Under The Queen’s Umbrella is a stunning Korean historical drama about the power struggles between a queen and everyone else in her court, including her vicious, manipulative mother-in-law, the concubines competing for the king’s love, and the princes aspiring to the throne. The narrative of the program, which is half soap opera and part chess game, is loaded with deceit and mystery as the question of who will inherit the king is answered.
By moonlight, four footmen pull a palanquin carriage through a Korean town. They’re in a hurry since their prized cargo inside is the queen, who is hurrying to find someone. She removes a sharp, gold knife from her hair and dashes inside a bedroom, where she discovers a man and a woman asleep on the floor. She has the man removed from the room and is holding a knife to the woman’s throat. “Who are you to act with such arrogance?” the woman questions. “Me?” says the lady with the knife, “someone who can carry out any craziness they want and get away with it.” That insane lady over there? That’s our monarch!
Under The Queen’s Umbrella is a serious historical drama set during the Joseon Dynasty in Korea (but it does have a penchant for occasional hilarious shenanigans and ridiculous music cues) about King Yi-Ho (Choi Won-young) and his 10 wives.
Of all his marriages, Queen Im Hwa-ryeong (Kim Hye-soo) is the only genuine one; she is the true queen, as opposed to the rest of the king’s concubines, who are designated the king’s Royal Consorts. Grand Prince Seong-nam, the queen’s eldest son, is the successor to the throne.
Grand Prince Seong-nam is the queen’s favorite; he excels in his studies and is developing into a wonderful future king. What about the queen’s other four sons? Problematic. So difficult. They make a mockery of their studies by napping all the time. In the opening scene, one of the other crown princes was kidnapped, and the woman threatened by the queen’s “lunacy” was one of the numerous ladies diverting him from his royal responsibilities.
The Queen Dowager (Kim Hae-sook), the king’s mother, is extremely harsh on the queen, reminding her frequently that the only reason she respects her is that the grand prince is such a handsome young man.
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When the grand prince collapses and goes unconscious, the queen discovers that he has a hereditary blood ailment that had afflicted the last Prince in line for the throne, the generation before. After that prince died, Queen Dowager, who was then the king’s consort, installed her son as king and deposed Queen Yoon, the real queen, and her family, exiling them from the court. If the present grand prince dies, the queen may face the same fate.
Queen Im Hwa-ryeong realizes that the Queen Dowager is playing chess with all of the king’s concubines and their sons, the princes and that if her son, the Grand Prince, dies, she will most likely be deposed as queen because the Queen Dowager despises all of her other sons and will not allow them to become king.
So the queen did the only thing she can think of to deceive her mother-in-law: she seeks out Queen Yoon, the lady whose post the dowager took for herself and who is now almost a peasant. The queen is curious as to how the dowager was able to wreak such havoc on the line of succession, which is a secret known only to the former queen and the dowager. And that concludes our first episode.
There’s no denying that Under The Queen’s Umbrella is reminiscent of House Of The Dragon. Queen Im Hwa-ryeong’s troubles are similar to Alicent Hightower’s; she recognizes that she has produced a terrible excuse for a future King, and the drama centers on her battle to reconcile her responsibilities as mother and subject of a future leader. Add to it the fact that each of the King’s concubines is trying to make their son King, and the Queen Dowager has her own hidden agenda, and you have a drama whose major emphasis is who will sit on the (non-iron) throne.
The first reason Under The Queen’s Umbrella is intriguing is its rich narrative. While the show’s surface focus is on the stakes of being named the next king, the world built behind the palace walls that discusses the importance of the princes’ education and what it’s like for the present monarch to manage the kingdom is critical to understanding what is required of a king. We see that these rulers are taught wisdom, fairness, and the ways of the world, in addition to general knowledge. (And, to their joy, sex.)
Royal education is vital, and the Grand Prince is a renowned scholar. It’s a shame he’s now on his deathbed because none of his siblings or half-brothers come close. And, as we observe a discussion with his counselors about how to manage an outbreak that is killing many peasants, the king himself looks to be a fair and just man. The monarch has sympathy for his subjects, which is another reason why the selection of his successor is so essential.
Then there’s the mood. As previously stated, it’s difficult not to compare this drama to House of the Dragon (or Game of Thrones for that matter), yet despite all of the behind-the-scenes maneuvering and power maneuvers, there’s a lightness to the series as well. There are ridiculous vignettes and over-acted, even comical exchanges between individuals interspersed with serious tragic moments. It breaks the tension, making the play feel less bleak and foreboding. (During a scene in which the princes are undergoing sex education at their school, the youngest prince appears perplexed, with actual cartoon question marks surrounding his head.)
But the plot is fantastic, and as these people get more established and alliances emerge, it’s intriguing to watch how the tale will unfold and who will eventually take and rule the throne.
Parting Shot: Queen Im Hwa-ryeong, fearing for her position, pays a visit to former Queen Yoon to learn how the dowager forced her out of power. The former queen requests to be left alone, but Queen Im Hwa-ryeong pleads for her assistance. She falls to her knees and begs, “I want to know everything that occurred then,” but you’ll have to wait until the next episode to find out.
Sleeper Star: Kim Hae-sook as the Queen Dowager exhibits numerous personalities in each scene. When we initially meet her, she is a lovely, doting grandma. However, when she interacts with the queen, she pivots and exhibits mother-in-law-from-hell feelings, and she punishes her grandchildren brutally after watching them fight with one another. She is not the queen, but she wields authority and influence over the court as if she were.
“While the road to raising a monarch is long and winding, every step of it is valuable,” says the most Pilot-y line.
STREAM IT IS OUR CALL! Under The Queen’s Umbrella is the ideal blend of gorgeously filmed historical drama and fascinating soap operas. New episodes will be released weekly on Netflix, and just so you know, if you watch, be prepared to commit: the episodes are over an hour long, and there will be 16 of them.
