It’s always been a source of confusion for me why more zombie shows and movies don’t take outbreaks back to a time when we weren’t able to solve the problem with a bullet. We’ve had the just-about-okay Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, and that’s about it. So, when Netflix announced Kingdom, a long in gestation show from writer Kim Eun-hee and director Kim Seong-hun, it piqued the interest of many as being one of the most unique spins on conventions that have become more than well-worn by this point. If you’re burned out by The Walking Dead, early impressions of Kingdom are that it’s a more than suitable alternative.
A Korean production, Kingdom is a mixture of many different genres that somehow just works — and this is based on only watching the first episode. It’s partly horror with a healthy slice of family drama interspersed with commentary on classism, as well as providing some historical insight into what is a largely unknown period in Korean history. Kingdom is unlike any other show in recent memory with the gorgeous landscapes of Korea’s Joseon period offset by the gore on display, creating an aesthetic of beautiful brutality. It’s honesty hard to tear your eyes away from it, even when someone is decapitated in cold blood or a finger is found not where it should be.
It also doesn’t hurt that Kingdom is patient with its pace, dripfeeding dread the longer the episode goes on. There’s but a glimpse of its zombies, it instead treating them like creeping boogeymen that will arrive in a big way — you just don’t known when. You’ll also be heartened to hear that most of the footage from its main trailer is taken from the first episode alone, so there’s another five episodes of complete surprises in-bound.
Kingdom spends most of its introductory episode setting up its characters, though it is difficult to keep up with them all as it seldom introduces them by name — this is always something to get to grips with with most shows with big casts, however. The main character, Chang, is the crown prince whose position of power is in peril with his father missing and rumours persisting of his death. He’s prone to petulance and almost spitefulness, though he becomes a warmer character and settles into the protagonist role once he realises that, while aided by his comic relief personal guard, he must set out to find the truth about his father.
Beyond the constant tension of waiting for the cannibal cadavers to burst onto the scene, Kingdom tries its hand at being a political drama not a million miles away from Game of Thrones, just on a far smaller and less incestuous scale. A mysterious minister begins his machinations to claim authority for himself in a kingdom crippled by famine; the show also taking the time to show the effects of such constant power-grabbing on the citizens caught in the middle of it all. There are many different chess pieces in play already in Kingdom, and I can’t wait to see how it all pans out.
I’m reticent to say much more beyond the basics as Kingdom already feels like it may be a winner based on its discomforting first hour that you should watch yourself when it lands on Netflix on January 25th. With the triumphant return of Resident Evil 2 due on the same day, I’m as ready to devour all things zombie as I have been in a long time. Are the undead back from near-death? Watch this space.
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