Actors: Kim Hee Ae, Moon So Ri, Seo Yi Sook, Ok Ja Yeon, Ryu Soo Young, Lee Kyung Young, Seo Jin

Synopsis

The race for one of the prestigious political positions is on and it’s a very dirty battle and innocent lives are sacrificed. Hwang Do Hee (Kim Hee Ae) the general manager at Eunsang Group is caught up in the suicide of one of her valued employees over a rape accusation against the CEO and son in law of Eunsang Group. During the post me too era, Baek Jae Min (Ryu Soo Young) tries to get ahead of it by giving Doo Hee his side first.

Do Hee is the clean up crew, personal and work, for the Eunsang Group. She is the smartest person at the company but not respected. The Eunsang family compares her to a hunting dog who does whatever they ask of her. After an apparent suicide after one of her employees reported a rape by someone in the company to her. Instead of taking her side at the time, she offered her money and told her to leave quietly. She was so distraught and disturbed by her employee’s death, Do Hee had enough and started acting on her own which gets her fired and leads her to become the campaign manager for Oh Kyung Sook (Moon So Ri) for the Seoul Mayoral election.

My Review

I will not put any spoilers in this review because this show needs to be enjoyed by the masses. If anything is binge worthy, it is this show. A bunch of bad ass women who are battling it out to get their rights.

In and around 2015-2017, a lot of kdramas depict a strong woman who is loud and can hold it down when they’re 6 soju bottles deep or the adorable klutz that preservers all the mean men around her. This depiction of the strong female character has evolved since then.

Kdramas like Queenmaker and Search WWW finally bring women on the same level as men. Other shows like Melo is My Nature or Misty, bring attention to the issues of inequality between men and women but don’t really show what the world would like if women were actually equals. This is how Queenmaker sets itself apart from the rest by showing the viewer what the world would look like if men and women were actually equals.

We have a bunch of heavy hitters in this show. Hwang Do Hee played by Kim Hee Ae, you might remember our Korean Dr. Foster from World of the Married. Candidate Oh Kyung Sook who is played by Moon So Ri who has a long list of movies, dramas, and accolades. Seo Yi Wook who plays are rich white collar villain and a kdrama veteran. How can we have a team of white collar villains without Lee Kyung Young. Ironically, this man is an actual accused sexual offender in real life, I don’t know how he hasn’t been cancelled yet. I don’t want to talk about him, the situation makes me angry, you can do your own research on him.

The story about how dirty politics really is sucks you. Unfortunately, it’s not too far from the truth about elections and politics. You have candidate Seo Min Jung (Jin Kyung) who seemed to have started her career in with pure intentions of making a better place for women but eventually becomes corrupt after being in the game for so long. She was no longer able to see people as humans but only cared about her own ratings. When a politician gets to this point, they are no longer doing what they’re supposed to. They’re only feeding their own egos.

The phrase, “if you lay with dogs, you will eventually get flees”, spoken by Dong Hee’s ex-husband and campaign manager of the opposing party, speaks volumes. I love dogs but I understood what he was trying to say.

I absolutely loved the female version of a bromance between Do Hee and Kyung Sook. Their relationship evolves into an unbreakable bond towards the end. They come from very different worlds and don’t see eye to eye on all things but their end goal is the same.

Aside from the politics, we see the relationships and family dynamics between Chae Ryoung, Seo Rin, and their mother Son Young Sim. More than trying to gain control of the company, they want to win their mother’s approval. This relationship between the three is heart breaking to watch at some points. The writer or director was able to humanize the feelings of these villains.

If you want an emotionally intense drama with great acting and story, this is the drama for you. Sick of the typical love stories? This one does not have a love story as the main focus. It’s just bad ass women trying to make a better world.

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