Mr. Queen

A real cure for the heart

I promised myself to write a review for this Drama even before watching the ending, because simply, it deserves that much after all what it gave me.
My review contain 2 parts. The first one is directed to those who haven't seen the Drama yet and confused whether to watch it or not after seeing different kind of reviews; people who rated the show 10/10 and others went as far as to give it 1/10 which is complatly unrealistic if you ask me, despite the fact that people taste differ from one to another, but it's unbelievable to have such a huge gap. And so for that reason I didn't classify my review as "may contain spoilers" even though it does because the first part is spoiler's free, so if you didn't watch the show yet you can read the first part BUT not the second.
PART 1:
1- Why I started the drama? I wasn't planing to watch it at all before it started airing because I read the plot and I felt that it's not my cup of tea, a man in woman's body? that's weird, the romance will be weird and the ending will be tragic and I'm not a big fan of any of the main cast, so why should I, but quickly after the first 2 episodes aired, I started seeing many posts and screens and it looked really funny so I said why not, I started it with the Idea that I'll watch the first funny episodes and when it gets boring or dark I'll drop it, as I do a lot recently, and that I don't care about the end because I won't bee watching it maybe hearing about it that's all, but I found myself hooked for 20 episodes not thinking for one time to actually drop it, in the contrary I was longing froward to the weekend and watch scenes from raw before it get translated and think about it a lot during the week, I didn't do that since a long time, I can't even remember when was the last time I was obsessed with an airing drama like this.
2- I'm not going to repeat what is already mentioned in the plot, but I guess the first thing comes in mind after reading it, is "so is this a BL story?" Yes and No it's not exactly gay 'cause we are talking about a relatonship between 2 souls in 2 bodies with opposed sex (I'm talking about the queen and the king's bodies) So if you are into BL, this is not exactly what you used to watch but you certainly won't dislike it, and if you don't like BL's stories as myself, I asure you, you will looove this one 'cause there is nothing wrong about it, after all, as I said it's a woman's body and you will ship 2 souls together not who they are. So if you are hasitating because of that matter, you should stop and start the show, YOU WILL FEEL confused at the beginning not knowing even what to call the queen is it a "He" or a "She" , but in some point, that won't matter anymore.
3- If you are looking for a drama that will make you cry from begining till the end, then stop and go look else where as there is plenty of those, most good historical Kdramas are tragic, BUT if you are looking for a change, the entire opposite of what you used to see in historical's, or that you hate historical dramas because they are too dramatic, too sad, too frustrated, too much injustice and dark. Then you are in the right place, I didn't have that much laugh while watching a Kdrama, or any type of drama for that matter, for a long time, so this one is a cure for every broken heart, the word "boring" won't dare to come out of your mouth as you'll be so busy laughing all the time and the hour will feel like a 10 mins, you'll laugh watching a manly man's soul (a womaniser actally) coming from the present days, trapped in a woman's body and not any woman, it's a married woman, it's THE QUEEN from 200 years ago, you'll be laughing at many side characters that gave the show a strong comedy, not just the good people that are in the queen's side but even the drama's main evil characters, because simply, everyone act funny dealing with our queen's personality.
4- If you hate historical dramas because they are too old fashion, too many rules, everyone is talking and acting coldly, too much formal speechs even between a married couple. Well, our queen was capable of changing all of that, having a wild soul coming from the future inside a palace can do that, you'll see too much running inside the palace not only by servents but royalty as well, you'll see many rules get kicked in the wall, and you'll be hearing the king's name beeing called more than you did in all the historical drama's that you've watched or will putting together,because the name of the king is not something that you can just say it whenever you want, well, you can if you are our queen.
5- You hate when the main characters are royalty because there is too much drama, plots and schemes, and as a consequence, too many misunderstanding between the couple and mostly that's because there is a love triangle made of the main couple who loves each others and a concubine who is trying to separate them and destroy their love, I'm not going to lie and say that we don't have a love triangle here, but it's just not the typical one, it's not 2 women fighting over the love of the same guy but it's more like a circle because they are not completly two women, you will laugh while watching our queen upset seeing the King and his concubine together but just not for the usual obvious reason LOL.
6- looking for a perfect acting with a wonderful chemistry between the main couple, you'll find that here. I don't even remember where I've seen Shin hye sun before (which I regret deeply now I which I could remember her roles because I've seen her in many dramas as side character but didn't even remember in which dramas until I googled it) and I've seen Kim Jung Hyun in CLOY and liked him there too but just not as much as I did here. They both were magnificent SHS will make you believe that there is actually a man's soul inside her and deliver every single emotion her character is feeling, and KHJ wasn't any less than her, he too gave his role justice beeing funny, pretending weakness and stupidity in front of everyone, mysterious and manly. Not just them but everyone in the cast was awesome.
6- you will like how the OST is well fitting to the drama and to the scenes that get played in.
7- You maybe wondering by now why someone will rate this drama with 1-3/10 after all this, it's one simple and huge reason: THE ENDING! what I can say without spoilering it is everyone watched the same ending but not everyone feels the same about it, there is those who may consider it a SAD ending, a HAPPY ending,an UNSATISFIYING ending, a LOGICAL ending, even a PERFECT ending. which answear is the right one? I'll say none, because it's depend on how we want it to end compared to how it DID, because this time, every single one watched the show was hoping for a happy ending, even me who said at the beginning that I won't care about it, but eventually each one had his own definition of that 'happy ending" it's a matter of: did the ending match what they had in mind and heart or not, but whetherway, we can't judge the entire book by the last page of it, I don't regret watching such a wonderful drama and I wished it'll never end more than wishing for a happy ending because watching the journey was a real cure for my heart; I just hope to move on quickly and find something as good as this one soon.
So my final advice; watch the show you won't regret it, enjoy every single episode and judge the ending by yourself.
I'll leave the second part to another day.

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Awesome drama but for one narrative misstep

There has already been dozens of review written on this popular k-drama so I'm not going to go into great details about the bulk of the show other than to say that it was amazing, funny, sad, heartfelt, thought provoking, exciting, etc. Definitely worth the watch.
Superb acting by the FL and the ML was great as well. Oodles of OTP chemistry. Support cast was top notch. We'll just say no more about the palace intrigue plot, it was integral to the story but nothing new.
Now, some of the reviews focused on THE ending. I understood their sentiments but I don't agree with the more extreme views that the show was ruined by the ending. Yes, it was a bit of fancy foot work on the writer-nims' part in last 30 minutes but to do it otherwise would be to create and ignore longer term problems. You can't really have a 21st century person living the rest of their natural life in the Joseon era without turning history into swiss cheese. Even the few month he was there was already throwing up narrative issues that will make you cross eyed if you think about it. The problem is that most of the negative review all centred around the point that the 21st century person should be allowed to stay on and live happily ever after in the past because he earned it. Is it possible? Viable? Butterfly effect? What happens if he dies in the present?
The writer-nims did their best to push the two threads back together and it was done in a fairly light hearted and conclusive way. Let us not forget that the main relationship between the OTP was getting messy and confusing and it was sustained by the "true love conquers all" motif.
Other reviews also assumed the FL's soul was completely banished and it was obviously not true. By the half way mark, you can see glimpse of her old self popping to the fore. My reading of this is that the FL's soul was always there and can see, hear and feel everything but it was in a passive voice. So the original FL was a "silent" partner and fell in love with the ML along the way, possibly more so. She might even had taken the lead (subconsciously) at some key moments (you will know what I mean if you have watched the show). So it was not that much of a stretch for her to carry on once the 21C person departed. Her later comments and actions all pointed to her being aware of everything that had happened. Her eventual persona also changed a bit so it was a two way street. On the other hand, if they let the 21C person stay on then another segment of the audience will rail against that ending because of all the timey wimey and interpersonal issues.
It was brave of the writer-nims to go down the time travel/body swap theme and it was a deep rabbit hole they went down. At least with this ending, we can have the unicorns and a workable conclusion that I can live with and still smile at the happy thoughts.

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A Joseon Era Time-Travel Dramedy

In Mr. Queen (Korean title: 철인왕후), Jang Bonghwan is a sharp-witted, carefree chef working at the Blue House who gets framed for endangering the life of a foreign ambassador. In his attempt to escape the authorities, he falls into water and transmigrates back in time into the body of Kim Soyong days before her marriage to King Cheoljong, who’s known to history as an incompetent puppet king under the control of the Kim clan. The new Queen Cheorin, with his twenty-first century cooking skills and slangs, confuses everybody with his erratic behavior and, strangely enough, captures the heart of his previously unloving husband, who’s not as incompetent or resigned to being a figurehead as he appears.

If the premise sounds familiar to you, that’s because it’s based on the 2015 viral Chinese web series, Go Princess Go, about a modern day playboy who transmigrated back in time into the body of the crown princess of an unspecified Chinese dynasty. I’ll go into more details later, but in general, Mr. Queen is a vast improvement upon its predecessor, and a drama that more than deserves to be judged on its own merits first.

Queen Cheorin and King Cheoljong Are Made for Each Other
Queen Cheorin/Jang Bonghwan has one brain cell, and it only works for five minutes a day, by the looks of things.

King Cheoljong, one the other hand, is very intelligent when it comes to everything but his queen.

Combined, our protagonists make for a hilarious couple whenever their storylines remotely involve each other. From the numerous instances of miscommunications (“no touching” in particularly invokes a second layer of mirth, as it reminds me of that one Arrested Development gag) to them being horny on main for each other (AKA that scene in episode 17 where they faked public sex), their antics throughout the drama are endless. They’re ridiculously perfect for each other.

They’re amazing characters individually as well. Bonghwan’s lighthearted storyline remained independent from King Cheoljong’s more serious and suspenseful one for much of the earlier episodes. This not only heightened the misunderstanding-based comedic moments, but did the job of establishing them as distinct individuals with personal agendas before their fates lined up later on.

So Many Scene-Stealing Characters
In other dramas, there might be one or two outstanding breakout characters worth mentioning alongside the main leads. In Mr. Queen, everybody fits that bill.

I mean, do I talk about Queen Cheorin’s devoted maid, Hong Yeon, and her weird love triangle between Hong Byeolgam and Kim Hwan, who are two idiots who also have a weird, homoerotic thing going on?

Or Court Lady Choi’s magnificent facial expressions and awkwardly repressed sexuality, and her budding romance with Royal Chef Man Bok, the owner of the most stylish mustache in all of Joseon?

Or the dimensions that make up the Grand Queen Dowager, who’s simultaneously a petulant but adorable old lady and the cruelest, most vain person ever?

Or Jo Hwajin, who defies all my expectations and emerges from the story a better, more confident woman who sees her life extend beyond obtaining King Cheoljong’s love?
Or how devoted Kim Byeongin is to Kim Soyong, and how despite him coming off as pathetic and pitiful in the story, his actions make complete sense when you look at events from his perspective?

Or how terrifying a villain Kim Jwa-geun is despite him literally not emoting for most of the time he’s on screen?

For Mr. Queen, getting through a scene with no interesting characters is not a problem. The drama gives even the minor characters distinct personalities and traits—nobody’s boring!

How Mr. Queen Improved on Go Princess Go
A large part of why the original Chinese web series, Go Princess Go, blew up as it did was due to its abysmal costumes and set designs, as caused by budget and time constraints. That, contrasted with the series’ sharp comedic timing, abundant pop culture references, and an actually good story exploring the taboo themes of gender and sexuality, made it the viral hit it was.

Mr. Queen lost none of the humor—only adapted it for a Korean audience—and improved on everything else.

This drama is visually stunning. Everything is flawless, from the female characters’ hair ornaments, to the food, to the clothes, to the designs of the sets, to the cinematography, to the performance of every actor. The production quality is top-notch, and the team behind it deserves all the accolade for it.

Mr. Queen basing its story on a real life king from Korean history also added a sense of inevitability for the audience. I spent a good chunk of the drama wondering if our protagonists can overcome fate, or if we’re doomed to an unhappy ending. Having historical context really helps newcomers unfamiliar with the culture of Joseon-era Korea too. (Relatedly, a disclaimer about historical accuracy at the beginning of a drama does wonders. Why China can’t just require time travel dramas to have that instead of banning the genre altogether is a mystery to me.)

The Gender Question
Perhaps Mr. Queen‘s most notable contrast to Go Princess Go is its handling of Jang Bonghwan’s identity crisis. In Go Princess Go, the main character’s identity crisis is purely a gender-based one. The Original Good no longer exists once Zhang Peng transmigrates into her body.

That is not the case in Mr. Queen. Kim Soyong, as it turns out, remained dormant within her body when Jang Bonghwan takes over. Remnants of her muscle memory, her actual memory, and her behavior bleed into his personality. They become one person during the duration of his stay, and the drama is both better and worse off for it.

Making Kim Soyong a part of the equation serves a lot of narrative purposes. She’s not only there to provide a mystery for Jang Bonghwan to solve, but she’s the key to several plot points and story elements crucial to achieving satisfying and guilt-free pay-offs, most notably, those related to her father and Kim Byeongin.

Her memories and her personality blending together with Bonghwan also drives his story along. Without them, he’d be happy just living out his days as the queen of a country instead of doing what he needed to do to change the course of history.

Lastly, having her back wraps up the story nicely in some ways, given that it all started because of her figurative wishes. In the beginning, she kills herself over love, happiness, and freedom, all of which she could not have. In the end, through Bonghwan’s guardianship of her body—and he is like the guardian angel she never asked for—she gets everything she wants.

Where this deviation from Go Princess Go fails on a story-level boils down to a simple question: Who did King Cheoljong fall in love with, Jang Bonghwan or Kim Soyong?

This is a question with no real answer. The sad truth is, he never knew either of them. He came to know Jang Bonghwan in the context of Kim Soyong, and Kim Soyong only after Jang Bonghwan has colored King Cheoljong’s experience of her with his personality. Although both inhabitants influenced each other, they’re separate people at the end of the day. The way Mr. Queen chose to end their bizarre, three-person romance is probably the most disappointing aspect of the entire drama.

In the context of the real world, Jang Bonghwan’s identity crisis being a crisis of personality allows the drama to gloss over a huge part of what made Go Princess Go so controversial and interesting in the first place: gender and sexuality. Every one of Queen Cheorin’s feminine inclinations can be explained by the presence of her original self in the body. Jang Bonghwan’s attraction towards King Cheoljong? Kim Soyong caused it. He didn’t really love him, at least, not in a gay way. That was all Kim Soyong. When their inner voice switched from male to female? Kim Soyong. There’s no bisexuality or transgenderism here. No, sir!

Uuughh….

I get it. South Korea is conservative. I don’t blame the team behind Mr. Queen for this decision. Still disappointing though.

Final Rating and Recommendations
Do you want laugh-out-loud antics? Subtle jokes and running gags? A protagonist who’s the smartest idiot alive? A romance interwoven with political intrigues? A plot that builds just right? Then Mr. Queen is twenty hours of your life you’ll not regret.

Based on the viral 2015 Chinese web series Go Princess Go, Mr. Queen is a improvement on its predecessor in almost every way. It’s a fast-moving, whip-smart, and utterly addicting series about transmigration and time travel with a talented cast, wonderful set designs, and great costuming. I cannot say enough good things about this drama.

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Funny

I liked this drama. It was very funny. Shin Hae Sun's acting is phenomenal. I loved how she potrayed the Mr. Queen. Her acting made this show great.

The story was confusing, but I think I may have missed some key details.

For some time I was confused on what was the ledger. Why was it so important? I'm still currently unsure who the dowager ladies are related to. I also think the ending could have been better.

But overall, this show is one of my favorites! The chemistry was off the charts! I was always eager to see scenes with the king and the queen, and I had a fun time watching it.

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Perfect Ending

Human consciousness is a mystery. I think this drama played with its concept masterfully. A human being is a soul and a body. It is not a human being if it is just a soul or just a body. Kim So Yong was a human being. Jang Bong Hwan's consciousness was sucked into Kim So Yong—a human being; a body and a soul.

The Queen's most important decisions was driven by Kim So Yong's genuine emotions and authentic memories. The King did not grow fond of Jang Bong Hwan and his beloved dragon, he loved Kim So Yong the Queen.

With this perspective, I think the ending was a masterpiece.

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Brilliant writing and acting!

1,000,000 stars! Hands down one of thee best drama I’ve ever seen and I’ve seen them all! Lol The writing is absolutely brilliant! It’s so smart, witty and absolutely hilarious! Never forced!
I never once questioned the storyline or plot because everything flowed beautifully. No throw away episodes or fillers. Every episode was gold!
Shin Hye-Sun should win every acting award for her role as Kim So-Yong. She was absolutely phenomenal!
I wasn’t into the casting of the king at first but he proved me wrong a couple episodes in. Kim Jung-Hyun was the perfect person for the role of king. The Queen and King’s chemistry is absolute fire! Come to think of it... Her chemistry with everyone she acted with on screen is absolute fire!
And the queen and king’s supporting cast were brilliant! Their comedic timing was impeccable! I can go on and on about this drama. I laughed, I cried, I squealed with joy! I was so invested in these characters that I didn’t want it to end! I haven’t enjoyed a drama like this ever. So much so that I paid for a Viki pass to watch it and it was worth every dollar!
I’m hoping there is a sequel because this cast is phenomenal together!
I definitely will be looking for other dramas by writers Park Gye-ok and Choi Ah-il! As well as director, Yoon Sung-sik. Those 3 and this cast and crew really are a dream team.
I don’t ever watch dramas twice but I would totally watch this again and again. Brilliant!
Highly recommend it!

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Ode to Shin Hye-sun

Mr. Queen is a historical, gender-bender comedy that is extremely fun and definitely binge-watchable.
I don't know the original works inspiring this one (both the webtoon and Chinese web series are known as "Go princess go") but I can tell that it functions well both as a parody (especially in the first episodes) and as a proper Korean historical drama.

The plot has the right amount of palace intrigue and power plays all experienced throughout the eyes of a 21st century man that effectively becomes the audience avatar.
His internal commentary is our commentary and, most of the time, it is hilarious.

Queen So-yong is the absolute protagonist of this drama and Shin Hye-sun rises to the challenge gloriously.
I've met her in Stranger and loved her character back then too.
She is versatile and talented with both perfect comedic timing and dramatic skills.
The romantic chemistry with Kim Jung-hyun (funny and sexy man whom I've absolutely loved in Eulachacha Waikiki and Crash Landing on You) is through the roof and they have steamy scenes that are going to make you laugh and blush at the same time. The supporting cast is solid (shoutout for Cha Chung-hwa and Jeon Bae-soo) although their characters are mostly just cartoonish comic relief.

The pacing is well sustained and it makes you forget eventual plot holes, however the gender-swap theme is the true weakness of this drama (and the main reason why my rating was lowered one full point).
Clearly Korean television deems the exploration of unconventional romance (namely a possibly gay relationship) as too controversial. Jang Bong-hwan's return to his reality was rushed, perhaps to avoid any consideration on said romance. Pity, because I was very curious to see how his emotional growth, resulting from experiencing the world in a woman's shoes, translated to a male, modern environment.

Female Empowerment Score 2/5: the only kickass girl in the series is possessed by a man. The evil queens are either petty or blinded by the fear of aging. The king's first love is an insecure liar who at least is able to redeem herself towards the end (and secure the second point on this score).

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EDIT: 02/03/23

So.... I gave this a 2nd chance. I still stand by my opinion that there is a lot of politics in it. For a historical drama, that is to be expected, but I seem to be feeling more historical/fantasy dramas recently, and this one was one that I wanted to give a proper chance. Needless to say, I definitely enjoyed it more this time around. I don't think it's absolutely brilliant, and there were many points where I zoned out, but I didn't feel like I needed to watch it at 1.25x speed, which I will take as a win.

Overall, it's a good drama if you just want a bit of a laugh but also have some court intrigue. Plus, the cooking scenes are brilliant! I don't think my original review was particularly objective, nor was it representative of the entire drama, so it only felt proper to update this.

Original review submitted 19/07/21:

I don't normally write reviews but there weren't many critical reviews of this drama I could see on MDL, so I thought I would add my two cents to the mix.

I initially started Mr. Queen because of the rating, the reviews and because my parents had watched it, so I had seen snippets of it (mostly the comedic scenes), which I enjoyed.

So things I like... I like the comedy, especially the cooking scenes, which I felt were executed really well. Props to SHS for really bringing out the funny parts in those scenes. I think some of the humour is a bit crass and unnecessary (and which fell a bit flat at times), but overall, the comedy was good enough that if you want to watch it as a comedy, you can do it.
I also like the premise, of a head chef transmigrating into the body of a queen-to-be. Transmigration is always something that I enjoy reading/watching.

The main thing I didn't like about this drama was the politics. It's the thing that made me drop it... I'm not one for court politics and conspiracies and this drama had wayyy too many of them. Perhaps they all tie in nicely towards the end, but I was already watching the drama at 1.25x speed, and I didn't have the patience or energy to sit through another 15 episodes of something that I might not even enjoy.

The politics also takes up a LOT of time. It's why I was watching it sped up in the first place. Some will enjoy the contrast between politics and comedy but I felt that it was this contrast that made it so much harder to watch all the political scenes.

Many reviews here talk about how the ending was disappointing or unfulfilling. I didn't get that far... To me, the beginning all fell a bit flat and I never felt like I was hooked onto the drama.

So would I rewatch it? Probably. Perhaps now is just not the time for this drama. I'm not feeling it and I won't give it a fair opinion if I continue watching when I already don't want to watch it.

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So much fun

My favorite part of Mr Queen is that I repeatedly return to it in small scenes just to laugh my butt off. Its plot, premise, and incredible acting never get old. It's just that type of series.

As the series is set during King Cheoljong's reign, it takes place during the Joseon era. In this storyline, Jang Bong-hwan, a modern chef, finds his spirit or soul in Queen Kim So-yong. While maintaining his identity, (at least trying too) Jang navigates complicated and intricate court politics disguised as a Queen. In addition, the concept of the storyline makes it fascinating and hilarious at the same time.

It's a refreshing take on the historical drama genre. An element of surprise and unpredictability is added to the story by the premise of a man suddenly inhabiting the body of the queen. King Cheoljong and Jang's dynamic is fascinating as they build a friendship/tough romance (no toucheee!) and navigate their roles.

It is a well-crafted story with relatable characters. The story is spiced up by the side characters, mainly the head court lady Choi and maid Hong Yeon. The royal chef is also quite a character himself. It is also noteworthy to highlight King Cheoljong's growth and transformation, as he embraces a more modern approach and challenges traditional norms. Intertwined with the old ways, the new mindset brought on by the spirited queen brings a refreshing new concept. All of this works because of the good script, pacing and execution of the actors. But let's give credit where credit is due and praise Shin Hye Sun's performance as Queen Yong/with Jang Bong's soul. Just exceptional.

Among the themes explored by Mr Queen are gender, identity, power dynamics, societal expectations, and loyalty. Not only is the series hilarious, but there are also many serious moments, making it an engaging and entertaining watch. I find Mr Queen very entertaining and underrated. Yes, the show aired years ago, and there is no more promotion, just word-of-mouth, which is probably why some have passed on it. Even I did at first. Having finally tried it, I am glad I did. It is now among my top five favorite K series of all-time because of the solid story execution and performances, the pacing and the music. I see why this series has lasted for years on Netflix.

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