I barely survived episode 3, but episode 4 was much better. The best part of the two episodes was the scene with the traffic police. That scene was brilliant.
On paper everything works, but something about the execution doesn’t land for me.
Also, the sister is growing tiresome with the same tactics.
I like the underlying messages about the service industry and how hard it’s to bring by chance. Made me think of Women who suffer at the hands of their mother in laws end up being the same way to their daughter in laws when they grow older :)
So I am not sure how the ML is going to bring about a change because I see the resistance not just from management but from employees too.

Not sold on the romance. Not sure why he fell for her. I get their conversations and how he sees things in a new light. But I don’t see it as romance. Atleast it’s realistic that she has a boyfriend and is not some women who was waiting for the ML all her life.
That boyfriend is a piece of work. Hope we don’t see anymore of him.

I will probably continue just to see if it gets fun next two episodes.
The drama is clearly doing very well given the ratings!

They had cute chemistry in episode 3, especially during the drinking scene. I am here for all of Gu Won's broody stares as he pines after Sa-rang.

I have been eagerly waiting for this recap - and you didn’t disappoint! Well done!

I am loving literally everything about this show. It is a true delight - and like you, I didn’t realize just how much I needed it.

👉 “watching Junho falling in love is just gah!”👈

If this doesn’t interest you, I can completely imagine why these episodes fell flat. But on the other hand, like @dramaddictally says, and I completely agree, GAH!

I also think she’s given reason for him to fall for her in the age old, “No one’s ever had the guts to talk to me straight” sort of way…

(And, finally, yeah, I assumed that guy was like the co-pilot or something, certainly not one of the flight attendants—different uniform.)

For me, the best part of this show is that the ML isn’t trying to be a perfect chaebol, he’s just some rich dude trying to get his life together. He isn’t ambitious about the hotel business (yet), and he isn’t the smartest person on the planet. With that, the writers have managed to actually make the leads equals so that the story that brings them together resonates honestly.

Thank Goodness for episodes 3 and 4... much better chemistry as opposed to 1 and 2 - love the interaction between the leads. The ML is not a complete ass and the FL is not afraid to stand up for herself - am excited for what is to come. Need a fluffy rom com... NEED IT

I loved the scene with the. police officer. Our boy isa goner already. I hope we get the romcom we deserve this time.

Ive been struggling to understand why I don’t like this show while I adored Business Proposal. Aside from the fact Kim Se-jeong is adorable and impossible to hate, I think it’s because of the unrelenting humiliation of one party. That’s what I hated about Bora so much I dropped it at episode 4, and I see hints of it here where Junho seems to be constantly looking bad. Everyone walks all over him, from his evil sister to his dad, his assistant, the FL. There is no Kim Se-jeong to distract me from this, I do not like the FL here. (I am sure she is lovely, I just can’t seem to like her. )I see that this show is popular, but I am getting close to dropping it. I am sticking around to see the ML start kicking butt. If it doesn’t happen soon, I am gone.

While like most rom-coms, this one is more rom than com, with amusing moments rather than hearty guffaws, the opening scene with the policeman giving romantic advice was genuinely funny, and while I didn't guffaw, I did chuckle.

As far as the romance, while its time for Junho's character to grow up, I really like Sa-Rang, and think Yoona's is portraying her really well. The joke is, of course, that she while Won calls her "phony" she's really genuine. I really have no idea what "chemistry" is, but the couple sure seems like they have it to me. The other men in this drama are pretty hard to take. Even Won's sidekick gets a little tiresome--I wish he'd just tell it like it is without always "comically" retreating.

As I said last week, I like the message about the service industry, and about the special burden it places on women. I'm not quite sure why so many fellow service workers are hostile to Sa-rang because of she "only" has a two year degree rather than a four year one. Coming from the U.S. its pretty amazing to me it would be standard to demand a full degree for hotel desk work--I would think the language or sommelier training you'd get at a 2 year college would be far more valuable. But I understand why, given the struggle Korean students apprently have to get into college, you might feel that even a desk job at a prestige hotel was somewhat beneath your degree and be resentful about it.

Overall, then I'm liking this show and hoping it continues without leaning too heavily into the noble idiocy, forced separation, and time skip tropes.

As someone in the middle management, I found the scenes with evil sister particularly triggering. All she did was walk around "looking competent" and just increased the targets for her departments. There were no ideas from her and there was nothing she brought to the table. Even our 'I am not interested in the company and will spend all the day giving moony looks at FL' Gu won was better. He spent literally half a minute on his job but still was better than the crazy step sister.

How adorable is Junho as the clueless chaebol !!! Can I pinch his cheek... I totally get why Sarang would be doing this in the next episodes(acc to initial teasers).

I laughed and I laughed at the traffic police scene. That was comedy gold. Yoona is a terrible emoter and crier. I did not believe she was sad, her terrible boyfriend sold me more on the end of the relationship than she did. She is fine when she doesn't have to work too hard. As for the romance, it isn't particularly believable. He just falls for her by staring at her, the writer at least seems to be trying to give her a reason to like him. I need more to understand why he likes her other than that she tells him the truth. His fall was very abrupt and the audience didn't earn it and neither did she.

I have to make a confession, past me was the biggest hypocrite & ass when this show first came out. I remember commenting on the first weecap expressing how it didn't really hook me with the tacky promo posters. (don't get me wrong the promo posters are still tacky)

Well i retract that statement cuz I decided to give it a shot over the weekend & safe to say it has me hooked (line + sinker too) I could've sworn I blinked once & saw Gu Won morph into Kang Taemu briefly.

This is my first lee junho drama (ive heard of him before) so I'm not too familiar on his acting range but so far he's doing well in his role.
I've seen Yoona in past dramas (still salty over her character's arc from Big Mouth) but she still has yet to leave an impact on me as an actress.
Apart from that, those two on screen together are adorable. It reminds me of those cheesy romcom dramas from 2016-2017 era.
I loved the camera angles during the drunk scene in ep3, it enhanced the way he looked at her but I am not a fan of the insta-love, I hope to see more conflict between them.

Thanks for the weecap @dramaddictally! I totally agree with everything you said, tbh. I love that we can already see Sa-rang's little comments and lessons having an effect on Won. And the scathing depiction of the service industry doesn't feel forced in to me, but rather really relevant to our characters' situations and motivations. One other thing I loved in that vein was the contrast between Won and his sister's strategy. She walked around making threatening comments about increasing sales, and Won sat down with the already competent employees and asked them what would really make a difference for them. When the manager told him honestly that increasing incentives would be the best way, he just implemented it. He didn't need to be made to feel like it was his idea, he didn't question her expertise, he just did it. Maybe it says something sad about me that what I find most attractive is a man who doesn't need to be the star of every meeting, but here we are. The suits aren't hurting either.

part of why this works is that we don’t believe even for a second that they don’t like each other.

He has a crush; I'm not sure that she likes him - she is fearful of how any attention - or negative feedback - from him could cause her to lose her job. I'm surprised that his feelings are front-and-center so quickly so I am assuming that NLT next weekend, he will sober up, admit defeat and return to searching for his mother. At which point - enter from stage right, our heroine who is somehow connected and-even-tho-I-dislike-childhood-tropes, this one might be ok.

I am enjoying this drama and I get up early Sat/Sun mornings to watch as soon as it drops on Netflix (Midnight KST and 8:00 am PDT [my time] for those who may be interested.

Also, great ratings - hope they can maintain for SIXTEEN episodes - there must be much more coming to sustain it that long.

I am loving the show so far. I have been watching dark shows, so watching King The Land is a nice change. I CAN'T GET USED TO THE TILE!!

These two episodes were much better. The show is doing a good job showing us how competent Sarang is at her job. Sarang's dream was to work at Hotel, and she is proving herself in the workplace. I am glad to see the show highlight that Won had nothing to do with her promotion. On the other hand, Won is staying true to his words that he is not there to interfere with the Hotel but is looking for his mother. Won's sister's threats are repetitive now, and it's getting annoying. I was intrigued by her in the first episode, but they need to do something with her character b/c making the same threats will be a waste of her character.

Sa-rang and her friends continue to be the show's highlight for me. Sa-rang's scenes with her grandmother were sweet, and I want to see more interaction between them. Don't you dare do anything to Halmoni show!!

Won and Sang-Sik's relationship is hilarious. I love that Sang-Sik is frank with Won. When Sang-Sik called out Won for his behavior towards Sa-rang and highlighted his shortcoming made me laugh.

I am glad that Sa-rang broke up with her boyfriend. He is a terrible boyfriend who doesn't seem to care about her and always prioritizes his friends over his girlfriend. When Sa-rang said, "My love is over, so do whatever you want with yours" I was like you go, girl!

Jin Seon-kyu's cameo was definitely one of the highlights of this episode for me. Yoona asked him to make a cameo in the drama, and I can't believe he did. His conversation with Won was funny, and Won bowing to him 90 degrees was hilarious.

I know many people complained about the chemistry, but I like the lead's chemistry. I think Yoona and Junho are doing a good job. When I started this show, I went to the mindset of not taking it seriously. I miss the old trope drama like this. I have too many heavy dramas airing now, so KTL is fresh air for me. Please keep it coming!!

Sorry for the long post :)

Ditto to what everyone else has mentioned.
I did not think the airhostess weighing scene was appropriate regardless of any of its intentions.
I'm here for Junho.

Watching this and remember the line from Love To Hate You: Rom com drama writer is a psycho 😅

I have difficulties to warm up to the male lead. He's so childish and useless for now... The word "mum" and he just leaves like that? He was to busy to date when he never worked? And now, he has feelings for the FL, I mean I understand she's lovely, beautiful and competent but for someone who never fell in love before and who surely met competent women before, I think they should have built their relationship a little bit more before making them falling in love. And we got every cliché about the rich guy who doesn't understand the normal girl...

I like Sa-rang. I think she's better developped in her job, with her friend, with her jerk of boyfriend, with her family.

The sister in villain is disapointing. I didn't understand her little visit to everyone to put pressure, even the best shop... And why the airline team is in the same building? Or she went over there just to talk about duty free?

I'm ready for the noona romance of Pyung-hwa :P

Of the episodes so far, I liked the fourth one best. At first I was a little worried that it would get boring quickly with Won falling in love so fast, but now I would have no problem at all watching several more episodes of him failing grandiosely to impress and win over Sa-rang.

I like the partially reversed roles (compared to many other rom-coms with chaebols). Sa-rang is not only extremely competent in her job, she also already has at least one relationship, while Won is extremely inexperienced relationship-wise.

I only knew Yoon-ah from THE K2 and I found her and her role boring. Here at least I find her okay, she is not a disturbing factor.

The tacky humour (especially the flowery granny outfits) of ep 3 was rough, the exception being the police officer scene. Somewhat reluctantly I watched ep 4 which turned out to be ok. Yoon-ah is doing pretty well so far and I like how she questions why her boss is so interested in her, when all she wants is to be good at her work at the hotel.

I would have liked to see more of the friends, but the evil sister is as stale as a day-old-pizza.

In the Trope Tarot Deck, we get the inevitable Awkward Stranded Overnight card was chosen for our leads. It played out pretty, well . . . as expected. Sa-Rang takes a more open, common sense approach while Gu Won maintains his grumpy self. Why does alcohol always leads to uncovering some truth? It reminds me of the great Homer Simpson quote: “Here’s to alcohol: the cause of, and solution to, all of life’s problems.” This sets the weak foundation of a relationship between the leads. However, Gun Won is still getting beaten down by his family about his missing mother . . . why was she erased from existence and how can he not remember? It could be as simple as his father took the infant from his affair since he wanted a son to inherit his company but to do so he had to buy and push away his mother so as not to “infect” his plans. But clearly Gu Won’s solution to turnaround the hotel is finding his lost mother and bring her back.

Episode 2 really laid it on thick with the idiot Korean male syndrome. Sa-Rang’s clueless, arrogant and selfish BF was like a vampire sucking any emotional support from her until she had no more to give. He was so dense that the term breaking up has no meaning in a relationship. His friends and popularity was more important than having a real relationship. Sa-Rang was a participation trophy in life. Sa-Rang begins to drift. Then the double umbrella/trip ending trope concludes a long episode of the misfortunes of Korean career women. Nothing in the episode makes Gu Won an endearing choice for Sa-Rang because he is just as childish and clueless as her last BF. But he does have the potential for growth.

So I've kind of noticed this trend with a few recent rom coms where there is just a huge reliance on tropes and "swoony" scenes with very little emotional development between the leads. Overall I enjoy this drama, but I have no idea why Won likes Sa-rang. I love cheesy, dumb rom coms with tropes and cliches, but you need to give me a LITTLE something with the actual relationship to really be invested, otherwise it just feels empty.

Won also really annoys me with his privilege and being like "why do you put up with this?" Of course YOU can get away with it, dude, but she can't.

I also feel like the boyfriend was pointless.

Thanks for the weecap @dramaddictally.

I like that we are seeing that the female lead has taken her training in all areas seriously. When the mentor was showing her the ropes, he may as well have said ‘Do yourself a favour love; just stand there looking pretty’. He was so vague and unhelpful i would have been asking why he was there if I was the chairperson so it was great that she just answered the questions asked of her and let that speak for itself.

I love that the female lead’s training and hands on knowledge as she moves through the ranks and he male lead’s business management qualifications means he knows how to run a company, he just chooses not to apply his knowledge so they will be the ideal couple to run all elements of a hotel. The question will be whether his dad will give him The King hotel or the leads will set up a bespoke hotel that beats both the big names at their game.

I enjoyed this second weekend more than the first weekend, which is saying something since I enjoyed the first weekend more than I expected. The scene with the police officer was so unexpected that I literally laughed out loud.

As early as the first half of the first episode, I had already been invested in Sa-rang as a character. This weekend's episodes keep me rooting for her. I admire her dedication to the job, how capable she is, and how she worked to overcome her not-quite-ivy-league credentials to land the job of her dreams and keep advancing there. She's not just smart; she works hard, she's loyal to her friends, and she's well aware of how some of her colleagues have their knives out for her, but she just soldiers on. If anything, she is too nice and perhaps somewhat naive about relationships, if her ex-boyfriend is any indication.

I'm not as invested in our male lead yet, because all he has going for him (for now) is a begrudging willingness to listen when Sa-rang is exasperated (or drunk) enough to lay the truth on him unfiltered. This story is clearly meant to be one where he learns to be a better person, and we're supposed to excuse all his current shortcomings because they're a byproduct of yet-to-be-revealed childhood trauma.

But while I'm all for Won's character having a growth arc, I do wish Sa-rang didn't have to be the one to help him grow — why does the woman in the relationship have to put in a disproportionate amount of emotional labor and serve as the guy's therapist/coach/mentor? In a way, it's like being his mother to help him "grow up".

Separately, I found it interesting that we're being primed to dislike Won's sister for the way she treats him, but at the same time, she's the one who gave Sa-rang the job and the promotion to the front desk, and it seems she was supportive when Sa-rang was promoted yet again to the VIP floor. So while she's terrible to her employees and her brother, she's been nothing but good for Sa-rang.

And yes, I found myself somewhat sympathetic to the sister early on because how would you feel if you'd spent more than seven years running the conglomerate only to have your father welcome your upstart younger brother like the prodigal son any time he deigns to show up in Korea? I'd be super annoyed too. However, I feel a lot less sympathy for her now after the flashback scene where they were kids and she tossed the watch out the window.

Ep 3-4 are certainly better than Ep 1-2. I will continue watching but wonder how it will sustain 16 episodes. (May be we are now spoiled by the tighter-plotted 12 Ep run.)

With two concurrent hotel heir dramas, I can’t help but think what it’d be like if Junho is the other hotel heir. He did PTSD well in Just Between Lovers.

Although, as I admitted to @hacja last week, Junho may be a trifle overrated, he is still a really good actor, and he's elevating this drama for me. Watching him play an emotionally stunted man falling in love for what is likely the first time is a treat. Bigger surprise: Yoon-ah is doing very well, too. It helps that I just like Sa-rang as a person, but she also has funny and believable reactions to Won's boorishness and vulnerability. I completely see why his character would fall for hers (he clearly hasn't spent much time one-on-one with women, she's reacting to him with completely sincere exasperation yet kindness, and it doesn't hurt that she's very pretty) so it doesn't feel rushed to me at all. Now if Sa-rang had feelings for Won, *that* would feel rushed, but she doesn't yet. And even though he's a loser, I'm glad So-rang has/had a boyfriend at the start--a woman this competent, kind, and attractive certainly would.

I laughed a few times during these episodes--at Won's weird half-moon of a smile during the photo shoot, So-rang shutting down the attempted fraud at the inn, and the conversation with the police officer--but the humor isn't quite consistent enough yet. I also continue to feel that there are a lot of filler moments in the form of close-ups on the actor's faces that go on a beat too long and too many dialogue-free intervals where the score fills in for action. Their prevalence suggests that this would have been better as a 12 episode drama. Nevertheless, I'm still (mostly) paying attention to what's on screen, and even if sometimes that's due almost exclusively to Junho's performance and charisma, I don't have a problem with that.

I continue to like the friend group, although that scene where all the female flight attendants had to be weighed and fat shamed (even though most of them are probably underweight) took me out of the story because this is a trope I despise in all media. But I'm hopeful the burgeoning romance there will make up for it.

I really liked this week's episodes a lot, and I have to say I am falling for Sarang, so no wonder Won is also doing. Sarang is a hard working and efficient employee, and she proves it every time she is told... oh, you only studied two years in University, you don't have a degree. A degree is just a paper if you don't know `how to use it, like Sarang former supervisor, that tries so hard not to work...

Anyway, I like the pathing, and how the bond between them is being build. Both Sarang and Won have something in common: they listen to what they are told, and they both reflect on their words and actions. Please, be like this forever and don't give me a episode 14 noble idiocy, please (yes, I know I'm going ahead, hahahaha).

Last week I wasn't really convinced about Sarang's friends. Their friendship didn't dig deep in me, I felt something was missing, maybe some background... but this week it was different. I felt the connection, the struggles they had been through and how much their relation means to them, how they trust each other and how their friendship is the safe harbour they can always arrive.

A final word to our official baddie. I like her! I mean, I shouldn't like her, but I do. She's the kind of baddie that is well written. She's efficient in her job, she knows what must be done and yes, she's bad in the best way possible. I like a badass.

And finally, and in case you didn't know... I love Junho!!!!!

I fell asleep watching ep 3(?) and woke up when the drunk scene was on. Maybe I was dreaming but for the first time, I liked Yoona’s acting as a drunk person. She was so likable as a drunk that I would watch that happily for a while. Junho didn’t come across as drunk - acting fail or meant be so uptight that couldn’t let his hair down.

This drama has nothing new to me, but I love a ML who has a sad past and falls in love first.
Can't figure the evil sister yet and skip all the scenes that involves FL friends, cause I don't care.

I loved Sa-rang this episode. I cheered when she told Won off. He is so unprofessional. They are working. Could he be any less cooperative? The photographer's reaction was me.

My favorite scene was Sa-rang's rap-like haggling with the scammer halmeoni. She even let her keep the wine at 100,000 won. I love me a street-smart heroine. I laughed at Sa-rang having to eat three steaks.

we don’t believe even for a second that they don’t like each other

Sa-rang had a boyfriend. No way does she like Won.

Ro-woon is perfect. "Don't think of going on a diet. You're already beautiful." Aww at his disappointment over Pyung-hwa's thank-you gift being for his mom. His straightforwardness is so refreshing. Pyung-hwa knows that Ro-woon likes her, so I hope that the reason why she tries to set him up with another woman is not due to noble idiocy.

Omg I'm going to be so upset if Da-eul's husband Chung-jae is cheating on her.

I had a ridiculous thought: Could the sister be his mother - had him while very young and then stayed young because of a Gangnam Plastic surgeon’s skills - and the father is the grandad? There might just be a stupid reason they are involved in this charade?

I fell in love with my husband at a moment when I suddenly realized he is such a smart man! Before that I hated him a lot because of some reasons! My husband confessed to me that he fell strange immediately when we met the first time and I did nothing - just noting down his words in a book (because it was a meeting)! Then he kept being attracted and clearly he took some move right after that until I finally realized this man would be my destiny! So my message is that we don’t need impressive stories to fall in love! I relate to this romance drama because it is simple as it is, and because Junho’s acting is so on point and persuasive to me, the expressions on his face and body language really carry the right feeling of being in love!

The episode with the boat nearly had me abandoning ship, it was too silly for words, but I'm back on board now, saved by the fact that the FL is better than she usually is and the ML can do no wrong, and the traffic police helped. Also the two girlfriends have started to grow on me. We haven't had amnesia yet, nor the hero taking FL to a posh event in a posh dress, nor a white truck of doom, but I daresay with 12 episodes left we won't be disappointed. Sigh! I was hoping for a Business Proposal, but I guess they are as rare as pink diamonds. Still, this is improving and the scenery is lovely.

PS. Haven't seen suits this good since Vincenzo. And I do love a hero who doesn't have a pudding bowl haircut where you can only see the eyes from half of the pupil upwards. If eyes are indeed the Windows of the Soul, and I think they are, then I want to see them!

Where is the class solidarity!? I was rolling my eyes when Sa-rang haggled the Ajumma about the price! WHY?! It’s not she’s paying for it and the whole spiel that the rich shouldn’t get ripped off when they literally ripoff workers and get tax offsets baffles me honestly. Am I supposed to view Sa-rang as morally righteous when she defends the rich? Gu Won had no problem paying the price, so again who wins in this scenario? Not the Ajumma or Sa-rang, it’s Won who gets to pocket the money no?!

Anyway I don’t care at all about the leads but Pyeong-hwa and Da-eul is where I’m the most sympathetic and invested in their story as it’s realistic and not a chaebol fantasy

I think the best way to describe the script is 'over-the-top'. From Won's Downton Abbey castle to the flashback of his sister being mean to him and his father's speech about class. The characters don't feel like actual people but rather like walking embodiments of tropes.

I watched all four episodes of King the Land after I binged the first 4 eps of See You in My 19th Life.. Which would probably explain why I found the first 3 eps of KTL lacking. Even gotten to micro-skipping several parts. Thankfully the drama is picking up at episode 4. Hopefully it'll only get better from here on out. Dunno how they'll stretch the story to 16 episodes though. I would have thought that See You's plot was more feasible for more episodes than KTL. 😅

I'm all in for King the Land.

I love the chemistry of the two leads. The supporting cast is doing a great job too. I'm interested in all story lines for this show.

Highlights for me were...
- FL's reaction to ML catching the fish. I thought Yoona did a great job here.
-ML having trouble smiling.
-Drinking scene. Yoona + Junho were excellent in this scene and it was well written.
-Bicycle scene. More to love about Yoona + Junho.
-Dinner scene. ML tells his assistant - cut her steak.
-Two friends of FL's storyline.

I look forward to new episodes of this series.

I'm also enjoying See You in My 19th Life.

There are a lot of strong k-dramas out at this time.