REVIEW: ‘King The Land’ Episodes 13-14

It’s no longer smooth sailing for our beloved hotel couple. In King The Land Episodes 13-14, Cheon Sa-rang (Im Yoon-ah) and Gu Won (Lee Jun-ho) face obstacles meant to tear them apart. While Gu Won is determined to make sure that they stay together, Sa-rang, who is the more realistic of the two, seems set up to be the first one to back away. At least, that’s what it seems like at the end of Episode 14.

We also see in King The Land Episodes 13-14 more progress for Gang Da-eul (Kim Ga-eun) and Oh Pyeong-hwa (Go Won-hee). I don’t know about you, but I’ve been waiting to see where their respective arcs are going to land. With two episodes left, here’s hoping both receive their much-deserved happy endings. As is, for Da-eul, we start seeing the tides truly shift for her in her home life. Much deserved, considering the laziness of her husband.

Jumping in immediately where we left off in previous episodes, we see Sa-rang get chastised for breaking a plate as part of the Dream Team. She gets relegated to serving a mysterious someone on the second floor. This mysterious someone turns out to be the incredibly lonely Ji-hu, Gu Hwa-ran (Kim Sun-young) son. He attempts to pick on Sa-rang, but she shows no mercy. Treating him like a younger brother, she puts him in his place before taking him downstairs to meet the chairman.

Won, in the meantime, is hoping to talk to Sa-rang. While she’s deferred the conversation to later that night, things don’t turn out that way. After being chastised further by the head of the Dream Team, she only has enough energy to get home and pass out. Won, thinking that something perhaps is wrong, loiters outside of her place before a hilarious encounter with the police ensues.

The next night, Sa-rang and Won meet up for dinner. While they are able to talk through their awkwardness, Sa-rang can’t help mulling over her thoughts on the Dream Team. Considered the peak of what one can achieve within the King properties, she realizes that serving people as a maid is not what she wants to aspire towards. It pays well, but that’s not why she came to work at the hotel. She needs something more meaningful.

Speaking of meaning, we finally get to see the great showdown between Won and Hwa-ran. Great is not how I would describe it. After all of that hype, we witness them give a presentation to Chairman Gu Il-han (Son Byung-ho). Hwa-ran takes the predictable approach, utilizing her team to come up with a plan that entirely cuts out benefits for employees. Il-han, focusing on how much money would be saved, challenges Won. Won comes prepared, focusing on how they could take the King Hotel enterprise global and earn way more than anticipated.

Just like that, Il-han declares Won as the new President of the King Hotel. After all of that build-up, the decision is made without further struggle, which ended up disappointing. In this moment, the victory felt hollow with the immediacy that Il-han makes the decision because of how instantaneous it was. No thoughts. Just victory vibes. But, because Hwa-ran is as petty and as salty as they come, she’s not going to accept Won’s victory without completely losing sight of the bigger picture.

While Hwa-ran stews over how to get the hotel back, Sa-rang is summoned back by the Chairman to do him a favor. Ji-hu wants her to be his buddy. The moments between Ji-hu and Sa-rang turn out to be the most wholesome of the King The Land Episodes 13-14. She becomes a mentor, a friend, and a caretaker in one, but also provides Ji-hu with a glimpse of what it’s like to be cared for by a maternal figure.

Contrasted with Hwa-ran’s cruelty toward her son, it becomes clear why Sa-rang is the one everyone seems to gravitate to. Whether it’s her smile, her honesty, or her natural aura, she is the reason why Won has transformed and, perhaps in later episodes, she may be able to help Ji-hu grow into his own, away from Hwa-ran’s influence. But first, Hwa-ran has some drama to stir. Segueing into King The Land Episode 14, Hwa-ran has hired someone to take incriminating photos of Won. Won is caught in an embrace and kiss while over at Sa-rang’s place. While Il-han catches wind of the media being sent these photos, Hwa-ran doubles the price to get those articles posted and spread.

Any hope of redemption for her is gone now, as Hwa-ran is determined to not only screw over Won, but her father and the King properties as well. A point that gets brought up later on in the episode by Il-han. She lashes out, saying that the presidency was always going to be Won’s and we get insight into how the competition between her and Won started. Seeing how her father doted on the brother she can only see as lesser, the seed of hatred begins to blossom.

It’s not long before the news spreads, and people begin to put two and two together as to who the mystery woman is in the photos with Won. After a media website reveals her face illegally, Sa-rang’s identity is out in the open. Things get awkward at work for her among the other staff, but the team at King The Land continues to support her. However, Sa-rang’s life is about to take a sharp turn.

Asked to serve Il-han, Sa-rang is forced into a meeting with him. He politely orders her to go away for a while and she is re-assigned to the King Tourist Hotel. This property is known for where the worst employees get sent to. Knowing that she’s going to be sent away for an undetermined amount of time, Sa-rang keeps it a secret when she and Won have one final night together at an amusement park. Making memories and sharing joy, it’s a night that neither of them will forget.

Three weeks go by after Sa-rang is relocated and Won returns back to the King Hotel. With no knowledge of Sa-rang’s whereabouts until the very end of the episode and no communication, we’re left wondering with Won what will happen next. While Sa-rang is easily adaptable out of habit, will this forced separation be what keeps this couple apart? Who’s to say? But with the episode ending with the reveal of Won’s mother, there are other things that are going to distract Won leading into Episode 15.

Don’t think I forgot Da-eul and Pyeong-hwa. Da-eul has more of an upswing than Pyeong-hwa in King The Land Episodes 13-14, but we finally get to see a breakthrough for her. After discovering her husband lying to her on her wedding anniversary about a surprise meeting, she confronts him (but first, a proper beating). With the news that he’s been jobless for over a year and living entirely off of her efforts, Da-eul lays down the law. What makes it even better is that her in-laws see her point of view and support her.

Pyeong-hwa takes a step forward and two backward in King The Land Episodes 13-14. We see her stand up to her junior (who was promoted over her as a purser in previous episodes), but that’s not what ultimately gets under her junior’s skin. No, it’s the fact that Lee Ro-woon (Kim Jae-won) likes Pyeong-hwa instead of her. So, she decides to play dirty by revealing to their team that Pyeong-hwa has been hiding her divorcee status in order to get a promotion. Rather than cause a scene and rightfully smack her junior upside the head, Pyeong-hwa retreats. What I am hoping happens in the final two episodes is Pyeong-hwa leaving this toxic environment behind but, given how her personality has been over the course of the season, it seems unlikely.

There’s a lot going on in King The Land Episodes 13-14 that seems primed to set up the stakes for the final conclusion of our favorite couple. With Hwa-ran reaching new lows and being forced into a corner after her argument with her father, there’s a chance that she’s going to go even lower to ensure that her brother suffers the way she feels she’s suffered. While the epic showdown between the heirs felt rather lackluster in execution, it set up the reveal of Sa-rang’s and Won’s relationship to the entire hotel. With no place to hide and everything set up against them, King The Land Episodes 15-16 are going to be a doozy.

King The Land Episodes 13-14 are now available on Netflix, with new episodes airing on Saturdays and Sundays.