Post by ajk on May 28, 2021 0:27:58 GMT -5
So right from the beginning the whole thing screams Kingdom ripoff. Both in subject matter and in style. Substitute zombies for vampires and you have a not-as-good version of Kingdom. The production quality was good as far as lots of expansive, sweeping visuals and location shots and dramatic music. Some of the same jumping-back-and-forth in the story that Kingdom did (and made it unnecessarily difficult to follow the story—like the writers were trying too hard to be evasive to try to suggest complex, sophisticated writing, which it isn’t). Some well-done scary-looking monster-people with the same sort of collective jerky movements, good work there. But also the same kinds of scenes that were too gross and disgusting for too long, just for the sake of being gross and disgusting.
The biggest difference is that unlike Kingdom, which created a fictional royal family and set itself in a time period that was sort of a mixture of things from various periods, this series uses real royals. And big names: Taejong, at least three of his sons, and then even a sort-of appearance by his father. This is part of what got them in trouble (I’ll deal with the trouble separately) and it makes the Kingdom writers look smart for not attaching their story to any specific person or date.
Beyond that there really isn’t that much to say if you’ve already seen Kingdom. One difference is that the trouble in this one is caused by an evil spirit and not a plant—a demon called Azazel who somehow came from the west and has arrived in Joseon. (Azazel is actually a thing, an evil spirit that apparently comes from early Jewish beliefs.)
I don’t think the writing in this episode is as good as in Kingdom. Kingdom’s wasn’t great either but it felt like the story wasn’t as interesting or engaging in this episode compared to the beginning of Kingdom. There also were some scenes involving Prince Choongyeong that tried to be comic relief and they just weren’t funny. And the other thing I didn’t like was using the terrified-child gimmick to try to make things scarier. Have complained about this before, and in this one not only do they have a terrified child but he’s a significant character. Blecch.
The episode apparently got good ratings and at first a good reception...but it was like with Kingdom, probably people just mostly want to see the monsters and the gross stuff.
The biggest difference is that unlike Kingdom, which created a fictional royal family and set itself in a time period that was sort of a mixture of things from various periods, this series uses real royals. And big names: Taejong, at least three of his sons, and then even a sort-of appearance by his father. This is part of what got them in trouble (I’ll deal with the trouble separately) and it makes the Kingdom writers look smart for not attaching their story to any specific person or date.
Beyond that there really isn’t that much to say if you’ve already seen Kingdom. One difference is that the trouble in this one is caused by an evil spirit and not a plant—a demon called Azazel who somehow came from the west and has arrived in Joseon. (Azazel is actually a thing, an evil spirit that apparently comes from early Jewish beliefs.)
I don’t think the writing in this episode is as good as in Kingdom. Kingdom’s wasn’t great either but it felt like the story wasn’t as interesting or engaging in this episode compared to the beginning of Kingdom. There also were some scenes involving Prince Choongyeong that tried to be comic relief and they just weren’t funny. And the other thing I didn’t like was using the terrified-child gimmick to try to make things scarier. Have complained about this before, and in this one not only do they have a terrified child but he’s a significant character. Blecch.
The episode apparently got good ratings and at first a good reception...but it was like with Kingdom, probably people just mostly want to see the monsters and the gross stuff.