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Eternal

The King ~ Eternal Monarch is a Korean television series that mixes up fantasy, alternative history and dimensional time travel with an epic romance between a female cop from our world and the king from a parallel universe. Lee Min-ho and Kim Go-eun are splendid as the protagonists, and have a stellar cast to work with as they try to solve a 25-year-old mystery involving the assassination of the king's father and a failed coup. While jumping back and forth between their universes they also discover an ongoing conspiracy the spells disaster for both worlds. The situation becomes even more complicated when they fall in love.

This series has a lot to offer, especially with the romance, which steadily grows from unlikely to epic. The special effects are very cool, and yet don't overwhelm the story. The antagonist is as smart as he is evil, which made him more appealing to me as a character.

There is a fair amount of blood and violence but nothing gratuitous, and it seemed appropriate to the story. You can also expect plenty of product placement (kind of a given with most high-budget Korean television series these days) but I don't mind that. I know that will seem weird from a Westerner's perspective, but I think of it as incorporated commercials.

I liked the finale of this series, too -- it wasn't the Disney-style happily ever after ending I was expecting, but something much more fun and interesting. Available on Netflix in the US.

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