Queen Cheorin (2020)

Fun and refreshing from the first episode to the last

I never posted any reviews for any dramas before, even though I watched many many of them. I created this account just to post a review about this drama, so that people looking through the reviews decide to watch this drama as soon as possible.

Here is my tldr review:
This drama is a unique and refreshing piece of work. It's fun and amazingly paced which keeps the attention of the viewers from the start to the end. The story is not very unique but the pace of the drama and the brilliant acting of the casts makes this not so unique story a very unique experience. All the characters had their purpose and their development was properly done too. This drama is for those who like episodes with funny sweet and tense moments in a properly balanced way and want to feel the excitement they felt watching the first episode throughout the whole drama.

Now comes my in-depth rant:
Most of the "Good" K-dramas starts strong and fun but as if as an universal law they lose all their color and refreshing moments in the second half. The characters become sad empty shells of their vibrant past selves from the first few episodes. Even dramas with comedy tags become sad dramas as if everyone has a disease of sadness. The scenes become too intense without any proper breathing moments. The romance scenes become the same as other dramas. If you saw one you've seen them all. And the worst of all is the plague and disease of all dramas, the disease which infects even the best of the dramas, yes you are right, the flashback disease. The dramas become so pitiful at the second half that even the characters start seeing flashbacks of their great and glorious past. Now if you are one of those people who love to watch these sad intense flashback ridden dramas then that is up to you, you weirdos, see a doctor asap. But if you are one of my kind of people who can't stand these sad excuse of second halves that ruined so many great dramas and the flashback plague then this drama is for you.

This drama starts with great momentum and you will ride that momentum throughout the whole 20 episodes of this drama. I dare say it gets better the further you go. The characters become more fun each episode, the romance gets a bit more sweeter each episode , the story becomes a bit more intense each new episode and when the story is starting to get too intense a breath of fresh air will be given to you with very well placed comedy scenes. You will be start to feel sad at one moment but you will have to laugh hard at the next moment because of the sweet and funny interactions of the characters. Sadly the flashback disease got to this drama too. For all 20+ hours of drama time, there was less than 20 seconds of useless flashback in total, and honestly I can see why they used those flashbacks, so you won't even notice it that much. There were twists in the drama some were predictable some were unexpected. The story won't frustrate you too much, but it will also keep you wondering what comes next. Overall the story progressed beautifully.

The FL was amazing. If you like strong FL with "Don't F with me or I would F you up" attitude then you would love it. The FL was as ruthless in the last episode as she was in the first episode. The actress played the character of a proud male stuck in the body of a queen amazingly. The ML was strong with realistic problems and weaknesses. ML was a likable character with zero identity crisis. The villains were played well too. The supporting characters were as much part of the drama as the main leads. The characters and the brilliant casts who brought these characters to life made the drama a gem to watch.

The music wasn't the best part of the drama but it also wasn't bad. It had appropriate music in appropriate places. But the music wasn't something that you would usually want to listen to later.
The production quality was great, the costumes and the sets were high quality. The locations were beautiful. And the action scenes were nicely choreographed.

About the ending:
(Warning! Even though this contains no spoilers if you haven't watched the drama yet I would prefer you watch the drama first before reading this part. All you need to know is that from start to finish it was a great drama. But if you are the curious type and must know what I have to say about the ending, then by all means proceed.)
The ending seems to have sprung some resentments among the viewers, but I can assure you, even if the ending caused resentment to some it is in no way a bad ending. The ending had no flaw and no unfinished business was left. It was not a rushed ending. It was a thoroughly and properly done ending. At the end of the day not everybody will like every outcome and this ending is the classic example of that. The ending was in no way boring. It kept my attention the whole way as it kept on other episodes. So for me it was a good ending to a GREAT drama and I wouldn't ask for anything more from the ending.

This is my first review of any k-drama and is probably the last. And this review is a sign of my fondness for this drama. I hope they make more like it in the future.

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My first Kdrama that got me in Kdrama !

This is my first review, after rewatching MR. Queen for the third time, wanted to share my experience.
This drama has it all...
Do you want an interesting/exciting Plot? You got it!
You want romance? You got it (One of the most precious relationships in Kdramas that I have watched)
You want comedy? YOU GOT IT!

Shin Hye Sun is A-Mazing! Her acting is beyond words, I can not imagine anyone else in that role. Her character is strong, funny, emotional, independent, intelligent, and courageous!
Kim Jung Hyun's (The King) character development is smooth, acting on point.

And the side characters????
Kim In Kwon [Royal chef] I mean... no words can describe how amazing his character is. Loved his character in The King's Affection as Yang Moon Soo [Teacher of Lee Hwi]. His relationship with the queen, their chemistry, I just love it!

Cha Chung Hwa (Court Lady Choi) - adore her!!!
I can continue on and on and on and on ))))

Overall, the cast is tremendous, the plot is exciting (binge-watched 3 times), sceneries beautiful.
I'm so happy that this was my first Kdrama that paved the way for all the amazing dramas and emotions!

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Mr. Queen worth every millisecond!

One of the best time travelling dramas I've ever seen! Worth every millisecond!
The story is very engaging and very funny at the same time, I couldn't stop laughing the whole time!

Shin Hye Sun: She's just brilliant here! I can't stop laughing because of her antics, and she's very funny.
She has a "strong" personality, but at the same time she has a good heart.
Kim Jung Hyun: His acting really surprised me in a positive way, he is definitely a good actor. I can't see any other actor in his place for the role like King Cheol Jong!

Chemistry: The two main protagonists have an incredible chemistry! They were the geniuses to cast these two together.

I recommend this drama 100%!!!

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Hats off to Shin Hye-Sun!!!

This drama is a gem! I know it's a remake from a Chinese drama, and it created a lot of issues but I really enjoyed watching the drama. Shin Hye-Sun is such a great actress! She is sooo good with her character, may it be her as Jang Bong-Hwan or Kim So-Yong, you'll noticed the switching of the characters. Other support actors did their parts wonderfully and convincing, including Kim Jung-Hyun as King Cheoljong. The scenes and their acting convinced me, and showed me how to react or what to feel upon showing needed emotions. I laugh, cry, became frustrated, angry and just simply entertained with everyone of them.

I really enjoyed this drama, and definitely would watch it again.

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I loved this drama! I may be in the minority in that I think that Mr. Queen ended well, better than I'd expected.

I always thought that Bong Hwan would eventually return to the modern world. He took great pride in being a talented chef at the Blue House and he would not have been able to pursue that calling had he remained as a queen in the Joseon period. He also mentions his parents, including his Zumba dancing mother, several times and I think that it would have upset him had he died in the modern world and broken their hearts. Further, the fact that he went after Han's ancestors seemed to indicate that he hoped to return eventually. I'm not convinced that that ever truly changed. Much of Bong Hwan's boldness and frankness (and cheekiness) was a result of him always seeming to have one foot out the door despite falling in love with Cheoljong. Yes, I think that Bong Hwan fell in love with Cheoljong and Cheoljong fell in love with Bong Hwan, not so much So-Yong. But I also assumed that Cheoljong would remain in Joseon as King because he was the type of person who would not give up his throne and his responsibilities to his people to follow Bong Hwan to the modern world, even if Cheoljong had had the choice. Thus if Bong Hwan must return to his world and Cheoljong must remain in his, then their separation is sad but inevitable. As for So-Yong, she clearly loves Cheoljjong. Cheoljong may or may not eventually love So-Yong as much as he loved Bong Hwan but is that really the only thing that matters in life? They work together to institute reforms in Joseon and are remembered as wise, compassionate rulers. Seems like a good resolution to me.

Some people seem to fault Cheoljong for not realizing that So-Yong is not Bong Hwan but it seemed to me that Cheoljong realized something was different. He couldn't figured out what really happened (for obvious reasons). If I could change anything about the ending, it would have been to add a scene where So-Yong comes clean with Cheoljong. I do feel sorry for Cheoljong, being left in the dark.

Finally, I think that Mr. Queen would not have been as good as it was without stellar acting by Shin Hye Sun, Kim Jung Hyung, and Kim Tae Woo.

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Entertaining drama with disappointing ending

I just finished this series today and came to MDL to see who else felt as betrayed by the ending like me. This is a rant rather than review.

*****SPOILERS******* DO NOT READ BEYOND THIS IF YOU HAVE NOT WATCHED THE SERIES*******

From the beginning we know that there is a male inside the queen's body and so I was wondering how the romance aspect wàs going to play out. Kdramas are known to deliver beautifully constructed plotlines to slowly transition the viewer through the journey of romance and ensure a sweet and fair ending. This is where this drama felt like a let down.

Many parts were never addressed till the end - The king never gets to know he fell in love with a male from the future, he just sees the queen as 'a unique personality different from anyone from the Joseon era' whereas the transmigrated one knows very well he is infact slowly falling in love with a male king. He in fact progresses from absolute disregard for the king to grudging admiration and then friendship and love and finally even fine with the idea of continuing with the life in the queen's body and carrying the king's baby! And it was so sweet to see the transition and the chemistry between the leads that i was rooting for them till the end.

But then in the very last episode, when BH risks even his life to save the king, he suddenly wakes back up in his own body in modern Korea and doesn't even get to know what happened to the king. And he has to run to a bookstore to find out. Heartbreaking.

The king saying 'it feels like something is missing' - because he is yet to figure out the person he fell in love with is no more in the queen's body. He fell in love with this unique, quirky, brash and unconventional person for whom he created a whole new dictionary, but has to live the rest of the days with some other person who just looks like his lover. It's like marrying the wrong twin! Again heartbreaking.

It is sad for the queen as well. As sooner or later the king is bound to realise that the unique personality is totally gone and now this is just a conventional queen carrying his baby, who may slightly use swear words more often but can't be a match for the crazy and creative guy who lived in that body! The king is not in love with her and it feel weird to see them smiling at each other in the last episode. One doesn't realize that his lover is gone and one is hiding the fact that she is not the one the king fell in love with.

It feels like betrayal to make the viewer root for a unique ML -ML love story all thru the series only for it to be snatched away at the last minute. We don't even know the original queen, her character was not given any screen time except that she wanted to commit suicide, and was rude to her staff and had random people whipped just coz she couldn't find her identity in the palace(!) And still she gets to live with the king for the rest of the life?! While BH who risked his life to find the king (also helped him through many struggles, boosted his confidence and gave him military and political ideas, saved his banquet, saved his throne..) is just ejected from that time with no recognition, and even the king doesn't even know he was there, did all that and was gone. So unfair to both of them.

In my head SB WAS the queen in a past life and in trasmigrating to that life their personalities got intermixed and that's the reason CJ could still love the queen at the end. I would have been happy to see CJ reincarnated in modern Korea and meeting SB again..sigh! What a horribly rushed and unsatisfactory ending to this entertaining series.

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Bong Hwan A! Bong Hwan A! Bong Hwan A!

What an incredible title track to a truly memorable drama. Kudos to the band Norazo for creating such a masterful song that perfectly matches the theme of the show. At once whacky with a thumping beat, it never fails to lift the spirits and bring a smile to your face.

I will remember this drama for introducing me to the incredible Shin Hye-Sun. Her potrayal of both the "Queen So Yong" and Jang Bong-hwan was spot-on and made for a hugely entertaining watch. The viewer was left in no doubt as to which character she was playing. In her Bong-hwan mode, she nailed all the manly mannerisms of Choi Jin-hyuk which made for many laugh out moments. Among these were all the cooking scenes with the Royal Chef, when she "lost" her dragon balls, when she stuck her face in the dirty pail, when she visited the kisaeng house and paid for all the women, when she beat the flowers that the King "picked" on the way to see her, to getting smoked on, etc. In fact, her brilliant acting and portrayal of a man somehow overshone the rest of the cast which made scenes without her feel a bit flat on the first watch. Also commendable is Kim Jung-hyun who played the role of the King admirably. He had less to do but held his own when acting with the brilliant Hye-Sun.

The story itself is a bit complex and requires the viewer to pay close attention to the dialogue or it would be easy to get turned off in the later episodes. It is perhaps for this reason that the drama gets better and better each time you rewatch it as you become more familiar with the plot and the key characters' story arcs.

A big shout out to the production team who each contributed their magic to this piece of art. The opening credit animation, editing, clever placement of music and sound effects, lighting, wardrobe and tight editing made for a drama that is more than the sum of its parts.

As for the ending, it didn't bother me as much as some of the other reviewers. Perhaps because of the complex plots and individual character nuances, it was easy to miss out on the finer details of how the Queen was always still in her body and how her personality and feelings were intertwined with Bong-hwan's. To get a better understanding of what the writer intended, read kprinz's excellent review which hopefully will soothe some of the viewers who felt sore at the ending.

Overall, this is a highly recommended watch if you want a good laugh but remember to put your cynical and analytical part of you at the door before watching. You will enjoy it so much more. And remember that Laughter is always the best medicine, especially during these trying times of lockdowns. And if you have watched it, try watching it again. It is a drama that is like fine wine.

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Magnificently satisfying show! Please watch it!

Just finished Mr. Queen. Without giving anything away, this is a truly brilliant show - it's based on a Chinese drama.

Everything from the story, through to the acting, the comedy - oh the comedy - the dramatics, the cooking (yes I said cooking) and mystery is nigh on perfect. Even waiting for the subtitles to come up on Viki only increased the anticipation of what was to come - I can't think of another drama - both western and Korean - that had me this hooked.

The characters are beautifully cast and deliver their performance beautifully. If you are a CLOY fan then the King and Court Lady Choi will be all to familiar. I didn't know about Shin Hye Sun before this show but will be sure to check out her other work after this. She owned the role of the Queen (with the male Jang Bong Hwan's mind in her).

The soundtrack is equally unique and works so well with its mix of old and new.

I truly loved this show and hope you do too - please stop what you're doing and watch Mr. Queen now :). It's a wonderful show!

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One of the best dramas I've ever watched.

Mr. Queen quickly became one of my favorite dramas before I even finished it. The cast, acting, plot, music, writing, and everything about the show was amazing. The entire cast did an amazing job playing their characters. The plot was paced well and was one of the most uniquely produced dramas I've watched in a long time. While the story itself is not unique, since it's a remake of another Chinese drama, the way this one was written and executed was done so well that you'll be hooked within the first episode. It has a little bit of everything: comedy, drama, action, good food, etc. Every character in the show was so well written and the actors playing them did an amazing job. Even the villains were so well done and characters you would normally expect to hate, you still felt attached to.
There isn't much I can add to my review that other reviewer's haven't covered. This is such a fun and outstanding drama that's definitely worth the watch.

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Boring over halfway through, Shin Hye Sun carried this drama on her back

I was at first really frustrated at this drama, because it's 20 episodes long, and it took over half of that time before the plot got even slightly interesting. I almost dropped it at episode 2 because I was so bored and confused by it right from the start. However I persisted and watched the whole thing. I was bored out of my mind for like literally 12/20 episodes. The complicated royal relationships, schemes and all the corruption were really confusing and hard to keep up with.

I have to give a huge shout out to Shin Hye Sun, because she was 100% the carrying force of this drama. She did such an amazing job in this, I was really impressed. If it wasn't for her, I probably would have dropped this drama at the half point at the latest. It was only her who got me through my boredom and all the way through the end of this drama. The other people in the cast were honestly just okay, they got the job done. Some of the people they cast in this were very similar-looking, and because most of the people in this wore the same clothes, same hats, and same fake beards, it made some of them look almost identical. To the very end I had a hard time telling the palace maids apart, and it literally took me at least like 6 episodes before I learned to tell the king and the queen's cousin apart from each other. I have to admit, that I often have a hard time remembering faces overall, but it didn't really help that the people whom I already had a hard time recognizing, all wore the same clothes that made them look alike even more. One example of my struggle was that in episode 3 or so, I didn't realize that the king was the king because he wore a different coloured robe than before xD So this drama was a bit of a struggle for me and my two face-blind braincells lol.

This drama was seriously so boring and confusing over halfway through, things only started to get interesting towards the very end. I feel like this drama could have been only 10-16 episodes long and it wouldn't have lost anything of importance. The first half of it was soooo slow paced, that I feel like they could have done better with this drama as a whole. Also, there were some choices made in the plot/with some of the characters that made like 0 sense whatsoever, but I'm not going to specify to keep this review spoiler-free. Overall I scored this drama a solid 5, mostly because of Shin Hye Sun and the last 5-7 episodes. I have to say I would not recommend this especially if you're not very familiar with historical dramas. Some people seem to have enjoyed this a lot, but this just wasn't for me.

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