Queen Cheorin (2020)

This is the kind of historical I can actually enjoy!

Anyone who knows my tastes in dramas knows I don't really do historical dramas due to the politics. I generally just find politics BORING! However, a time travel, and a comedy? Now *that* I can get behind, politics notwithstanding! :)
I'll be straight up honest - I watched this for Shin Hye Sun, one of my favorite actresses. I've loved her in everything I've watched her in. And she did NOT disappoint. Frankly, she carried this drama on her back, and I'm so proud of her! Her comedic timing was impeccable. Her portrayal as Bong Hwan in the Queen's body was perfection! The mannerisms and everything were just utterly perfect. Even if you don't normally watch historical dramas, I am going to wholly recommend this one. Due to my usual avoidance of historicals I was a bit confused in the beginning - all the ministers and their roles and deeds sort of got jumbled in my mind, but by the second half of the drama, when the action started to amp up, I was well and truly invested and things began to clear up and I was enjoying it even more.

Kim Jung Hyun as the king did a good job - his role was really just to complement the queen I believe. While they could have chosen someone with more gravitas for the role, I feel like he worked really well with SHS and the chemistry between them was good. And maybe that's why he was chosen - because this was really Shin Hye Sun's show and they didn't want someone stealing the spotlight from her. So for that, he was a good pick. I enjoyed the 'good guys' side characters and appropriately despised the 'bad guys' side characters. As a whole, everyone should be proud of their work on this show.

The music was nice, and I enjoyed it.
I would say if you are a 're-watcher' that this could make a good re-watch. Even knowing the ending, the comedy was still gold and I would almost assuredly laugh at all the hilariousness again.

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A perfect Work condemned by its Ending.

This comment is going to be full of spoilers, so people who haven't seen the drama are better off not reading it until after watching. Mr. Queen is one of the best Korean dramas I have seen in my life (and I have already seen dozens) and one of the two or three that have involved me the most emotionally.

There are no words to describe how wonderful and excellent this story is. It is a series that makes you laugh, excites you, keeps you interested at all times, and deeply moves you. The writing is perfect for most of the plot (I'll talk about that later), the direction is ideal, the production is impeccable. The work of all the actors in the cast is sublime, unsurpassed. Especially extraordinary is the work of the actress Shin Hye-sun as the female lead, she plays Queen Cheorin in an impressive way, achieving through body and verbal language to split into two different people depending on if the soul of Jang Bong- hwan is inside of Cheorin's body, or not. She deserves all the awards for that amazing work.

The overall plot is incredibly intense and gripping, with that mix of real Korean history, and fiction, combining romance, fantasy, drama, comedy, action, and suspense. But without a doubt, the fundamental factor is related to that experience of the soul of chef Jang Bong-hwan within the body of Queen Cheorin, the comedy of that situation and her passionate and morbid romance with Cheoljong. The whole story is based on that funny, crazy and horny love between a man and the soul of another man inside the body of a woman. Curiously, it is one of the best Korean drama couples I have seen, with chemistry so hot that it melts the Sun. Throughout the series, this couple's romance evolves from more comical to more lovely, dramatic and moving. But precisely there is the big problem of this drama.

The series is perfect, worthy of a 10 rating ... until we hit the 18th minute of the last episode. In that minute when the writers made Jang Bong-hwan leave Cheorin's body forever and wake up in his own body, the end of the story was ruined for me. The creative decision to kill So Bong (the being formed by Cheorin's body and Jang Bong-hwan's soul mixed with Kim So-yong's memories) and to make the original soul of Kim So-yong, in the end, left next to Cheoljong was a disaster.

The next 48 minutes of the final episode were a contradictory, absurd, and irritating attempt to make the real Kim So-yong the female lead and minimize So Bong/Jang Bong-hwan to a mediocre and irrelevant role. I'm sorry, but they didn't convince me. For me, the real female lead was So Bong, not Kim So-yong (whom I even consider boring). Throughout the whole story, it was evident that Cheoljong fell in love with So Bong (of the soul of Jang Bong-hwan) and in the last minutes, they try to convince us that he is in love with Kim So-yong, and apparently that even he does not notice the change of personality. Worse still is the ambiguity-induced theory at the end, that Jang Bong-hwan was always a puppet of Kim So-yong, something that would degrade Jang Bong-hwan's role and his feelings for Cheoljong, a theory that I don't believe nor support.

Jang Bong-hwan had the worst possible ending, returning to his current life to live alone, without all the people he loved. And after falling in love with a man and even having sex with him, how could he go back to living as a heterosexual man? I think that would be traumatic for him. With the memories of his life as Queen Cheorin, could one day go back to being 'normal' and forget about his love for Cheoljong to fall in love with a woman?... How can he bear the fact that he is no longer pregnant with the child he has learned to love? The fact that he is not depicted as very traumatized and tormented is another stupid mistake by the writers. And as for Cheoljong, he fell in love with Jang Bong-hwan's soul, not So-yong's soul, so in the end, he didn't stay with the woman he loved, but with a very different one. How long would it take for him to realize that she is not the same person that he fell in love with? Seeing that she is no longer the crazy, reckless, bad-tempered, rude-mannered, eccentric or weird woman who conquered his heart.

It was the worst way to ruin a story at the end, and I don't understand how they can say it's a happy ending. I think they should have at least made an alternate ending to have the right and fair ending with the Cheoljong and So Bong couple, but they left us with only that disappointing and implausible ending. For me, those last 48 minutes deserve a rating of 3, however, I prefer to stay with the memories of the previous 19 episodes (and the first 18 minutes of that final episode) and for the joy and passion they generated in me, I give it a rating of 9.5 for the series overall, and it will always have a place in my heart as one of the series that has most brightened my life.

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Wow....I did not expect to have to rejig my whole review upon this drama's completion.

I still feel so..dejected. I've gone through the 5 stages of grief now and reached acceptance but man...still doesn't ease the pain. But I'll save my feelings regarding the ending for last and I'll give Queen Cheorin/Mr. Queen the proper review it deserves before addressing all that.

So first things first, this drama was absolutely spectacular. Bong Hwan A, I'll miss your character SO much.
And Shin Hye Sun, my gosh. She is the REAL queen here, what an actress.

Every episode was filled with fun and hilarious shenanigans. Seriously, no kdrama has made me laugh that hard in a long time. It was the perfect combination of comedy, romance and plot development.

Bong Hwan A (So Bong) was just so...iconic. Everyone in the palace is trying to get a handle on the queen as every episode she does something else batshit crazy lmao. Especially in the beginning when everyone thought the queen was planning something, meanwhile So Bong is just going through an existential crisis and knows next to nothing XD

And the romance! So Bong & Cheoljong will forever live in my heart. I mean where else are you gonna get: enemies to allies, friends to lovers, then to allies. Who else could do it better, they are the elite!

There is so much to love about their relationship but I still think nothing could be more iconic than the Queen's Dictionary. Cheoljong literally made a dictionary for all the strange new words he heard from So Bong so he could understand her better. He remembered EVERYTHING she ever said to him.....I need a moment.

Honestly if it wasn't for the ending, this would have been my new all-time favourite drama. I would have rated it 100000/10 if I could.

So what went wrong? Let's talk about the ending which I couldn't hesitate to call the worst and most unsatisfying in kdrama history. I can not believe they gave us a Scarlet Heart Ryeo ending but just multiply the pain by ten. And you know why this was worse? Because as heartbreaking as Scarlet Heart Ryeo's ending was, at least it was a completely sad ending. But Queen Cheorin? For some reason they gave us a tragedy packed in happy ending confetti????

Like I just can't believe (on Valentine's Day no less) that TVN decided to throw everything they built in the trash. Cheoljong loved Bong Hwan A, and loved him for who he was. Now Cheoljong has lost him forever :(
And Bong Hwan A! He has to live with the fact that he never gets to see his friends, husband, or future child ever again!!

I think I couldn't say it more perfectly than @acupofwishes (tumblr):

"The Mr. Queen writers took me to an expensive restaurant and bought me a 5 course meal with dessert, brought out a surprise birthday cake and had the entire restaurant sing to me, later that evening they reached for my hand and guided me to the dance floor and then, in the middle of our song, whispered gently into my ear that everything was laced with laxatives."

Listen I haven't read fanfiction for years but I’m seriously considering going on a hunt for reincarnation fics to heal my broken heart.

So now begs the question, would I recommend this drama? Honestly I have recommended this drama to so many people and I feel like I need to go back to them all and say 'nevermind!!' (or at the very least give them the heads up that the finale will leave them hollow inside). However at the same time... the first 19 episodes are so freakin amazing and I don't want them to miss out.....

So I suppose the decision is up to you. This drama is incredible and I had the BEST time watching, but at the same time I'll be thinking of this bittersweet ending every day for the rest of my life

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It's been a while since liked a drama this much, yet hesitated with the ten star rating. Mr. Queen is a drama that does not feature any filler episodes, it's written so well that every episode is eventful and it develops even the minor characters. That being said, for you to enjoy this drama fully, prepare to do some mental cartwheels to see the main leads in an "innocent straight relationship" the creators want you think they are in.

The cast of Mr. Queen is nothing short of spectacular. Shin Hye Sun does an incredible job, I especially liked her performance as the character got more and more incorporated with both people inhabiting the brain. She also has incredible gestures and mannerisms that reminded me of Choi Jin Hyuk and me never forget, that she basically played two characters at once. Her chemistry with Kim Jung Hyun is amazing and his performance is also amazing. I was surprised by the acting range of both of them. The amazing performances don't end there. Everyone was just so good, I have no complaints.

The story is very interesting and it almost makes the viewer feel as a companion to Bong Hwan. He is quick on his feet and often surprises with his wits. At first, I was in awe of just how into it (the slapstick and hilarious comedy) were the creators willing to go. The comedy was very strong at first and even though it makes room for more dramatic elements later on, it was a constant in the drama. There was one plot point, quite early on, when the personalities of Bong Hwan and So Yong clashed a bit more and they started to be a lot more intertwined with each other, which made doubt that it could be still entertaining, but it turned into a good move. I also liked how they kept the inner voice of the Queen, even though it changed in tone, throughout the entire drama.

Mr. Queen features a lot of classic elements of a true historical drama and I liked the incorporation of modern elements as well. Especially interesting was the use of Bong Hwan's skills in the kitchen and the addition of the royal kitchens was a nice view of the court from this perspective.

What this drama did also well was pairing the characters up into smaller squads (#squadgoals all around) and it featured a lot of banter and funny moments, even for the less interesting characters. And, as we are in a historical drama, the villains are properly evil and the heroes are properly heroic. Soundtrack is also very catchy and I liked it very much.

I would like to address the main issue that a lot of people, including me, have with this drama, but I feel like having stepped on thin ice. I see the cultural context and the point of Bong Hwan coming into So Young's body, which was primarily to help her in a dire situation. On the other hand, well... It's a situation in which everyone who watches it takes what he/she/they want to take from the main relationship. But if helps in accepting other types of relationships other than the typical heterosexual ones, I think, that it would be a big help.

To sum it up, Mr. Queen is a damn good drama, unfortunately with some baggage. Regardless of that, I enjoyed it very much, I looked forward to it every week and I will miss it a lot.

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Disappointing Ending

I really enjoyed Episodes 1-16, it was so funny and entertaining so I didn’t take this show seriously. Yeah I agreed not to be one of those who take ‘Sports Day’ seriously. However, when the show changed to a more serious tone after learning that the queen was pregnant, I couldn’t help but also follow the show’s direction and tone. As much as I enjoyed its first 16 episodes, the last four kind of ruined it for me.

My rants:

1. I totally hate it when a drama drags on a potential ‘death’ of a major character and milk on having it for cliffhangers. My goodness, we all know that the king won’t die as early, and won’t ever since he has a plot armor. I feel so annoyed when they did it.

2. I know this is a drama but I hope they didn’t insult the science of pregnancy. The queen walked on her foot for days, slept on the cold forest, get tossed, hanged on a cliff, and chased by guards. Got stabbed and whatnot, I was really shocked that the baby in her womb survived all of these. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t celebrate miscarriages but having the queen miscarrying the baby at the end should be the most logical thing that could’ve happened. For the life of me, the queen and the baby fought for their lives overnight, but the next day, she was walking around bossing people around as if nothing happened! Jeez, unacceptable. I feel very insulted as a viewer. You can’t have your cake and eat it too. It would make sense scientifically and romantically to miscarry the baby because it was Bong Hwan in So Yong’s body when the baby was made. Now that So Yong is back, they could always bed and make a new baby that is really out of love and truth.

3. Why did they trash Kim Byung In’s characters like that? All the main cast (king, queen, Jo Hwa jin, had a happy ending but him? They wasted his character. Seriously, they left his body in the forest like that?? I feel so angry for him. I am very disappointed in So Yong. Girl, you don’t have a right to weep and call her Orabeoni!

It wasn’t also explained why those two swap bodies. What connection do they have that of all the millions of people in world, why him? Why her? I could’ve missed it? If not, what a waste.

I strongly feel Mr. Queen should have ended in Episode 16. The last four episodes turned it into trash.

I’d probably order something from McDunaldu to console my disappointed heart.

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A Worthy Historical Drama to Watch

One of the best dramas in quarantine I've watched! Usually, historical dramas drag on which does not help my attention span of a goldfish, but this one had me hooked on all 20 episodes. I think the best part of this drama was the incorporation of comedy into an action-based historical drama; you are bound to laugh AT LEAST ONCE in every episode. The chemistry between Shin Hye-sun and Kim Jung-Hyun could literally be felt through the screen; the acting of both of them was phenomenal. The way Shin Hye-sun was able to portray the funniest moments but also act out the most painful ones really shows her talent and versatility as an actress.

However, the one reason why this drama had me pressing "next episode" for 24 hours straight is because of the soundtrack and OST. The subtle music behind the comedic scenes really made you laugh and of course, the iconic "Bong Hwan A!!!!" song is literally the highlight of every episode. Overall, this drama is amazing if you want to laugh and cry at the same time and watch an actually interesting plot unfold through the screen.

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this was a BL and you can't convince me otherwise

Oh come on ! Commit and make it gay !
The king did not fall in love with the prude but with the insane chef.
You want to make me believe that after the last episode they lived happily ever after ?
No, he probably cried himself to sleep every night thinking about the love of his life.
While his wife is confused on why her husband has not genuinely smiled since they reunited.

Anyways, I laughed so hard sometimes I had to pause just to finish laughing. It was almost on Business Proposal level, almost.

Also I want to lower the rating bc they made me salivate every episode. Still thinking about the ramens.

I was in love with the cousin but just bc he was hot.

I guess it's all I have to say.

bisous

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SHIN HYE SUN DID NOT DISAPPOINT.

Although I gave Mr. Queen a 10/10 overall rating I wouldn't say it's flawless. It does have some loopholes in it but I think it's what makes this drama more relatable and charming.

I love that even though it was a historical drama it didn't bore me at all. Every episode was worth the time and wait. It actually got me hooked on episode 1 and after that I just couldn't wait to watch the next one.

The main reason I watched this drama was because it starred Shin Hye Sun as the lead. (Just a short backstory, I LOVE HER. Her acting is 100/10 for me. She always nail her role. Hands down). And as expected, she did not disappoint! I love how we only saw CJW in a few episodes (i think less than 5 eps) but it felt like he was with us from start to finish. Everytime we see the FL on screen we would immediately know who's spirit is talking either KSY or JBH. Her acting made it easier for us to distinguish the two characters easily even though it was played by the same actress. I noticed that SHS studied how CJW acts and tried to copy his subtle mannerisms like his smirk the way he talks etc. and that for me was just brilliant. And her chemistry with the ML wow oh wow. It's like the cherry on top of an icing. I loved it.

Story wise, I love historical dramas but sometimes it just gets too dark and heavy for me but this one I loved how light it was. Even though there were antagonists in the story it was still light but the story still was complex enough to keep us entertained.

I think there are only 2 things that would make the story better overall. First is to have the ML and FL meet in the future and be together again but they exchange their genders. Second is to have more episodes hehehe.

I'll honestly miss this drama. I'll miss our king and queen and the palace peeps. Love love love it!!!!

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Great start, absolutely awful ending

I don't usually write reviews but I just finished this drama and feel like I have to this time...

What I liked:
-the acting was phenomenal
-innovative story, nicely executed
-nice comedic aspects in the typical silly k-drama way
-lovable characters and nice development
-CJ and BH had so much chemistry

What I didn't like:
The ending was just awful. Nothing made sense and some characters did not deserve their ending at all. I wish Byeong In had gotten a better ending. But most of all my heart aches for Bong Hwan. He fell in love with Cheoljong, made friends and was so close to starting his own family, just to loose it all with nothing to make up for it. He couldn't even say goodbye to anyone. Also I couldn't care less about So Yong as she had like 5 minutes of screen time in the first 19 episodes. Even CJ said he feels like something is missing. Literally the worst ending for both leads imho. It's a shame that such an awesome series had to end like this.
I'm so so frustrated with it and if the ending makes or breaks a series for you, do NOT watch this.

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Strong start, awful final episodes

I'm really pissed after watching it. Why? Because the the show was great but after episode 16 it becomes so bad that I was considering to drop it right there.

Everyone points to the bad ending, but I started to fast-forward from episode 19 until the end, so it's actually bad even before the ending.

Let's start wit the good pars.

The acting was great, I can't complain there at all.
The comedy was really good and truly made me laugh outload.
The music fitted the show really nice with the comedy aspects and hit the mark.

Then the turning point for me was episode 17 when the show started to go downhill. (or more like falling in a hole)

Imagine a live version of twitter reenacted in a history drama, but only the gossip part of twitter, that was episode 17 for me. The first time was OK but the second... it was just stupid. And the plot started to rely on that twitter gossip... oh my... how can I describe how stupid it was. We have a saying in my country that describes episode 17 perfectly: "Your sister is a wh*re... now go and explain that you don't even have a sister".

After that we got the "eureka" moment when a specific character figured something out for no specific reason, turned evil and after 2min turned "good"... and after the moment the fast forwarding started for me and I didn't care for the show any more.

There were soo many bad things in the episodes after that, that it's hard to explain it without spoiling something.

It almost seemed that they switched the screen writer at some point, I don't understand how can the same person produce the golden 16 episodes and then sit and sh*t out the rest of them in this state.

Score:
1-16 eps - 9/10
17-20 eps - 4/10

So lets give it a 7/10.

I can't say if I can recommend it or not... it's good but brace yourself some really bad plot points in the end.

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