If you are in it for the Umbrellas chances are you will end up disappointed as the drama starts off showing amazing umbrellas during the first episodes but after that they are pretty much no where to be seen. However that does not make this drama any less good.

The drama itself has a very much female centred plot as the boys lovely as the may be are more or les there to give the viewers interesting side stories that support the development of the plot but are not the main attraction of this drama. As the name may entail the Queens are the main attraction, while not so much the umbrellas but the queens and concubines of this drama are what makes this drama stand out. The woman's interactions, scheming, ways of figuring out stuff will keep you guessing, intrigued and make you feel a bunch of stuff.

The story is indeed deep, dark and complicated just like any other political historical drama. However the princes and princesses existence make way for a lot of humour, eye candy and soften the pain every step of the way. Giving this very much political drama the balance it needs to keep you from going under in complicated plot twists, darkness and what not.

Through the show of extreme parenthood of trying to raise kids in a palace setting, we are invited in to timeless parenthood issues (and other issues), tossing us from hating the parents of this drama to loving them back to hating them to loving them basically teaching us that parenthood is tough... Luckily most parents do not have to be terrified of others trying to kill their kids at any given time, however finding a good balance between pressure, caring, paving roads (over others) and survival is indeed a task most parents will probably be able to relate to.

The drama also teaches viewers not to trust anybody especially not to trust your grandparents, doctors, schoolers, maids, politicians, siblings, parents... And be careful what you put in your mouth too...

Making this a drama with a little bit of everything, there are even some tiny (focus on the word tiny) pebbles of romance... that the romance lover in me would have wanted a lot more of as all the potential romance side stories where really good leaving me wanting more of them and less of other stuff...

The pacing is decent while the first episode did not captivate me the second one got me hooked, making way for a good pace of escalating interest for the first half of the show or so before we reached a plato of still interesting pace but just not as interesting or with the added interest the previous episodes had. Giving it a slight down hill before it got back up to captivate me again.

The plot twists in this actually did take me relatively by surprise, I admit some where more more obvious than others but over all most of them took a while to build up to keeping me on my toes for most of the drama. The cinematography is really good! the amount of beautiful shots is almost overwhelming at times.

Bingabilaty :high,
Feels: Medium to high
Quality: High
Annoying characters: not really but a few to many annoying "ooh choohaas... " that got on my nereves.
Cute and lovable characters: a lot
Characters you will want to choke or shove of a cliff: a lot so well balanced
Relevant issues: yes and done well
Humour: not as dark as I had hoped but I did laugh a few times.

What keeps it from reaching a full 10 is:
1. It lacks some closure, as some parts dragged out others where rushed.
2. The middle parts where just not that exiting
3. Some of the logic did not really hold up all the way thru
4. Lack of umbrellas, I felt like the name of the drama and first episodes gave me high hopes that where not completely fulfilled
5. A few to many flashbacks