drama the king

Kim Eun-sook's new work, "The King: Lord of Eternity," is a fantasy romance about the collaboration between Lee Gon (Lee Min-ho), the emperor of the Korean Empire, who tries to close the door of the world, and Jeong Tae-eul (Kim Go-eun), a Korean detective who tries to protect someone's life, people and love. Even though only six episodes have been aired, the reaction is somewhat chilly.



Kim Eun-sook World's Expansion of 'Melo Master' Without Worries about Melo


Kim Eun-sook, who rose to the ranks of star writers in 2004 with "Lovers in Paris," was named "Melo Master." However, the title was also a tag for Kim Eun-sook, so she has long tried to overcome her limitations. Through "Secret Garden" (2010-2011), which combines fantasy and melodrama, "Lonely and brilliant goblin" (2016-2017), melodrama blockbuster "Descendants of the Sun" (2016), and the period drama "Mr. Sunshine" (2018), which deals with the anti-Japanese struggles of the end of the Korean War, have attempted to merge and expand the genre of melodrama. Through the above works, Kim Eun-sook gained recognition for her epic expansion from the critics.

At the same time, criticism of Kim Eun-sook's vote "Melo" itself was repeated every time. The aforementioned works were worldviews decided by the male protagonist, and in the end, they were nothing more than another epic to a world full of male worship fantasies. In "Lovers in Paris" (2004), he called an adult woman "a baby" and treated her as a non-mainstream figure as romance. In "Guardian: The Lonely and Great God," a 916-year-old man appears when he blows out a candle.

In "The King," the emperor, who really rode a white horse across the space of the dimension, greets a detective as Empress. Kim Eun-sook will finally summon the narrator, who is centered on a female and male hero from ancient tales, in 2020.

It became clear that he lacked the agony of the title "melo craftsman" because he focused only on expanding his world. Whenever he lacks imagination for his melodrama, he has no choice but to face the same criticism every time he tries to expand his world by setting a long story of misogyny on the foundation. Even if the story based on male worship and male worship that will be saved is painted with a colorful and complex worldview, the essence of hatred will not change.


So, in "The Goblin," he said, "Sorry, man.In "The King," unnecessary misogyny appears, such as "Bra without wire can't support her chest." Despite being the first female prime minister, she is only described as a person who constantly struggles to self-produce scandals and win the emperor's love. It's time to materialize the title of "Melo Master" in the 2010s into the title of "Cinderella Story Master" in the 2020s.

A cinderella chosen for insincere romance and haphazard romance.


The King's setting is excessive, as he meets a wonderful prince in a science fantasy and throws a rising fantasy into his status. Viewers can't get the context of when and where they want to talk about the parallel world. Does he want to convince his worldview only after the drama ends?

Confused characters who try to buy tasting bread that Igon does not sell with his identity or buy milk tea for free are not sincere. Chung Tae-eul, a "literary" detective who questions the proposition that the earth is round in elementary school, and Lee Gon, a "scientific" mathematician who speaks of quantum mechanics considered to be the most difficult in physics, are childish. Viewers can't understand Igon, who knows the rules of other worlds and continues to speak informally without trying to adapt to the rules, or Jung Tae-eul, who quickly understands such Igon.

The writer's own ambition to expand his worldview was enough to clearly reveal his imagination about the shabby melodrama. In the second episode, Igon declares, "I will greet you as my empress" because the immediate family is not in the parallel world, and because the ID card was Jeong Tae-eul's 25 years ago. It disguises romance as an excuse to give Jung Tae-eul an important place to stay in the parallel world.


Jeong Tae-eul, who became Cinderella without any persuasion or mutual exchange of emotions, became a trophy that was chosen freely according to the will of the prince. Viewers will only be embarrassed to see such Cinderella. Despite the melodrama that shows understanding of human relationships, The King gave up understanding of relationships. Various women's colorful desires and relationships exist in this world. Women living in modern times have seen each other like that and know they can love without a prince. The King was shown with a poor story to a woman, the main audience in Melo.

A new era, a new 'melo craftsman' is needed.


Writer Kim Eun-sook must be aware of criticism about misogyny raised over 17 years. At a talk concert held at Content Insight in 2017, writer Kim Eun-sook said her daughter wrote a script, "The male protagonist is a second-generation chaebol and the female lead is an orphan, and she seems to have done something big wrong." Furthermore, she is exporting stories that her daughter has been affected around the world, and she must have considered social influence as a writer at least once.

It would be a tough job to ask Kim Eun-sook to rewatch her previous work in this era. The days when I used to curse childish, predictable storylines but had nothing to see are gone. As more and more services analyze viewers' tastes and suggest customized videos, viewers actively search for content they want to see. Amid numerous OTT services such as Netflix, Watcha and YouTube, so-called swearing-in dramas cannot survive.

Kim Eun-sook is a star writer who can write what he wants. Even without having to write stories to suit consumers' tastes, they can offer their worldviews to the stations enough, and they will be eager to buy the stories. Still, Korean viewers are uncomfortable with misogyny but wonder about Kim Eun-sook's worldview.

But not the world's viewers. There are many dramas that you can watch without swearing. Kim Eun-sook, a writer, can break the tradition of the broadcasting station and rebuild her own melo foundation in a place where she doesn't hate it. You can use the fun melodrama as much as you want without any inconvenience. Let's go back to the time when we first wrote and focus on the melodrama. I look forward to Kim Eun-sook, who will leave a new "melo master" and a long-lasting classic.

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