King the Land (킹더랜드) is a rom-com Kdrama that brings the story of an heir and an employee who works at one of the hotels owned by his family. Directed by Im Hyun-wook, the drama stars Lee Jun-ho, Lim Yoon-a (Yoona), Go Won-hee, Kim Ga-eun, Ahn Se-ha, and Kim Jae-won, alongside other cast members.
The drama brings the story of the heir Goo Won who has been thrown into an inheritance war, and the happy Cheon Sa-rang, whose smile moves him like no other. As the two begin to spend more time together, a beautiful love begins to bloom in their story.
– King the Land Episode 1 Review Contains Spoilers –
King the Land Episode 1 Recap
King the Land episode 1 starts at King Hotel, wherein a hiring drive is taking place. Among the candidates is Cheon Sa-rang, who is tense but confident about the interview. Unfortunately, her heel breaks before she is able to enter the interview room, but she doesn’t let that stop her from making a great first impression. The interviewers bully her and ask her to play the piano when there isn’t an instrument for her to play, but she makes the most of the circumstances regardless. Unfortunately, though, it ends up falling short of getting the job.
After drowning her misery in alcohol with her friends and dancing the night away, Sa-rang wakes up the next morning to the sound of her ringing phone – it’s King Hotel, and she got the job, much to her disbelief and eventual happiness!
Elsewhere, King Hotel’s Gu Won makes a grand entrance by jumping off a plane with a parachute, but unfortunately, it’s on the wrong building’s helipad. In spite of belonging to the family that owns the King Group, he has to work in the hotel as an intern, much to his annoyance and anger. His inability to manage in an office environment, especially under authority figures, proves to be a problem for everyone in the office, but especially for his coworker and manager.
The real hilarious twist, however, comes when the sales support team learns who Won really is, and a rowdy copier machine ends up helping him get out of his unfortunate situation. Of course, he does get chewed out by his family at night, and Hwa-ran advises him to stay at the hotel and go back to the UK as soon as possible. There is clearly some animosity between the two of them that we are yet to know.
The next morning, Sa-rang is excited to start her first day at King Hotel, more so because she thinks back to her childhood and all the happy memories she made in the hotel back in the day. After a rather entertaining orientation session, Sa-rang is asked to wipe “butt sweat” from the gym equipment and fill the cotton swabs in the bathroom while being bullied by her mentor. However, she is able to maintain a smile regardless.
Unfortunately for Sa-rang and her friends Da-eul and Pyeong-hwa, the service industry is very challenging, and their colleagues’ and customers’ antics end up tiring them out beyond repair!
As meet-cutes go, Sa-rang ends up being harassed by a pervert while working in the gym and due to the man’s shirt matching that of Won’s, she throws him off of the treadmill, threatens to finish him off if he ever tries to make her feel unsafe and then walks off making Won hold the perverted letter, much to his confusion and anger.
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He shouts at her to stop, but she ignores him and walks out. This scene is closely followed by Hwa-ran walking in, who tells Won not to shout in her hotel. Won reminds her that she doesn’t own the hotel yet, as well as the fact that he is a guest staying in the suite, so he deserves as much respect as everyone else before walking out of the gym.
In contrast, when Sa-rang comes across Hwa-ran right after her meeting with Won, she wins the boss over with her immaculate answers and is immediately promoted to the lobby, much to Soo-mi’s disbelief! Elsewhere, Hwa-ran barges into Won’s room and asks him to leave since it is after his checkout time and wishes for him to stay back in the UK instead of constantly making the trip back. He promises to do so before walking out.
After these incidents, several years pass by, with Sa-rang continuing to grow at her job at King Hotel while Won continues to live his life in the UK.
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In the present, Won receives a surprising package that leaves him stumped – the personnel record of Han Mi-so. He immediately makes a plan to return to Korea, directs Sang-sik to do the same and rushes to the airport. Back in Korea, Sa-rang continues to receive praise for her work, which turns out to be quite personal and touching. Later on, after Won comes back to Korea, he leaves his family speechless when he informs them that he wants to start working at the hotel immediately. His grandfather is extremely happy, but Hwa-san is left distraught.
Elsewhere, Sa-rang and her friends have fun at an impromptu “party” and dance their stress away to Baby Shark with Da-eul’s daughter and her friends.
King the Land Episode 1 Ending
The next day at the hotel, Won gets ready for his first day of work but leaves his phone and papers behind in his room. Sa-rang is tasked to fetch them for him, but she ends up being extremely sick. Unfortunately, she must complete this task before being able to go to the bathroom, and although she tries her level best to do so, she has to rush to the suite bathroom so as not to pass out.
Unbeknownst to her, Won has also decided to come back to the suite to retrieve his stuff while she uses the loo, and the two have the most awkward encounter as Won looks Sa-rang straight in the eye as she is sitting on his toilet after she, without realising it, makes the bathroom wall see-through in front of him.
King the Land Episode 1 Review
What a delightful episode this has been! King the Land episode 1 starts off with a ‘Hermes’ smile as Yoona returns to the screen with her impeccable acting skills and warm demeanour. It’s great to watch her again after Big Mouth.
The first episode sets the series up with many questions to ask but generally leaves it to be entertaining, light-hearted and curiosity-inducing. There’s something really nice about the episode, and it will make you smile even in its dumbest moments. The comedy is a little on the nose, but I quite enjoyed it. The storyline seems to be going the romantic route, along with some skeletons in the closet for Won to figure out. It would be a good medley, I feel, and the show will be able to mix it up without boring us with too much of either. I quite liked all the characters, even those who seem to have nothing else to do but to ‘serve’ the protagonists.
All in all, I am looking forward to the upcoming episodes of the series. Hopefully, they are as light-hearted and intriguing as this one.
A POOPY REVIEW