The Void Between Worlds
Last week’s episode looked like it was starting to turn up the heat and boy does The King: Eternal Monarch bring it. With more depth to Lee Lim’s plan and both worlds starting to bleed together faster now, this wildly popular sci-fi series is just starting to settle into its role now with a lot of promise going forward. There’s still humour here though in the form of Jo-Young and Eun-Sup’s switch between worlds and the cliffhanger ending will almost certainly have you scrambling to watch the next episode as soon as it’s released. Episode 9 of The King: Eternal Monarch begins with Tae-Eul and Lee-Gon discussing the details about Young and Eun-Sup from the last episode before turning the attention on how Lee Gon and Lee Lim jump between worlds. Soon after they head back to Seoul and Lee Gon sits and eats with Eun-Sup, calling him his Unbreakable Sword and pitching the idea of him switching roles with Jo-Young. In Korea, Shin-Jae remembers the moments he was left as a child by his Mother. She told him to wait by a TV store and as he looked at a TV, he saw the King wailing. This catches us up with the previous episode where Lee Gon informs Shin-Jae that he’s actually from Corea and he’s his King. Shin-Jae predictably scoff at the suggestion to follow him into Corea and walks away. As we cut back in time once more, we see Lee Lim promise to find his Mother outside the store. In further flashbacks we see Lee-Gon reciting the words inside the throne room as a child and discussing the sword as well as what it means. As they do, we cut back to the present as Lee Gon receives a call from Lee Lim on the phone he snatched from the soldier last episode. Realizing that Lee Lim is actually in Korea, they both hang up the phone at the same time as the chase appears to be on. In Corea, Koo speaks to her Mother about Lee Lim visiting her last episode. Koo however, tells her to stop spreading rumours and brushes it off as paranoia given the man is actually dead according to official records. Outside the room though, she looks over the newspaper she was sent from before and looks again at the picture of her from the baseball game. In the aftermath of this, she speaks to the Prince who fills her in on the upcoming events, including an interview with the KU Group. Specifically her husband, who happens to be in prison. She visits him and mentions her plan to become Queen by marrying Lee-Gon. She then tasks her ex-husband with finding the traitors from all those years ago and walks away. Meanwhile, Tae-Eul presents the information about Lee Sang-Do to Lee-Gon and asks the King if he’s seen him. It turns out Sang-Do is in Korea, prompting Lee-Gon to decide on returning to his world. Reassuring Tae-Eul he’ll be back soon, he heads off to guard the gateway between worlds. Jo-Young and Eun-Sup prepare for what comes next and with they switch roles, with Eun-Sup reluctant to cut his hair. Not long after, Lee Gon returns to Corea with Lee Lim’s captive soldier from the previous episode, demanding he be locked up. As he’s taken away, Eun-Sup starts to settle into his role. Lee-Gon places his stable hand under house arrest too and proceeds to try and hack into Jo-Young’s laptop to check the security levels. However, Koo arrives and discusses the year-end report, putting an end to his laptop hacking. As they sit and discuss the report, tensions are high as Koo and Lee-Gon discuss marriage briefly. Afterward, hilarity ensues as Eun-Sup starts playing around with the skin-care mask we’ve seen Koo wearing previously. Incredibly, he then manages to hack into Jo-Young’s laptop on the first try. Within the laptop happens to be a group of surveillance videos saved from different dates. After seeing a whole slew of them depicting Tae-Eul, one of these happens to have a young Shin-Jae with his yo-yo and as he looks up at the camera, Lee-Gon feels the familiar burst of pain in his shoulder. Only, this video is from the bookstore in 2022. Back in Korea, Jo-Young is in a tough state trying to adjust to life outside the palace and the King’s service. Having given 21 days vacation notice to the police station, he drowns his sorrow in alcohol. Lee Lim also learns that Tae-Eul is the one who arrested Yeon-Ji and decides that she needs to be taken care of. He also decides to jump through the portal again but Lee-Gon is wise to what’s going on, realizing that if time stops again, Lee Lim will have jumped through to Corea. Lo and behold, on New Year 2020 Lee Lim jumps through the portal and as snow begins to fall, Lee-Gon arrives in the town square riding Maximus and finds himself face to face with his enemy. As they stare one another down, Lee Gon realizes that his foe has been manipulating time and his goal is to try and gain eternal life, which is where the episode ends. With a big cliffhanger ending, The King: Eternal Monarch leaves things wide open for today’s episode. It seems clear now that Lee Lim has been using the void between worlds to manipulate time but just how he’s been able to go and forth to different time periods remains a mystery, One thing’s for sure though, Lee Lim’s desire for eternal life is going to unravel both worlds and cause chaos to descend across Corea and Korea. The ending certainly leaves things wide open as well and quite what will happen next remains to be seen. Eternal Monarch is shaping up for an exciting run of episodes to follow and with both worlds in serious peril, it’s up to Lee Gon and Tae-Eul to stop Lee Lim before it’s too late.
