Weak Woman With Bland Personality Is Queen For Seven Days
I could barely finish this drama. I was only able to do so by skipping most of the dialogue.PMY was...... unpardonably irritating as the main lead character here. She was the perfect perpetual victim. That was her one character trait, to be in a constant state of agitation. Yes, her character often had legitimate reasons to be scared, but that didn't mean it wasn't incredibly annoying to watch an entire series where that is the one and only feeling her character had.
The only charcter with any depth and range of emotion was LDG. I found myself rooting for him as the villain of the piece, just because I couldn't stand the woodenness of the two protagonists. The antagonist really did his best to be a good person, but found himself thwarted at every turn. He deserved the love that was unfairly denied him, and it without it, he was driven to madness. Anyway, the antagonist was the one person I cared about, and the one character with any depth. I would suggest skipping everything except LDG's parts, as those are the only ones that are worth watching.
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Overall very angsty but not what I expected
As a melodrama entusiast i don't know why i'm not as engrossed as i initially thought. I thought this drama would be my cup of tea but actually not.The overall plot is really good since the main plot is basically a true story with lots of added drama. The drama starting really good especially in their teenage days i enjoyed it a lot, full of laughter, bickering and fluffiness. But when they grew up everyone seems to be different or growing up personality wise except Chae Kyung who saw the world with flowers and rainbow i guess. Her personality is just too naive for this kind of melo and angsty historical drama. Idk if her personality is based on the actual Queen Dan Kyung or not, but Chae Kyung's naivety annoyed me so much. She just seems so out of place with how politics, power struggle, revenge and deception works in the palace. For someone that has ties and relationship with the royal family she is just too naive with her ideal principal.
Except Chae Kyung personality and probably her father's too loyal personality, the others are fine and they fit perfectly with all those dramas going on. The OSTs are also really good. So overall i give this drama a 7.5 and i'm not going to rewatch it.
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Shin Chae Kyung: As with many many other female leads in dramaland Chae Kyung has the unfortunate trait of being too pure and good for this world. She has literally never done a single thing wrong in her entire life. When she messes up or makes mistakes it's always a result of other people's manipulation, a lack of information, or just bad luck. Whether a child or adult she has that ever-present innocence about her that draws every man within a hundred miles to her side. She is in short a Mary-Sue and a particularly boring one at that. Aside from her kindness and good-hearted nature she has very little to recommend her to the audience. She is stagnant as a character from childhood to adulthood. The fact that both male leads fall for her when she was little more than a child only further emphasizes her lack of personal growth because they find her largely unchanged as an adult. Many may claim she undergoes character growth towards the end of the drama following the prince's ascension to the throne but even then she is simply acting selflessly and with kindness as she always has. The only real difference is that she has narrowed the scope of her kindness to her husband alone instead of the much wider range of people she cared about previously. Chae Kyung is above all a boring character. She does not offer any relatability to the viewer and because of that, the audience is left feeling little connection to her or her emotions and struggles.
Yi Yoong (King Yeon Sang Un): The famous crazy deposed king of Joseon. Of the three main characters, I feel that Yoong was the best written and most fleshed-out of the three. His mental decline was convincing and slow-building. His motivations mostly clear and though illogical from the viewer's perspective were clearly explained from his point of view so that one could see how he came to such conclusions and decisions. His inner turmoil surrounding his brother and father was also, I felt, the most historically accurate part of the show. His obsession with Chae Kyung, however, made little sense. He clearly did not want to marry her, as he could have easily done so multiple times throughout the drama and chose not to, but he also did not want her to marry his brother. His feelings for her seemed oddly sexual at times while also being fairly paternalistic or brotherly. It was very creepy and off-putting at times especially when she is younger. His relationship with her also makes no sense from a historical standpoint as it would have been seen as risky and highly improper by all involved which directly conflicts with Chae Kyung's sense of propriety and Yoong's obsession with his self-image. In the latter half of the drama as Yoong's mental state deteriorates his obsession with her reaches a fever pitch that defies all logic or sense. Unlike some of his other illogical actions, such as those surrounding how he deals with his ministers or brother, the show does not even give this obsession the benefit of making sense to Yoong. It almost seemed like a hole within the character's personality and though he was crazy, it was still too outlandish to make sense to anyone including him.
Yi Yeok (Prince JinSeong): I had the most problems with Yeok. His main character trait seemed to be inconsistency and undecidedness. This man could not make a decision to save his life, at times literally. He vacillates between his feelings for his brother, Chae Kyung, his friends, his organization, his secret identity, his mother, etc. Each time he changes his opinion or makes a choice he inevitably goes back on it. It was exhausting and completely unnecessary most of the time. For example, why spend so much time wondering if he can trust his clearly untrustworthy brother? Why decide to marry Chae Kyung and then spend upwards of two full episodes bemoaning that same decision which no one forced him into? Why form a secret organization and identity only to mostly ignore it in favor of court intrigue and then ignore the court intrigue in favor of the organization? None of it made sense. 90% of the conflict in this drama could have been solved had Yeok been able to stick with a decision. His secret organization was also a sticking point for me. It is historically nonexistent. The plotline surrounding it was superfluous. It added nothing to the plot and was a waste of time. Why was this created for this drama? I understand that the writers wanted Yeok to seem more manly and strong than his real-life counterpart but creating a vigilante group was not the way to achieve this goal. Chae Kyung deserved better than this man and 100% of her suffering can be placed at his feet.
Overall the characters of this show were underdeveloped and the plot possessed a lot of time-wasting fluff. It was still an entertaining show but I wish they had simply given us a more historically accurate retelling of the events surrounding the deposition.
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The cast is great and there are strong, interesting characters. There’s tons of political conflict and lots of drama. The sets and costumes look great too.
I wish the bad guys had a bit more dimension because they were clearly bad from the start and somehow still get away with everything time and time again. Ugh! How dumb does that make the good guys look? Also some plot points seem really, really dumb, but what can you do when you’re trying to fill in the blanks from history?
So overall, I enjoyed this one, but a few things just threw me off.
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This review may contain spoilers
Love Conquers All (in the end)
I’ve just finished watching Queen For Seven Days and now, an hour later, am still shaken by the beauty of its ending and the extraordinary character poignantly played by always superb Park Min Young. If anyone fantasizes about being a royal or serving a royal court, this drama should disabuse them of that notion. Early on, I thought that the old adage ‘Love Conquers All’ was not true in the face of power politics but by the drama’s touching conclusion, my faith in the power of love was restored.Even more than Yeon Woo Jin, who played the Grand Prince, later the King, Lee Dong Un as his older half brother, the tyrannical King Yeonsangun, was more impressive, creating a three dimensional character of a tragic and fatally flawed son, brother, and ruler. I don’t often cry but his death scene, reconciling with his brother, and seeing his father, the late King calling to him, brought tears to my eyes.
Perhaps it was the intent of the writers but Yeon Woo Jin came across as weak, compared to his wife, and without benefit of reading history, one might wonder what kind of King he became. But his beloved Shin Chae Kyung, taught him both the meaning of real love and gave him the power to endure to the end.
All the parts are well acted, in particular Yeom Hye-Ran (who often appears in dramas with Park Min Young) as Lady Shin’s nanna, Jang Hyun-Sun as the loyal to a fault Vice-Premier and father of Lady Shin, and Do Jiwon who plays the Dowager Queen.
I’ll have to be a contrarian on the soundtrack. Even though the songs chosen are beautiful and well sung, modern pop songs don’t fit - for me - a historical drama. The music should reflect the sensibilities and aesthetic of the time portrayed.
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10/10 for everything in this drama. It quickly became my all time fav saeguk drama!
The ending was beautifully done. Eventho it's heartbreaking, but I couldnt ask for a better finale!
The love between Yeok and Chae Gyung was really reallyyy beautiful. They are the definition of True Love. It makes me cry just thinking about them :( I feel like they're real.
Yeon Woo Jin & Park Min Young has this undeniably powerful chemistry. Hope they will do another drama again together.
Applause to all the cast and crew for their hardwork in filming this drama. This drama deserved many awards!
Whew, now I need to work hard to detached myself from this drama lol
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This review may contain spoilers
Was rewatching this drama again so that I might as well write my thoughts on it this time. If you don't mind watching a love story while knowing that it'll have a sad ending, well this drama would be good. I mean, the story did open up from the moment Lady Shin was about to be killed by hanging so that should be hint enough, right? Mind you since this story will involve some very heavy political strive, it might get really hard to watch those bits happening in between the love story. That said, the love story between Lady Shin Chae-kyeong and Prince Lee Yeok was really so sweet and pure... and later on becoming painful as the battle to secure the throne comes between them. It was really sweet seeing how their love story started from childhood and later rekindled after they grew up and reunited after being separated for so long.
Having watched quite a number of Park Minyoung's work, I have to say that her role as Lady Shin was one of her best roles to date. Yeon Woojin as Lee Yeok also was amazing as he brought out all of the complicated emotions faced by Lee Yeok for having to struggle between protecting his love and the throne.
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This review may contain spoilers
Meh
The drama started out strong, but as the story went on it got progressively boring, and the last few episodes were pretty much a chore to watch.I liked Park Min Young in "What's Wrong with Secretary Kim?" and "Marry My Husband". She does well in modern drama. But, here she was grossly miscast. Firstly, her character looked more mature than ML. Secondly, they had very little chemistry with Yeon Woo Jin because both characters were bland and had no personality. She looked way better with Lee Dong Gun because he looked more mature and because Yi Yoong was a much more interesting character.
The plot was also a mess. The storyline with the super secret organization went nowhere. The storyline with the super secret pawn shop also went nowhere. Yeok wanted to do everything - become king, be with Chae Kyung, and make up with his brother. But, he ended up weak, indecisive, and flaky. He kept whining about everything and constantly changed plans making everyone pissed off because they spent way too much effort into trying to put him on the throne. And, after Yeok became king, he wasn't much better than his brother who allowed a corrupt minister run the show. Chae Kyung was frustrating because she meddled too much, had redundant monologues about feelings, and kept pushing Yeok to make up with his older brother when there was no point. I honestly felt like she was wearing the pants in that relationship. She also fainted in every other episode.
The love triangle between Chae Kyung and the two brothers was pointless. Yi Yoong barely had any romantic interactions with her. But, I wish he did because that would've made her character a lot more interesting. And, as a couple they looked much better together because Yi Yoong was more mature, masculine, and had a lot stronger personality that Yeok, making Chae Kyung in contrast act more feminine.
And, lets not forget about the ridiculous super sneaky spying scenes where characters stood in plain sight and eavesdropped on other people's conversations without ever being noticed. This drama has perfect that art of invisibility.
The acting was all over the place. Park Min Young and Yeon Woo Jin were both underwhelming and very bland, while Lee Dong Gun was overly emotional and overacted in every scene. He also twitched his mouth a lot.
Overall, weak characters, flat plot, ridiculous writing made this drama pretty disappointing.
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This show made me feel in ways I can not describe.I felt the tenderness between lovers, the true meaning of friendship and the love and care between various characters.
The actors portrayed their characters magnificently, especially the king and I hardly saw any flaws being done by the other two main characters.They were all immersed in their character. A couple of the supporting characters also had fantastic acting skills.
This show is a must watch for those who enjoy beautifully portrayed characters and a fantastic story, that has its ups and downs, and its moments of laughter and sadness. The love in the show makes me believe that there is true honest love in this world.
P.S I think I fell for the king
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Most favorite historical drama
I watched queen for seven days because of park min young since she wasy favorite korean actress and i know this series is worth to watch because of her, the first episide is really interesting to the point that you don't want to stop from watching and the young woo jin and young min young are exactly how they look like and i was like wowwww good casting!! Not all of kdrama casted as young and adult looks similar but in queen for 7 days they really have similarities.. They really showcase their acting skills in this series all of the cast really did their best and it was really a good drama and they give justice to the ending its really hard fore to move on i want park min young and yeon woo jin more.. hope they casted in a drama again in the futureWas this review helpful to you?
It has great storyline, the story starts almost the same as in Ruler of the Mask, but the second half is much more better. I dont know why it has much lower rating, but this is definitely underrated film.
It is a romeo and juliet kind of story with political plot.
Most of the character positions are the same as in the history (real story), so maybe its just potrayed almost the same dilemma as its real story.
There is no antagonist, since every character has their own reasons on doing their bad actions, and i love it, because i believe every human has their own problems and backgrounds that makes them bad people.
The acting was mostly good, but a little overacting from the king that in someway i feel annnoyed.
The last episode made my cry, its very touching and has lots of life lessons :
Most of what we did and are doing are vain, so dont take this life/anything in it too seriously.
Life not always goes as we like to be, but indeed it is still beautiful depend on how we accept it.
A worth it and must watch for everyone.
Note : i hardly ever cry when watching dramas, so this one must be very touching :)
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The only reason I gave it a 9 for rewatch value is that it is too emotional for me. This is an amazing drama. Thanks to the writers for doing their best while trying to stick with history
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