Post by ajk on Feb 8, 2020 3:11:00 GMT -5
For anybody who hasn’t seen the first season of this series and knows nothing about it, I put together this introduction. I haven’t seen any of it either, so this is very basic stuff and avoids spoilers.
Kingdom is a fictional series. It’s set in Korea in the early 1800s. We haven't done many historicals here in the forum that are set in this time period; I think Yi San is the only one. We’ve done two Imjin War historicals here (Immortal Yi Soon-shin and Jingbirok) but this a couple of centuries after that.
The inspiration for the series is a passage in the Annals of the Joseon Dynasty, the massive historical record that covers more than 450 years of the dynasty’s history. The passage comes from the record of King Sunjo’s reign. The passage itself is very brief:
The twist that makes this series so fictional is that it depicts victims as not only dying, but turning into zombies. Yes you read that right—zombies. This isn’t a surprise reveal during the series; very much the contrary, it’s the big hook that was used to promote the series initially. The Hollywood Reporter, for instance, said that it “puts a zombie spin on the historical epic.”
Visitors to this forum come to realize pretty quickly that it’s a place that celebrates accurate historical dramas and tends to have little patience with the more fusion-y or outlandish stuff. But Kingdom has been so highly regarded by so many people, including members here, that we’re going to jump in and do a board for it. So be skeptical if you will (certainly I am), but we’ll give it a try.
If anybody else wants to add anything helpful, please do. Just don’t reveal any spoilers.
Kingdom is a fictional series. It’s set in Korea in the early 1800s. We haven't done many historicals here in the forum that are set in this time period; I think Yi San is the only one. We’ve done two Imjin War historicals here (Immortal Yi Soon-shin and Jingbirok) but this a couple of centuries after that.
The inspiration for the series is a passage in the Annals of the Joseon Dynasty, the massive historical record that covers more than 450 years of the dynasty’s history. The passage comes from the record of King Sunjo’s reign. The passage itself is very brief:
In the fall, a mysterious disease began to spread from the West, and in 10 days, tens of thousands of people died in Hanyang.(I don’t think a specific year has been given for the passage, but someone please correct me if I’m wrong.) It’s surprising that there wasn’t more detail given on just what happened, considering how devastating the outbreak was. But this only provides more latitude for the series storyline.
The twist that makes this series so fictional is that it depicts victims as not only dying, but turning into zombies. Yes you read that right—zombies. This isn’t a surprise reveal during the series; very much the contrary, it’s the big hook that was used to promote the series initially. The Hollywood Reporter, for instance, said that it “puts a zombie spin on the historical epic.”
Visitors to this forum come to realize pretty quickly that it’s a place that celebrates accurate historical dramas and tends to have little patience with the more fusion-y or outlandish stuff. But Kingdom has been so highly regarded by so many people, including members here, that we’re going to jump in and do a board for it. So be skeptical if you will (certainly I am), but we’ll give it a try.
If anybody else wants to add anything helpful, please do. Just don’t reveal any spoilers.