With the impactful period kdrama, starring Kim Hye-soo, Choi Won-young, Moon Sang-min, Kim Hae-sook, Yoo Jeon-ho and more, coming to an end on December 4, 2022, we bring youUnder the Queen’s Umbrellaending explained to demystify the respective character arc conclusions present therein. Directed by Kim Hyung-shik, the first season of the historical drama or ‘sageuk’,Under the Queen’s Umbrella(슈룹), consisting of 16 episodes, was broadcast on the Korean network tvN and streamed worldwide via Netflix.
While spoiler warnings will be saved for what’s to come ahead in this story, there’s no mystery surrounding Bae In-hyuk’s character, the Crown Prince, and his death during the initial course of the season itself. Although ranked as a major character death in the series, the inevitable demise is one of the most crucial factors responsible for dramatising later events.
Netflix describes the series as follows:
A SPIRITEDQUEENTRIES 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 Ending Explained Contains Spoilers-
Under the Queen’s Umbrella Ending Explained
Hwa-ryeong and Seong-nam teamed up to solve the puzzle of the Crown Prince’s murder, which sparked extra interest when they discovered the similar links shared between his and the 20 years former Crown Prince Taein’s death. Both were poisoned similarly, with the perpetrators erasing legitimate clues, thus making it seem as if their mutual disease was the cause of their demise.
Is the Mystery Resolved in the End? Who Killed the Crown Prince?
Commonly known to the rest as Physician Kwon, Yi Ik-hyeon, deposed queen Yoon’s son, poisoned the Crown Prince, thus repeating history as Queen Dowager poisoned his brother, Taein, back in the day. Hwa-ryeong and Seong-nam trace the case of their Crown Prince’s death to the older counterpart. Due to the various similarities shared between the cases, with even the cause of death being the same – poison – they meticulously investigate the case, eventually seeing through Master Toji (a.k.a Yoo Sang-uk, the older Crown prince’s royal physician) and Physician Kwon’s (their Crown prince’s royal physician or Yi Ik-hyeon) true identities.
Who Wins the Tussle Between Queen Hwa-ryeong and Dowager?
The incessant face-offs between Queen Hwa-ryeong and Dowager have set the series’ tone since the beginning. In the season finale, they butt heads again as the latter is keen on preserving her royal seat of power and covering the tracks of the crime committed by her twenty years ago. Queen Hwa-ryeong, on the other hand, is determined to put this vicious cycle to an end by persuading the King, i.e. her husband, to admit to the reality he witnessed firsthand as a young boy.
Queen Dowager believed that her son would never turn against her because that would also question the legitimacy of his ascension to the throne. However, turning against all odds, even the guidance of his councilmen, the King bends to Hwa-ryeong’s words and his desire to purge his heart of the years’ old weight and guilt. Accepting all the evidence presented by Hwa-ryeong and putting it together with the first draft of Crown Prince Taein’s death day’s records, he presented it all to the councillors, shedding light on his mother’s wrongdoings.
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To redeem his older actions, he reinstates the deposed queen Yoon, while restricting his mother to her confined quarters and banning any interaction with her. Taken aback by the change of events, Queen Dowager can’t accept her loss and is found dead wearing her old royal wedding attire in her quarters by Court Lady Nam.
Does Anyone Die in the End?
In addition to Queen Dowager’s suicide, the fans quickly noticed that Consort Hwang’s family is probably the most dysfunctional unit introduced in the show. It was revealed earlier that Prince Ui-seong wasn’t the King’s song, and Queen Dowager had her eyes out to figure out his father’s identity. In contrast, even the Chief State Councillor, Won-hyeong (Consort Hwang’s father), was unfamiliar with this groundbreaking reality. Joining the dots eventually, Queen Dowager puts two and two together as she realises that Physician Kwon is not only Crown Prince Taein’s brother, the deposed queen Yoon’s son – Yi Ik-hyeon, but is also Ui-seong’s father.
Upon learning the fact of life, she uses Ui-seong as her leverage to lure Kwon out of the shadows. Won-hyeong is also more than willing to hand him over to the King to save his skin and stature. He brings him out for a secret meeting with the rebels. Kwon catches on and sees through his suspicious energy, glueing himself to him as soon as the royal guards arrive at the scene to capture him.
Kwon challenges Won-hyeong for wanting to give him away to the King’s guards, who’d been commanded to kill him on sight. He finally outs his true identity as Yi Ik-hyeon. The Chief State Councillor is shocked to learn of this revelation and tries his best to switch sides in his last moments to fight alongside Ik-hyeon’s cause. However, he doesn’t give him another second and mercilessly avenges his brother’s murder by stabbing Won-hyeong (in the absurd twister way, he kills his father-in-law).
Queen Dowager incites Ui-seong that his links with the rebellion against the King will be revealed soon, and the sole action that will renew his reputation in the palace is if he kills Kwon himself, clear his name. She’s aware of the true biological ties between the two, but since Ui-seong wasn’t at the time, he races off to her quarters, where Kwon is holed up by the surrounding royal forces, ready to take him in.
Without hearing another word, Ui-seong drives his sharp sword through Kwon’s body, who, in his dying moments, finally speaks up about their relationship and pleads for him to survive through everything, unlike him. So, we have a case of patricide in the end as well.
Is Seung-nam Able to Keep His Promise and Welcome His Nephew to the Palace Again?
Yes, the Grand Heir, Won-soon (his brother’s son), is brought back to the palace after everything is resolved. Accompanied by his mother – the former Crown Princess, and his infant sibling, their family is restored to their original dwelling place, with the former Crown Princess developing a warm camaraderie with Cheong-ha, the new Crown Princess.
What Happens to All the Grand Princes?
Although this happened before the last episode, Seong-nam earned his desired seat as the new Crown Princess after the ‘taekhyeon’ contest and married Cheong-ha. Both loved each other equally in the end, and the new Crown Princess was even declared pregnant despite Queen Dowager’s many attempts to push for her miscarriage and a failed pregnancy to banish her from the palace and taint Seong-nam’s reputation.
Gye-seong continued expressing his inner stifled voice through his paintings, which also gave away the message of his lack of agency and freedom to be who he/she/they wanted to be. Eventually seeking Hwa-ryeong’s permission, he moves out to discover their true self in the outside world, where they could spread their wings without royal conduct, confining him in a cage of expectations and duties. Later, they even send Hwa-ryeong paintings depicting their new life as a trans woman outside the palace, living as the true version of themself.
Grand Prince Muan moves out of the palace once his relationship Cho-wol is out in the open. Wanting to live an unrestricted life that doesn’t mould him as per the princely conduct, he continues to visit the palace (a bit too much) to gain intel from the royal consorts on new ways of tutoring his “genius” daughter, A-ra, initially born out of wedlock.
Grand Prince Il-yeong, on the other hand, openly takes an interest in his astronomical quirks, working on the innovations that often lead him to the palace roofs for experiments, and once again in trouble with his mother racing through the royal corridors to avert the disaster waiting to happen.
What Happens to the Other Princes?
As far as the other grown-up princes are concerned, Prince Bo-geum finds ways to meet his mother in the palace from time to time. However, most of his time is spent outside working out his official duties, returning only to discuss official matters with the Crown Prince, Seong-nam. Prince Sim-so also delivers happy news about his wife’s pregnancy, as Consort Go takes an avid interest in his life, having changed her former orthodox ways of living.
Prince Ui-seong and his mother, former Consort Hwang, switch their residence as they’re situated in a rather humble setting. His mother suffers from delusions, with her mind still stuck in the past of their former royal setting after dealing with the traumatic blow of Ik-hyeon and her father’s deaths.
The former deposed queen Yoon, Ui-seong’s grandmother, though welcomed to the palace again after the King’s orders of her reinstatement, still finds it impossible to adjust to the royal setting, especially since the last thread holding her strong, her son, is also dead. Yet, as conveyed to Hwa-ryeong, her sole condition helps keep Ui-seong and his mother distant from harm’s way, with the Queen often checking upon them.
Under the Queen’s Umbrella Final Scene
Queen Hwa-ryeong is accompanied by her son, Seong-nam, who takes on the role of the protector, a duty previously undertaken by the Queen, as he provides her with an umbrella’s shade against the heavy downpour. At the same time, his shoulder is exposed to rain. The scene parallels a previous one shared between her and Grand Prince Gye-seong, wherein she tilted the umbrella in his favour, protecting him from the prejudiced constraints of the royal setting and all odds.
While she finds a shoulder to rely on with her son Seong-nam, the newly appointed Crown Prince, the future generation, symbolically visualised through Grand Heir Won-seon, can still count on her to fight against all sizes of evil and protect them.
All 16 episodes of the Korean drama are now streaming on Netflix. Under the Queen’s Umbrella episode 16 concluded the season run with its premiere on December 4, 2022, at 7:30 PM IST.
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