May Queen (TV series)

May Queen (Korean: 메이퀸) is a 2012 South Korean melodrama series about three people who experience ambition, revenge, betrayal and love, against the backdrop of the shipbuilding industry in Ulsan during Korea's modernization. It stars Han Ji-hye, Kim Jaewon and Jae Hee.[1][2]

May Queen
Promotional poster for May Queen
Genre
Written bySon Young-mok
Directed byBaek Ho-min
Starring
Country of originSouth Korea
Original languageKorean
No. of episodes38
Production
Executive producerLee Kang-hoon
ProducerJung Min-woo
Production companyMay Queen Pictures
Release
Original networkMunhwa Broadcasting Corporation
Original releaseAugust 18 (2012-08-18) –
December 23, 2012 (2012-12-23)
External links
Website

Synopsis

The heroine Chon Hae-joo (Han Ji-hye) begins life in utter poverty. But despite being burdened with the secret past of her parents, she navigates treacherous waters and overcomes obstacles to achieve her dreams. Her childhood sweetheart Park Chang-hee (Jae Hee), son of the butler to a company chairman, also rises above his humble beginnings to become a successful prosecutor. Bright and playful Kang San (Kim Jaewon), the rival boss's privileged grandson, returns to Korea after years abroad to find that he still carries a torch for Hae-joo.

The story starts with the murder of a scientist, Yune Hak-su. On the other hand, his family is scared and worried. Wealthy Jang Do Hyun is revealed to be the murderer. He being the superior of Yune Hak-su wears a mask of grief and takes part in the memorial service, only to take his junior's wife, Lee Geum-hee, as his own wife. Her daughter is robbed from her and given away to an unemployed and debt struck military junior of the head butler of Jang Do-hyun, Park Gi-chul. Even though Do-hyun orders for her child to be killed his butler Park Gi-chul, because of his conscience is unable to do so. The story moves forward and we see a young Hae-joo, daughter of the late Yune Hak-su, living with a family that has an ill-mannered and complaining mother, as she believes her to be the husband's illegitimate daughter. Park Chang Hee, the butler's son, who is ill-treated by the owner's son, has his own share of grief. Also there is Kang San, a charming, carefree and cheerful heir of the rival group of Jang Do-hyun, Haepoong. He is the only heir to his grandfather's business as his parents are dead. They all meet under one roof at the local school in Ulsan, where Kang San and ChangHee attend the same class. Due to their similar situations Chang Hee and Hae Joo start liking each other. However Kang San starts falling for Hae Joo because of her welding abilities and cheerful personality. Due to some regrettable situations and events, Jang Do-Hyun started to doubt Hae Joo is as his wife's daughter who he thought had been killed. So, he orders the butler to kill her. Chang Hee's father kills Hae Joo's foster father instead when the man puts himself between his daughter and the butler's vehicle.

On the other hand, Jang Do-Hyun takes over Haepoong group by deceit and Kang San's grandfather is jailed unfairly. Kang San moves to America for further studies. Hae Joo's family also moves away from Ulsan to Geo-Jeh. As the story takes a leap in time, we see Hae Joo and Park Chang Hee as adults dating. Jang Do-Hyun starts showering respect and praises toward Chang Hee as he is now the public prosecutor, a strict one, in hopes that he will protect his company, Cheon-Ji. Chang Hee's father the often abused butler dreams that one day his son will become the son-in-law of Jang Don-Hyun by marrying Jang Do-Hyun’s daughter, Inwha. He is seen to be playing matchmaker too.

Jang Do-Hyun’s company bags a contract with an American company which sends their head executive Ryan Kang to oversee the project. He turns out to be Kang San who has a big idea for Jang Do-Hyun. He and Hae Joo met at a night club and when she attends an interview for the Cheon-Ji. She and San work together after he reveals himself. They work together to build a new Azimuth Thruster so that San can take his company back. But all their efforts are thwarted by Cheon-Ji. In the meanwhile San loses his job, gets stabbed, and loses his grandfather while Hae-joo struggles with her family and her growing feelings towards San.

Chang Hee under great humiliations and blackmailing from his father marries Jang's daughter who is in turn in love with San. Chang Hee starts to play with Jang's daughter for getting back at her dad. He also learns that his father was behind Hae Joo’s foster father's death. After losing his only support, his grandfather, San starts living on the streets and working at a construction site. From great provocation and support from Hae Joo, he moves into her house and starts anew. He also starts uncovering Hae Joo's father's death facts and finds out her mother. After several attempts at uncovering Jang Do-Hyun’s deceit by taking his wife's and Hae Joo's uncle's help they succeed in getting evidence against Jang Do-Hyun. Between this Chang Hee takes the seat of Cheon-Ji and starts sinking low. It is revealed that Jang Do-Hyun is the murderer and also that he is Hae Joo's biological father. Because of this revelation Hae Joo rejects San's proposal, which he does after getting the patent rights registered for their invention. Later, however they both kiss and make up. At the end we see Chang Hee living with his father at a village while his wife visits him to say that she loves him. Hae Joo and Kang San leave in their ship to drill oil in the Pacific whilst he dons her finger with a huge diamond. Jang Do-Hyun, the cause of so much heartbreak, kills himself.[3]

Cast

Main
She possesses natural confidence along with a sunny disposition. With an infectious curiosity, she has an enormous positive outlook on life. Her father was a janitor who loved to sail when he had the rare chance to, so she also became interested in boats, which led her to learn how to fix them. But the murder death of her father when she was a sixth grader revealed a secret about her past. She is unable to leave her family because of the sense of duty she feels towards her late father. As she turns into a young adult, she gets involved in offshore oil drilling and finds out that her real biological father committed his life to oil exploration.
He is a friend of Chang-hee and the grandson of the founder of Haepoong Group. Growing up with a silver spoon in his mouth, he was always cheerful and full of energy. He has a photographic memory that serves him well in the interests he pursues. He had a crush on Hae-joo just like his friend Chang-hee. After spending 15 years abroad, he returns to South Korea and is reunited with Hae-joo, and the old feelings he had for her return once again. Hae-joo's charm and bubbly personality gradually melts Kang San's heart.
He was Hae-joo's first boyfriend. Chang-hee is a perfectionist who keeps his guard up all the time. He is very smart but also a workaholic. Many people mistake him as the son of Cheonji Group's chairman when, in fact, he is the son of the chairman's butler. He chooses the daughter of the Cheonji chairman Iwa Ha over Hae-joo as his wife in order to become rich and end his parent's miserable life. This leads to him being on the opposite side in the rivalry between Cheonji Group and Haepoong Group where Hae-joo and Kang San work alongside each other.

Supporting characters
Hae-joo's family
Cheonji Group
Haepoong Group

Ratings

In the table below, the blue numbers represent the lowest ratings and the red numbers represent the highest ratings.

Episode # Original broadcast date Average audience share
TNmS Ratings[4] AGB Nielsen[5]
Nationwide Seoul National Capital Area Nationwide Seoul National Capital Area
1 2012/08/18 11.3% 12.1% 11.3% 12.5%
2 2012/08/19 11.6% 12.6% 10.8% 12.3%
3 2012/08/25 13.9% 15.4% 12.0% 13.1%
4 2012/08/26 14.2% 16.6% 12.7% 13.9%
5 2012/09/01 14.5% 15.6% 13.7% 14.7%
6 2012/09/02 16.6% 19.0% 14.6% 15.6%
7 2012/09/08 17.4% 18.9% 15.5%
8 2012/09/09 16.2% 18.8% 15.4% 17.5%
9 2012/09/15 17.9% 19.6% 16.8% 17.6%
10 2012/09/16 17.4% 19.1% 17.7% 18.7%
11 2012/09/22 20.0% 22.5% 18.6% 19.7%
12 2012/09/23 18.7% 21.2% 17.1% 18.1%
13 2012/09/29 17.7% 20.5% 14.6% 15.9%
14 2012/09/30 15.3% 16.4% 13.1% 14.5%
15 2012/10/06 20.8% 23.1% 17.7% 18.9%
16 2012/10/07 18.7% 21.5% 17.4% 18.1%
17 2012/10/13 19.2% 21.3% 18.9% 20.1%
18 2012/10/14 19.1% 21.8% 17.6% 18.8%
19 2012/10/20 19.4% 22.1% 18.7% 19.9%
20 2012/10/21 19.8% 22.9% 18.0% 19.3%
21 2012/10/27 19.5% 21.6% 18.2% 19.4%
22 2012/10/28 19.6% 21.9% 17.8% 18.5%
23 2012/11/03 18.9% 21.3% 18.5% 20.0%
24 2012/11/04 19.6% 22.0% 17.8% 19.3%
25 2012/11/10 19.8% 21.6% 18.9% 20.4%
26 2012/11/11 19.2% 21.4% 18.0% 19.0%
27 2012/11/17 21.5% 19.1% 21.3%
28 2012/11/18 19.3% 21.7% 19.3% 20.3%
29 2012/11/24 21.5% 25.4% 20.0% 21.1%
30 2012/11/25 22.0% 24.8% 21.0% 22.6%
31 2012/12/01 24.2% 22.7% 23.9%
32 2012/12/02 24.5% 25.5% 23.6% 24.6%
33 2012/12/08 24.3% 26.2% 23.3% 24.4%
34 2012/12/09 24.4% 27.6% 23.5% 24.9%
35 2012/12/15 23.0% 25.3% 21.7% 22.1%
36[6] 2012/12/16 19.4% 21.1% 20.6% 21.8%
37 2012/12/22 22.4% 23.8% 20.2% 21.7%
38 2012/12/23 25.9% 29.4% 26.4% 27.5%
Average19.12%21.26%17.94%19.14%

Production

It was reported on October 31, 2012 that male lead Kim Jaewon injured the muscle of his right thigh while shooting a quarreling scene. He was taken to hospital for examination at the completion of filming, received treatment and has since returned to the regular shooting schedule.[7]

Awards

2012 20th Korean Culture and Entertainment Awards

2012 1st K-Drama Star Awards

2012 MBC Drama Awards

  • Top Excellence Award, Actress in a Serial Drama: Han Ji-hye
  • Top Excellence Award, Actor in a Serial Drama: Kim Jaewon
  • Excellence Award, Actor in a Serial Drama: Jae Hee
  • Best Young Actress: Kim Yoo-jung
  • Golden Acting Award, Actor: Lee Deok-hwa
  • Golden Acting Award, Actress: Yang Mi-kyung
  • Writer of the Year Award: Son Young-mok

International broadcast

References
  1. "May Queen's Han Ji-hye comes back to TV". MBC Global Media. August 16, 2012.
  2. Kim, Hyun-rok (July 26, 2012). "Kim Jae-won says, I'll reveal my strong side hidden in my gentle look". Star News. Archived from the original on February 11, 2015. Retrieved November 3, 2012.
  3. "May Queen". MBC Global Media. Retrieved September 20, 2012.
  4. "TNMS Daily Ratings: this links to current day-select the date from drop down menu". TNMS Ratings (in Korean). Archived from the original on November 28, 2013. Retrieved March 26, 2017.
  5. "AGB Daily Ratings: this links to current day-select the date from drop down menu". AGB Nielsen Media Research (in Korean). Archived from the original on March 17, 2017. Retrieved March 26, 2017.
  6. Broadcast delayed by 55min due to broadcasting of South Korean presidential election candidates seminar.
  7. Ho, Stewart (November 2, 2012). "Kim Jae Won Injures Thighs on 'May Queen' Drama Set". enewsWorld. CJ E&M. Archived from the original on November 10, 2012. Retrieved November 2, 2012.
  8. "김재원- 여심녹이는 살인미소의 귀환!". December 7, 2012. Retrieved April 6, 2017.
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