A Volcanic Eruption Of Emotion
After yesterday’s dramatic cliffhanger, we return to The Crowned Clown right where it left off from before. After a short recap on So Woon confronting Ha Sun over his identity, he return to see the Queen leaving the palace in disgust; tear-soaked eyes and a broken heart in tow. Most of the episode sees the ripple effects of this encounter with plenty of dramatic tension and sadness woven throughout. After questioning Ha Sun on his identity inside the palace, So Woon leaves the King alone to cry and contemplate what’s happened. As Eunuch Jo comes over to comfort him, he learns the Queen has caught wind of Ha Sun’s true identity and quickly informs the Royal Secretary what’s happened. Sensing this could explode at any time, he hurries to the side palace to diffuse the situation, making sure Dal Rae is escorted to a safe place in the meantime. It’s at this point where the Royal Secretary spills the details on what’s transpired, informing So Woon the truth about Lee Hun and his demise on the beach. Hurt and betrayed,she decides to leave the palace, not able to forgive herself after learning the real King died alone, without her by his side. As the various main characters wallow in their sadness, Queen Dowager comes back into the fold, spelling danger for everyone. Trying to convince Ha Sun to kill So Woon following her act of defiance, he rejects her offer and takes the opportunity to leave the palace with Prince Jin, intent on convincing So Woon to return to the palace. After leaving, Royal Secretary and Eunuch Jo work together to fool the various ministers and court maids that the King is having a maniacal episode and not able to be disturbed. It’s a smart move but unfortunately not quite clever enough to ward off Queen Dowager who confronts the Royal Secretary and Jo about the King’s whereabouts. It turns out the Emperor has arrived and with no King on the throne, things turn from bad to worse as the ministry is thrown into chaos. We leave this week with So Woon and Ha Sun sharing a tense moment together on a cliff edge. A rogue assassin sits in the shadows, aiming an arrow straight at the Queen. Sacrificing himself, Ha Sun moves her out the way and takes the full brunt of impact, leaving us with a weary and battered King and one morally conflicted Queen. The Crowned Clown has been a long, winding journey to reach this point but the 11th episode is certainly one of the best since this show came on air. The tiny moments of comedy work perfectly to counteract the melodramatic tone running rampant throughout this 75 minute episode. Aesthetically, the show looks great too and the sweeping shots showing off the various locales are really well worked into the series. We’re almost into the end-game now and things are still left wide open for where this one is likely to end up come the end of the season. Whether this will be renewed for a second season (if it’s needed) is anyone’s guess but based on this showing, The Crowned Clown is a smartly written historical drama and one of the best shows of 2019 so far.
