Stephanie Paul

I must be watching the wrong series, because I have found when the phone rings utterly appalling on so many levels. 1. The main leads are just ridiculous. With the representation of selective mutism verging on offensive. Though the FL's own personality is just annoying. 2. By épisode 2 I was sure that the whole drama is a parody, from the hilariously represented British embassy to the cringe fake "risqué" pictures, and when the girl started pouring coffee down that man's arm. I had to give up. Nothing will make me pick up this series again. I feel that K-Dramas have hit an all time low.

I really enjoyed this series at first, and waited with baited breath every week. Episode 8, and their kiss! Wow, I was entranced. But actually the last 4 episodes have been bloody awful. Because it was neither one thing nor the other. I found myself wishing for more passion between them, perhaps if the King had an extra kiss now and again he would be less miserable, and if Hae-Soo did she would be less bland. I feel like it has become stale, in the worst way. The tragic queen, could have given more of a storyline potential, but it literal is over in 2 scenes. I loved The Red Sleeve,, and originally that gave me some of those vibes. But now I am just getting bored with it. The 3 syars are for Episode 8.

Sumptuous, exciting, duplicitous and passionate. This drama has me hooked. I came here for the Queen Zhang Ziyi but I have been drawn in and am utterly in love with Zhou Yi Wei's performance. He has absolutely ruled the screen. There have genuinely been moments when I have had to stop and compose myself because I am so emotionally tangled up in A'Wu and Xiao Qi's tumultuous relationship. The scenes are often set up like Chinese paintings, colours muted by rain or candlelight which added an ethereal touch. However the soundtrack brings those scenes to life. It is magnificent.

First off I would like to say I have been a huge k-drama fan for over 15 years, and love the previous work by the screenwriter Goblin is one of my all time faves! and especially Lee Min-Ho. However this drama just did not enthrall me. Normally I will binge watch a good drama over a couple of days CLOY took me 3 nights, but KEM took ages. I have several issues with it. 1. It was just too clever for it's own good. And was stuck between people explaining the mechanics of the time/space continuum or just brushing it off "How come you still remember me?" "Letsnot think about that now" Which is just weird. 2. I am sorry but there was no chemistry between our leads. And I just began to find their romance scenes annoying. And perhaps it meant that I didn't really care that much about anyone. 3. The last episode was such a cop out. I felt that yes, it was happy, but it wasn't really satisfactory. I think the ending to Neil Gaiman's Stardust would have been more fitting. However TBH K-Dramas on a whole are well known for their terrible endings. 4. Finally the product placement was just bloody ridiculous. It became so embarrassingly distracting I wasn't sure I would be able to continue. I understand the reason behind it. But in my experience the more product placement you need the worse the drama is. This felt like a drama that didn't have faith in itself. That is not to say that there were not some good points, there were just not enough gems to make this a great series.