King the Land Ep 8 KILLS IT in the ratings as Lee Jun Ho becomes BEST KISSER in K-drama land

Photo courtesy JTBC

King the Land, Episode 8 was hilariously funny and Lee Jun Ho killed it in the kissing department

As King the Land continues to be the most popular Korean drama this season, it probably isn’t surprising to see King the Land, Episode 8 air in South Korea last night to its highest rating yet.

According to Nielsen Korea, that rating was 12.31 percent nationwide, which is an increase of 1.71 percent over its previous episode, and a rating that put the drama firmly in first place for the day.

In Seoul, King the Land, Episode 8 fared even better, grabbing 13. 42 percent of the audience share, an increase of almost 2.0 percent above its previous episode.

Not surprising really as the last two episodes, which centered around a visiting Arab prince, were beautifully written, very funny and, of course, culminated at the end of last night’s episode in that long-awaited kiss between Gu Won and Sa Rang.

A kiss that, instead of the “dead fish lips” kisses we often get in Korean dramas, was not only long, sensual and utterly beautiful, but put lead actor Lee Jun Ho on the throne as Best Kisser in K Drama Land.

With Im Yoon Ah proving she isn’t bad herself either.

In other words, roll on Episode 9 is all I can say because, until King the Land, I have to admit I had not watched Lee Jun Ho in any Korean drama and was only familiar with him as a member of the boy band 2PM.

After that kiss, though, he has quickly shot into my Top 3 list of ‘South Korean Actors to Keep an Eye On’ as, in my opinion, any actor that can do that on screen has a long and very successful career ahead of them.

The next episode of King the Land will air on JTBC in South Korea on Saturday at 22:30 (KST), with Netflix streaming the episode worldwide soon after.

Now watch Lee Jun Ho and Yoona clown around while filming King the Land in the JTBC video below.

Yep, they have just as superb chemistry off screen as on, eh?

 

About Michelle Topham

Brit-American journalist based in Austria, former radio DJ at 97X WOXY, and Founder/CEO of Leo Sigh. I've covered K-drama, K-pop, J-pop and music news for over a decade.