Mr. Queen (2020)

This is a lover letter to our queen

I loved this drama beyond words, I laughed and cried and laughed again, pretty much all the cast is phenomenal. So here let me gash about it.

Story: the plot is so good!! although the falling in water and appearing in another timeline or world thing trope is so overused, but here it was brilliant because we didn’t know what happened to her all the series is she dead is she not where is she?! So good I was thinking about it day and night.
Acting: the queen it’s all her she is a queen she got my heart, she is so funny and played the “guy” part like a..well guy hehe. 10/10
Ending: the perfect ending in history I cried buckets in the last episode the ending was everything I wished for!
WATCH THIS DRAMA! YOU ARE MISSING OUT!!

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I started watching this series over a year ago and stopped at episode 8 back in April of last year. Maybe I was bored. Too much was going on plotwise and honestly they really didn't explain the family dynamics to my liking. However, I have a goal of finishing the shows in my currently watching list. I started rewatching and the show actually is better in the 2nd half. I usually don't say that. Most shows go down hill but this one picked up and became more interesting each episode.

The 2 best things about the show are that the cast is phenomenal and there are some genuinely funny, full on, laugh out loud moments. Shin Hye Sun and Cha Chung Hwa are pure comedy gold. Choi Jin Hyuk's voice was perfection. It's a good series to watch at least once.

I am shouting out epsiode 10. This epsiode was LOL funny. First when the Queen rolled out of the bed at the beginning when she was about to touch the King's nose and 2nd when Lady Choi smacked the Chef on the lips, I about hit the floor. That whole scene in the bamboo forest was hysterical.

4/21/23

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The first historical drama that successfully captured my heart!

As you can all see, my watchlist has literally no historical dramas/movies in my completed list or my plan to watch list. I’ve only seen Moon Lovers which failed me at the first few episodes, and sadly I had to drop them. Since then, I tend to avoid watching historical dramas as I thought it wasn’t my cup of tea. I tried watching the King’s Case Note once, and yet again I dropped them. And eventually I came with a thought that every historical dramas/films are B.O.R.I.N.G. However, then comes Mr. Queen, which I heard was really different from other historical dramas with the eccentric female lead and a comedic storyline. Who would’ve thought this drama would caught my eye—the eyes of someone who once avoids historical dramas.

The first episode didn’t really wow me to be honest, but oddly enough, I continued until the fifth episode, the eighth episode, the sixteenth episode, and eventually it lead me to the very last episode. I have to admit that some of the episodes in the middle (Ep 15-17) is a little boring as it focuses more on the dark side of the Palace instead of focusing on the King and Queen, but the trio—Court Lady Choi, Hong Yeon and the Queen herself—is something that always made me excited to watch a new episode. The side characters in the story left a big impact on the whole drama, as it made the drama more alive, more entertaining, and more beautiful!

The casts were all amazing! Shin Hye Sun killed the role, I really couldn’t think of any other actress that could pull off this role better than her! And what can I say for Cha Chung Hwa (Court Lady Choi), Che Seo Eun (Hong Yeon), Lee Jae Won (Du Il), Kim In Kwon (Royal Chef Man Bok), B.A.P’s Yoo Young Jae (Kim Hwan).... they were all ah-may-zing! Just WOW! Killed it! The only reason why I couldn’t give a full mark on the acting part was because there were some actors (like the man with the scar on his face and Dam Hyang’s dad) that seemed a little awkward when acting, but overall, it’s excellent!

What I really love about this drama is the balance between the genres. You could get this super nervewracking scenes, but it could make you laugh out loud in split seconds with the sudden comedy. You could see this beautiful friendship between the FL and the side characters and the beautiful romance between the leads. It was all written flawlessly. I really love how they took 35 minutes of the last episode to give every protagonists (even the side characters) a happy ending. I don’t really get why people are not happy with the ending of this drama which shows Bong Hwan going back to his body and So Yong going back to the Queen’s body once again... We may never see Queen So Yong beat Man Bok with her cooking skills, or seeing her use weird words that the King always fail to understand, or seeing her act inappropriately that made Court Lady Choi stressed out most of the time, but the happy ending here satisfies me so much, as it still makes everyone happy. Everyone gets justice and each of their own happy endings. It ends with all smiles, and that’s what really matters for me.

Thank you, Mr Queen for showing me beautiful friendships and romance and also for showing me that a happy ending doesn’t really mean the death of all the antagonists—but forgiving is. Despite all the controversies that has happened to Mr. Queen, I’m thankful that I had the chance to watch this from start til finish. Beautiful drama.

Overall, a 9.5/10! Off to Mr Queen: Bamboo Forest! Let’s go! ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

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A must watch Joseon period drama.

What a drama...! Totally enjoyed it. A modern day chef swapping in a princess body and ready to get married to the King. And followed with lots of chaos, comedy, heart breaking moments, jealousy and what not. A clear adventure for viewers to seek a wholesome drama and happy ending also HOPE for a new season.

A modern way to present the story of Joseon era and perfectly executed by each characters. Hae-Sun and Jung-hyun chemistry is so good and how they clear their misunderstanding and grow closer to each other Supporting characters gave astonishing performance within the same story frame.

The plot is set on a good pace which will give a satisfacting ending with clear explanation and salvation to those who needed.

Music are also good, you can check the playlist on youtube also.

PLEASE add this drama on your watchlist you will not regret it.

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GET READY TO LAUGHT YOUR BUTT OFF!!!

I swear, I have never laughed so much while watching a kdrama!

Oh my goodness! WHAT AN AMAZING STORY LINE!!! I have read of transmigration, but this one is so different! I know I also watched a Chinese drama along the same tune, but this one still feels far from that! It was cool from beginning to end. Oh my, how I love the food part! That was sooooo hunger-provoking! I also love how they considered absolutely ALL CHARACTERS!!! They all came together to form this one big world of funny ins and outs of palace life. They all rock! I love how it can be a mixture of funny and serious at the same time. Hands down, one of the most worth it dramas that I have ever watched! :)

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The Queenless Queen

While the series set out to explore the comedic possibilities of a modern soul trapped in a historical queen's body, the formula turned out to be very limited to spin it for a very long 20 episodes. I enjoyed its earlier episodes but it kept repeating the exact same gags with every single episode. How many times they repeated the same kitchen/cooking gags? I don't understand how they thought that would work. The cast size was limited as well, it could've definitely helped in coming up with new material. However, its biggest flaw was trying to add plot to its bare-bone formula. It's one of the rarest sights to see this level of shameless attempts. They didn't even know how to include it so they dedicated separate episodes for it in the middle parts while reallocating the comedy to different episodes separately, again. Cutting and editing it down into an 8 episodes package could've solved most of its issues. I wouldn't have rated it this high if it weren't for its set up, characters, and some of the gags.

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Does the body rule the mind or does the mind rule the body?

The Game of Thrones comparisons amuse me as a huge ASOIAFhead.

Frankly, I only prioritized watching Mr. Queen so soon after finding it (had a long drama hiatus) cause I wanted to see how far the gayness would go. For the first 12ish episodes I generally found the humour tiresome and the politics boring. By ep 13 something clicked and I was suddenly invested in the whole thing. I stayed engrossed until, surprise surprise, the infamous finale.

Before I get into that, Shin Hye-sun deserves all the praise she's gotten. She IS the show and gave it its... soul. The occasional comedic moments that worked for me were always due to her, and the range she displayed as this hybrid character was Mr. Queen's success.

Everyone's already complained about the ending, okay, yeah. Still, I have a few things to say.

No matter how you cut it, I don't see how the ending could be viewed as anything other than a failure. I never expected Bong-hwan to remain inside So-yong's body, as much as I would've enjoyed that as an actual subversion of typical body-swap stories. How that would've worked, I'm not sure. Something to do with them having the same soul? The initial body-swapping was already done on flimsy enough grounds—there was no precise Freaky Friday-esque lesson to be learned. Regardless, it's pretty much expected that he'll come home to our modern era by the end, so while not preferable to some (me!), it's understandable. I also don't think there's anything wrong with So-yong reaping the political benefits of Bong-hwan's actions in and of itself, yet it is a bit boring. As a victim of court life, it's obvious the writers were going to compensate her. The compensation is fine, but as a tragic figure and little else, it's rather banal. As others have asked, why should we care? Everything Bong-hwan achieved was essentially for So-yong's sake, regardless of his intentions, including capturing Cheoljong's heart. This would've worked better if it had been done ironically and with a sense of humour—Cheoljong does fall in love with So-yong's body... which houses someone else. Instead, we're supposed to be pleased by the unadventurous angle imposed by this need for reparation. But it brings into question how much was So-yong and how much was Bong-hwan...

You can't actually identify what's exactly going on with So-yong/Bong-hwan, so there's almost no debate to be had. Ultimately what matters is what's narratively interesting and satisfying. Bong-hwan's "My feelings for the king, a man, are due to the queen's lingering essence and hormones blah blah" explanation was so silly I didn't mind it. The show kind of takes it seriously, but it's just funny. Beyond the relationship, was his survival instinct purely that, an innocent, selfish intuition, or were his efforts partly driven out of compassion for the queen? Yes, it's basically confirmed by his explicit late-stage denial of having any charitable feelings, which has proven to be untrue. But then how much of this compassion is the queen's unintended influence? What about Byeong-in's assertion that Bong-hwan's So-yong is not So-yong? She's kind of there, but really isn't. The muddle's good enough because it's thorny and, therefore, interesting, albeit too convenient. The problem is it just doesn't go anywhere interesting, or rather, the show's incompetent imagination snuffed out any possibilities for satisfying closure to this muddle. It's indicative of the show's overall inability to integrate story with the bare-bones formula, as Park Min wrote in their review, though the ending still could've rung truer than it does, I think.

The glaring issue is that no time is given to Bong-hwan once he's back in his body. There's no time for him to gain his bearings and observe the potential consequences of his choices in a slightly altered Korea, let alone reflect on his feelings and selfhood and what he wants in the future. We can presume he's a more caring person now and nothing else. We don't even see him faffing around after he confirms Cheoljong's victory; we don't see him do anything. Bong-hwan as So-yong consistently talked to himself to work things out, but I guess he doesn't need that now that everything's normal. The cutesy moments between Cheoljong and So-yong felt surreal and hollow. Who cares if Cheoljong notices a difference, the viewer does. Quite simply, it's too easy. It's not as tragic or bittersweet or triumphant as it could be, and the middle ground is aggravating. The momentum built is dampened to nothing. If it had all been played for laughs then none of this would matter, but it's this halfway point between comedy and sincerity, and the sincere note it ends on seems phoney and unearned. Even if you're fine with where the characters end up, I don't see how you'd get a real sense of fulfillment from that final episode.

I'm being critical because Mr. Queen is a popular show, and while Bong-hwan's character typically felt alive and emotionally honest (one of the best compliments I could give), everything else was relatively uninspired, and that eventually tainted him. I'm not asking for the show to do anything revolutionary, and it obviously worked for many, many people. My issue is that it almost really worked for me—it's been days and I'm still thinking about Bong-hwan and Cheoljong's relationship and its implications—as messy as it all was. I guess if you're looking for a chaotic mix of gender, love, and political elements, the back-to-back Cersei/Jaime/Brienne AFFC chapters hit a little harder.

I liked it though, and as punishment, I'm in a drama slump.

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My rating for this drama is extremely generous, let me just say, because if it wasn’t for my favorite actress, Shin Hye Sun, and a wonderful cast of other characters, this drama could have easily been 5 stars for me. I had high hopes for Mr Queen because of the cast and because of the compelling storyline, however I never expected to be so damn bored the entire time I was watching it. Each episode felt like a drag, and I found myself checking the time of each episode every 3 minutes. There wasn’t anything inherently wrong with this drama except for the ending, however I just never clicked with any of the characters. I didn’t care about what happened to Jang Bong Hwan and Cheoljong by the end, I just wanted it to be over so I could mark this drama as “Completed” and move on to the rest of my watchlist. As someone who watched and absolutely LOVED the drama Mr Sunshine, I feel as though I have forever been ruined and have set my expectations astronomically high for any period drama I watch after that. Mr Queen was completely predictable all the way until the end, and every character (except for one, but I’ll just attribute that to the obligatory second male lead death scene) got a flawless, happy ending. I so badly wanted angst, I wanted CONSEQUENCES, I wanted them to suffer because it’s so freaking unrealistic for them to get such a sappy conclusion. I wanted sacrifice (in the form of that palace child actually being poisoned to death) and I wanted Hong Yeon and the Court Lady to die in the forest fight because war isn’t pretty. Sure, that would have pissed some people off, but it would be a lot more on-brand with the Joseon period than every character turning into a superhero and defeating all the bad guys. The humor was great at first, sure, but holy crap did it get annoying toward the end. There’s only so many times a character being overly dramatic or Jang Bong Hwan saying something really aggressive and “cool” can make me laugh. The OST didn’t really impress me. The main theme was the only redeeming track in that whole playlist. The story itself just didn’t go in the direction I had hoped it would go. I was expecting some freaky supernatural shit to happen to Cheoljong, or for Kim So Yong to at least be there for more than the last 10 minutes of the drama. The romance was weird at best, and at the end it just didn’t seem to matter, because the person that Cheoljong fell in love with was not Kim So Yong but a very horny modern-day Korean chef. Overall, just pretty freaking disappointed. I have loved every single drama by Shin Hye Sun up until I watched this one, and the extremely high ratings honestly make no sense to me.

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Everything was going very well in ....until the end (messed up)

Before talking about cons , let me talk about the pros of this drama.
The story : VERY INTRESTING AND FUN. It's so rare to see a reincarnation of a man's soul to a woman's body. And that's what made me watch this drama . I also loved how they kept the comedy genre till the end , as it is so rare to see a comedy period drama till the end. Usually in period dramas , the first 4 or 5 ep will have comedy/lighthearted moments and later as the story moves on it gets serious. Each ep will have at least one funny/lighthearted scene . Our MR.QUEEN changes the boring Joseon Dynasty into fun and entertaining . Our queen with bong hwan's body becomes "i am not like other women in joseon era" If you really want a good laugh watch this drama, its worth it!!

Cast/acting: 10 on 10 !! Shin Hye Sun , our queen was the show's spotlight , i instantly became a fan of her !! the way she behaved as if bong hwan was actually in her body!! So good , And our King, Kim Jung Hyun , he really gave me the king vibes !! his funny to a serious acting was so on top!! At one point i forgot that he was dong goo from waikikki S1, And all our villans were so good at their job in making me hate them (that's their point as villans) . Btw Jo Hwa Jin 's character reminded me of kang soo jin's character from true beauty ...you hate them at one point but them you forgive them (basically both of these character makes a bad choice and later realizes their mistakes and helps our main characters)
I especially wanna talk about out supporting cast like our court lady choi, hong yeon(court maid ) and their sibling like relationship with our queen. I love the trio sooooo much!!

Here is the con (spoilers!!)
But i really wanted bong hwan's soul to be in queen's body till the end , but the writers messed up i am happy that no one died except byung in , seeing bong hwan crying and smiling at the same time while reading about the joseon dynasty was so sad!! As soon as the soul changed during the last ep, the drama lost it's fun (for me) , It was so good till the half of the last ep. It was clear that our king fell in love with bong hwan's personality and how he feels off when bong hwan left the queen's body shows it. i was not satisfied by the ending basically . I loved so yong (queen) with bong hwan's soul and i expected that to continue but the writers thought that if they end it like that, it shows homosexuality and as it is korean drama they changed the whole story . This is my biggest problem with this drama .It was NOT a SATISFACTORY ending.

music: i only like the funny ost like bong hwan-a and keep going , others are meh to me.
I can only rewatch the funny moments in this drama .

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Perfect Escape

I started watching this drama because of the competition; there just wasn't a whole lot to watch when this started. After viewing the first couple of episodes, I became hooked and / or obsessed with every aspect of this production.

I'd like to break this review down into categories and the first is writing / directing / and production. A blended comedy has to be the hardest genre to write and maintain at a certain pace. I laughed on every single episode except the ending and found myself willingly transported to a snapshot of Joseon history. Everything about this drama is well rounded, but the director and writing staff should be awarded an Oscar because the pace, setting, dialogue and costumes are vividly brilliant. I felt like a first person spectator in fictional Korean and it was magic.

The next category that deserves gushing appraisal is the acting. Shin Hye Sun plays two characters in this drama, Kim So Yong and Jang Bong Hwan. What is absolutely crazy about her acting is that each persona seems to be portrayed by different actresses. When she is Jang Bong Hwan, the screen absolutely lights up like fireworks. Opposite her is Jang Bong Hwan as King Cheoljong. His acting in "Mr. Queen" is understated, deliberate and brilliant. The King's character is somewhat of a chameleon and the way he undertakes the role would leave a lesser actor in the dust beside of Kim So Yong. He is dynamically perfect across from whomever he shares the screen with and I became an instant fan. Last but not least are the rest of the cast that fill out the narrative in such a way that each could have been the center of the story: the Grand Queen, Kim Jwa Geun, Kim Byung In, Royal Chef, Hong Yeon, Court Lady Choi and many more were brought to life with mastering care by their portrayer. I wish there could be an emoji inserted of a standing applause audience because they deserve that and so much more.

My least favorite part of this drama was the ending. Throughout all episodes, King Cheoljong organically falls in love with Mr. Queen; he/she is unruly, abrasive, brilliant and uniquely in the moment. Mr. Queen is the only character who with no hidden agenda and that draws Cheoljong in like the proverbial moth to the flame. He has spent his life being surrounded by people using him and the first forced interactions between the two become compelling moments later. By the end, he lights up when Mr. Queen is near, terrorized when she's hurt. Both actors make you feel as if they would rather not breath if the other is not close by and this is why I think the ending was slightly (just slightly) lackluster. Jang Bong Hwan is thrown into the future, Kim So Yong once again inhabits her body alone and the King and she live happily ever after, crazily in love. The writers probably pieced together the best ending possible with restrictions placed upon them. But, as a viewer, I found Kim So Yong, alone in her body, a lackluster character. She was very much written correctly for her time but after watching the story of Mr. Queen, I missed this character desperately in the end. I would imagine the King did also.

My last point is a big thank you to all for highlighting the life of a real person, that of King Cheoljong of Joseon. Grabbed and placed as a Joseon puppet king by the Kim Clan, he tried his best, with strings tying him, to help the common person in a decidedly corrupt monarchy. Thanks to YouTube, I found out that he was a flawed but caring king and I'm glad that a posthumous heroic ending was written for him, albeit in fiction. The dark and true machinations of the Andong Kim clan were brought to light and I cannot imagine how happy he must be in the afterlife. History is usually written by the victors to shame those defeated and through this drama, a once obscure King now enjoys a posthumous second life. A truly fitting ending.

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You Might Be Disappointed by the Ending

Mr.Queen is by far one of the best dramas I've watched. It's the only drama I watched while airing and watched with and without subs. From episode one you will be curious and the writers have a way of ending each episode so that you're curious about the next and are hardly ever to predict what will happen. The main characters are Cheoljong, Soyong and Bonghwan , but we see little of Soyong's feelings and own interactions with Cheoljong. That being said the ending makes everything seem rushed and ill-planned. Throughout the drama we grow fond of Sobong's (the combo of bonghwan's mind in soyong's body) interactions with everyone. She's humourous , a bit wild, smart and not willing to be restrained. Cheoljong and Sobong's relationship starts off rough what with the hate and revenge-based enmity but eventually grows to mutual respect and then love. After Sobong's numerous identity crisis-es, she finally admits that she does in fact care for cheoljong seen in how she kisses him, and longs for him when he leaves, but then suddenly in the end Bonghwan is thrown back into the present leaving Soyong to regain control of her body.

Yes, it's Soyong's body, she was in love with Cheoljong first and he at least had a crush on her which he put aside, but it was Bonghwan's efforts that made him fall for her . That aside even if Bonghwan was sent back to the future I could accept that. What I couldn't accept was the way they did it. It was too sudden, he didn't even get to say goodbye and then when he got back no reason was given for why he was able to move unlike the last time he went back and a sloppy excuse which made no sense was given for why he wasn't arrested (that being his "sudden change of heart and desire to do the right thing" when he turned in Secretary Han which lead to him being thrown off his balcony as revenge instead of by mistake as it was in the beginning). This I say makes no sense because Sobong had castrated Secretary Han's ancestor which should have effectively eliminated his EXISTENCE from the future.

Besides that, it seemed like the writer's were originally going for the Sobong x Cheoljong ending but were too scared of controversy to do it. That's the only reason I can think of for :
1)making him go through an identity and sexual identity crisis come to terms with both his new body and feelings only to make him go back. And

2) Making Soyong seem like such an insignificant character. If they wanted to establish romance between her and Cheoljong, they should've filmed so that it was obvious Bonghwan and Soyong were sharing her body by having times where she was more dominant and her personality was on full display where she could make advances towards Cheoljong.

All in all, it was good, very enjoyable, but the ending leaves much to be desired both in terms of logic and fulfillment. Even korean viewers said that although it was a happy ending they could't help but feel empty/disappointed.

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