You never really know someone

I watched this show purely because I love the serial killer genre. I was surprised how this good was this series. Shi Mok inability to feel emotion makes him a decisive attorney who is able to see things as it is without being skewed. His very uncanny first encounter with Lieutenant Han started off on the wrong foot but they shared such a bond later. She always believed in him and he always trusted her. There is no romance but there is definitely something between them.

Shin Hye Sun plays a young attorney who is under his wing at prosecution office. She does not know about his inability to feel and she keeps trying to impress him but he keeps her at bay. Eventually when tragedy strike, Shi Mok does feel he could have done more for Eun Soon and finds her killer.

The plot is engaging and keeps you guessing. Ultimately the truth comes out. Watch season 2 as well.

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Everything is not what it seems.

I had watched this show at the height of the pandemic, and boy it really is a pick me up kind of a show. Till date I rewatch the show because it just makes me feel good. Shin Hye Sun was born to play this role and she nailed it! The show has everything from romance, palace politics, cooking, gender bending dilemmas, treachery, dual personality, and comedy.

The costumes were great, it was colourful, the accessories intricate and looked regal. Even the colours represented each of the character.

The cooking scenes ( even the knives) was done by Shin Hye Sun herself. I enjoyed how they described the dishes, its ingredients and how to make them. The way cooking was used as a tool by Kim So Young/Jang Bong Hwa to manipulate the Grand Queen Dowager was so clever, which is an analogy if you want to get the attention of the most powerful person in the room, you have to play politics by cooking things up to feed their ego.

The ultimate question of the show is are we controlled by our mind, heart or soul? It turns out we behave differently for example when it comes to cooking it is the passion for the soul of Jang Bong Hwa but when it came to the matters of the heart, Kim So Young could not hold back and eventually for the greater good, you have the mind ( a combination of both Kim and Jang) to get it done.

The acting in this show was par excellence, my favourite scenes are:-
1- When the King confronts the Queen by using a potion so that she would speak the truth, both were ruthless.
2-When the Queen confronts the King after being threatened to be deposed after she saved him and his royal consort.
3- When the King was forced to show his other side after the Queen collapses and her cousin trying to interfere.
4- All of the scenes when the Queen takes revenge against the Kims.

Although this is remake of Go Princess Go, but Mr Queen stands on its own, and this is how you do a remake.

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Food is love :)

It was such a refreshing story, the visuals were amazing, the cooking was scrumptious and the actors did a good with their respective characters. An Older woman and a younger man, not your conventional love story. Often times, people forget that even older/widowed women are worthy of love and recognition. Usually it is the older man and younger woman story that gets airplay, so this was indeed a surprising treat (no pun intended). There is also a subtle hint of feminism incorporated amidst the traditional Japanese society.

The background with cooking all the dishes were very well executed. Even I want a Madeline! The end credits with extra scenes and song were smooth.

The subtle chemistry between the leads was just perfect because it was meant to awkward and sweet, each thinking if they should have feelings. As an older woman, her dilemma of having a younger husband thinking practically because of her age and position as widow made her felt unworthy of him. While he on the other hand, found her resilience to be attractive and yes food is definitely the way to a man's heart as he saw how she tried to get him to try the dishes as well as seal of approval. (taste of the food) But I think Amane liked Ichika from the first day he met her after she called him Aoto.

I would rewatch it because it is warm, cozy and sweet.

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