Kingdom

If you remotely like East Asian productions in general and Korean ones in particular and are a fan of the horror and zombie genre as well, this one is for you and not to miss. Add to that a historical setting with many subplots and subtext, and you get an idea of what kind of complete package this series is. The only bad thing I could say about it is, that it ended after just six episodes and only half the answers were given with me wanting to get more of that show. Strongly recommended.

As my title suggested I am amazed at the successful combination of different genres so to speak. It was a really fresh idea to place zombies during the Korean middle ages(Joseon era) a direct contrast to most zombie films we see today, located at the modern urban landscape. The decision to do that breaths new life to the so far tired zombie genre.

Moreover, what I found incredibly interesting is the "subtle" commentary on the extremely hierarchical korean society, which is the actual disease that has consumed the nation. Look no further than where the disease started (the king is patient 0) and the way that the society tries to deal with their dead; seperating the bodies of the rich from those of the poor, giving proper burial to the rich whereas burning the poor. Instead of dealing with the actual situation they choose to focus on formalities even when those can endanger the living. Not only that but the Confucian principles of not harming the body(burning,cutting etc) are only to be applied to the rich. The society is so much plagued with an archaic system of principles and conduct that they fail to see it for what it actually is, the disease itself, in that sense not only the zombies are infected but everyone.

Btw no guns and slow zombies in this one like the Walking Dead. Here zombies RUN, no time to waste and the living ones have to use whatever tools they find, mainly tools used in agriculture and farming!

In terms of visual aestetics the series looks stunning! Amazing cinematography, directing, costumes, locations, action scenes, it is truly impecable.

What I would like to see is stronger female characters as the series is very male dominated.

Good job to everyone involved and can't wait for the second season!!

SHOW IS CANCELLED, THERE WON'T BE A SEASON 3

So here's the deal, I just read this and I wanted to share with people since I enjoyed this show: Netflix owns the IP for Kingdom, and in SK they tend to sell different productions around IPs they own like web novel adaptation, musicals, theatre, you name it they do it, only so they can actually make money out of the IP. Netflix - and this came straight from the creators - denied their request to have the IP expand within SK market, maybe even international market considering how successful and popular this series was, so they weren't making money out of Kingdom, so why would the creators keep focusing on an IP that isn't worth the hassle since Netflix can flat out stop them from making money?

That is how the series was "cancelled" without being cancelled, Netflix has 0 interest in cancelling the show because it is popular and they make money from it, but the creators don't have interest because they can't expand their adaptations and actually make money out of it, so Netflix washes their hands, you won't see any news like "Netflix cancels popular series" because by contract they place the whole responsibility on the creators. Such a shame because it was a very unique IP.

It's hardly a secret that the zombie genre is a dried out well proven by western releases fighting to be the most boring and generic junk out there. Then to my pleasant surprise South Korea dishes up a series set in a Korean dynastic kingdom in 1897 where a crown prince tries to save his land from the horror. And it does it well. Good acting, believable costumes, lovely cinematic and the monsters blends into a wonderful time that makes this series worth your time.

It hasn't been a mystery that South-Koreans can make very good movies but now Kingdom shows that they can also make quality shows as well. Kingdom is only two short seasons long (plus an additional long episode that came out in 2021 called Ashin From The North) but it's addictive to watch. The cinematography is just on top, and the acting for Asian standards is certainly not bad. Okay you have the occasional overacting from a couple actors but overal it's all very well done. Like Sang-ho Yeon's Busanhaeng (Train To Busan) the zombies are just something different than the usual thing we're used to. South-Korean zombies don't wander around slowly looking for brains like in American movies. Here they run like they are the next Usain Bolt and that what makes it suspenseful. The make-up is all very convincing, credits to the make-up artists for that. I binge watched the two seasons in a couple days followed by the extra long episode from 2021 which explains a lot in the end. You don't necessarily have to watch the extra episode but it's of the same quality and certainly worth watching. Kindom is another example why I love South-Korean cinema. They are the best from all Asian countries and that by far.