History Series / Kingdom2019

[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/kingdom2019.png]]

* DaylightHorror:
** Seob-il and Prince Chang learn separately that the zombies [[spoiler: only go dormant in the daytime when the weather is sufficiently warm. In cold temperatures, they remain active all day and all night. Cue an undead horde descending upon the soldiers who had set up a blockade outside of Sangju and were just about to let down their guard.]]
** The fifth episode of Season 2 takes place mostly in the daytime, which provides plenty of scenes of [[spoiler: the undead running rampant through the Royal Palace.]]

* ImprobableAimingSkills: Yeong-shin is a crack shot with a musket he salvaged during the retreat from Dongnae to Jiyulheon, achieving [[BoomHeadshot headshots]] on fast-moving zombies dangerously close to the Crown Prince. He later participates in an ambush against Cho's forces and takes out multiple soldiers with [[OneHitKill clean headshots]] using a ''musket'' from relatively long-range.

* NotUsingTheZWord: Justified being that the setting is in Feudal Korea, centuries before the Term "Zombies" had any meaning here. Instead the flesh-eating, undead are mostly referred to as simply "monsters" or "creatures". The Government tries to hide the outbreak as some sort of plague and more medically educated characters believe its some sort of disease going around. [[spoiler:Interestingly, the first few zombies come about by Koreans using special "resurrection plant" in a ritual involving implanting the plants into freshly dead bodies to "resurrect" the dead for a specific purpose, which is similar to how traditional voodoo zombie lore was claimed to work]]

* GreatOffscreenWar : The Imjin War(1592–1598)serves as this. The setting takes place only a few years after the war and the country is still reeling from the effects with its scars still rampant. The kingdom is shown to still be mired in poverty and famine, not that the elites seem to care.[[spoiler: As it turns out the Zombies were first used by the Koreans as early biological weapons. A brief flashback shows the Korean government using the resurrection plant on their own civilians to turn them into zombies which overwhelm a Japanese camp. Back then the zombies bites did not infect people, the apparent mutation that turns their bites infectious is a major plot point that baffles the Koreans who know about the plant .]]

''Kingdom'' (Korean: 킹덤) is a South Korean television series [[GenreMashup depicting a zombie outbreak in Feudal Korea]], written by Kim Eun-hee (''{{Series/Signal}}'') and directed by Kim Seong-hun (''Film/AHardDay''). It is loosely based on Eun-hee's webcomic series ''The Kingdom of the Gods''. The show was released worldwide by Creator/{{Netflix}} in 2019, followed by a second season in March 2020. A third season is rumoured to air in 2022. A prequel spin-off movie titled ''Kingdom: Ashin of the North'' aired in July 2021.

* AlternateHistory: Comes with the territory of a ZombieApocalypse happening in Feudal Korea, but then we also find out that [[spoiler:the Koreans unleashed zombies upon the Japanese invasion force, thus changing the course of the war in their favor. Which also meant that the Gyeongbok Palace that still stood despite having been burned down by Japanese invaders, isn't a case of ArtisticLiceneHistory.]]

* NiceHat: The various historically accurate Joseon-era hats were so fancy to foreign viewers that they became touted as a key reason to watch the show.

* AwesomeButImpractical: Firearms. While scarce, the rifles and muskets that the characters and soldiers do have are incredibly effective and powerful at taking down zombies, but at this point in history, the technology isn't advanced enough to make it particularly useful. At one point they're used as clubs since it's easier than reloading.

* BadassBystander: In the fifth episode of Season 2, an unnamed servant armed with only a club and what appears to be the lid to a large pot manages to briefly hold off the undead horde while protecting a group of other servants. He is ultimately overwhelmed, but it was still impressive.

In the Joseon Era (late 14th- to late 19th-century), when the country was recovering from the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_invasions_of_Korea Imjin War]], word on the street is that the King of Joseon is dead. The powerful Haewon Cho Clan is in almost complete control of the government, and its head, Chief State Councilor Cho Hak-ju (Ryu Seung-ryong of ''Animation/SeoulStation''), suspects that the Crown Prince Lee Chang (Ju Ji-hoon) is behind said rumours. The Prince determines that something is seriously wrong with the King and goes to the countryside to investigate matters while being pursued on charges of treason by Cho's force. Meanwhile, in the countryside, physician Seo-bi (Creator/BaeDoona of ''Film/TheHost'' and ''Series/{{Sense8}}'') notices that villagers are dropping dead rapidly, but that will soon be the least of her worries...

''Kingdom'' (Korean: 킹덤) is a South Korean television series [[GenreMashup depicting a zombie outbreak in Feudal Korea]], written by Kim Eun-hee (''{{Series/Signal}}'') and directed by Kim Seong-hun (''Film/AHardDay''). It is loosely based on Eun-hee's webcomic series ''The Kingdom of the Gods''. The show was released worldwide by Creator/{{Netflix}} in 2019, followed by a second season in March 2020. A third season is rumoured to air in 2021 or 2022. A prequel spin-off movie titled ''Kingdom: Ashin of the North'' aired in July 2021.

* RaisingTheSteaks: A deer eats the resurrection flower and turns into a zombie.

* ShoutOut: The first on-screen zombification is [[Film/TrainToBusan a deer]].

** Seo-bi diagnoses the Beom-pal’s illness and tells him that he might [[GroinAttack he might some pain in his... penis]] because he has gonorrhoea.
** In Season 2, Beom-pal ends up on the receiving end of a fountain of zombie blood vomit, straight out of the ''Evil Dead''. Even Yeong-shin is caught off guard by it.

** A prime example of this occurs when Seob-il and Prince Chang learn separately that the zombies [[spoiler: only go dormant in the daytime when the weather is sufficiently warm. In cold temperatures, they remain active all day and all night. Cue an undead horde descending upon the soldiers who had set up a blockade outside of Sangju and were just about to let down their guard.]]
** Likewise, the fifth episode of Season 2 takes place mostly in the daytime, which provides plenty of scenes of [[spoiler: the undead running rampant through the Royal Palace.]]

** Played straight ''again'' in Episode 4 when the small girl Seo-bi was fond of is struck down by a hail of arrows fired by Cho's forces, who were demanding Prince Chang's surrender at Jiyulheon.

* TheDungAges: This isn't quite evident in more urbanised, royal cities like Hanyang (i.e., modern-day Seoul), and the setting is Early Modern Korea rather than the strictly medieval Western Europe, but remote provincial towns like Dongnae are positively ''filthy'', with people wearing constantly soiled clothes, alleys choked with mud, and open sewer channels, one of which even features a small child openly ''defecating'' into it. (The actual act isn't shown on camera, of course, but it's obvious what the kid is doing.) Prince Chang can't help but hold his nose.

** Lord Cho Hak-Ju also gets a dose of this when [[spoiler: a zombified Lord Ahn Hyeon tears into his cheek.]]

* IceQueen: The Queen is this ''in spades'' when she's not occasionally giggling. Hell, she's not even [[spoiler:flinching at all when the zombies that she released deliberately are just an inch in front of her, ready to devour her mercilessly!]]

* KillItWithWater: [[spoiler: The parasitic worms which started the outbreak are extremely hydrophobic; the zombies themselves will also refuse to cross bodies of water that are shallow enough to walk through. In fact, the worms will immediately expel themselves from the host body if submerged in water, allowing freshly bitten victims to avoid zombification by removing the parasite before it reaches the brain]].
* LaserGuidedKarma: Both [[spoiler: Cho Hak-ju and the Queen end up on the receiving end - the former has his cheek bitten off by the zombified Ahn Hyeon (he gets cured of the parasites, but dies nonetheless later on) and the latter allows herself to be devoured alive by the zombies as she refuses to surrender her throne to the Crown Prince]]. Given their highly immoral actions throughout the series, their gruesome deaths are well-deserved.

* SuperSenses: [[spoiler: The zombies have an extremely acute sense of smell, and are particularly attracted to the scent of fresh blood. This is also exploited by the heroes, who use it as a particularly effective way to divert their attention]].
* ThanatosGambit: [[spoiler: Lord Ahn Hyeon is seemingly killed in a futile attempt to reach the Crown Prince after entering a trap set by Cho Hak-ju during Season 2. However, the public circumstances of his death was a plan organised to prove the existence of the resurrection herb and thereby implicating Cho in a cover-up of the King's death. When Cho Hak-ju orders the transfer of the captured Crown Prince and his allies to Hanyang, Seo-bi resurrects Ahn Hyeon as a zombie during their attempted jailbreak]].

** Considering the nobles deliberately abandoned the other survivors (who were all commoners) just before nightfall, [[KarmicDeath their fates were]] [[AssholeVictim well-deserved]].

** Later, the Crown Prince and his bodyguard Mu-yeong find the massacre at the Jiyulheon clinic, which has at least been effectively contained within the clinic's walls. They then find corpses tucked under the floor, so they inform the authorities who collect the bodies. This leads to a zombie attack, as the corpses were only dormant because it was daytime and they reanimated later on.
* VelvetRevolution: Chang's ousting of the Queen is relatively quick and bloodless. First, he tips the scale of balance by diverting the Queen's army away from the city and smuggling his own men inside. Once there, they seal off the gates and trap the Queen inside with no army left. Court officials promptly defect to the Prince's side and arrest all of the Queen's remaining loyalists. With that, the Queen is rendered completely defenseless and Chang is able to take back his throne with minimal loss of life on both sides. That is, until the Queen [[TakingYouWithMe pulls one last card from under her sleeves]]...

** Played straight from this point - anyone bitten afterwards would very swiftly transform in ''a matter of minutes''. The doctor who used the herb notices this and interprets it as a sign that the infection is mutating to become more effective.
** [[spoiler:It's also averted in the backstory, where Lords Ahn Hyeon and Cho Hak-ju have to slaughter the entire population of the village of Sumang and individually reanimate the bodies to create their undead army. Furthermore, none of the invading Japanese are shown reanimating and the survivors are defeated by a badly under strength Korean force, suggesting that the infection wasn't transmissible.]]

** One of the Queen's new maids gasps when she undresses her Majesty and discovers that [[spoiler: she isn't pregnant]].
** The ending of the season 2 finale shows [[spoiler:worms spreading from the young king's bite wound towards his brain]].
* WhatTheHellHero: Yeong-shin for secretly feeding everyone human meat.

* BestServedCold: Played with, as its what Ashin ''believes'' she's doing, spending years working training as a fighter and working as a spy against those she blames for the massacre of her village, but when she discovers [[spoiler:her Joseon employers were the ones responsible, she wastes no time in getting her revenge.]]
* TheDogBitesBack: Ashin spends her childhood and early adulthood being abused and manipulated by her Joseon benefactors, putting it up with it because she thinks they're on the same side at least, [[spoiler:but when she learns they actually betrayed he and her father, she dispatches them all with cruel efficiency.]]

* GreaterScopeVillain: It's revealed that [[spoiler:Ashin]] is this to the entire story of the first two seasons, which were part of their plan to intentionally wipe out the entirety Joseon.

''Kingdom'' (Korean: 킹덤) is a South Korean television series [[GenreMashup depicting a zombie outbreak in Feudal Korea]], written by Kim Eun-hee (''{{Series/Signal}}'') and directed by Kim Seong-hun (''Film/AHardDay''). It is loosely based on Eun-hee's webcomic series ''The Kingdom of the Gods''. The show was released worldwide by Creator/{{Netflix}} in 2019, followed by a second season in March 2020. A prequel spin-off movie titled ''Kingdom: Ashin of the North'' aired in July 2021.

* BestServedCold: Played with, as its what Ashin ''believes'' she's doing, spending years working training as a fighter and working as a spy against those she blames for the massacre of her village, but when she discovers [[spoiler:her benefactors were the ones responsible, she wastes no time in getting her revenge.]]
* TheDogBitesBack: Ashin spends her childhood and early adulthood being abused and manipulated by her employers and benefactors, putting it up with it because she thinks they're on the same side at least, [[spoiler:but when she learns otherwise, she dispatches them all with cruel efficiency.]]
* GenocideBackfire: The Joseon troops stationed at the border between the Northern and Southern halves of the country have nothing but disdain and contempt for the North, taking whatever chances they can get to kill those they come across and even [[spoiler:plotting the eradication of Ashin's entire village]]. However, this only motivates Ashin to do the same to Joseon ''as a whole'', with the help of [[spoiler:the parasitic plant.]]

* RapeAndRevenge: Ashin is repeatedly sexually abused by one of her Joseon handlers, but she later ends up [[spoiling:killing him after learning the truth about her village, and using the parasitic plant to resurrect him, turning him into a zombie, and letting him loose on the Joseon base.]]

* BestServedCold: Played with, as its what Ashin ''believes'' she's doing, spending years working training as a fighter and working as a spy against those she blames for the massacre of her village, but when she discovers [[spoiler:her employers were the ones responsible, she wastes no time in getting her revenge.]]

* GenocideBackfire: The Joseon troops stationed at the border between the Northern and Southern halves of the country have nothing but disdain and contempt for the North, taking whatever chances they can get to kill those they come across and even [[spoiler:plotting the eradication of Ashin's entire village]]. However, this only motivates Ashin to do the same to Joseon ''as a whole'', with the help of the parasitic plant.

* MercyKill: Ashin has to perform one on her [[spoiler:her father, who spent a decade being tortured and begs her for death.]]

* BestServedCold: Played with, as its what Ashin ''believes'' she's doing, spending years working training as a fighter and working as a spy against those she blames for the massacre of her village, but when she discovers [[spoiler:her employers were the one responsible, she wastes no time in getting her revenge.]]