Some Thoughts on the Perfect Episode 11 of Queen In Hyuns Man

“You keep saying I’m a player. Maybe I am quite a player? Let’s confirm.” Kim Boong Do jjang! Episode 11 of Queen In Hyun’s Man was so gratifying it couldn’t have come at a better time then right after the sucker punch that was The King 2 Hearts episode 19. QIHM always calms me down, always settles my heart into a warm soft special place, leaving me wistful and dreamy, romantic and swoony. There is no way I’m recapping QIHM’s such late in the game, especially since I’ve got another drama lined up already. The last time I recapped two dramas in a day (49 Days and The Greatest Love), I ended up blacking out and losing big chunks of time. I’ve learned to accept my limitations, but I’ll surely talk about this drama whenever I feel like it. And what do you know? Right now I’d love to gush about this perfect perfect episode I just watched.

What’s not to love? After a two-episode separation that was important to the narrative about the mystery of the time-traveling talisman and meaningful in assessing how important Boong Do and Hee Jin are to each other (answer: very important), our OTP finally earn their hard won reunion. He had to fight his lost memories to find her, she had to fight her not-lost memories to have faith in him. The way they stared at each other across the crowd at the end of episode 10 already made me purr in contentment. If I were a cat, this drama be my nip.

Episode 11 picks up right where Hee Jin scans the crowd and finds him. It’s like she has a Boong Do-dar (don’t we all wish), but when Dong Min pulls her forward a few steps, she turns back and he’s vanished. Boong Do finds manager Soo Kyung and greets her like a friend, while she stares at him like he’s a fire breathing mythological dragon. Her confusion confirms for him that she has no memory of him, leading Boong Do to quickly deduct that when the talisman was sliced in half by the assassin, it caused a rift in the space time continuum. Or something like what. What it means is that time got lost, and his previous journey to the modern world simply disappeared.

Even meeting Boong Do for the first time again, Soo Kyung can’t help but be taken with his credentials, looks, and pedigree. But this time she’s not helping him with Hee Jin, which makes sense considering Hee Jin had been happily dating Dong Min for the past two months in Soo Kyung’s (and everyone else’s) mind. Soo Kyung tells Boong Do to go home. Luckily Hee Jin is no idiot either, and she realizes Soo Kyung’s oddness earlier was an attempt to keep Boong Do from contacting her.

Hee Jin gets her phone back and sees calls from the park pay phone. She takes off running, without shoes (cue the Cinderella symbolism), to catch Boong Do before he teleports back to Joseon. Hee Jin arrives at the park all breathless and shoeless but finds the pay phone empty. As she stands there all dejected, Boong Do’s Hee Jin-dar pings him and he finds her. Cue tender and poignant huggy reunion. Awwwww. Why am I tearing up? I realize the separation clearly wasn’t going to last (this is a K-drama, after all), but I’m already so invested in their feelings for each other that it hurt even during their brief time apart. Less for Boong Do, who didn’t remember what he was missing, but almost all of it for Hee Jin, feeling like the man of her dreams was……just that, simply a dream man.

Hee Jin makes Boong Do memorize her address and promise to come find her later. She hurries back to attend the after party but then ducks out as early as she can. When she comes home, she starts shimmying out of her dress only to find Boong Do sitting there after she’s half exposed. Some screeching and accusations of “You didn’t make yourself known because you wanted to watch first” later, it’s clear they’re still the same with each other. Candid, sincere, playful, and attentive to each other’s every word and emotion. Boong Do is about to head out so that Hee Jin really can change, which is when Dong Min, the “official” boyfriend, arrives outside.

Boong Do hides while Hee Jin tries to get rid of Dong Min. When he gets fresh with her, Boong Do quirts him with water from a spray bottle while he hides upstairs. LOL, love his sneaky smart attacks at his not-so-worthy-rival. After sending Dong Min to clean up in the bathroom, Hee Jin tells Boong Do to go back to Joseon first and come back tomorrow. Boong Do teases that she sure is quite adept at juggling two men. Hee Jin pouts but says she will end things with Dong Min tonight.

Dong Min doesn’t take kindly to Hee Jin’s break up with him and starts to get angry, which is when Boong Do awesomely reveals himself, having not returned to Joseon since he knew a guy like Dong Min wouldn’t take kindly to being dumped. Dong Min is sputtering mad at seeing Kim Boong Do really does exist, and promptly tries to beat up Boong Do. Too bad his opponent is a skilled Joseon warrior, and Boong Do easily subdues Dong Min and ends up locking Dong Min in the shower stall. LOL, love the switched reference to episode 3 when Dong Min locked Boong Do in the shower at the hospital.

Boong Do concedes that he may be the interloper so to speak, but he pretty much tells Dong Min to deal with it. I’m haven’t been that annoyed with Dong Min up til now, because in his reality, Hee Jin was his affectionate and reciprocal girlfriend for months only to come out of a car accident a having completely different feelings for him. I like Dong Min trying his best to be patient in the last episode, but he really needed to accept Hee Jin calmly breaking up with him in this episode instead of getting all handsy with her. That is a major no no. Seeing Boong Do come to the rescue was beyond satisfying.

Hee Jin takes Boong Do away while Dong Min calls Soo Kyung and his manager, shrieking about being locked in Hee Jin’s shower stall by the not-so-imaginary Kim Boong Do. Soo Kyung’s face loses all color and she squeaks out a promise to go release Dong Min. Hee Jin takes Boong Do to rent a pension for a night, telling the manager its for one person since she’s leaving. She busies herself explaining how modern appliances work, while he just stands there staring at her. I would say devouring her with his eyes, because its thatclose to burning up the screen. He looks at her like she’s a cool drink of water and he’s dying of thirst.

He asks if she’s really leaving. She has to head back to clean up the mess they left behind. Boong Do calmly says that it might be difficult for him to spend the night in a foreign place, plus she’s taken his talisman and all. The boy wants you to STAY. Lady, you say YES. Hee Jin suggests he watch TV to pass the night. What? Have you lost your mind, Hee Jin! Boong Do decides enough with the subtle hints and just walks forward, jerks the TV remote of of her hands, and pulls her face in for a kiss. RAWR. Mega-RAWR.

She pulls away first, asking if they should be doing this right now when there are other more important things to take care of. Didn’t he mention she had a rash personality, so she wants to be sensible now. Boong Do replies that he finds her rash personality quite attractive. Which leads Hee Jin to breathlessly call him a player again. OH YES HE IS. Boong Do smiles and considers he really might be a player. He needs to confirm it, so he pulls her back for another kiss. This one goes on and on, and ends with Hee Jin climbing on his feet to gain more leverage. I swear my screen almost combusted. Damn, how do Joseon era scholars ever learn to kiss like that? *fans myself*

I loved how simple this episode was, with the majority of the action spent just with Hee Jin and Boong Do. From looking for each other to reuniting and then falling right back to their natural banter with each other, I didn’t need tons of plot movement to feel like the story really flowed naturally. QIHM’s is a time-travel love story, with the love story being the solid hook while the time-travel just the gimmicky device. I prefer not parsing the time-travel elements to see if it makes sense. Such as Boong Do’s supposition that there was a rip in time and memories were lost. It makes no sense, since Hee Jin’s memories should have gone as well.

What’s lovely is to take the story in stride as the means by which we get to spend time with the characters. Boong Do’s calm logical aura remains intact even when he’s flirting with Hee Jin, while Hee Jin is in many ways just a normal girl who is falling heads over heels for what is arguable a perfect man. Give and take 300 years or so. While its not easy, I love how she trust her gut with Boong Do every step of the way. And the boy has surely earned it all by defying lost memories to come find her again.


Comments

Some Thoughts on the Perfect Episode 11 of Queen In Hyuns Man — 59 Comments

  1. Thanks for your thoughts ockoala! I can’t believe how crazy I’m going for this drama, never ever have I had it so bad before! whew….

  2. YAAAYY!! thank you for your lovely review of ep 11!! it was very engaging and i loved your thoughts of the episode itself! ahaha. thanks again! love, love this drama~!!!

  3. i love love love that this drama makes me more giddy than any of others have…the kind smiles he has and the pouty smiles she has…and them wanting kisses…awesome!!!

  4. Kim Boong Do… A man of a thousand kisses

    Squee Worthy Kiss… Cant take this kiss out of my mind the whole day and maybe the whole night.

    • lmao yout comment is funny because his last drama was called ”a thousand kisses” but it didn’t had many kisses as QIHM is having, and the other drama had 50 episodes! LOL

    • Oh, goodness. I’m heading up to a new University for summer session, and keeping in mind that Boong Do’s a scholar has got me excited. Lol

  5. At first, i find the leading man just PLAIN..but now he is actually quite ATTRACTIVE with a calm and pleasant aura.

  6. Yaaayyy!! Thanks for t review/sorta-recap. I’ve been following this episode at drama beans but it’s so refreshing having your take on it, you always make me see bits I didn’t notice on my own.

  7. Question:

    About the preview of the next episode:
    What do you Koala and guys think about the possibility of BD and HJ sleeping together next episode?

    Don’t you think it would be out of BD’s character sleep with her? Even though they shared this hot kiss, still…….

    • @Lizzie – re: Boong-Do sleeping with Hee-Jin? Well, he did have a pregnant wife at one point….so he’s not virginal….plus Hee-Jin, as we all know, is impetuous & passionate.

      If anything, I think it would be in character for him to prompt the passion and then let HER decide where she wants to take it. My money is on Ms.ElevatorKiss to be the first one to say, “I feel dizzy, perhaps I (we) should lie down.” winky-wink.

    • hopefully they will sleeping together on episode 12, hehehe… then He jin will have Bong Do junior, whawww… can’t wait for that to happen..

    • I think the possibility is very strong that episode 11’s kiss ended up in bed.

      It is clear that BD is completely committed to HJ in a very old fashion way, so I think in his eyes they are a committed couple, and that would clear the way for bedplay.

      Also, he seems more adaptable to modern ways than the time travelers in Rooftop Prince.

    • Also, during the kiss the camera kept swooping around and showing the bedroom behind them. Heavy hinting, imo.

  8. This drama has me so hooked, not just on the romance (it’s A LOT of that)….but also on how smartly it’s written. Such a joy to have a writer who only expects us to suspend the reality of time….but not our intellect. Huzzah!

    Thanks for posting and I hope you don’t mind if I put in a *plug* for Ji HyunWoo’s twitter — @Star_Mr_G — stunningly he only has about 6,000 followers. Most of the Kdrama actors I follow, including minor characters for shows like RTP, have over 20,000.
    For Real.
    It would be awesome to show him some real-time love by increasing his twitter-base….just in case anyone wants to join in. cheers!

  9. So appreciate your review. Selfishly, I hope you end up mini-recapping all the rest of QIHM. I love this show… especially after the two tearjerkers that were K2H and RP today.

  10. OMG koala unnie!

    I just finished watching/swooning/fainting from the awesomeness that was ep 11 of QIHM

    Goodness, a girl after my own heart! <3

    TK2H & QIHM all in one night!
    man i'm not gonna get a wink of sleep tonight what with Shi Kyung dying and that awesome ending kiss in QIHM

    good grief BD, and you said you weren't a player! were you born with smarty-pants and incredible kissing abilities too? xD

    whatta heartbreaker

  11. I haven’t watched it yet since im in a seminar right now but ive read recaps and seen the pictures… And omg, you cant just think with those kinds of kisses and skinship where pne just want to scream “get a room already for real”!! I think they bested Lie To Me’s Cola Kiss where YEH also tiptoed to kiss KJH. If there would be a bed scene after that i wouldnt be surprised. These 2 are smoking hot by just staring at each other. More over when they are kissing! I love love Queen Inhyun’s Man and Yoo In Na and Ji Hyun Woo!!

  12. waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa…………….u recap this awesome drama..even it not detail but i love it….
    this is the best drama 2012

  13. I’m actually not surprised that Heejin didn’t lose her memories. When Boong Do first changed history by hastening Minister Min’s demise, Heejin still had memories of the original events.

    Anyway, I am SO ADDICTED to this drama!

    • Good point – I had forgotten about that (still remembering that kiss!!), especially if they are still linked through the heart, there would still be some type connection/resonation between them.

    • I figured thay it was that whole logic/mind vs emotion/heart that was Heejin’s inner drama/conflict. It worked out well as a dream sequence plot device.

  14. Thank you for sharing your thoughts and this ‘baby review’. I have fallen so hard for this drama and its cast, esp the leading man. How. Have I never noticed hi, before?

  15. It appears to me that Hyun Woo likes nibbling on In Na’s bottom lip. *squealzzzz* (did she actually kiss him back? *gasp*) I love that before he was denying he was a player. Then he must have figured out he could kiss her longer if he admitted to being a player.
    Plus his pouty-face that she’s leaving him all alone? Gaaahhhh, I’m such a goner.

    • Love your logic: “Then he must have figured out he could kiss her longer if he admitted to being a player.”
      He has always said he is a fast learner!

      He has rewritten the book about being a player…
      Hey – maybe it was a Joseon scholar who wrote the book 300 years ago!

  16. Thanks for posting.

    I would hate to have you black out and lose chunks of time

    –but man, I’d love for you to recap.

    But I’ll enjoy what you are able to provide.

  17. from their kiss, the way they are slightly moving as they kiss, it feels like they are gonna end up in bed if not for some unwanted interruption 😉

    • especially since she is on her toes ON HIS FEET, and it seems from his movements like he is leading her to the couch for a making-out session… sorry, have to get mind outta gutter…

  18. As much as i luv the story, the characters and am quite obsessed with JHW himself.. I can’t stop wondering if BD, coming from joseon era plus his busy schedule of time-traveling, has time to clean himself, brush his teeth and is well groomed (you know where).
    I think too much, don’t I? hehe..

    • @miu

      I have the same thoughts as you. Everytime I see him, I’m wondering if he has time to take a bath or brush his teeth especially when he kisses HJ. But I guess I need just to think that since he’s a noble man, he’s taking care of himself well.

    • The nifty travel guide from episodes past probably gave him clues. Lol he is a reader, so i guess it wouldn’t be so hard to imagine him looking at posters and signs. He’d ask all the right questions implicitly: how does one groom themselves in this era? I mean he had the sense to cut his hair.

      • @Lullybunny
        Goodness! LOL Was this because I made that comment about the underwear? Besides, I don’t think he’s going commando. Boongdo would be wearing this traditional under cloth called a Darisokgot, which is a folded cloth that was held up with a “belt” around the waist, and not like the traditional japanese under cloth that looks very much like a thong. LOL why did i set up myself with a bad image?

  19. Wow!!! That end kiss was daebak and then some – but what got me really hot and bothered was when BD started slow dancing HJ while keeping a firm grip round her waist and her lips and leading her to . . . .
    That was so sexy!

  20. I am almost too embarrassed to say how many times I watched the last couple mins of ep 11.. it was so perfect.. and yes BD definitely a player.. how can he be so perfect.

  21. Thanks for the love love love!
    I tried downloading this episode 10 times at different sites so I could have a pristine copy to screen cap/obsess over.

    The conversation the OTP had while exboyfriend was in the bathroom was priceless, awesome, cute, sexy, smart, witty, wonderful. The kiss…I can’t even words use express perfection – and to think it is only ONE of the perfect kisses we get from them.

    I knew that JHW could be charming from his other roles, but he has made himself the best character (granted it really is like he is from a manwha like HJ says) ever. A real masculine man who will NOT be left alone after travelling 300 years on a hunch to be with a woman he thinks is worth risking his life!
    Gah! This whole set-up makes my years of reading historical novels heart throb and thrill.

    It is not only happiess I feel but something approaching ecstasy.

  22. He was married and about to have a child,so he should have aplenty of experience with wooing and dealing with women. I look forward to the display
    Of his Player moves

  23. Yey, thanks, ockoala. This drama is all sweetness and comfort. Which is exactly what we need for our collective broken hearts. Thanks for sharing our new crack, “bridge over troubled water”… until we get to the next shore. Which one will that be…? Big?

  24. You people have dissected the kissing scene to death and what vivid imaginations you have. Sometimes, reading the description is better that seeing the action, esp. with these blow-by-blow descriptions.

  25. OMG, I finally couldn’t wait for subs and watched and even not understand part of the dialogue, I nearly combusted at the final scene. Is there a more sqee worthy drama out there? There’s something about this OTP that’s swoony. Dong Min really annoyed me, not so much not accepting the breakup but being physically hurtful is a totally no, no. Did I imagine it or did he not slap her with the towel? I really was shocked by that b/c I didn’t think he would be physically abusive and he’s teetering dangerously close to it.

  26. I had to do a lot of catch up for this show, ep 11 was the first I watched real
    time on my hdtv, holy crap was I glad for that at the end. <3 <3 Booooooong Do!

  27. this is probably the best JHW’s role. He plays KimBungdo perfectly. Im all smiles and giggle watching BongDo and Heejin together.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.