Drama
Kingdom (South Korean Drama)
Kingdom, Netflix Original
- Genre: Historical Costume Drama, Joseon Period, Thriller, Horror, Zombie
- Date Released: 25 January 2019
- Origin: South Korea, Based on a webcomic series, “The Kingdom of the Gods’ by Kim Eun Hee and Yang Kyung-il
- Netflix Original
- Kdrama: 6 Episodes
- `Links:
Cast:
- Joo Ji Hoon as Crown Prince
- Bae Doo-na as nurse Seo-bi
- Ryu Seung-ryong as Jo Hak Jo
- Kim Sang-ho as Moo Young (Crown Prince’s bodyguard)
- Heo Joon-ho as An Hyun
- Jeon Seok-ho as Beom Pal
- Kim Hye-jun as Queen Cho
Episode 1
The first episode is really exciting. There are some gruesome scenes but hey, it is a horror genre.
The story began with the palace guards going into villages and removing pasted notices informing that the king had died.
The guards told everyone in the village that anyone caught putting up new or more notices of the king’s demise would be meeting a grim end.
Back to the palace, the guards rounded up their scholars and tortured them for making and writing the notices.
It looks like the king is rather unpopular with the masses.
Anyone the head eunuch accompanied a slave to bring the food to the king’s chamber. He advised him not to look into the chamber but gently pushed in the bowl of food.
The slave though got so nervously curious that he started to peer in but quickly grabbed by someone from inside the chamber. This scene was so good. It made us jumped (I was watching it with my husband)
The crown prince heard of the gossip about the king. So he went to see his father but he was stopped by the young pregnant queen, who rules with the king.
She told the Crown Prince that the king is unwell and needed the rest and must not be disturbed. To highlight what she said the guards stood in front of him, preventing him to step forward.
The crown prince turned back but was just too curious so he asked Moo Young to steal the palace journal.
In the journal, it records the timeline of the king’s ailment. He then sneaked into the king’s chamber and saw the figure of something not quite human, which stinks so much reflected by the light from the paper-thin walls of the chamber.
And then the light went off and the door opened and they were the guards, who interrogated him why he was loitering in the chamber.
The head guard was ready to strike him with his sword but the crown prince asked him if he was really prepared to kill a royal.
The guard put down his sword. The crown prince said that he saw a monster in the palace. They laughed at him and told him to seek medical attention for his delusions.
On the other side of the kingdom, people are starving and ailing.
A doctor, who just came back from seeing the king, arrived with a dead body which I think was the man grabbed from behind the screen door when he was pushing the food bowl. The doctor soon after had locked himself in his study, while the nurses looked after the poor starving people.roo
Nurse Seo-bi just returned from getting root crops from the forest. She was surprised to see that everyone in their hospital compound seemed to be enjoying a bowl of meaty soup each.
She asked the cook where the food came from and he said it was from a mountain deer, the cook then walked off into a warehouse, leaving Seo-bi in the kitchen.
A husband of a nursing mother wanted more soup for his wife which Seo-bi quickly granted. She was ladling the soup when she saw a finger.
She got so frightened and went in search of the cook who told her that meat is meat and the people needed sustenance.
They were still arguing about the merits of cannibalism during food shortage when they heard a commotion outside.
The people were collapsing and then getting back up again and starving for blood and flesh. The poor nurse was their first victim.
Meanwhile the crown prince had confessed to his bodyguard that he was trying to overthrow his father. He is aware that his being an heir apparent is for a limited period only. As soon as the queen has a baby boy, it would become the new crown prince. He, on the other hand, will be downgraded as he is illegitimate as his mother is only a concubine.
The crown prince has decided to find the doctor that looked after the king and he was being hotly pursued by the guards.