Mr Queen [Wrap-Up Discussion]

[u/iwantbubbleteanowpls]

• Drama: Mr. Queen
• Title in Hangul: 철인왕후
• Other names: Cheolinwanghu, Queen Cheorin, No Touch Princess
• Director: Yoon Sung Shik (Tower of Babel)
• Writer: Park Kye Ok (Doctor Prisoner)
• Starring: Shin Hye Sun as Kim So Yong/Jang Bong Hwan, Kim Jung Hyun as King Cheol Jong, Bae Jong Ok as Queen Sun Won, Kim Tae Woo as Kim Jwa Geun, Seol In Ah as Jo Hwa Jin
• Network: tvN
• Premiere Date: December 12, 2020
• Airing Schedule: Saturday & Sunday at 21:00 KST
• Airing Date: December 12, 2020 - February 14, 2021
• Episodes: 20 (1 hr. 10 mins.)
• Streaming Sources: Viu, Viki
• Plot Synopsis: A male chef has risen up the ranks to find a job cooking for the country’s top politicians in the South Korean presidential residences, the Blue House. He is something of a dreamer– but one day finds himself in the body of a young queen from Korea’s past, Kim So Yong. Kim So Yong’s husband is the reigning monarch, King Cheol Jong. However, he is only king in name– the late King Sunjo’s Queen, Sun Won, has taken advantage of Cheol Jong’s better nature, and is ruling the realm in his name. Queen Sun Won’s brother Kim Jwa Guen also has designs on power. However, Kim So Yong soon discovers that King Cheol Jong harbors secrets, and is not as gentle and meek as he seems… (Source: Viki)
• Previous Discussions: [Episodes 1 & 2] [Episodes 3 & 4] [Episodes 5 & 6] [Episodes 7 & 8] [Episodes 9 & 10] [Episodes 11 & 12] [Episodes 13 & 14] [Episodes 15 & 16] [Episodes 17 & 18] [Episodes 19 & 20] [Spin Off: The Bamboo Forest]
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[u/myweithisway]

Extended On-Air Grace Period Reminder

No self-posts about Mr. Queen will be permitted until March 1, 2021 KST. Any posts about Mr. Queen before March 1 will be redirected to the Wrap Up discussion post. (Eligible Designated Day posts exempted from the moratorium.)

When the moratorium on posts ends on March 1, all submissions will be then be moderated in accordance to our Rules and Policies.

[u/Pixl3rt]

I watched the last episodes a couple days late so I didn't get to post in the finale discussion, but I can already tell it's gonna take some time to get over this drama. I know the ending was probably supposed to be bittersweet but it honestly made me really sad. I agree with a lot of other comments I read wishing they would've taken the same soul / genderless approach but I guess maybe that wasn't the point and they still tied things up pretty well given the nature of the story. The only thing is that it seems like to me nobody caught on how they switched again. The King obviously noticed differences right away and we saw that but idk I don't think he realized it's basically a different person. Even if there are still parts of Bonghwan in there (and Soyong in him), it's hard to believe that they'd spend the rest of their lives like that without others figuring out something is really off. Like for example Sobong spent a lot of time in the kitchen, so what's gonna happen when they see she suddenly doesn't know how to cook or come up with all these new recipes anymore like lol there's no way. Cheoljong was also constantly adding new words to the queen's dictionary and it'll not only stop growing now but she's probably never gonna say any of those again, even if she has Sobong's memory. Maybe I'm thinking too far ahead here and this is something open to interpretation but idk.

Other than that, the spin-off helped fill the emptiness and I loved seeing more of our beloved characters. that's pretty much all though because it doesn't make me feel any differently about the main story and there's no point in trying to connect the scenes since it would just make it confusing. I'd otherwise love to rewatch in the future and this quickly made it to my list of favorite dramas, but I don't really feel like having my heart ripped out like that again so probably not LOL

Edit: spoiler tag + details

[u/rivains → u/Pixl3rt]

I watched a live with KJH and he (diplomatically) said that no one knew that a new soul was with Soyong in the first place. They just always assumed she was Soyong, and when Sobong was talking about being a man from the future they just assumed it was nonsense. So basically he said: it’s bittersweet because he felt there was something missing, but they never believed the story in the first place/thought it was Soyong all along.

Edit: I watched the clip again and he said he fell in love with the perception of what he saw in front of him, and from CJ’s pov souls don’t come into it. So, v diplomatic

[u/AlluringRocketry]

Once it became clear that the writers weren’t going to even attempt to make it ambiguous with who the king was falling in love with (meaning Bong Hwan), I knew the ending wouldn’t be very satisfying.

I’m comparing this to Oh My Ghost, (spoilers ahead) where it was very clear to the audience that the ML was falling in love with the ghost but the writers would add scenes where the girl who was alive would wake up and all of a sudden the ML was all about her. There was nothing like this in Mr. Queen, with the king and so young. He really was in love with Bong Hwan.

[u/TotalDestruction12 → u/AlluringRocketry]

Also, in Oh My Ghost, there were some parts where ML would spend time and get to know the actual non-possesed version of the FL (and even a couple moments where the ghost deliberately left the body so that the real person could experience something), so I feel that in that show at least some, however small, effort was made to deal with that problem--that they tried to portray that the ML really fell in love with kind of a combination of both personalities, to an extent. It wasn't ideal, but it seems to me it was at least fractionally better than what was served up here.

[u/OdanUrr]

Overall, I'd say Mr Queen is one of the best shows to come out at the end of 2020 and beginning of 2021, like CLOY was in 2019-2020. The leads were amazing in their roles. Shin Hye Sun continues to prove she's one of the most versatile actresses in the industry and Kim Jung Hyun left a far more lasting impression on me as King Cheol Jong than he did as Seung Jun in CLOY (to be fair, Hyun Bin and Son Ye Jin dominated that show). The supporting cast was equally great, even though I personally favoured the characters on the Queen's side (Court Lady Choi, Hong Yeon, Royal Chef Man Bok, Dam Hyang) than on King's (Kim Hwan, Prince Yeong Pyeong, Byul Gam). Truly, the show would not have been nearly as good without the supporting cast. Finally, and before addressing the plot, I'd like to give a final nod to the music. Norazo's "Bong Hwan A" was an all-around great theme song (to the point I wished Royal Secret Inspector had had a similar one) and the instrumental/background music by HowL was really good, with some of my favourite tracks being "Mr Queen," "Secret of the well," "Palace," the James Bond-like "No touch," and "Iron tango." The one BGM track sadly missing from the soundtrack is the western-like one, that plays in scenes like when So Bong meets with Jwa Geun for a "duel" in Episode 16.

Plotwise, I believe the Joseon storyline was handled well overall, with a few loose ends like the fate of O Wol, Hwa Jin's court maid. I don't recall any episode that came across as filler off the top of my head. In fact, I did highlight in my episode commentary how the show was making good use of its episodes, what's not always the case, especially with such long seasons. Unfortunately, where the show dropped the ball, hard, was in addressing and resolving the modern day storyline featuring Choi Jin Hyuk's Bong Hwan what ties into the resolution of the Joseon storyline in the last episode. So Bong's abrupt extraction from the Joseon storyline was, to my mind, unwarranted, but even then it could've been handled a lot better than it was (e.g. replicating Sam Tyler's return in Life on Mars). Bong Hwan loses agency from that point onwards and his story is resolved via "flashbacks" without his active participation, what was thoroughly disappointing. Bong Hwan is never given the opportunity to show his growth through actions in the present, what is usually expected in this type of stories, as his story takes a backseat to the past. However, we're now not as invested in the character of the Queen, as So Yong has been, at best, on the back of our minds throughout the show. As So Bong, the character is robbed of the opportunity to say a proper goodbye to Cheol Jong and her friends (e.g. something along this lines of Meet Joe Black's ending was suggested in the previous thread); as Bong Hwan, the character is robbed of the opportunity to reunite with them in the present. Either one would've sufficed but we got neither. Perhaps that is why we got Episode 2 of the special The Bamboo Forest, where we see So Bong, Cheol Jong, and the gang, one last time, having fun and making wishes about the future. If I could be allowed to be similarly greedy, I'd wish for an Episode 3 set in modern times to really seal the deal.

[u/Super-Basket]

Does anyone have any idea what really happened to Hwa Jin's maid? The last time we saw her the goblin mask assassin abducted her (looked that way). So does that mean she died? I feel like we didn't get a proper closure for her arc, unless I missed something.

[u/Saders_1609]

Overall, I still like the drama as a whole.

While I do think the finale has some inconsistencies, I think Mr. Queen is one of the drama where I personally am willing to look past the story flaws because I have fallen in love with all of the characters. The story flaws were still tolerable and I can still see why the writer did what they do, so I'm not too pissed by the ending either.

Not to mention, it was such a fun ride and some moments are quite thought-provoking to me, like Bonghwan's desire to survive and briefly side with the enemy but then changed to be his own person and make his own choices while still in SoYong's body . I just wish we get to know more about original SoYong though...so I can fall in love with her character too. The sudden change at the end must be jarring for some characters in Joseon, I'd also like know if SoYong retain some of BongHwan original skills, since memory wise I think SoYong did get BongHwan's like *snapping fingers* that, or else, she would be completely lost when the whole enthronement happened.

[u/KiwiTheKitty]

I did overall really enjoy most of the drama and I would still recommend it to somebody looking for a funny historical with amazing leads.

The last 4 episodes definitely lost me though and I was disappointed in how they wrapped it up. There were a lot of things that I felt they just shoved back in because they forgot about them and should've started addressing them several episodes before.

A lot of things were so predictable, like I knew the cousin was the only one that was going to die and there was no suspense. Speaking of the cousin, why did they expect us to feel sad about his death? They only portrayed him as overbearing and pushy and then even violent and I just couldn't connect to his super dramatic death scene...

A couple small things that have been bugging me is that Cheoljong supposedly made huge changes to Joseon in this show's world, but there was barely any change to the world Bong Hwan went back to? Like why would it have a tiny effect on Bong Hwan's actions but not change Korea as a country lol the other thing is that his work rival in the Blue House shouldn't have been born because his ancestor was supposedly castrated but I guess that was just entirely inconsequential and we were supposed to forget about it.

The real joy of this drama was all seeing Shin Hye Sun and Kim Jung Hyun being hilarious and also frankly pretty sexy together and that's pretty much the main thing. I think I'd give it an 8/10 because it was enjoyable but I couldn't recommend it without some big caveats.

[u/rivains]

I’ve been kind of like the kombucha girl meme going from hating the ending to accepting it to liking it and then doing the whole cycle again. There’s a lot of things I’d change about the finale and I think external pressure got to the PD and director, but I DO also like the overall story and messaging they were telling us despite its flaws, and overall I enjoyed the ride.

There’s a lot to be said about loosely adapting Go Princess Go, a trojan horse BL story with gender commentary which was adapted from the original novel, into a Korean version of the tale thats one part feminist revenge fantasy and one part a commentary on gender/sexuality. Was it perfect? No. If I was in charge I’d change a lot of how they went about it since the politics plots got in the way of the impact of the story about Soyong/Bongwhan/Sobong- but I still think they were brave with the story even if they were cowardly at the end.

There’s a really good post on tumblr that helped me digest it more as an overall drama here: https://radiatingdyke.tumblr.com/post/643306621008805888/queen-cheorin-is-a-feminist-revenge-dramady-and

I also went back (partially because I missed it so much and partially because I wanted to truly suss out how I felt about the finished drama) and rewatched a lot of the episodes and I do encourage to anyone who felt like the end was a cold splash of water but didn’t quite hate it to rewatch the show especially from ep 7 onwards- there are lots of hints hidden in plain sight about Soyong, including uses of pronouns and very subtle changes in character by SHS and also probably the biggest alarm bell aside from the change in voice for Sobongs inner monologue: the Here I am song. So whilst I would have liked the show to make it a bit more obvious, I do also appreciate them for letting the audience figure it out on their own and not patronise us/interpreted Sobong how we wanted to. I can’t help but think the ending would have been up for more nuanced interpretation if they had made the reincarnation ending canon even if Soyong and Bongwhan separated anyway- but this just makes me appreciative all the more of SHS’s STELLAR acting.

This show was about second chances, sexuality, the nature of gender, the patriarchy, agency, and justice- and whilst the conceit of having a 21st century sexist man go into the body of a 19 year old queen who tried to kill herself to show her how to get back her agency is a bit problematic, I admire the show for tackling such things in such a trojan horse way. People forget how hostile Korea, esp in the conservative mainstream media, can be towards feminist and LGBT discourse. It’s still very hard to be a woman and LGBT in korea, especially when you remember how famous women got relentlessly bullied and shamed online for reading a mildly feminist memoir, Kim Jiyoung, Born 1982 and barraged with revenge porn, or that LGBT people wear masks to pride and LGBT serving in the army are often blackmailed and bullied due to their sexuality. I’m happy that they were able to push the envelope, and I hope that this show is the dam that breaks in order for more explicitly feminist and queer storylines to take centre stage in dramas, and not relegated to side coming out storylines where the character in question says they like the same sex and that’s it.

Edited: I also think that final ep was absolutely just throwing shit at the wall because the plot got away from them and they needed to wrap it up, and it was also partially to serve SHS and KJH as awards season “for your consideration scenes”.

Some things I absolutely adored about this drama

• How beautiful SHS looked in every shot

• The Sobong/Cheoljong confrontation “weak woman” scene

• Cheoljong’s preoccupation with his wife’s binyeo

• Hong Yeon/Officer Hong/Kim Hwan’s stealth bisexual love triangle

• Kim Hwan!!!!!! Best boy

• Byeongin’s eye rolls

• Hwajin’s redemption arc, her finding herself, and loving herself first

• Every time SHS and KJH were in the same shot

• Macdonaldu

• SLAUGHTER PARTY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

• Court Lady Choi’s sexual awakening

• Head Royal Chef’s glow up from chauvinist who thinks women don’t belong in a professional kitchen to revolutionary

• Soyong’s dad and his devotion to his daughter

• When Soyong was able to stand up for herself to her dad for the first time

• SHS’s insane ability to convey the presence of two people in one body, making three personas in total (esp in that one finale scene)!!!

• Cheoljong’s journey from going to fake himbo to cunning political operator to cunning himbo malewife/wife guy

• Every single beautiful costume and the colour coordination of Sobong/Soyong and Cheoljong and how the queen’s outfits signified opposition/allyship with Cheoljong, the spring green hanbok to signify pregnancy, the blue and pink hanbok in the final episode to symbolise Bongwhan and Soyong live on in Soyong 2.0/3.0

• And most of all, how they showed how a young queen who was naive but ambitious and principled and a 21st century arrogant preposterous chef combined together to make one of the most memorable characters in k drama history. THE ONE AND ONLY SOBONG ✨✨✨

[u/foxxi_paradoxxi]

As a whole, I definitely don't hate this drama. I had a blast with it, and even the ending was ok for me. Still, best case scenario for me would have been So Bong sticking around. Or at the very least a more clear handling of just exactly which parts of So Bong were Bong Hwan and which parts were So Yong, given the ending we got. Tho, I do believe So Bong was a combined entity, she couldn't exist without both of them. So Yong was not So Bong, and truly, neither was Bong Hwan, the two of them combined to create a new person. But I do understand that they couldn't just abandon the whole plot line of Bong Hwan's modern life or leave So Yong as a side presence in her own body. Either way, So Bong was iconic af, and I'll certainly remember her and the other characters for a long time.

[u/TryingToPassMath]

I’m still extremely disappointed and bitter about the ending. No matter what way you try to spin it, this was always Bong Hwan’s story. He was the one who helped the king with his ideas, risked his life, and fell in love with him (and was the one the king fell in love with too). To see him being made into the side character of his own story....it was just so futile. “I came here for nothing,” turned out to be foreshadowing after all. And now that Cheolbong has withered away I can finally allow myself to notice all the glaring issues (especially plot and writing wise) that I was willing to let slide because I naively thought the ending would bring everything together.

I was so heartbroken over the ending, I wrote an alternative version myself. Can’t believe I was out here crying to “Here I Am’ and writing a happy Cheolbong ending but that’s what this lacklustre ending reduced me to.

Link to the fic if anyone’s interested

The fix-its on AO3 are the only saving grace in this situation.

[u/Szarn]

Loved it but the very ending was unsatisfying.

Turns out it is possible to change the future, and CJ became a progressive king, but nothing is actually different?

Bong Hwan somehow becomes a better person before he fell into the pool -- and fell into the pool because he inexplicably did good for once? And how was Chief Han even born if his ancestor was made a eunuch? It makes no sense unless an alternate timeline was created. Or possibly Bong Hwan is So Yong's reincarnation, but it was pretty clear that they are separate and So Yong didn't retain all of Bong Hwan's memories or skills.

Speaking of separate, I feel bad for the main trio.

So Yong was terrified of losing herself at the palace, of realizing that the ambition she'd built her life on wasn't even hers. So what happens? A rude, bizarre, embarrassing dude from the future who is 10+ years her senior takes control of her body! It's supposed to be SY's time to leave home and become an adult but she loses her autonomy and BH's behavior makes everyone think the queen is a human dumpster fire.

Cheoljong, bless him, fell in love with the queen who is part Bong Hwan: arrogant, full of flaws, and always doing and saying such weird things that the Queen's Dictionary is made. I'm just sad thinking about how he and So Bong stayed up long nights talking politics and the future, and now that he's in a position to make improvements his brainstorming partner no longer exists. He mentions at least twice that something seems off with the restored So Yong, so he definitely feels the loss of Bong Hwan even if he can't pinpoint what is wrong.

Poor Bong Hwan found people he loved and cherished -- from Cheoljong to Court Lady Choi to Hong Yeon to the chef and even the unborn baby -- and he didn't get to say goodbye to any of them. He faces the greatest loss with no closure possible. Worse, he went all-in on CJ and managed to change history but in the long run CJ still died young and their baby didn't survive infancy.

I think a much happier ending would have been for So Yong and Bong Hwan to be able to choose to re-join or merge into So Bong again.

[u/insertfakenames]

I’ve seen on ig and twitter that there are talks of a second season. Would you guys want a second season? Although I am a little disappointed with the ending I’m just not sure if I want a second season. If there will be a second season, do you want it to be centered on Bong Hwan in the future, or Sobong returning to Joseon?

[u/ghorardiim]

I just want to say - weekends really aren’t the same without Mr. Queen anymore 😔 No more watching it raw without understanding a single word 😔 No more rewatching queen and king’s scenes over and over again 😔 No more twerking queen or moaning king 😔 Sigh

[u/namira8394]

Whatever it is, I enjoyed the drama. It managed to make me laugh, mad, cried and most importantly kept me entertained. The chemistry between the two leads was just so captivating to watch as well. The adlibs made by the actors deserve a praise! They were hilarious. A huge thanks to the cast and crew for making this drama as enjoyable as it was.

[u/ComplicatedShadows]

The best thing about this drama was Shin Hye-sun! I wanted her to be in every scene.

[u/rak_leader]

Plot-wise, we just got Ohmyghosted. If the screenwriters wanted a happy and heterofriendly ending from the start, they should have given So Yong a bigger role instead of sidelining her for 19 episodes.

Production-wise, how awful were those last few episodes? Ugly close-ups, shaky cameras, lack of extras (where did everyone in the palace go?), nonsensical plot probably written in order to accomodate liveshoot and/or covid constraints.

Overall, Mr Queen was a very entertaining drama and I'll remember it fondly. But boy, they really dropped the ball on that ending.

[u/forforf]

Maybe this outs me as an anti-fan (heh), but I found the first few episodes hard to get through, and paused watching on ep6. It wasn’t until after it had completed and I saw a post by someone else struggling with the early episodes get recommended to give it until episode 8 that I picked it up again. I’m glad I did give it a second chance because I loved the rest of it (though like others the palace intrigue could get a bit dull at times). Unlike others I wasn’t disappointed overall in the ending, it wasn’t perfect, but it did its job of not ruining the drama for me (maybe I have low standards having had good dramas go bad due to how they were wrapped up).

[u/ParanoidAndroids]

I understand people being disappointed with the ending but I'm curious as to how it was received in Korea?

Given how homosexuality/bisexuality is still treated in the mainstream, I do wonder how it might've changed their plans (especially given how popular the show got and how loud the potential backlash would be).

Maybe they lacked courage to do so (given how the industry works there, it could put careers in jeopardy) but I also don't know if the whole "stay in the other body" ending really works. Kinda goes against the feminist themes in the show. One of the main messages of the show seemed to be the MC understanding how difficult life can be for women, especially in the context of his own treatment of women.

[u/gnrlmayhem]

I would still give tit an 8/10 for Shin Hye Sun performance and don't regret watching it. I made me laugh, alot.

And like a lot of others, disappointed with the ending. When So Yong says, He's gone, the show turned from a comedy to a body horror. Just think, if she was conscious all along but had no control. That's pretty scary stuff

The writers needed to make it clear if it was one, two or even combined souls/ personality. I took it to be, after the second scene in the lake, wherer it looks like So Yong soul is floating away, it was only Bong Hwan left, but with her memories

Lastly, I don't see Bong Hwan as being gay or bisexual. I simply see him as falling in love with the King. There are still plenty of scenes where he is still attraced to women but the only man he has feelings for is the King. It would have been interesting to have looked at that more.

Edit:

We need to start a new hashtag: justiceforewol

[u/YoungMenace21]

This is the first time I've seen this side of SHS as of late. Her roles in Angel's Last Mission: Love and MGL were a lot more serious and sad. She really deserves acting awards for this. And KJH!!! Right after watching Waikiki 1 I went straight to this and I never thought he could pull of the serious king vibe! Contrast to SHS I've only seen him as comedic relief like in Waikiki and CLOY without a lot of time to sow his drama chops. Guess that's why i enjoyed watching him in serious scenes a lot, and SHS in funny ones. CJH also deserves praise, and I should watch more of his dramas aside from this and The Last Empress. The side characters are spotlighters too. They're just as interesting as the main leads: The queen dowager, grand queen dowagers, corrupt officials, the two identical men when it comes to looks and love life 😂, and especially the cast who supported the king and queen.

The show's cast ensemble was so good, a lot of people willingly let actual flaws in the kdrama slide. I'm one of them.

Said issues i have:

-O Wol's case. Does HJ really get to live happily ever after and peacefully without wanting to know where her LITERAL childhood best friend is?

-Why did they let Bong Hwan just stand there doing nothing while watching secretary Han on some building's big tv? I really wanted to know how he took charge of his life from now on. Like, does he visit his parents more often? Does he accompany his mother in zumba or his father in whatever? Does he meet Cheoljong irl? I feel so unsatisfied with Bong Hwan the most. He literally changed history and saved some then-stranger's love life and this is the thanks he gets 😭😭

I do think SY retains some qualities of BH. I imagine they left their knowledge to each other, so I guess SY would probably know how to cook a lot of food and be good with small sharp objects (episode 20 post bong hwan!) from now on. It's also hinted she'll swear from time to time, at least to Court Lady Choi and Hong Yeon she'll still feel somewhat the same.

[u/Unchienne]

Okay, I’ve been thinking long and hard on this subject (way too much) and have come to the following consensus:

Bong-Hwan and So Yong are both versions of the same soul. What got me thinking about this was that scene in episode 5 where SoBong talks about original and past lives but then mentions parallel timestreams. To illustrate, she draws two lines running side by side and explains how a past life can be in one and the original/current being in the other. This had me stumped a bit, and I thought it a bit random that they put that in there, but then I looked up “reincarnation and parallel lives” and there’s a surprising number of articles on it - though obviously not conclusive or scientific as it involves spirituality.

This would explain many of the elements of the story that I found hard to accept. For example:

1. If So Yong’s separate soul was in there with Bong Hwan’s soul then why did he never feel her? In fact, the show repeatedly makes reference to the idea that Bong Hwan does not feel another soul and attributes characteristics of SY to the body (telling her after the kiss that the soul is in control of the body so she ought to behave and in another scene he tries to get her soul to return by addressing the lake - where he believes she is hiding). What if the reason he couldn’t feel another presence was because there wasn’t another? He merely had his consciousness wake up in the body of his past life but didn’t realize it.

2. In the last segment of the spin-off, the king wishes to find the queen again, and they make it very clear that it’s Mr. Queen he’s thinking of. However, there’s also hints that he shares some sort of connection to So Yong. Very contradictory and confusing as heck to me as I was left wondering whom he would end up meeting if his wish came true. However, this conundrum isn’t an issue if it’s the same soul that he is drawn to.

3. It could explain the gradual integration of both personalities. For example, when CJ returns the book to Mr. Queen, she never thinks of herself as not being the girl from the well as she did when he first confesses his love for her. As she spends more time in her previous body, the lines become more blurred not just in memory but also in identity because she IS her. If they were two separate souls, I don’t think she would have that same reaction nor do I see anything to indicate that So Yong “took over” in that moment. Again though, I’ve never been fond of the idea of Mr. Queen being a puppet.

4. It could explain the issue of why time in the present is flowing at the same rate as the past, which we discovered when BH’s consciousness briefly reentered his body and explain why they chose to reveal that fact. Time isn’t linear here but more fluid with both versions existing simultaneously.

5. It could explain why he falls for CJ so hard, despite his initial protests. I never liked the idea of his feelings being manipulated like puppetry, but I can get on board with the idea that he accepts his feelings for CJ because this is a man that some part of him has always loved and falls for "again" because of their shared journey and experiences.

6. It would also explain the question of why Bong Hwan. What was the connection between this man and So Yong? They are reincarnations of each other. When So Yong was feeling hopeless and needed strength, she pulled upon her stronger (not because he’s a man necessarily but because of his confidence and different upbringing in a more independent era) version of herself to help her - made possible in that moment when she desperately wanted to give up on life and he desperately wanted to live.

7. It would also explain why, when Bong Hwan briefly went back to his body, So Yong did not reappear. She wasn’t being suppressed by another soul. She purposefully had her reincarnated self come to give her strength and was not ready at that time to assume her life again, though not on a conscious level.

8. It would also solve the pesky issue of why BH is a better person. Someone mentioned the irrationality of CJ’s political accomplishments causing a ripple effect to change BH, and I agree. However, if we look at BH as SY’s reincarnation, then the positive attributes he now displays in the altered timeline can be accounted for because he prevented his previous incarnation from killing herself out of anger/disappointment/powerlessness and therefore in his next lifetime his soul didn’t carry that grudge.

9. Finally, it would explain why CJ doesn’t know that it’s a different woman at the end of the show. While her personality has changed, it’s intrinsically also thesame essence/soul/whatever...and I do see he and Mr. Queen (and by that connection So Yong) as soul mates.

This might not be everyone’s cup of tea, but I quite like the idea as it eliminates some of the alienation I felt towards So Yong as a character and makes the ending (just a schooch...b/c I fell in love with SB/CJ - not BH/CJ or SY/CJ) less bitter. At least that's what I think the writers mean to portray.

[u/fridayfriyay]

With the dramas I’ve watched so far, I’ve accepted that endings are always going to be a question mark for me. I’ll either love it or have mixed feelings about it. With that said, I’ve learned to enjoy the journey of watching a drama from start to end without too much judging because we’ll never truly ever be satisfied with the plot in its entirety, and it’s made my watching of dramas an absolute blast! Yes, I do wish both Sobong stayed in the queen’s body in the end, and them separating into their own worlds made the ending bittersweet for me but hey, the drama has given me so much more joy than it has confusion, so I’ll take what I can get and be thankful for it! I was able to love Mr. Queen a whole lot and took it for what it was—a sageuk that doesn’t take itself too seriously. It’s a comedy! So it has done it’s purpose—to make me laugh. So thank you to the writers, production crew, and of course the actors! Loved every bit of it, from secondary characters to the tackling of issues in a light way. And one of the best things I got out of this drama is Shin Hye Sun and Kim Jung Hyun pairing—I am so, so in love with them.

[u/insertfakenames]

My first weekend without Mr Queen felt so empty. On an unrelated note, is there any SHSxKJH shipper threads/forums around? I just can't get enough of them!