# Queenmaker (2023)

> A disgraced fixer engineers a civil rights lawyer's rise to mayor of Seoul as a weapon against her former employer.

Canonical page: https://ember.film/tv/115078

## Facts

- Seasons: 1
- Episodes: 11
- Episode runtime: 65 min
- Status: Ended
- Genres: drama
- Created by: Oh Jin-seok, Moon Ji-young
- Network: Netflix
- Cast: Kim Hee-ae, Moon So-ri, Ryu Soo-young, Seo Yi-sook, Ok Ja-yeon, Kim Sae-byuk, Kang Sung-Wook, Lee Kyung-young
- TMDB rating: 7.5/10
- IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt26350158/

## Ember's analysis

- Pacing: brisk
- Intensity: strong
- Complexity: layered
- Violence: mild
- Tone: tense, calculating, gripping, cynical, sharp

## What critics say

Viewers praise its gripping opening, strong cast and female-centered power plot, while finding the momentum fading and the political conflicts recycling in later episodes.

## Synopsis

Queenmaker (2023) is a South Korean political drama series created by Oh Jin-seok and Moon Ji-young for Netflix. After a tragic accident, a powerful fixer named Hwang Do-hee (Kim Hee-ae) uses her political instincts to transform civil rights lawyer Oh Kyung-sook (Moon So-ri) into the next mayor of Seoul, and in doing so sets her sights on dismantling her former employer's empire. The engine is a campaign built from backroom deals, leaked favors, and shifting alliances, with each episode turning on a new move in the election race and the counter-attacks that follow. Supporting roles include Ryu Soo-young as Baek Jae-min and Seo Yi-sook as Son Young-sim, whose loyalties keep the power balance unstable. Presented as a single eleven-episode season of roughly sixty-five minutes each, the show runs as one continuing serialized story rather than standalone cases. Its tone is tense and calculating, with a sharp, adult sensibility and a focus on women wielding influence in a male-dominated system. Set in contemporary Seoul, it sits in the lineage of House of Cards and Scandal for viewers drawn to ruthless political maneuvering. Audience reception was positive, though critics noted the middle episodes repeat the same attacks, making it a stylish but uneven watch that delivers in its election-night stakes.

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