Queen Cheorin (2020)

The Ending is Perfect

People are upset because of the ending but it makes perfect sense to me and let me give a lengthy but quite intriguing reason why...

So when you're watching a good story there are two ways you can look at it and that is how you the viewer feels and what information you're deciding to pick up and which to ignore etc, as in its about you the viewer. Another way to look at it, which is what I do, is to figure out what the writer is trying to tell you. Where is the writer directing your thoughts and attentions? What story is he or she trying to tell? Etc

I think the best way to watch Mr Queen especially is to try and see it from the writer's perspective mostly. A lot of ppl are complaining about the ending bcz of personal preferences and agendas. Some like it cz it suits their conservative beliefs. Others like it cz it seems like the most logical ending to them. Others hate it cz they feel the writers copped out and refused to explore LGBTQIA issues. To me I didn't look at any of that. I was thinking "what is the writer trying to tell us without the influence of my personal beliefs, preferences and agendas?".

Now that we have that down, I think the story should be interpreted differently. Usually we determine who a story is about by looking at who has the most screen time but it doesn't always have to be the case. Do you remember that painting in "She Was Pretty"? What was the painter trying to tell us in that painting? The most important person in that painting took the smallest space on the canvas. Most ppl would ignore that character looking from behind rails in that painting but then she was the most important character in the painting.

I think that's how you should look at Mr. Queen. It is true the BH is who we know and admired and loved and carried the show but is his story the one that's being told?

If you look at BH, we actually don't know much about him. Like we have very very little information about who he is, how he's like etc from his days in modern Korea. All we know is that he's a famous chef and womaniser who had a problem with a guy called Secretary Han. That's it. Not much else which is important. But then compare BH's life and SY's life in the drama and even in the spin-off. We know SY's family, we know her dream to marry the King, we know the challenges she faced in her life, we know her love interests, we know her rivals, we know her family. For a backstory in terms of a drama, we are given quite a lot of information about her unlike BH.

So even though BH is the main character obviously, it doesn't mean this is BH's story. He may be the MAIN character but it doesn't mean he's the most IMPORTANT character. The story is SY's story but BH is brought in to do a job within the plot, a job that SY cannot do.

Let me elaborate further. Imagine if the backstory of SY was stretched into ten episodes and was given to the viewers to watch before the events of Mr Queen episode one. We would see SY's life and joys and pains and struggles and many other things and then we'll see her give up and try to kill herself but in doing so she gets possessed by BH who swoops in, saves the day for her and gives her her life back even though BH himself had ended up being emotionally involved in SY's life. A good example is Oh My Ghost. The ghost came in, did a job and left. The fact that she fell in love with the chef and the fact that the chef admitted that he fell for the ghost does not mean it is her life now. It's not her life.

Okay so BH comes, he wants to leave but it's not that easy. What then does the writer proceed to tell us? BH in SY's body has a flashback scene of SY telling the King that he should love her but the king walks out on her. Even though its not BH's memory, he feels the emotional pain of the situation so intently that the court maids thinks it's poison. That was first hint from the writer. The writer is telling you that do not assume that whatever emotional connection BH will feel toward the king as you watch on originates with BH himself. The next one comes at the home of SY. When the king steps out of the palanquin, SY has a romantic moment by herself but then what flashback scene are we given? It is when SY herself was being confirmed as the Destined Queen. This was way before BH came into the scene. This comes right after BH loses his inner thinking voice and begins to regain the skills and memories of SY. So the writer is telling us that whatever emotion you see from this character originates with SY and not BH. I'll explain further.

From then on the writer begins to progress the SYness of SY into BH. And so we begin to see BH inherit more memories from SY. Then he inherits SY's feelings for the king. Even BH himself realize that these emotions are not from him when he keeps telling SY to leave him alone. But BH can't fight it. SY keeps taking over little by little throughout the series.

Okay so now where does the writer get to. BH inherits SY's body. That's one. SY's life. That's two. SY's memories. That's three. Even SY's voice. That's four. SY's feelings. That's five. And SY's femininity in general. That's six. The only thing that is BH which is left is his consciousness. Everything else is SY without SY herself.

Compared to Oh My Ghost, the two women are two completely different entities. When the ghost is in control, the actual lady goes totally off. She has no idea what's going on. Its only when the ghost leaves that she begins to check her surroundings to find out what's going on. Two different ppl. No connection.

In Scarlet Heart, the girl whose body is taken over isn't given much of a backstory at all. None. Nada. Zero. Zilch. Nothing. No one from her the girl's life strongly affected IU's modern character when she took over. Moon Lovers could have started in the Joseon era and not much difference would be seen.

But Mr Queen isn't like that. The impression we get is that SY, even though absent and not in control of BH's actual decision making, is fully aware of what is going on throughout. When she gets her body back in the last episode just after she had been shot, she's not wondering what's going on, she's not surprised or anything. She even begins to pray that her baby survives. It's not like these wave of memories washed over her in that split second and she knew all that BH had been doing. It just seems like SY is aware of what's going on.

So I think the conclusion is that even though BH is who we see for most of the series, the story isn't about him. He's the main character but what I believe the writer is trying to to tell us is that he's not the most important character. Because he inherits so much of what makes SY SY, everything he does in the series is what SY would have done if SY had his attitude and boldness.

Taking that bullet for the king? SY would've done that.

Saving the King's banquet? SY would have done that if she had the cooking skills.

Going against her family? That's what SY would've done.

Loyalty to the king in spite of everything? That's what SY would've done.

And we know all this because right from the off we see BH as a womaniser, why would he genuinely fall for a man? I thought the argument is that people are born gay and they don't choose to be gay. So a gay man has been a womaniser for over 30 years and now suddenly falls for a man with his own volition? Nope, that's not it. Again, we know he always takes the winner's side so why would he then take the Kings side even though he knew from history that he lost. Every decision BH makes that made us love his affection and sacrifice are decisions the real BH wouldn't have made but he made them because he had put on everything that makes SY SY without SY herself.

That's why BH had to return and that's why he's not devastated. Yes he was concerned for what had happened when he returned but definitely not as big as it would seem if he was still in SY's body. The person the King fell in love with was SY. Yes sth was definitely different and even the king himself admitted it but it in the purity of the matter, it was SY he fell in love with. Because even though it can be argued that the king was attracted to BH's brashness, love begets love and it's SY who's been truly loving the King all along and not BH. It's not unjust that SY takes over for she is as much involved as BH is, not consciously, but then what makes BH memorable and not just a funny guy trapped in a woman's body is because of the SYness of SY in BH and not BH himself on his own.

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