioned detective Jong Ta-eul.

Their worlds collide, literally, when Gon enters Jong Ta-eul’s universe with a mission: He is sure that she somehow is the reason that he survived the assassination attempts, but  is rather perplexed that she has no interest in him. Perhaps, a little hurt too, at her brashness.

But a bond is slowly formed, and the two turn from hesitant acquaintances into close friends and finally a consuming romance, which overpowers the thinning plot of the show later.  It’s as if Min-ho and Go-eun really knew what their audience wants and served.

So, there are moments that are intended for gasps: Their many reunions, and one particularly dramatic moment that’s so extra but you will still buy it: Battered and bloodied Ta-eul roaming the streets of Corea, and Lee Gon-charging on a horse to save her, “Save her, she is the Queen of Corea!”   And finally, when he gets to see her after an injury, “I’m sorry, I’m sorry, it took so long,” and his eyes well up.

Sigh. That’s a K-Drama for you, who needs anything else?

 It's what you might remember too, if you try to piece together The King, where many, many, things happen. It has concepts of other worlds, dimensions, time travel, rewriting time, which is all explained in rather heavy language---similar to feeling as if you’re sitting and proving geometry theorems. You will hear a lot about math and science, while watching Gon trying to escape murderous men.

But you’ll enjoy the chaotic storylines of people finding their ‘alternate’ selves, though Ta-eul isn’t so lucky at first and does face a stabbing in return. The real snag is the late-game twist about who saved Gon as a child — it strips Tae-eul of agency and makes Gon the sole center of the story. We didn’t really need another ‘male saviour’ plot, did we?

 But well.  So, yes, if you are an ardent fan of Min-ho and Go-eun, go for The King. It’s entertaining, excessively dramatic, and just a lot of fun, with crater-sized plot holes and bizarre twists.

If you’re here for airtight sci-fi, look elsewhere. If you’re here for Lee Min-ho on a white horse screaming ‘She is the Queen of Corea!’ — saddle up.