‘King The Land’ K-Drama review: Chemistry and charm aplenty from Lim Yoon-a and Lee Jun-Ho, but little else 

While the romance is quick to take off, there’s little time spent fleshing out the show’s many sub-plots

A cursory glance at all the hit K-dramas this year reveal a mix of genres. There have been thrillers, Sageuks (historical dramas), and even the return of the smash-hit medical drama series Dr Romantic for a third season.

Following a long wait for an out-and-out romantic comedy in K-Dramaland, the release of King The Land was met with much initial cheer. The show created considerable buzz from its casting stage owing to its leads, whom fans had been expectantly waiting to see in a show together- K-Pop idols and actors Lee Jun-ho and Lim Yoon-a.

True to expectations, Jun-ho and Yoon-a are extremely charming and have great screen presence that’s bolstered by their terrific chemistry. For a show that is banking on its leads to do all the heavy lifting, the pair comes out on top with flying colours. There’s however little else King The Land has to offer, and the writing feels like a letdown after the initial build-up.

We’re introduced to sincere and conscientious Cheon Sa-Rang (Yoona) who harbours big dreams of working at the glitzy King Hotel. She soon lands a job there, and along comes King group’s tsundere heir Gu Won (Junho), who parachutes into work on his first day. Their run-ins are far from romantic at the start- Sa-Rang mistakes Gu-Won for a creep, and Gu-Won can’t stand Sa-Rang’s cheery smile - something she has been trained to excel at.

King the Land is determined to pack in as many tropes as possible from the get-go, making it super convenient for sparks to fly real fast between our leads. Within the first few episodes, Sa-rang and Gu-Won are stranded at a seaside village, there’s an elaborate rescue Gu-Won pulls off using the King Group’s Chopper in a dense forest where Sa-rang is, and plenty of well-meaning elderly people milling around who are only too happy to help. Much like its predecessor, last year’s hit K-Drama Business Proposal, King The Land doesn’t avoid or even attempt to circumvent tropes; the show dives headfirst into ALL of it.

This isn’t necessarily a bad thing and as we’ve seen in the past, tropey and feel-good shows do well when they hit the mark. However, King The Land feels like a wasted opportunity in some parts, given how the writing doesn’t fully explore the potential that its premise has. While the romance is quick to take off, there’s little time spent fleshing out the show’s many subplots.

One of the central conflicts in King The Land is the frigid relationship Gu-Won has with his older step-sister Gu Hwa-ran (Kim Seon-young), as she’s determined to establish control over King Group and all of its subsidiaries. Gu-Won is also shown to be searching for his mother, who disappeared when he was a child. While all of this is a lot to unpack, the writing doesn’t attempt to dwell much on the inheritance war until the final few episodes where things are hurriedly wrapped up with unsatisfying redemption arcs.