So,
there's this Korean series, available on Netflix, called "The Kingdom". I would not even be aware of it had a friend not recommended it to me.
Basically, it's a zombie outbreak story, with six forty-odd minute episodes in the currently available first season.
If you're anything like me, you might be rolling your eyes already. "great, another zombie story". To be honest, I never particularly liked zombies in fiction, and it certainly didn't get better due to popculture's oversaturation with them in the past decade or so. I couldn't get past the first episode, let alone season, of Walking Dead.
This one, though, I really recommend. It's very appealing visually, it's well-written and well-acted, and it has an original premise.
See, the story is set in Joseon Korea (17th century if I'm gonna guess?). On top of that, and this is the crucial part, Patient Zero is the king of Korea, and the main protagonist is the crown prince.
This shows pretty much every trope, cliché and plot device to develop and justify such stories in a new light. What is boring and overplayed in zombie-related stories works better here, because the setting is very important to how things develop, and not just thrown in as an exotic place for living dead to eat faces.
Throw in some political intrigue and social commentary, and the end result is much better than I'd anticipated.
Can't say much for fear of spoilers, but this shit is gold. If I'm any indication, it's the zombie story for a guy who hates zombie stories.
