Kingdom Review

For the last few weeks I'd been seeing people online talking about an amazing show called Kingdom, it peaked my interest and I was even more excited when I found out the show was a Netflix exclusive. The recommendation was not misplaced; Kingdom is a fantastic twist on the zombie apocalypse formula, merging it with politics and class divide. 

The story centres around the young Crown Prince Yi-Chang (Ju Ji-hoon), the illigitimate son of the King. His position to the throne is compromised by the impending birth of his brother, mothered by the young Queen, the two are clearly not on good terms.
The King is announced to have passed away, which should have meant that Yi-Chang would assume the throne, but the King's closest aide Minister Cho Hak-jo claims the King is merely very unwell and bans any and all visitors other than the Queen and himself.
Yi-Chang seeking to discover the truth and suspecting that the Minister Cho Hak-jo has sinister plans on the Royal seat, leaves the city to discover the truth of what happened to his father which sends him on an adventure around Korea and face to face with the walking dead.

The story is really interesting, the plot flows very well with the political plot twists side by side with the zombie attacks. The poor and enfeeble are left to die whilst the high classes are protected, but as the ranks of the undead swell with the bodies of the poor the lines between rich and poor begin to diminish and co-operation to survive becomes paramount.
Yi-Chang is the iconic honorable prince, a man of the people. He doesn't share the same greater than personality of other nobles and risks his life many times to save his fellow countryman. He is a charismatic leader and you can relate to how readily the people rally beside him. An master swordsman and taciturn, he is a decisive decision maker and is for the most part the most responsible individual for dealing with the outbreak. 

Aside from the Crown Prince, there is a host of supporting characters such as Yi-Chang's personal bodyguard Moo-Young (Kim Sang-ho) who provides some comic relief but is also the stalwart companion that serves the Prince with utter devotion.
Seo-bi (Bae Doo-na), a medical physician whose courage and intelligence is even greater than that of the Crown Prince. She is obsessed with finding a cure to the plague.
Obviously there are the antagonists as well, such as the aforementioned Minister Cho Hak-jo and the Queen who work together to control the country from behind the scenes. The two are incredibly sinister and vicious, the Queen and her two aides probably moreso, who commit some pretty vile crimes in the course of their machinations.

The show is beautiful, production values were amazingly high, the sets are brilliant and full of so many details and there's a great deal of variety in the locales the show visits. Vistas of beauty destroyed in the devastation of the zombie outbreak, whom themselves are disgusting visages of the poor and weak. Everything about Kingdom oozes quality.
Kingdom many not be to everyone's taste, firstly the dubbing is pretty awful. It's the usual over-the-top caricature like accents that plague such programs. Do yourself a favour and watch it in it's own language with subtitles. 
The first two episodes are fairly slow, with it setting up the plot and the characters, you don't actually get to see a great deal of zombie chaos until episode three and from there it's all very gripping stuff. At only six episodes long, it's a bit rough to lose a third of your show to establishing everything and especially as it feels like it's all over so quick once it does get underway.

Kingdom is a brilliant show and a fantastic twist on the zombie apocolypse scenario. Joseon Korea is a place I've never been exposed to and I find it a wholly interesting locale and time. I really enjoyed Kingdom and I can't wait for the next season (which is already in pre-production apparently). 
I wholly recommend Kingdom to any fans of the zombie genre and are looking for something with an extra twist.