This review may contain spoilers
Bong Hwan A! Bong Hwan A! Bong Hwan A!
What an incredible title track to a truly memorable drama. Kudos to the band Norazo for creating such a masterful song that perfectly matches the theme of the show. At once whacky with a thumping beat, it never fails to lift the spirits and bring a smile to your face.I will remember this drama for introducing me to the incredible Shin Hye-Sun. Her potrayal of both the "Queen So Yong" and Jang Bong-hwan was spot-on and made for a hugely entertaining watch. The viewer was left in no doubt as to which character she was playing. In her Bong-hwan mode, she nailed all the manly mannerisms of Choi Jin-hyuk which made for many laugh out moments. Among these were all the cooking scenes with the Royal Chef, when she "lost" her dragon balls, when she stuck her face in the dirty pail, when she visited the kisaeng house and paid for all the women, when she beat the flowers that the King "picked" on the way to see her, to getting smoked on, etc. In fact, her brilliant acting and portrayal of a man somehow overshone the rest of the cast which made scenes without her feel a bit flat on the first watch. Also commendable is Kim Jung-hyun who played the role of the King admirably. He had less to do but held his own when acting with the brilliant Hye-Sun.
The story itself is a bit complex and requires the viewer to pay close attention to the dialogue or it would be easy to get turned off in the later episodes. It is perhaps for this reason that the drama gets better and better each time you rewatch it as you become more familiar with the plot and the key characters' story arcs.
A big shout out to the production team who each contributed their magic to this piece of art. The opening credit animation, editing, clever placement of music and sound effects, lighting, wardrobe and tight editing made for a drama that is more than the sum of its parts.
As for the ending, it didn't bother me as much as some of the other reviewers. Perhaps because of the complex plots and individual character nuances, it was easy to miss out on the finer details of how the Queen was always still in her body and how her personality and feelings were intertwined with Bong-hwan's. To get a better understanding of what the writer intended, read kprinz's excellent review which hopefully will soothe some of the viewers who felt sore at the ending.
Overall, this is a highly recommended watch if you want a good laugh but remember to put your cynical and analytical part of you at the door before watching. You will enjoy it so much more. And remember that Laughter is always the best medicine, especially during these trying times of lockdowns. And if you have watched it, try watching it again. It is a drama that is like fine wine.
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Magnificently satisfying show! Please watch it!
Just finished Mr. Queen. Without giving anything away, this is a truly brilliant show - it's based on a Chinese drama.Everything from the story, through to the acting, the comedy - oh the comedy - the dramatics, the cooking (yes I said cooking) and mystery is nigh on perfect. Even waiting for the subtitles to come up on Viki only increased the anticipation of what was to come - I can't think of another drama - both western and Korean - that had me this hooked.
The characters are beautifully cast and deliver their performance beautifully. If you are a CLOY fan then the King and Court Lady Choi will be all to familiar. I didn't know about Shin Hye Sun before this show but will be sure to check out her other work after this. She owned the role of the Queen (with the male Jang Bong Hwan's mind in her).
The soundtrack is equally unique and works so well with its mix of old and new.
I truly loved this show and hope you do too - please stop what you're doing and watch Mr. Queen now :). It's a wonderful show!
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One of the best dramas I've ever watched.
Mr. Queen quickly became one of my favorite dramas before I even finished it. The cast, acting, plot, music, writing, and everything about the show was amazing. The entire cast did an amazing job playing their characters. The plot was paced well and was one of the most uniquely produced dramas I've watched in a long time. While the story itself is not unique, since it's a remake of another Chinese drama, the way this one was written and executed was done so well that you'll be hooked within the first episode. It has a little bit of everything: comedy, drama, action, good food, etc. Every character in the show was so well written and the actors playing them did an amazing job. Even the villains were so well done and characters you would normally expect to hate, you still felt attached to.There isn't much I can add to my review that other reviewer's haven't covered. This is such a fun and outstanding drama that's definitely worth the watch.
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Boring over halfway through, Shin Hye Sun carried this drama on her back
I was at first really frustrated at this drama, because it's 20 episodes long, and it took over half of that time before the plot got even slightly interesting. I almost dropped it at episode 2 because I was so bored and confused by it right from the start. However I persisted and watched the whole thing. I was bored out of my mind for like literally 12/20 episodes. The complicated royal relationships, schemes and all the corruption were really confusing and hard to keep up with.I have to give a huge shout out to Shin Hye Sun, because she was 100% the carrying force of this drama. She did such an amazing job in this, I was really impressed. If it wasn't for her, I probably would have dropped this drama at the half point at the latest. It was only her who got me through my boredom and all the way through the end of this drama. The other people in the cast were honestly just okay, they got the job done. Some of the people they cast in this were very similar-looking, and because most of the people in this wore the same clothes, same hats, and same fake beards, it made some of them look almost identical. To the very end I had a hard time telling the palace maids apart, and it literally took me at least like 6 episodes before I learned to tell the king and the queen's cousin apart from each other. I have to admit, that I often have a hard time remembering faces overall, but it didn't really help that the people whom I already had a hard time recognizing, all wore the same clothes that made them look alike even more. One example of my struggle was that in episode 3 or so, I didn't realize that the king was the king because he wore a different coloured robe than before xD So this drama was a bit of a struggle for me and my two face-blind braincells lol.
This drama was seriously so boring and confusing over halfway through, things only started to get interesting towards the very end. I feel like this drama could have been only 10-16 episodes long and it wouldn't have lost anything of importance. The first half of it was soooo slow paced, that I feel like they could have done better with this drama as a whole. Also, there were some choices made in the plot/with some of the characters that made like 0 sense whatsoever, but I'm not going to specify to keep this review spoiler-free. Overall I scored this drama a solid 5, mostly because of Shin Hye Sun and the last 5-7 episodes. I have to say I would not recommend this especially if you're not very familiar with historical dramas. Some people seem to have enjoyed this a lot, but this just wasn't for me.
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Great acting
When I saw the first two episodes, I thought "is this some sort of comedy"? Yes, I did like the funny parts, but was not expecting to see a comical historical drama. But as the acting was really good, especially the female lead, I continued watching and loved everything about it. Besides the usual romantic moments, it also had a flavour of many things in it: jealousy, court politics, greed, social justice, and cooking. Yes, I loved all the cooking scenes.I read other reviews mentioning how much they disliked the last episode. To a certain degree, I agree with that. I don't particularly like the last episode in most dramas which seemed to be a bit lame. For this one, I kind of like the ending, because they did not make a forced happy ending just to make the viewers happy.
However, I do feel the same way as others, knowing that the king actually fell in love with the queen's "other personality" instead of her true self. I just wondered how the king's life continued, having a queen who was probably a boring, submissive woman compared to the other strange yet fascinating personality he actually fell in love with.
Overall, I loved the acting of all characters, including the antagonists. They all did very well.
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One of the most enjoyable period com/dramas!
The wrighting is remarkable and the timing of the actors is so good. Chemestry between the characters is also top notch. If you want a period comedy with an hularious twist this is definitly worth watching. I actually searched for dramas with the male lead after watching Crash Landing on you, I feel that he really got a chance to shine in this role, as for the female lead, shes absolutely knocks it out of the park and is so hilarious.For me this is one of the best period dramas out there!!
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A comedic and historical, slightly LGBTQ romance with enemies to lovers vibes that hits the spot.
Although I initially came into watching ‘Mr Queen’ with expectations of a comedy drama it definitely wasn’t just that. It was overall hilarious but also came with action elements I didn’t initially expect (and also a history lesson I didn’t know I needed). The storyline kept me on my toes and I enjoyed how most characters were relateable even if slightly evil at times (looking at you Byeong-in). However the acting was what took the cake and yet again Shin Hye-sun delivered on every front. ?Despite it being amazing I couldn’t help but feel unsatisfied with the ending despite it being happy, but I think this is what I get for going into the drama expecting mainly romance (and an ending that fed into gay ideals that kdramas aren’t ready to focalise just yet). The only thing that dropped the drama from a 9 is going to be the small pang in my heart whenever I think about bong-hwan and Cheoljong :( the true soulmates of the show.
p.s. I would also have liked to find out what happened to hong yeons love life but I guess that’s being left up to our imaginations lol.
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This review may contain spoilers
When I first read the synopsis of this show, I wasn't overly excited about it but I thought I'd like to watch it eventually.... like maybe AFTER all the episodes had been released. I think curiosity got the best of me and I finally started it after the 10th episode had been released.Well.... that was it for me. Episode 1 hooked me, line and sinker! It was funny and different and completely unpredictable. I loved it. The only problem I ran into was binge-watching those first ten episodes and then having to wait until the next episodes were released!)
Even the opening credits were fun to watch. I ALWAYS hit the fast forward button through opening credits (except on the very first episode of a series). But I liked the opening music of this series and I loved the artistic torn-paper mosaic animation. Confession: I watched the whole opening credits for probably 18 of the 20 episodes.
This series was captivating.... the characters AND the story. The growth of the characters through the episodes was moving. I even got goosebumps in episode 20 when Cheoljong was reprimanding the group of officials for their crimes. (I've never gotten goosebumps from a scene like that.)
Honestly, I've been binge-watching Korean shows for a year and have seen LOTS. But I think this one is probably in my top three for favorites. Completely unexpected. I NEVER imagined this show would be satsifying to watch - it had everything I never knew I wanted in a show (good music, great credits, great characters who actually grew with the story, good and unexpected plot twists among a solid plot to begin with, action, romance, lots of unexpected hilarity, heart-wrenching emotion...).
Is it worth watching? Absolutely. And not just once. I'm adding it to my "watch again" list!
A quick note of kudos to the Viki subtitlers: thank you so much for the English subtitles (and for taking the extra time to note the translations of written titles and cultural notes). As a North American with zero Korean connections, it was really helpful to learn a bit more about historical Korean references. I would have never known those otherwise and it definitely added to the good experience of this show.
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Mr. Queen has some of the funniest physical comedy I've ever seen. The story has layers of romance, heartbreak, political power plays, friendship, humor, adventure, LGBTQ connotations, and a bit of a supernatural element with bodyswap/time travel. I really enjoyed every episode (no skips). Had some minor issues with how the time travel was resolved at the end but it didn't ruin my rating. Also, LOVE the OST. Honestly- I could write paragraphs upon paragraphs about how great this series is, but I'd rather recommend you just watch it for yourself. It'll instantly grab you from the very first episode.
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Shin Hye Sun's Masterpiece
I don't understand why people complain about the ending. We all know that eventually they'll all return to their respective world. Everyone is unhappy because they want the King to be with JBH, not with the real KSY. But this is what happens, the same thing happened in Scarlet Heart Ryeo. We all know, whether you like it or not, they'll be back in their respective world. That's a sure thing.But, I still give it a 10/10, for originality, especially Shin Hye Sun's performance in this. Easily my favorite K Drama actress right now, despite me not finding her attractive at all. She carried the entire drama by herself.
Cha Chung Hwa's Court Lady Choi -> My Goodness ... I can't get that MAA MAAA out of my head.
I feel empty right now, because this drama brought me so much laughters. I just kept laughing and laughing and laughing.
This drama is really a drama that would make its audiences feel really good.
Highly recommended.
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Don't forgrt to add this in your to be watched list
❤I dunno where to start my review bcoz everypart of the drama has its best contribution. ??One of the best drama i have ever watched in my kdrama list. It s a Mixed salad of love, humour, affection, anger, fight, fantasy, revenge and mutiple emotions to be tasted completely.Lets start from the ML nd FL, they havn't acted for the role rather they lived as that character. "No touching" gave a new meaning for us. ??Each nd every person in the drama expressed their full contribution for their given role till the ending has made me to watch the drama without skip nd forwrd.
??The Queen dowager nd Grand dowagar queen gave their best to showcase their reputation and to maintain villain stand. The court maid,royal chef,court lady,royal concubin lived as the character from the very start.
?The misunderstanding of present world converstion and past world language barrier has also played its humour well. The drama got its highest rating becoz of its full filled story, acting, screenplay nd ost. ❤
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