Mr. Queen

December 12, 2020

Modern Korean chef Jang Bong-hwan wakes up in the body of Queen Kim So-yong in the Joseon Dynasty. His immediate priorities: survive court politics he doesn't understand, and find food that isn't terrible. The MBC Dramia sets establish the palace world.

December 12, 2020

King Cheoljong (Kim Jung-hyun) — popularly believed to be a puppet ruler — reveals in private the intelligence and frustration he keeps hidden from the court. The chef-queen's first real encounter with him.

December 19, 2020

The court's factional warfare — the Queen Dowager's faction versus the King's interests — is explained to the chef-queen through increasingly absurd situations.

December 19, 2020

The chef finds the palace kitchen. His food instincts take over — the kitchen becomes his domain, providing both comic relief and genuine emotional grounding.

December 26, 2020

Clues about what the real Kim So-yong knew — and what she was involved in — begin to surface. The chef-queen's situation is more politically dangerous than initially appeared.

December 26, 2020

Cheoljong's true capabilities and his actual plan for the court are shown more fully. He is not the puppet the Queen Dowager believes him to be.

January 2, 2021

A scene in the Changdeokgung grounds where the chef-queen and Cheoljong have their first genuinely honest conversation. Both are performing identities for the court; neither is performing for each other.

January 2, 2021

The drama at its most purely comic — the chef's anachronistic reactions to Joseon customs reaching their peak absurdity.

January 9, 2021

The chef-queen and the King form an alliance based on mutual recognition that neither is what the court believes them to be.

January 9, 2021

The Queen Dowager makes her most direct move against both the King and the Queen. The drama's thriller dimension escalates.

January 16, 2021

The relationship between the chef's soul and Kim So-yong's body — and her own dormant consciousness — becomes the drama's most interesting element.

January 16, 2021

So-yong's own past and her real relationship with Cheoljong before the chef's arrival.

January 23, 2021

The production's most elaborate sequences — court ceremonies, political trials, palace confrontations — using the full scope of the MBC Dramia facility.

January 23, 2021

The chef begins to question whether he wants to return to the present — and what that means for So-yong.

January 30, 2021

Cheoljong's full political and personal fight for the queen — and for his own sovereignty — reaches its climax.

January 30, 2021

The political conspiracy's final phase. Cheoljong versus the Queen Dowager faction.

February 6, 2021

The drama prepares its dual resolution: the political and the romantic.

February 6, 2021

So-yong's consciousness reasserts itself. What the chef feels for Cheoljong and what So-yong feels are shown to be the same.

February 13, 2021

The Queen Dowager's final defeat and Cheoljong's full liberation from puppet status.

February 14, 2021

The finale. The ninth highest-rated Korean cable drama of all time at 17.37%. Shin Hye-sun's dual performance — modern man and Joseon queen — is one of the decade's most technically demanding acting achievements.