Lady Mishil in "Queen Seon Duk".
Roytavan : Writer
Original : http://twssg.blogspot.com/
The Great Queen Seon Duk is a South Korean historical drama aired on MBC last year. It chronicles the life of Queen Seon Duk of Silla.Dukman (Queen Seonduk’s childhood name) was born a twin but was abandoned as a baby. She was later brought back to the Silla palace, where she joined forces with her twin sister Princess Cheonmyong to oppose a royal concubine named Mishil, who wanted to seize power. Mishil devised sinister plans to have the two Silla princesses exiled from the kingdom, and in a secretive battle, Princess Cheonmyong was assassinated. But Princess Dukman shrewdly enlisted the help of General Kim Yusin and eliminated her archenemy Mishil. Later on becoming the first female ruler of the Shilla Kingdom.
Although the series is named after Dukman’s character, I can’t help but feel that Mishil is the main character. It’s not because of the actresses’ acting skills, because Lee Yo won’s acting is on par with Go Hyun jung’s. It’s just that Mishil is the driving force beneath practically everything that happens in the series. Really, everything in the series can be traced back to her. Even after she died her presence was still felt, she had some sort of legacy or trail of influence.
As you watched Queen Seon Dukk TV Series,Lady Mishil is one of the most influential persons in the kingdom of Silla as court lady and Won Hwa or female leader of the Hwarang corps and possesses intelligence that make her stronger.One of the examples are the removal of Jinji from office.In order to consolidate her political base,
Mishil devised plans to exile the two princesses of Silla,Princess Cheonmyeong and Deokman but fails to do so.She even tried to launch a coup and dethrone Queen Maya and Jinpyeong of Silla but Princess Dukman and her allies foiled this coup attempt and managed to kill Mishil.Some believed that if Mishil operationalizes a coup earlier,Seon Deok of Silla would never have a chance to gain the throne.She originally wanted to be queen consort of King Jinji,but suddenly he broke off their agreement.It infuriates Mishil and succeeded in removing him as king.
She is a really smart woman who embraces power. Her ultimate dream is to become the Queen. In her case, she actually just wanted to be the King’s wife, the First Lady, that sort of thing. It’s in essence different from what Dukman wanted to be – a ruler. Anyway, since King Jinheung’s reign Mishil has been lusting for the spot of the Queen, but Jinheung realised her ambition and her greed. Before he was able to have her killed, he died of a heart attack (or Mishil would have poisoned him anyway).
Mishil then went against Jinheung’s dying wishes and had Jinji ascend the throne instead of Jinpyeong as was intended. Because she had this little affair with Jinji and thought he’d be nice enough to make her Queen. But Jinji sucked as a King and wouldn’t do as Mishil wished, so she booted him off and made young Jinpyeong the King instead. Jinpyeong feared Mishil and was more or less a puppet of hers, but she also wanted him to make her the Queen, however wrong it may sound to you, but apparently the thousands of people in Silla did not find it too odd.
Mishil’s efforts to become Queen included sending people to kill Lady Maya, Jinpyeong’s pregnant wife at that time. Maya was saved by Munno, who is the legendary leader of the Hwarang (young warriors I guess?) Mishil was once again thwarted, but she is a persistent woman.
Just to add a bit to the ‘eww’ factor was that Mishil herself had a husband, Sejong, who is a jingeol (one rank below the seongeols, so technically he’s a rich, powerful man still). She also had a lover, Seolwon, who has undying faith in her. She has a son with each man, and the 5 of them make up a really weird family. Eww.
The reasons to love and fear Mishil :
- She is intimidating as hell. Don’t think you can stare her down without peeing in your pants. Case-in-point: Dukman always seems like she’s about to wither in fear when speaking to Mishil, before she embraced her newfound power and status as princess.
- She uses her womanly ways to her benefit all the time – she knows how to treat men, that’s why she is able to have both Sejong and Seolwon all wrapped around her little finger. Heck, they practically worship her, which I don’t find surprising, given her poise.
- She is gracious even in defeat. She comes head-to-head with Cheonmyeong and Dukman many times, and she doesn’t win all the time but she bounces back quickly to plan her next move. Cool as a cucumber, she is.
- She is highly intelligent. She reads people really well, even Dukman seems like an open book to her. (Which is kind of true, because Dukman was less confident/experienced earlier in the series)
- She has really expressive eyebrows. They add to the intimidating factor and makes her acting a whole lot more interesting to watch.
- She recognises and values talent. She knows what capabilities people have and she tries to get them on her side, like how she tries to coerce Yushin and his father to become her allies, even going all out as to forcing them over, but well, Yushin is a hard rock to break. Literally and metaphorically.
- She can tell the future! She can even manipulate the weather! Well, not exactly, but she is a master of manipulation, and she is far-sighted enough to see through a lot of things, which explains how she gained influence steadily over the years.
I felt that she had an appropriate ending, gracious yet she did not completely surrender to Dukman. Even as she was dying she managed to sow the seeds of discord that eventually left Bidam (her son with King Jinji whom she abandoned) to betray Dukman. Well played!
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