King the Land is a romantic comedy about the chaebol heir of King Hotel (Junho) who hates fake smiles and an employee of King Hotel (Yoona ) who always has to smile because of her job.
Junho plays Gu Won who is the son of the owner of a prestigious hotel. He isn’t thrilled to be part of the happenings at the hotel, and he can’t stand fake smiles which is something he is surrounded by every day.
Yoona is Cheon Sa Rang. She is excited to get a job at the wealthy King Hotel where she excels with a hard work ethic and a kind, cheery demeanor. She always has a smile on her face…much to the dismay of Gu Won.
King the Land is like a romp through cotton candy land in the drama world. This is a feel good romance at its best. It’s also pretty much the definition of a kdrama rom-com. Fairly standard but light and comforting with a bit of a fairy tale feel. If you like your romances sweet with a dash of maturity, than this one is for you!
The relationship between Won and Sa Rang is very fun. Of course, they start out in classic bickering fashion, but it doesn’t go on for too long and felt mostly fun. Then they fall for each other and the romance begins.
This is a fun couple in many ways. They come from very different worlds with different personalities, but they get along so well. It’s evident how much they genuinely like each other.
And this is where all of the sweetness comes in. We get to see so many cute scenes between this pair including some very nice kisses. They have a lovely chemistry. They are also incredibly supportive of each other which was nice to see.
I consider this drama to be conflict-light. Of course, there are some family power dynamics running throughout the show as Won is pitted against his sister, Hwa Ran (Kim Sun Young), at the hotel.
These issues spill down to the employees and effect Sa Rang’s work life as well as her personal life. I think there was just enough of this in the show to add some needed conflict and pad up the main story.
Mostly, the main story is about Won and Sa Rang’s journeys…personal, career, and romantic. Luckily, the show did very well at maintaining a good pace with great relationship developments between the couple. The writing was good too so the conversations between them were always fun.
We also have a great cast as a whole. I thoroughly enjoyed the bromance between Won and his right-hand man Sang Sik (Ahn Se Ha). Their relationship is an odd but fun one. Then there’s the lovely girlmance between Sa Rang and her best friends, Da Eul (Kim Ga Eun) and Pyung Hwa (Go Won Hee). These girls were there for each other through thick and thin. All of their stories rounded out the drama very nicely.
I also have to draw attention to my favorite kdrama grandma, Sun Hui (Kim Young Ok), who gave a lovely performance as Sa Rang’s grandmother. She could be stern in a cute sort of way and was so endearing by how much she cared. Great performance!
Now, here’s something to be aware of. This drama is pretty basic and employs many classic tropes that we are used to seeing in rom-coms. Here’s the deal though. Most of these tropes are executed a bit differently. Whether it’s rich guy/poor girl issues, boss/employee issues, family power plays, family discovering secrets, these types of tropes are all here on display.
But the drama kind of likes to troll us in this department. It frequently shows the trope and makes it look like things will happen in typical rom-com fashion, but then it flips things around. Either it’s a small misunderstanding, more minor than was let on, or even the bigger issues get resolved fairly quickly and easily.
So your personal preferences may come into play here. If you like more drawn out angst with big misunderstandings, a lack of communication, and dramatics, you might be let down. If you like these sorts of issues resolved quickly with good communication and maturity, which can lessen the overall conflict, than you’ll really like this.
And for those of you who like dramas with great endings that are all tied up in a pretty bow, than this is the drama you need.
So overall, I really enjoyed King the Land. It doesn’t do anything new, and it is pretty standard in many ways, but it does what a rom-com needs to do by delivering a heart-fluttering romance that oozes with sweetness, just enough story to keep a good pace, and a great cast to deliver the fun.
My Rating: 8/10
Check out more Korean Drama Reviews.
Leave a Reply