Queen Cheorin (2020)

Humour, political intrigue and amazing acting

Mr. Queen was one of the most highly anticipated dramas on my watchlist ever since I learnt about the plot synopsis. The promos only added to the thrill. It was going to be a perfect drama to binge. After finally getting around to binging it, I can tell you that it was worth the hype and wait. It was a perfect combination of comedy and political intensity. The best part about MQ was the amazing acting skills portrayed by Shin Hye Sun and Kim Jung Hyun and the chemistry between them. If it hadn't been landed well, the drama would have ended because quite mediocre, because this combination was needed for the script to be set apart. No amount of words can be enough to the shift in characters which SHS displayed, I almost believed that there was actually Bong Hwan's soul in her body. From being wary of each other to developing great partnership while navigating through the palace's plots and betrayals, these two come a long away. It was fun to see Bong Hwan introduce many of the non existing concepts into that era.

The drama starts of quite slow paced and at points some of the scenes feel unnecessary because you want your favorites to interact more. The first eighteen episodes are nearly perfect and though the last two are good enough they aren't the best. Of course both the episodes have many of my favourite scenes from the entire series, there were a few things that felt missing. There are few plots which are wrapped up well, and few needed better work or closure. Maybe the spin off will cover it. I wanted to see a proper ending to the King and Bong Hwan's relationship, but the end is filled with too much of ambiguity. It varies from history and though the writers give us what is supposed to be a happy end, it doesn't exactly feel like one. Maybe if Kim So Yong was equally present along with Bong Hwan, though towards the last few episodes we do see more of her, I would have been more convinced.

Anyway, despite the short faults, this will remain a favourite drama. Period pieces are often filled with heartbreaks, but Mr. Queen takes a little diversion from that and sticks to its essence. I would also like to mention how epic the intro and OST of this show is, a perfect match with the emotions it was the viewers to feel.

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One Of The Best Historical Kdramas I Have Ever Watched!!!

I began this drama expecting the typical cliches of a rom-com historical drama. Oh, how I was wrong! This drama had astonishing acting and a deepened story plot that kept me glued to my screen. I found myself falling in love with the king, crying my eyes out when someone tried to hurt the queen and laughed whenever the queen did the unexpected. This emotional rollercoaster helped me understand and relate to these characters more. I did not even fast forward on any ep because the story was just so entertaining. I cannot put into words just how amazing this drama was! I became confused on who to trust, who to like, and who to dislike. Only after, did I realize who were the good guys and who were the bad ones. I love how the king and queen joined forces to take down the corruption in Joseon! This will forever hold a special place in my heart as for 2021 kdramas.

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Amazing Drama

Well, i just finished this drama and it had me laughing, crying and cringing all in one. The cast did an amazing job in portraying their characters, and it goes too show how talented, and visionary these people are. I am fascinated with the History of South Korea, and to see it in front of me is mesmerizing, The Storyline is well put together, and it`s good too see a few funny scenes in there too , i think that`s what makes a drama exciting, intriguing and captivating is adding funny bits in there to capture us viewers attention.
So if you haven`t seen this drama then you don`t know what you are missing.

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Everything is not what it seems.

I had watched this show at the height of the pandemic, and boy it really is a pick me up kind of a show. Till date I rewatch the show because it just makes me feel good. Shin Hye Sun was born to play this role and she nailed it! The show has everything from romance, palace politics, cooking, gender bending dilemmas, treachery, dual personality, and comedy.

The costumes were great, it was colourful, the accessories intricate and looked regal. Even the colours represented each of the character.

The cooking scenes ( even the knives) was done by Shin Hye Sun herself. I enjoyed how they described the dishes, its ingredients and how to make them. The way cooking was used as a tool by Kim So Young/Jang Bong Hwa to manipulate the Grand Queen Dowager was so clever, which is an analogy if you want to get the attention of the most powerful person in the room, you have to play politics by cooking things up to feed their ego.

The ultimate question of the show is are we controlled by our mind, heart or soul? It turns out we behave differently for example when it comes to cooking it is the passion for the soul of Jang Bong Hwa but when it came to the matters of the heart, Kim So Young could not hold back and eventually for the greater good, you have the mind ( a combination of both Kim and Jang) to get it done.

The acting in this show was par excellence, my favourite scenes are:-
1- When the King confronts the Queen by using a potion so that she would speak the truth, both were ruthless.
2-When the Queen confronts the King after being threatened to be deposed after she saved him and his royal consort.
3- When the King was forced to show his other side after the Queen collapses and her cousin trying to interfere.
4- All of the scenes when the Queen takes revenge against the Kims.

Although this is remake of Go Princess Go, but Mr Queen stands on its own, and this is how you do a remake.

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pq eu acho que esse dorama é um bl enrustido

dissertando motivos pela qual eu acho que mr queen seria bl se a coréia não fosse conservadora e pau no cu;
vou entrar em três tópicos, na ordem, como eu acho que funcionava a dinâmica da soyong e do jang no corpo, os sentimentos do rei pelo jang e pela soyong e os sentimentos do jang pelo rei
primeira sobre a soyong e o jang, no começo eu achei que o jang tava no controle do corpo sozinho, mas ao longo da trama a gente percebe que também tinha um pouco da soyong no corpo, tipo nas memórias e emoções dela que se misturaram com o jang, a gente percebe isso principalmente nas cenas que o jang tem lapsos de memória da soyong, um ponto importante é que eu acho que a alma do jang entrou no corpo da soyong junto com a alma dela pois a alma dela tava mentalmente cansada, ela tava depressiva e não queria mais viver, então a alma dela ficou fraca e o jang assumiu o corpo dela durante praticamente a trama toda, um adendo é que eu acho mt querido o fato que foi praticamente o jang que fez a soyong querer viver novamente (queria ter visto dinâmicas entre eles😭
agora sobre os sentimentos do rei (depois a gente volta nesse assunto anterior). é óbvio que o rei ama a soyong, mas ele amou o jang sem nem mesmo saber quem era o jang, pq é um fato que antes o rei NAO AMAVA A SOYONG!! só começou a amar ela quando o jang apareceu, e sim antes que alguém diga, os sentimentos e memórias da soyong também influenciaram pro rei se apaixonar, mas tem cenas de interações diretas entre o rei e o jang que mostram que o rei se apaixonou também pelo jang, por exemplo naquelas cenas em que o jang conta como é o país no futuro pro rei e eles dormem juntinhos em cima da mesa (eu amo demais essas cenas ♥️) tipo é CLARAMENTE a personalidade do jang se manifestando e o rei ama essa personalidade dele
agora sobre os sentimentos do jang pelo rei, é mais complexo mas eu interpretei desse jeito: durante a trama toda a gente vê que o jang fica enojado com a idéia de qualquer coisa romântica ou sexual com o rei, e isso é mt compreensível por que é ÓBVIO que a indústria de dorama não teria coragem de fazer um personagem gay assim explicitamente, mas novamente como eu disse no primeiro tópico, é o jang que tá no corpo da soyong na maior parte da trama e por isso é ELE que vivência todos os eventos que rolam entre ele e o rei, sim o pouco da soyong que tinha dentro dela influenciou os sentimentos do próprio jang, eu concordo com isso, mas ele também foi criando sentimentos pelo rei apesar da influência da soyong, é lindo demais ver o jang se rendendo ao rei de pouco em pouco sem perceber, e é mais fofo ainda ver ele aceitando isso mas sem admitir por que né, oq a coréia ia pensar de um bl disfarçado assim né?
de qualquer maneira eu curti muito o dorama, é muito engraçadinho e fofo e queria dar um destaque a dois pontos que não tem muito a ver com o post, primeiro sobre o último episódio que o rei sente claramente falta de algo na soyong (algo = o jang!!!) e segundo o fato de que o único que percebeu (muito tarde né, vamos combinar) que tinha algo "diferente" na soyong foi o byung in, aquela cena dele pedindo pro jang salvar ela então eu quase morri de chorar, mesmo q eu odiasse o byung in

anyway, é isso aí

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You'll cry (mostly of laughter)

Mr. Queen was somehow shot in the dark when I decided to watch it. I basically seen one scene somewhere and it seems crazy enough to make me watch it. And it was so worth it.

This drama is weird and one needs to understand it, but from the first episode we get full force of weirdness of this show.
This drama starts off with a self absorbed womaniser waking up in woman’s body somewhere in Joseon era. And obviously this woman is no other than a queen. Go figure. And right away we get full freakout in fear of losing genitals and this may not sound good, but thrust me, this scene is pure comedy gold.

From the very beginning thing that I noticed the most was acting. And here a moment of sidenote. We have a situation where we have a man in woman’s body. All voiceovers were at this point made by Choi Jin Hyuk, actor who played main character before we has brutally misplaced to a different body. And this was reason why we couldn’t forget that the queen is not exactly the queen, but not only because of that, but also thanks to Shin Hae Sun’s class A acting. In my opinion it’s crucial to watch some other drama with Choi Jin Hyuk before Mr. Queen to know how amazing job is Shin Hae Sun doing with recreating his mannerisms. It was absolutely amazing.

It was around second episode when I notices how well balanced this drama was. Comedy mixes with mystery in great proportions. Plus amazing OST making it feel like we’re watching contemporary drama, not quasi historical one, and it doesn’t let us forget who’s trapped in Queen’s body.

The pace slowed down a bit by ninth episode, but it was saved by bringing up the subject of Jang Bong Hwan’s comatose body. Honestly I think that screenwriters could’ve focus on this subject more, because it was at this point just showed once and then immediately dropped.

By the tenth episode I noticed that drama was slightly loosing it’s appeal. We were deep into the palace intrigue which is not the most interesting motive of this drama. Plus there’s less and less Mr. in this Queen. His internal voice was suddenly changed to actual queen’s voice (at least it was properly explained why it happened) as well as scenes from the hospital that were just cut and till the last episode not to be seen. As the drama progressed is gradually turned from time travelling to period drama. Pace slows down and even though there’s some amazingly funny scenes, the drama loses its spirt which made first episodes so unique.

Because honestly, this drama could solely focus on cooking scenes and still would be amazing, since they’re truly highlight of the show. Just imagine recreating instant ramyeon during Joseon period or making veggie burger for very official palace meal!
Absolutely fantastic acting of Shin Hae Sun carried this drama. The most amazing part was that the viewer could clearly see when Bong Hwan took control of the body and when the queen was back., The difference in movements and even tone of her voice was staggering.

I was surprised that writers decided to change person doing voiceovers. I think that first choice- Choi Jin Hyuk was a very interesting idea and changing him, for Shin Hae Sun made it lose a bit of character. By then the viewer sometimes had to remind himself who’s mind was in queen’s body.

Chemistry between main characters, even though sometimes a bit confusing was working very well. Reintroducing the queen and some of her memories made the story less chaotic compared to the scenes when only Bong Hwan was in charge of the body.

Some background characters were not so distinguishable at first, but this issue was solved later on. I mostly mean here two older queens and duo of Kim Byung In + Prince Yongpyeong who at some point were barely distinguishable and it was hard to tell who’s on which side. Or maybe that was just my feeling but I felt a bit confused there.

And I cannot forget about the music, with very contemporary sound perfectly fitted with character of the drama not really being a period series but a time travelling one.

Overall I think that Mr. Queen was very good drama, the one you just watch with pleasure. Some pacing problem and filler episodes were easily balanced by comedic scenes. And the most important, acting was absolutely top of the class.

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#yeonmo

Well i love this drama so much that i have to sign in just becuz i want to put my comment/review... haha.. i love the comedy.. the superb chemistry between the king&queen ..not forgetting all the supporting role.. the story with ups and down.. make me laugh/cry/angry and sad.. even make me google who is cheoljong and cheorin.. the power hungry kim clan.. every episode end leaves me excited for the next one ..the storyline went not too fast and not to slow.. i love the part when the king started to have deeper feeling for the queen...(u can see from the way he look at her) and how the queen have tought the kings things from the future and gamble all in for him .. despite knowing the history...
**i lol in the train watching the queen serve them macdunaldu..
Anyway.. i know its happy ending and all .. with those corrupted being punished..etc etc.. however i dont know.. i seem to feel not very satisfied with it..I kinda agree with some of the review here...
Yeah... in the bamboo forest series they show that they seem to fall in love at first sight.. and that in the meteor rain night.. they did make their wish.. with sobong wishing to come back to his body .. sigh.. the series make me wonder .. will there be season 2?.. but with their reincarnation? Hahaha.. ehem.. hello writer *wink* wink.. plis?!

Kudos and thank you to the entire cast/director/writer/crew for this awesome drama..and I hope they win award for this..

Its gonna take sometime for me to move on.. gonna rewatch this till i dont want anymore.. sigh
#yeonmo #macdunaldu #antifan #notouching #mammaaaa

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