Mr. Queen

Jang Bong Hwan got the shaft.

I really wish they gave Jang Bong Hwan more closure. They could have had him meeting the king as a reincarnated person in modern times. The poor king fell in love with a person and lost them. He was stuck with a pale shadow of a personality. He could at least be reunited with his soulmate in a later life. Also Hang Bong Hwan as the queen made deep bonds with the maids and others. He fought life and death situations with them. He should have seen some of them as reincarnated characters in his time. He did all the work for saving their lives and then all those people were taken away. The quitter queen reaped all the benefits.

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Splendid as a rom-com but lacking a well-executed plot

When I started watching "Mr. Queen", I had no idea how popular it was or why it was so beloved. That turned out to be a good thing - the only expectation I had going in was good comedy. And wow, did it deliver on that front!

Besides the humour which was completely to my tastes - physical over verbal, great comedic timing and perfectly balanced with drama - the acting was what shined in my eyes. Shin Hye Sun was the star of the show. She had impeccable chemistry with her co-stars and wasn't afraid to emote with her face. In fact, I would go as far as to say that she was the sole lead of the drama, and every other character just bounced off her. Kim Jung Hyun was also a perfect fit for the role of the king who pretends to be foolish, but for the life of me, I could never come to enjoy his performance 100%. Maybe it's just the character archetype I don't like, but I only liked his scenes with Shin Hye Sun's character(s).

The rest of the cast was amazing and delivered engaging relationship sub-plots - be it Director Hong and Kim Hwan's hilarious friendship, Court Lady Choi and Head Chief's budding romance, or Hwa Jin and Yeongpyeong's angsty courtship. These six characters, paired and alone, helped me get through the latter episodes without falling asleep. I was about to give up on Hwa Jin as a likeable character, but writers seemed to get it together in episode 15 (about time) and gave her much needed complexity.

As I near the end of my review, I also must talk about the ending of the drama, which is where most of my issues with plot and narrative choices stem from. Let's talk about the obvious first: So Yong returned to her own body in the most unsatisfying way. Bong Hwan was the one who survived in her place for months, the one who built the relationships with his servants and the King. And the writers try to cram in her character last second to claim the benefits? Yes, this was So Yong's body originally, but she was unfairly neglected - the lake incident was a suicide, her scream for help, and she was gracelessly shoved back into the world that abandoned her without getting time to heal. Also, writers, are you really trying to convince me no one would have noticed/cared that the Queen was acting completely differently? For goodness sake, her entire voice changed.

The most disappointing thing, though? It would've been so easy to get this right. The premise of the drama is soul-switching/time travel. What held them back from placing So Yong into Bong Hwan's body, too? We could've seen both of them growing together, learning from each other, and the plot would've been more engaging and more comedic. A queen from Joseon era travels into a man's body and has to solve a crime he is accused of? Yes, please!

Sorry for the long review! After all my complaining I want to reiterate that "Mr. Queen" is an astounding drama with wonderful comedy and romance, and it did give a pleasing conclusion to all its side characters and sub-plots.

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More of a rant than a review

I jumped into this head-straight with even familiarising with the cast or learning the concept of the drama, and you know what? It is a treat.

So to people who are like "meh" and click the button "plan to watch later". Don't. Watch now.

Story: So far so good. Basically I have seen historical dramas falter to find a balance between romance and politics, this is the 2nd drama after Scarlet heart ryo that is doing it so good. Queens character is hilarious and very well written.

Acting: Damn. The actress. Damn. There isn't a time when you can say that you felt she is not not a woman. She has great comic timing. The supporting cast is pretty strong too. KJH had been in my radar since school 2017.I am so happy to see him deliver something so amazing

Music: End track ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ. Very well suited. The tracks used in the series are mostly 21st century pop but it fits so well. Well done in choosing the music.

Overall: Skipping this will be like choosing to go hungry when you have ice cream infront of you.

Rewach value: i don't rewatch. But i just may rewatch this.

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Must Watch

This kdrama is highly recommended, you won't regret watching this I swear. I didn't expect I would be addicted to this drama like yo it's so good if I could rate more than 10 I would, definitely. Someone introduced me this movie and I watched tha trailer first and I can't help but to watch it even though it's ongoing, I planned to watch it when they're done filming the episodes but mygawddd I can't stop my self. So far this is the best kdrama I've watched for the past 4 years, I never thought I'd be addicted again cause I stopped watching kdramas since online classes started.

They're acting is great especially the king and queen, the Queen's acting is excellent her movies are also great and the king's acting is also excellent his first drama I watched was school 2017 and he's with the royal consort in that drama, I admire both of them for their great acting. The royal consort is also a good actress, she can change her emotions fast in the drama.
The plot of the story is veryyy excellent I swear, thumbs up to the director, the actors, and everyone who's managing it.

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a new favorite

I was hooked throughout the entire show. Not a single episode left me feeling bored. I kept wanting to know what would happen next and Mr. Queen kept delivering. The comedy in this drama is what made it so good. More specifically, the main actress who delivered it was amazing. She played the role so well and made me absolutely fall in love with this show. Also, a more minor character but, I loved Kim Hwan lol. Such a little ray of sunshine :'> Not only were the main leads entertaining, but the side characters were too. It was such a fun ride and I'm sure one day I'll return to rewatch it. I think this is actually the drama I would recommend to someone who has never seen a kdrama. I feel like this is one of those shows that anyone could enjoy. But one of its faults is the ending. It really didn't sit well with me. It didn't completely ruin it, but I would've been much more satisfied if the queen had remained as Mr. Queen, if you know what I'm saying...
Also, the music. I really loved this ost. Will be adding to my playlist for sure :)
I know one thing..I'm going to really miss this drama

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Wonderfully different!

Of all the dramas I’ve watched, this is at the top of my list of the most entertaining dramas ever. I didn’t know what I was getting myself into when I started this but boy, was I in for a pleasant surprise. It starts off like your usual typical K drama but halfway in, all hell breaks loose when the transmigration happened. Shin Hye Sun was so convincing as a "male stuck in a woman’s body" that most of the time while watching you really think of her as a man 😂. Her performance in this is astounding.Something to be admired and envied. Thoroughly impressive and humorous. I found myself genuinely laughing out loud most of the time due to her antiques and the king’s reactions to all of this. They are quite the pair these two! A real drama match made in heaven.
Made it to my rewatch countless times list. Highly recommended.

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Mr. Queen (2020) - is one of the famous dramas that timeline together with True Beauty, Run On and other korean dramas, so of course I have to watch this. I really like it at first, because I found it fun to watch. Eventually, my interest with the drama slowly started to fall down because the one drama that got my attention at the time was Run On and I did feel that it became serious in the last parts of the drama which is inevitable given that it is historical.

There are also characters in the drama that I find regretful since they were not highlighted as much. I like the incorporation of the 'foodie' time of the queen since in the present era he is a chef so I really like those parts. Since it's a historical drama, a touch of political parts is there which is normal and I also find them okay.

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A really good soul-swapping storyline

I tuned in because of Kim Jung Hyun. I saw him in Crash Landing on You and thought his acting was superb. Plus, this drama received some high marks. There is a twist to the soul-swapping storyline in that Shin Hue Sun's character has both souls in one body fighting over who will dominate. She does an amazing job of acting masculine within a feminine body and during a submissive female cultural period of time. I think her acting dominated the storyline, and I was especially charmed by the "texting" she started with the King Cheoljong. Kim Jung Hyun's acting was again superb. He has range in his acting skills and will be a dominate leading man in many, many types of dramas, of which many I will tune into. Another character that held me through the drama was Cha Chung Hwa. I have seen her in several dramas, and she never fails to entertain. She is also an excellent and versatile character actress and commits herself to every part. The story ebbed and flowed, with some parts slower than others, but still carried the viewer forward to the finale. It was exciting, heartbreaking, romantic, intriguing, funny, and typical all in the right places. The only improvement I would recommend is in the music score. I think musical compositions can add so much to a storyline, but for some reason the producers did not feel that was necessary here, but I felt it was lacking. Other than that, I applaud the screenwriters, producers, directors, the main and supporting actors, and the rest of the cast for a really entertaining production....thank you!

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Awesome drama but for one narrative misstep

There has already been dozens of review written on this popular k-drama so I'm not going to go into great details about the bulk of the show other than to say that it was amazing, funny, sad, heartfelt, thought provoking, exciting, etc. Definitely worth the watch.
Superb acting by the FL and the ML was great as well. Oodles of OTP chemistry. Support cast was top notch. We'll just say no more about the palace intrigue plot, it was integral to the story but nothing new.
Now, some of the reviews focused on THE ending. I understood their sentiments but I don't agree with the more extreme views that the show was ruined by the ending. Yes, it was a bit of fancy foot work on the writer-nims' part in last 30 minutes but to do it otherwise would be to create and ignore longer term problems. You can't really have a 21st century person living the rest of their natural life in the Joseon era without turning history into swiss cheese. Even the few month he was there was already throwing up narrative issues that will make you cross eyed if you think about it. The problem is that most of the negative review all centred around the point that the 21st century person should be allowed to stay on and live happily ever after in the past because he earned it. Is it possible? Viable? Butterfly effect? What happens if he dies in the present?
The writer-nims did their best to push the two threads back together and it was done in a fairly light hearted and conclusive way. Let us not forget that the main relationship between the OTP was getting messy and confusing and it was sustained by the "true love conquers all" motif.
Other reviews also assumed the FL's soul was completely banished and it was obviously not true. By the half way mark, you can see glimpse of her old self popping to the fore. My reading of this is that the FL's soul was always there and can see, hear and feel everything but it was in a passive voice. So the original FL was a "silent" partner and fell in love with the ML along the way, possibly more so. She might even had taken the lead (subconsciously) at some key moments (you will know what I mean if you have watched the show). So it was not that much of a stretch for her to carry on once the 21C person departed. Her later comments and actions all pointed to her being aware of everything that had happened. Her eventual persona also changed a bit so it was a two way street. On the other hand, if they let the 21C person stay on then another segment of the audience will rail against that ending because of all the timey wimey and interpersonal issues.
It was brave of the writer-nims to go down the time travel/body swap theme and it was a deep rabbit hole they went down. At least with this ending, we can have the unicorns and a workable conclusion that I can live with and still smile at the happy thoughts.

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