King the Land (2023)

Every vacuous cliché in every vacuous episode

When you’ve already hit the record for maximum clichés in an episode in the first week of broadcasting, you know where it’s going. Recycled cheese.

Accidentally falling into ML’s arms? Check: so many times I lost count.
Toilet joke. Check: in your face x 2
Mean work colleagues. Check: 100% all round.
Ridiculously unbelievable “heroism”— look no rope. Check: (give me strength).
Umbrella in the rain scene. Check x 2
Pulling FL out of the path of an oncoming scooter: Check.
FL carried bride-style for no good reason. Check x 2
Wall to wall, endless, inappropriate PP. Check.

And on and on and on…

I really looked for something original in there but totally failed to find it. (No actually, come to think of it, the fully and explicitly enunciated English language, “What the Fuck!” in Ep 8 was pretty original.) Even compared to other productions in its genre I don’t think it stands up.

The script is the sort of random mess that doesn’t have any highlights except for the obligatory stepping stones of a common or garden romcom which it forces onto the characters regardless of character integrity. It manufactures ridiculous scenarios in order to include endless PP (episode ten was unbearable, just skip it) or linger endlessly on eyes gazing longingly at each other. A teenage dream fantasy fulfilled at least once in every episode and twice on Sundays. I was just sooooo bored.

The majority of the characters were cookie cutters with no discernable defining characteristics and no opportunities in the script to show depth. Were there secondary relationships? Maybe, it was so long between interactions I’d almost forgotten who the characters were.

So is there a saving grace? Well yes there is, but it’s the only one I can find. Fantastic, sizzling chemistry and eye candy. All those years of idol training haven’t gone to waste, Jun Ho is pose perfect in every close up and Yoon Ah knows very well how to melt into an embrace (no ironing boards here). Seeing as that is probably the number one requirement for many viewers it would probably explain the ridiculously high rating for the show (8.4 at time of writing). Will it up the rating as far as I’m concerned? Well… no.

Maybe I’ve missed the point. Perhaps the whole raison d’être of the genre is to be a sucky blanket of repetitive clichés with no discernible plot to showcase pretty faces, and I’m doing that unforgivable thing of criticising something for what it never set out to be. But I’m stupid enough to live in hope that somehow this genre will one day produce something clever, witty, memorable, funny and original. Just give up why don’t you!!

I think my problem is that I really want a funny-romantic sucky blanket too. Who doesn’t? But just not like this. I want something more sophisticated and worthy of the quality of the actors that star in it. ‘Cause I’ve been a fan of Jun Ho ever since “Just Between Lovers” and consider that the guy can act and has taken on some non-standard roles. (He was the only reason for considering watching this in the first place.) I was cringing with secondary embarrassment for both of the leads at least once an episode. Jeez these guys earn their living.

Okay, next time you see a romcom on my Currently Watching list, kindly do me a huge favour and msge me a reminder that I’m going to spend the entire time rolling my eyes and pushing myself to the end of the episode, so not to bother however much I might want to consider it as a reviewer.

What may rating means: 3+ Totally unbearable, but often compulsively watchable as you really can’t believe that it can be this bad.

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disappointing ...

I will start this review by saying that I am a regular rom-com enthusiast. I absolutely loved Business Proposal but King The Land failed to achieve anything that Business Proposal did in the span of 12 episodes.
King the Land had a flimsy, basically non-existent, plot and absolutely no proper conflicts or red thread to carry on the drama. I am not saying that shallow romcoms can't be good but jeesus fucking christ there was NOTHING to wait for. Maybe this drama was great for those who just wanted to watch Yoona and Junho but I couldn't manage the last 4 episodes without skipping maybe 50-70%. And don't get me wrong, I do think they make a beautiful couple but this drama was borderline garbage. I have never been this bothered by product placements in my 7+ years of watching kdramas. The plot and the characters were such shallow cardboard cut-out humans that I couldn't even enjoy the romance by the end.
Were we supposed to act like the sister was in any way a proper villain. She seemed like a child who needed attention and craved for love but decided to be a bitch in her 40s. I just felt mildly annoyed by every scene she was in. She just kept being like "I want the hotel -_- humbh you have no right to the hotel". Like I don't care?
The business talks were the most ridiculous bs I've ever seen. I don't know anything about business but those scenes were so romanticised that I felt like slamming my head through a wall. Just shut up. When did Gu Won ever even work (literally in like one scene)?
Also the other friend in a sh*t marriage and all that was played out for a few laughs and cute bossy kid moments?? Am I supposed to feel okay that at least now she is the head of the household? Like ummm okay ... what a creative way to promote staying in loveless marriages I guess?

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Underwhelming, Cliche-Riddled "Fairy Tale" That We've Seen So Many Times Before!

I’m not sure why I continue to fall into the trap of watching these romantic dramas that overuse cliches that have been done hundreds of times before. It’s the biggest reason why I stopped watching American romantic comedies because they’re mostly all the same. However, perhaps it’s because I’ve seen enough refreshing takes on the genre in K-Dramas that I remain hopeful, that there are still a few gems out there. This series isn’t one of them.

Once again, we have the super-wealthy man who swoops in for the plain working girl. We’ve seen this duo so many times, that it’s literally become tiresome. It’s also insulting that women today—in any part of the world—are made to feel that the “jackpot” is still the rich man. Look around, and you’ll probably find that many such relationships don’t last or end well.

There is little innovation or creativity in this series. It’s about as predictable as you could imagine. It follows this predictable formula: wealthy son has a problem, so he’s a bit of a recluse. Wealthy son has a parent who is unhappy with him and, of course, he disapproves of the girl he likes and is told to get rid of her. Always a power struggle between the guy and a sibling or rival. Regular girl doesn’t have much self-esteem and struggles to make ends meet. Regular girl begins to question her value as soon as any objection is made against her, especially by his parents. Wealthy guy miraculously recovers from his problem, usually with the help of the girl, and we see him begin to soften and see life in a different way. Wealthy man treats the girl to many exotic events that nobody could possibly experience (bought out restaurants, amusement parks, lavish hotel rooms, etc.) as if this is the only way to enjoy each other’s company. Everything is miraculously wrapped up in the last episode so that everything ends on a happy note.

What we end up having is a very predictable series where we already know what’s going to happen from the very start. This formula is used in nearly every Hallmark movie ever made. In fact, I wondered if the writer stole their template to use for this series. It wouldn’t surprise me.

The series could have been brave and chosen to go off in a totally different direction. Perhaps the guy gives up his wealth to pursue his own dreams and happiness. Or how about this? Why can’t the woman be the wealthy one and the guy be the regular shmo? Because culturally, we still live in a world where women continue to believe that ultimate happiness lies with a wealthy man, which is beyond sad. It’s pathetic because it’s so completely untrue.

Gu Won (Lee Jun Ho) is the reclusive son of a wealthy company and hotel owner. His mother suddenly disappears from his life at a young age, and he doesn’t trust people who smile. He views such actions as fake as well as insulting as if the person is hiding their true feelings. He’s not entirely wrong. There is nothing so superficial as a fake smile. He comes back to Korea after years in the UK to learn the business, even though at first, he has no interest in taking over.

Cheon Sa Rang (Im Yoon Ah) is a young woman who’s always dreamed of working at the King Hotel. It’s a place of warm memories from when she was a child, and because of her customer service skills, she finds herself moving up the ladder to King the Land—an exclusive VIP floor of the hotel, only for the very richest of people who demand special service. She’s very good at her job, and when she’s asked to interview Gu Won for a promotional scheme, of course, there is immediate friction, especially when he demands that she stop smiling.

As you can already guess, these two are whisked away alone (you have to hand it to the writers who scheme to come up with some plausible way to force these two characters to be alone in order to break the ice!), and they begin to learn about each other. The sad part is that by the end of the third episode, Gu Won miraculously recovers from his problem of seeing people smile. This is an area that could have, and should have, been explored much more thoroughly than it was. This was a missed opportunity.

Cheon Sa Rang has two other friends who both work under the same company. Kang Da Eul works at a duty-free shop. And Oh Pyung Hwa is a flight attendant. All three women are very immature, cowardly, and weak. Wallflowers are never attractive or appealing. Sa Rang constantly allows herself to be abused at work. Kang Da Eul is abused by her in-laws and husband. It’s sad that her little girl has more maturity than she does. And Oh Pyung Hwa has her past held against her, and she’s also abused by the pilot and co-workers. None of them ever speak up and stand up for themselves.

To be fair, Korea is arguably the most competitive country in the world. And what we see is a very cutthroat mentality in which workers are expected to fall-in and do whatever they’re told without argument or complaint. This leads to a hierarchy of those above abusing those below. In one of the high points of the series, Gu Won attempts to correct this oversight. His plan is for companies to appreciate their employees and to treat them as valuable commodities rather than throwaways. This is a philosophy that is sorely needed in today’s world, but perhaps especially in Korea. This point was actually my favorite aspect of the series, so it wasn’t a total loss.

Lee Jun Ho is the glue of this series. He has a very natural acting style that makes you appreciate his acting chops in nearly every scene that he’s in, and in many ways, he single-handedly prevents this “ship” from sinking completely.

I’ve always loved Kim Young Ok (Grandma) who dazzled us in “Hometown Cha Cha Cha” as well as “Tomorrow.” She’s a true delight in everything she does. I smiled when I saw her in her first scene.

Im Yoon Ah is the weak link in this series. this woman is like a Jekyll and Hyde actress. She's either upbeat, bubbly, and warm, or she's cold, rude, aloof, and indifferent. She has no other "speeds" which is why her range isn't very good. She has no clue how to build up a scene. She can only hit one button or the other, which really hurts her performance. Too often, she looks uncomfortable in scenes where she shouldn't be. I found it ironic that she’s the last one to smile in the wedding of the last episode. She looked so uncomfortable, and it showed. She has a good grin, but she hardly has “the best smile.” Her performance is very inconsistent and lacking believability in many scenes. I certainly won’t be watching any more series that showcase this actress. She’s decent at best.

Kim Sun Young plays Gu Hwa Ran, Gu Won’s sister, even though she looks more like his mother. While she played the character well, Gu Hwa Ran is way too one-dimensional. This was another character that should have been explored with much more depth.

Finally, we have Ah Se Ha playing No Sang Sik (Gu Won’s assistant). There is a fine line between playing the idiot and playing the funny man. The buffoon is rarely appealing, and the Thailand trip was cringeworthy and easily my least favorite part of the series. It takes someone with real acting chops to toe the line between being annoying and funny. He was easily my least favorite character of the series, making me question why he was there.

I prefer series like “Business Proposal” that showcased strong, mature women who could fend for themselves. Women who didn’t act like wallflowers who wilt under every kind of pressure, which is what we have here. “Hometown Cha Cha Cha,” “Our Beloved Summer,” “Touch Your Heart” and “Love To Hate You” were vastly superior to this series. These writers really need to start thinking outside the box instead of hammering us with the same plots and weak characters that have been done to death.

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Nothing Burger!

Well I am surprising myself with this assessment. I was sincerely looking forward to this drama. Let us be honest, we have not had many great k-dramas in the past year or so. This seemed to have a great lineup and fairly upscale production. I was not anticipating a masterpiece, but a fun, light hearted romantic comedy.
But in reality the show turned out to be a whole lotta nothing burger. The set looked great, the visuals were great...but the magic was missing. I was hoping this to change as the story progressed...but the pace of the story remained the same. I finished watching the show purely out of loyalty to some of my favorite cast members, but they deserved better.

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Wasted Potential

Before moving to my review, i kindly request people who are a big fan of this drama, to skip this review.
Coming back to my feedback, the drama started off very well containing all factors in equal portions like romance, emotion, sibling rivalry, business war, friendship. so i thought that this drama will have business theme and will picture the war between male lead and his sister. but as episodes pass by the story got deviated and focused fully on lead pair's dating and their love life. at one stage I really got frustrated cause literally 50 mins of the episode was full of love only, not to mention the unwanted k!ss scenes in each episode. TOO MUCH OF ANYTHING IS GOOD FOR NOTHING. This is not a drama actually this is a documentary of what if LJH and YN dated in real life. the story, the actors, everything had a great potential to be a fast-paced beautiful drama, but the director and scriptwriter totally wasted it.

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The Good:
⌲ Yoona is very pretty
⌲ There are no love triangles.
⌲ There is a certain amount of enjoyable fluff.
⌲ The secondary fls and sismance (though it’s not exactly amazing)
⌲ The arab prince thing was amusing enough (I cannot imagine getting butthurt over something like this)
⌲ It’s at least a better drama than ‘Forecasting Love and Weather’.

The Neutral:
⌲ Jun Ho’s acting (I understand why he did not take this very seriously though, I do know he is a talented actor)
⌲ The romance in general (not bad, not great)
⌲ The father (He is bad, but in similar dramas I’ve seen far worse)
⌲ The chemistry between the leads
⌲ Of course it's a clichefest. (though It's not too bad in this regard)

The Bad:
⌲ The plot is just horrible (yes in romcoms it shouldn’t matter, but there are way too many offensive and intelligence insulting things, it’s like a Lakorn)
⌲ The dialog is pretty bad too at times. (and this is a big problem)
⌲ There is a lot of backward crap that is kind of like airing the nation’s dirty laundry, at least in Hollywood as bad as their shows are they are trying to move forward.
⌲ Outside of the leads & their friends almost everyone is a mean bully. (the corporate chain of abuse, see the prev. point)
⌲ The romantic plot itself flows rather strangely & completely falls apart in the final episodes.
⌲ The mother & her reason for leaving her son
⌲ The drama has an incredible amount of bad energy!
⌲ The ML sometimes appears to be mentally challenged, like Dali and the Cocky Prince's ML.
⌲ The fakest smiles you have ever seen
⌲ The older sister (her acts are too juvenile and dumb even for kdrama cheabol-land-u)
⌲ “Double the profits, hit the targets!”
⌲ One long helicopter ride should be something like sub-$10000 in Korea, it’s obviously far cheaper than dealing with the bad press, optics and liability over what happened and they talked about this so forking much.
⌲ .. there are many more things, but I tire of writing this review ..

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interesting drama

delivered by the cast. The main characters portray a myriad of emotions flawlessly, effortlessly drawing me into their struggles, triumphs, and heartaches. Their chemistry is palpable, making their on-screen interactions all the more believable and heartfelt.

Not only does "Unfolding Hearts" excel in its storytelling and performances, but it also shines in its production values. The cinematography is aesthetically pleasing, with beautifully composed shots that further enhance the emotional impact of each scene. The soundtrack, composed with care, adds an additional layer of depth and resonance to the narrative.but the episode 7 about that Arbic prince was annoying.

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How this has more than 7 is beyond me

I am not sure how this drama has over 7.0 and that would be a very generous rating. I had high hopes for this drama as people around me praised how good it was and the production value seemed high, so I decided to give it a chance.

At the start the drama had potential. The relationship between the male lead and his sister, and the mystery around his traceless mother. The female leads friends even had their own conflicts and I found that they were more interesting than the actual leads. The friends carried the entire comedy angle. The romance is mundane and nothing new. There are so many overused scenes like the male catching the falling female lead kind of bs. There's a lot of unnecessary and long awkward kissing scenes that could have been removed. I find that the male lead is often stupid and simply simping over the female, completely disregarding his goals to chase her around. The female lead doesn't seem all that special or unique either and I am unsure of her appeal.

The only interesting bits of the drama were rushed and haphazardly written in. The sibling rivarly was barely touched and basically unresolved. The missing mother was dangled like a carrot on a stick and then the male lead suddenly says he is no longer interested in pursuing her. The heck? Those who watched knows what happens after. There are so many reasons that this drama is mediocre at best.

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King of Cringe and Kisses

This is one of those dramas that is so hard to rate as some parts are so annoying and cringey they made me want to cover my eyes, skip, throw up, yell oh come on this is just stupid... While at the same time offering me some of dreamlands hottest kissing scenes, fun references to dramas passed and well Junho entering in slow mo wearing a suit, by suites I mean a lot of suits and a lot of scenes making me wonder if the makers of this drama where trying to check how many slow mo shots of Junho in a suit are to many... And well they tried their best but nee I am sure they could have fit in more of them and it would have only made this better.

In between the awful and the amazing there was a decent cliche story done mostly good, with mostly predictable twists a slight attempt to talk about some issues without really exploring the issues... All kind of meeh. But then agin we were offered some pretty amazing shots, nice music and mostly lovable leads with friends to die for (even if there stories and characters where annoying and over the top at times all characters had their moments of decency and greatness.

For some reason I find myself comparing this drama to Hometown Cha Cha Cha, and while it does have moments as cringy as the ones in there not a single one of the characters is as annoying as the people in Cha Cha. And while the FL in Cha Cha takes a turn to the annoying this one is mostly good from start to finish. what Cha Cha had that this one did not have was a beautiful bromance. But while Cha Cha truly took a dive from fun to oh my let this embarrassment end , this dramas journey of annoying cringe and greatness was more of a roller coaster type thing.

So if you love watching Junho in slow mo in a suit, steamy wet kissing scenes and can handle some cringe and annoying elements this is a really good watch.

P.S there was also a small referens to pretty women hidden in there....

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my mom only hated 2 dramas, into the ring and this
she said the whole plot and characteristics felt like something made for teens should've been played by teens xD

anyway, they had three good things, 1, no breakup*, 2, no childhood connection and 3 junho's smiles

the bad, well everything... no real plot, no real thought process just a bunch of random cliches after another, no follow through and all cliffhangers/angst/conflicts were resolved and brushed over...
and tbh, woong felt too clingy, too "involved", too rushing it too fast
and sarang felt too uncarying of him, not as in love and I don't mean she put herself first but like she didn't seem as happy and she always found a reason to nag at him and lecture him..
i thought she was a bit of a gold digger but i'm glad she built her own career xD tho speaking of her successful fully booked business. no one besides woong was ever there. even the first night, no one came after booking which made me think she only had one room and he was the one always booking
mom was also sad the friends didn't visit her there, like was it really one room no one could ever book in? xD
the stupid sister building 30 years of anger over him being loved by his parents when she could've just joined in, no one hated her... and the mom leaving over the grandpa, and never coming back as if she was a side character to her son's life when even the dad still loved her... atleast they should've made a sob story of her getting ill or whatever... and ofc the deadbeat husband of 3rd fl was wrong but dang she made him a doormat... yeah fixing the problem isn't done by making another...
and the final ep, one stupid ad after another, that's how cheaply they thought of this drama, just a fan service and piggy bank...

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Simply enjoying a series

Very generic romance comedy, not anything groundbreaking. Is it enjoyable though? Yes. I have laughed more at this drama than I have at any other this year paired with my favorite OST as well. Each week I am sitting at the edge of my seat waiting for a new episode to drop and have enjoyed so many moments in the show.

There were portions of the show I was unhappy with and questioned why it had to happen the way it did in the series. I do have to say that even though I never felt as if the show was dragging, I do think though that this series could have been shorter as there was a lot of filler content.

Favorite character of the series was Kang Daeul portrayed by Kim Gaeun (with Lee Rowoon in a very close second place). She was a great comedy relief of the series. I loved seeing all the scenes she was in, especially the ones with her daughter.

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King the Land

King the Land is how romantic comedies should be done. Of course, it was filled with all the usual K-Drama cliches that you can think of, and of course, there were corny + cheesy parts but it all worked for the most part.

Sarang is one of my favorite FLs. She was not immature or created misunderstandings out of thin air. Yoonah does a great job expressing her emotions. I love her relationship with her grandma & her friends. Her friends and she were always having the times of their lives in this show. I love a good sismance.

Jun Ho as Gu Won will go down as one of the greenest flags in all of K-Dramaland. I mean I cannot resist my toxic king obsessive CEO troupe... hehe, but he might be the healthiest CEO ever. Of course, he had the usual CEO trauma, but the way he allowed himself to heal did not affect his relationship with Sarang or his bestie, Sangsik. His smile was also so healing... I mean I love watching him be happy. This is my first Junho drama & my 2PM guy can ACT. I need to watch his other dramas.

THE RELATIONSHIP WAS SO HEALTHY. No unnecessary misunderstandings that drag on for eternity. Whenever something came up, the leads COMMUNICATED. It was so refreshing. I love how they always support one another & always down for one another no matter what hardships come our way.

Of course, the OST was elevating all the scenes... highly recommended for a light, fluffy healthy romantic comedy. 9/10

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