CAST: Lim Yoon Ah, Lee Jun-ho, Go Won- Hee, Kim Ga-Eun, Kim Sun-Young, An Se-Ha
DIRECTOR: Im Hyun-Wook
“King The Land” has been the talk of the town since JTBC unveiled its casting, featuring 2nd-generation K-pop icons YoonA from Girls’ Generation and Lee Jun-ho from 2PM. Both stars have been making waves in the acting realm with their compelling performances in K-dramas.
Their chemistry first came into the spotlight when they co-hosted the MBC Gayo Daejejeon, one of the highly-anticipated year-end music festivals of 2022. This appearance fuelled significant curiosity and anticipation for “King The Land”.
The show kicks off as a quintessential rom-com, utilizing the time-honored enemies-to-lovers narrative with an employer and employee locking horns as their ambitions are at cross-purposes. Gu Won, the charismatic and shrewd heir to the King Group – a conglomerate that owns a string of opulent hotels, is depicted as someone with an aversion to insincerity and artifice.
Enter Cheon Sa-rang, a hotelier whose very name translates to love. She is the epitome of affability, sporting an incessant smile and striving to give her utmost, especially upon learning that she will be working in close quarters with Gu Won at her hotel. This dynamic sets the stage for tension as Sa-rang struggles to decipher how to appease her enigmatic boss, while Gu Won is left baffled by the way she inexplicably gets under his skin.
The hour-long first episode grabs the audience’s attention at the very beginning. Starting in 2015, when Sa-rang is just starting her career at King Hotel. She and Won have a blink-and-miss. Outsted by his jealous and ambitious half-sister Gu Hwa-Ran, Won leaves for the UK where he completes his studies. Sa-rang focuses on her career and now is a part of the front office team at the hotel.
She is also dating a guy. Her friends of many years, Kang Da-Eul and Oh Pyeong-Hwa; with whom she shares a home have also progressed in their lives and Kang Da-Eul is married and has a cute daughter.
Instead of hanging out at clubs, the girls now hang out at play areas – but that does not stop them from having a party.
Won receives a hand-delivered letter in England and decides to come back to Korea with his friend from his internship days at King Hotel No Sang-Sik.
Won’s sister Gu Hwa-Ran’s insecurity plays up when Won tells his father that he will be joining the hotel for work. We also know now that Won does not know the whereabouts of his mother. Won deliberately instigates Hwa-Ran in a run for succession.
Sa-rang is not well at the hotel but instead of sending her to the bathroom, her manager asks her to pick up a phone that Won forgot in his room to deliver it to him. As Sa-rang goes to the room, she is unable to stop herself from using the ladies, only to have Won walk into the room himself.
The first episode is definitely setting the stage for things to come. We cannot wait for the chemistry between these two to develop further
With two episodes airing every week, this 16 episode show streams on Netflix
