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-Seong, 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, and Kang Chan-hee as Prince Ui-seong alongside other cast members.
The series takes on tvN’s Saturday-Sunday 09.10 PM KST timeslot previously occupied by Little Women. Under the Queen’s Umbrella Episode 14 has a runtime of 63 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 14 Recap Contains Spoilers-
A flashback to the younger days of Kwon shows him as Ik-hyeon and being urged by his mother, Queen Yoon to survive at any cost. Master Toji sends off his son, Seung-soon, to serve the deposed Queen, and he swaps his place with Ik-hyeon, as the latter joins Toji – or, as his real name was revealed to us last time, Yoo Sang-uk.
Back to the present, Queen Dowager questions the identity of Ui-seong’s father. Drinking the tea prepared for her, Consort Hwang proves that it wasn’t poisoned despite her suspicions. Hwang stays firm about her claims of Ui-seong being the King’s firstborn.
Seong-nam flips through the official records in the Royal Secretariat and discovers that only Crown Prince Taein’s autopsy is missing from them. The name of the official historian who recorded the document, Park Jung-ho, is highlighted, and Seong-nam keeps it on his tips. Hwa-ryeong seeks the King’s discretion for the reinvestigation of Crown Prince tan’s murder since the two deaths share too many similarities for them to be ignored.
The King believes this would further incite the issue of rebellions against him as it would question the legitimacy of his ascension to the throne. Disallowing it, he says that his son’s murder will be investigated in a different fashion without bringing up Crown Prince Taein’s name or digging up the past.
Hwa-ryeong’s suspicions soar to another height after finding out that even the Royal Secretariat’s records are tampered with. Yet, she keeps her hopes alive by shifting the focus to the possibility of the first draft of those reports having been retained. She recalls Park Jung-ho, the official historian in question, was Park Gyeong-u’s father. However, the King is swifter in his approach and interrogates his friend regarding the record created by his father.
The Queen commands Kwon to find the poison that killed the Crown Prince and adds a few peculiarities to narrow down the possibilities. The poison used to eliminate her son doesn’t react to silver and, when taken orally, causes bruising as the one taking it struggles to breathe, hence the marks on the chests of the victims, who, in their desperate hour, would scratch it themselves.
Kwon and Toji were also after the same records to expose the present King’s secrets and involvement in Crown Prince’s death. However, as the news of the records being missing is relayed by the Queen to Kwon, he feels cornered. The two conspirators think the draft is in Chief State Councillor’s custody, and they must get him to be on their side, thus pushing Ui-seong to do the deed.
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Won-hyeong advises his grandson again about not going against the King but is shocked to discover that Consort Hwang had already given her consent to her son to proceed as he deems fit in the situation. She comes clean about the King not being Ui-seong’s father to Won-hyeong and warns him against siding with him.
Park Gyeong-u asks Hwa-ryeong not to involve him in such matters, reporting that nothing was left behind by his father. As soon as he’s alone in his quarters, he goes through his stash and takes a look at some records. In a parallel scene, Won-hyeong agrees to meet up with Toji after his daughter’s revelation but is shocked to see Yoo Sang-uk again and is even more stunned to find out that Kwon is actually Yi Ik-hyeon and might even be Ui-seong’s father.
Hwa-ryeong and Seong-nam go over the connections, and she speculates that Kwon is somehow related to Ik-hyeon, Crown Prince Taein’s younger brother, as well. She also thinks that perhaps Kwon has rather been using Consort Hwang to accomplish his motives all along and not the other way around.
The Chief State Councillor divulges a fact of the past that the present King actually saw Crown Prince Taein being murdered. He asserts that he’ll testify the same if Ui-seong’s position and his safety are guaranteed by them. Catching on, he also asks them what else they needed from, which is, of course, the draft of the old Crown Prince’s autopsy report. Won-hyeong further reveals that Cho Guk-yeong was able to climb the social ladder in the palace only because he murdered Crown Prince Taein on the orders of Queen Dowager.
Meanwhile, Park Gyeong-u informs the Queen that the first draft was indeed left behind, but since it mentions someone’s involvement, whose name she won’t be able to bear, he asks her not to read through it. Nevertheless, Hwa-ryeong is set on finding out the truth so Gyeong-u requests her not to share these details with anyone else.
The draft reveals that the former King shunned Sang-uk’s conjecture while carrying out Crown Prince Taein’s autopsy, as per which the actual cause of his death was poison and not his disease. The old king even asked the historian not to take down these notes and closed the chapter on the issue there and then. Suspiciously enough, a few days later, Prince Geumyeong was crowned, who happens to be the present King. This news completely isolates Hwa-ryeong and her composure, while in another scene, the King burns the official report to hide his tracks again.
Queen Dowager points at the rumour going around about Crown Prince Seong-nam being infertile in her rather condescending chats with Crown Princess Cheong-ha. Anyhow, the latter neither bows out of the predicament nor leaves Seong-nam’s name stranded. She raises her concerns with Hwa-ryeong, and to gain more insight into Seong-nam’s personality traits, she consults the other Grand Princes as per Hwa-ryeong’s guidance.
Dowager’s court lady has a keen eye out to catch everyone and spots Cheong-ha leaving Grand Prince Muan’s quarters. In addition to that, the other Grand Princes constantly visiting him add more suspicions to the list. Queen Dowager alerts the court lady to keep checking his quarters.
Preposterous rumours about both the Crown Prince and Princess start spreading; at least somehow, Muan’s child and Cho-wol are kept hidden by Hwang-ryeong’s team, and the attacks from Queen Dowager are averted. A nursemaid is summoned to wish away the former dilemma. She puts a team together for the preparation of the act of royal consummation.
Queen Dowager figures out Kwon is Ui-seong’s father, while he, on the other hand brings in three vials for Hwang-ryeong to test for the poison. Kwon thinks the Queen already suspects him, so he might as well mislead her by putting the actual poison in one of the vials while she questions the credibility and starts looking elsewhere. However, Hwa-ryeong is smarter than most and already gets the hint.
Under the Queen’s Umbrella Episode 14 Ending
The royal guard guides Hwang-ryeong to Hyewolgak where one of the ladies takes her life. The signs on her body point to the use of the same poison revealed to be ‘Gansu’. She’s reminded of her son being treated with the same potion and quickly tests it out with silver. With the results coming out as positive, she finally knows the poison used to murder both the Crown Princes.
At the palace, Kwon convenes with Cho Guk-yeong and poisons him with Gansu as well, baiting him to tell him the whereabouts of the autopsy report draft. While he reveals the same eventually out of desperation, Kwon doesn’t go easy on him and speaks up about his brother’s death and Guk-yeong’s role in the act.
Hwa-ryeong heads straight to the deposed Queen Yoon’s premises after discovering the poison used. She notices her supposed son’s walk and compares it with Kwon’s posture. Older comments made by Kwon also arise in her mind, finally unravelling the puzzle and shedding light on the reality. She confronts Yoon for not having stopped her son. In her outburst, Yoon declares it all started with Dowager, then how she could put an end to it so even if she didn’t know earlier what her son had done, she would never disapprove of his actions.
In the last scene, Hwa-ryeong and Kwon face off while the latter looks for the autopsy draft at the hidden spot. Both of them know that the other one is quite aware of everything that is happening and that they’re on the same page after all the back and forth.
Under the Queen’s Umbrella Episode 14 Review
There may be some complaints about several characters remaining underused throughout the season. However, my interpretation of the series so far has been that each character has played their part. The show brings on a huge panel of characters, and it’s obvious that not everyone will get reserved screen time during each episode along the run. We must keep in mind that not all characters are supposed to play main roles, yet each one of them has revealed a lacking aspect of the palace and court politics, thus adding to the grey portrayal of the setting.
Certain characters like Cheong-ha didn’t seem to fit the bill initially. However, she, too, adopted her role in the game of politics, playing alongside Queen Hwang-ryeong. As the title of the series has hinted since the beginning, the show specifically highlights all that goes on underneath the Queen’s umbrella. Though Hwa-ryeong is the first one to come to mind in this scenario because she has been the guiding force and the one saving everyone; therefore, in her case, the ‘umbrella’ is a symbolic remark of her warmth for others.
At the same time, Dowager and the deposed Queen Yoon are also ‘queens’, but their means of executing their intentions are starkly in opposition to Hwang-ryeong’s motives. Ultimately, all three of them are playing their respective parts in a game of survival; while some are doing it quite literally in terms of preserving their life (and their family), others are more concerned with preserving their stature and political seat.
Under the Queen’s Umbrella Episode 14 is now streaming on Netflix.
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