Mr. Queen (2020)

I have never been so glued to Viki.

I started because the actor who played the modern chef is a very good actor, but I have been laughing all through , of course some scenes are dry and dull but overall, this is very interesting, my least favorite is her cousin , I feel his acting looks boring and it’s like he is forcing to give a tough look but overall I like the drama.
The king himself is a clown and I am in love with his acting and facial expression .... the queen is the biggest tout of all.my rewatch value is low because I dislike watching dramas twice, the only drama I have ever watched twice is eternal love and legend of fuyao because of the male lead ya bet lol

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Deliberately misleading

***I've included my thoughts on where the writers were trying to go with this in the comment section of this review. Still think they could have handled it better, but it does make much better sense now and had me improve my rating. Can't do a perfect 10 though - episodes 17 and onward were weak (not just with the romantic elements) and filled with stupid decisions and too much deus ex machina. Might change this entire review at a later date but for now it stays as it is an honest representation of how I felt at the show's conclusion and how poorly they executed their intent that I had to sit here ruminating for a week to see where they were going with this all.***

I haven't felt this betrayed by writing since the controversial last season of Game of Thrones. The entire premise of this show was built around the love story of SoBong (Bong Hwan in So Yong's body) and Cheoljong. From episodes 1-19, it was a steady progression of these characters falling in love with each other...not with a memory and not the physical appearance but the substance of each of them as they strove to understand and accept each other. It was one of the most beautiful love stories I've watched. The writers perpetuated this idea by various methods:

1. CJ's fascination with SB was completely with the SB personality. The audience saw his fascination with SB's otherness, heard it in his confession of love for them, and saw it in how he treasured those aspects enough to write them down and pour through them to reminisce and help heal his own wounds.
2. The writers made the SY character a stranger to the audience. We get only the barest of flashbacks, and nothing to show us anything but a one-sided love. Even the prequel in the Bamboo Forest leans heavily to this idea. Which is why so many viewers then feel puzzled as to how the ending makes sense.
3. The writers deliberately made it seem as if the SY character was gone. There's a scene where the queen jumps back into the lake in order to regain more memories and SY's "spirit" or whatever appears before her but at the end she sees her close her eyes and falls back to sink to the bottom. Additionally, when the BH character briefly flashes back to present times, SY does not return, even for a minute.
4. The writers showed a true progression of the feelings in SB for CJ. In the last few episodes, there were major milestones to be had and shared with the viewers. The character of SB accepts their feelings. Reciprocates those feelings. Initiates intimacy - which in a story of quasi-gender bending is a penultimate moment. It's all been culminating to this point where you feel as though everything leading up is falling into place and then Wham! We draw a "Go To Jail" card.

Not only is the soul sent back but the contributions of that character are marginalized. Heck, forget marginalized, they're not even acknowledged in the slightest...as if this brash and vibrant personality never existed. The continuity issue with that alone is enough to curse at my screen. The entire story was about Mr. Queen...yet when Mr. Queen "left the building," there was no true sense of loss felt by their friends or even their love. We get one scene where the king looks puzzled for all of five seconds and asks "did I lose something." Yes...the main character of this entire drama. The show had already struggled with continuity issues such as selective fighting skills to fit the narrative and other minor faux pas but this...who just negates the existence of the main lead? Sure, SY's body is still there, and she's conveniently staying mum about the entire thing and letting everyone think it was her the entire time. The fans vilified Hwa Jin Jo when SHE pulled that move, but it's all good now. A few curses interspersed with an annoying high pitched giggle, and we're supposed to buy that she's SB 2.0 as she simpers "jjeona" like a teenager. Meanwhile the main male character, who is brilliant enough to stage a coup against one of the most powerful families in history, doesn't notice a thing.

I can't with this ending. I just can't. It obliterated all of my excitement and joy at seeing this story unfold. Seeing CJ and SY hug at the lake was like seeing Bran crowned king. Felt like I'd been gobsmacked by a 747. All of these feelings of betrayal could have been avoided by better writing. I'm not intransigent. I could have gotten behind a SY/CJ ending, IF it fit the narrative leading up to the finale, but it didn't. So frustrating!!! The acting though. Not a single complaint there. The acting was brilliant. The music too. I still can't listen to "Here I Am" without tearing up, and the comedic scores were on-point. However, I can't raise my rating higher because despite all of these things being components of a whole, the writing is the heart, and this one stopped beating right at episode 20.

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The Ending is Perfect

People are upset because of the ending but it makes perfect sense to me and let me give a lengthy but quite intriguing reason why...

So when you're watching a good story there are two ways you can look at it and that is how you the viewer feels and what information you're deciding to pick up and which to ignore etc, as in its about you the viewer. Another way to look at it, which is what I do, is to figure out what the writer is trying to tell you. Where is the writer directing your thoughts and attentions? What story is he or she trying to tell? Etc

I think the best way to watch Mr Queen especially is to try and see it from the writer's perspective mostly. A lot of ppl are complaining about the ending bcz of personal preferences and agendas. Some like it cz it suits their conservative beliefs. Others like it cz it seems like the most logical ending to them. Others hate it cz they feel the writers copped out and refused to explore LGBTQIA issues. To me I didn't look at any of that. I was thinking "what is the writer trying to tell us without the influence of my personal beliefs, preferences and agendas?".

Now that we have that down, I think the story should be interpreted differently. Usually we determine who a story is about by looking at who has the most screen time but it doesn't always have to be the case. Do you remember that painting in "She Was Pretty"? What was the painter trying to tell us in that painting? The most important person in that painting took the smallest space on the canvas. Most ppl would ignore that character looking from behind rails in that painting but then she was the most important character in the painting.

I think that's how you should look at Mr. Queen. It is true the BH is who we know and admired and loved and carried the show but is his story the one that's being told?

If you look at BH, we actually don't know much about him. Like we have very very little information about who he is, how he's like etc from his days in modern Korea. All we know is that he's a famous chef and womaniser who had a problem with a guy called Secretary Han. That's it. Not much else which is important. But then compare BH's life and SY's life in the drama and even in the spin-off. We know SY's family, we know her dream to marry the King, we know the challenges she faced in her life, we know her love interests, we know her rivals, we know her family. For a backstory in terms of a drama, we are given quite a lot of information about her unlike BH.

So even though BH is the main character obviously, it doesn't mean this is BH's story. He may be the MAIN character but it doesn't mean he's the most IMPORTANT character. The story is SY's story but BH is brought in to do a job within the plot, a job that SY cannot do.

Let me elaborate further. Imagine if the backstory of SY was stretched into ten episodes and was given to the viewers to watch before the events of Mr Queen episode one. We would see SY's life and joys and pains and struggles and many other things and then we'll see her give up and try to kill herself but in doing so she gets possessed by BH who swoops in, saves the day for her and gives her her life back even though BH himself had ended up being emotionally involved in SY's life. A good example is Oh My Ghost. The ghost came in, did a job and left. The fact that she fell in love with the chef and the fact that the chef admitted that he fell for the ghost does not mean it is her life now. It's not her life.

Okay so BH comes, he wants to leave but it's not that easy. What then does the writer proceed to tell us? BH in SY's body has a flashback scene of SY telling the King that he should love her but the king walks out on her. Even though its not BH's memory, he feels the emotional pain of the situation so intently that the court maids thinks it's poison. That was first hint from the writer. The writer is telling you that do not assume that whatever emotional connection BH will feel toward the king as you watch on originates with BH himself. The next one comes at the home of SY. When the king steps out of the palanquin, SY has a romantic moment by herself but then what flashback scene are we given? It is when SY herself was being confirmed as the Destined Queen. This was way before BH came into the scene. This comes right after BH loses his inner thinking voice and begins to regain the skills and memories of SY. So the writer is telling us that whatever emotion you see from this character originates with SY and not BH. I'll explain further.

From then on the writer begins to progress the SYness of SY into BH. And so we begin to see BH inherit more memories from SY. Then he inherits SY's feelings for the king. Even BH himself realize that these emotions are not from him when he keeps telling SY to leave him alone. But BH can't fight it. SY keeps taking over little by little throughout the series.

Okay so now where does the writer get to. BH inherits SY's body. That's one. SY's life. That's two. SY's memories. That's three. Even SY's voice. That's four. SY's feelings. That's five. And SY's femininity in general. That's six. The only thing that is BH which is left is his consciousness. Everything else is SY without SY herself.

Compared to Oh My Ghost, the two women are two completely different entities. When the ghost is in control, the actual lady goes totally off. She has no idea what's going on. Its only when the ghost leaves that she begins to check her surroundings to find out what's going on. Two different ppl. No connection.

In Scarlet Heart, the girl whose body is taken over isn't given much of a backstory at all. None. Nada. Zero. Zilch. Nothing. No one from her the girl's life strongly affected IU's modern character when she took over. Moon Lovers could have started in the Joseon era and not much difference would be seen.

But Mr Queen isn't like that. The impression we get is that SY, even though absent and not in control of BH's actual decision making, is fully aware of what is going on throughout. When she gets her body back in the last episode just after she had been shot, she's not wondering what's going on, she's not surprised or anything. She even begins to pray that her baby survives. It's not like these wave of memories washed over her in that split second and she knew all that BH had been doing. It just seems like SY is aware of what's going on.

So I think the conclusion is that even though BH is who we see for most of the series, the story isn't about him. He's the main character but what I believe the writer is trying to to tell us is that he's not the most important character. Because he inherits so much of what makes SY SY, everything he does in the series is what SY would have done if SY had his attitude and boldness.

Taking that bullet for the king? SY would've done that.

Saving the King's banquet? SY would have done that if she had the cooking skills.

Going against her family? That's what SY would've done.

Loyalty to the king in spite of everything? That's what SY would've done.

And we know all this because right from the off we see BH as a womaniser, why would he genuinely fall for a man? I thought the argument is that people are born gay and they don't choose to be gay. So a gay man has been a womaniser for over 30 years and now suddenly falls for a man with his own volition? Nope, that's not it. Again, we know he always takes the winner's side so why would he then take the Kings side even though he knew from history that he lost. Every decision BH makes that made us love his affection and sacrifice are decisions the real BH wouldn't have made but he made them because he had put on everything that makes SY SY without SY herself.

That's why BH had to return and that's why he's not devastated. Yes he was concerned for what had happened when he returned but definitely not as big as it would seem if he was still in SY's body. The person the King fell in love with was SY. Yes sth was definitely different and even the king himself admitted it but it in the purity of the matter, it was SY he fell in love with. Because even though it can be argued that the king was attracted to BH's brashness, love begets love and it's SY who's been truly loving the King all along and not BH. It's not unjust that SY takes over for she is as much involved as BH is, not consciously, but then what makes BH memorable and not just a funny guy trapped in a woman's body is because of the SYness of SY in BH and not BH himself on his own.

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A great comedy turns into a disappointment

About halfway through it is a fun drama with character, and for the first time in ages I found out that I love FL. The character was played wonderfully! Just like in contrast, we have ML, which is completely lackluster even in tense fight scenes that lack tension. It was light, it was fun and it was interesting until the moment when big politics started to rule and, as with most k-dramas, it got boring. I watched each subsequent episode with greater reluctance until I reached the penultimate episode, because I couldn't watch the last one. Why, oh, why this interesting, really cool comedy turned into something so pathetically boring, I don't know. I only know that this unnecessary pathos and great tragedies force me to lower my score, and very much.

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Wow....I did not expect to have to rejig my whole review upon this drama's completion.

I still feel so..dejected. I've gone through the 5 stages of grief now and reached acceptance but man...still doesn't ease the pain. But I'll save my feelings regarding the ending for last and I'll give Queen Cheorin/Mr. Queen the proper review it deserves before addressing all that.

So first things first, this drama was absolutely spectacular. Bong Hwan A, I'll miss your character SO much.
And Shin Hye Sun, my gosh. She is the REAL queen here, what an actress.

Every episode was filled with fun and hilarious shenanigans. Seriously, no kdrama has made me laugh that hard in a long time. It was the perfect combination of comedy, romance and plot development.

Bong Hwan A (So Bong) was just so...iconic. Everyone in the palace is trying to get a handle on the queen as every episode she does something else batshit crazy lmao. Especially in the beginning when everyone thought the queen was planning something, meanwhile So Bong is just going through an existential crisis and knows next to nothing XD

And the romance! So Bong & Cheoljong will forever live in my heart. I mean where else are you gonna get: enemies to allies, friends to lovers, then to allies. Who else could do it better, they are the elite!

There is so much to love about their relationship but I still think nothing could be more iconic than the Queen's Dictionary. Cheoljong literally made a dictionary for all the strange new words he heard from So Bong so he could understand her better. He remembered EVERYTHING she ever said to him.....I need a moment.

Honestly if it wasn't for the ending, this would have been my new all-time favourite drama. I would have rated it 100000/10 if I could.

So what went wrong? Let's talk about the ending which I couldn't hesitate to call the worst and most unsatisfying in kdrama history. I can not believe they gave us a Scarlet Heart Ryeo ending but just multiply the pain by ten. And you know why this was worse? Because as heartbreaking as Scarlet Heart Ryeo's ending was, at least it was a completely sad ending. But Queen Cheorin? For some reason they gave us a tragedy packed in happy ending confetti????

Like I just can't believe (on Valentine's Day no less) that TVN decided to throw everything they built in the trash. Cheoljong loved Bong Hwan A, and loved him for who he was. Now Cheoljong has lost him forever :(
And Bong Hwan A! He has to live with the fact that he never gets to see his friends, husband, or future child ever again!!

I think I couldn't say it more perfectly than @acupofwishes (tumblr):

"The Mr. Queen writers took me to an expensive restaurant and bought me a 5 course meal with dessert, brought out a surprise birthday cake and had the entire restaurant sing to me, later that evening they reached for my hand and guided me to the dance floor and then, in the middle of our song, whispered gently into my ear that everything was laced with laxatives."

Listen I haven't read fanfiction for years but I’m seriously considering going on a hunt for reincarnation fics to heal my broken heart.

So now begs the question, would I recommend this drama? Honestly I have recommended this drama to so many people and I feel like I need to go back to them all and say 'nevermind!!' (or at the very least give them the heads up that the finale will leave them hollow inside). However at the same time... the first 19 episodes are so freakin amazing and I don't want them to miss out.....

So I suppose the decision is up to you. This drama is incredible and I had the BEST time watching, but at the same time I'll be thinking of this bittersweet ending every day for the rest of my life

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#TeamNoTouching

My Goodness this drama had me hooked from the first episode to the last. it had me laughing, squirming, and blushing at the same with unconversional love story between Queen Cheorin (Shin Hye-sun) and King Cheoljong (Kim Jung-hyun), with unbelievably amazing chemistry between Shin Hye Sun (FL) and Kim Jung Hyun (ML). i really enjoyed Shin Hye-Sun portrail of Jong Bong Hwan (the male part in her) so perfectetly.
ive seen the chinese version and it was ok and didnt kow how the writer was going to approach this drama but I've been surprised by how good this drama was.
I can’t get #NoTouching and the amazing OST "Bong Hwan A" out of my head lol. I’m not usually keen on historical dramas but this drama is 10/10. if you are thinking about watching Mr Queen, then give it a go you will not regret it.

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A refreshing tackle of historical drama

I'm not really fond of historical drama because I simply get bored watching action packed scene in a drama (typical saeguk) but this one got me hooked on the very first episode!

This drama immediately become my favourite saeguk drama. From the characters to the plot to the beautiful cinematography, everyone deserves a standing ovation! Who would've thought a historical drama would contain such an outstanding comedic scene, you never get bored. Working full time, but I managed to finish this drama in just 4 days. I can't stop watching because they know how to end an episode that makes you anticipate what is happening next!

Cheoljong's "My Queen" still give me teary-eyed to this day. Good chemistry between Shin Hyesun and Kim Junghyun that I can feel the pain just by watching their eyes. Plus, we can't forget our fav duo Court Lady Choi and Hongyeon who simply give excellent acting of their character esp Hongyeon since this is her debut drama.

I'm gonna miss this drama so much. Thank you for giving us laughter during this hard time. I'm gonna watch it again when I need something to cheer me on!

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Awesome Gender bender

What a refreshing gender bender drama. I was skeptical when I initially heard the story. How ever it has set a high bar for this genre, which will be hard to overcome in the future. The FL acting was remarkable with a strong script backing her up. She portrayed the confusion of feeling both like a man and a woman extremely well. I really liked how she walked and talked like a male and reacted emotionally like a male as well. She quickly adapted to each new turmoil thrown at her with out preserving over issues she could not resolve. I liked how she remained a direct and honest person and did not use lies or hurtful comments to make the king back off. The transition of her feelings was very well portrayed, which I believe is a remarkable feat.

The associated humor was masterfully done and was hilarious without being crass. Very funny portrayal of male ego vying to appear cool in front of others.

Nearly satisfying ending. In my personal opinion, the female was there through out the journey but only came forward to express her love. Perhaps she needed another stronger soul in her to make her braver so she could help the king.

I believe now the modern ML will have an inner female counterpart for him to understand women problems. It would have been fun if he found a FL who had an inner male counterpart and some how they complemented each other. well.

I took away a point as the number of episodes need to be less. Although I watch k dramas as if my life depends on them but there are so many now that it is an addiction. I would rather not fast forward and watch a tight knit story instead.

Over all really well done to cast and crew.

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A perfect Work condemned by its Ending.

This comment is going to be full of spoilers, so people who haven't seen the drama are better off not reading it until after watching. Mr. Queen is one of the best Korean dramas I have seen in my life (and I have already seen dozens) and one of the two or three that have involved me the most emotionally.

There are no words to describe how wonderful and excellent this story is. It is a series that makes you laugh, excites you, keeps you interested at all times, and deeply moves you. The writing is perfect for most of the plot (I'll talk about that later), the direction is ideal, the production is impeccable. The work of all the actors in the cast is sublime, unsurpassed. Especially extraordinary is the work of the actress Shin Hye-sun as the female lead, she plays Queen Cheorin in an impressive way, achieving through body and verbal language to split into two different people depending on if the soul of Jang Bong- hwan is inside of Cheorin's body, or not. She deserves all the awards for that amazing work.

The overall plot is incredibly intense and gripping, with that mix of real Korean history, and fiction, combining romance, fantasy, drama, comedy, action, and suspense. But without a doubt, the fundamental factor is related to that experience of the soul of chef Jang Bong-hwan within the body of Queen Cheorin, the comedy of that situation and her passionate and morbid romance with Cheoljong. The whole story is based on that funny, crazy and horny love between a man and the soul of another man inside the body of a woman. Curiously, it is one of the best Korean drama couples I have seen, with chemistry so hot that it melts the Sun. Throughout the series, this couple's romance evolves from more comical to more lovely, dramatic and moving. But precisely there is the big problem of this drama.

The series is perfect, worthy of a 10 rating ... until we hit the 18th minute of the last episode. In that minute when the writers made Jang Bong-hwan leave Cheorin's body forever and wake up in his own body, the end of the story was ruined for me. The creative decision to kill So Bong (the being formed by Cheorin's body and Jang Bong-hwan's soul mixed with Kim So-yong's memories) and to make the original soul of Kim So-yong, in the end, left next to Cheoljong was a disaster.

The next 48 minutes of the final episode were a contradictory, absurd, and irritating attempt to make the real Kim So-yong the female lead and minimize So Bong/Jang Bong-hwan to a mediocre and irrelevant role. I'm sorry, but they didn't convince me. For me, the real female lead was So Bong, not Kim So-yong (whom I even consider boring). Throughout the whole story, it was evident that Cheoljong fell in love with So Bong (of the soul of Jang Bong-hwan) and in the last minutes, they try to convince us that he is in love with Kim So-yong, and apparently that even he does not notice the change of personality. Worse still is the ambiguity-induced theory at the end, that Jang Bong-hwan was always a puppet of Kim So-yong, something that would degrade Jang Bong-hwan's role and his feelings for Cheoljong, a theory that I don't believe nor support.

Jang Bong-hwan had the worst possible ending, returning to his current life to live alone, without all the people he loved. And after falling in love with a man and even having sex with him, how could he go back to living as a heterosexual man? I think that would be traumatic for him. With the memories of his life as Queen Cheorin, could one day go back to being 'normal' and forget about his love for Cheoljong to fall in love with a woman?... How can he bear the fact that he is no longer pregnant with the child he has learned to love? The fact that he is not depicted as very traumatized and tormented is another stupid mistake by the writers. And as for Cheoljong, he fell in love with Jang Bong-hwan's soul, not So-yong's soul, so in the end, he didn't stay with the woman he loved, but with a very different one. How long would it take for him to realize that she is not the same person that he fell in love with? Seeing that she is no longer the crazy, reckless, bad-tempered, rude-mannered, eccentric or weird woman who conquered his heart.

It was the worst way to ruin a story at the end, and I don't understand how they can say it's a happy ending. I think they should have at least made an alternate ending to have the right and fair ending with the Cheoljong and So Bong couple, but they left us with only that disappointing and implausible ending. For me, those last 48 minutes deserve a rating of 3, however, I prefer to stay with the memories of the previous 19 episodes (and the first 18 minutes of that final episode) and for the joy and passion they generated in me, I give it a rating of 9.5 for the series overall, and it will always have a place in my heart as one of the series that has most brightened my life.

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It's been a while since liked a drama this much, yet hesitated with the ten star rating. Mr. Queen is a drama that does not feature any filler episodes, it's written so well that every episode is eventful and it develops even the minor characters. That being said, for you to enjoy this drama fully, prepare to do some mental cartwheels to see the main leads in an "innocent straight relationship" the creators want you think they are in.

The cast of Mr. Queen is nothing short of spectacular. Shin Hye Sun does an incredible job, I especially liked her performance as the character got more and more incorporated with both people inhabiting the brain. She also has incredible gestures and mannerisms that reminded me of Choi Jin Hyuk and me never forget, that she basically played two characters at once. Her chemistry with Kim Jung Hyun is amazing and his performance is also amazing. I was surprised by the acting range of both of them. The amazing performances don't end there. Everyone was just so good, I have no complaints.

The story is very interesting and it almost makes the viewer feel as a companion to Bong Hwan. He is quick on his feet and often surprises with his wits. At first, I was in awe of just how into it (the slapstick and hilarious comedy) were the creators willing to go. The comedy was very strong at first and even though it makes room for more dramatic elements later on, it was a constant in the drama. There was one plot point, quite early on, when the personalities of Bong Hwan and So Yong clashed a bit more and they started to be a lot more intertwined with each other, which made doubt that it could be still entertaining, but it turned into a good move. I also liked how they kept the inner voice of the Queen, even though it changed in tone, throughout the entire drama.

Mr. Queen features a lot of classic elements of a true historical drama and I liked the incorporation of modern elements as well. Especially interesting was the use of Bong Hwan's skills in the kitchen and the addition of the royal kitchens was a nice view of the court from this perspective.

What this drama did also well was pairing the characters up into smaller squads (#squadgoals all around) and it featured a lot of banter and funny moments, even for the less interesting characters. And, as we are in a historical drama, the villains are properly evil and the heroes are properly heroic. Soundtrack is also very catchy and I liked it very much.

I would like to address the main issue that a lot of people, including me, have with this drama, but I feel like having stepped on thin ice. I see the cultural context and the point of Bong Hwan coming into So Young's body, which was primarily to help her in a dire situation. On the other hand, well... It's a situation in which everyone who watches it takes what he/she/they want to take from the main relationship. But if helps in accepting other types of relationships other than the typical heterosexual ones, I think, that it would be a big help.

To sum it up, Mr. Queen is a damn good drama, unfortunately with some baggage. Regardless of that, I enjoyed it very much, I looked forward to it every week and I will miss it a lot.

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