Mystery Queen

The procedural murder-mystery loving side of me had been craving something like this. Mystery Queen just ended, and so I'm desperately trying to get my thoughts down. This show was a breath of fresh air - this show managing to defy every stereotype, matching the grimy side of the story with bubbly comedy, and pulled out genuinely interesting cases every week. But that ending...

NOTE: Massive spoilers. Tread carefully. Also, try to ignore the formatting problems, I got sick of trying to fix them.

Yoo Seol-ok (as in, Sherlock) lost both of her parents in an incident that the police ruled as a double suicide. Determined to reveal the truth, Seol-ok decides to prove they were murdered, sparking an intense love for profiling and catching criminals. Unfortunately, Seol-ok marries a prosecutor she grew up with, meaning if she wants to keep her family happy, fulfilling her dream of becoming a detective isn't a option. So begins er double life of helping out in the police station and running home in time to cook the meals. And the she meets Ha Wan-seung (as in, Watson), a detective demoted who threatens to arrest her if she interferes with police investigations. Slowly but surely, Seol-ok starts to convince him that she deserves to be taken seriously.

Whilst the excessive use of toilet humour in the first few episodes got on my nerves, I took a quick liking to Mystery Queen (although it wasn't until a few weeks later when it became something I consistently looked forward to).
  I liked how, whilst there was plenty of chemistry between our partners, no-one was in a hurry to rush a romance between them. Slowly establishing a rock-solid partnership between them was more important, and although there were flirty hints that these two could become something more, I was just satisfied that these two will always look out for eachother. 

  The show set out to forge unbreakable bonds between Seol-ok and the people around her, creating a fantastically diverse ensemble cast of actors of all ages who each got to play a decent part. My one hang-up about romantic-comedies is that they generally focus on young love; you rarely get to see how the lives of the characters play out once they get older. I'm sick of the wedding and three-kids ending you typically get for romantic stories, it's often unnecessary, and suggests life doesn't go on afterwards.

Mystery Queen actually helped me to like Choi Kang-hee, which I didn't think was possible. I wasn't sure how I'd feel about the show, because I've seen a lot of Choi Kang-hee and never once liked her, but surprisingly the role of curious and unstoppable housewife Seol-ok suited her perfectly. I liked most of the characters, but Kwon Sang-woo as Wan-seung was definitely my favourite. His character had such a heart of gold under his proud and gruff exterior, it stole my heart. All I'd seen of him previously was playing a piano in the first glimpse of Stairway to Heaven, and it's safe to say I'm never watching that show. Anyway, I'll look out for him from now on.

  And again, Mystery Queen brought ridiculously interesting cases to the table. The first case was the perfect way to hook me, because while it lasted a fair few episodes, the way it was resolved kept taking me by surprised. I'm frankly haunted by what I've seen now, but in the best kind of way.

  The only problem is, I'm conflicted about the ending. The writer spent the majority of the show fleshing out the big looming mystery that all the characters were involved in. But by the end, it was obvious the writer wouldn't be able to resolve this properly without an extension in the episode count. I like open endings when they're used in crime drama, simply because I think an appropriate way to close off such a story, but some closure is always nice. I liked the general ending for Mystery Queen - the knowledge that our rag-tag team were never going to stop solving cases - but the fact that we effectively got no answers to the huge overarching mystery royally pisses me off. The writer even convinced me that at least one piece of the puzzle was in place, only to then completely disregard that for the sake of leaving an enigma. In his defence, though, the writer is a rookie and probably doesn't have much experience with pacing himself enough to tie up all his loose ends. I guess the only solution is a second season, no?

Ultimately, Mystery Queen did a lot right, so much so that I don't think the poor pacing has ruined my experience of the show whatsoever. I could have been so much worse - I think the wonderfully crafted and thrilling plot arcs make up for everything the drama did wrong.