Although the zombie genre is currently oversaturated in media with movies, shows, and games like The Walking Dead, Zombieland, and Resident Evil, “Kingdom” manages to be unique on its own and create new ideas for fans of the zombie horror genre like learning how the virus outbreak started or how people can deal with a zombie outbreak without guns or the internet.
“Kingdom,” directed by Kim Seong-Hun and available to stream on Netflix, is a Korean drama series that’s set during the Joseon era (1392-1897), which becomes an important part of the story.
The drama first premiered in January 2019 and released its second season on March 13.
The show follows Prince Lee Chang on a quest to figure out how a zombie outbreak started and why people within his government are keeping it a secret.
The acting is amazing. For example, Ju Ji-Hoon puts on a captivating performance as Prince Chang, ranging from weary, confused and scared to hopeful.
Ju Ji-Hoon’s facial expressions tell this character-driven story whenever he’s on screen.
The show’s historical setting is unique because viewers get to see how adaptable these characters are in responding to the zombie apocalypse with no internet, guns or any current technology.
The first season's strength was the mystery of how the outbreak began.
Showing the viewers that the king has been infected within the first five minutes of the show creates tension and prompts them to question why government officials are going so far to cover up the fact that their own king is a zombie.
This season set’s up season two, putting the viewers into the world of “Kingdom.” As each episode finished, the audience learned little by little the answers to questions that they had been wondering about since the first episode.
With season two out, the story goes straight into tying up loose ends by revealing why officials kept the king being a zombie a secret and then cutting to our characters dealing with the looming threat of zombies while making their way toward the king's palace.
Comparing both seasons, season two does a better job of highlighting the action and realistic politics of how officials would react to the zombie outbreak, showing them discussing which cities and people to protect and how to distribute food or weapons.
One of season two’s strengths is its cinematography, capturing beautiful landmarks like Buyongdae Cliff which is about 64 meters tall resting at Taebaeksan Mountain Range. As characters in the show are traveling through these mountains, observing waterfalls and large riverbanks, the audience gets to feel like they’re a part of the world of the show.
Many of the characters in season two have their own arcs.
The audience constantly sees new dimensions of these characters, peeling back layer and layer of what drives each character to go forth with their agenda.
One of the side characters, Young-Shin, played by Kim Sung-Kyu, proves his expertise in facing zombies and marksmanship right away, leaving the viewers to wonder why or how it is that this character knows what to do in this kind of situation.
Both seasons deserve a watch right now, because the world is dealing with COVID-19 and the way these characters react to a pandemic is reminiscent of how our world is dealing with quarantine.
Overall, the story of “Kingdom’s” second season has more action and horror than the first and it’s easy to binge because each season has only six episodes.
