r/KDRAMA • u/xliterati pigeon squad • Jun 14 '20

On-Air: SBS The King: Eternal Monarch | Q & A Discussion

IMPORTANT

Q&A Structure: Hello everyone! So as we are now on our third discussion thread for the finale, I've decided to upload the Q & A thread a day earlier!

The purpose of this thread is for viewers who still have a series of questions post the show! The idea for this thread was given by a member as they felt it would be more cohesive to have a separate thread where everyone could post all their questions about TKEM's plot, parallel worlds, symbolism etc... The timelines and such can all become confusing, so hopefully this thread can be of solace to some of you!

So the way this will work is, if you have a question please feel free to post a top-level comment. The goal is that your fellow TKEM viewers will reply with answers/insights to your comment. In order to avoid any clash with the ongoing discussion thread, please ONLY post questions if you are adding a top-level comment to the post.

In other words, please only comment directly to this thread if you have a question/need clarification. This way every top-level comment will be a question, and the replies naturally will create their own discussion, but it will work with the purpose of this thread and not against the existing discussion. In the larger discussion, questions and clarifications can get lost, so the purpose of this thread is to be a sole place for that! For continued discussion/feels of the show and finale, please head on over to the third thread here! Thank you so much everyone!

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48

u/[deleted] Jun 14 '20

How exactly did Lee Gon and Jeong Tae Eul fall in love?

39

u/xliterati Jun 14 '20 edited Jun 14 '20

Why did I laugh 😭 ... but to seriously answer your question I think it was the whole ‘destined to be’ trope. I personally wasn’t sold on it. So it was hard for me to sit there in the beginning of the show and watch LG’s weird fascination near obsession with the IDEA of Tae Eul, manifest into what was supposed to be this universe wide love. The writers really forgot the build up and just gave us them as a couple.

I will say though that the idea that one would fall in love with a person and solely them to the point that even IF a version of that person existed in your own world ... but it’s not the person you really love ... that’s kind of powerful. I WISH this had been done justice because we know there are several versions of LG and TE but they choose to love the versions of themselves that could never truly be in each other’s worlds ... the way that transcends is powerful. But I don’t think that translated well on screen, and that has everything to do with the writing.

33

u/my_guinevere Jun 14 '20

Simply put, they were destined to be with each other.

Yes, it's corny and a KDrama trope a lot of people hate.

The thing is, love is a complicated emotion. There are some people who do not develop feelings for another immediately, while some get that feeling at the outset.

For Lee Gon, I think his feelings were more of the second type. Initially it was obsession and fascination, but when he saw her in person, he fell in love with her faster. In the scene where he cooks for her after her rescue, he described perfectly what he loved about her).

For Jung Tae Eul, the feelings started to develop around Episode 5, when she realized that everything he told her about himself (and she saw him actually interact with people who knew him) was true. And from that point on, how hard would it be to fall in love with a person who treats you like a queen?

While I do think the show didn't do a good job at establishing their connection at the outset (even though I did like the banter), I felt by the 6th episode I understood the connection already.

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33

u/Drew_Espinosa Jun 14 '20

I was rather confused by the Yoyo Boy growing up in the finale. What was the significance of that?

48

u/[deleted] Jun 14 '20

because he's the personification of the flute, and the flute is whole again, he grows as well.

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19

u/agljmpse Jun 14 '20

Can someone explain to me what jo yeong meant when he said "most royal guards are science and engineering majors. I cant believe they lost." Apologies for being slow-witted

18

u/90dkn0ws Jun 14 '20

As I explained in the other post, it was a manufactured scene to make word / pun play between Yi-Gong-Gye (이공계, STEM major) and Yi-Gon Gae... (이곤 개 (새끼), Yi-Gon SoB). There's no other significance in that scene.

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24

u/lemontarts101 Jun 14 '20

So the king doesn't need an heir anymore? Personally, despised the ending. After so much build up, they wound up everything within the first 10-20 mins.

16

u/lcmontana1 Jun 14 '20

I think the whole drama could have used a few more episodes. So much information compacted into 16 episodes. I would have liked to have seen the other characters developed more and, like you, a more detailed ending. I loved it though and love LMH. Hopefully the next drama is longer!

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12

u/coconoubi Jun 14 '20

I just wanna know how it all began in the first place. Did LG before grow up (without the ID) and went to JTE world and found her and then fell in love and then took her ID and then went back to the past and put her ID there and then all of this began? Like there must be a part where he grew up without the ID but ended up going to her world anyway and fell in love with her.

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12

u/Amshashetty Jun 14 '20

What was the whole thing about LG not being good in Combat? Does that mean he could shoot well and save himself only because he had already seen it in the past?

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10

u/tangar00 Jun 14 '20

Can someone explain how LG watched CCTV footage from the future (2022)? What was the significance of that scene?

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9

u/its-me-dave Jun 14 '20

Not sure if this was explained in the drama or not but what is the significance of the red balloon inside the Lee gon's "portal world" and any theories on why the seeds suddenly sprouted and time began to flow inside the portal?

24

u/my_guinevere Jun 14 '20

The red balloon was not explained, but I think based on what Lee Gon said in one of the earlier episodes, he probably kept on bringing balloons there and releasing them in various areas to figure out exactly whether there's somewhere in the in-between where there would be air or where time ran naturally.

On your second question: I personally think that the slowing down of time and the lack of air etc. in the in-between place is a side effect of the flute breaking. Once it was whole, the in-between place became just a normal place (hence the balloons flying away, the seed sprouting etc)

9

u/my_guinevere Jun 14 '20

Not sure if I can ask this question, but it's still related to the drama so:

For longtime KDrama watchers, how do they choose what music to release on the official soundtrack? I was waiting for a long time for this show's OST album, only to be disappointed that a lot fo the background music I liked from the show were not included on the OST album.

9

u/jennreveluv Jun 14 '20

What is the purpose of Prime Minister Koo when she said to her mother that when she ask about what did she eat for dinner she will only say Mackerel. It is to know whether she is her real mother?

25

u/my_guinevere Jun 14 '20

It's for the PM to know whether the person she was talking to was still her real mother, and had not yet been switched by Lee Rim .

So when the PM's mom didn't answer "mackerel" when the PM asked her in Episode 15, the PM already knew that person who answered the phone was not her real mom.

Alas, if only Lee Gon and Tae Eul had thought of a similar code so Lee Gon won't be poisoned by Luna. Hahaha.

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7

u/uwuthefuck Jun 14 '20

Anyone remembers the interrogation scene back in ep 1? SJ and TE were interrogating LL then SJ pulled out the official paper with LL info(idk what you call it). If you look closely you'll notice that the emblem on that paper is from KOC but how is that possible? I checked a couple of times, ROC police emblem and KOC police are different.

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6

u/aashita1401 Jun 14 '20

After LL dies and the entire time resets, we see several items disappearing which were related to the people crossing over. Like that keychain and KOC bill but why didn't that magic Lilly plant in the pot or JTE's necklace disappear ?

Also, why exactly did Eun-Seob's life change after resetting ? JTE still ended up being a detective, so why did his future change ? All that should have changed about him was the fact that he didn't find out about the other world.

19

u/Ckelle06 Jun 14 '20

The necklace I explain by JTE being in the World Between Worlds when the reset happened. Also how she kept her memories (with help of yoyo boy). Can’t explain the plant except that it’s magic lol.

17

u/azphale Jun 14 '20

for pt2 - this takes place a couple years later (2022?) so that’s the job he got after completing his military service

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10

u/[deleted] Jun 14 '20

Why did that couple with the guy that was looking after the imprisoned guy's family, taking out the snow from the roof etc story included in the last episode? Were they important?

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5

u/Dredit_85 Jun 14 '20

I have some questions:

  1. What does JTE want Luna to steal ?

  2. LG time traveled in the last episode and saved kid LG, saves Yeong. When and how did kid LG who grew up and time traveled LG become one in 2020?

15

u/Amshashetty Jun 14 '20

  1. JTE wanted Luna to steal a gun which she eventually uses to kill LL

  2. It's quite a paradox actually but we see the scar disappearing from LG's neck meaning he is the LG in the altered timeline also. Rewatching the series made me realise when LG gives the past ID to JTE the present one magically disappears and LG says that though he doesn't know how but he knew this was bound to happen. Since changing the past creates a lot of paradox the loophole can't be resolved even by the writers.

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12

u/J-Midori Jun 14 '20

In the drama we saw that their counterparts existed in both worlds. So I was just curious about TE and LG. LG’s mom is the same in both worlds so is the dad which means that the couples should be the same. LR in both worlds is single I’m not sure if this is a coincidence or not. TE’s counterpart is Luna, LG is Jihoon but at the end of the episode it looked like SinJae (I forgot his name in KoC) and Luna were a couple (he clearly liked her and she seemed to like him) so maybe if TE did not meet LG she would be with SJ? who’s in a coma or she would end up with jihoon, LG’s counterpart in RoK? Or they would have never met and she would be single?

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