Kingdom (Season 2) - Fast Zombies and Fancy Hats

[Giggling Ghast]

Anyone else watch Season 2 of this South Korean zombie horror series? I thought this season was pretty spectacular. I’m impressed that they managed to make the zombies as intimidating in daylight as they were at night. There were a lot of great action scenes this season as well, moreso than in Season 1.

Big spoilers (don’t open if you haven’t finished the season):

I wasn’t too shocked that Mu-Yeong was the mole, as it really couldn’t have been anyone else. Still, I was saddened by his death, as he was still a likeable character.

I was actually afraid Prince Chang might kill himself at the end rather than murder a baby. Thank God he’d still alive.

Anyone want to speculate who that lady was at the end of Season 2? And what do you think will happen to the young king?

[Brother Oni]

Big spoilers (don’t open if you haven’t finished the season):

I wasn’t too shocked that Mu-Yeong was the mole, as it really couldn’t have been anyone else. Still, I was saddened by his death, as he was still a likeable character.

I was actually afraid Prince Chang might kill himself at the end rather than murder a baby. Thank God he’d still alive.

Anyone want to speculate who that lady was at the end of Season 2? And what do you think will happen to the young king?

Finally managed to find time to sit down and watch the series.

I've always been a sucker for historically accurate period dramas and I really like the attention to detail; for example, all the educated characters write in Chinese (mostly because Hangul was banned about a century ago and was only just making its way back into public consciousness).

Some minor nitpicks and answers to your speculation:


I'm wondering why the Haewon Cho soldiers had to shoot Mu-Yeong in the first place - he ostensibly was a friendly and it wasn't until he had the sappan wood and questioning Cho Hak-ju that he could have been considered hostile. They still fired a bunch of arrows blind into the house and anybody would be hostile after that.

I do like that they resolved one question I had from the first season - the bodies of the court ladies that the former king munched on were weighed down and dumped into the reservoir, so those bodies didn't become zombies, but it also explains why the Queen had a stash of pet zombies (she diverted a couple of the bodies away into her palace instead of being dumped).

The fact that extreme heat keeps the worms alive even in water is also curious (otherwise the cooking process would have killed them in the first episode of season 1) and feels like either a 'oh crap, plot hole' or a Checkov's Gun of some sort.

I'm also wondering - what animal lays the eggs in the first place? Trying to exterminate the plant is half of it - if they can stop the critter that lays the eggs in the first place, then that would go a long way to preventing further outbreaks.

As a side note, I do like how Seo-bi checks under the leaves of every plant she finds in the post-7 years time skip scene, which leads me to think that she's also thought of the possibility.



The lady was apparently going around selling seeds for the Resurrection Plant, presumably to encourage more zombie outbreaks in Korea. That leads me to suspect that she's planning to either de-stabilise and/or overthrow the Joseon Dynasty, either because she was paid to do so (eg. China, or the Japanese wanting to have another go after the recent Imjin Wars) or she has a grudge against the monarchy (maybe another exiled line of royalty like Lee Chang's uncle on that island).

Alternately, she's a one-woman Doomsday cult and wants to bring about the end of the world.

In all likelihood, the young king will probably end up like the former King and be another ravenous zombie, so Lee Chang might be torn between going out and hunting down the mysterious lady and taking up his duties as King.

[Giggling Ghast]

I do like that they resolved one question I had from the first season - the bodies of the court ladies that the former king munched on were weighed down and dumped into the reservoir, so those bodies didn't become zombies, but it also explains why the Queen had a stash of pet zombies (she diverted a couple of the bodies away into her palace instead of being dumped).

I need to clarify something.

First, you have to remember that there are two types of zombies, which I'm going to refer to as Type 1 and Type 2.

Type 1 zombies are dead people who were raised by the resurrection plant. Their bite does not "turn" any of their victims. Thus, the undead king could eat a thousand ladies-in-waiting and none of them would come back as zombies.

As he was also a Type 1 Zombie, Lord Ahn Hyeon's bite did not turn Lord Cho Hak-ju. The people from the village of Sumang, who were brought back as Type 1 Zombies and unleashed upon the Japanese, also could not turn their victims; thus, there was no danger of the Japanese coming back as undead.

However, the bodies of anyone killed by Type 1 Zombies are still infected by the worms, and if anyone else ate their flesh, they would become Type 2 Zombies — the ones who can turn other people into zombies and can infect others in turn. That is, of course, what happened at Jiyulheon.

As for the zombies under the palace, those were the two prisoners from the first season who Cho Hak-ju fed infected meat to determine how virulent the plague was, just before he quarantined the eastern portion of the country. They were Type 2 Zombies and thus could turn anyone.


The lady was apparently going around selling seeds for the Resurrection Plant, presumably to encourage more zombie outbreaks in Korea. That leads me to suspect that she's planning to either de-stabilise and/or overthrow the Joseon Dynasty, either because she was paid to do so (eg. China, or the Japanese wanting to have another go after the recent Imjin Wars) or she has a grudge against the monarchy (maybe another exiled line of royalty like Lee Chang's uncle on that island).

Alternately, she's a one-woman Doomsday cult and wants to bring about the end of the world.

In all likelihood, the young king will probably end up like the former King and be another ravenous zombie, so Lee Chang might be torn between going out and hunting down the mysterious lady and taking up his duties as King.

She could also be a mad scientist deliberately spreading the plant to isolated areas as a means of conducting experiments with the zombies. That one zombie with the bells made me think that.

I wonder if the young king will become infected or if he will be changed in some other way. After all, he's had the worms lying dormant inside of him apparently for years. Might he actually become immune?