Time Stops
Following last week’s dramatic episode, The King: Eternal Monarch cranks up the tension again as we see more of Lee Gon’s journey toward understanding the time jumps and what that means for the fate of both Corea and Korea. With a lot more action this time around and a tight focus on progressing our main plot, we’re certainly gearing up toward the final act now and this is shaping up to be one of the better Korean dramas this year. We begin episode 11 of The King: Eternal Monarch in Corea with the police chasing after Luna. After a truck hits her car, Luna is also struck as she’s brought before Lee Lim with an intriguing offer. She refuses to work with him though until he shows her Tae-Eul’s ID card and pictures of her doppelganger happy with her parents. He promises to give her a new life and tells her fortune has come knocking at her door, which is persuasion enough to have her jump onboard. At the same time, Prince Buyeong’s funeral goes ahead and Lee Gon pays his respects along with everyone else. In the aftermath of this, Koo receives another package and this time she gets a series of photographs featuring Lee Lim in every shot, confirming that he’s actually alive. Lee Gon and Ok-Nam continue to struggle with the ramifications of Prince Buyeong’s death. As we cut across to Tae-Eul, we see her reminiscing about Lee Gon’s kiss and telling her he loves her very much. In the aftermath of this, Tae-Eul decides to team up with Shin-Jae and look further into the murder case she’s been dealing with. As they begin to piece together the clues, Shin-Jae asks who Lee Lim is.
Lee-Gon meanwhile speaks to Seung-Heon at the palace and tells him he’s not to step foot inside again. The next in line to the throne will be Se-Ji and after dropping this bombshell, he speaks to the coroner and finds the ring on Prince Buyeong’s finger, which is obviously a taunt given it’s the same ring that was back in the throne room during the first episode. As he throws the ring in the air, time stops again and he realizes Lee Lim has switched worlds. When time unfreezes, Lee Gon finds out from Secretary Mo that Koo has pulled the trigger and released incriminating details to the press. For now, he decides to sit and wait to see exactly where Koo is going with this. Instead, he ponders the security logs and deliberates on the Eosu Bookstore and just what Prince Buyeong was doing there. In order to try and get answers, he interrogates the two men he has captured but gets nowhere. As vengeance starts to consume him, he announces publicly that he’s going to behead Gi-Hwan to show he means business. Back in Korea, Shin-Jae fights a strange man in the alleyway and as they duel it out, manages to note down the registration plate just before they get away. At the same time, Tae-Eul finds Koo’s doppelganger and finds out her name is actually Koo Eun-A. Unbeknownst to her, Luna happens to be watching from afar and this may explain the time jump earlier in the episode. As we soon see, she’s prepared for this and changes her hair and clothes to switch places with Tae-Eul. Tae-Eul collapses in the dojo and when she awakens, finds herself tied up in Corea in a strange warehouse. Koo arrives in Korea and heads into the familiar cafe only to be stopped by Jo-Young who notices her. As the two lock eyes, Lee Gon starts to decipher the time jumps in his Corean palace and pieces the seconds together to realize that the time freezing is multiplying by prime numbers. Given the frequency of the time stops, there will come a moment where time stops completely across both worlds. Lee-Gon finds who the owner of the Bookstore is and heads there with his men, ready to raid the place. Unfortunately he kills the owner in his wrath and as he looks at the body of the man on the floor, he realizes the doppelgangers are switching places and immediately asks for help.
The boy holding the Yoyo helps Tae-Eul and tells her he’s trying to restore balance. He unties her from her binds and as he does, Tae-Eul fights her way through and manages to escape. Only, when Lee Lim finds out hat’s happened, he slices the informant across the face and demands she be brought before him dead or alive. While fighting off the guards, Tae-Eul leaves a message for the King asking for his help given people are after her. Just after leaving the message, a truck ploughs through the phone booth, leaving her to scramble out the way. Unfortunately Lee Lim’s men close in around her and all hope looks lost. Thankfully, police rush to the scene first, along with Lee Gon on Maximus. A big skirmish ensues, as Lee Gon fights his way through Lee Lim’s men to get to Tae-Eul. As the episode closes out, Lee Gon throws his arms around Tae-Eul and leaves us at TheReviewGeek agonizingly groaning at that cliffhanger finish after such an exciting 70 minutes of drama! With lots to digest this time around, it does seem like a lot of the theories from before are starting to come to fruition now. Lee Gon from the end of the previous episode is different to the one we saw this episode and on top of that, we’re seeing a lot more jumps between worlds for characters making things a little more difficult to follow but also clearer that we’re gearing up for a big fight ahead, especially after that crazy 5 minute fight in the city. That’s before even mentioning Lee Gon shouting “For the future Queen of Corea!” moments before riding into battle. The one element that holds this back from being a better series though is the editing. Rather than changing the hue of the scene slightly between Corea and Korea, we’re left with different looking characters which is fine…until they jump to alternate worlds and make things a lot more complicated. It’s not a deal breaker but it is something that makes this a lot more difficult to follow than it perhaps should be. Still, the second half to this drama has seriously stepped up its game – roll on tomorrow! Published: 22 May 2020 at 22:40 pm on TheReviewGeek.com
