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Meh
The drama started out strong, but as the story went on it got progressively boring.I liked Park Min Young in "What's Wrong with Secretary Kim?" and "Marry My Husband". She does well in modern drama. But, here she was completely miscast. Firstly, her character looked more mature than ML. Secondly, they had very little chemistry with Yeon Woo Jin because both characters were really bland. She looked way better with Lee Dong Gun because he looked more mature and because Yi Yoong was a much more dynamic character.
The plot was also a mess. The storyline with the super secret organization went nowhere. The storyline with the super secret pawn shop also went nowhere. Yeok wanted to do everything - become king, be with Chae Kyung, and make up with his brother. But, he ended up being weak, indecisive, and flaky. He kept whining about everything and constantly changed plans making everyone pissed off because they spent way too much effort into trying to put him on the throne. And, after Yeok became king, he wasn't much better than his brother who allowed a corrupt minister run the show. Chae Kyung was frustrating because she meddled too much, had redundant monologues about feelings, and kept pushing Yeok to make up with his older brother when there was no point. She also fainted a lot.
The love triangle between Chae Kyung and the two brothers was pointless. Yi Yoong barely had any romantic interactions with her. But, I wish he did because that would've made her character a lot more interesting. And, as a couple they looked much better together.
And, lets not forget about the ridiculous super sneaky spying scenes where characters stood in plain sight and eavesdropped on other people's conversations without ever being noticed. This drama has perfect the art of invisibility.
The acting was all over the place. Park Min Young and Yeon Woo Jin were both underwhelming and very bland, while Lee Dong Gun was overly emotional and overacted in every scene. He also twitched his mouth a lot.
Overall, weak characters, flat plot, ridiculous writing made this drama pretty disappointing.
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Overall very angsty but not what I expected
As a melodrama entusiast i don't know why i'm not as engrossed as i initially thought. I thought this drama would be my cup of tea but actually not.The overall plot is really good since the main plot is basically a true story with lots of added drama. The drama starting really good especially in their teenage days i enjoyed it a lot, full of laughter, bickering and fluffiness. But when they grew up everyone seems to be different or growing up personality wise except Chae Kyung who saw the world with flowers and rainbow i guess. Her personality is just too naive for this kind of melo and angsty historical drama. Idk if her personality is based on the actual Queen Dan Kyung or not, but Chae Kyung's naivety annoyed me so much. She just seems so out of place with how politics, power struggle, revenge and deception works in the palace. For someone that has ties and relationship with the royal family she is just too naive with her ideal principal.
Except Chae Kyung personality and probably her father's too loyal personality, the others are fine and they fit perfectly with all those dramas going on. The OSTs are also really good. So overall i give this drama a 7.5 and i'm not going to rewatch it.
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It felt like a long-winded journey, with not many satisfying twists.
Queen for Seven Days is adapted from a tragic Joseon legend, centers on the love triangle among King Yeonsangun (Lee Dong Gun) as the older brother of Crown Prince Jinseongdaegun (Yeon Woo Jin), and Shin Chae Kyung (Park Min Young) who becomes the Queen at some point, but seven days later is deposed by political rivals, exiled, and must live apart from the her loved ones.Music and direction were beautiful. The love triangle is written remarkably well, that even though it's convoluted with the palace intrigues, it still manage to pull me in emotionally and made me feeling conflicted between the two ships. The love and hate relationships among our three leads involves political marriage, separation, and heartbreaking family dynamic. Another thing I appreciate is
As it unfolds, the story and becomes more and more depressing. It felt like a long-winded journey, with not many satisfying twists. Sometimes I am tired of Chae Kyung’s decisions that put many people in danger, but it was so sad to see her inner conflict being the Queen. She got into many lose-lose situations and I understand she just wants to survive and protects her heart.
What turns me off a bit towards the end is the turn of events that felt overly dramatic *heartless me*. The arc of the Crown Prince is so frustrating too. Though it didn't end as epic as I thought it would be, I understand it is adapted from real history. Oh man... living in this era is like hell :(
-Jan 2024, Yovita
Find me on Instagram: @kdramajudge
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The cast is great and there are strong, interesting characters. There’s tons of political conflict and lots of drama. The sets and costumes look great too.
I wish the bad guys had a bit more dimension because they were clearly bad from the start and somehow still get away with everything time and time again. Ugh! How dumb does that make the good guys look? Also some plot points seem really, really dumb, but what can you do when you’re trying to fill in the blanks from history?
So overall, I enjoyed this one, but a few things just threw me off.
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Love Conquers All (in the end)
I’ve just finished watching Queen For Seven Days and now, an hour later, am still shaken by the beauty of its ending and the extraordinary character poignantly played by always superb Park Min Young. If anyone fantasizes about being a royal or serving a royal court, this drama should disabuse them of that notion. Early on, I thought that the old adage ‘Love Conquers All’ was not true in the face of power politics but by the drama’s touching conclusion, my faith in the power of love was restored.Even more than Yeon Woo Jin, who played the Grand Prince, later the King, Lee Dong Un as his older half brother, the tyrannical King Yeonsangun, was more impressive, creating a three dimensional character of a tragic and fatally flawed son, brother, and ruler. I don’t often cry but his death scene, reconciling with his brother, and seeing his father, the late King calling to him, brought tears to my eyes.
Perhaps it was the intent of the writers but Yeon Woo Jin came across as weak, compared to his wife, and without benefit of reading history, one might wonder what kind of King he became. But his beloved Shin Chae Kyung, taught him both the meaning of real love and gave him the power to endure to the end.
All the parts are well acted, in particular Yeom Hye-Ran (who often appears in dramas with Park Min Young) as Lady Shin’s nanna, Jang Hyun-Sun as the loyal to a fault Vice-Premier and father of Lady Shin, and Do Jiwon who plays the Dowager Queen.
I’ll have to be a contrarian on the soundtrack. Even though the songs chosen are beautiful and well sung, modern pop songs don’t fit - for me - a historical drama. The music should reflect the sensibilities and aesthetic of the time portrayed.
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10/10 for everything in this drama. It quickly became my all time fav saeguk drama!
The ending was beautifully done. Eventho it's heartbreaking, but I couldnt ask for a better finale!
The love between Yeok and Chae Gyung was really reallyyy beautiful. They are the definition of True Love. It makes me cry just thinking about them :( I feel like they're real.
Yeon Woo Jin & Park Min Young has this undeniably powerful chemistry. Hope they will do another drama again together.
Applause to all the cast and crew for their hardwork in filming this drama. This drama deserved many awards!
Whew, now I need to work hard to detached myself from this drama lol
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Complex and somehow swoon-worthy King
It is 2021 and I have just watched this drama after it came highly recommended by an acquaintance. Said acquaintance gushed so much about this drama that I decided that I should watch it to find out whether it was truly great.I must say that the drama was excellent. Here are the elements that I liked:
- the OST is brilliant-I love the instrumental music. Beautifully composed.
- the cast acts well (in general)
- the King (Lee Dong Gun) stole the show. He was complex. He was tyrannical. He was insecure. He went quite mad. But, he loved the female lead fiercely. Somehow, he was swoon-worthy. I fell hard for the King. Lee Dong Gun really acted well. I could never hate him. I felt his hurt and pain. I seemed to understand him and why he did what he did.
- the plot was exciting and suspenseful (in general). I could not wait to watch the next episode and then, the next episode.
- ending was not a happily ever after one but show tried to deliver as happy an ending as possible
This drama was well-made. I didn’t like the female lead that much and there were other characters whom I found annoying but on the whole, this show deserves to be watched and ‘savoured’. It’s an excellent show with an excellent OST to match. Thumbs up!! Watch this!!
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Was rewatching this drama again so that I might as well write my thoughts on it this time. If you don't mind watching a love story while knowing that it'll have a sad ending, well this drama would be good. I mean, the story did open up from the moment Lady Shin was about to be killed by hanging so that should be hint enough, right? Mind you since this story will involve some very heavy political strive, it might get really hard to watch those bits happening in between the love story. That said, the love story between Lady Shin Chae-kyeong and Prince Lee Yeok was really so sweet and pure... and later on becoming painful as the battle to secure the throne comes between them. It was really sweet seeing how their love story started from childhood and later rekindled after they grew up and reunited after being separated for so long.
Having watched quite a number of Park Minyoung's work, I have to say that her role as Lady Shin was one of her best roles to date. Yeon Woojin as Lee Yeok also was amazing as he brought out all of the complicated emotions faced by Lee Yeok for having to struggle between protecting his love and the throne.
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This show made me feel in ways I can not describe.I felt the tenderness between lovers, the true meaning of friendship and the love and care between various characters.
The actors portrayed their characters magnificently, especially the king and I hardly saw any flaws being done by the other two main characters.They were all immersed in their character. A couple of the supporting characters also had fantastic acting skills.
This show is a must watch for those who enjoy beautifully portrayed characters and a fantastic story, that has its ups and downs, and its moments of laughter and sadness. The love in the show makes me believe that there is true honest love in this world.
P.S I think I fell for the king
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A visually stunning drama that completely fails Lady Shin and Joseon’s real history
🎬 Opening Credits: A Masterpiece• Let’s start with what this drama did exceptionally well: the opening credits.
• They are probably the most powerful, visually stunning, and emotionally charged credits I’ve ever seen in a historical drama.
• They set up a sense of tragedy, intensity, and beauty that immediately pulls you in.
🎭 Acting & Costuming: Top-Tier
• The performances were strong across the board.
• The costuming was beautiful and immersive, adding to the historical feel.
• From a production standpoint, this drama looks incredible.
❌ Where This Drama Completely Fails: The Story Itself
🚨 If the real Lady Shin could see this, she would be disgusted.
• Instead of telling the real story, the drama tries to glorify King Jungjong as if he were some tragic, noble figure.
• In reality, he was weak, cowardly, and completely abandoned her.
• He had the power to fight for her—but he didn’t.
• He only reinstated her title after she was dead, not because he loved her, but to make himself look good.
• From his actions we can only discern that the only reason Jungjong kept visiting Lady Shin after exiling her was guilt. If he truly loved her, he would have just brought her back. Instead he married someone else choosing comfort and power over love.
👑 The Bigger Political Picture: The Real Joseon Was Doomed Because of Men Like Jungjong
• King Jungjong wasn’t placed on the throne because he was a great leader—he was put there because he went along with whatever the ministers wanted. He didn’t even lead the revolution himself.
• The real king, Yeonsangun, was overthrown because he challenged the fact that the ministers controlled the court instead of the king having real power.
• There was no revolution from the people—only from the ministers, who wanted to protect their own interests.
🚨 This is why Joseon ultimately collapsed.
• If Yeonsangun had succeeded in removing corrupt Confucian ministers and making Joseon more like the Ming Empire, Joseon could have been stronger.
• A strong, centralized monarchy would have allowed Joseon to develop military power, real governance, and possibly avoided the repeated invasions that weakened it.
• Instead, Joseon decayed under its own corruption, because power remained in the hands of self-serving officials who manipulated weak kings like Jungjong.
💡 The Story I Would Have Told Instead
• Yeonsangun (the “villain” king) should have been the real hero.
• He was the one who actually wanted to purge corruption and make Joseon stronger.
• Instead of being trapped with a weak husband, Lady Shin could have found happiness with a leader who truly fought for what he believed in.
• But instead, she ended up exiled for 38 years because of a man too weak to stand up for her.
🚨 Final Verdict: A Beautifully Shot Misrepresentation of History
⭐ Rating: 3/5 ⭐⭐⭐☆☆
✅ One star for the opening credits.
✅ One star for the acting.
✅ One star for costuming.
❌ Minus 7 stars for glorifying a weak man and completely failing Lady Shin’s legacy.
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Most favorite historical drama
I watched queen for seven days because of park min young since she wasy favorite korean actress and i know this series is worth to watch because of her, the first episide is really interesting to the point that you don't want to stop from watching and the young woo jin and young min young are exactly how they look like and i was like wowwww good casting!! Not all of kdrama casted as young and adult looks similar but in queen for 7 days they really have similarities.. They really showcase their acting skills in this series all of the cast really did their best and it was really a good drama and they give justice to the ending its really hard fore to move on i want park min young and yeon woo jin more.. hope they casted in a drama again in the futureWas this review helpful to you?
