Queen In Hyun's Man (인현왕후의 남자) (aka Queen and I) is a 16 episode Korean Drama which aired on the cable network tvN in 2012. It stars Ji Hyun Woo as the Joseon scholar Kim Boong Do and Yoo Inna as aspiring actress Choi Hee Jin.
In 1694 Joseon, it is the reign of King Sukjong. Queen In Hyun is living in exile after being deposed through the machinations of the ambitious concubine Lady Jang (also known as Jang Heebin). Fearing that the king will have a change of heart, Lady Jang and Right Minister Min decide to kill Queen In Hyun, but their assassination attempt is foiled by Kim Boong Do, a scholar loyal to Queen In Hyun. The conspirators later attempt to assassinate Boong Do in a library, but just as the assassin Ja Soo is about to kill him, Boong Do mysteriously vanishes.
2012 Seoul. Choi Hee Jin is an aspiring actress who has just received her first big break: the role of Queen In Hyun in the upcoming historical drama New Jang Heebin—in other words, she will be in a show dramatizing the events Boong Do is experiencing in 1694. She runs into a strange man on set — Boong Do, who has somehow been transported to the future. Boong Do soon figures out that the time travel is caused by a talisman given to him by the loyal gisaeng Yoon Wol, and uses it to help his plans of toppling Minister Min and reinstating Queen In Hyun. Hee Jin eventually believes his story and helps him adapt to modern life, and the two soon fall in love. But it is not easy to fight a time gap of 300 years, and changing history has consequences.
This series provides examples of:
- Alone in a Crowd: Occurs several times, both with Hee Jin and Boong Do and individually.
- Alternate Timeline: Slicing the talisman in two creates an alternate timeline. Boong Do loses all memory of his time with Hee Jin, and while Hee Jin remembers Boong Do, she also remembers the alternate timeline, in which she bought the car herself (in the original time, Boong Do bought it for her) and she and Dong Min have been dating.
- As You Know: Some expository dialogue establishes that Dong-min was once Hee Jin's boyfriend and is now a very successful actor. Some more expository dialogue establishes that Soo Kyung is both Hee Jin's roommate and her manager.
- Badass Bookworm: Kim Boong Do, a Joseon scholar who can fend off assassins with books.
- Based on a True Story / Historical Domain Character: Queen In-hyun was a real person
and the 1694 events dramatized in the show—In-hyun being shunted aside for a new queen, king regretting it, new queen (possibly) taking action to eliminate In-hyun—actually happened. There probably weren't any time-traveling warrior scholars, though. - Blood from the Mouth:
- When Boong Do gets hit in the chest with an arrow.
- When people are forced to drink poison as a method of execution in 1694.
- Bring My Brown Pants: Boong Do wants to go Back to the Future to find out more info about what's going in 1694, so he has his squire shoot an arrow right at his chest, because he can only jump if his life is in danger. When he comes back, his hysterical squire says he wet his pants while firing the arrow at his master.
- CPR: Clean, Pretty, Reliable: Typical use of the trope when a flat-lining Boong Do is revived with a defibrillator.
- Corrupt Politician: Minister Min, who conspired with the current queen to assassinate the previous one, and have their faction take over the courts.
- Delayed Ripple Effect: Boong Do realizes in 2012 the problems he's created with his time travel, but has enough time to return and attempt to set history to rights.
- Deus ex Machina: See Super Cell Reception below.
- Ermine Cape Effect: The Queen wears a specific gown; anyone wearing something similar is immediately executed. Boong Do becomes confused when memories of kissing Hee Jin wearing her mini-series costume overlap with his memories of talking with the Joseon Queen
- Eiffel Tower Effect: Namsam Tower is in the background of Episode 14.
- Establishing Series Moment: The opening scene of the first episode, in which the Split Screen effect is used to show Boong Do and Hee Jin going about their lives in 1694 and 2012 respectively, until he vaults his horse through some kind of time warp and meets her.
- Fish out of Temporal Water: Boong Do is over 300 years from his reality. When he first gets a look at 21st century Seoul, he closes his eyes and imagines the wooden huts and dirt roads of 17th century Seoul. However, being smart as a whip, he quickly figures out how to get along in the strange new world.
- Flipping the Bird: Hee Jin flips off Dong Min when he's being especially obnoxious in Episode 1.
- Foreshadowing: Boong Do's misconception that he was involved with Queen In Hyun while he has amnesia, Hee Jin teaching Boong Do how to use a tie.
- Hollywood Healing: Boong Do takes several arrows straight in the chest and is perfectly fine after a few days. He had modern medicine on his side, but still.
- Hope Spot: Having saved the Queen, gotten the evil minister executed, and faked his own death, Boong Do is content to zip Back to the Future one last time. Lots of sweetly affectionate moments with Hee Jin follow. It's a Happy Ending! Until Boong Do is zapped back to 1694 with no warning, leaving Hee Jin without him in 2012, and finding out that some really bad things are happening in 1694.
- Made of Iron: Boong Do.
- Magical Accessory: Boong Do's friend, the singer/concubine Yoon Wol, gives him a magic amulet for protection. It's the amulet that flings him from 1694 into 2012 when he's about to get killed.
- Meanwhile, in the Future…: The story continues simultaneously between 1694 and 2012.
- No Body Left Behind: Once when Boong Do teleports into 2012, the Mook trying to kill him is taken along with him. After Boong Do kills the Mook, said Mook's body turns to dust, presumably due to 300 years of decay kicking in all at once. (And probably as a narrative convenience so Hee Jin doesn't have to answer questions about a corpse.)
- Only a Flesh Wound: Aside from the Annoying Arrows, Boong Do also gets a sword straight through his torso. It doesn't even slow him down.
- Our Time Travel Is Different: Instantaneous version, but with a twist—since the talisman that sends Boong Do into the future is specifically meant to protect him from harm, he can only jump forward if his life is in mortal peril. In one episode Boong Do orders his squire to shoot an arrow directly at his chest so he can jump. Conveniently, when going back all he has to do is recite the incantation.
- Product Placement: Blatantly done for Sony Ericsson cell phones.
- Repeat Cut:
- Used when Dong Min leans in and kisses Hee Jin in Episode 2.
- And again when Hee Jin kisses Boong Do in Episode 4.
- Reset Button: After Boong Do's talisman is sliced into two. And again after Boong Do burns the talisman.
- Ripple-Effect-Proof Memory: After Boong Do starts changing history, he and Hee Jin wonder why they are the only ones who remember how history changed.
- Show Within a Show: Hee Jin plays Queen In Hyun, her ex boyfriend Hang Dong Min plays King Sukjong and Na Jung plays Lady Jang in the historical drama New Jang Heebin. And later after the second reset Hee Jin narrates a documentary about Boong Do titled Queen In Hyun's Man.
- Split Screen: Used both in the Establishing Series Moment and occasionally at other times, like a mostly unnecessary effect in which several split screens show Hee Jin as she's scrambling to make it to an audition on time.
- Split-Screen Phone Call: Used pretty regularly whenever people are calling each other.
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Spoiled by the Format: Episode 14 ends with Boong Do and Hee Jin reunited, having overcome all obstacles and ready to live happily ever after. Too bad it's a sixteen-episode drama. - Super Cell Reception: When Boong Do gets sucked back to 1694 for the last time, he still has the cell phone that Hee Jin gave him. That cell phone still works after he's been back in the late 17th century for a year—heck of a battery on that model—and even more amazingly, it picks up Hee Jin's call from 318 years in the future.
- Talent Double: The hands playing Yoon Wol's instrument are clearly too old for the actress playing Yoon Wol.
- Vertigo Effect: In episode 3 when Boong Do walks through the front gate of the palace set, sees 2012 Seoul, and realizes just how different this world is from his.
- What Year Is This?: Boong Do has to ask Hee Jin how many years it's been since Queen In-hyun's time.
