K-Drama Official Review: ‘Queen Mantis’
Queen Mantis is an ongoing South-Korean mystery-thriller=police procedural drama series starring Go Hyun-jung, Jang Dong-yoon, Jo Sung-ha, and Lee El. The first eight episodes of the series aired on SBS Television every Friday and Saturday at 9:50 PM KST from Sept. 5-27, 2025. The series streams on Netflix in the United States. Queen Mantis, written by Lee Young-jong and directed by Byun Young-joo, follows a woman who was imprisoned as a serial killer several years back, as a copy-cat begins committing murders in her likeness.
Plot and Characters
Go portrays lead character Jung I-shin, the infamous killer dubbed “Queen Mantis,” who, after being imprisoned, inspires a copycat to commit a series of murders 20 years later. Her estranged son, Detective Cha Soo-Yeol (Jang) has harbored lifelong resentment towards his mother and is forced into a reluctant partnership with her to solve the case. Jo Sung-ha plays Choi Jung-ho, a police officer who advised Cha Soo-yeol to become a detective, while Lee El portrays Kim Na-Hee, another police officer who collaborates with Cha Soo-Yeol to stop the copy-cat killer.
The plot of Queen Mantis is driven forward significantly by a vast number of supporting characters. Cha Soo-Yeol’s wife, Lee Jung-yeon (Kim Bo-ra), is unaware of her husband’s connection to Jung I-shin at the start of the series. Lee Hwang-ui plays Jeong Hyeon-nam, Suyeol's maternal grandfather and Jung Yi-shin's father who raised Suyeol, without his parents. Jeong Hyeon-nam provides valuable insight to Suyeol about his mother as he tries to solve the case. Seo Ara (Han Dong-hee) is Lee Jung-yeon’s close friend and coworker at the pottery shop they both work at, but there’s more to her than she leads on.
Key Themes
One of the main themes in Queen Mantis is redemption. Jung Yi-Shen, at the beginning of the story, seems unchanged and apologetic about her murder spree 20 years prior. From her perspective, all her victims deserved to be killed because of their pasts. When a copy-cat begins their own killing spree, she ultimately does the right thing and helps the police in apprehending them though only after much convincing. Despite this, she is motivated by a desire to protect her child, just as she was 20 years prior. In the end, Jung Yi-Shen learns that her past doesn’t have to define her, just as her victims didn’t deserve to be murdered for theirs.
A second relevant theme in Queen Mantis is family, which is essential to the story as the chain of events unfolds. Jung Yi-Shen’s love for her son was her main motivator for her first kill, which then kicked off a murder spree. For Cha Soo-yeol, even though he’s hated his mother his entire life, a part of him still loves her and even when Jung Yi-Shen begs him to kill her, he can’t.
Finally, trauma is a major theme throughout the first series of Queen Mantis. Jung Yi-Shen and the copy-cat killer both experienced intense trauma at the hands of their family, who are supposed to always be there for them. Consequently, viewers get a glimpse into the psyche of both killers and their motivations behind their actions, enforcing that morality is a grey area and not black and white.
Final Verdict
Queen Mantis is one of Netflix’s most bingeable series right now, with the perfect mix of mystery, suspense, emotion, and character driven writing. The series’ cast does a perfect job of bringing their respective characters to life while also having a lot of chemistry and play off each other naturally. Specifically, Go Hyun-jung shines as a villain that viewers love to hate, and her performance underscores the message that we can always find redemption.
