The much-anticipated second season of the Korean medieval zombie series, ‘Kingdom’, was released in March this year.

I watched it on its release but can’t remember why I didn’t get around to writing the review then.

Watching ‘Train to Busan’ put me in the mood for more Korean zombie fare, so I decided to watch both seasons of ‘Kingdom’, which is a good excuse to write that belated review of season 2.

Just so you know, if you haven’t watched the first season, this post contains *SPOILERS* for season 1.

As with the first season, the second season comprises 6 episodes. Again, as with the first season, the amount that’s packed into 6 episodes, ranging in length from 39 to 52 minutes, is astonishing.

At the end of season 1, our characters were left facing a nasty surprise. Believing they were safe from the zombies as the sun rose, to their horror it dawned on them that daylight has done nothing to slow the relentless charge of the mindless creatures.

The 2nd season continues from that moment as we re-join Prince Lee Chang (Ju Ji-hoon) and his former tutor and mentor, Lord Ahn Hyeon (Heo Joon-ho), together with the prince’s bodyguard, Mu-yeong (Kim Sang-ho) and the superb rifle marksman, Yeong-shin (Kim Sung-kyu) as they and Ahn Hyeon’s men now have to defend the citadel of Sangju against the approaching zombie swarm with no rest and no hope of respite.

Mu-yeong (Kim Sang-ho) and Ahn Hyeon (Heo Joon-ho)

What’s changed? Why are the zombies still on the move?

It’s Seo-bi (Bae Doo-na) who solves that conundrum.

Seo-bi (Bae Doo-na) and Cho Beom-pal (Jeon Seok-ho)

Having found the mysterious resurrection plant at the end of the first season, she’s now trapped along with the bumbling Cho Beom-pal (Jeon Seok-ho) on one side of a stream with zombies on the other side.

Knowing the creatures fear fire and water, it comes to Seo-bi that it’s not the sun that keeps the zombies away but the temperature. Sangju is further north from Dongnae, where the zombie plague had broken out. And the temperature has dropped with the approach of winter.

But the prince and his cohorts have no time to work out why the sun hasn’t stopped the zombies. They’re caught in an action-packed fight as they try to beat back the ever-increasing horde.

The desperation and ingenuity of the characters as they fight on even as their defences crumble is thrilling to watch as you wonder how many are going to survive.

One character stands out – Ahn Hyeon’s right-hand man, Deok Sung, played by Jin Seon-kyu. Within minutes of the zombies attacking, he proves his courage and forward-thinking. Knowing next to nothing about his character, I found him admirably brave.

That opening battle sets the pace for the rest of the season as Prince Chang focusses on taking the fight to his nemesis, Cho Hak-ju (Ryu Seung-ryong).

Seo-bi and Beom-pal, meanwhile, manage to get away from the zombies but are separated from the others with no safe way of returning to the city of Sangju. But they might find questionable safety where the Five Armies are stationed because Beom-pal is part of the powerful Haewon Cho clan; Cho Hak-ju is his uncle.

Prince Chang now knows that Cho Hak-ju isn’t far, having travelled to the fortified mountain pass of Mungyeong Saejae where the Five Armies have closed the gates in and out of the province, trapping the people of Sangju with the zombies.

Along with Ahn Hyeon, Mu-yeong, Yeong-shin and Ahn Hyeon’s best men, Prince Chang makes his move to infiltrate the pass.

Yet, he knows there is a traitor among them.

The story is split between the prince and his team, Seo-bi and Beom-pal, and the political intrigues in the capital, Hanyang, that revolve around the royal family.

We’re introduced to a new character, Min Chi-rok, played by Park Byung-eun, head of the Royal Commandery Division.

While investigating a series of particularly loathsome murders, he begins to grow suspicious of the queen and her household.

One would expect Min Chi-rok and the captain of the Five Armies, Lee Kang-yoon, played by Kim Tae-hoon, to be loyal to the royal family and, by extension, to Cho Hak-ju and the Haewon Cho clan. I found their storylines interesting despite both having little to no backstory. Faced with having to choose a side, they reveal their true colours.

This season builds up fleeting moments and small, seemingly unimportant details from the previous season.

The mystery of what happened “three years ago”, mentioned a couple of times in the first season is shown in all its harrowing detail in a well-filmed piece of backstory.

Each episode is infused with tension as characters battle physical, external threats and internal ones too.

Each battle is important, not just providing eye-popping spectacle, but moving the story forward.

The properties of the resurrection plant slowly come to light, thanks to the diligently, analytical Seo-bi as she refuses to stop her efforts to find a cure for the disease.

Although this is a zombie story, the politics of the time play a big part.

We see how far Cho Hak-ju will go to cement his power in the kingdom.

We see the true extent of the reprehensible motives of Queen Consort Cho (Kim Hye-jun) as she strives to guarantee her place on the throne.

Yet, what makes this series stand out and earns top marks, in my opinion, is the great character development.

Prince Chang’s growth from a haughty and aloof member of royalty to a man willing to place himself in harm’s way for his people’s safety is almost faultless and very believable. Ju Ji-hoon does an excellent job of depicting the heavy emotional toll being visited on his character.

Seo-bi continues as one who ‘knows her place’ but, in this season, her drive to find a cure and her belief in the prince’s cause has her stepping out of the shadows – sometimes, you can almost see her taking a deep breath before doing so – to do, what she believes, hopes, is the right thing.

As we’re given a glimpse of Mu-yeong together with his dear wife, played by Ahn Eun-jin, in a flashback scene, we see, without any overt show, how much this couple love one another. His story arc truly made my heart ache. Few words are needed as Kim Sang-ho conveys so much through his expressions.

When we first met Yeong-shin, he seemed little more than a jaded soldier who hated everything and had given up on hope. As this season progresses, however, his true mettle shines through and it is formidable.

Cho Hak-ju demonstrates more stone-cold scheming while continuing to show why he’s not to be underestimated. But, instead of making him a black-hearted villain and nothing more, the writers show the reasoning and – yes – logic that explain why he does what he does. Despite that, his final move against Prince Chang – made as a vengeful, grieving father and not a politician – is unbelievably appalling.

Queen Consort Cho proves, beyond a doubt, she’s her father’s daughter, maybe even more so than he himself realises. With very little dialogue, still Kim Hye-jun succeeds in conveying how despicable her character is by her facial expressions alone; I find her smile unnerving and chilling.

As for Cho Beom-pal, he continues to provide unexpected and, sometimes, much needed moments of comedy. He’s still a coward, but with each situation, we see him trying so hard to be brave. He eventually comes to a point where he has to choose between the Haewon Cho clan and doing the right thing. Jeon Seok-ho does a good job portraying his character’s internal struggle.

Season 2 moves at a faster pace than the first season, yet still manages to tell a coherent story.

Space is given to show the political deliberations of the councillors who must come up with a viable alternative heir to the throne if the queen fails to give birth to a son. Far from bogging down the action, their scenes serve to move the story along.

The writers don’t ignore the zombie outbreak either. Through Seo-bi’s study of the plant and the patient journal the king’s physician had kept detailing what had been done to the sick king, we learn how the plant resurrects the dead and what caused the outbreak itself.

As in the first season, the visuals are great, whether we’re out in the open or in the palace grounds.

Scenes set in the dark of night don’t leave you wishing someone would figuratively switch on the light – I had no trouble making out what was happening, which makes for a refreshing change.

The costumes are gorgeous; the attention to detail even on an item that’s barely on screen for 5 minutes is stunning.

Compared to season 1, there’s not much zombie action. But the first and last episodes more than make up for that, showing the fast-moving, chomping creatures in all their glory. The choreography of the fights and the cinematography capture every moment of violent danger and the awfulness of the situation.

By the last fight, the characters are all dressed in white, the colour of mourning. As the fighting progresses, their increasingly blood-smeared garments are visually striking.

Not to say this season is perfection – there are a couple of plot points that seem a little too convenient, that could have been written better. But, honestly, with so much happening, I wasn’t pulled out of the moment.

The series could have easily ended with season 2, but we’ve been left with events that point to a third season. I am very much looking forward to what else the writers have in store… so long as they don’t drop the ball.

‘Kingdom’ is a series I’ll happily watch again. A big part of its draw for me is the great characters; it’s no chore at all to spend time in their company.

As an interesting little aside, while looking up the different locations in relation to modern-day Korea, I discovered that Dongnae, where the zombie outbreak started in season 1, is a district in the north of the city of Busan! Wonder if that was a deliberate choice on the part of the writers…

[Images - Netflix]

TV/Netflix Review - 'Kingdom' Season 2