Under the Queen's Umbrella

Some kingdoms struggle with lack of heir to the throne, but King Lee Ho has to many options. This Joseon family consists of king, queen, 8 consorts and 11 sons. I was waiting for this drama impatiently since I heard of it's arrival few months ago 😍 From first short synopsis and teasers I immediately felt it to be awesome. Despite a bit confusing & boring 2 starting episodes 😬 it all turned out to a brilliant drama! Those 2 epidodes though, made the series fall to the ranks of my airport-pieces. But as soon as I reached 6th episode I got so hooked up that was almost begging the pilot to make some circles in the air so I can watch further!

Whose is under the umbella?

There is plenty of princes living in the palace who cause nothing but headaches the their mothers. After the sudden and suspicious death of the crown prince the next one has to be chosen. As there is several heirs to choose from, the King decided to set up a contest that will prove the worthiest & the wisest of them all. The current queen who has just buried her son must train another one to win against the sons of the consorts. She is not though a typical queen. Instead of being pure, elegant and full of grace. She is a emotional, hot-headed and very very inteligent. King loves her for that. 

This is the only queen I know who not only abandons the pride to protect her sons but also swears like a bartender to put them in place and runs around the palace like a Usain Bolt. With mother like that, don't even think about threatening this fantastic 4! 😅😁 from the beginning she is my favourite ever queen and I doubt it will change soon.

As I was searching for nice pictures (but finished again with ones from MDL due to the quality), I also found many reviews and majority of them places this drama in the top rankings. I agree with that and give it 8,5 on 10 points. It has a great lenght (16 episodes), amazing characters, talented actors and the script that makes you to fall into the screen 😍 The production of the drama is insane and beautiful in every shot. Lately I have been through many dramas that or had a good cast buta bad script, or a bad cast with a good script. This one has none of those as both cas and script are fantastic. 

I've noticed complains about the story that was carried by one character (the queen) but by the title it should be so, no? 😅😆 she is the star here but it doesn't take away anything from the other characters who were magnificent here. Such a refined group of actors is a bullseye shot. I am thrilled by all the acting efforts of the whole cast. At first I didn't recognize any actors that played here but by the 16th episode I managed to make a small list of them 😁

• Little cutie pie crown prince's son (Seo Woo Jin) had a big role in Young Lady and Gentleman 
• I know King Lee Ho (Choi Won Young) from the Heirs and my favourite Mystic Pop-Up-Bar
• Treacherous father of consort Hwang (Kim Eui Sung) played before in W - Two Worlds and Memoriers of Alhambra
• Even though I am watching now Angel's Last Mission: Love recognizing Jang Hyun Sung wasn't easy
• Courtesan Cho Wol (Jeon Hye Won) took part in Love (ft. Marriage and Divorce) and is the main character of Kiss Goblin which I'm planning to start watching after "Angel's mission"
• Beautiful Kim Ga Eun played in Because This Is My First Life and I also recall her from shorts I saw of Kiss Sixth Sense (this drama is on my list "soon to watch"😁)
• I saw Queen Consort Yoon (Seo Yi Sook) in Hotel del Luna and MDL says that she was also in Heirs
• The son of consort Hwang (Kang Chan Hee aka Chani) aparently played in True Beauty but I don't remember him

As you can see there is plenty of new faces here and honestly I am looking forward to see them again on screens.

A little comeback to the queen. Everyone has its talents and flaws and what is amazing about queen is that she makes people shine. Thanks to her you can sympathize with the princes that aren't the Queen's sons. Drama might start lightly but the deeper you go the more you understand the pressue they are under. Every heir has a lot of weight on their shoulders and their situation is not easy peasy lemon queasy. This is a story about family and survival in one.

The only character that is hard to feel sorry for is Queen Dowager. At the very end I had a moment when she moved my heart as she was about to be punished by her son, the king, for what she did. On one side she did it to give her son what he dreamed about but the way she achieved it was brutal. If after that she would lay low and she would atone for that murder, I wouldn't hate her so much. But she only went further 😡😡 I don't think I have ever been so disgusted by Queen Dowager's character as with the one from Under the Queen's Umbrella. Not only she killed the Kings brother, she did it to his son and tried to eliminate the grandsons as well! She has nor shame nor heart! The explanation that she did it for her son is ridiculus as she values herself higher than the king inself. Big credit to the drama producers to make me hate her as it is not easy to do.

Under the Queen's Umbrella is one of those dramas where even a small spoiler changes the rythm of it therefore I don't want to give away too much of the story. I am a person who usually don't mind spoilers as I like more to know why thing happed that how it actually happened. I will move on to the summary.

Drama starts with a bang and all the princes with their mothers are presented in one moment what makes one big chaos in the head. There is 11 boys and 9 mothers.... memorising them is not a piece of cake! Not talking about their ranks! 😱 but the further I went the confusion changed into excitement. I am fully down for this drama and recommend it to everyone. This is one of very few dramas that I am eager to rewatch one day.