CAST: Kim Hee-ae,Seo Yi-sook, Moon So-ri, Ryu Soo-young
DIRECTOR: Oh Jin-Seok
Netflix scores again with The Queenmaker as it remains the most non-english watched show on the streamer. For the week of April 10 to 16, Queenmaker logged nearly 16million hours viewed.
In the genre of The House of Cards, another Netflix Original winner, you will be hooked line and sinker with this one. The show stars Kim Hee-ae (The World of the Married) as Hwang Do-hee, a sharp and remorseless “fixer” for powerful South Korean conglomerate Eunsung Group, led by commanding matriarch Chairwoman Son (Seo Yi-sook). As head of their Corporate Strategy Team, she’s spent a decade using crooked tactics to conceal the many misdeeds of the owner’s sociopathic family.
From labor rights violations and sexual assaults to physical abuse and murder, the evil actions of Eunsung makes the Roys from Succession seem the good boys.
Do-hee comes up against an incorruptible civil rights lawyer Oh Kyung-sook (Life’s Moon So-ri) when she causes a crises while protesting the company’s unfair layoffs of temporary workers. Unable to bribe or blackmail her, Do-hee is stumped for once in her career. Nicknamed the “Rhino of Justice”, Kyung-sook is straightforward, relentless and unfailingly moral and this make her a celebrity among the common people.
Despite seeming like natural enemies, the pair eventually team-up when a shocking tragedy caused by the chairwoman’s son-in-law, Baek Jae-min (Ryu Soo-young), sparks a crisis of conscience within Do-hee.
As Do-hee refuses to be complicit in Eunsung’s latest cover-up, she gets unceremoniously fired by the group. Upon learning that her former employers are planning to install Jae-min as the next mayor of Seoul, a furious Do-hee reaches out to Kyung-sook to run against him in the coming election.
Do-hee spills the tea about Eunsung’s shadiest
secrets and nefarious plans to Kyung-sook which makes them team up despite their mistrust issues.
The initial unease and burgeoning friendship between Do-hee and Kyung-sook is one of Queenmaker’s greatest strengths. They come from contrasting backgrounds and have very different ideologies, but they need each other if they’re to overcome Eunsung, a corporation that has their tendrils tethered to every South Korean institution.
Besides the dramatic tension, the odd couple pairing also brings some unexpected comedy into the mix. Watching Do-hee try to polish and pretty-up the brusque Kyung-sook for her first TV debate is a hoot!
Besides Eunsung’s nepo-candidate, our heroes are also up against an experienced and established female liberal named Seo Min-Jung (Jin Kyung).
Do-hee and Kyung-sook’s opponents aren’t just armed with bottomless war chests to fund their campaigns – their methods are outrageously unethical, ranging from manufacturing fake news to kidnapping and extortion. But Do-hee is a strategy genius and this time she uses her brain for the good.
The political sub-plots of the show are immensely intelligently woven into the story. The portrayal of how greed and fear cause public opinion, special interest groups, mass media, the legal system and religious organizations to be vulnerable to manipulation by the rich and powerful.
This absolutely watchable series streams on Netflix.
