Mr. Queen

A masterpiece in Comedy and Body swap

Mr. Queen UNDERSTOOD THE ASSIGNMENT!! This drama is definition of addictive entertainment. The comedy, the twists, and the sheer chaos made it impossible to stop watching.

Going into this drama, none of the main cast members were among my personal favorites and i didn’t know any of them except the ML. Usually, I struggle to stay invested when I'm not familiar with or particularly attached to the actors. But Mr. Queen completely changed that.. Without a doubt, it's the best comedy time-travel body swap drama I've ever watched.

The King and Queen are easily one of the most chaotic and entertaining couples in K-drama history. Every scene they shared was pure gold. Their chemistry, constant bickering, unexpected teamwork, and hilarious misunderstandings made them impossible not to root for.

What I Loved Most👇🏻

The QUEEN herself❤️ Shin Hye-sun absolutely stole the show with her acting. Her performance was nothing short of phenomenal. The Queen's expressions, mannerisms, body language, and comedic timing were executed flawlessly. She didn't just play the role—she became the role. Every scene she was in was a masterclass in acting.

The supporting cast deserves just as much praise. Lady Choi and the Royal Chef were the perfect cherry on top of an already amazing drama. They brought so much humor, and heart to the story that they became my favorite supporting characters. They're the kind of supporting characters you'll remember long after finishing the show.

What surprised me the most was how politically intense the drama became. Since it’s a Comedy drama you normally wouldn’t except such hard core politics and high stakes. I expected a fun comedy, but the writer delivered so much more. The royal power struggles, schemes, betrayals, and political maneuvering were brilliantly written. The balance between comedy and serious palace intrigue was handled exceptionally well that you never get bore. Every episode left me wondering what would happen next because the story constantly found new ways to surprise me.

As for the ending, I know some people weren't happy with it, but I actually loved it. The chef had to go back eventually, his place was in the modern world, not trapped in someone else's body forever. And So-yong deserved to get her body and life back too. Was I sad to say goodbye to the chaos? Of course. But the ending felt right. It was bittersweet, emotional, and the most sensible conclusion for both characters. Ps I have already watched it twice.

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Loved till 19th episode

Loved it so much (until 19th episode mostly, will get to that later) it had everything i like, costume drama, comedy, romance, transmigration done right. From day one jung bong hwan as soyong was hilarious and every drama he caused was just so entertaining. Jo hwa jin taking his flirting as threats was so amusing. But everything got more interesting when the romance started and sobong (jung bong hwan as soyong) starts taking everything seriously and really get involved in the palace intrigue. Him trying to resist falling for cheoljjong but eventually just falling in love was 😫❤️
the kings brother was so annoying to me for entirety of the drama except for when he was shown having feelings for jo hwa jin then he became interesting.
i can't recall names but almost all the characters were serving some purposes and participated in plot development which i liked very much.

hongyeon and lady choi my loves, it saddens me them saying bye just before sobong went to the palace with cheoljjong was actually a goodbye goodbye but they've no idea ugh

Now to more of a rant... i just had to review publicly the ending annoyed me so much in my mind jung bong hwan stays idc he's the real love of cheoljjong's life... saw some comments say there were glimpses of soyong too when cj fell in love, ig they watched a different show than me cause WHERE? sobong got soyong's memory & maybe embroidery skills but he absolutely didn't have any of her personality or mannerism her memories helped him get clearer pictures about palace residents but not for one moment it was soyong which is why the ending is just meh to me. if they were going to try to sell us soyong and jung bong hwan were interchangeable maybe they should've been more similar or we should've seen more of soyong.

anyways kim byung in redemption was very meh and annoying too.

they could've at least given me cheoljjong reincarnating and jung bong meeting him at the end idk

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Absolutely Magnificent

I can’t say enough good things about this show.

I was in a post-kdrama rut after a meh watch and Mr. Queen was the cure!!

The story-telling, casting, acting, chemistry, humor, angst, drama, set design, costuming, OST… just everything was amazing. I was hooked from the get-go and I couldn’t stop. Kim Jung-hyun was great as the King but Shin Hye-Sun stole the entire show as the body-swapped chef/queen. That alone makes this show a win.

There was one character I really couldn’t stand (writing not acting) but otherwise all of the side characters were impeccably written and acted. The costuming was spectacular and I’ve already downloaded half the soundtrack.

The humor is the highest point of this show. The balance between the court politics, palace drama and humor make this show marvelous. The humor, while played intentionally exaggerated at times, somehow still feels incredibly natural.

Also, despite some of the other reviews regarding the ending, I don’t feel I need to compromise with it nor do I think it was a let down. I expected it or something similar (definitely not a predictable show though) and I think it was done the best it could be given the type of story being told.

This is a must-watch Kdrama for sure and I absolutely recommend it. I don’t normally enjoy historical pieces but this was fabulous.

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You know, I'm not a big fan of historical theme dramas. I tend to skip them but I just happen to saw clips of this drama on instagram and what do you know, I was LOL at every clip I watched and that's how I ended up giving this drama a chance and I enjoyed it.

It's a very comedic drama. Though it has the historical theme, it doesn't follow the traditional historical aspects for the most part because of the female lead as a sassy Mr. Queen from the 21st century. It's 20 episodes so when you start watching the first several episodes, you kind of don't have a sense of direction of where the story is going. Probably because there's just so much goofiness happening. Eventually, the plot will reveal to itself and you begin to catch on where this drama is going to go. Kept it's comedy from start to finish.

Let's talk about some characters. The randomness of the Kim Hwan is so funny and yet bizarre to me. What purpose did he actually serve in this drama other than giving us good laughs? It seems like he was just put in there to make us laugh. Then you had Kim Byung In who I just can't read at all. Was he bad? I mean he acted evil but then he keeps changing his viewpoint and position. I just didn't understand his character. But at the end of the day, if I had to care about support characters, it would be Lady Choi & Hong Yeon. I just love the evolution of their friendship with Mr. Queen, from being just concern servants to ending up being great friends, relying on each other.

The downsides for me is we never really got to see the real So Yong. Mr Queen pretty much took over her life for all 19 episodes. Then So Yong shows up in the last episode. Sure we saw her backstory and pain but when that character didn't appear for the most part, you just don't have that connection with her compared to the connection we had with Mr Queen. It would've been great and funny to see Mr. Queen fighting with So Yong verbally to each other, like split personalities occurring at that moment, instead of Mr. Queen just talking to himself. And of course, our secondary and third couple progression didn't occur much as I would've liked. I mean, I only wanted more for them because there were hints shown that these 2 couples should've been together.

Overall, I actually like this historical theme drama. Probably the first historical theme drama I enjoyed and thought it was written well for the most part.

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One of the best korean rom/com period dramas I've watched

Came across this on mydramalist and decided to give this drama try when I saw the high rating on it. So when I did, I am so glad I did give this drama a chance because it is one of the most hilarious and interest period korean dramas I've seen!

The story was quite different and unique than usual period dramas. I don't recall watching any dramas that have a storyline of a man from the future possessing a WOMAN's body from the past during the Joseon era. It's especially funny how this drama included sexual humor in scenes. As far as I remember, not a lot of kdramas do this so I was surprised how accepted it was in this drama. But it was super hilarious, especially when they have to bleep it out as characters were explaining inappropriate "things" LOL.

The actors/actresses definitely played their role well. I have to give Hye Sun (playing as the Queen Kim So Yong) major compliments on her acting. Being able to play 2 different characters and even splendid acting on chaotic scenes where her character is freaking out like a psychopath and acting like a casanova while also playing a humble, quiet girl is not something you'd expect to see in a lot of female characters. The chemistry between the main couple was really good too. Their bickering , sweet, and erotic moments were just all hilarious and cute to me that I just couldn't get enough of them!

As I've seen in some comments about the ending, I am 50/50 on it. I was satisfied with how everything ended smoothly and that the main couple stayed together in the end. However, the fact that it was mainly Bong Hwan in So Yong's body throughout this entire time and the fact that Cheoljong technically fell in love with Bong Hwan was what bothered me a bit. Because prior to Bong Hwan possessing her body, Cheoljong hated So Yong. But when Bong Hwan took over, Cheoljong started to take notice in "So Yong" with her arrogant, loud, kinda crazy personality and eventually fell in love with her.

However, in my perspective/understanding of this drama, even though Bong Hwan was in So Yong's body, there was still a part of the real So Yong that is shown throughout the drama. Like a mix of both characters' personalities taking over So Yong's body. Because I remember how Bong Hwan would be yelling at So Yong that's inside her body for doing some actions that he did not want to do (ex: in ep 9 when Cheoljong and BongHwan/Soyong were about to do "it" haha) and Cheljong was just staring in confusion. So I feel as if Cheoljong, either way, did fall for So Yong and Bong Hwan I guess? lol. Idk that's just my understanding of this it could be different for everyone.

The love triangle between So Yong, Cheoljong, and Byung In was really sad. Although I was a So Yong/Cheljong ship, I felt really bad for Byung In. His one-sided love for her broke my heart. And the fact that he risked his life and died to save So Yong made me cry so much (yes I legit cried). It made me heated when I saw that his body was still up in the mountain in the same position before he died. Like what! No one even went to look for his body and just left him there dead beat cold? Im glad So Yong and the others went back to properly bury him. His father is legit evil and trash for betraying his son like that for power. I lightweight wished he had a happy ending. But then again, this is a period drama, there's always gonna be at least one good person that will be sacrificed to die -_-

For Hwa Jin, I do get irritated with her character sometimes, however, I don't think I see her as an evil character in the drama. Like yeah she did some evil things to So Yong but that was all due to major misunderstandings and an act of jealousy. I mean, that's what two people usually do if you hate each other, especially if you thought one killed one of your loved ones? I've seen dramas where antagonists go to major extremes on wanting to harm the protagonist but she really just wanted So Yong out of the picture bc of the misunderstandings and her love for Cheoljong. She eventually redeemed herself in the end and they both made up after clearing the misunderstandings.

And the bond between So Yong and her maids is just ADORABLE!!! <3 Their bond was so strong like they were legit best friends. I swear I freaked out when I thought Lady Choi and Hong Yeon died bc they legit sacrificed themselves for So Yong. Even if they weren't her maids, they prob still would've done the same thing for So Yong bc of how much they cared for her. I think this is one of the pros in this drama is that they showed great relationships among all characters here.

Overall, this drama was very enjoyable and something I'd watch again even though the ending was a bit off.

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Interesting plot with uninteresting end

I really love how the comedic aspect was utilized in this drama, it never felt forced and was just so naturally injected into the characters' roles - very seldom can dramas effectively incorporate comedy without it feeling randomly shoved at the viewer's face.

It was overall a fun watch, I especially enjoyed the budding romance of the king and queen (considering the male soul intermixed with the original one) and enjoyed even the interactions of the other characters, but it failed to properly wrap-up its loose ends which made episodes 18-20 a bit sloppy and disappointing. The way they ended this drama made it feel rushed and out of the blue.

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Overall it was fantastic, although with a horrible ending

Discounting the last 0.5episode out of the 20, I would've given this a full 10/10 with the amazing acting, costumes, OST, perfect combo of romance and comedy, and of course the chemistry between the two leads.
However, the ending of this greatly dashed all my expectations and thoughts of this being the best kdrama ever. We were introduced to the 'queen' who struggles with gender and identity crisis as the male chef possesses her body, with 19.5 amazing episodes exploring the challenges he comes across and developing his relationship with the king upon excepting himself in a female body. This was quite an interesting gender twist and I found it incredibly refreshing.
BUT THEN in the last 1/2 of ep20, he is cruelly kicked out of the 'queens' body and returns to his Republic of Korea era, without any warning, without any chances of getting closure before departure, with the original soul of the queen coming back into her body.
While this may seem to be a perfectly happy ending, I ABSOLUTELY HATED IT, why? While Bong-Hwan (chef) returns to Korea, alone, probably traumatised, and ripped away from all his newly developed relationships with the people in the palace, So-Yong (aka real queen) comes to replace and pretends to be him, reaping all the gains from his efforts. Even the king himself notices the lost of 'something' as he so vaguely put it, with the ending being a big let-down for me with 1000 questions unanswered such as if SY is ever going to come clean about BH, or if BH truly accepts being kicked out despite portrayed as being very very very happy after returning.

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PURE EXCELLENCE

I binged this show in three days that should tell you how good it is.

One thing I will say before writing the rest of my review, I love how this drama showed one big middle finger the the love triangle trope from jump they never took it seriously and established from the being where all the character's feelings truly lied all the "love triangles" were one sided and sorted out in a way that made sense to me the narrative never felt like it was trying to make me choose the choice was always clear.

The plot of the drama is so refreshing I haven't been watching dramas for all that long but this drama handled the premise of a man being body swapped into a women's body just amazingly, each choice the characters made felt in line to the type of people they are, the bad guys were written really well and overall the drama never dropped in pace for me.

The chemistry between our two leads?!?!?! Lord I'm going to thinking about that episode 9 kiss for a VERY long time jesus christ but besides that the two leads had such a sweet and intense dynamic like off rip they were just entertaining to watch bounce off each other and I was rooting for the to have their happy ending, just a amazing couple and very well written they were each other's pillars and I wish we got more of them.

[ side note : I LOVE that the drama decided to not make her dad a bad guy I've been loving it when drama's allow the father figure who originally seemed to not care about our female lead to then have it revealed that they did care and then for the rest of the drama they support them in everything that they do THANK YOU ]

Court Lady Choi..... This diva, THIS QUEEN deserves her own section, I was always aware of her character as I saw clips of the drama floating around but my God I wasn't ready for how much she stole my heart, every time she was on screen I was dying laughing or crying my tears out, I love all the characters in this drama but she has a special place in my heart, and yes her relationship with the Royal Chef was GOALS.

I read through some reviews that people weren't happy with the ending but I have to disagree everything felt right including her coming back to her body like I didn't watch this expecting that Bong Hwan was going to stay in her body like let's be for real now my girl got her happy ending with the man she loves and that's all I needed.

[ side note : I'm absolutely rooting for Hwa Jin and Prince Yeongpyeong to get their happy ending that was WAY too much angst for my liking ]

This is a amazing drama that is worth the watch.

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---Warning: SPOILERS---

I’ve watched a sageuk drama before but this is the first one I’ve seen that effortlessly combines comedy, fantasy and transmigration. The main thing I liked about Mr. Queen was how funny it was. Shin Hye Sun played the FL and she was really good in the role. She was able to act like two different characters, made every one of her scenes a delight to watch and basically carried the whole drama on her shoulders. The other characters were pretty entertaining, too. There were many funny side characters here (the ladies in waiting, the cook, the king’s friends, etc) and their interactions with each other and especially with the FL were adorable! Mr. Queen actually makes crying scenes pretty funny.

 I also enjoyed watching the scenes where the FL would cook something new or invent something for the kitchen. It reminded a bit of Dae Jang Gum.

I think I would’ve rated this higher if not for the romance and political intrigue.

The ML (King Cheoljong) and the FL (“Mr. Queen”) had some cute scenes together but it was clear from the start that it was Bong Hwan’s (the chef who transmigrated) personality the king fell in love with, not So Yong’s. Would the king have fallen in love with Bong Hwan if he was in his original body? We don’t know. Would the king have fallen in love with So Yong if Bong Hwan didn’t take over her body in the first place? Probably not. So why is it that, at the very end of the drama, he didn’t seem to notice the extreme change in personality when Bong Hwan left? They all acted like it was nothing.

I am not against the idea of Bong Hwan ending up with a modern day Cheoljong, or letting him stay in So Yong’s body but I wanted the writers to make his feelings and the changes he went through more understandable. Was he actually bi and in denial, only to have the experience make him finally accept who he was? The show should’ve indicated it before he body swapped. Was he actually in love with Cheoljong at the end or did he just care about him because of the baby and because he had to, given the circumstances he was forced into? It was not his choice to enter So Yong’s body, after all. In the beginning of the drama, he had a bit of a double standard where he hated the idea of So Yong in his body flirting with guys, but it was perfectly okay for him in her body to flirt with the court ladies. I got the impression that he changed in the end but I wasn’t sure how.

Also, why exactly did So Yong love the king? They had that moment by the well when they were kids but he was mean to her after that. Yes, he had good reasons but the point is, she didn’t know that…so why did she care so much for him before she entered the palace and became queen? Now, I don’t care what trope a story has, whether it’s love at first sight, slow burn or enemies to whatever…I just want it to be believable.

Cheoljong himself was supposedly love with Hwa Jin at first but when another woman with a ‘cooler personality’ came along, it was all over for her. Now, I don’t believe that every character should end up with who they start with, but I wish they didn’t play up his loving Hwa Jin so much to the point he’d sacrifice his life for her, because it makes him seem really flakey.

The political parts were also a let down. The retaking of the palace and throne at the end should have been on a bigger scale ala Nirvana in Fire. I was also disappointed when Cheoljeong just inexplicably left Mr. Queen alone and defenseless. And why did Byeong In (one of the second male leads) suddenly turn evil…only to turn good again? It would’ve made sense if he were an ass like Gaston but he wasn’t. Was he bipolar?

There were just too many why's for me, so I just enjoyed this for the comedy and the performances.

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Good Enough

Korean Drama " Mr Queen " is clever, interesting and original. The drama builds up the story slowly but steadily, using the comedy element to keep things interesting while doing so.

One of the best things about the drama is the leading lady. The actress was spectacular, shifting from one personality to another with ease and acting splendidly in her comedy scenes. She also had good chemistry with her partner.

The male lead was, in addition, pretty great, dramatic when he had to, funny at other times and dynamic at others. He also acted the action scenes well.

The rest of the story was entertaining, with a nice blend of comedy, romance, drama and historical-political action. And even though the romance is unconventional, it was well built and had a smooth pace.

As for the ending, it wasn't perfect, but I guess it was the best they could do under the story's circumstances.

So, overall, nine out of ten.

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