Queenmaker (Review)
Netflix is riding the Korean wave like a pro surfer now. Its lucky streak started with excellent The Glory, followed with Love to Hate You, and now they released also fantastic Queenmaker. If that’s not enough, they’ve added plenty of licensed Korean content this year, including Crash Course in Romance, Divorce Attorney Shin, The Interest of Love, and soon The Good Bad Mother. Netflix is truly becoming the place to be for K-Drama fans. Amazon Prime Video, Disney+, and, to some degree, also Apple TV+, are trying to keep up with that trend, with the notable exception of HBO Max and other smaller streamers.
And yeah, Queenmaker is an excellent show, one of the best K-Dramas this year so far. It’s a political drama with superb writing. The premise of the show centers on Hwang Do-hee (Kim Hee-ae) who works as a fixer for Eunsung Group. After her falling out with the corporation, she becomes a campaign manager for Oh Kyung-sook (Moon So-ri), a Seoul mayoral candidate.
While the show has only 11 episodes they’re jam-packet with events. The show starts with Hwang Do-hee being manipulated into firing assistant Han I-Seul (Han Chae-Kyung) by her boss, Baek Jae-min (Ryu Soo-young). Do-hee believes that I-Seul was blackmailing Baek Jae-min with false sexual assault accusations (spoiler: they weren’t false). Shortly after that, it appears that I-Seul committed suicide, although the circumstances of her death are unclear. Hwang Do-hee is shocked by the whole situation, which is a wake-up call for her. In a result, she decides to help a political activist and Eunsung’s opponent, Oh Kyung-sook (Moon So-ri), to become the mayor of Seoul. Kyung-sook’s main competitor is Do-hee’s former boss, Baek Jae-min, who has a support of the entire Eunsung chaebol, including its fearsome chairwoman, Son Young-sim (Seo Yi-sook).
While the main villains of the show (Son Young-sim, and Lee Geung-young as Carl Yoon) have somewhat simplistic motivations (as usual in K-Dramas chaebol execs are after more power and more money), they are truly formidable. Baek Jae-min, while perhaps the most despicable person in the show, is only a pawn in Son Young-sim’s game and her trusted executive, Carl Yoon. Carl Yoon (portrayed by excellent Lee Geung-young, who often plays similar characters), who is in charge of Baek’s campaign, is often two steps ahead of our main leads. This only adds additional tension to the show, making viewers very nervous about the main protagonists. The obstacles which he lays ahead of Hwang Do-hee are very compelling and realistic. While obviously the show exaggerates all the events, I can imagine that the actual mayoral elections in Seoul do not look that much different.
The show is very intense and gripping. The results of the in-show elections are not certain until the very last episode. While everything revolves around chaebol conspiracy, which is somewhat typical for K-Drama, the creators were able to treat it with some fresh approach. The show is actually focused on a redemption arc of Hwang Do-hee. She grapples with her guilt for all the dark deeds she committed on behalf of Eunsung Group, particularly with the death of I-Seul. By thwarting Eunsung conspiracy and helping Kyung-sook she enters on the road to redemption. Judging from the very ending, she is not yet done by the season’s end, and the creators clearly leave a possibility for the second season, and I hope Netflix will seriously consider it.
The show has many similarities to the recent Agency. Similarly, to the Agency, in Queenmaker we have a focus on a relationship and dynamic between two women, Hwang Do-hee and Oh Kyung-sook. And both shows heavily feature chaebol politics. Nevertheless, Queenmaker is more serious and darker in tone, the chaebol execs are particularly ruthless and relentless, and do not restrain themselves from killing their opponents or anybody else. The show paints a much darker picture of chaebol family, particularly chairwoman Son Young-sim. Chairwoman Son is condescending, calls her employees “mutts” (while in the Agency chaebol family members were “only” referring to those as “servants”), and repeatedly reminds everyone that the “right” social order, where chaebol aristocracy is in charge, has to be preserved.
Many K-Dramas grapple with the stiff hierarchical structure of modern Korean society (not that much different from feudal society of Joseon era), and Queenmaker is not afraid to criticize that order very boldly. It seems to me that Netflix often injects some of the “Western” values or social views into Korean shows, therefore not infrequently they seem to be more progressive than a typical K-Drama. We had that in Money Heist: Korea — Joint Economic Area, criticizing economic inequality, The Glory, treating the problem of school bullying, Love to Hate You tried to invert typical gender roles (although in a comedic setting), and now, Queenmaker is a harsh critique of chaebols. Obviously, similar trends might be observed in many other K-Dramas, yet Netflix does that very consistently.
In sum, Queenmaker is a thoughtful and excellent show, gripping, intense, and provoking. It is a must see for K-Drama lovers, especially those tired of a typical comedy: this is a very serious and realistic story. I appreciate that Netflix is investing so much in Korean content, and I hope that trend continues, because at least in 2023, they do not disappoint.
Queenmaker on Wikipedia and MyDramaList
