Rainha Cheorin (2020)

A drama with a potential but ending up as an utter narrative disaster and problematic in many ways

In my 15 years of watching kdramas I’ve seen some terrible endings but Mr. Queen has perhaps the worst and most unsatisfynig ending in the history of kdramaland. The series has been well-written and stellar throughout most of its run, developing its love story and characters well, but the final episode has ruined all of that which is even a bigger pity because the acting was sublime.

So Yong hasn’t been present aka being in charge of her body’s actions and reactions for 99% of the story. It’s been all Bong Hwan. Cheoljong didn’t fall in love with So Yong but Bong Hwan in her body. He literally admitted this to BH. That it was his temper, his character traits, including the bad ones, that made him fall in love with Bong Hwan in an epic love confession. Not once did he mention about her body, her beauty or her zither playing skills. So Yong “fell in love” with Cheoljong because of one meeting in their childhood and her father’s wishes that she should become a queen.

What I really appreciated about Mr. Queen was how they basically said “fuck the whole childhood love/love at first sight/first love trope” even with Hwa Jin and Cheoljong when he admitted that he liked her not because of the childhood meeting but because she became his friend later so it wasn’t a case of mistaken identities that developed his feelings for her. Thus, the only reason why Cheoljong could have had feelings for the real So Yong disappears (the spinoff actually suggests that they actually met again and that it was a love at first sight which makes it even worse). The fact that So Yong and Cheoljong have their happy ending in the very same place where he confessed his love for Bong Hwan is adding an insult to the injury.

And now, the final episode has ruined all of that development. BH accused Byeong In that he didn’t recognize that the Queen was no longer the So Yong he knew despite the fact that he claimed he loved her that much. So what about Cheoljong now? Wouldn’t it be illogical and hypocratical not to expect the same from him - that he should recognize that the Queen is no longer the same person? Even if for some reason (read: lazy writing and trying to having the cake and eating it too) So Yong adopted BH’s mannerism, there should still be major differences.

What about Bong Hwan and the trauma he is going to get after this? Previously, he used to be a person who couldn’t commit, who didn’t love anyone nor cared about anyone but himself. He fell in love with Cheoljong so much that he was willing to risk his life and sacrifice everything even though he knew that history had CH as the losing side. So losing that sort of connection after accepting his feelings, himself in female body and building a new life in the Joseon Era with a new family consisting of his friends and Cheoljong will most likely be devastating. Furthermore, he was expecting a child, a child he grew to love and that was also ripped away from him.

So Yong has commited suicide from her own will, she tried to escape her life and given up on herself, even though her circumstances were tragic,now she suddenly gains everything she ever wanted while Bong Hwan is left with nothing except for his job.What's the point of such plot?

In the end, such an ending is an utter narrative disaster and problematic in all sort of ways and that’s coming from me who rarely calls something problematic because nowadays the word “problematic” has become a synonym for what are basically normal and natural human flaws and imperfections. Overall, Mr. Queen was poised to become amazing but ended up an epic failure for the ages because of the final episode.

Leia Mais

The trio's friendship makes it really fun to watch, but I have my complaints!

The head chef in modern-day Seoul fell into a pool, hit his head and went into a comma. He wakes up in the body of a soon-to-be Joseon Queen right in the middle of the palace scheming dangerous plots and meets a king who hides dark secret.

Mr. Queen is poking fun at sageuks with good intentions, it's clearly coming from the love for the genre. Production-wise, everything looks nice, the costumes look nice. Fans of palace politics will find this to be refreshing as they'll probably get a kick out of many moments, while viewers like me who shy away from the heavy-politics will find this to be fun. The palace intrigue is not innovative in general, it deals with two powerful clans fighting over throne, but the pacing is fast, so it sets up its stage very well.

Mr. Queen is portrayed by the magnificent Shin Hye Sun. She's an actress but she's man spreading really well so I'll use 'He'. Even if he looks like a playboy, he's so kind towards his female servants. Their friendships are wholesome and provide a lot of comedy. The trio plays off of one another so well that both the parodies and serious plot real good.

I think the first 6 episodes have nailed the sweet spot. The comedy is landing for me, it's rare for me to appreciate funnies from a k drama that is intending to be funny since I'm leaning much more toward the comedy from quiet and situational moments. Also, the infusion of modern music is adding to the comedy as it fits our male lead's background as a modern-day man, so there is one scene where he's dancing to a Black Pink song and I thought that was just hilarious.

While the comedy really worked in the first 6 episodes when the stakes hadn't developed very much, as those stakes get higher and higher, the comedy starts to feel really misplaced. It feels like an intense story is being told and then it breaks into a funny scene suddenly, so it wasn't as natural for me who prefers fewer funnies that suit the situation. The way it's presented feels very rhythmic like they switch back to back between an intense scene and the next comedy. Well, this show is supposed to be a comedy so I can give it a pass, that's not that big of a deal.

(Spoiler part) The biggest issue that I had was the subliminal problematic messages in the drama.

I would have preferred Mr. Queen and the King to develop a friendship and mutual respect. As this is a story about a woman being possessed by a man's spirit, I didn't expect Mr. Queen to have romantic feelings towards the King because he isn't perceived as gay. My problem is that this show is showing that hormonal arousal determines your sexual orientation. It's jarring to see a man who never had any gay thoughts would be so influenced by female hormones to switch his sexual orientation.

I think the romance plot does not benefit the plot at all, it has very little consequence on the story, in a way if it is excluded, things would end up the same with our characters. When Mr. Queen goes back to his male body, he's happy that the King is fine and safe. But there's no indication that he's heartbroken or romantically lost something, pointing to the fact that the romance was really unnecessary. Although back in the past, the King mentions that he felt something is lost but he's still with his queen, he does not notice at all that the queen's personality has changed! It's like downplaying characters' personalities and identities over the body that they're born with being the most important thing in a romance and relationship. It kind of derailed the show for me and hence the ending left a sour aftertaste.

Leia Mais

One of the funniest period drama

Story: This drama is full of laughter and cute love story of the King and the Queen. There's some cooking story and politics but not too focus on politics. There's no boring scene on each episode. There's some quite tearful scene that makes you cry too.
I like the attitude of the character of Jang Bo Hwan that also a lesson that you can get in this drama: When you found yourself in an inevitable dire situation, accept it and make the most our of it. Accept the help of others to keep on going like he did.

Acting/Cast:
I love all of them. All of them are perfect for their role!

Music: All of the OST and sound effect are daebak!

Overall: It is really a worth watching Period Rom/Com Drama.

Leia Mais

Ending ruined it for me

This could have been one of my favourite dramas but unfortunately it became one of the ones I’m most bitter and upset about. I actually didn’t watch a Korean drama for months after this. I think whether or not the ending is unsatisfying for you depends on your interpretation throughout the drama but I don’t think that I interpreted it wrong. I watched this while it was ongoing and I was nervous about the ending because I had heard what happened in the Chinese version, however I think I would have preferred that.

I was quite surprised at the plot as it entailed a man in a woman’s body falling in love with another man. South Korea is quite conservative so I was skeptical about whether they would go through with it in the drama, but after the two characters slept together I didn’t think there was any backtracking that. The queen seemed to have completely disappeared, and it wasn’t even hinted at that she was still alive. Well they did manage to backtrack it and I think it completely lowered the quality and completely undermined the entire drama. I think this because of the following reasons:

-The king fell in love with Bong-hwan’s personality and quirks, he hated the queen before Bong-hwan arrived and literally tried to kill her. I didn’t watch the special episodes but I know they showed scenes of the king meeting the queen and hinted at prior romance which makes no sense due to the reason above.
-We never really got to know the queen because she was barely in it so I had no attachment to the character yet she was the one who ended up with the king.
-I felt the writers used the idea of two men falling in love to make the drama interesting/different but then didn’t have the guts to see it through, which honestly was a very crappy thing to do. They shouldn’t have bothered with this storyline if they weren’t brave enough to do it properly or they at least could have changed it a bit so that most of the drama wouldn’t be romance between Bong-hwan and the king only for the ending to happen.
-The king said he felt like he was missing something at the end which made me so sad and I was also so upset that the queen never told the king the truth. It felt as if she was just riding Bong-hwan’s coattails and deceiving the king.
-I’m guessing that what the writers meant to portray with the ending was that the king and Bong-hwan were friends and the queen was still in the body, which caused the romantic feelings but that wasn’t shown properly at all (this is literally me guessing the explanation), and I think it was purposefully misleading and ambiguous to make it “interesting” which again is a really crappy and cowardly thing to do.

In conclusion, the ending is why I gave it a low rating. I’m still shocked at how they managed to do a complete 180 in probably the last 15-30 minutes. I normally wouldn’t change a rating so drastically simply because of the ending, but unfortunately, even though the rest of the drama was really good, the ending unravelled all of it so it was a dealbreaker for me. The acting was very good and it was also very funny. If you’re aware of the ending and okay with it you will probably enjoy it.

Leia Mais

queerbaiting taken to the next level

i'm sorry, does it make sense for the king and the queen (bong hwan) to have fallen so deeply in love, then have the protagonist be replaced with a character (soyong), who is practically a stranger to the viewers (and the king himself) in the last episode?

major yikes. they bent over backwards to champion the het agenda with an obvious (but god forbid) gay romance plot to, you know, make it ✨ spicy ✨ i knew what i was getting myself into, but i held out hope until the end like maybe the king would realise that she was not the soyong he fell for, YET! we're, of course, not going to unpack the fact that the person he loved was actually a man. and no, implying that some sliver of soyong was still "alive" and coexisted with bong hwan during her possessed state does not justify any of the above. we watched the king fall for his personality traits. it ended as a completely different drama than the one i had started.

disappointed but not surprised. 6 stars for the brilliant cast and the comedy, though. shin hyesun, you are incredibly talented.

Leia Mais

The homophobic ending to this masterpiece made no sense :/

I'm ashamed to say, I was naive and hopeful enough to imagine that they would give this drama a just ending. So many people, including myself fell in love with this drama for doing everything right- atleast at the beginning. The deep and sophisticated portrayal of changing, loving and transforming one's self in order to love whole heartedly was what kept me hooked, baited and caught. And then episode 20 left me at the bottom pits of the ocean. Not only was my heart broken but also left me disappointed at the creators. Not just because of the homophobia we always complain about but also their pathetic attempt to tie the unfairness and messiness in pretty little bows and ribbons.

Are we supposed to be happy for the modern day chef who gave his all, risked his everything for his love only to come back refreshed like he went for a Bali trip or something? He fought to earn the love, admiration and loyalty of those around him in a time where he was in an alien, unfamiliar and often frightening place all alone, only to be left with no one left by his side at the end. He wasn't grieving or even missing his husband and the baby he fought and changed himself for once he came back to modern day? I don't buy it as a viewer.

The king was completely fine with loving a completely different person who he felt nothing towards despite being engaged to for a considerable amount of time once before??? Huh???

In one episode when Bong Hwang was acting sweet and feminine, the king was even shown to be uncomfortable and frankly a little grossed out. He fell in love with Bong Hwang and everything about Bong Hwang. The modern mindset, the cleverness, the honesty, the sweet fiercenesss. And at the end, the bravery of Bong Hwang was depicted to earn the king's loyalty and love. But not at the very end??? Then it was all for null!

They spent 19 hours showing us, convincing us of the love that existed between the king and Bong Hwang only to end it with " SIKE! You didn't think those emotions, the love between them was real did you? It was all just body hormones. And guess who gets all the credit for saving the kingdom and the gets to live with the king's undying love? The girl who wasn't there for 90 percent of the show of course!"

The creators let down thousands of viewers and their own professional integrities by going through with this 'happy' and insensible ending.

Leia Mais

THE Worst Ending EVER: Never Have I Felt This Betrayed, Disappointed and Played by a Show!!!

After some time (more than needed thinking about this show and trying to put into words how I felt), I came up with this final review on dramabeans which is more complete than the first one, I also had to lower the rating because the more I think about it the more bamboozled I feel. So here we go.

First of all I would like to commend the cast for their amazing work specially Shin Hye Sun, She did the damn thing. She rocked the show, hell she was THE SHOW.

This drama would've been such a masterpiece without that disrespectful ending. I've never felt this betrayed or hurt because of a show because I've never rooted for a couple as much as I did for Sobong and CheolJong just to have the time, feelings and energy I invested in this relationship throwed in a trash bag.

These two were a match made in heaven and this show consolidated my belief in love regardless of genders. Just to be clear, the king never fell in love at first sight with Soyong (love at first sight doesn't exist), he was curious and had a sense of familiarity about her , attracted AT BEST. Everything went through the window when he realized that she was from the Kim clan. Think about it CJ fell in love with Sobong 's personality which is mainly JBH's personality. He fell in love with his/her strange (and unpredictable most of the times )behavior, her/his sassiness, strange words (thanks to which we got the epic Queen's Dictionary) ,boldness and crazy eccentric self. Sobong was someone like no other in Joseon.

From episode 1 to episode 19 ,we got to see the relationship between these two evolve from deep antagonism and lack of trust to selfless love and solid partnership. They were ready to die for each other and my God this insane chemistry , the constant bickering and the fluttering moments between them. I JUST CAN'T. SB went from an identity crisis to carrying his child , accepting his/her feelings for CJ to being all in for CJ knowing that he was going to lose just to die (when BH got sent back to the future) at the most crucial moment just when CJ was dying before him/her.

The first thing BH did when he woke up was try to see if the king survived if that's not love I don't know what it is. BH regardless of Soyong's memories (which I admit could have influenced him in the beginning) fell in love with the king when he saw him in a new light and saw how much the king wanted to change Joseon and cared about his people.

The only reason people are trying to justify this ending is by saying that what CJ and BH had was a bromance and all the romance was done by SY which I will never understand, maybe I watched a different show. Because BH was there and felt everything, he enjoyed the sex, as CJ said SB was a true tigress.

If the queen's body was possessed by a woman from the future nobody would be trying to attribute the feelings of said woman to Soyong's and the internet would be in shambles if she was sent back to the future after making all these sacrifices.But as we have a man here, I suppose to some it's less comfortable that a man who happened to be straight fell in love with another man. This is problematic on so many levels...

They made BH do all the heavy lifting and all the sacrifices just to be treated like a tool that was supposed to help mend the relationship between SY and CJ which is straight bullshit. SY reaps all the benefits without doing NONE of the work and CJ ends up with a person completely different from the one he loved deeply and who had a knack for surprising him every time. It's like falling in love with one twin (the mischievous one, fun, crazy and eccentric one) and ending with the other twin.

To make matters worse, they dumbed him down in the end which is quite contradictory to his character throughout the series , he is very smart and perceptive and remembers every small detail Sobong ever said to him, as he said , he prides himself in being the one who knew and understood his eccentric wife the best, so how come in the end, he doesn't seem to realize the person he truly loved is gone? From the way SB used to call him affectuously "cheoljongie", "Jongie Jongie"or "Jong ah" to SY's annoying high pitched voice "Cheona" there is a huge difference. What about Court Lady Choi ad Hong Yeon who went from being treated like family members by Sobong back to being treated like servants by So Yong. Didn't they realize something was off?

THIS is the problem I got with the ending: the Lack of acknowledgment of BH's sacrifices and everything he did to save their asses without him the king wouldn't have achieved anything (Come on he saved his festival , went to save him when he was declared dead and did everything till the end to help him regain his place) . I wanted more from CJ rather than this vague question talking about "did I lose something?". I wanted him to mourn the loss of the person he loved who is Sobong who sadly died in the end.I wanted CJ to realize that the person who helped him all along was BH( a man who really came from the future). I wanted to see BH mourn what he lost, deal with the trauma (being trapped in SY's body, falling in love with the king after multiple mental breakdowns, coming to terms with it and finally accepting his feelings , carrying a baby he came to care about, building strong relationships with Hong Yeon and Court Lady Choi among others just to be sent back when the love of his life was dying before him). I wanted to see him evolve after his life changing experience in Joseon and see how much of his feelings were influenced by Soyong. I wanted to see Soyong tell the truth to CJ that she is not the person he fell in love with anymore and gave him space to digest it and why not build a relationship afterward based on the truth. I wanted to know more about So Yong, if the writers knew they were gonna make her the protagonist of the show and she will get the man, they had to show us more and make us root for her. Show me SY being active and participating and taking over from time to time very clearly, and show me that she is a badass and she is more than a desperate and sad woman from Joseon who lacks skills and experience who wanted to kill herself because among other reasons her husband to be didn't love her back. Because what we got here as per her own words is someone hiding 98% of the show and you want me to root for her? What I got instead of an honest discussion and her acknowledging the truth ( the fact that she would never have had that life without BH’s help) all I got was a ridiculous laugh when the king asked her if she was plotting something to surprise him.

This made me dislike Soyong and made me think that she is not that different from the Hwa Jin of the beginning because she is pretending to be someone she is not and taking credit for everything BH did which is upsetting and dishonest coming from her who made the same reproach to Hwa Jin beforehand.

In the end, the main protagonist of the love story got relegated to being a Second Lead or the Third wheel in his own damn love story, never got the deserved acknowledgment and that’s what made it so heartbreaking. SB and CJ have that understanding and love that SY and CJ will never have.

This ending is somehow worse than SHR's ending and the only person who got a happy ending was SY and I wonder how long it will last until she realizes that she is not the one CJ fell in love with.

As a viewer, I don't know how to recommend this show maybe the 19,2 episodes. Such a waste of potential...This show used to be my favorite and now whenever I think about it I just feel empty and betrayed. I mean what else can i do beside boycotting the writers’s future works FOREVER (I know I’m being petty but idc at this point)!I said my piece it's time to move on.

Leia Mais

One heck of a ride ...... but ending.

If your looking for a show to watch for fun after long day of work, MR.queen is the answer. However, i would suggest not look for deeper meaning or logic in the story; the premise itself is 21st century chef - man soul (jang bong hwan) enters women's body (kim so yong) who is from joseon era making them into new person so-bong.

As the story progress we get to see so-bong tackling palace life challenges along with identity crisis in more unique & comical way possible. I personally love how so-bong calls out every person who actually wronged so-yong in one way or other & comradeship between so-bong and king.

Acting wise, this show does have one of the best ensemble cast i came across in k drama world; their acting manage to cover up most of the plot holes. And a big shout out to Shin Hye sun who managed to nail both characters in one go; i can't imagine anyone in those roles other than her. Same goes with kim jung hyun as a king and their chemistry is off the charts, i hope down the line someone would cast them in modern drama.

My only complaint is writers are too focused for 20 episodes on balancing comedy, action, drama they failed to establish entire two souls in one body logic leaving it to audience imagination. In process the entire romance between king - so bong falls apart leaving bitter n unsatisfying feeling in the end. <---- MY OPINION

Leia Mais

#TeamNoTouching

My Goodness this drama had me hooked from the first episode to the last. it had me laughing, squirming, and blushing at the same with unconversional love story between Queen Cheorin (Shin Hye-sun) and King Cheoljong (Kim Jung-hyun), with unbelievably amazing chemistry between Shin Hye Sun (FL) and Kim Jung Hyun (ML). i really enjoyed Shin Hye-Sun portrail of Jong Bong Hwan (the male part in her) so perfectetly.
ive seen the chinese version and it was ok and didnt kow how the writer was going to approach this drama but I've been surprised by how good this drama was.
I can’t get #NoTouching and the amazing OST "Bong Hwan A" out of my head lol. I’m not usually keen on historical dramas but this drama is 10/10. if you are thinking about watching Mr Queen, then give it a go you will not regret it.

Leia Mais

A refreshing tackle of historical drama

I'm not really fond of historical drama because I simply get bored watching action packed scene in a drama (typical saeguk) but this one got me hooked on the very first episode!

This drama immediately become my favourite saeguk drama. From the characters to the plot to the beautiful cinematography, everyone deserves a standing ovation! Who would've thought a historical drama would contain such an outstanding comedic scene, you never get bored. Working full time, but I managed to finish this drama in just 4 days. I can't stop watching because they know how to end an episode that makes you anticipate what is happening next!

Cheoljong's "My Queen" still give me teary-eyed to this day. Good chemistry between Shin Hyesun and Kim Junghyun that I can feel the pain just by watching their eyes. Plus, we can't forget our fav duo Court Lady Choi and Hongyeon who simply give excellent acting of their character esp Hongyeon since this is her debut drama.

I'm gonna miss this drama so much. Thank you for giving us laughter during this hard time. I'm gonna watch it again when I need something to cheer me on!

Leia Mais

Awesome Gender bender

What a refreshing gender bender drama. I was skeptical when I initially heard the story. How ever it has set a high bar for this genre, which will be hard to overcome in the future. The FL acting was remarkable with a strong script backing her up. She portrayed the confusion of feeling both like a man and a woman extremely well. I really liked how she walked and talked like a male and reacted emotionally like a male as well. She quickly adapted to each new turmoil thrown at her with out preserving over issues she could not resolve. I liked how she remained a direct and honest person and did not use lies or hurtful comments to make the king back off. The transition of her feelings was very well portrayed, which I believe is a remarkable feat.

The associated humor was masterfully done and was hilarious without being crass. Very funny portrayal of male ego vying to appear cool in front of others.

Nearly satisfying ending. In my personal opinion, the female was there through out the journey but only came forward to express her love. Perhaps she needed another stronger soul in her to make her braver so she could help the king.

I believe now the modern ML will have an inner female counterpart for him to understand women problems. It would have been fun if he found a FL who had an inner male counterpart and some how they complemented each other. well.

I took away a point as the number of episodes need to be less. Although I watch k dramas as if my life depends on them but there are so many now that it is an addiction. I would rather not fast forward and watch a tight knit story instead.

Over all really well done to cast and crew.

Leia Mais