Why Mr. Queen's Ending is a Satisfying & Good Ending

There are a lot of audiences that are not satisfied with the ending, I think partly because they missed the various hints that the writer keeps throwing to us since the beginning of the drama which is, So Young has always been part Bong Hwan since the very beginning -- which influence both his behaviors and actions. And her presence is more apparent when she fainted and fell into vegetative state. So all the romantic actions we seen later are all her own doing and not Bong Hwan. You see Bong Hwan being confuse and hate those actions since it was always been So Young's doing. Bong Hwan just always tries to justified himself everytime he does something against his will to console himself since he can’t understand his action either (like imagining Hong Yeon when the Queen and the King had their first night together and any other various instances). So Young's memories, So Young's feelings, So Young's sync actions with her father, So Young's music ability, So Young's embroidery skills are the many hints that the writer throw to us.

The biggest hints:

Hint #1 - When Bong Hwan left the Queen's body in Episode 20, So Young knew he was gone since she cant felt his presence anymore -- she wasn’t ecstatic to get back, but she just felt he is gone since she never left her body in the first place. This indicates that she always there in her own body influencing all Bong Hwan's sub-conscience, behaviors and actions and do things against his wills.

Hint #2 - Bong Hwan was revealed as someone who never do justice (based on his conversation with Secretary Han on the balcony). This is the biggest hint that show us that all the helps the King received from the beginning from the Queen has always been So Young's doing. He influences Bong Hwan to do that way and in the end, Bong Hwan benefited from it as well and he become kinder and more towards justice and changed his destiny as well in the future.

Hint #3 - So Young never revealed to anyone that someone took over her body. Why? Because she know that she was always there in the beginning influencing Bong Hwan's behaviors and actions. Bong Hwan started to get So Young's memories one by one and can feel her emotions (thats why he knew that the Queen loves the King since the beginning and never love Byeong In). This later intensified when even when the Queen think, it was in So Young's voice instead of Bong Hwan. And later, the kiss, the first night which was done against Bong Hwan's will further proves this. And when we reached the end of the drama, we started to see less Bong Hwan and more of the Queen in term of action and decision makings. The personality of the Queen might be Bong Hwan, but the sub-conscious has always been So Young. Thats why she didnt feels guilty towards the King as well since she knew it was her that the King falls in love with.

I guess it comes to the question on who the King really fall in love with. The King starts to waver when the found out The Queen's grace behind her actions. She appears as someone arrogant & unruly (Bong Hwan) but she did something that help him with his dream of creating a better Joseon (So Young). So it was always been So Young's grace that made him fall in love with the Queen while Bong Hwan's un-princess like behaviors are the flaws (as he mentioned during his confession) that he accepted once he knew he had fallen in love with the Queen. In the end, it was So Young, the same little girl that he met when he was at his lowest point of his life -- the one who moves his heart -- the girl who fought for justice when she doesn’t need to considering the high status she’s in. But the writer did point out in the end that the King felt something is missing (Bong Hwan) when he looked at the Queen's Dictionary which I personally think is a nice touch to indicate he also appreciate Bong Hwan as well.

There's no injustice was done to Bong Hwan as once So Young is gone, his feelings towards the King is gone as well. His loves for the ladies didn’t fade even when the Queen finds himself falling for the King in the later part of the drama indicating the real Bong Hwan has never been gone -- he just co-exist with So Young at the same time. He still feel excited when he sees pretty women and wanted to be close to them even when he already accepted his confusing sexual identity. So now So Young is no longer part of him, he no longer feel attracted to the King anymore as can be seen at the end which he appears to happy & contented. Now So Young is no longer in his body, he just return to his former self.

And So Young has always had part of Bong Hwan's personality as well since in the beginning. Remember when she was called 'witch' by the court maids? When the King saw her terrorizing her court maid, it didn’t feel weird since she was like that as well before Bong Hwan entered her body. But after that, like how she influences Bong Hwan's to be more kinder and towards righteousness, Bong Hwan also influences her as well like how she can expressed herself more (through swearing) and now she can expressed more radical idea like court maids can get married at the end of the drama.

So due to this, I feel its truly a great ending. Everyone got what they want at the end and no injustice was done to any characters. They could go through the route that Bong Hwan accepted his fate to be in the Queen's body forever or Bong Hwan is the reincarnation of the Queen from the past life (which explain why his feelings to the ladies and the King legit as they are the same persons) but the writer chose this route which in my opinion is great as well.

 Aryajongun:

I've always known that it was the real queen that the king fell in love with but was never able to express it in words but you my friend did that and I'm actually soooo grateful ❤

Many people have expressed their dissatisfaction with the ending since they perhaps missed some of the hints. But it was an excellent ending when you considered all the hints the writer presented in the whole drama. :D

There's no doubt that the king loved So-yong, the original one. They are people who faced each other several times, first as children in a difficult period of their lives (he had lost his family, she felt lost on her birthday which coincides with her mother's death) when they brought comfort to each other, and when So-yong saved his life... Then in Bamboo Forest (Secret), we discover they met again and fell for each other as adult... So pretending Cheoljong didn't love So-yong is definitely not understanding the story. He does love her. When Jo Hwa-Jin asks him at the beginning (when he's still at odds with Sobong) if he loves the Queen, he says he can't love her and she under exactly how it was meant. Yes, he loves So-yong and we all know she loves him too. The one reason she decided to die in that lake was to free him from her and he understands when Sobong confronts him early (also about why he wants to kill him, even if at that point he doesn't understand all the complexity as he doesn't have So-yong's memories yet)... 

That being said, Cheoljong also fell in love in with Sobong. It's all of this new queen he loves, the quiet part as well as the brash, irrational part (at least for him). Sobong knows things So-yong's could not have known. But at no moment, we're only having only Bong-hwan when this happens. Slowly from episode 7, So-yong is gradually making her presence felt. It's more and more two consciences sharing one body (I won't say two souls as it is indeed possible that Bong-hwan is the reincarnation of So-yong and so there might not be two souls and that could explain a lot of things). Bong-hwan is mostly in control but not always. When the kiss changes in episode 9, it is So-yong taking over. He says it clearly, same for their first night, not saying that Bong-hwan didn't play a part in the whole thing, as the next day in the kitchen he's more than confused, about how much he liked it even though it wasn't really him leading things for his side (big debate about who leads this body, her, him, the hormones lol)... And this is when there's no more separation in the feelings or at least it becomes murky for Sobong. Does he love the king because So-yong loves him or does he loves the king just like that? He sees him for himself, but also through the love she feels. It has to be extremely confusing... I do think Bong-hwan loves Cheoljong as himself, I do think he also love So-yong and he wants just for her (even though the person confronting her father, Byeong-in and Cheoljong after the dip in the lake is So-yong and not Sobong. She's finally completely back, leaving the ghost of her past self down the lake and back to settle scores. Her emotions allow her as often to take over her body for a while. Does So-yong love Bong-hwan? she likes him for sure, he helped her immensely, but I'm not sure if it was love... 

As I said Cheoljong loved all of his queen, the little girl who saved him, the woman he saw under the snow and who tended to his injury and the crazy cooking queen who never gave up. And we know he misses the later we see it when he looks at his dictionary with a sad frown. Something is missing (Kim Jung-hyun added his own adlib at the end of episode 20 to reinforce this), he liked the quirkiness, the craziness, the extravaganza and he misses it. But saying that he doesn't love his queen and he only loved Sobong/Bong-hwan is also absolutely ignoring the story and its complexity. At the end he believed Sobong that he was from the future even if he didn't understand all that. He believed that this was not only So-yong he had in front of him, but also someone else he loved also. 

So the ending is bittersweet for Cheoljong, it's bitter for Bong-hwan because he's finally back in a new timeline because his adventure has changed his world (Cheoljong and So-yong have made changes as the Google search shows us, they worked hand in hand to bring forth a new country), but he has lost people he loved and cared about, now he needs to find his place in this new existence, with his new him that isn't quite who he used to be as he learned to love truly, freely, with no fear. Only So-yong has a perfect happy ending somehow. She's also changed, she saw no way out when she jumped in the lake and at the end Bong-hwan showed her one, she could retake control of her life and finally be herself with the man she loved and now allowed himself to finally love her (without Prince Yeongpyeong constantly whispering in his ear that he couldn't allow himself to love her). 

But there's hope for Bong-hwan, his story doesn't end there. He's not the same and he can find his soulmate too now that he's not afraid to love anymore. It's a brand new world and I would have loved for a season 2 to show us that. Maybe get us the proof he was indeed So-yong reincarnated, that maybe he'll meet Cheoljong reborn (that was his wish in Bamboo forest).