Mr. Queen is ticklish-funny and a real pleasure to watch. I am debating myself whether it deserves a 9 or 8.5. (As if that mattered hahaha). The first 8 episodes were the best for me. After that, it turns into a more typical sageuk where palace politics takes over and it all becomes a bit of a snoozefest. I've watched too many sageuks to have any patience for palace politicking.

Shin Hye Sun is my absolutely fave actress, her ability to portray feelings is superb. She has a gracefulness and intelligence that shines through even when she's portraying a badass clumsy-ish guy. Unfortunately I watched the Red Sleeve before this, so I couldn't appreciate Kim Jung Hyun in the king role at all. Most of the time he looked like he was about to fall asleep. He was good in CLOY, but this went far above his acting abilities. But critics tend to praise non-acting aka having a straight emotionless face all through the drama. Bae Jong Ok: I just love her voice. She and Kim Tae Woo had quite boring roles though. Na In Woo was great as the second lead, his character was so well written. Some of the other characters like court lady Choi were absolutely delicious and/or the butter on the bread (the King's friends). Some of the comic characters were just fillers, not very funny or interesting.

This would have benefited from being shorter. Although I do appreciate the humour, there are so many kdramas deserving a higher rating, therefore, 8.5.

One thing that was sheer torture here was the music. Why they chose to pick this style instead of a more contemporary one, I don't understand. Had to be muting the volume all the time.