Queen Cheorin (2020)

My rating for this drama is extremely generous, let me just say, because if it wasn’t for my favorite actress, Shin Hye Sun, and a wonderful cast of other characters, this drama could have easily been 5 stars for me. I had high hopes for Mr Queen because of the cast and because of the compelling storyline, however I never expected to be so damn bored the entire time I was watching it. Each episode felt like a drag, and I found myself checking the time of each episode every 3 minutes. There wasn’t anything inherently wrong with this drama except for the ending, however I just never clicked with any of the characters. I didn’t care about what happened to Jang Bong Hwan and Cheoljong by the end, I just wanted it to be over so I could mark this drama as “Completed” and move on to the rest of my watchlist. As someone who watched and absolutely LOVED the drama Mr Sunshine, I feel as though I have forever been ruined and have set my expectations astronomically high for any period drama I watch after that. Mr Queen was completely predictable all the way until the end, and every character (except for one, but I’ll just attribute that to the obligatory second male lead death scene) got a flawless, happy ending. I so badly wanted angst, I wanted CONSEQUENCES, I wanted them to suffer because it’s so freaking unrealistic for them to get such a sappy conclusion. I wanted sacrifice (in the form of that palace child actually being poisoned to death) and I wanted Hong Yeon and the Court Lady to die in the forest fight because war isn’t pretty. Sure, that would have pissed some people off, but it would be a lot more on-brand with the Joseon period than every character turning into a superhero and defeating all the bad guys. The humor was great at first, sure, but holy crap did it get annoying toward the end. There’s only so many times a character being overly dramatic or Jang Bong Hwan saying something really aggressive and “cool” can make me laugh. The OST didn’t really impress me. The main theme was the only redeeming track in that whole playlist. The story itself just didn’t go in the direction I had hoped it would go. I was expecting some freaky supernatural shit to happen to Cheoljong, or for Kim So Yong to at least be there for more than the last 10 minutes of the drama. The romance was weird at best, and at the end it just didn’t seem to matter, because the person that Cheoljong fell in love with was not Kim So Yong but a very horny modern-day Korean chef. Overall, just pretty freaking disappointed. I have loved every single drama by Shin Hye Sun up until I watched this one, and the extremely high ratings honestly make no sense to me.

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Everything was going very well in ....until the end (messed up)

Before talking about cons , let me talk about the pros of this drama.
The story : VERY INTRESTING AND FUN. It's so rare to see a reincarnation of a man's soul to a woman's body. And that's what made me watch this drama . I also loved how they kept the comedy genre till the end , as it is so rare to see a comedy period drama till the end. Usually in period dramas , the first 4 or 5 ep will have comedy/lighthearted moments and later as the story moves on it gets serious. Each ep will have at least one funny/lighthearted scene . Our MR.QUEEN changes the boring Joseon Dynasty into fun and entertaining . Our queen with bong hwan's body becomes "i am not like other women in joseon era" If you really want a good laugh watch this drama, its worth it!!

Cast/acting: 10 on 10 !! Shin Hye Sun , our queen was the show's spotlight , i instantly became a fan of her !! the way she behaved as if bong hwan was actually in her body!! So good , And our King, Kim Jung Hyun , he really gave me the king vibes !! his funny to a serious acting was so on top!! At one point i forgot that he was dong goo from waikikki S1, And all our villans were so good at their job in making me hate them (that's their point as villans) . Btw Jo Hwa Jin 's character reminded me of kang soo jin's character from true beauty ...you hate them at one point but them you forgive them (basically both of these character makes a bad choice and later realizes their mistakes and helps our main characters)
I especially wanna talk about out supporting cast like our court lady choi, hong yeon(court maid ) and their sibling like relationship with our queen. I love the trio sooooo much!!

Here is the con (spoilers!!)
But i really wanted bong hwan's soul to be in queen's body till the end , but the writers messed up i am happy that no one died except byung in , seeing bong hwan crying and smiling at the same time while reading about the joseon dynasty was so sad!! As soon as the soul changed during the last ep, the drama lost it's fun (for me) , It was so good till the half of the last ep. It was clear that our king fell in love with bong hwan's personality and how he feels off when bong hwan left the queen's body shows it. i was not satisfied by the ending basically . I loved so yong (queen) with bong hwan's soul and i expected that to continue but the writers thought that if they end it like that, it shows homosexuality and as it is korean drama they changed the whole story . This is my biggest problem with this drama .It was NOT a SATISFACTORY ending.

music: i only like the funny ost like bong hwan-a and keep going , others are meh to me.
I can only rewatch the funny moments in this drama .

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Perfect Escape

I started watching this drama because of the competition; there just wasn't a whole lot to watch when this started. After viewing the first couple of episodes, I became hooked and / or obsessed with every aspect of this production.

I'd like to break this review down into categories and the first is writing / directing / and production. A blended comedy has to be the hardest genre to write and maintain at a certain pace. I laughed on every single episode except the ending and found myself willingly transported to a snapshot of Joseon history. Everything about this drama is well rounded, but the director and writing staff should be awarded an Oscar because the pace, setting, dialogue and costumes are vividly brilliant. I felt like a first person spectator in fictional Korean and it was magic.

The next category that deserves gushing appraisal is the acting. Shin Hye Sun plays two characters in this drama, Kim So Yong and Jang Bong Hwan. What is absolutely crazy about her acting is that each persona seems to be portrayed by different actresses. When she is Jang Bong Hwan, the screen absolutely lights up like fireworks. Opposite her is Jang Bong Hwan as King Cheoljong. His acting in "Mr. Queen" is understated, deliberate and brilliant. The King's character is somewhat of a chameleon and the way he undertakes the role would leave a lesser actor in the dust beside of Kim So Yong. He is dynamically perfect across from whomever he shares the screen with and I became an instant fan. Last but not least are the rest of the cast that fill out the narrative in such a way that each could have been the center of the story: the Grand Queen, Kim Jwa Geun, Kim Byung In, Royal Chef, Hong Yeon, Court Lady Choi and many more were brought to life with mastering care by their portrayer. I wish there could be an emoji inserted of a standing applause audience because they deserve that and so much more.

My least favorite part of this drama was the ending. Throughout all episodes, King Cheoljong organically falls in love with Mr. Queen; he/she is unruly, abrasive, brilliant and uniquely in the moment. Mr. Queen is the only character who with no hidden agenda and that draws Cheoljong in like the proverbial moth to the flame. He has spent his life being surrounded by people using him and the first forced interactions between the two become compelling moments later. By the end, he lights up when Mr. Queen is near, terrorized when she's hurt. Both actors make you feel as if they would rather not breath if the other is not close by and this is why I think the ending was slightly (just slightly) lackluster. Jang Bong Hwan is thrown into the future, Kim So Yong once again inhabits her body alone and the King and she live happily ever after, crazily in love. The writers probably pieced together the best ending possible with restrictions placed upon them. But, as a viewer, I found Kim So Yong, alone in her body, a lackluster character. She was very much written correctly for her time but after watching the story of Mr. Queen, I missed this character desperately in the end. I would imagine the King did also.

My last point is a big thank you to all for highlighting the life of a real person, that of King Cheoljong of Joseon. Grabbed and placed as a Joseon puppet king by the Kim Clan, he tried his best, with strings tying him, to help the common person in a decidedly corrupt monarchy. Thanks to YouTube, I found out that he was a flawed but caring king and I'm glad that a posthumous heroic ending was written for him, albeit in fiction. The dark and true machinations of the Andong Kim clan were brought to light and I cannot imagine how happy he must be in the afterlife. History is usually written by the victors to shame those defeated and through this drama, a once obscure King now enjoys a posthumous second life. A truly fitting ending.

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You Might Be Disappointed by the Ending

Mr.Queen is by far one of the best dramas I've watched. It's the only drama I watched while airing and watched with and without subs. From episode one you will be curious and the writers have a way of ending each episode so that you're curious about the next and are hardly ever to predict what will happen. The main characters are Cheoljong, Soyong and Bonghwan , but we see little of Soyong's feelings and own interactions with Cheoljong. That being said the ending makes everything seem rushed and ill-planned. Throughout the drama we grow fond of Sobong's (the combo of bonghwan's mind in soyong's body) interactions with everyone. She's humourous , a bit wild, smart and not willing to be restrained. Cheoljong and Sobong's relationship starts off rough what with the hate and revenge-based enmity but eventually grows to mutual respect and then love. After Sobong's numerous identity crisis-es, she finally admits that she does in fact care for cheoljong seen in how she kisses him, and longs for him when he leaves, but then suddenly in the end Bonghwan is thrown back into the present leaving Soyong to regain control of her body.

Yes, it's Soyong's body, she was in love with Cheoljong first and he at least had a crush on her which he put aside, but it was Bonghwan's efforts that made him fall for her . That aside even if Bonghwan was sent back to the future I could accept that. What I couldn't accept was the way they did it. It was too sudden, he didn't even get to say goodbye and then when he got back no reason was given for why he was able to move unlike the last time he went back and a sloppy excuse which made no sense was given for why he wasn't arrested (that being his "sudden change of heart and desire to do the right thing" when he turned in Secretary Han which lead to him being thrown off his balcony as revenge instead of by mistake as it was in the beginning). This I say makes no sense because Sobong had castrated Secretary Han's ancestor which should have effectively eliminated his EXISTENCE from the future.

Besides that, it seemed like the writer's were originally going for the Sobong x Cheoljong ending but were too scared of controversy to do it. That's the only reason I can think of for :
1)making him go through an identity and sexual identity crisis come to terms with both his new body and feelings only to make him go back. And

2) Making Soyong seem like such an insignificant character. If they wanted to establish romance between her and Cheoljong, they should've filmed so that it was obvious Bonghwan and Soyong were sharing her body by having times where she was more dominant and her personality was on full display where she could make advances towards Cheoljong.

All in all, it was good, very enjoyable, but the ending leaves much to be desired both in terms of logic and fulfillment. Even korean viewers said that although it was a happy ending they could't help but feel empty/disappointed.

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I don't like the Saeguk genre. I started watching this due to the extreme hype & Shin Hye Sun. At first I was pleasantly surprised, the first 9 episodes were perhaps the best saeguk experience I've ever had. Despite the nonsense story I just felt an incredible amount of joy watching this. It was like 95% high quality humor & 5% political bullshit/scheming. Unfortunately the ratio completely flips around after episode 9. The humor is not enough the carry the story anymore. In fact if I ignore the comedy & look at this as a political romance the writing is on the weaker side of mediocre. The second half of the story has a lot of makjang with a really sloppy love story & a weird love triangle situation. I found the second lead to be the really really annoying, cartoon villain type, but the other villains had really unclear & unreasonable motivations as well. In general having characters that have teary eyes in every single one of their scenes is just a terrible chliche and this drama has 3 of them, yep.. (prince, drug addict assassin guy & second ML) The second FL's story is also kind of like something one would see in a lakorn, what a wasted bromance opportunity. (or more?!) Also about the guy with the scar on his face, it's just intelligence insulting that someone would have such a distinct scar on their face, but use a mask that doesn't cover that area. Even in the mask shop scene there were suitable masks on the wall.
Every moment with the OTP on screen was entertaining to watch, but the writers just couldn't commit to handling the whole genderbender, semi BL situation and this concluded in what I consider one of the worst endings I've seen in a kdrama. (typically I don't even start a kdrama, if the ending is bad) I'm sure that the fear of conservative housewives bombarding them with letters is part of it, perhaps even KCSC could have been considered, but good God there were so many ways to turn the situation tame in a more wholesome, happy manner. (there are some great ideas in the comment section)
While I was watching the drama I was thinking that perhaps the main writer wrote all the political stuff & the main storyline, while a group of writing interns were responsible for the comedy. Imagine my surprise, when I saw later that this drama has been written by a duo. I guess that could explain everything.


Despite the bad story I decided to give the drama a 8/10 rating. Partly because it's been an extremely memorable experience, partly because the comedy is just so on point and also because EVERY actor was trying so hard. Korean actors are almost always professional enough, but in this show nearly the entire cast has shown near tangible enthusiasm, even more so than in Crash Landing. As I said the saeguk makjang writing was bad, but thanks to the extraordinary acting performances - at least compared to other saeguk makjangs - it felt quite polished to me.
If Shin Hye Sun doesn't win a Daesang for this, then the award show season of 2021 would hold no meaning. (She is way more deserving than Jun Ji Hyun ever were) This is not the first time for her to carry a show on her back almost singlehandedly (not even the second time), but she was just too brilliant.

The production quality is very high, the sets, the OST, the cinematography were all up to standard. That "Bong Hwan-A" song is just perfection..

Shoutout to court maid Hong Yeon, I'd be more than willing to watch her in a leading role.

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A drama that would have been nearly perfect with Moon Lovers ending...

Wow what a show! I have to admit I wasn’t really into it at first. It took me like forever to start liking the king and caring for the palace people at all. At first I only wanted to know what happened to Bong Hwan. But then suddenly they got me… What I find most fascinating is, that this might be the most queer k-drama we ever had… even though they did try to avoid any discussions about it with a weird ending and yes that is a small down point for me.

Shin Hye Sun outshined everyone with her acting if you ask me. She is simply amazing and I loved her portrayal of So Bong as well as So Yong (though I did not like So Yong at all). I also think Kim Jung Hyun did a great job, I already loved him in Welcome to Waikiki and was able to discover a new side of him again after CLOY. And as much as I loved Na In Woo’s outfit I think he has got room for improvement… but that could have been due to the script I am not quite sure (but dios mio he was hot in that outfit).

As for the ending, everyone was basically ready to give this drama a 10/10 but the ending ruined this for most of us. I have to say I was not too surprised, but would have wished for something similar to Moon Lovers in that case. Even though it would have been heart-breaking I would have preferred So Yong dying and maybe waking up as Bong Hwan again in present time (just like Moon Lovers). Cheoljong would have suffered of course and it would have been quite tragic but it would have been fair and simply logic. The way the drama ended means he is now married to a woman he doesn't love because the women/man he loved was Bong Hwan. And that's it. Also I don't get how Bong Hwan can be okay in present time. I mean you can say whatever you want but he LOVED Cheoljong. I think the drama missed a huge opportunity here to make a point about the fact that you can fall for everyone be it a woman or a man, because you fall in love with a person and not with the persons gender. But yeah it is not a surprise they finished it that way, without questioning Bong Hwans feelings, it is a k-drama after all. And since the genre was comedy they couldn't let So Yong die of course...

However despite the ending I think this was a great drama and I am glad I did not drop it. I might even rewatch it again in a few years :)

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different from everything, crazy funny and taboo free

Without spoiler:
this drama is really fresh, different, soo much funny and catches you from the first 10-20 minutes. there are so many things that are soo different from usual dramas.
what was great:
1. FL (though she kind of is ML) - character like who we haven't seen
2. phenomenal acting from FL. others are good too, but not near to her.
3. humor, oh God, I haven't laughed that much soo long
4. cliche and taboo free, for example I don't remember drama with so much sexual/intime undertones, they act so natural and show so real chemistry and sexual tension, passion...
5. very unusual story, I mean gender switching is normal in dramas, but there are so more unusual storylines in this drama, few times I was like "no way, they wouldn't goo so far..." but this drama really breaks many drama taboos
6. the whole mood of the show, with perfectly fitting music and acting, there are soo right mood, soo funny
.... there are many really good things too, you should watch )))

what was bad:
main problem is the end, 1-2 little different scene could be make this drama completely perfect.
Spoilers:
the whole story clearly showed, that it was only SY's body and then some memories, BH even blamed female body for wanting king. Even if there was some piece of SY which helped BH fall for king, the character we watched for 19,5 episodes was BH. King fell in love with BH and then changing him even and King didn't even noticed it... that's just not logical.

There was scene, when BH/SY says to that guy who loved her, that it's just her body and if he loved her how he couldn't notice that now this is different person, so same goes to king, even more because king was his husband and was all the time with her, so how he doesn't noticed?
Ok I understand if they would stay together and happy anyway, because he already loves her and even if noticed that she changed, he wouldn't just stop loving her in one day, would see her in good way anyway and get used to even new herself, it is realistic, on the other hand SY not saying "you know, I'm not the one you fall for" is realistic too, she loved king whole life. But at list they should show that king sees difference, is kind of confused, misses how she was or something like that. He loves his wife but misses something, that wouldn't destroy happy ending or anything.
We can't say that they afraid taboos or gay theme, because this drama had so many brave scenes, so much sex/intime undertones, they already showed us practically two males fall for each other. one gender theme was in side characters stories too. So why back at the end?

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Despite the main character being a man trapped in a female body, there is a certain focus on women within this drama; their lives, roles and work within the palace, which I enjoyed. Shin Hye Sun is absolutely amazing in this role and can switch from comedy to drama with great easy. It never feels forced to too harsh of a transition. I enjoy her so much in this role. And considering that this is a comedy about gender-swap, I never really found the humor that demeaning or like it talked down to women, or even homosexuality for that matter, as the romance became more prevalent. It wasn’t perfect, but I had expected worse, and it never really got on my nerves personally.

Whether we need this gender-swap to tell the story I am on the fence about. I think but that the story could have worked well enough if the main character was just a woman from the 21st century. Sometimes it seemed to me that they were brushing over things that should have underlined the struggle that a person who is not in that time, not in their body, would deal with. And I don’t think this is the radical or feminist take that some might have wanted about of women or the gender. But I also don’t think the drama ever intended to be a big commentary on society or gender roles. It just wanted to be a comedy sageuk with a twist.

I liked pretty much all the female characters in the drama for different reason. There was a range of characters and even the more comic relief ones had more to their roles than just that. Most of my favorite moments in the show had something to do with the main character’s friendship with their maids as well as the mutual respect that existed between them.

The sort of regular, everyday life of the court, especially for the women in the highest positions, was something I enjoyed too. Those moments are usually more in the background in these dramas. And I found the humor mostly revolved around that; life in the palace, the people who worked there, a little bit about politics and power struggle, but also the fact that the main characters was from another time period and how that person did things differently from the others and the conflicts that created. Much more than the actual gender-swap. Which is why I think we didn’t need it.

It took a while for the drama to mix the humor with the more serious tones of the drama that boosted the suspense in the story. The humor that led the drama in the beginning, but the more political bits never felt too jarring to me. And after a few episodes I felt like they managed to mix those two elements well enough so they worked together.

Despite some complaints about the politics taking up too much time, Mr. Queen was always a comedy and manages to keep the humor up throughout the drama, despite the politics and all the power struggles taking place. But even in the darkest, most tensest moments the show always manages to mix in lighter and funnier moments in. I never felt like the overall tone of the show dropped, or that it become too heavy. The humor never dried up and the story never became too dreary.

Many people do not like the high stakes, which never feel that high compared to other such period dramas, or the politics and just want the romance and the comedy. But personally I think dramas like these could not keep the story going with just funny moments and no politics. There have to be stakes and in the palace stakes comes with political maneuvering. Most stories are based on some kind of tension, risk and conflict.

The conflict here comes out in subtle fights for power, very under the table political tactics to, shifting of allies and clashes between several powerful clans within the Joseon era. But those conflicts never took over the whole story. It is the usual shenanigans that you usually see in these period dramas, but just a bit more woman focused, which I enjoyed a lot. How the women used their power and manipulated the court and people around them. The king has his focus as well, but the is surrounded by really smart, calculating women.

Overall I felt like Mr. Queen was a pretty standard period drama that tried to have a little bit of a different angle on things, that just aimed to be very fun and entertaining. It never took itself that seriously, but I also didn’t think it was saying that much either, although criticizing society through comedy is what the genre is sort of made for. Yet the light-hearted spirit that was always persistent through the drama, the character and just the amazing performance of Shin Hye Sun, made Mr. Queen overall a really easy and entertaining show to watch.

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The best historical series ever

I really am both excited and happy about such a cute,fun and happy series.i was doubted to watch it at the first episodes were released due to a man came to a woman but when i started watching it the only feeling that a had was happiness with loud laughter and pure love .i was never stressed or deeply sad as the happy moments went after the sad ones and the revenges were not that poisonous to darken our hart,i really care about ending of series so the happy and open ending- which make me hope that it could be Mr Queen 2 in near future- was really pleasing.the Ost is one other thing make me connect to the story and luckily the ost did go to the story line very well i really will miss this series i really hope that they come to decide to make the second Mr Queen series .....thanks to all cast and crews.wish to see you soon.

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Great show with full of comedy and refreshing idea, but losing it in the last episode

The Show has broken through many types of clichés, and for the first 19 episodes are gold. Great comedy, amazing acting, good script as well. But, seeing the season finale, it gave me a disappointment.

*SPOILERS*

Because we kind of lost one of our main character half-way in the last episode(Bonghwan), where he went back to his lifetime and left Soyoung's body with her soul (and here I thought she is dead for the whole 19 episodes!). After that, Soyoung just lives in her body but apparently, also adapting Bonghwan's behaviour. Now, I don't know what to feel about this. Because Cheojong fell in love with Bonghwan's character, his persona and everything about him (he admitted this in the ealier episodes), and now he was left with someone, who is completely stranger to him, and us. I thought he is going to realize that the person inside of Soyoung's body is not really her, but the writer seems to ditch that off. It's kind of what I've expected because writer-nim also did that with Byung Im (he is completely oblivious with Soyoung's new behaviour and still think that it IS her).

Anyway, now Cheoljong will live a life, where he thought the person who he loves is right besides him, but actually not. And what about Bonghwan?? Are you already forget about him, who has already done everything to save Cheoljong and everyone in there, while Soyoung had done nothing and just enjoy all of his hardwork up until now?

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