Under the Queen’s Umbrella (슈룹) is a historical Korean drama series directed by Kim Hyung-shik, and stars Kim Hye-soo as Queen Im Hwa-ryeong, Kim Hae-sook as Queen Dowager, and Choi Won-young as King Lee-ho. Others joining the show include Moon Sang-min as Grand Prince Seong-nam, Bae In-hyuk as Crown Prince, Yoo Seon-ho as Grand Prince Gye-seong, Kang Chan-hee as Prince Ui-seong alongside other cast members.
The series takes on tvN’s Saturday-Sunday 09.10 PM timeslot previously occupied by Little Women. Under the Queen’s Umbrella Episode 5 has a runtime of 64 minutes.
Netflix describes the series as:
A SPIRITED QUEEN TRIES TO REIN IN HER ROWDY SONS IN ORDER TO MAKE ONE OF THEM THE NEXT KING OF JOSEON, WHILE HER COMPETITORS VIE TO SNATCH THE THRONE.
-Under the Queen’s Umbrella Episode 5 Recap Contains Spoilers-
Things start to tighten up between the King and Queen Hwa-ryeong once he finds out about how Crown Prince’s condition has worsened and he wasn’t even consulted once regarding the same. As soon as the secret is out, he condemns everyone who was previously involved in his treatments including physician Kwon, who is imprisoned, while the Queen is incarcerated within her quarters. Disallowing anyone to visit the Crown Prince without his discretion, he takes charge of the treatment with Royal Physician Cho Guk-yeong.
Meanwhile, the news spreads in the palace like wildfire and with every consort for her own, they start envisioning a new reality with the Crown Prince gone and another prince replacing his station. The Grand Princes attempt to break their way in to meet their brother but they’re barred from meeting him too while being distanced from their mother as well. Prince Ui-seong somehow always finds his time and way to prick the wounds of Grand Prince Seong-nam, who calls him out for rejoicing way too much over the Crown Prince’s illness.
Hwa-ryeong carries out her punishment of transcribing hefty philosophical texts written by the likes of Confucius. Completing her task without taking a breath or the night’s sleep, she summons Chief Eunuch to collect her transcribes with the main goal of interrogating him about her son’s condition. Leaving a word of caution for him, she asks him to not desert the Crown Prince’s side, with an added precaution of not leaving him alone, especially with Cho Guk-yeong. At the same time, the Royal Physician resumes the treatment by piercing his waist with acupuncture needles, despite Hwa-ryeong’s initial warnings.
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Seong-nam sets a minor fire right outside Hwa-ryeong’s quarters to distract the guards. Furtively, stepping inside he confirms from his mother if the Crown Prince coughing up blood clots happened due to the medicines he procured earlier. She clears his doubts that it wasn’t his doing while alerting him that no one can find out about the prescription and medicine brought from the outside. Then breaking into the prison, he verifies the details from physician Kwon as well. The latter gives him his word to stay quiet about the medicine since that revelation also endangers his life.
A while later, Queen Dowager’s mercenary attacks him and in order to ask for mercy, he gives away Hwa-ryeong’s name within seconds but he doesn’t let a word slip about Master Toji’s medicine. Hwa-ryeong’s anguish knows no end as even the Chief Eunuch barely lets her in on any information regarding her son’s health.
Seong-nam sneaks away to probe into the case. He corners Master Toji, reveals his identity, and raises his doubts if the medicine had ever been tampered with. Negating these claims, he insinuates that the blood clots must’ve been the aftermath of an insider’s job.
As we all know, it’s nearly impossible for Hwa-ryeong to sit in a moment of calm until she accomplishes what she sets her mind to. Leading with her undaunted resolve, she mobilizes her secretly planted people in the palace to keep an eye out for her son.
The Chief Councilors tread down the path of their own schemes and present the idea of deposing the Crown Prince, owing to his inability to fulfilling his duties. Councilor Hwang has another motive slithering underneath it all – overthrowing the King himself. Queen Dowager and Chief Councilor team up against the King and his emotions driving his incapacity to make a decision.
Paying a visit to Consort Tae’s quarters, the King discusses the same with Prince Bo-geom, who guides him to stand his ground and not fall for the Concillors’ scheming plots. However, they’re all set on their intent to depose the Crown Prince and vocalize their opposition in a united front.
Under the Queen’s Umbrella Episode 5 Ending
Hwa-ryeong sets up a confidential rendezvous with the deposed Queen Yoon, asking her for any concrete evidence to support her beliefs that Crown Prince Taein was murdered. With the assertion that she’ll kill everyone involved in the conspiracy against her son, Hwa-ryeong also agrees to return a favor for the deposed Queen later. Queen Yoon is set firm on her convictions that the former Crown Prince was indeed killed as the one responsible for it told her about it in person, and it’s not anyone we haven’t suspected – Queen Dowager.
Hwa-ryeong traces the same actions that led to the deposition of Crown Prince Taein. Queen Dowager plants further seeds of hatred in the mind of the King and the image of his position being toppled. Chief Councilor Hwang keeps up his end of the act of pretending to side with his notions.
Finally, it’s Hwa-ryeong who steps up to the moment while the King hides away his anger inside. Consolidating the Crown Prince’s reputation, her undeterred passions blame their ineptitude in protecting him. Striking down the commotion caused, she questions their ulterior motives and is backed up by the King, who decides to step out after all.
During the course of this uproar both the King and Queen find their way back to each other but the harmonious event is once again shattered soon as a message from the feeble Crown Prince seeks his mother’s embrace in his last moments. Unfortunately, he passes away before her arrival and leaves both his parents and wife in a heart-rending state.
The last few moments of the episode hark back to a vision from the past wherein Seong-nam, living on the outskirts, as a child pleads with the Crown Prince to come back for him soon, marking a tragic and excruciating end to their present brotherhood.
Under the Queen’s Umbrella Episode 5 Review
The Crown Prince’s death will switch the narrative entirely and it further sits to prove how unseen power politics continue to jeopardize the visible hierarchy of the palace. Staying high on deception, the fifth episode allowed us to see more of the King and his starkly contrasting personality with Queen Hwa-ryeong.
However, as fulfilling as it is to witness Kim Hye-soo’s magic work itself every episode, the praise is starting to tire itself out. While through her we encounter a range of emotions, not only being restricted to her anxious breakdowns but also her moving up the chain and leading with her indomitable vigor against the endless schemes, there’s rarely anyone else who brings out the same tension across. The show’s cast is an exceptional group of actors but most of their portrayal of temperaments has become too repetitive over the five episodes.
Moreover, the same routine of rendezvous is carried out in almost every episode. Although they all seek to establish the basis of the conspiratorial tone of the series itself, it seems as if there’s little effort being put into taking any other aspect of these characters’ lives into count. The same was first satisfactorily countered by the individual arc of Gye-seong (which also deems forgotten at this point sadly) but nothing of the sort has been able to mix things up ever since then.
In a first, we finally get to see the politics of hierarchy in the relationship between the King and Queen Dowager. Moving forward, we need similar building tensions to step out of the closed quarters and be addressed directly as they were with the scene shared by the two, otherwise, the outstanding visage of the series will fall to its recurrent sequence of events mirroring themselves over the course of the season.
Under the Queen’s Umbrella Episode 5 is now streaming on Netflix.
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