This review may contain spoilers
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.
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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