But everyone has their limit, and Do-hee reaches hers when a body crashes into a car before her very eyes as she exits the Eunsung headquarters. It is that of Han I-seul (Han Chae-kyung), the secretary of Chae-ryeong’s husband, Baek Jae-min (Ryu Soo-young).

10 of the best new Korean drama series to look out for in April 2023

Jae-min had come before Do-hee, claiming that I-seul fabricated a #MeToo allegation against him. She then gave I-seul an ultimatum, but later that day, after locking eyes with her corpse and seeing Jae-min’s cufflink clasped in her cold dead hand, her whole life starts to crumble before her.

Another woman who plunges from the same building is human rights activist Oh Kyung-sook (Moon). She has been leading a solitary protest on the building’s roof for months, decrying the unfair dismissal of hundreds of women at the flagship Eunsung Department Store.

One night, Eunsung goons sneak up to the roof and, in the tussle that follows, Kyung-sook falls, but she has a softer landing and survives to become a political sensation.

No longer willing to do Eunsung’s dirty work, Do-hee refuses orders when she’s told to lead Jae-min’s campaign to become the mayor of Seoul. They fire her and take back all her Eunsung perks, going so far as to remove her dying father from hospital.

Vowing revenge, Do-hee sees a way to take down Jae-min and Eunsung in one fell swoop and approaches Kyung-sook with a bold proposition.

Kyung-sook’s last meeting with Do-hee ended with her being shoved off a skyscraper, so naturally she isn’t terribly receptive when Do-hee appears outside her humble legal office hat in hand. But Kyung-sook is determined and, when the situation requires it, very convincing.

They eventually form an uneasy alliance when Kyung-sook is convinced to toss her hat in the mayoral race, which pits her against Jae-min and the financial might of Eunsung, but also the three-time national assemblywoman Seo Min-jung (Jin Kyung).

Kyung-sook has to duke it out in public with Jae-min the polished apparent philanthropist and trusted and seasoned politician Min-jung. Meanwhile, Do-hee fights behind the scenes with their powerful strategists.

In Min-jung’s corner is the idealistic Ma Joong-seok (Kim Tae-hoon), who happens to be Do-hee’s ex-husband.

What follows is a tense battle for the Seoul mayoralty, in which the mudslinging completely overwhelms the politics as the rival camps engineer scandals about their adversaries and retreat into damage control when the same happens to them.

Korean elections are notoriously intense, with the media in overdrive – reporting extensively on even the slightest crumbs about the personal lives of candidates. In these bitter competitions, politics often takes a back seat to back-stabbing and public backlashes.

Through 11 episodes, Queenmaker unfurls a terribly entertaining political contest which takes a page from prime time melodrama, with its constant ups and downs and bitter corporate feuds – Eunsung family members have a nasty habit of slapping each other.

Adding to the entertainment value of the show is a compelling through line of female solidarity, sparked by Jae-min’s horrific treatment of his underling and made all the worse by his outward image as a philanthropist and ally of women.

Queenmaker makes the wise choice of showing us women in various positions of power, such as chairwoman Son and candidate Seo, but giving almost all its female protagonists – of which there are many – massive flaws.

Only Kyung-sook remains largely unimpeachable, but even she is guilty of being an absentee wife and mother.

The production is slick, as we’ve come to expect from Korean Netflix shows, and the strong performances, particularly of the leads Kim and Moon, who share a compelling rapport, power the show through its occasional moments of repetition all the way to a satisfying climax.

Queenmaker is streaming on Netflix.