King the Land (2023)

Nothing new offered

I know the male lead Junho as an actor not as an K-pop idol he was an intense actor in Just Between lovers drama. This drama doesn't do justice to his acting skills.

The female lead Yoona Iam not a fan of her neither as an idol nor as an actor. I really don't like her acting. Being beautiful doesn't mean you are a good actor though I don't think that she is the one of the most beautiful idols.

The story Cdrama viewers would have seen multiple dramas with the same plot. There is nothing new to offer but at the same time it dint provide the enough excitement while watching.Same old story Rich man/poor woman cliche.

I really don't understand the concept that how only the friends of the FL tend to get hell amount of problems in their professional life. The FL characterization is the worst. The sister of the ML there is no proper ending to her.

Nothing exciting!!

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Mediocre and problematic with a big shiny budget

This is my first ever review but this series rubbed me in all the wrong ways and i had to ramble a little to get the bad taste of it out of my mouth. Sorry in advance if it’s a long one.
KTL started sweet and refreshingly enough albeit a cliche and it was comforting food for the soul but then it seriously downhill for me for a multitude of reasons and i’m not even gonna get into the whole Arab prince debacle which was done very badly and offended a lot of people.

Before getting to the thick of it i have to give some points for the production value, cinematography and OST but with a lack of solid script it didn’t achieve much.
The camaraderie in the friend group and the support they had for each other was one of the few redeeming things about this show.
It also realistically depicted the service industry and the abuse workers have to endure on a daily basis.
The intimate scenes were done well but steam even a lot of it does not a worthwhile series make.

One of my main issues is like literally how is the sister the bad guy?
What is it with kdramas and misogyny?
Women can be good and competent but not in real positions of power?
How many successful female CEOs have you seen in any kdrama that wasn’t a scheming evil rival of the protagonist who probably had a nervous breakdown by the end of the series and got what was coming for her?
The sister has worked hard all her life and is managing a big company with different departments, is successful and smart, rightly has acknowledged Sarang’s worth and good work since the beginning and justly promoted her multiple times but then because of her spoiled brother who by the way I haven’t seen any sign of actually working or appreciating his status, is not worthy of becoming the CEO of the company she has worked her whole life for?
Guwon gets a seat at the table out of nowhere just because of his father and gets opportunities at every turn again because of his father but his sister has to fight for her position and honestly her decisions are consistent with that of a true leader not a do gooder.
I don’t care about her rotten personality, her beef with her brother or anything that’s not business wise cause in that regard she’s more than capable and qualified as hell and Guwon certainly is not and this show is questioning her management skills solely on the basis of her personal life. It wouldn’t be a classic kdrama if we don’t have an evil female antagonist.

And for a show which was supposed to be anti nepotism, it did a very poor job. How many times has Sarang enjoyed privileges not provided to any of her coworkers because of her relationship with Guwon? It’s really awful and it cheapens her good work ethics specially the amazing thailand trip courtesy of the company owner’s son attended by said undeserving son.
I understand that Sarang’s character is supposed to be gentle and calming but this paradox of an independent modern working woman and a damsel in distress in constant need of saving from the hero was ridiculous.
She doesn’t have a mean bone in her body and treats everyone nice and fair.
You can’t have your cake and eat it too. Grow a backbone sister it’s 2023.

And let’s be honest, when has working in the service industry been about dreams of making people happy and smile?
Ep 11 felt like a very long sermon by a preacher preaching the many benefits of working your ass off helping others as a noble and good deed which reality check reconfirms is only about cashing your paycheck at the end of the month and making ends meet since literally in the history of time no one has served anyone for the sheer joy of it.
Any improvement in Guwon personality and perspective comes directly from his interactions with Sarang and it’s like he had never seen or comprehend before that there were people who worked in the service industry and got things done for him.
He treats these so called new discoveries as groundbreaking like how blind and clueless were you before true love found you?
With a big budget and enormous sponsors (the very unsubtle product placements get a lot of screen time and oohs and awws) they could’ve done a much better job but alas it was mediocre and repetitive.

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!!!OVERRATED!!! , all HYPE because of the CAST.

I've watched this drama because of all the hype surrounding it. I watched it while it was airing.
I've never been a big Yoona fan and haven't seen any drama with Junho before so I've kept my expectations low. That was good for me, because it was dragged on.

CONS / what i disliked:
- i think cliche rom-coms shouldn't be too dragged on. 16 eps were too much.
- i didn't like that every single ep had KISSING SCENES. i mean it was ok, but when there are too many you kinda lose the excitement.
- the flight attendant couple was 100 times better, while sarang and gu won felt a little rushed and idk TACKY/cringey
- some characters were horribly annoying
- i don't know what kind of boss gu won is but he seemed to do everything but work
-random events that felt like filler events: arab prince, thailand trip - they tried to make the drama not seem boring by adding so many events and "action" but it was MESSY ngl
-fake leads, idk they seemed a lil to FAKE for me? don't get me wrong i loved Business PROPOSAL and What's Wrong With SECRETARY KIM- cliche rom-coms, but idk something felt like a LIL TOO MUCH for me
-it felt PATHETIC how the BAD COWORKERS became her best friends overnight

PROS/what i liked:
- again, flight attendant couple>>>
-sarang's grandmother
-sarang's friendship with the girls

Easy to forget, overrated, all hype because of the cast.
NOTE: I know I've said I've never been a big Yoona fan, but this doesn't mean I don't like her. She just isn't one of my favourites. So don't mix my words.

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Just what I needed

I was hesitant to start this because it appeared they hated each other and there would be a lot of conflict. But, although there was some friction in the beginning, it was all due to a misunderstanding and pain from his past. The story was beautiful. I loved all the actors, down to the grandma, lazy husband, and even the clueless ex-boyfriend. Someone said there was nothing to wait for. I disagree. The conniving step-sister’s change, the hilarious friend and lazy husband’s resolution, the flight attendant and her admirer, the unjust treatment of the employees, the mother that disappeared and what happened and why, and where the leads would take us.

This series was entertaining, heartwarming, emotional, funny, steamy, and, most importantly, made me happy. The leads had so much chemistry. I never felt they were acting. I really loved this series so much!

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Overhyped

Honestly cannot tell what went wrong with this drama but.... I was excited when I saw the cast. I have to admit the visuals are there, friendship, chemistry but .... not sure where it started to fall off, maybe episode 8? And then watching this drama started to become a chore..

Story
Another romcom, feels like business proposal with the whacky characters and humour. Didn't mean to compare the two but if anything, Business Proposal was done better. I'm okay with cliches and stereotypical ceo-cinderella romance but something about this drama is just boring. I started to find the main couple cringey and even started skipping their parts. I know I'm not the only one when I say this (my friends feel the same) but the air stewardess' romance is better, more heart-fluttering.

Acting/Cast
Like i mentioned above, the cast was well-chosen. Yoona and JunHo are both good idol-turned-actors and the others in the friend group also do their part to make the show interesting.

Music
Quite nice but I must admit I don't remember any OST from this drama...

Overall
This drama has a very strong start that makes you want to continue watching but do be warned, you may start to feel bored just as I did. I was so bored that I put off watching the last 2 episodes of the drama for a while... low-key wanted to drop it at that point.

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So much Sweetness that it will give you DIABETES!

"All the fan service and cringe of K-dramas rolled into one drama" would be the best description for this. What's the point that the writers wanted to convey would be one question few would have answers to. Another one of recent addition to K-dramaland which started strong but after 6 episodes became a chore with repeated sequences and cliched love scenarios. There is nothing in terms of screenplay and story building.
Positives: If you are in the 'honeymoon' phase of a relationship with your partner this would feel like a good watch. The side characters had better development than the leads.
Negatives: Should have been a 8 to 10 episode drama. People who don't like stories dragged like a chewing gum should avoid it.

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offensive drama

the answer provided by jtbc for ep 7 content was a diplomatic answer.
As if they didn't know it was offending.
I mean muslims and arabs in general are known for being conservative.
They would never do the things depicted in the drama.
It was highly offensive and thoughtless.
They have no excuse since a quick google search would have prevented the incident.
Their goal right now is to limit their loss, hence the half-baked apology. I hope thks incident prevents any more belittling to arab and muslim culture.
This incident is not the first in the kdrama world.
In shooting stars, africa was depicted as a hungry, poor coutry that didn't even have electricity waiting for the white korean to save them (for commercial purposes)
In descendants of the sun, arabs were depicted as terrorists and criminals.
This lack of respect for the arab and muslim culture needs to change.

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too corny

I guess they tried to make a wholesome kdrama but it turned out boring, because nothing ever happens! And even the "dramatic" scenes or the "dramatic" part of the story was emotionless.

The main couple lacked of chemistry and sometimes it felt like they were siblings. Maybe it was the acting but Gu Won lost his personality completely almost at the end of the show. Like I get he was in love and everything but it felt like I was watching a completely different character.

Some characters and situations doesn't make sense and I found the whole plot mid.

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Follows the RomCom blueprint.

There’s nothing particularly bad about this. To me it was boring and I background-watched it, meaning I was either doing sudoku, painting my nails, or scrolling through/playing with my phone while it played. The only reason I stuck to it was Lee Junho.
I'm not necessarily a fan who keeps up with everything that he does but to me, he's the best idol-turn-actor I've seen yet and if I'm scrolling and see his name I click. And yes he is magnificent down to every little detail of his character, and let's be honest he looked extremely dapper in a suit.
Other than that the story was a little boring to me because there was no real pushback from anyone ( the sister was a big letdown for me) and the big mystery surrounding his mother's whereabouts was revealed in the most anti-climatic way they could think of and it took less than an episode for the whole reveal.
Every problem the FL and her friends were going through got resolved in the most idyllic way too. As you know it's not very realistic.
Now why did I say there's nothing particularly bad about this? Because your enjoyment of this drama will depend on what you're looking for. If you're looking for fluff and love and rainbows, something to get you away from the harsh realities of this world, then this one is definitely for you.
I'm just confused as to why I was not particularly in love with this one. It had its moments where I was hooked because Gu Won was swoon-worthy, the comedic timing was wacky and I loved it and the little side noona romance was a win in my books. Maybe it was not my moment to watch it or maybe it was Yoonah because, for some reason, I always have the hardest time finishing anything that she's in.

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I tried so hard to like it...

I tried, I swear I tried so hard to like King the Land but with each episode that passed and I thought "oh, now I'm going to start liking this" and suddenly I was dragged down again
This was simply one of the worst scripts I've ever seen in my life... it has no story, no emotion, no substance, it's empty, superficial
The main couple is very cute and very mature, and maybe if the plot had stayed ONLY with the two of them the story would have been more enjoyable

The whole story of the hotel is just laughable and I can't believe an adult wrote this. When I was 10 years old, I would have written something more in-depth about work environment and equality.

The secondary characters didn't win me over too.
To be honest, nothing beat me and I could even give this Drama a worse rating .

But to be fair, I just watched Twenty Five Twenty One and it was a Drama that touched my soul so deeply, it was so well produced, so well set, with cinematography and scripts so richly made that I may be weighing my criticism of King the Land because I am completely biased by 2521.
But now I watch this and it's so poorly developed that the disappointment hits harder I feel.

I didn't expect too much about this drama but somehow it turned out worse than expected.

so I give it a 5, but I could easily give it a 3-4

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Rom-com for teens maybe

Nothing can impress you about this production if you have gained little maturity!!! Full with brand promotion !!

1. The ML has no work to do, no ambition, no motivation ( total spoiled brat!) until he met the FL and falls for her without any reason. This absurdness just got carried and repeated illogically for Arab prince in another episode. This raised a confusion if the FL is presented to be most beautiful?? if she is then why not every other male falls for her except selectively rich young males? WTH.
2. The ML had mommy-issues and the suspense around the mommy just was hype. However, the first maturity or sensible behavior was presented by ML only when he interacted with his mom . That was really great scene with a lot of sensible conversations and expressions. Most powerful part of the whole series, I would say.
3. The ML always wears very respectful mask around all the people rgardless how poor or rich the person is, but is unexpectedly rude towards his best friend till the end. I understand they are sketched to be very close, but that one-way insulting behavior is very contradictory to his whole personality.
4. No work, full of romantic talks are so damn boring. The ML just have tooooooo much free time. He even disrespectful towards FL's professional work time. I also dont understand how the FL falls for ML ? Maybe because he saved her life? Maybe
5. The side stories also have very weak plot but I enjoyed them more than the main story. The feminism brushed plot of Da Eul's married life had simply no logic. How she just was getting exploit by her husband and in-laws very very badly when she suddenly change the plot totally upside down in fraction of seconds??? It was most weird and unrealistic plot-twist. Same kinda goes for P Hwa's storyline too.
6. There was no logic when the FL was transferred to another hotel by ML's father when almost everyone knows where she went. What was the need for that drama? Maybe the dad had an ulterior motive and wanted to revive the broken business with help of the "best talent" and his super-talented son . Dang, he had really big brain, LOL
7. I think its just very very common story with full of unrealistic plots that only teens and starter drama-lovers can enjoy. If you have enjoyed really good K-dramas before, you will feel like waste of time.
8. Why I started to watch and finish it? Started it because it popped up in my suggestion list in NETflix with a good rating and finished it because I dont know, maybe wanted to change my taste and reset it to enjoy or find the next drama?

Summary: Nothing special, nonsense story, over-hyped and overrated.

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