A love story of a queen of Joseon dynasty who had more kingly qualities than the king. Their desire, love and betray.
A queen, respected by all, who made the man she chose the third king of Joseon and took responsibility for her love until the very end.
Amidst the chaotic era of the crumbling Goryeo dynasty and the rise of the Joseon dynasty, Queen Wongyeong gained power alongside her husband, Taejong Yi Bang-won, the son of Joseon’s first king, who wielded absolute authority. This is the intense story hidden between the king and queen, husband and wife.
This historical fusion drama portrays the life of Queen Wongyeong, who was recorded only as Taejong’s principal consort or as Lady Min, without even a given name. It tells the story of a woman who did not lose herself amidst her husband’s betrayals and the political and societal hardships of the time, living a more independent life unlike the women of her era.
The drama depicts the passionate love that burned between Wongyeong and Yi Bang-won, as well as the fierce conflicts between the couple, portraying their journey as political partners who changed the world together, showcasing their love and struggles as husband and wife.
Recommend for
・ For those who enjoy historical dramas
・ For those who enjoy stimulating, erotic bed scenes
・ For those who want to know the cruel history of the royal family during the founding of Joseon
Synopsis
At the end of the Goryeo Dynasty, a time of chaos:
A woman who chose the man she loved!
After the founding of Joseon,
she faces conflict as her husband, who became king, works to stabilize the nation.
Yet, with dignity and responsibility as a queen,
she handles everything with grace, never faltering.
A woman who took complete responsibility
for the love she chose until the very end.
A story about a self-reliant woman who raised King Se-jong the Great,
a sagely ruler, and lived a life in which she never failed,
neither as the queen of a nation nor as a man’s wife.
Story
Following the founding of Joseon, despite the absolute power of King Lee Seong-gye, the royal family was plagued by bloody internal strife. After a series of power struggles among brothers, known as the Princes’ Strife, Lee Bang-won finally ascended the throne as the 3rd King of Joseon. By his side was his wife, Lady Min, who thoroughly supported him.
It was she who personally dressed the terrified Bang-won in armor. Everyone respected Queen Wongyeong, believing that if she had been born a man, she would have possessed the qualities of a king more than anyone else.
Born as the daughter of Min Je, of the Yeoheung Min clan and a high-ranking official of Goryeo, Queen Wongyeong was a woman with a strong will to change the world. Unlike ordinary women of the Goryeo era, she chose her husband, Lee Bang-won, herself.
At the time, Bang-won, the son of Lee Seong-gye, who was merely a general from the northeast, was just a country bumpkin to Wongyeong, who came from Goryeo’s most prestigious family. Before he ascended the throne, it’s said that he lived in Wongyeong’s family home for a long time and was treated coldly. This, along with the fact that his own father did not acknowledge him, remained a significant inferiority complex in his heart for the rest of his life.
When the First Princes’ Strife broke out, Wongyeong supported and cooperated with her husband, Lee Bang-won, and succeeded in making him Crown Prince. When Lee Bang-won ascended the throne as the 3rd King, Wongyeong was instated as Queen, receiving the title of the Queen Consort.
However, in the still unstable political situation, her turbulent life had only just begun.
Lee Seong-gye, the first king and Bang-won’s father, who had lost another son in the Princes’ Strife, vowed revenge on Bang-won and continued to plot to kill him.
Anger toward his father, who deeply hated him, and toward his wife’s family, the Min clan, who looked down on him, began to create a rift between Bang-won and Wongyeong.
The King began to treat Wongyeong like a courtier rather than an equal partner in the bedchamber, and she resisted by refusing to share the royal bed. In retaliation, Bang-won brought her cherished court lady, Chaeryeong, into his chambers.
Characters
Wongyeong
(Cha Joo-young)
She is the Queen Consort of Tae-jong Lee Bang-won, the 3rd King of Joseon.
Born as the daughter of Min Je, a noble from the Yeoheung Min clan of Goryeo dynasty, she possessed a bold temperament from a young age.
Beautiful, intelligent, and fiercely independent, she had a strong sense of self-esteem and self-awareness. While she experiences constant conflict with Bang-won, who becomes king, she never compromises or yields. Possessing an exceptional political sense, she later makes crucial decisions in the process of Tae-jong Lee Bang-won seizing power as king, helping him solidify the foundation of Joseon.
Lee Bang-won
(Lee Hyeon-wook)
The third king of Joseon, and son of Lee Seong-gye, who founded Joseon dynasty.
He receives help from his wife and her family in the process of becoming king, creating a sense of indebtedness. However, he resolutely chooses not to be controlled by it, because he never became king solely for the glory and power of his family. A powerful nation, Joseon! It was the wish of his father, Lee Seong-gye, and his calling. He faces the irony of destroying the wife he deeply loves and her family because of it, but as king, he takes that terrible path step by step.
Lee Seong-gye
(Lee Seong-min)
The great king who founded Joseon. To Goryeo, however, it was nothing more than a rebellion that betrayed the trust of the king and the nation.
From a military man to a revolutionary. Seeing the hopeless and hungry people, he sought to save the world and establish a new dynasty with his own family. He chose Hanyang (current Seoul city) as the capital, as an effective way to neutralize the power base of the existing Goryeo aristocracy.
To complete the revolution, the noble lineages of the past had to be severed, but the reality that his wife’s family was at the forefront of his purge list created a dilemma for Bang-won.
Chaeryung
(Lee yi-dam)
Bang-won’s concubine. A court lady who served Wongyeong most closely, she sincerely respects Wongyeong as a role model in her life. However, while accepting Bang-won’s choices, she sometimes betrays Wongyeong, and sometimes takes advantage of Bang-won, walking a tightrope between the two to expand her own territory and standing in the palace.
In a way, she understands King Bang-won more than Wongyeong and in another way, she knows how to handle men. A woman standing on the razor’s edge of wisdom and cunning.
What was most shocking about this drama was undoubtedly the casting. The announcement of Cha Joo-young as the main character was so unexpected and made me uneasy. Why??? Huh??? While her villain role in the drama ‘The Glory’ was certainly memorable, everyone must have thought that she couldn’t possibly lead such a major production with so little acting experience. But, surprisingly, her acting was unbelievably stable, and from the second half of the first episode, no one could criticize her performance! Her graceful enunciation, natural facial expressions, and acting perfectly portrayed Wongyeong at various ages. She delicately balanced the expression of Wongyeong’s despair that she couldn’t show anyone, the crying scene when she lost her family, the dignity when scolding the concubine Chae-ryeong, and the complex emotions of love and hate towards the king.
Everybody says Cha Joo-young should receive an acting award for ‘Wongyeong’.
Lee Hyun-wook, who played Lee Bang-won, was also an actor who hadn’t stood out much until now, but his acting skills and his popularity as a “snake-faced man” (a type of face considered attractive to many Korean women) have skyrocketed through this drama.
Although there was criticism for using stimulating bed scenes and exposure scenes as a selling point from the start, the passionate performances of the leading and supporting actors and the fast-paced story development ultimately led to a fairly favorable conclusion.
However, there were quite a few voices saying that historical records were significantly altered to make the main character, Wongyeong, too perfect, and that the characters around her were exaggerated to be problematic people.
Personally, I think some scenes are forced and over-the-top in order to make the drama interesting, such as concubines standing in front of the Queen and getting angry, or seducing the King (in front of the queen!!!). The reason is that the Joseon Dynasty was strict about social status, and especially the difference in status between the Queen and the concubines was as vast as heaven and earth, so no one would believe it. Those kinds of scenes are certainly interesting, but they lower the quality of the drama, so I hope they tone it down.
Looking at ‘Wongyeong’, recent tvN dramas are amazing in terms of momentum and quality. The lineup is already surpassing Netflix. Bravo! Bravo! Bravo!
We love Korean Dramas! Thank you for enjoying!
XOXO
