After a long year of waiting, Kingdom is back! The acclaimed Joseon zombie thriller returns with more gore, heart-pounding pursuits, and an unraveling mystery of the dehumanizing plague. As our zombie fighters learn more about the plague and its origins, they become more strategic about navigating the zombie-infested lands. The zombies’ threat escalates in the enemy’s hands, and our hero, Crown Prince Chang, leads the charge to save his people and reclaim the nation from power-hungry enemies that seek to depose the royal family.
The first season was a commentary on hunger, and this season — according to writer Kim Eun-hee — revolves around the theme of blood. We see everything from bloodshed and bloodlust to bad blood and bloodlines, and it’s the lineage piece that this season explores further. As we delve into this bloody story from a more political angle, we see how revenge, inferiority, and desire manifest to the detriment of the royal court and the nation at large.
The second season picks up right where we ended in Season 1, and if you can’t be bothered to read any recaps, here’s my tl;dr version of Season 1 (spoiler alert!):
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Joseon’s king is a zombie, courtesy of the nefarious prime minister. The crown prince sets out to uncover his father’s illness and finds himself in a zombie plague caused by a zombie stew. The fake pregnant queen, also the prime minister’s daughter, collects pregnant women to steal a son to inherit the throne. The mentee of the doctor who infected the king finds the resurrection plant that caused the plague, and she discovers that the zombies, who were believed to awaken at night, actually arise in cold temperatures. Winter is here, which means the insatiable zombies are awake 24/7.
Critical details are missing (you try summarizing the whole season in 100 words or less — it’s hard!), so I suggest reading Part 1 and Part 2 reviews of season 1 for a more thorough refresher. As with the first season review, season 2’s review is in two parts: The first part will cover episodes 1-4, and the second part will cover episodes 5-6. Get ready for some blood-curdling entertainment.
Three years ago, Prime Minister CHO HAK-JU (Ryu Seung-ryong) confronts an impending defeat against the Japanese. Physician Lee Seung-hui presents the resurrection plant, which he claims can bring the dead to life but transform them into flesh-eating monsters. He explains that a needle with the plant’s essence is inserted into a dead person’s glabella, but the dead will not rise if the body has started rotting or the brain has been damaged. This resurrection plant is the new strategy on the map.
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With this desperate strategy, Prime Minister Cho walks through the camp of dispirited soldiers to find Lord AHN HYEON (Heo Jun-ho), who oversees the collection of nametags from the rows of dead soldiers. This intro hints at the origin of the zombie plague.
Picking up from season 1, the zombie stampede arrives in Sangju in broad daylight, dispelling the notion about the zombies’ nocturnal nature. The first line of defense is a trap pit full of sharpened bamboos that pierce the hoard of zombies that fall in. It’s horrifying but more horrific that the pit fills up. The cannons are fired as the second line of defense, but soon enough, the incessant stream of zombies piles up against the barricade, forcing Crown Prince LEE CHANG (Joo Ji-hoon) to retreat with the remaining troops as the barricade collapses.
On the rafts, Young-shin (Kim Sung-gyu) manages to pull away from the attacking zombies with a few men. One of the men discovers his bitten hand and begs for mercy, but the fearful survivors push the man into the water to drown. Despite the uncertainty of the zombie takeover, Young-shin orders the men to row toward the Sangju citadel.
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The Sanju citadel prepares their ladders when they hear the horn of surrender, but only a few manage to climb up to safety before the zombies arrive. Prince Chang races toward the citadel but halts at the sight of the zombies that managed to penetrate the blockade set up at the river entry point. Lord Ahn Hyeon directs Chang to the secret passageway north of the river, and they all run for their lives toward their only escape.
Young-shin’s party joins Chang en route to the passageway, and they find the old gate chained up and locked. The zombies are close behind, so the troop quickly builds a barricade while others try to break the lock. Chang’s royal guard Moo-young (Kim Sang-ho) finally breaks the lock and ushers the remaining troops to safety, but the door gets stuck. Lord Ahn Hyeon’s right-hand man, Deok-sung (Jin Sung-kyu), sacrifices himself by chaining himself to the door. He’s been bitten, so he stabs his chained torso with his sword, effectively locking the gate.
The survivors reluctantly retreat to safety as Deok-sung suffers attacks by the bloodthirsty zombies. Young-shin remains behind, and Deok-sung apologizes to him with his last dying breath before Young-shin slits his throat to end his suffering. Deok-sung’s apology is curious and alludes to his involvement in the death of Young-shin’s family.
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In the Frozen Valley, doctor SEO-BI (Bae Doo-na) climbs up the waterfall with Magistrate CHO BEOM-PAL (Jeon Suk-ho) to escape the growling zombies below. Beom-pal is bewildered by the zombies’ consciousness during daylight, and Seo-bi explains that the zombies resemble the resurrection plant, which thrives in cold temperatures. Now that the solstice has passed, the winter weather allows the zombies to stay awake even during daylight. To escape the zombies, Seo-bi and Beom-pal head further up the mountain toward Mungyeong Saejae, where the Prime Minister is stationed.
In Hanyang, the head of the Royal Investigation Bureau, MIN CHI-ROK (Park Byung-eun) summons the State Councilor to present evidence of three dead women and a strangled newborn, who were discovered last night. One of the dying women revealed that the remaining women at Naeseonjae would be slaughtered, just like them. Naeseonjae is the queen’s home, and Investigator Min is determined to unveil the queen’s secrets.
As the queen (Kim Hye-joon) awaits the shaman’s reading, she’s informed about the investigation of Naeseonjae. She refuses to seek help from her father, Prime Minister Cho, and she asserts that she’ll be untouchable once she claims her son from one of the pregnant women in Naeseonjae. The shaman predicts that the queen will hold a prince in her arms before the next crescent moon, and the sinister queen smiles.
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The zombies continue to linger at the citadel gates in Sangju, and the people hide in fear. Lord Ahn Hyeon’s long-serving soldier notes how the plague looks different from three years ago and wonders if they are paying for their sins now. Lord Ahn Hyeon asserts that he does not regret his decision because he saved Gyeongsang from invasion.
Moo-young eavesdrops on this conversation and reports Lord Ahn Hyeon’s familiarity with the plague to Chang. He advises Chang to escape, but Chang suspects that Moo-young is acting on Prime Minister Cho’s orders. He accuses Moo-young of being the mole (one of the unresolved mysteries of season 1), and Moo-young pleads innocent, reminding Chang that he left his family and pregnant wife behind to protect the prince.
The confrontation is cut short by an urgent report of a fire, which burns down the storage facility for the last remaining food in Sangju. The fire was caused by a man who dropped a lamp while trying to gather food for his hungry son, and the man’s hopelessness highlights the dire state of the nation, exacerbated by the plague.
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At Mungyeong Saejae, Prime Minister Cho grants refuge to Beom-pal, as the last remaining heir of the Haewon Cho clan, and to Seo-bi because she worked doctor under Lee Seung-hui. Prime Minister Cho catches Seo-bi studying the resurrection plant and discovers that they know about the zombie plague. Seo-bi admits that she read about the plant and illness in her mentor’s medical journals and proves her knowledge of resurrecting the dead. Prime Minister Cho decides to bring Seo-bi with him to Hanyang, but he has one deed left to complete before they return.
Prince Chang determines that Mungyeong Saejae is their only hope for survival and strategizes their approach. Soldiers lure the zombies to the gate of the citadel by dripping their blood, and Chang escapes through the underground passageway guarded by dead Deok-sung. They head for the northwest gate, which has the tallest walls and therefore will most likely have little to no soldiers posted for defense. Chang asserts that he will kill Prime Minister Cho, save the nation from hunger and the plague, and lead a new nation.
At Mungyung Saejae, Seo-bi jumps at a strange sound from a palanquin and sneaks into the inner court to find an empty bloody palanquin with unlocked cuffs. Prince Chang & co. scale the walls of Mungyeon Saejae, and the troop clears the way for Chang to enter the inner court. Young-shin alerts Lord Ahn Hyeon that the camp is unusually empty, and they quickly run after Chang.
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Blood drips from Chang’s
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