Mr. Queen is a story of a chef who, during a life-threatening incident, has his soul/consciousness transported into the body of a queen from Joseon. There, he has almost complete control of her mind and body, and has to figure out how to survive the incessant attempts of regicide while navigating the personal and political intrigues of the era, all the while attempting to get back to his own time.

**Note: I held off watching this show because I thought it would be cringey. I hate cringe, and usually hate the time-travel trope. But I read lots of good comments, and then my daughter happened to ask me if I'd seen it yet on the exact day I planned to start it. She was 3/4 of the way through it at the time and said that although it should be cringey, it's not. After having watched it, I 100% agree with her, and I'm glad took the time to watch.**

I was struggling to get through this drama until I got to episode 8 (of 20.) Episode 8-9 caught my attention, and after that I was "all in." The entire second half of the drama, in my opinion, included all the comedy, excitement, and drama that this show was missing in the first half. The ending, the last half of the final episode, got a lot of complaints from other people, but I thought that it wrapped up the story in the best way possible.

**Spoilers ahead**

There were complaints that the king fell in love with one person and stayed in love despite the queen being herself again when the chef went back to his own time. But there were hints throughout the entire drama that the queen was still there in her body, just hidden. Her own personality came out at various times, like when memories appeared and when she was able to embroider again, as well as during the romance scenes with the king. The king was astute enough to realize that there was some part of the queen that he'd fallen in love with that was, in the end, missing, but the queen had picked up some of the chef's mannerisms and ideals, so her differences weren't so great that people thought she was a whole 'nother person.

Of all the characters in the story, Court Lady Choi and Kim Hwan were probably my favorite characters out of the entire series. Kim Hwan's absolute cluelessness and naivety was totally endearing. I thought he was going to be a random nuisance side character at first, but loved him by the end. (Congrats Young Jae, you won me over!) Court Lady Choi's personality transcended the screen, and her bravery and purity made me fall for her almost as hard as the Royal Chef did. (Cha Chung Hwa is a fabulous actress!)

Ah...I totally lied. My favorite character of the series, the whole reason I watched the show in it's entirety, was King Cheol Jong. Kim Jung Hyun is one of my current favorite actors, and he did not disappoint. His expressions are able to convey a multitude of emotions, but he somehow does it in an understated way. His physical movements are sure and confident, and I absolutely loved watching his fluidity in the one-on-one fights.

The first 8 episodes were no higher than 5 stars for me, but after that, it was a solid 10, so I'm giving this drama an average of an 8. I will be going back to rewatch some of my favorite scenes, but I'll probably be skipping the beginning of the show.

Edit: Due to the fact that I can't forget this show, I'm upping my score to a 9. Happy watching!