Review of Mr. Queen Series


 

Mr. Queen is a historic Korean series whose most of the plot is based on the historic Joseon era. The genre of series is comedy, historic, romance, character swap, character in foreign world, action, bromance. Apart from that, there are some scenes that may appear as BL and GL. This series is appropriate for the age of 15 and above. This series doesn’t claim any historic accuracy but the storyline is based on one of the king and queen of the Joseon era of Korea. This series comprises 20 episodes with a duration of 55-75 minutes each.

The main characters involved in the series are Jang Bong-hwan (Choi Jin-hyuk), Kim So-yong/ Queen Cheorin (Shin Hye-sun), Lee Won-beom/King Cheoljong (Kim Jung-hyun).

Characters in the negative roles are Queen Sunwon/ Grand Queen Dowager (Bae Jong-ok), Kim Jwa-geun (Kim Tae-woo), Queen Dowager (Jo Yeon-hee).

Other characters of series are court lady Choi, Hong Yeon, Jo Hwa Jin, Kim Byeong In,  Byeolgam Hong, Kim Hwan

Plot: Jang Bong-Hwan is a top professional head chef serving diplomats on behalf of the Republic of Korea but was once framed for illegal ingredients by a diplomat of his country with the help of another chef. When cops tried to arrest him to investigate, he tries to escape but fell into the swimming pool from the balcony of his apartment. His head hit to pool floor and started bleeding. Something unexpected happens and a woman in ancient attire swims and kisses him. When he wakes up he finds himself in the body of a woman whom he kissed in the swimming pool. Surprisingly, that woman was Kim So-yong also well known as Queen Cheorin in the future. It was a huge shock to Jang Bong-Hwan who was proud of his muscularity and situation about time skip. The series mostly focuses on how he adjusts himself to a new body and new time-period while trying all possible ways to get back to his body. During that time he learns many truths of history which he learned from history books. Even he got caught up with the political conspiracies within the palace without his knowledge. At first, he decided to team with the Amdong Kim clan since it is the family of the body within which he is residing but he switches and teams up with King to expose the evil deeds of the Kim clan when Grand Queen Dowager and Kim Jwa-geun tried to poison Kim So-yong (with Jang Bong-hwan). Though a man's spirit resides inside a woman’s body but he couldn’t resist the biological urges of Queen and falls for King despite internal resistance within his mind. In the later episodes, it is shown that Jang Bong-hwan in Queen’s body completely commits to King and falls in love with him. The love is to the extent he leaves the palace secretly to search King when Kim clan conspired to kill him when he went to subdue menace. At the end of the series, it is shown that Jang Bong-hwan leaves the body of Queen and returns back to his body in the modern timeline. Since he returned back during the crucial time King was trying to get back into power against conspirators, he became unaware of the outcome. To know the result he flees from the hospital and visits a library to read about King Cheoljung and got surprised to find that history changed. Once remembered as a foolish king by historians from now on will be remembered as a great king who contributed a lot to the development of Korea with the help of his wife Queen Cheorin.







I started watching this series because of the peculiar storyline which is unnatural. Moreover, the concept of a man living in a woman’s body spiced up the story which brought humor. I remembered there were some scenes that made me cry due to excessive laughing. Especially the scenes between Queen, court lady Choi and Hong Yeon. It is not the only scene that is funny rather almost every scene from the first episode to the sixteenth episode. For example, during a conversation between King and Queen, Jang Bong-hwan (in Queen’s body) drops modern words which often confuses the king; Queen in the royal kitchen scene, Jang Bong-hwan’s flirting scenes with other girls despite the fact that his soul is in a girl’s body.

The whole series is not around king and queen rather there are little love stories of queen’s maids with other characters. I don’t know whether it was intentional or not, I found a bit of bromance between King’s friend Byeolgam Hong and Kim Hwan. Surprisingly they form a love triangle with Hong Yeon.

The ending of the series was inspirational and moving with many positive messages. This series is enjoyable among teenagers and middle-aged people but not recommended to watch with parents unless you are very close to them. 

  

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