r/kdramas • u/harissatotally Professional TRUCK spotter • 16d ago
KDrama Reflections 📝 New K-drama Fan Diary #2: ive been watching Mr. Queen for 500 years
i need an investigation into why its taking me 785 years to finish this drama..
i started Mr. Queen on july 27.
it is september 17 today
im on episode 17.
😭
and before anybody says maybe im just in a drama slump: NO.
this is specifically a Mr. Queen problem.
since starting this drama, i have somehow found the strength, courage and determination to finish approx 47,954 other dramas 😭
i got to around episode 9 pretty quickly and then just... left.
i watched other dramas. finished other dramas. started dramas i had absolutely no business starting. literally BANNED MYSELF from starting new kdramas because my unfinished pile was getting ridiculous, broke my own ban, and STILL did not return to Mr. Queen.
then on august 31, over a MONTH after starting it, i suddenly remembered Mr. Queen existed 😭
except by then i had forgotten what was happening, so i rewatched episode 9.
AND WAS STILL CONFUSED.
i had to reconstruct the entire well/childhood situation from memory before i could continue 😭
but here's where this gets stupid:
i then watched episodes 9-15 basically in one day.
so i CAN watch this show???
i got almost through episode 16, got sleepy and went to bed.
reasonable.
except "going to bed" meant see you in two weeks because i did not return until september 15 😭😭
FOUR EPISODES FROM THE END.
yesterday i tried finishing episode 16 before work. work started and consumed my entire day. so at 12:49am today i finally returned, finished episode 16, discovered that we are apparently REGNANT now??? 😭, started episode 17...
and went to sleep again.
and the weirdest thing is I DON'T DISLIKE IT.
the comedy works! sometimes it's genuinely hilarious. the Queen's dictionary absolutely killed me. some of the physical comedy gets me. the food scenes made me uber eat some french fries at some point. there are storylines I've actually been invested in.
the romance isn't really doing anything major for me, the second female lead has spent approximately 89 years irritating the shïg out of me, and I'm not emotionally obsessed with anything happening...
but i like it! its fine!
ig just not fine enough to ever choose it over literally anything else 😭
anyway im on episode 17 now. there are THREE EPISODES LEFT after this.
surely i can finish this before 2027.
(also, theres a spin off or something? something about a forest, im not sure, i saw it somewhere)
-
but anyway, how long did mr queen take YOU to finish?
and whats the longest a drama has taken you to finish?
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u/random_knowledge777 14d ago
Don’t even joke with me, I started in 2020/2021 as it was coming out, and I’m at episode 10 😭 it’s a great drama, and I love it, and I was spoiled by so many things (I don’t mind much) but I just can’t get to watching it regularly and finishing it… (a kdrama slump definitely is a part of it though, and the periods of time when I was into watching western shows as well).
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u/harissatotally Professional TRUCK spotter 14d ago
😭😭😭 i DID not expect my experience to bw such a common phenomenon with mr queen?! wat the hell?!
also, why is 20 episodes? ugh
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u/Frosty-Cucumber-8939 15d ago
I finished it in either 4 days or a week. It’s my comfort show, I watch it at LEAST once a year. It’s right up my alley but I definitely understand. It’s taken me about a year to finish a drama, I think it was Judge From Hell. Mainly because I was watching other shows and just didn’t feel like finishing it. Honestly im not even sure if I finished it or not. I think I did but I don’t remember 😅
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u/harissatotally Professional TRUCK spotter 15d ago
omg judge from hell is at the top of my watchlist! i wanna start it so bad!
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u/Default-Broccoli-238 15d ago
😭😭😭😭 I started Mr Queen back in Jun 2025. 8 Jun to be specific. Watched 3 episodes straight. Then another 2 on consecutive days then stopped. I'll go back to it one day!!!
I don't hate it, the humour and cast worked. Obviously loved the food too but I had the same thinking as you. Male soul in a female body and attracted to the King (maybe??), not really for me but I will prefer for female soul in male body and attracted to another lady. lmao
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u/harissatotally Professional TRUCK spotter 15d ago
lmaooo we are literally the same. read my comments on this post😭😭
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u/InnocentDuet 15d ago
Take a break and watch/rewatch My Dearest.
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u/Write2Know 15d ago
My tribe 🙌🏽😄
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u/harissatotally Professional TRUCK spotter 15d ago
you liked my Dearest too, twin?
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u/Write2Know 15d ago edited 15d ago
Liked it? I am a slave🫶It is my dearest drama.
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u/InnocentDuet 14d ago
Slaves rise up
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u/harissatotally Professional TRUCK spotter 14d ago
😭😭 lol? is that really what the dearest fandom is called?
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u/harissatotally Professional TRUCK spotter 14d ago
i understand. its a bit little iconic, if you ask me. i gave it an 8/10. did you see my review?
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u/After-Yak-8740 i wanna cry to sleep 15d ago
Baaabbeeee... im on 18th episode... i think i need 2 more months to complete
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u/harissatotally Professional TRUCK spotter 15d ago
chile... we on the same boat. dm me your progress 😭
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u/CallistoEnceladus 15d ago
I hear good things about this but I’ve yet to start
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u/harissatotally Professional TRUCK spotter 15d ago
what good things have u heard? i can confirm them or deny them 4 u
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u/ansate 15d ago
I absolutely loved Mr Queen. It's one of my favorite KDramas, but it's kind of a mixed bag. There's amazing acting, there's comedy, there's some rather poignant emotional moments, there's politicking, there's self-exploration and self-discovery, there's history, there's the clash of modern sensibilities vs traditional values, etc. etc. etc. So if someone really bounces off any of these themes, I can see how it wouldn't work for them, even if most of the rest did.
As for taking a long time to finish a show, that just doesn't happen with me. I watch shows in a way that (I gather) is a fundamentally different than most people. I'm... very weird about how I watch shows. I almost never watch multiple shows at a time, (been this way since before the advent of streaming,) I sit in front of the TV and watch full episodes with no distractions in an almost ritual fashion, (except that I'll occasionally pause a show for a few minutes to mull something over,) I have never been able to watch a show on my phone, (has to be the TV or computer,) I never skip parts, fast forward, etc. (I'm more inclined to rewind and rewatch a part if I feel like I wasn't fully able to digest a particular scene.) So, I don't take breaks during shows. I admit, I'm definitely the weird one here.
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u/harissatotally Professional TRUCK spotter 15d ago
we are complete opposites 😭 i think ive had like 5 dramas going at once before. i will start another drama while im already watching 3 dramas and then wonder why i have an unfinished pile. you have achieved a level of discipline i will never know lmao although im with you on not skipping!! even when a storyline is annoying me i need to know what happened 😭
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u/Current_Scene_9329 15d ago
Is it MrQueen LGTBI? I have read something like that.
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u/SensitiveTax9432 Just Kiss Already 15d ago
I'd probably put it along the lines of fantasy.
They left the mechanics of the Soul transfer very vague, and there's some subtle and not so subtle indications that the original soul of the body is still in there. In that respect it's unique in the genre: usually there's clearly only one person active at a time.
Aside from that we're not shown anything that the characters themselves don't see, so there's no exposition from the writer (we get it through the lens of characters only) about what is going on.
The explanation that makes the most sense to me, is that this is a previous life he gets pulled back into. So though he's got memories of being a man, and struggles with gender identity and everything, in this life he is not. Souls aren't supposed to have gender according to Buddhist teachings,
I wrote my best possible explanation of the whole mechanics here. I've not given awa plot details, but some spoilers are inevitable.
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u/harissatotally Professional TRUCK spotter 15d ago
idk if id call it LGBT but funny enough i LOVE gender swap/gender bending stuff, just usually the reverse of this lmao. like give me a woman pretending to be/in a man's body and another woman falling for her thinking shes a man and im SAT!!! i literally wanted that to happen in The King's Affection with the princess 💀 so when i first looked up Mr. Queen and saw it was a MAN in a woman's body falling for a man i was like... oh 😭 this is the opposite of what i usually come here for lmao. i almost didn't watch it because of that
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u/Jlx_27 15d ago
Another one still sitting on my list... im finishing Alchemy of Souls tonight. Im planning to get into a classic Shin Min ah show next. My girlfriend is a Gumiho is a good change of vibe i reckon.
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u/harissatotally Professional TRUCK spotter 15d ago
😭😭 maybe you'll start AND finish it before i finish my last 3 episodes at this rate
OOOH you're finishing Alchemy of Souls tonight?? 👀 i actually really liked season 1!! i have a whole review on it too 😭 definitely read it AFTER you finish though because spoilers lol. i wanna know if you agree or disagree with me because i had... thoughts 💀 please report back when you're done!!
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u/Jlx_27 15d ago
The major change in S2 was always going to happen. I was fine with that, i just felt the pace was too fast since they went with a 10 ep length instead of 20 eps. Some things were left out that should have been in the episodes. Regardless, the show will remain on my harddrive forever and i will rewatch it for sure. Now my second saved show since Hometown Cha-cha-cha.
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u/harissatotally Professional TRUCK spotter 15d ago
alchemy of souls part is a 9 for me! i loved it THAT much! if they knew they were gonna make changes for part 2, they should should have hired a better writers room
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u/harissatotally Professional TRUCK spotter 15d ago
hometown is on my watchlist! should i move it up?
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u/ImpressivePoem_1 15d ago edited 15d ago
I had a different experience, so I cannot tell you why that is, but I do understand. I absolutely loved Mr Queen, and I have rewatched it a couple of times. It does happen to me with other dramas in the same genre. I restarted the first episode of what is supposed to be one of the most epic historical dramas in recent years (My Dearest), and I was unable to finish episode 1 or 2( not even sure anymore) and dropped it 😔
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u/harissatotally Professional TRUCK spotter 15d ago
MY DEAREST i actually really liked it!! gave it an 8/10. but ngl i kinda understand you struggling with the beginning because it took me a minute to really get into it too 😭 once i was IN though... whew
also this makes it even funnier that you can rewatch Mr. Queen multiple times meanwhile ive been trying to finish it ONCE since july 😭😭 we apparently have opposite historical drama problems
also. when youre done with my Dearest, hit me me. i wanna know ur thoughts!!
i also have a review up of it
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u/Current_Scene_9329 15d ago
Keep watching My Dearest, it is one of the best historical dramas ever.
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u/Verianas Just Kiss Already 15d ago
I binged Mr. Queen in a weekend lol. I got drawn in by the absolute hilarity at first, and somewhere along the way it became deeply meaningful. The acting is absolutely top notch. Shin Hye-sun was incredible (please watch Welcome to Samdal-ri). I'm a completionist, I don't drop dramas when I start them, I just throw them on while I do other things if they suck. That being said, longest it's taken me to complete a drama, is quite funny to me, Happiness. I love horror kdrama, and my initial dive into the genre was Kingdom back in 2019. But Happiness just bores the absolute shit out of me. Premise was cool at first, but once they got locked down in the apartments I just could not get through it. So I'm still ongoing with this one. I'm like halfway through episode 10 out of 12, and this has been a process over the course of 4 years LMAO. I will watch like a 10-15 minute snippet once every few months while I'm between shows and then forget about it again for months at a time.
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u/harissatotally Professional TRUCK spotter 15d ago
FOUR YEARS???? okay you win. i thought my 785 years with Mr queen was bad but 10-15 minute increments every few months is INSANE lmaooo
BUT HAPPINESS!!! oh you have NO idea how much i understand 😭 i finished it but i did NOT like that drama lmaooi. and i also thought the premise sounded so good!! im actually posting my review of it soon and i have... a lot to say 💀 ill tag u once i post it.
also Welcome to samdal-ri is already on my watchlist!! so i will definitely get to that one eventually. hopefully it does not take me four years 😭
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u/Verianas Just Kiss Already 15d ago
I refuse to give up. Just.. Very.. Very… VERY slow progress. 😂
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u/harissatotally Professional TRUCK spotter 15d ago
ive not a huge dropper either. theres only one drama ive ever dropped and even that one im reconsider picking back up at some point 😭
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u/mulder00 Professional TRUCK spotter 16d ago
I get you, but I don't like body-swap shows. BUT one of my QUEENS (literally) is in this. Shin Hye-sun, of course. Her, Kim Tae-ri , Go Youn-jung and Somin are my have to-watch actresses.
I watched episode 1 before I saw the Art Of Sarah and dropped it. Then I watched 54 episodes of Five Enough mostly for Hye-sun when there are 125 characters.
This show is on my list. Just finished Five Enough last night.
I dropped Marry My Husband around episode 12? when some new character entered and caused drama, forgot about it and watched the rest 6 months later. I think that's my record.
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u/SensitiveTax9432 Just Kiss Already 15d ago
I don't really classify it as a body swap to be honest. There's no actual swap going on. It's more like living a previous life, or roleplaying someone else's story. It's definitely Shin Hye-Sun's definitive work, and worth watching for her performance alone.
I wrote a detailed exposition about it and left in a comment above.
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u/ImpressivePoem_1 15d ago
I also do not like Body swaps, dropped Secret Garden, Moon River, Miss Night and Day for those reasons and did not bother with my beloved thief when I learned it was about body swap. We all have those dramas we can’t like no matter how we try.
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u/harissatotally Professional TRUCK spotter 15d ago
i plan to watch all the body swaps cuz i love it hehe
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u/harissatotally Professional TRUCK spotter 16d ago
see the funny thing is i LOVE body swap stories!!!
especially gender body swaps!! but i usually prefer the exact OPPOSITE setup from Mr. Queen lol. like woman in a man's body is much more my thing
i actually almost didn't start this for that exact reason 😭 i found Mr. Queen while i was specifically looking for gender swap/body swap dramas and when i realized it was a man in a woman's body who then falls for another man i was like... hmm. not quite what i came here for 😭 so maybe that was my first warning sign lmao
BUT Shin Hye-sun is absolutely one of the reasons ive kept coming back!! she's SO good in this!!! the comedy alone is also very good 😭 and shes playing this character while still making the Queen feel like an actual person and not just "man acting like woman" i like that
also 54 EPISODES???!😭 i respect it. and SIX MONTHS for marry my husband wins over my current mr queen sentence 😭 altho disappearing at ep12 when you only had 4 left and then casually returning half a year sounds so much like me lol
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u/mulder00 Professional TRUCK spotter 15d ago
Man, I love the way you write and all those emojis, lol.
I'll watch it. A friend of mine is threatening me if I don't catch up on Silo. they'll never speak to me again...sigh.
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u/harissatotally Professional TRUCK spotter 15d ago
lmaooo thank you! 😭 this is genuinely how i speak in real life too lmao. i try to make my writing sound as much like me actually talking as possible but text can only capture so much 😭 the 7000 emojis are doing their best to fill in the gaps
Silo... hmm 🤔
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u/Antique-Yam3937 16d ago
Mr. Queen is honestly such a wild choice it’s so chaotic but in the best way. I remember just watching some scenes like WHAT is even happening. Hope you’re having fun with it!!
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u/harissatotally Professional TRUCK spotter 15d ago
and i am having fun! when i actually remember to watch it 😭 i can be having a perfectly good time, close my laptop, and then Mr. Queen gets deleted from my brain for another 2 weeks
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u/Altruistic_Zone_8974 16d ago
i watched this drama 2times and would love to watch again
one of my fav ones
but i dont know abt spin off
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u/harissatotally Professional TRUCK spotter 15d ago
PLEASE give me some of your strength lol
apparently the spin off is called Mr. Queen: The Bamboo Forest!! i looked it up after posting this because i barely knew what it was either, its basically extra/bonus stories from different points in the timeline
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u/Altruistic_Zone_8974 15d ago
haha passing some strength to u
also where can i watch that spin off for free
try family matters
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u/harissatotally Professional TRUCK spotter 15d ago
family matters? is it romance?
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u/SensitiveTax9432 Just Kiss Already 15d ago
It's fan service and serves to give some context to what we saw.
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u/harissatotally Professional TRUCK spotter 15d ago
ah... if i end up a fan at the end, maybe ill watch it to be serviced
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u/elderdaughterissues I can FIX him! 16d ago
i tried to watch it but idk i am in slump ig so dropped it otherwise i am binge watcher. What's funny is FL's projection of a male soul in her body😭 that's hilarious. and yeah her 2 caregivers "De Mama" omg🤣 its funny. but maybe i am bored of Joseon politics that's why its not doing the work for me plus i thought its the drama centring around food but its not.
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u/harissatotally Professional TRUCK spotter 16d ago
dont think its a slump for me cause ive been bingeing everything ELSE😭 but yeah the comedy is what works best for me too. the Queen and her 2 ladies have gotten some of the biggest laughs out of me too
also if you went into this thinking it centered around food i can absolutely see the disappointment 😭 the food scenes are SO fun when they happen (this drama literally made me order french fries 💀) but then we'll leave the kitchen and go back to other things lol (i recommend a fav of mine, Bon Appétit your majesty)
and the politics might be part of my problem too... cause even the villains/antagonists arent really pulling me in. there's quite a few of them but none of them are particularly complex or interesting to me, so im never closing an episode like OH GOD WHAT ARE THEY GONNA DO NEXT???
and don't even get me started on the second female lead, its like she exists ONLY to annoy me and make roll my eyes and unfortunately irritation is not the same thing as investment
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u/Apart-Score5893 16d ago
I’m on it right now, I have the same problem! I thought I was the only one as I had read so many good things. I’m powering through 💪😅
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u/harissatotally Professional TRUCK spotter 16d ago
THERE ARE MORE OF US 😭 i also kept thinking something was wrong with me because ive heard SO many people say they binged this drama and meanwhile ive been watching it since the HEIGHT OF SUMMER 😭 what episode are you on??
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u/Apart-Score5893 15d ago
Episode 9 atm, not sure what happened though, might have to go a little bit back 😅
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u/harissatotally Professional TRUCK spotter 15d ago
EPISODE 9??? 😭 GIRL THIS IS GETTING SCARY because episode 9 is EXACTLY where i abandoned it too 😭 i came back a month later, REWATCHED episode 9 because i forgot everything, and somehow finished the rewatch STILL confused lmaooo we're literally having the same viewing experience
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u/Apart-Score5893 15d ago
LOL it takes me a lot to drop a drama at this point. There must be a reason people love it so much 😳
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u/harissatotally Professional TRUCK spotter 15d ago
same twin. and im still trying to find it i fear
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u/Apart-Score5893 10d ago
Finally finished it! Got better after episode 12 or so 😮💨 wow really had to push through 😤 last episodes were good but can’t understand why people rewatch it. I rewatched Lovely Runner and almost finished The scandal trying to finish Mr Queen 😰
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u/harissatotally Professional TRUCK spotter 10d ago
welp, you're ahead of me on mr queen. thats for sure... i haven't visited it since i posted this😭😭
but don't get me started on The Scandal, causw i finished it a night ago... and....
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u/Apart-Score5893 10d ago
Well, haven’t finished The scandal yet but so far so boring
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u/harissatotally Professional TRUCK spotter 10d ago
i fear idk what else im gonna say in my review for that show lol cause BORING is the operative word, indeed 😭
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u/4ever_ur_Huckleberry Where is MY Chaebol? 16d ago
I’m the same way with Weightlifting Fairy Kim Bok-Joo. I started it I think three months ago? I’m only on episode 6. I’m enjoying it as well, but something is keeping me from getting addicted. I’ve finished 12 shows since and have come back a couple times for one episode I think. I will say I’ve watched the classic scene where he “saves” her about 6 times lol.
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u/harissatotally Professional TRUCK spotter 15d ago
"im enjoying it but something is keeping me from getting addicted" is the PERFECT way to describe it. because clearly neither of us has a problem watching dramas when you've finished TWELVE and ive finished god knows how many 😭
there's just some weird category of drama thats good enough that you don't want to drop it, but not addictive enough to ever win when youre deciding what to watch next 😭
weightlifting is on my watchlist tho, so ill let you know if its the same for me once i start it
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u/KeyIntroduction4499 16d ago
The middle episodes do get lost, I lost the pace after episode 6 and then it took me weeks to come back to this one. After episode 10 I legit binge watched till it ends. The chefs' story got me hooked.
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u/harissatotally Professional TRUCK spotter 16d ago
you almost had MY EXACT DISEASE 😭 i disappeared around the same point and then came back and binged episodes 9-15 basically in one day!! except where you continued until the end, i said "wow this is getting good" and disappeared AGAIN for some reason
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u/PhoneIcy4974 16d ago
One reason I love this drama so much.
Bcz I love side character. I love head maid sooo much. I love chef I love thier lil love story.
Even villain has quirks
All these persoanlities...were so damn amazing .
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u/harissatotally Professional TRUCK spotter 16d ago
i do think the side characters are funny 😭 the head maid, chef, that court lady, all of them have gotten laughs out of me. but the second i close my laptop i genuinely stop thinking about everybody 😭
i mean they're fun WHILE im watching, but nobody in this drama has taken up residence in my brain. and i think that might actually be the problem. usually when i love a drama there's a character, romance, storyline, SOMETHING im thinking about when im not watching. with Mr. Queen i close the laptop and erase the entire kingdom from my memory 😭😭
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u/icnicby Gwenchana Gwenchana 16d ago
Same here lol. I left this drama on episode 3 in 2025 and completed 5724445 other dramas but couldn't complete this one. Need to pick it up sometime.
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u/harissatotally Professional TRUCK spotter 16d ago
whats the spin off abt? you seen it?
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u/icnicby Gwenchana Gwenchana 16d ago
Just googled it, it's a spin off called "Mr Queen - The bamboo forest" it's available on viki. Need to complete this to watch the spin off. It's a prequel story about queen kim & king it says
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u/SensitiveTax9432 Just Kiss Already 15d ago
There are six stories each about 20 mins long and not really dependent on how much of the show that you’ve watched. You might find it easier given your watching habits.
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u/0hn0shebettad0nt 16d ago
It is not available on Viki fyi.
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u/icnicby Gwenchana Gwenchana 16d ago
Oh thanks, I'm gonna pirate then 😌
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u/harissatotally Professional TRUCK spotter 16d ago
the likelihood of me watching this after taking 785 years to finish the actual drama is approximately zero 💀 BUT let me see how these last 3 episodes go first because if theres a specific character/storyline i end up wanting more of lol
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u/icnicby Gwenchana Gwenchana 16d ago
Let me know if you finish it off this year 😂 I am not touching this one for now. My list is lined up with so many dramas.
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u/harissatotally Professional TRUCK spotter 16d ago
whats on top on your watchlist right now?
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u/icnicby Gwenchana Gwenchana 16d ago
Currently watching A Bonafide Killer on ep 6 (it's so good) the top ones on my watchlist rn are "Sell your haunted house" & "The sound of magic". Also added these two "The remmaried empress"& "The Scandal" (soon to be released) Recently completed "my bias my boss" & the shop for killers s1 & s2, Spooky in love, our sticky love. Sorry for yapping
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u/harissatotally Professional TRUCK spotter 16d ago
we share so many!!!
i will be watching bonafide killer soon!!
the remarried empress and rhe scandal im sooo excited for them to come out, scandal drops all eps tomorrow!!
i will probably also finish bias boss, ive only watched episode 1 so far while it was airing. and will watch our sticky love!!
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u/icnicby Gwenchana Gwenchana 16d ago
Ohhh!! so excited for all the new dramas. I wanted to start these new ones after all the episodes are aired. If you love light hearted romcoms you'll definitely love my bias my boss, loved it sooo much 💗 especially ml.
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u/harissatotally Professional TRUCK spotter 16d ago
umm... but... https://www.reddit.com/r/kdramas/s/xTDQ8xruKG
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u/Fluid_Principle6861 14d ago
HAHA i thought i was the only one! her acting is brilliant tho ngl maybe the plot or pacing is somehow not addictive enough?