O Palhaço Coroado (2019)

I was not expecting this drama to hit me in the feels like that. It has been a while since I watched a tv show especially that can make me tear up from the force of acting and meaning behind the scene.

Key words: Intriguing, Thought Provoking, Heart Warming/Wrenching (at the same time)

Plot:
I watched this drama while taking a break from a Game of Thrones marathon and let me tell you...the plot did not disappoint me when it came to court politics and scheming. The story kept me glued until the very last moment and at one point when some of the plot twists were revealed, I thought "what is there left to do?!" but they managed to exceed my expectations and surprise me with more twists.

Acting:
-Yeo Jin Goo did an amazing job with playing two characters that are opposites yet the same, he made me love and hate the king at the same time. For such a young actor, it is clear that he will have a bright future if he keeps picking roles that can showcase his talents

-Lee Se Young: At the beginning of the show, she highly deserved the nickname "ice princess" because oh boy was she cold with that poker face! I think that was the reason why I did not connect with her but later on, she managed to make me warm up and root for her.

-Kim Sang Kyung: MARRY ME! I had to get it out of my system! Everytime he shows up on screen I feel a wash of safety and calmness because I KNOW he will fix everything. Now excuse me while I go watch everything he starred in

-Shin Soo Yun: I have never seen her act before but she is good! It is rare for me to connect with young actors but this girl made sob and smile like I'm enchanted.

Romance:
Now this is the reason I did not give 10/10 to this drama..I loved that it was not insta love per se. But I did not feel the chemistry between the King and Queen until half way through the show. But in total, it did feel like an adult relationship without all the teen angst or tropes that are usually in dramas.

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The story was really well and interesting made and the cast's performance shined throughout the whole drama (maybe some ups and downs here and there, but not often). Yeo Jin Goo did an amazing job, you just have to praise him for that, even though many others were outstanding as well. Though I enjoyed him more in the first half (and those of you who watched the drama might know why that is :p).

What I loved the most was the development between Ha Seon and Haksan which led to that special overwhelming moment later. I also found Ha Seon's character development well written and shown. If you watch the first episode again and right after one of the last ones, you can see the difference as if it was night and day. Same goes for Haksan's character. I appreciated that they weren't all white or black but had dark secrets and grey zones with difficult decisions to make while walking their paths.

What I don't like in other sageuks but really love here is that they actually let a good king overrule petitions of its court people. You usually only see the bad kings do that while the good ones can't seem to go against their ministers. But here was actually a quite nice balance created.

I also enjoyed the queen's scenes and I'm so happy that Lee Se Young finally got a good main role. She was great in her role, but I also have to admit that you can still see that she's a young actress who doesn't have the range of expressions like her seniors yet. Especially in the later episodes I found some of her dialogues a bit... wooden. Sorry to say that. I still loved her scenes with Yeo Jin Goo though and I'm sure she will become better in the future.

The antagonists were an interesting bunch of people and it was refreshing that not all of them worked together but also were suspicious of each other, too. But as I said in some other post, sometimes the constant anxiety due to their intrigues were a bit too much. Even though it keeps you on edge, I think they overdid it other times, too. Excitement is welcomed, but only to a certain degree.

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Phenomenal Yeo Jin Goo

Wow! The Crowned Clown knocked off Kingdom to become my favourite sageuk drama. The combination of a well written story, strong cast, excellent directing, beautiful cinematography, stirring background music and all the attention to details produced MAGIC.

The director brought out the best in all the important characters. Best performances I've ever seen in Lee Se Young (Queen Yoo So Soon), Kwan Had Hyo (Shin Chi Soo - baddest of the lot) and Jang Hwang (Eunuch Jo). I've not watched Kim Sang Kyung (Chief Royal Secretary) before, but will go searching for his previous works soon. Yeo Jin Goo (Clown Ha Seon and King Lee Hun) takes the cake though with his phenomenal acting that was so nuanced and note perfect. From the flickers in his expressions to how he used his postures, he was completely mesmerising.

There's romance to keep the romcom girl in me happy. But my favourite relationships were the ones between Ha Seon and Chief Royal Secretary, as well as between Ha Seon and Eunuch Jo. It was such a pleasure to watch their bonds evolve and strengthen.

The overall story is far from unique, but how well the story was told and the layers in all the main characters made it a truly enjoyable journey.

Highly recommended watch.

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I have just finished watching this drama and i was very excited to write a review all because of Yeo Jin Goo. What a superb acting skills he has! From the moment i saw him in TMETS, i knew that he has that potential to be at par with the likes of Kim So Hyun or lee jong suk. And i was so right. Years after TMETS, this drama finally came,with him as the lead. His character was perfectly portayed in a sense that you would not want to end a scene no matter if he's crying or in rage, moreso when he is passionately in love with a very sweet lines uttered for the one he loves. Some revelation scenes gave me goosebumps and totally unexpected. As an audience, these are what exactly what you want to feel as you watch a drama. And this one will never disappoint you. The storyline was perfectly written and well-thought of. The twist was unexpected. All the other characters had their own time to shine, even the antagonist.
I would've gave it a perfect 10 instead of a 9.5 if only i have not predicted the ending perfectly well. It came out exactly what i thought it would end. I like it better when i dont know how it would end.
Good job to all the cast, esp to Yeo Jin Goo. And to the writers and director, job well done. Another 5 star rating on my list of korean drama.

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Overall I enjoyed the Crowned Clown immensely. I've only seen a couple of sagueks but this was definitely one of the darker ones. That's what drew me to this show in the first place. It started uncharacteristically dark for a kdrama and I was completely blown away by the ML's acting. He was amazing in Circle but this performance was simply excellent. The other actors did a great job too. Especially his premier minister and even the queen. She may haven't had much too work with but she was great. The direction and production was amazing especially in the end of episode 8, which was probably the best scene of the drama.
The show left a lasting impression on me and I keep thinking about it days after I finished it.
While the show had so much to offer, I think they could have done more in terms of character development of the clown.
Even though the acting was stellar, the OST beautiful and poignant (I keep listening to it even now), the story surprising and never boring, the Clown wasn't as threedimensional as the King.
I had the same problem with this show as I had with the drama Are you human too?.
One doppelganger was the "evil" one, but got a good backstory but the "nice" one seemed stuck in his hero position.
I believe they wasted potential since the Clown never really had to make any kind of hard decisions. In that way he really was incapable of being a king. The premier made all the hard decisions and all the plans. It got better from ep13 onwards. But the clown was still too careless for my taste ( the letter!). I never really felt like he could obhold this throne without help, which is why I actually liked the ending. I would have liked him too become more "grey" since they definitely teased him into this direction but then backtracked. I think this drama suffered a bit from the boundaries of kdrama in which the hero stays good until the end. In my point of view the drama would have been better if they had crossed that line since they started the drama in a more mature direction and could have continued like this. I would have loved if he would have changed into a similar direction like the king.
Especially since I have seen dramas that had grey ML's before. They did such a good job with the premier why couldn't they do the same for the Clown?
I also would have liked for them to show a flashback of the pre-madness king. He was definitely one of the most interesting characters, and while I did think the ending fit (he was too far over the edge), I would have loved to have seen his descent into madness.
The romance, I liked it but it was probably amplified by the great performances of the actors.
While I did like the politics in this drama I felt pretty frustrated with the ML sometimes. In those kind of dramas I prefer a smart and cunning lead that doesn't do stupid mistakes. But even though he did evolve it didnt feel like a natural development for him. Maybe this is me nitpicking but that is how I perceived it.
Even though I critised some parts of the drama I still believe that it is definitely worth the watch! Maybe not perfect but one of the best kdramas I've seen!

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Yeo Jin Goo played a double role, twin brother, but you don't know that until the end. Goo did really well in doing so in this drama series and very handsome. He has those eyes I love and would love to see more of him in other dramas.

One of the problems I had with the double role is there is a scar right underneath his nose that K Producers forgot to blur out or hide. I had to block the scar from my mind. The main problem I had was killing a child off in the first episode. A child who is an actor should be protected no matter what role he is playing in. I almost was not going to watch after I saw the death scene and almost didn't watch the rest of the episodes. Kim Sang Kyung who played the Chief Royal Secretary was awesome in his role after Episode 1. The rest of the cast did very well and I have to give credit to
Shin-Soo Yun who played Dal Rae the sister to Clown Ha Sun.

There is a twist and turn at the end, I won't reveal it! I'll just question the writer "WHY"?

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This drama is a good one but not as good as I expected. To be honest, I watched i because someone said in an article that the male lead actor, Yeo Jin Goo, is a genius. Sorry but he is far from a genius. He is cute, his voice is good but his acting skills so and so. Better in the king role than as a clown
But I liked very much the 2nd male lead actor , Kim Sang Kyung as Chief Royal Secretary. I also liked Lee Se Young as Queen Yoo So Woon. The actors in supporting roles very good
The story is good but the end is a fiasco. Music ? I really don't remember it . That means it didn't impress me at all.
Costumes are beautiful

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Still have 3 episodes left but I'm sure that my rating will still stand even after I watch them. The Crowned Clown has officially made it to my favorites list!

This is my first time watching Yeo Jin Goo and I am IMPRESSED! He executed his dual role of the king and the clown so damn well I could barely catch my breath from switching between loving and hating the characters (also, he's super charming and cute when he smiles so that's a huge plus T_T <3). I also have to commend Kim Sang Kyung (Chief Lee) for his acting - while he maintained a stoic expression throughout most of the drama, he is definitely not one dimensional; it was so heartwarming to see him and Eunuch Cho slowly warm up to Ha Seon as time went on. The overall character development of each character was easy to follow along and I couldn't help but smile to see as they faced their challenges and overcame them. There was never a boring episode - every moment counted and had a purpose to help build the plot. I am so attached to all the characters - not sure how I'll survive when this drama is over. Hoping for a good ending! <3

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The Crowned Clown is truly a masterpiece! Every episode keeps you on your toes and is so well done with all the twists and turns. The writing of this drama is utterly fantastic although its strength is slightly undermined by the lack of exploration of the psychopath king character. I see some people bothered by this, but it's not enough a flaw for me to take 0.5 points off my perfect score because the flow of the storytelling is just fantastic!

I read that this line up was a dream cast for both the screenwriter and director, and is obviously rightly so since the execution of all the actors in this is absolutely phenomenal. Yeo Jin Goo who plays the double characters hit the nail on the head with his very poignant facial expressions, Lee Se Young who plays the Queen who was cold towards her husband but later on slowly warmed up towards him did a fantastic job, as well as all the supporting casts such as the King's step-mother, the advisor, the Enoch and the villains. They are all very memorable.

The BGMs and the beats at the end of each episode are absolutely beautiful, especially ones in the sad scenes. They really add nuances to the actor's emotion.

Most people think that there's not much joy in rewatching political thriller-tagged dramas but I believe this is not the case for this drama since you can back to it and devour all the twists and turns in the drama, to remind you of a thriller/politics absolutely well done.

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Talk about self destruct

I'm a big fan of historical dramas.
The premise, the story, the pace, every thing was great although there were some inconsistencies.
(For example sometimes being announced, sometimes not, sometimes they wait for permission after being announced, sometimes not etc)

I loved the twists, the progression of the characters.

All is great.

But that last episode.

I'm not sure if they wanted to make sure there wasn't a season 2, or if they wanted to be original; but the ending was so bad.

It managed to be unnecessary sad while still being corny.

The finale is pretty much the most important episode of a show, this is where you say farewell to the characters, that's when you pick up your phone to write a review.

This end was lame, and even managed to anger me in some way.

Frustrating a d removed all rewatch value.

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Best Actor Yeo Jin Goo

I watched this more or less a month ago and I forgot to write a review. So, here it is.

I think this show was the most memorable historical drama I have watched in terms of acting. Though I have not watched many historicals but for me this is unforgettable. The musical score and cinematography is one of the best here. The story is so engaging and the script is well-written.

Also, you will laugh, cry, be angry, sad, happy and satisfied. All emotions you will feel are in this show, but not in an exaggerated way and I think thats good.

Damn, the acting, all cast did their best but jin goo really standout for me. He is so good portraying those two characters.

Anyways a must watch. I enjoyed this.

Oh, I love the poster so much.

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The Crowned Clown is a remake of the 2012 Korean film "Masquerade". The Korean drama is about the power struggles surrounding King Yi Heon/Gwanghaegun. The story is about a clown named Ha Sun who looks nearly identical to the King who is brought into the palace by the King's orders to take the place of the King as a plan for the King to avoid assassination. The premise of the story is not unique but the drama was well acted by the cast and the soundtrack was great. I have not watched the original film so I can't compare the two. Overall, this drama was good but it's not the best drama that I have watched this year.

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