Blog

Queenmaker

After a tragic accident, a powerful fixer uses her skills to transform a civil rights lawyer into the next mayor — and take down her former employer. Hwang Do Hee is a skilled career woman who hasn’t come down from her 12 centimeter (approximately 4.7 inch) high stilettos for the past 12 years. She’s the best in her field of President Identity (PI) consulting and is the leader of the Strategic Planning Office at Eunsung Group, the third largest domestic business. By analyzing the appearance, voice tone, habits, preferences, rumors, and fatal weaknesses of the Eunsung Group’s owner’s family, she is able to perfectly present them in a way that reduces owner risk. Despite all her hard work in this field, she overcomes adversity to work towards making Oh Kyung Sook the mayor of Seoul. Oh Kyung Sook is a labor rights lawyer nicknamed “crazy rhinoceros.” For the past 20 years, Oh Kyung Sook has plowed through like a “rhino’s horn” for common people and workers and is a self-proclaimed Korean Lady of Justice. She is the president of the Women’s Worker Association, Korean Women’s Human Rights Wave, and leader of the Worker’s Solidarity with Rights foundation, proving her charm as a powerful female lead who stops at nothing to protect the weak. As a current labor rights lawyer and a popular YouTuber, Oh Kyung Sook has no interest in authority, but thanks to the help of “Queen Maker” Hwang Do Hee, she becomes determined to become the mayor of Seoul. These two women who used to lead starkly different lives leave everything they know behind to combine forces and create a just and truthful world. (Source: Soompi, Netflix)

Drama Review

Queenmaker is a story of two ferocious women on a quest for justice wielding power politics and pantsuits in their own unique ways. It is a tale of a powerful friendship formed between a ruthless corporate strategist on a path to redemption and an idealistic lawyer who believes in doing good at all costs- together they are phenomenal and a force to be reckoned with. I am going to be honest, Queenmaker started off slow and tacky for me. Essentially, its premise is one we have seen many times before.
You know, the whole evil Chaebol family VS righteous underdog story that has been done 110 times in every other k drama. In the beginning, it felt dry and over the top like these dramas usually are and even a bit unrealistic. However, soon enough it built up momentum and succeeded in hooking me in enough that I was easily able to ignore all of these flaws. I have to admit a lot of it had to do with Kim Hee Ae and her glorious power walks, short boss lady hair and the excellent OST that hyped up most of her scenes.

The drama is filled with veteran actors and the acting is spectacular across the board with the two women in the forefront stealing the spotlight. Kim Hee Ae, 3 time Daesang winner comes through with her badass character out for revenge and justice. Nobody portrays a mix of ferocity and vulnerability quite like her. Her chemistry with Moon So Ri, who holds her own is great on screen and gives birth to one of T.V’s best sismances.

As far as the plot goes, I do think that the viciousness of politics is done quite well. While a bit dry and redundant at first, it gets more riveting as the stakes are raised and the battle of wits between our good guys and the wicked skyrockets. It’s also nice to see how balanced the two sides are. Our protagonists face real problems and setbacks which makes the victory all the more well-earned and sweet.

The antagonists are also entertaining to watch on screen and despite their overall horridness, the writer tried to give each of them some well needed layers and substance so they weren’t just evil for the sake of being evil. The fashion, style and music in the show are top notch with some crisp cinematography. The character development is fantastic. So much so, that at the end of the show both our leading ladies have seen significant growth in character.
Overall, the drama feels much longer than 11 episodes and while it does make use of the usual plot devices like “the deadliest of exposers aka tape recorder”, the writing is, on the whole, pretty sound.

This show is undeniably a show about women, with women and for women. However, what I really like about it is that it gives some pretty strong messages about what it’s really like for a woman to rise in power in a man’s world without being preachy or in your face about it. The drama is definitely a big bowl of feminist soul fuel that touches on the possibility of what could happen if strong women start to back up other strong women.
Definitely worth a watch!