Saad Gul – Google

On the border with this one. It is a long drama (The longest I have seen after My Only One and Empress Ki). This isn't necessarily a bad thing as it gives time to explore the story relationships and various human/social issues. Some I found very relevant such as depression, pinning blame on parents for one's situation and dealing with family. However, the length of the drama means there are big dips in interest levels. At times the story was very interesting and I myself found the story to be most interesting around 30-40th episodes. After that the focus was on family recovery, resolving issues and what not. I didn't enjoy it that much. Some side stories got a little weak as well. Still, this is a very well done drama and worth seeing for all the human relationships involved. The central romance theme was also great, well done but a little frustrating!

How many stars does this "The King, Eternal Monarch" deserve? I would say 4.2 * * * * Better than average dramas. Deserves five stars for: Acting: Natural, typical for most KDramas Direction Story telling/screenplay Dialogues: not as cheesy as I expected! Romance realism: lots of hugs, staring, strange dialogues that only make sense if the romance is working...which fortunately it does. Side characters: So hard to get right. Well done here, from the girl's father to her secret admirer and to her friends. Editing/Camera work: I actually paused the episode to admire the incredible artistic effort spend on the camera work. The only other time I did this was for "My Mister". Amazing. Seamless continuation: None of the episodes got boring and there was always something interesting going on. What I did not really admire was: Handling of Sci-Fi: there are some great works out there that set the standard. While not bad, this drama didn't really excite as much as a sci-fi fan like me hoped. Ending: super well handled. But really disappointing still. Kingdom thing: kings and stuff are simply not my cup of tea. But it was tolerable here. Villain: super, super villain. How can one be such a villain? And then an undramatic ending for him. Everything aside, Lee Min-Ho and Kim Go-Eun chemistry worked very well and their scenes together were candy for the brains! Conclusion: just falls short of some of the amazing dramas out there.

Watched this after Empress Ki. The first episode was good so I continued. However, my reason to watch Korean dramas is because of their efforts to make fun and somewhat realistic dramas. I found this drama to be lacking in both. The side characters were not interesting and the action was too unrealistic. Hollywood does unrealistic action very well so why go there? Though the overall action scenes were amazing but it is sad to see one person can cut through armour like butter and dozens of trained solders in a few seconds. That was a big put off. Action is annoying, characters are annoying, side stories are weak, side characters are annoying, and romance element is mostly killed off. I seriously cannot recommend it unless someone wants to see Woo Do Huan's body. That was seriously amazing.

Just a few seconds of preview on Netflix and I was hooked. And haven't regretted since. It is the kind of drama that keeps in your mind all day but made me smile thinking about the interesting scenes. The complicated story line at the end few episodes was well done. I am always fearful after 10 episodes that the storyline will get ridiculous, or stretched out or annoying. Nothing like that. It was actually quite interesting. My only slight annoyance is that the showmakers tried to make it grand with some grand political schemes going on and a very villainous character. I felt it was not so necessary. The fact that marriage was easy nullified also annoyed me. Some may disagree... Nonetheless, acting was great, some of the scenes were fabulous and it was highly entertaining.

Good watch. Kept me involved. I wouldn't say this drama was one of the better works from Korea. Some scenes were predictable and cheesy. However the setting was great (magazine publisher), the lead actors and actresses were really good and the comedy really worked at times. Still, I did not really enjoy the interaction between our protagonist and her love interest. It wasn't well build. The secondary interaction between lunatic Kim and protagonist Kim was far more fun. Conclusion: Good story, weak love element, weak ending but great acting from everyone.

Fun to watch. Interesting concept and the effects were nicely done. Not quite there were some of the masterpieces of Korean drama but it was good fun to watch with some outstanding scenes. However, I found the character development and scenes somewhat underwhelming. Nonetheless, it was not too long with 12 episodes. While some episodes did not turn out to be great (and unfortunately could have been), it was worth watching till the end. I don't mind saying that I also liked the fact that there was effectively only one sad/depressing scene meant for the audience to cry. The rest was craftily handled with humor and good use of the AI concept.

Not sure what drew me to this drama but this one turned out to be a real treat. It was not your typical rich-guy meets poor-girl. The interaction between the protagonists was fun and enjoyable. The side romances and family interaction was also very good. I often don't enjoy the side romances/stories but this was very well done. There were a lot of fun scenes where I laughed. I am also glad that there were few sad scenes and these were mostly at the later episodes. There were some super-natural/magical moments that everyone might not enjoy. However, they made the story far more interesting that it could have been. I didn't like the main actress nor the first episode, but don't give up. I ended up rooting for her whenever she came on screen. Summary: beautiful without being too burdensome on the heart :D

A near perfect masterpiece. I wasn't quite satisfied with the character change in the main "villain" and ending felt unsatisfying after the thorough rollercoaster ride. But what a amazing drama. It felt similar to one of my favourite books, Little Dorret by Charles Dickens but the writers chose to go with a different ending. To conclude: A must watch. Just skip the details and watch. Though I claim no responsibility for the emotional hangover and any after-effects!