Beautifully written and told!
This historical drama starts off strong and ends even stronger. The title of the drama is very apt in so many ways and when you’ve finished this drama, there is a lot of positive reflection when you think about what “Under the Queen’s Umbrella” means to all the different characters.It’s not just who she is to her sons but also to the King, her daughters-in-law, her grandchildren, the consorts, the consorts’ sons and even the deposed queen. She was their shelter and it was heartwarming to see some characters change for the better under her care.
Sets and costumes were gorgeous. Cinematography was mostly good but I wasn’t a fan of the side ways angles. The story had the usual palace drama elements but with a fresh story and some interesting twists, it was extremely entertaining.
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get under the umbrella
WOW. What a breathtaking roller coaster of fun and intrigue. I'm partial to Sageuk dramas so I have watched my fair share and I have to say this is definitely one of the most unique ones I've ever watched.A lot of times my frustrations lie with the cheesy left state minister and all the politics, but this was done fantastically written and woven with plot twists that you couldn't help but be captivated from the beginning to the end.
You won't be bored the whole 16 episodes.
Sure do I have unanswered questions like why are there no daughters out of this many wives etc but at the same time that would be nitpicky of such a masterpiece.
What I also loved is that it showed us a layer of the palace that we rarely see- the competition between wives and their children, as well as the real intense mothering that must be happening when you have nothing else to live for, but your prince.
The brotherhood was also the ultimate bromance!
The queen really stole the show. She was dimensional- loving, kind, shrewd, brilliant, defensive- every single thing you would ever want in female lead.
That being said- the rest of the cast was incredible from the princes to even the king. This show had heart, emotion and a lot of love.
DON'T miss this one!
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The Strength of a Woman and the Love of a Mother
Under the Queen's Umbrella deserves to win an award for the bold exploration of often overlooked themes. There are so many thoughts and emotions running through my mind while writing this that I will try to distil them as clearly as possible!1) Firstly, this was undoubtedly a women-driven show. The women were the stars of this show. The men played their complementary roles with charm, but this was a show about women. While it can be said that the handsome young princes were easy on the eyes, the main focus of the entire show was on the Queen, a mother of 5 boys, wife to the King, adversary to the Dowager.
The Queen Im Hwa Ryung was impeccably cast. I cannot imagine a better actress to play the Queen. She was graceful, fierce, protective, benevolent, sassy and vulnerable. She wore every single emotion as elegantly as I imagine a real Queen would. I love how it put an "older" woman as the star. I feel that with the huge number of strong female-lead shows coming out of China and South Korea - we are definitely moving in a more progressive era of entertainment.
The men played fantastic supporting roles. They held up the women so well and let the women actresses really shine like diamonds in this series. The King needed the Queen to help him make right decisions. The princes needed their mother to guide and protect them. The Crown Princess found the love of her life and pursued him. Unlike some older dramas which typecast opinionated Queens as power-hungry (cue almost every other palace drama), crown princesses as wishy-washy and weak and waiting for their prince, this drama portrayed them as women who knew what they wanted in life and went out to get them. It was absolutely refreshing. I really hope more such shows follow this.
2) Secondly, the special unbreakable bond between a mother and her son
This was undoubtedly a show that focused on the mother-son relationship. While some may question why the daughters were not featured in this show, I think for the limited episodes, they made a choice to just focus on the sons.
For such a long time, the mother-son bond has always been ridiculed. Men are called "Mama's boys" if they are too close to their mothers or mothers-in-laws are always stereotyped as "wicked" or "evil" or "selfish". I just loved the relationship between the Queen and the (new) Crown Princess - which was one of mutual respect and even admiration. Although she also had a deep relationship with the (old) Crown Princess. While some of the relationships between a mother and son in the show have brought about tragic endings, the relationships themselves have never been ridiculed or questioned - just the eventual actions and ambitions these women (and sons) have. In fact, for many mother-son relationships, the purity and beauty of their bond was the only redeeming quality for some of the pairs. The director and scriptwriters were very respectful of the bond between mother and son and even at the very end, the King struggled with coming to terms with what his mother did because of the great love and respect he had for her. Every conversation between mother and son was lovingly crafted, every scene and interaction almost sacred.
3) LGBTQ+ issues
I was very surprised to see that even the LGBTQ+ theme was brought up in a way that was extremely respectful and so tenderly. The bond between mother and child made it even more emotional because a mother would do anything to keep her child safe and yet the Queen went beyond keeping him safe, and made him feel seen. In the real world, not to mention that era, most parents would try to keep their own children to the "straight" lane because they think that's the way to keep them "safe" from external harm, but I love how she knew the way to keeping him safe from himself, is to also make him feel seen by himself or his own mother. It was so emotional.
Under the Queen's Umbrella was really one of the best Korean period dramas I have watched to date. The cinematography, script, acting, soundtrack. There is really nothing I can fault. I am also so delighted that these women character driven shows are now no longer the exception, but now, dare I say, becoming the norm! *my inner feminist is doing a happy dance*
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This review may contain spoilers
Why this umbrella has pores ??
Under the Queen's umbrella. I got recommendations as a woman empowerment series and great motherhood but1)why the great mother is unaware that her 1st born is ill over a year and constantly losing consciousness?? 2nd ones preferences, intelligence or capability?? 3rd one is transgender?? 4th one's having affair?? 5th one is good for nothing??
And she started discovering her son's when the crown prince got in death bed . So , she doesn't care about her children as long as one of them is securing throne and security??
2) the death of crown prince is absolutely Queen's fault. You're leaving him in the hand of one physician without knowing his origin ?? If she informed the king the prince could have got more physicians so physician known wouldn't dare to experiment poison on him.
3) what's wrong with crown prince selection?? Is it child's play to do better in college and doing a reality show" who's gonna bring the escaped minister " and why would the ministers choose the crown prince?? It's not like king died so they need to fill the throne immediately and have heir !
A) don't a prince needs to build political power and support of powerful families??
B) getting war achievements and public favour??
C) having strong hold of parts of the empire??
why the corrupted ministers have more saying rather than the king and the achievements of princes ?? it's not a crown scholar selection!
And I do support taekhyon or choosing the more capable prince .
4) the queen doesn't even have support system after being a queen over 20 years. Concubines have support system better than her .Neither the king ! Sage king my ass more like a puppet king! Ministers are the real king here . The king asking them to stop investigation, harming his children or be partial. They're like " chill dude you're illegitimate, so you have no say in this " they even has audacity to say queen cheated king and have a son out of affair! They don't care about treason too .
5) umm what about queen Yoon ? I don't blame physician known ( previous grand prince) a little. It would have been one of the best revenge drama from their perspective( like rise of phoenix or nirvana in fire). Okay big baddie ganny died , jealous concubine gone mad . But what's about corrupted ministers ?? Who's gonna give guarantee that another concubine won't poison a crown prince openly with the help of corrupted ministers?? Who's gonna guarantee about crown prince's safety??
6) after doing soo much bas things the dowger queen died without receiving proper punishment or suffering !
7) I don't understand why drag the plot so much . Like what's about the prince being transgender?? The royalty can keep this a secret and let him be , he's a prince after all.... it's not like he's the king or having homosexual relationships! What's about having a child born out of wedlock? It's not uncommon on Those days . And even after crown prince died how can they remain so casual , when they can die at any moment. Other concubines can come and go on their chambers, investigate on queen and her sons soo easily!
8) queen had one crown prince and 4 spoiled brats. Thank God the crown prince thaught one of his brother otherwise the queen's umbrella has so many pores that they could have easily drenched her total family in blood........
I personally didn't like it at all . It's soo disappointing. They made politics a joke in order to show the queen's greatness.
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Rule by compassion, not by fear.
One woman show filled with schemes, betrayal, twists and turns that kept me entertained till the last second. With a rather large set of villains and antagonists, you never know who will be the next target and how the dynamics will change. And in the center of that was Queen Im Hwa Ryung with her dedication to keep her sons safe.It’s honestly a strange drama. The same aspects I love, I also thought were flaws. For example - the villains/antagonists. I actually liked many of them, found their motivations and reactions to everchanging circumstances entertaining. That said, they never truly felt like a threat. Which is strange because the stakes were high, people were actually dying. And yet, none of the bad guys felt intimidating - entertaining sure, but not intimidating.
I also loved Queen Im Hwa Ryung and how smart she was. She was great at reading the situations, knowing who works with whom and how to use that information. At the same time, she also knew that showing compassion can form better loyalty and actually set the person to a proper path, compared to fighting them with power and fear alone. But I wished her judgement was at least once wrong. That someone whom she gave a second chance stabbed her in the back.
Then we have the princes - all fun, all lacking depth. Each one of them presented a completely different story, be it being related to taboo subjects of the era, their relationships with their mothers, ambition or lack of it. But at the end of the day the only two princes that actually touched me on an emotional level were Grand Prince Gye Sung finding his identity and Prince Sim So about his relationship with his mother. All the rest was fun, but flat.
Touching on the plot, I feel like this is one of the better paced historical Korean dramas I have seen - it’s fast, but even and digestible. Every episode brought something new to the table, there were no filler plot lines - at the end everything connected, everything was used to create a larger and fuller picture. So actions and decisions existed in the vacuum - they all had smaller or bigger impact on all the characters. Every time I thought a certain chapter was closed, new information kicked the door open for new possibilities to explain the past event, direct present time and shape the future of the characters.
The drama is listed as historical, comedy, drama, and politics. I am not so sure about the comedy here. It had amazing comedic timing and some of the better jokes I have seen in quite some time, but the overall tone and plot do not truly match the comedy genre. Just because there are good jokes in a show does not necessarily mean it is comedy. On Korean websites it’s listed as a black comedy and I would probably agree that’s a better description.
Acting wise, Kim Hye Soo delivered a phenomenal performance. Saying she carried the show seems unfair to the rest of the cast, since everyone did a great job, but it’s undeniable she stood out so much with her portrayal of Queen Queen Im Hwa Ryung. My second favorite performance probably goes to Kim Eui Sung as Hwang Won Hyung. I don't know why, but his reactions to everything that was happening was so expressive and funny to watch, even though I knew I should not side with him, he was so fun to watch I wanted to just see more scenes of him.
Visually stunning, but not overstimulating. Sometimes I honestly get tired when dramas try to look like a beautiful painting at every frame - it’s distracting. This show knew exactly when and what to highlight to create amazing pictures.
Overall, I just feel like the drama failed to evoke any negative feelings in me, which is strange with how many on paper awful and frustrating assholes we had in the cast of the characters. But I was kind of vibing with them, and found them more entertaining than threatening.
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definitely overrated
This story really is so unsatisfactoryI'll make this review super short.
firstly it didn't feel like any genre at all,it felt like a thing of it's own
secondly the storyline was going haywire and not properly executed, take the prince that likes to dress as a girl for example... what exactly were they trying to illustrate
thirdly as per the title I thought the queen would do more as a character but it's really not like that... another thing, I don't get people's mentality, I support what physician kwon did for revenge, I might have killed both the current king and his mother if I was in his shoes, assuming that the physician was the main lead, like the story revolves around him, he would have been appluaded for his revenge even if he killed the entire family, he would have been seen as a cold and unfeeling person who of course would eventually find love
To sum it up, the story wasn't really clear and it's not something I would ever think of rewatching
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A Mothers' Love knows no boundaries
How to move on from this wonderfully written sageuk drama of 2022? I just cannot believe that it ended, I want more of them.Great casting, spectacular performances, crispy and well written dialogues, OST is used perfectly on each scenes, face off/slap scenes (figuratively) and you'll feel a whole lot of emotions from the drama. There's character growth and development, and I loved it!
This drama shows different types of motherly love: there's a kind, warm, supporting, forgiving, accepting and protective love; a love that is ruled by greed and obsession that is poisonous to one's child.
I love how they tackle issues, especially related with the 4 grand prince, the other children as well as the King, I'm surprised, I enjoyed his character. As most of the dramas, the father (King) usually is a jerk who's obsessed with power and greed.
Kim Hye Soo is one of my favourite SoKor actress, she knows how to deliver emotions and lines. Her face says it all, even when she's just lifting her eyebrows, you know it wants to express something. She's such a powerful actress, you'll feel all the emotions/character she wanted to portray. I love her!!!
If you haven't watched it, you should start watching it now and surely you'll enjoy it as much as I did.
Though, the Queen Dowager had it easy which was kinda lacking as she is a nasty
character. What happened to her doesn't give justice to everything she did from the past.
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This review may contain spoilers
Best Historical Drama of 2022
The first Korean historical drama I watched was Scarlett Heart Ryo, which I still consider the best. Next to that comes Mr Queen. I really loved the main lead's acting. From these two I get to understand all the politics, relationships, jealousies, hyprocricies, and issues of trust/mistrust within the palace. I didn't watch Under the Queen's Umbrella until December 2022, when the series had already completed, and as I finished watching all the episodes I could only say: Wow, what a great story line.Of course the acting was all good: the queen, queen dowager, the king, princes, court ladies were all superb. But the story itself was very strong. You get so many surprised in each episode, not knowing what the queen did before hand. Sometimes as a viewer, I felt "deceived" by her actions by not knowing she did many thing for good purposes, such as accusing her daughter-in-law for murdering the crown prince (when in fact she was saving the crown princesses life). Her relationship with the other wives, the princes, the court doctor, the deposed queen was so beautiful protrayed with many twists and suprises.
I think this is one of the best historical drama I saw in 2020. It was also a visual treat for me to see the costumes, country scenery, and court ceremonies.
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LOVE IT!
As a person who cannot finish a drama unless it really intrigues me in every possible way, I can say I totally binge-watched this series to the very last episode in 2 days, it was just that good! The main actress for the queen did such an amazing job portraying an exasperated, loving, protective mother and a stunning, confident queen so perfectly, you can't help but fall in love with her. I love how the character she plays grows into this strong and badass mother as the story develops, and not from the very beginning as it really adds depth to her character. The story has everything you could ask for, intriguing plotlines and since it's a periodic piece about royalty, oh you can definitely expect some political and family drama. What makes me love this more is the familial bond and interaction between the royal family! the grand princes are such an adorable, troublemaking bunch (poor queen lol) and how the drama isn't too messy and is cleanly resolved. I absolutely couldn't predict the plotline at all, which makes it even better to watch. There really weren't many filler moments that you could skip in this drama either. Overall, an amazing job by the cast and the producing team, and totally one of the must watch k-dramas for 2022!Was this review helpful to you?
Absolutely breathtaking!
I started watching this as soon as it was released and actually stopped in the middle of episode 1 as I felt there were a whole host of characters and they were introduced all at once. It was a bit hard to keep up with it. So I DROPPED IT!!! But there was that one weekend, I had some time and nothing good to watch..so I decided to give it a go. The series had finished airing by then and OMG am I glad I gave it a second chance. I binge watched the whole thing in 2days and 1 night. Here are some of my reasons:Cinematography - So many beautiful scenes in this show. This is some quality program. You can really see that powers beyond the actors took time to stitch the story well. Simply amazing.
Costume - I watch a lot of Sageuks. But this one takes the cake for costumes. It might be because there are a lot of female characters in it, but the hanboks in this drama deserve their own series I think.
Acting - Top notch acting all around Period!
Story - Going into it I was not convinced that story of palace "back office" would be that interesting. This was proven wrong by episode 2. You really do not need heavy romance, always conspiring Left/Right state ministers for a really good Saguek.
Restraint - We often do not value restraint that much. Most stories do not exercise it and while they all make decent watch, they do not make for memorable, impactful pieces. I loved how the storyline had so much restraint. It was classy all around.
Romance - There was very little of it. However it felt really relevant to the story. They did not overdo it which made the romance itself very enjoyable
Characters - The story had such strong characters. If you have young adults in your family, I highly recommend watching it with them. There are a lot of life lessons here that they would enjoy.
I could go on. All in all, this is one of the most memorable dramas I have watched in a long while. We need more of this!
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Perfectly Well Done
Kim Hye Su was outstanding as the Queen. The drama was filled with constant twists and challenges for the Queen to overcome. Very engaging drama with lots of complexities. Kim Hae Sook was as solid as always in her Queen Dowager role. Also loved the cuteness of Kim Gae Eun and Han Dong Hee, which really added a brightness to the drama. The Grand Princes characters and episodes were a lot of fun to watch and all very believable. Nothing but perfection throughout this drama. Loved the women's costumes and accessories...and I'm a guy saying this!Was this review helpful to you?
Best saeguk this year
So I finally got to watch the last two episodes and man what a ride. It's been so long since I enjoyed a historical so much, needless to say the acting was top notch and the directing was great as well. This is one of the rare extremely good drama that come once in a while, its only flaw is chungha and the unwanted romance for the cp and cps. I just wish it was a little bit longer I diffenetly think this is more of a 20 episode drama at least. 9 out of 10. Could have been 10 if not for that minor annoyance. Ps queen dwager is such a slap worthy annoying character, however I really admire how intelligent/cunning she is.Was this review helpful to you?
