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 the King. 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 15 has a runtime of 65 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 15 Recap Contains Spoilers-
Confronting Physician Kwon head-on, Queen Hwa-ryeong asks why her son had to die. Although it was never his intention to avenge his brother’s death, when Kwon recognised that the young Crown Prince was suffering from the same illness, he caught it as destiny’s signal. Voicing his excruciating anxieties at the time, he tries to justify the roots of his revenge. He presents another warning about him just getting started in his attempts to reinstate the old status quo. Still, Hwa-ryeong counteracts, stating that she’ll end his retributive series of events.
Relaying the newly discovered revelations to the King, the Queen claims they need his confession to take him in. However, the King is still interested in keeping Kwon’s royal roots under wraps, which leaves Hwa-ryeong stunned. Meanwhile, the royal guards are out to catch Kwon and the other rebels. Even the deposed Queen finds a way to flee amidst all the mayhem, while Kwon disguises himself as one of the guards, finds a way out, and seeks Ui-seong’s help to find the autopsy report.
Having convened with Cho-guk earlier, Hwa-ryeong caught him red-handed and spotted the hiding spot for the report. Toji, or Royal Physician Yoo Sang-uk is put behind bars and is interrogated by the King. Haunted by the sins of the past, he passes the order to kill Kwon immediately following his arrest and the retrieval of the report (believing he has it).
Hwa-ryeong knows that even Queen Dowager would want him dead as soon as his royal identity is revealed. She reaches out to her of her own accord and informs her that Kwon, Yi ik-hyeon, the son of the deposed Queen, poisoned the royal physician. Furthermore, she threatens her with the revelation of Crown Prince Taein’s autopsy report, only to be put to rest, if she helps her find Kwon, alive, before the King.
Queen Dowager’s guard confirms that Kwon is hiding in Ui-seong’s quarters, where they exchange warm words, foreshadowing the impending revelation of the relationship’s true nature. Feeling desperate to shun Hwa-ryeong’s offence, Queen Dowager works out another scheme of paying off the royal physician to lie that the Crown princess isn’t pregnant so that she can beseech the King regarding her deposition upon her heart disease being announced in the open.
Hwa-ryeong gets the hint and turns in the report to Dowager, hinting at another record in her possession. Meeting Park Gyeong-u, she pleads with him to hand over the first draft penned by his father, but he’d already presented it to the King beforehand. Left with no choice but to lure out Kwon, Hwang-ryeong initiates a search party for his mother, the deposed queen.
Won-hyeong is Queen Dowager’s next target as she commands him to leave Kwon with her, the only way he can save Consort Hwang and Prince Ui-seong. Hwa-ryeong, on the other hand, asks deposed queen Yoon about Kwon, admitting that she plans to spare his life, while others won’t so as much as give him another chance.
Won-hyeong strikes a deal with Queen Dowager to leave Kwon in the open, but he knows how to save himself after all this time. Finally catching the hint of his real identity, Won-hyeong switches sides again and pays the price for the same with his life as Kwon stabs him.
Under the Queen’s Umbrella Episode 15 Ending
Hwa-ryeong instantly envisions the pattern of Kwon’s murder spree, which leaves Queen Dowager as his next target. Bursting into her quarters, he proclaims that he impregnated Consort Hwang to stay one step ahead of her after all the sufferings she’d put his family through.
However, it’s Queen Dowager’s court lady sitting in her place disguised as her. Consort Hwang walks in, overhearing everything he said about her, Ui-seong and his true identity while the guards surround the quarters.
Queen Dowager burns the report as Hwa-ryeong rushes in, asking about Kwon. Inside the quarters, Consort Hwang is left alone with him as he brazenly displays the blade smeared with her father’s blood. Ui-seong enters with his eyes locked on Kwon, or Yi Ik-hyeon, fuelled by the hatred and confusion of Queen Dowager, who pushed him to murder his father without speaking of the complete truth.
Under the Queen’s Umbrella Episode 15 Review
The penultimate episode of the season reiterates the recurrent theme that despite rejoicing in their royal stances, neither of the members residing in the palace is granted a peaceful moment without their seats of power being threatened. To this date, Queen Dowager is the only person who has always found a way to protect her skin. While it turns out to be quite frustrating for the viewers to repeatedly receive the same response from the series, the motive is to raise the stakes for the last episode.
Under the Queen’s Umbrella has sported its huge pantheon of characters since the first day, and the most prominent aspect has been that one can’t turn a blind eye to a seemingly supporting character because you never know when the tables turn on them. The same trajectory has been followed in revealing Kwon’s reality. Even though not enough room was evacuated for the dynamics between Ui-seong and him to breathe, we feel the heartbreak upon the final instance of patricide in the last moments of the episode.
It shows that direct action plans aren’t always the answer to a conflict. All this while Queen Dowager has been victorious despite abstaining from stepping out into the battlefield herself. She’s been stirring up a game of wits, which has found its only worthy opponent in Hwa-ryeong. Although this image renders the other characters mere receivers of their actions, the same shouldn’t be misinterpreted as them not playing any role.
Distinctly drawing our attention to the women’s side in the palace, it doesn’t simply attempt to throw visions of sisterhood in our faces but builds towards it by developing the respective arcs of the various people involved. Thus, proving these courtly women aren’t congenitally vicious. It comes down more to their characters because, ultimately, those who had to learn their lesson did so earlier and joined Hwa-ryeong’s cause eventually. In contrast, others continued to pull strings in desperation.
More importantly, the best aspect of the series is that we don’t feel absolute hatred for any character (except Queen Dowager, Kim Hae-sook, leaving us mesmerised by her projection of sinister antagonism) and recognise the greyness prevalent in each of their personalities. I feel disheartened with what befell Ui-seong, even though it was a long time coming. One can only do so if we achieve in discerning that he’s a mere product of perennial brainwashing and conditioning since the beginning. You can’t help but wonder how things could’ve turned out differently for him if he hadn’t received the upbringing that he did.
Under the Queen’s Umbrella Episode 15 is now streaming on Netflix.
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I’m disappointed in Crown Princess’s pregnancy with actually knowing if they consummated the marriage.