REVIEW: ‘King The Land’ Episodes 15-16

It’s been a wholesome road watching our two lovebirds in King The Land try to navigate their feelings and the dynamics of hotel politics behind the scenes. When we last checked in, Cheon Sa-rang (Im Yoon-ah) and Gu Won (Lee Jun-ho) were separated. Sa-rang had been banished to the rapidly declining King Tourist Hotel without Won’s knowledge. With the preview going into King The Land Episodes 15-16, it was hinted that Sa-rang would likely leave Won in these final episodes. Fortunately, this is not the case.

The writers of King The Land Episode 15 tease the viewers with hints directing us towards a sad ending for our love birds. Sa-rang doesn’t get much time to rest at King Tourist Hotel. With the subsidiary’s owner writing it off as a failure, it seems like the business is doomed to be sold, and the hotel exiles are forced to languish forever. But Sa-rang is determined to make the best out of the situation on her terms.

Meanwhile, Won comes face to face with his mother, who has appeared years later. We do finally get an explanation when his mother meets with Chairman Gu Il-han (Son Byung-ho). The reason for her re-appearance? She has heard that Il-han has interfered with Won’s relationship, banishing Sa-rang, much like he banished her many years ago. With her son’s happiness threatened, she can’t help but re-appear to remind Il-han of his place.

What ensues is a tense run-in and conversation between mother and son. After so many years of trying to find any trace of his mother, he finally meets her. Lee Jun-ho showcases a range of emotions, allowing himself to peel back the layers of Won to display his fully vulnerable state. We’re all children in the end, and meeting his mother reveals the little child still buried within Won.

But the meeting sparks something in Won. Newly motivated, he travels out to King Tourist Hotel to bring Sa-rang back. Little does he know that being hands-on at the Tourist Hotel has awakened something in Sa-rang. Which again, harkens to those little teases that the writers keep peppering in this episode. While he sweeps in and buys up the subsidiary hotel from its owner, Won thinks that the matter is now resolved. However, he isn’t picking up on Sa-rang’s hesitation to return back to King The Land.

The couple are in different places in their life. Won is ready to propose. In fact, a decent amount of time is spent with him picking at the ring and planning an elaborate display. When the two meet at the restaurant where he first took her after she broke up with her boyfriend, it’s a full circle moment for the two. But, just before Won drops the big question, Sa-rang reveals she wants to call it quits. An incredibly rude cliffhanger moment brought to you by the King The Land writers.

Thankfully, in King The Land Episode 16, Sa-rang clarifies things for us. She realizes that working in a hotel like the King Hotel is not what her heart desires. It isn’t about the money or the prestige of status. It’s about making others happy. So, she aims to quit the King Hotel, pursue Won on her own terms away from the political manipulations of his father, and make something that she can be proud of.

The idea of choosing what the heart wants, over what society or the company tells us to, has been a running theme over the course of King The Land. While present in every episode, this theme looms large in Episode 16. With Sa-rang intent on following her heart, everyone close to her comes in to support her.

There’s no stopping Sa-rang with the support behind her. Her grandmother, as she comes to discover, has been putting aside money all these years from when Sa-rang volunteered her free time to help her with the restaurant so that she would be prepared for the next steps in her life. With a huge sum of money available to her, she can purchase her dream property.

We watch as she prepares a really cute seaside hotel titled Hotel Amor. Inspired by their first time staying together, we see Sa-rang’s vision and expertise come together. Her heart and soul are everywhere in the hotel and Won can’t help trying to help her in every way that he can. This all comes to an end when he shows up for an interview she’s hosting for a part-time employee. Getting down on one knee, he proposes, and, as you may guess, the episode ends with the predictable wedding that we’ve all been waiting for.

But what about the supporting characters in King The Land? Don’t worry. They all find their happy endings in some way. Gang Da-eul (Kim Ga-eun) finally gets a chance to one-up her superior at her job. Leading up to this confrontation, she has documented all of her superior’s misuse of power and funds. When her superior comes to have her fire someone, Da-eul tells her that they should fire the superior. Supporting her in this moment is a conveniently timed arrival of Won and Noh Sang-sik (Ahn Se-ha).

Oh Pyeong-hwa (Go Won-hee) and Lee Ro-woon (Kim Jae-won) also get their happy ending. More importantly, Pyeong-hwa finally stands up to her ex-husband. In King The Land Episode 15, she finally takes a stand and kicks him where the sun don’t shine. After that incident and with Ro-woon following along after her, she finally feels comfortable enough to date her junior. Finally, at peace, we get to see her arc completed.

As for Won’s sister, Gu Hwa-ran (Kim Sun-young), she is forced to take a look at her own loneliness, but also how she’s impacting her son, Ji-hu. After an explosive conversation with her husband, her son sees her alone and tries to comfort her by telling her he’ll go back to the US like she had wanted. Won sees himself in his nephew and, in Episode 16, tells his sister point-blank that she needs to make sure that Ji-hu doesn’t have the life they had. Her moment of happiness comes when she pulls Ji-hu away from the gate before he can check in. She takes him home, both with smiles on their faces.

King The Land Episodes 15-16 wrap up the series’ respective storylines in mostly satisfactory ways. While the storyline surrounding Won’s mother felt almost hastily wrapped up, it did provide us and Won with closure. The arcs the writers have planned out for Sa-rang and Won, along with Sa-rang’s friends, are much-earned.

At the end of the day, King The Land wore its heart and message on its sleeve. In King The Land Episodes 15-16, we finally get to see the payoff of what happens when we choose what we want over duty and loyalty to a company. No company is worth the loss of love, family, or sleep. In the end, all we have is our happiness. Are we living the life we’ve wanted or the life that’s been dictated to us? Through Sa-rang and Won’s journey as well as others’ journeys, we get the answer to that question.

All episodes of King The Land are available now on Netflix.