Time Slips, Time Jumps, Time Travel, Time Movement, Time Blah, Time Blah Blah, you get the picture. It seems that one of the "it" phrases this year in K-dramaland is this issue of time travel. Why? I haven't a clue, but while some handle it swimmingly, others find themselves floundering into the recesses of time travel doom. (Yeah, I can talk about time travel too. I've watched enough American Sy-Fy to talk about it). Regardless, this post is on one of the better handled time travel dramas that came out of K-dramaland and that is the beautiful Cable drama Queen In Hyun's Man. It really seems these days that cable is hitting all the right notes while network TV flaps around (not in everything mind you, they still have excellent dramas coming out of network television case in point see early releases of 2012 King 2 Hearts and the Moon that Embraces the Sun). On the time travel front though, network has been driving me nuts. Dr. Jin, I wont even talk about it because I can't even look at it. And then Rooftop Prince, I suppose I will review it eventually, but at the moment I have no major urge to do so. I will have to see how the currently airing Faith measures up, but keeping fingers crossed on that one because Lee Min Ho's dramas usually tend to be good.
So Queen In Hyun's Man, this is a drama based on characters from a part of the Joseon era that I am particularly fond of, the King Sukjong era, better known to some as Dong Yi's King. Yeah, my love of other dramas has led me to learn more about Korean history. Getting an education while enjoying myself. Anyway, as I've mentioned its a time travel drama. The male lead is a Joseon scholar Kim Boong Do (Ji Hyun Woo) who is the typical intellectual with military training and eager to serve his king. He is well-respected and trusted by the king and we find ourselves in the Joseon period where the Hee Bin has ousted Queen In Hyun and taken over as queen. The deposed Queen In Hyun now lives in exile, but Boong Do follows the advise of the king to watch over her.
As a man loyal to the "wrong" faction, the typical dangers associated with such a position in the Joseon era emerge and his life is endangered. A giaseng who he treats as a regular human being and not a courtesan, prepares a talisman to protect Boong Do from harm, and boy does that talisman work. When Boong Do faces death the talisman zaps him hundreds of years into the future where he arrives in 21st Century Seoul, 2012. In the present, we meet Choi Hee Jin (Yoo In Na), a not so famous actress finally gaining her breakthrough role as Queen In Hyun in a new sageuk television drama. Ah! drama I see where you are going with this. Anyway, she and Boong Do cross paths and as she helps him adjust to life in 2012 Seoul an attraction and bond develop between the two.
As a man loyal to the "wrong" faction, the typical dangers associated with such a position in the Joseon era emerge and his life is endangered. A giaseng who he treats as a regular human being and not a courtesan, prepares a talisman to protect Boong Do from harm, and boy does that talisman work. When Boong Do faces death the talisman zaps him hundreds of years into the future where he arrives in 21st Century Seoul, 2012. In the present, we meet Choi Hee Jin (Yoo In Na), a not so famous actress finally gaining her breakthrough role as Queen In Hyun in a new sageuk television drama. Ah! drama I see where you are going with this. Anyway, she and Boong Do cross paths and as she helps him adjust to life in 2012 Seoul an attraction and bond develop between the two.
The difference between Queen In Hyun's Man and the other time travel dramas I have seen this year is in the way the time travel issue is played out. Boong Do is not stuck in the future, he is able to go back and forth from present to past and uses his time in the future to try and rectify wrongs of the past. Of course, by making changes to the past, he also changes the future and that entire time and space continuum headache that all time travel dramas are plagued with is presented. But, this drama does not harbour too much on that, the main focus is this love across time.
It is a BEAUTIFUL and ROMANTIC story with such in-depth emotion and passions that when the characters are happy, you are happy, and when they cry you also cry. I love how when Hee Jin teaches Boong Do "modern" things, it is always in some amusing and quirky way. The fact that Boong Do begins to recognise when she is using the opportunity to teach for her own benefit (not anything sinister, mind you, maybe just a kiss here and there, hehe). They have such great interactions that it isn't surprising the leading pair officially became a couple after the drama ended. The chemistry was off the charts and I enjoyed that. I also love the exquisite play of words in the title, since Boong Do is Queen In Hyun's Man in two senses. In Joseon era, he is her man as in protector and loyal subject, in 21st Century Seoul, he is Hee Jin as Queen In Hyun's man in the boyfriend sense of the word. It is an excellent juxtaposition and I love all the thought and planning that went into even choosing a title like that.
It is a BEAUTIFUL and ROMANTIC story with such in-depth emotion and passions that when the characters are happy, you are happy, and when they cry you also cry. I love how when Hee Jin teaches Boong Do "modern" things, it is always in some amusing and quirky way. The fact that Boong Do begins to recognise when she is using the opportunity to teach for her own benefit (not anything sinister, mind you, maybe just a kiss here and there, hehe). They have such great interactions that it isn't surprising the leading pair officially became a couple after the drama ended. The chemistry was off the charts and I enjoyed that. I also love the exquisite play of words in the title, since Boong Do is Queen In Hyun's Man in two senses. In Joseon era, he is her man as in protector and loyal subject, in 21st Century Seoul, he is Hee Jin as Queen In Hyun's man in the boyfriend sense of the word. It is an excellent juxtaposition and I love all the thought and planning that went into even choosing a title like that.
For me Queen In Hyun's Man is a true romance and calling it anything else would just be wrong. It gets four and half stars from me.
According to Bel: Enjoy the journey across time. It's breathtaking and awe inspiring.
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