The Crowned Clown

January 7, 2019

Clown Ha-seon (Yeo Jin-goo) is brought to the Joseon court to impersonate the paranoid King Lee Hun during a dangerous ceremony. His warmth and generosity — completely unlike the king's — immediately disrupt the court's expectations. MBC Dramia establishes the Joseon palace world.

January 8, 2019

Ha-seon's first full performance as the king. His instinctive kindness generates reactions the actual king never produced.

January 14, 2019

The queen (Lee Se-young) begins to notice that the king is behaving differently. Her growing sense that something is wrong — and her complicated response to liking the change.

January 15, 2019

Ministers and courtiers whose entire strategy was built around the king's paranoia must adjust to a king who is suddenly reasonable and warm.

January 21, 2019

Ha-seon's growing discomfort with the deception — and his growing attachment to the people who are responding to him as the king.

January 22, 2019

Lee Hun's actual condition and his awareness of what is happening in his name.

January 28, 2019

The queen's full suspicion that the man she is beginning to trust is not the king she married.

January 29, 2019

Ha-seon and the queen at the drama's midpoint — her feelings for him confused by who she believes him to be.

February 4, 2019

A formal ceremony at Gyeongbokgung Palace's outer grounds — Ha-seon's most public performance as king.

February 5, 2019

The queen learns the truth about Ha-seon. Her response — the drama's most important scene — defines her character completely.

February 11, 2019

The queen and Ha-seon navigating their relationship within the continuing deception.

February 12, 2019

The political forces that installed the original king begin to suspect the substitution.

February 18, 2019

Lee Hun's return creates a direct conflict between the king he was and the king Ha-seon has been.

February 19, 2019

Ha-seon must choose between his own life and the good he has been able to do as king.

February 25, 2019

Ha-seon's final performance as king — the MBC Dramia sets at their most dramatically charged.

February 26, 2019

The finale. Yeo Jin-goo's dual performance — maintaining two completely different people across 16 episodes — is one of the decade's finest achievements in Korean drama acting.