Kingdom - Korean Zombies and Politics during Pandemic

Crash Landed on KDramas

The arrival of global hits such as the Netflix Drama Kingdom & Train to Busan led to the popularity of Zombie based shows amongst viewers especially those who had not watched any zombie shows.

The Kingdom drama is a brilliant plot set in the Joseon era where a kingdom is plagued by the zombie pandemic. The Crown Prince has to not only battle the zombies to safeguard his subjects; but also battle political conspirators who want to eliminate him as the rightful heir to the throne. The taut storyline, unexpected plot twists in every episode and a powerful cast keeps the viewer on the edge of the seat throughout, causing the dilemma of whether to classify the show as a zombie horror or political thriller.

We are joined by 2 special guests:

1. Tina tweets @acapitalchick - is a “recovering” trial lawyer and a general fangirl geek. She recently finished hosting the “Word of the Witnesses” podcast about the time travel drama 12 Monkeys on Syfy/Hulu
2. Benny : A repeat guest on our podcast. You can listen to him on our S1 - Episode 7. He tweets on all things cricket and kdramas @realbennyman and also hosts the cricket podcast: The Last Wicket

In today’s episode with our guests we try to explore the factors that led to the success of Kingdom:

• Parallels with Real (current pandemic, society hierarchy) and Reel (Walking Dead, Chernobyl, Game of Thrones)
• Political Thriller or Zombie Horror?
• Favourite characters and anti-heroes/antagonists
• Focus on storytelling, writing and character arcs
• Cinematography

Key spoilers - Timestamps:

• 23:30 - 24:00 : Ashin of the North
• 24:00 - 28:08 : Queen Consort
• 43:40 - 45:00 : The Crown Prince and his Father
• 47:44 - 50:15 : Plot twists - Queen Consort & Season 1 climax
• 57:15 - 1:01:45: Season 2 climax

Reference Readings:

• Matt Zoller’s Review - Nightmare of Now
• The team behind special effects of Kingdom
• Book Reference - Jaya - Devdutt Patnaik (Book mentioned by Minal at 24:50)

Music Credits: Music from Uppbeat: https://uppbeat.io/t/mood-maze/trendsetter. License code: LU8KUCTYYYAA2KKL

Cover Art: Purva Bakalkar

Contact Us:

• Email: crashlandedonkdramas[@]gmail[.]com
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