This review may contain spoilers
Actors were great, scipt was good, plot was okay. Honestly, it just lacks complexity for me.
After watching Alchemy of Souls... my heart was still yearning for a good drama... and since I heard a lot of good feedback about this drama I thought this was the drama that would cure my yearning heart...Honestly the drama was okay... The actors were great. I never expected KHS to be your stereotypical kdrama queen (reserved, soft spoken,etc.) since her personality is really far from that but she was able to pull off this role. Especially the role of being a mother. She aced it 100%. And her children here, loved them <3 they were the perfect family.
I think after watching too many makjang lately I just got disappointed half way thru this drama as it only really evolved in one plot and one plot only: the death of the crown prince. I was hoping that they will be able to resolve this around episode 8-10 to make way for a bigger and deeper plot twist. But nope, they were literally just investigating the deaths of the 2 crown prince up until the end.
Since they were just really working on one plot, 3/4 along the series... I just realized that they have too many characters that they could've utilized more. Like the Royal Physician Yoo, the crown princess of the late crown prince, the grand heir, the king, the grand princes, the other princes and many more. Honestly they built up so much mystery around the character of RP Yoo but the way they did him was a bit anticlimactic. They really could've utilized him more.
I wish they told more stories also about the relationship of the King and the Queen so that us, the viewers, can appreciate more why does the king listen so much to the Queen, and why Consort Hwang mentioned earlier in the drama that you cannot disregard the Queen as she still holds value. I mean these are the little details that would make the viewers appreciate the plot more. But oh well... it is what it is. I don't regret watching it... but after watching it I really don't understand the logic behind the high rating.
But kudos to the actors! Bravo performance!
PS: I was really happy to see Bae Inhyuk again in a crown prince role!!!! But the heck they did him dirty by killing him asap 🫠🫠🫠hahahahahaha
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A Queen's Tale
This drama will forever be at the top of my most enjoyed traditional kdramas. This is what I call a masterpiece, a well-done drama by all standard. The plot is amazing and the acting is incredible. The order in which events unfold in the drama is unique and fascinating. It has a bit of everything; romance, comedy, palace life, palace politics, sorrow, etc.The drama vividly and beautifully captures the life of royals as well the bond between a mother and her kids irrespective of her position in society. The bond Queen Hwa Ryeong has with her children is so great and she goes to any extent to protect and shield them from harm.
The drama also highlights the fact that evil is much more prevalent in the royal household than anywhere. Concubines plotting against the queen, grand queen dowager killing people off to make sure her favored ones take the throne, a prince plotting against another prince, a royal physician killing a prince, the royal kitchen used as a means to poison the grand heir, amongst others. So much evil exists in the palace. However, it doesn't always prevail if there are people who can rise against it.
The drama is really interesting, satisfying and worth the watch.
Oh, how I love the queen. The entire story was centered around her and her acting was perfect. As a queen, she was outstanding, bold, courageous, compassionate and would do anything to subdue evil and unfairness. It was rewarding to see her efforts yield results:
She was able to find out the root cause of the late crown prince's death.
She was able to protect her children.
She was able to protect the wife and children of the late crown prince
She was able to secure her position as queen
She was able to bring queen dowager's evil deeds to an end
She removed all obstacles that interfered with Prince Seongnam becoming the next crown prince and even found a situable princess for him.
Most importantly, she was the greatest support and confidant to the King. No one had his back like she did.
I loved the princes especially the grand princess. Each prince had their own charm, dynamic, way of composure and view of life that spiced up the drama. It was just beautiful to watch.
Hats off to those who did the cast selection for this drama. The actors delivered and nailed their roles. They certainly ate and left no crumbs.
I highly recommend this drama. I've watched it thrice already and I will re-watch it again. It is worth the watch.
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A surprisingly good historical kdrama with a great Queen
1/ STORY : A Queen Lioness has to defend her cubs against an evil who hates her and her sons just because she needs to constrain and manipulate people to feel happy. A Drama with standard plot of palace struggle for power between a faction led by high ranking royals + officials against the Queen and the great princes using the rest of the harem and their princes. But a drama with a modern tone.2/CHARACTERS:
- The Queen: She is a modern woman in Choseon era and a benevolent Queen. A caring mother with a strong personality and an ability to scheme and counter scheme to defend her sons and her people. Loved that character.
- Grand Prince Seong Nam + Chung Ha : I liked the two characters from hot headed GP to taking his brother's role and becoming a father and from rogue daughter to CPrincess and becoming a mother. A Cute little romance.
- Most of the princes are good kids who love and support each other despite their different moms instigating some against others. Fav: Prince Bogum, Prince Muan, Prince Hodong.
- Main villain: Awful person who causes deaths and tragedy just for the sake of manipulating people and having them in control.
- Second main villain: The guy looked funny and most of the time he was in a crossfire.
- Third villain : Kind of pitied her despite all her schemes she looked miserable.
- Son of villains : Annoying guy and cold blood murderer and conspirator
- The doctor : Sorry mate but you did bad.
2/ WHAT I LIKED:
- The pace : The drama has 16 eps but it is fast paced with a good development of the main story and sub plots that are funny and emotional especially between the Queen and her sons.
- The story has a lot of characters involved and their relations or connections are intricated. At some point it looks messy but the ending twists clarify the situation and unveil an unexpected but entertaining story.
- The drama tackling modern questions: gender identity, teenage pregnancy...
3/ WHAT I DID NOT LIKE:
- The demise of the bad guys is not really satisfactory. The death of the big villain is too lenient. After all the murders, attempt murders, conspiracy to murder... Her ending is still on her own terms.
- The cold blood murderer and conspirator got away with his bad deeds and crimes. Shame.
- The character GP Seong Nam takes a nose dive towards end. Probably the writer did not want him to overshadow the Queen and they gave him less screentime and less importance.
4/OST: A good sageuk one.
5/REWATCH VALUE: Valuable. But probably I won't rewatch it.
6/OVERALL: I binged watched this drama after it ended airing and enjoyed it. It is a good drama with a few flaws. An unclear plot at some point because of characterization, the lack of sense of danger as the good guys would always prevail, some repetitive elements, and the closure brought to the characters not always satisfactory for me.
Still this drama is one of the most entertaining historical Krama I watched since a while thanks to many good characters and their rivalry or their cute and kind, heartwarming interactions. I totally recommend it. 9/10
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The best Segeuk for me so far
As expected from Kim Hye soo. She insanely pretty and good at acting.I like that the story isnt just focus on the politics but also the relationship between mother and sons which are the main focus of the drama. For a segeuk, it is not too heavy and serious.
There's actually a side story between the crown prince and princess story. Its short but sweet and cute. Both actually a newcomer but both did great.
Overall, this is actually a great drama that can be re watch because it was not too heavy but not too light as well.
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More about the Queens than the Umbrella
If you are in it for the Umbrellas chances are you will end up disappointed as the drama starts off showing amazing umbrellas during the first episodes but after that they are pretty much no where to be seen. However that does not make this drama any less good.The drama itself has a very much female centred plot as the boys lovely as the may be are more or les there to give the viewers interesting side stories that support the development of the plot but are not the main attraction of this drama. As the name may entail the Queens are the main attraction, while not so much the umbrellas but the queens and concubines of this drama are what makes this drama stand out. The woman's interactions, scheming, ways of figuring out stuff will keep you guessing, intrigued and make you feel a bunch of stuff.
The story is indeed deep, dark and complicated just like any other political historical drama. However the princes and princesses existence make way for a lot of humour, eye candy and soften the pain every step of the way. Giving this very much political drama the balance it needs to keep you from going under in complicated plot twists, darkness and what not.
Through the show of extreme parenthood of trying to raise kids in a palace setting, we are invited in to timeless parenthood issues (and other issues), tossing us from hating the parents of this drama to loving them back to hating them to loving them basically teaching us that parenthood is tough... Luckily most parents do not have to be terrified of others trying to kill their kids at any given time, however finding a good balance between pressure, caring, paving roads (over others) and survival is indeed a task most parents will probably be able to relate to.
The drama also teaches viewers not to trust anybody especially not to trust your grandparents, doctors, schoolers, maids, politicians, siblings, parents... And be careful what you put in your mouth too...
Making this a drama with a little bit of everything, there are even some tiny (focus on the word tiny) pebbles of romance... that the romance lover in me would have wanted a lot more of as all the potential romance side stories where really good leaving me wanting more of them and less of other stuff...
The pacing is decent while the first episode did not captivate me the second one got me hooked, making way for a good pace of escalating interest for the first half of the show or so before we reached a plato of still interesting pace but just not as interesting or with the added interest the previous episodes had. Giving it a slight down hill before it got back up to captivate me again.
The plot twists in this actually did take me relatively by surprise, I admit some where more more obvious than others but over all most of them took a while to build up to keeping me on my toes for most of the drama. The cinematography is really good! the amount of beautiful shots is almost overwhelming at times.
Bingabilaty :high,
Feels: Medium to high
Quality: High
Annoying characters: not really but a few to many annoying "ooh choohaas... " that got on my nereves.
Cute and lovable characters: a lot
Characters you will want to choke or shove of a cliff: a lot so well balanced
Relevant issues: yes and done well
Humour: not as dark as I had hoped but I did laugh a few times.
What keeps it from reaching a full 10 is:
1. It lacks some closure, as some parts dragged out others where rushed.
2. The middle parts where just not that exiting
3. Some of the logic did not really hold up all the way thru
4. Lack of umbrellas, I felt like the name of the drama and first episodes gave me high hopes that where not completely fulfilled
5. A few to many flashbacks
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So good
There aren't enough words to describe how I feel about this drama. It tells a story of a mother's love for her children while navigating through betrayal, a struggle for power between the family members, murder, and political intrigue. Not a single character was out of place. Not a single plotline was unnecessary. All the characters got their proper screen time and development. The villains were written for us to hate and the protagonists were written for us to love and root for. This is undeniably one of the best Asian dramas I have ever seen.The show treats each relationship between the queen with her sons with tender love and care showing that each prince is unique and has a special relationship with his mother. The queen loves them in spite of all their shortcomings and unusual personality traits and makes them feel loved and accepted. I particularly appreciated this take because in Joseon certain lifestyles would have absolutely been condemned, regardless of how much a mother loved her children.
Even other princes, who were not the queen's children, got character development showing their own personal trauma and relationships with their own mothers. The queen was so loving and compassionate that she was able to connect with every single character, even the ones who at first were against her, through her love and compassion and good deeds. And, the acting was phenomenal.
Overall, the show has a very well written plot, amazing character development, and extremely likable characters we can actually related to.
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Refreshing Drama
I love the Queen. She truly is an amazing mother and woman. The love shas has for literally everyone is so beautiful and I loved that even though she was caring, she wasn't a pushover. Honestly one of my favourite female characters.I loved the relationship between the brothers and even the relationship between the Queen and the concubines was really interesting. Basically, all the characters and the character interactions were entertaining and well done.
Even though I think it was a bit slow to start and there were too a lot ofcharacters introduced at once, I still absolutely loved this show once I got into it. It felt like a modern sageuk since they had some progressive themes and characters, but to me that's what made it refreshing.
It did get a bit predictable towards the end, but that didn't stop my enjoyment of the show. I love the ending scene so much. The show really came full circle. Definitely recommend.
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A beautifully elegant tale about motherhood
If I could describe this drama in one word it would be elegant.Just everything about this drama was approached with so much class and dedication, from the acting to the soundtrack to the cinematography. Everyone involved deserves every praise.
This is a loving story about not one but multiple mothers and how far they're willing to go to protect their respective children, as well as a coming of age for the princes and your typical palace conspiracy. It's a unique combination that makes this story stand out on its own.
Despite not having the usual sort of 'extra' feel that most kdramas have, I found this one to be equally enjoyable, even if it was a more serious watch. I think I can compare this drama the best to one of my favourite western tv shows "Downton Abbey". It has a lot of the same feel and down to earth tone. It's more realistic than other stories in this similar category, without being boring. It is quiet and subtle but vicious, heartbreaking and exciting when it needs to be.
The characters are realistic and most importantly human. It's very hard to actually make the audience understand your villains, but my goodness does this drama does it well. Everyone felt like a person in this story, and not a character that served the purpose of telling a story. I loved how everyone had their own little agenda from the ruthless Queen Dowager to the little prince that likes snacks a little too much (this little man is relatable and a joy).
It's personally not something I would rewarch every day like other dramas, mainly because this is a drama that one comes to appreciate as whole instead of in parts if that makes sense. I'm the sort of person who revisits specific memorable moments in a drama, and I think this one deserves to always be rewatched as a whole to fully enjoy it. But when I do rewatch it in some time I'm sure I'll binge the whole thing instead of just little parts like I do with my other faves.
Overall I thought this was a wonderful piece of art that is grounded, mature and very heartfelt. I would recommend to anyone who wants to see a wonderful story about family, acceptance and growth.
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ONE OF THE BEST DRAMAS EVER
The story is so fresh and different than most historical dramas, it was so amusing to see the relationship the brothers shared.I thoroughly enjoyed this show especially the episodes 5-10 where the crown prince selection was taking place. It was so entertaining to watch each prince's journey.
And the small lgtbq side story and how well they dealt with it was a cherry on top. They handled it so well, the queens supportive words brought tears to my eyes
I loved all the characters, i am glad they didn't make the king to be a cold hearted asshole who doesn't care about his kids. It was so nice seeing how much he adored the queen especially.
My only complain is they should have given the king a few daughters it would have been an interesting side plot!!!
I really think this drama deserves so much more appreciation
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Could not stop watching!
This series has incredibly well written scripts, actors and a story that makes you want to watch the next episode. Kim Hye Soo was absolutely gorgeous in her role as the queen and her acting is one of the best I've seen in kdrama series. I really liked that you got to follow her relationship with all her sons and also how they developed over the course of the series, while also getting to follow their personal development. Also weaving in the relationship of the other mothers to their sons (including the story of the king and the dowager queen) and also the brothers to each other in such a natural way raised the level of the series even more. The twist added as another mother/son layer on top is magnificent.Was this review helpful to you?
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One of the best works of 2022 ! !
I had watched the trailer on YouTube, but was a bit skeptical of watching this drama. The plot didn't seem much exciting but damn!!The drama is just soooo sooo good. It is one of the best historical kdramas I've ever watched. The storyline was kept clean and continued engaging viewers more into the drama. Everything fell into place, yet everything was intriguing.
Acting : Kim hye-soo overdid herself. I've watched some of her previous works but damn this hits the place. Her motherly love, her charm and the way she talked, i was falling for her acting every moment. The way
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