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, and 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 3 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 3 Recap Contains Spoilers-
Unlike the previous episodes, not too many actions are spread out over the course of this one. It sticks to a few happenings while focusing on the relationship between the mother-son duo – Hwa-ryeong and Gyeseong.
Right from where the last episode had left us, Consort Go reports seeing Gye-seong cross-dressing in his secret hideout to Queen Dowager, who ruthlessly questions the grounds of this rumor and threatens her uncertainty, even though it’s evident that she does consider it innately. Gye-seong returns, only to see that his mother is waiting for him in his quarters. She advises him to refrain from going out on walks and to focus on the upcoming examinations for the time being. He can’t acquiesce to his commands and expresses his inability to live freely without his time off.
The first exam commences and each of the princes is met with unforeseen circumstances as the King puts forward such questions that would compel them to think out of the box. On the other hand, the Crown Prince’s conditions worsen again, and one of his companions presents a record of the medical journal he’d been maintaining to Hwa-ryeong. As soon as he wakes up, he expresses his desire to show up for his daily lessons but is confronted by his mother who wants him to focus on his recovery wholeheartedly despite the rumors in the kingdom.
Queen Dowager heeds Consort Go’s words and checks upon the credibility of the rumor. At the same time, a secret alliance formed among some of the teachers at Sigangwon in Prince Ui-seong’s favor is revealed. As per their plan, they let him have an upper hand while they check everyone’s answers (submissions were to be done anonymously). Seong-nam’s answers cause an uproar due to their unique and open-minded outlook, unlike others. Finally, Princes Ui-seong, Bo-geom, Seong-nam and Gye-seong are some names to make it to the list and advance to the second level of the selection process, i.e. the second examination.
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To mislead the public and continue with Crown Prince’s recovery procedure discreetly, the Queen asks the King to permit him to visit a hot spring as a means to cure his “skin disease”, while he actually moves into her quarters for a proper formal treatment that would assure his improvement in a few weeks. Court Lady Shin’s intentions seem grey as she divulges this information to Queen Dowager but she doesn’t let out a word against Gye-seong despite being asked about the same, so it all seems that it might’ve been her plan with Hwa-ryeong all along.
In an attempt to make a show out of it and berate Hwa-ryeong, Queen Dowager calls the King and her to go out on a walk (intended towards the secret chamber) with her. As soon as Lady Shin discovers that Gye-seong is again missing, rushes to Hwa-ryeong to intimate her of the situation. Excusing herself somehow from Queen Dowager, it is later unveiled that she puts the place on fire, thereby extinguishing the proofs Dowager wanted to use to her advantage.
The two face off against each other and the tension between them rises as Hwa-ryeong adds that fires aren’t frequent in the kingdom but have simultaneously always found a way to erase a lot of history. Taunted by her remarks, Queen Dowager doesn’t back down either and challenges her further by declaring that she will find a way to unmask Gye-seong’s truth and defame her and her troop of sons.
Under the Queen’s Umbrella Episode 3 Ending
After checking up with the men who extinguished the fire, Gye-seong rushes to meet his mother as he puts two and two together and figures out that she was responsible for it. Overcome with emotion, he questions his mother why she couldn’t just leave the chamber alone since that was the only place where he could express his true self. In her response, Hwa-ryeong tells him to meet her elsewhere and that she would demonstrate it all later.
Arriving at a humble setting not part of the main affluent sections of the palace, which also appears to be an artist’s studio, Court Lady Shin hands him a beautiful attire, much like the one that was burnt in the fire, and hair pins. She and Queen Hwa-ryeong wait outside the chamber as it rains, while Gye-seong, dressed up in the same feminine look, sits inside for his portrait, bearing his true identity.
Meanwhile, Lady Shin asks Hwa-ryeong if she was taken aback by Gye-seong’s secret, and the latter answers that it indeed was a new revelation for her and something unexpected but when she put herself in his shoes and tried to identify with his crisis, she felt equally scared as him. In the tranquil moment shared between the two, Hwa-ryeong acknowledges that with this secret out too, Lady Shin knows everything about her and we can see a friendship blooming between the two women.
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Later when Gye-seong steps out, back in his former attire, he too asks his mother if she was upset with him, but Hwa-ryeong is quick to settle his doubts and fears by confessing that she felt “at a loss for a while” but was never “upset” with him and his choices. Adding on that no matter how he looks, he would always be her child, she pulls out her favorite hairpin, which also belonged to her mother, and reveals that she always wanted to give it to her daughter.
With that said, she gifts it to Gye-seong, and the two walk alongside each other, sharing the same umbrella as Hwa-ryeong holds it out for her son, in the rain back to their quarters. The painting was meant for him to look at whenever he felt lost and wanted to see his true self.
Under the Queen’s Umbrella Episode 3 Review
Each episode packs in a lot of veiled and concealed emotion which is presented to us in many subtle ways. The director’s vision is ornamentally sophisticated and fathoms into the nuances of these characters and their relationships with each other in ways that can’t always be spelled out in words but is let through the means of metaphorical imageries, especially via reflections, shadows, and rains.
It’s through these magical elements that not only the vision but also the motives of the director and the story come alive seamlessly, speaking volumes about why the English title is Under the Queen’s Umbrella. In her embrace, everyone is safe, protected, accepted, and content, even if it means her being drenched in the rain.
The sequence between Queen Hwa-ryeong and her son, Grand Prince Gye-seong is beautiful and serene in not only the way it’s enacted but also as it’s shot. The use of shadows to show what should considerably stay ‘hidden’ from the public eye at the time draws out the layered realities of the kingdom as well as the individual characters in question.
For me, personally, each episode weighs on the same plane because every succeeding addition to the story only adds to the colorfully controlled depiction of all these characters situated in the Joseon timeline. Even though we’re living in the 21st century, the Queen’s earnest and hopeful request that “there will come a day when those who have different wishes from those of others no longer have to hide” is not yet a universal reality for all, but it surely rings a personal and positive note for each viewer having their own interpretation of this statement.
Under the Queen’s Umbrella Episode 3 is streaming on Netflix .
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