This review may contain spoilers
A clown rulling Joseon.
As the synopsis states, the drama flawlessly executes its plot with superb acting. The viewers' questions are thoroughly answered by the director. No coincidents are plotted here, and no cliches can be seen. What would happen if a commoner took the throne and what challenges he would face is something worth watching. I find this drama more accurate in its Joseon era genre. You will enjoy and be satisfied by Joseon era politics and romance between the king and queen.The cast is worth appreciating. Yeo Jin Goo has done phenomenal acting. The twin roles are perfectly displayed. The acting style is enough to say how much effort he has given to his character. Lee Se Young (from the red sleeve) also perfectly played her character. And thanks to the plot here, she survived till the end, with a happy ending with the king.
Jang Young Nam is worth mentioning because the verstile actor has potrayed herself as the best anyagonist ever. She never fails to impress the people who watch her role. Surely an intriguing actress she is. Kwon Hae Hyo is also worth praising. Thanks to Enuch Cho (Jang Gwang) for giving us some laughs.
Jump to the romance. It is up to the mark with a satisfying ending. No betrayals or bridge of lies have been built into the relationship. Until the very end, the romance plot and the political plot perfectly coincide.
The drama may come with some flaws, which I will not discuss because I want viewers to watch it for themselves and then decide. Viewers of Historical K Drama, on the other hand, should add this drama to their collection.
I have never felt this good after watching it. More Joseon era dramas are out there, but this one will be the best.
The OST is well worth listening to.
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too much for the faint at heart
This is one series I cannot binge watch, it is just too heavy on the heart. The respite from all the intrigues and betrayal is just too short, the characters are tragic, even the protagonists didn't get to wallow in a much-deserved happy ending. Other side couple was given just as tragic an ending you'd wonder if life was really this cruel in that era. But the acting, direction and story were superb you'd invest heavily on the characters only to be dashed in the end.Watch it because it is one story that has nuggets of wisdom despite it's grim perspective of the world reality. it may be set in some distant past but it lessons are as contemporary as today's headline.
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This review may contain spoilers
TRAGIC END OF A KING
He's a young ambitious King of mid-era Jeseon who went ballistic and over the edge from intense power struggle at the palace especially over the guilt for killing the rightful young heir brother. His dark mood, violence drive, and hatred made him enemies from all sides - he died from poison given by his most loyal and trusted minister. Such a tragic ending from a young King, there's no farewell, just died sad, scare, betrayed, in the beach alone. Warrant he's mentally sick and murderous he's still a King that demand utmost respect. Meanwhile a clown brought in to cover the absent King from duty, his job was to be poisoned and killed by the King's enemies - he's to become a substitute of King while the real one hide for his mental health. Not just he strives but also win the trust of many especially the queen as she started to fall in love to...the fake King - the Clown. He's constantly need advise from Chief Secretary, as an uneducated clown he knew nothing about politic, intrigue, people surround him, or read Hanja. He survive the ordeal intrigue around the palace, his heart is for the people, he makes right decisions with the advise from Chief Secretary.The Dowager Queen wants him die for vengeance of her killed-young son (legitimate heir who's being killed by the real King), the Left State Counselor also wants him die because of greed and power.
While the King is vibrant and full of vitality, the Queen is kind of slow. The romance isn't appealing, I think the Queen spoiled it by acting too gloomy - she has to be forced to smile by a wish. If she's in love,her eyes says otherwise...her sad face isn't radiant like someone in love and she loves to be woo. She's 'cold' according to the real King (rightful husband)...but since the clown is good in wooing her...she felt for it. Well, when she finally find out about the secret, she's pissed.
I love Yeo Jin-Goo's acting. He can act as crazy maniac King and also as a tender heart-sweet gentle fake King. The loyal Chief Secretary is the main instigator of all...he loyalty to his King...he wants the King to love the people. He's the one who kills the young heir future King and kills the legitimate King..to choose fake King clown to ascent the throne. How twisted is his mind; he's wise, kind, considerate, but he also has 2 royal blood in his hand. I love Eunuch Jo - he's a good man - he tries to separate two lovebirds as morally they aren't truly husband & wife or love affair between a low born clown with high born noble Queen. Beside the Queen, I don't like Dal-lae character, sister of the clown, she'd be the dead of him.
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The main lead Yeo Jin Goo really did a great job in differentiating the characters. Even, while acting as clown, he made sure the emotions of clown in front of King is different.
Every supporting roles did great in acting. It makes you support them, miss them and also get angry on them.
I guess the OST in the whole drama increased the effect of scenes.
Getting revenge as well as taking care of problem by being responsible and making immediate decisions ... Clown proved that he can be King.
Just the ending of the drama feels like dragging.
It's a must watch.
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This review may contain spoilers
WOW I have to say, this show is an absolute MASTERPIECE.
After the explosive introduction in episodes 1 through to 4, the show was almost impossible to leave even when my daily routine wanted to interfere, and with some difficulty I have managed not to binge-watch the show overnight so far (even though I REALLY want to).So when things seemed to go right, they suddenly spiral wildly out of control again after the 6th and 7th episodes, and in the best (worst) way possible.
Just a few minutes earlier, the Mad King seemed hopefully on at least a path to some sort of recovery or at least acceptance of his treatment to prevent his self-harm, the Clown King and the Chief Royal Secretary seemed to trust each other and take decisions based on a mutual understanding and vision. the Clown King had properly fallen for the Queen, who in turn seemed to have noticed a change of heart in the 'King' and fallen for him once again,
BUT even after I DESPISED the Clown King's sister when she made the foolish mistake of acting on her own and freed the Mad King from his confinement, as I reach episode 8 I have started thinking that maybe she unknowingly did the Palace heroes/conspirators a favour, because FINALLY now I think I can hope that the Clown King and the Royal Secretary can work together again into weeding out the real villains in the Palace.
This show has made me feel so damn empathetic towards each of our main characters, making me feel aggressive and drunk on power as the Mad King, helpless and frustrated as the Royal Secretary, and trapped and strong and willful and just as the Clown King.
I am so happy to see such a beautiful RANGE of characters from Yeo Jin Goo, absolutely SPLENDID as the sexy Mad King, and the cute yet strong Clown King.
Also REALLY enjoying Eunuch Jo and Chief Royal Secretary's performances, loving their building relationship and understanding with each other.
HOWEVER I am not a fan at all of the Queen's character/actress yet, which worries me as I am yet to see the much awaited 'Red Sleeve', and being a huge Lee Jun Ho fan I want to thoroughly enjoy it. But I hope I won't have to ignore the actress in it because I want to enjoy the romance T-T. This actress is NOT my cup of tea, in terms of acting skills and beauty both.
Anyway, I loved The Crowned Clown.
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What makes a man grow into a king
It was a glory to watch the journey of one man who owned nothing gradually turn into a King who makes one feel empowered.To say the least, this one was one of the best dramas I've watched.
There were several drawbacks, unnecessary cliches, characters, and dare I say, unnecessary ends, but that will not stop me from standing by my previous statement. All because of how the story was told and the lead actor, who was phenomenal. (and only 20 at the time of filming. A shocker)
I felt the romance was nothing but a tiny trigger to the plot. Still, the most incredible relationship this show offers is one of trust and loyalty between the lead and their 'subjects.' There were times when I laughed because of the said 'relationships,' but they made me sob more.
I am glad I watched this, and it'll be a loss to pass it on without giving it a shot, so I urge anyone who reads this review to give it a go, and you will not regret it.
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This review may contain spoilers
Heavy in all the right places
This drama would make you keep on anticipating the next episode/s because of how heavy and intense the scenes are. I would always need time to pause before watching because it keeps me at the edge of my seat. Every episode has its own twist and when you thought it was over, another bomb would drop! It's just very well-written!I can say, with full confidence, that this drama is a masterpiece! It will make you feel like you're reading a book with the amount of detail it gives you. The flow is truly astounding, you can feel how much care and thought the writer and director have given to produce this amazingly intricate and solid feast of a story. Everything is just beautifully laid out, the storyline is well put together and the production effectively executed! I am by no means despising how this drama played with my heart (with all its heart-stopping scenes), it's just such a beautiful experience!
Honestly, the journey towards the ending was a bit worrying and all the more excruciating as the story progresses even more profoundly...I kept on thinking how they would plan to end such a powerful story, but my worries were proven to be in vain, for this drama didn’t even give me any time to breathe! I could think of only one scene to make the ending better (for my preference) but other than that, I could say no more. One of the best storytelling done on screen!
P.s. I really think both the king and queen died in the end...the ending part was a bit of an open-ended one with how they played with bits of “dream-like” features for that last scene which suggested how it is possible that both have died and met each other at the after life (I prefer this though, making this drama an utterly beautiful tragedy)
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I only watch every episode when I can fully concentrate. I laughed so loud, by myself mind you so occasionally my family think I've lost it. Cried of course. Get mad at the antagonist without a doubt.
YEO JIN GOO is one mind blowing actor though the entire casts are very good too.
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Flawless drama
What a drama. Everything about it was flawless.Plot is interesting from the very beginning; you don't even notice time passing considering almost all episodes have 75 minutes. Every episode ending was unexpected, I couldn't guess at all what was going to happen.
No complaints about the acting: Yeo Jin Goo played absolutely amazing; you could totally see from his look and intonation when he was playing Ha Seon or the king. Never saw a drama with Kim Sang Kyung before; he portrayed a great character but with flaws. Every character was memorable because of the hard work the actors put!
The OST was so beautiful.
I would rewatch this drama for sure, everything was on point.
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MUST WATCH
Simply brilliant! One of the best dramas. hope the writers can do come up with more of these, whether it's costume or modern drama, these writers have really brilliant ideas. not 1 flawed scene.Acting, plot, music, writing.....all outstanding.
If anyone knows any more with brilliant plots like this, let me know.
I wish i could rate this more, as I did not skip even 1 second of it.
Please watch it, you will have no regrets, if you like costume dramas.
With dramas like these, you just don't want it to end. but it's just the right amount of eps.
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Man, what do I say about this story? I can't describe how shocked I was since episode one. As I said before, don't follow the idea showed by Netflix's teasers (we have this one on Viki too, so go for it!) that this is a soft and funny drama. I was tense since the beginning and I was almost dehydrated at the final episodes. The way how the tension is built is totally captivating and made me devour each episode.
About the performances, Yeo Jin Goo is just perfect. I felt the courage of Ha Sun and the craziness of Yi Heon in the same intensity and this was amazing. Kim Sang Kyung and Jang Gwang were also incredible and made me cry and laugh many times in this plot. But I have to say that Lee Se Young as the queen wasn't my favorite. I didn't feel any feelings with her interaction with Ha Sun and the little that I felt is mostly because of him and his cuteness. But this wasn't mess up with the story and we yet can cheer for the main couple.
Without any spoiler, as known, the only thing that I would appoint as a not-so-good choice is the ending (the last twenty minutes to be more precise). When I watched the last part of the last episode, I just asked "Why? Why they are doing this?" I couldn't understand the events and the reason why they write the ending in that way but after reading about the story of Gwanghae and the rumors about his life, I finally understand. I still don't agree and think that this could end in a better form, but I understand. With this final I thought about another final based on a true story that made me feel the same, could you guys guess it? Let the initials in the comments if you got it, haha.
I'll put this as a chosen one (★ ★ ★ ★ ★★ ★ ★ ★ ★) without any doubt. If you didn't watch it yet, just do it. If you didn't give a high note for this here in MDL, do it now because I can't conform that the note is only 8.4. Just absurd.
See you soon!
XOXO, Mari.
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