A note to all reading this; do not try to engage in hyper analytical writing about a sageuk mid way through its run when your brain would rather have a three day mental break down.

Relevant people who might like to read this: @kiara, @winter, @leetennant, @pakalanapikake, @ultramafic, @geliguolu, @adieunoire, @stpauligurl, @wishfultoki

The Crowned Clown Episode 7 and 8
I have tried to start this multiple times, and written the main body of it thrice (fourth time lucky), but the essence of the rant remains the same; I am mad they reduced the King Yi Heon to nothing, when he was in my opinion the most interesting character.

If you had been reading my wall prior to this week’s episodes you will know that I was rooting for the King’s development from episode two and I wanted to see more of him. Thankfully in episode 7 we got a fair amount of the King, and the interactions between the King and the Clown that I had been longing for, and thus it became my favourite episode. It was simply mesmerizing from beginning to end.
But then after episode 7 I sat there for about three hours trying to work out why I liked King more than the Clown. Not in a literal way; The King is insane, The Clown is nice. But in terms of his character.
Because I was always ten times more engaged when the King was on screen.
He was so riveting and compelling. He was a jealous, obsessive addict with anger and violence issues, deep inset fears of being superfluous and not being trusted, ridden with guilt and paranoia, and no, these are not healthy traits but they actually made him that much more interesting to me. Combine that with the fact we know he wasn’t always like this, and his complicated tension filled relationships with everyone around him, not to mention his throne, and you get a very fascinating, and very complex character. A complex character that was just begging to be explored more, unraveled, unpacked, motivations and direction developed.
Unfortunately I do not think the writing ever intended to explore these complexities. Because I think in essence the Clown is a very simple character, and that King was initially just designed to be everything the Clown is not.
Ha Seon is the just, righteous person, designed and written to make us agree with and like him. The King the tyrannical, mad and abusive person who is the bad to the Clown’s good.
@kiara pointed out that they might be trying to show the two sides of the historical Gwanghae in two different characters; the crueller side in Yi Heon, and the more compassionate side in Ha Seon.
Alas for them I think whatever the original writing decision was, it backfired.
1) If it was their intent to split a single, and interesting character, between two, that leaves the characterization weak and shallow. But instead of just one undeveloped character, you have two.
And 2) If I was supposed to root for the Clown because he was “good”, then woops, because I ended up rooting for the King more. Understand, I am not rooting for his violent and awful behavior, but rather the potential I saw in his character.
The way the King was portrayed even in the very first episodes, spoke of far more depth than what I have so far seen in the Clown.

There’s this scene at the end of The Two Towers (the book, not the movie, because the movie almost destroyed everything that was good about TTT but NOT THE POINT) where Frodo and Sam are at the top of the Stairs to Cirith Ungol, and they take a nap whilst Sméagol is scouting. Not intentionally but because they’re so mentally and physically exhausted, and then Sméagol comes back, and there’s this beautifully written section where it describes Sméagol reaching out his hand to Frodo, like an old hobbit, and it’s so sad and tragic because in the next second Sam wakes up and accuses him of stealing and that’s basically the death of Sméagol; he no longer exists at that point, there is only Gollum, Gollum who then sells them to Shelob for a chance at the ring, Gollum who falls into a volcano rather than be parted from the ring. (You can read it HERE)

Anyway if you thought I don’t cry in dramas much I cry even less in books, but that scene is not only probably one of my favourite scenes in the entire epic, but the reason I love LOTR so much AND one of the only scenes to almost made me cry in a book. Because Frodo never actually gives up on Sméagol. Despite everything, Frodo is always compassionate towards him, hoping, even though it’s a foolish hope, that maybe the ring hasn’t entirely consumed him. And it kinda starts to work. And then it’s shattered in two seconds.

The reason I’m bringing this up is that redemption arcs are my catnip, and make for fantastic story telling even if they’re failed redemption arcs. This is why Gollum is a great character; this is why Lookout has some of my favourite character writing in dramaland ever.
And that even if it was a failed redemption arc, I wanted that for the King.
The broken, fallen character, who for himself, or for the woman he loves or for external forces, such as his Kingdom, strives to be better somehow, all the while being at war with himself? And if they’re backed up by someone who never gives up on them despite everything? I love that kind of thing.
A character that tries to be better than they are, even if they fail, makes for a much more tragic and sad story, but also for a much more hopeful and beautiful story.
A character that simply is good because he is good, and a character that predictably becomes beholden to his feelings for other characters in order for plot development, is not so interesting for me. Unfortunately that is the Clown. And even if they show the Clown falling from his current position of niceness, I still prefer the former; I can’t explain it but it somehow has more emotional stakes for me.
This is subjective of course, but I think the latent redemption arc and depth of the King’s character was objective, and just begging to be tapped into.

But I didn’t get my redemption arc. I didn’t get my developed King.
I didn’t get it; they just killed him because he was a maniac, and he was in the way of the plot.
You can imagine how frustrated this makes me. They wrote the Clown as the main character from the beginning, and never gave the King his own meaning as a character, and therefore they had to kill the king. His character was meaningless, only a plot device needed for the Clown, and therefore the show, to exist.
If their intent was to comment on the meaninglessness of our fragile existence, and have an overall nihilistic message, then they certainly succeeded but I do not think this was their purpose. I don’t know what their actual writing intent was, and I shall have to continue watching this show to find out, but I don’t want to. I don’t want to continue because; well they shot themselves in the foot didn’t they. They accidentally created a fascinating character, that I foolishly (I told you this show would burn me) got attached to and then they hung him out to dry.

The enjoyment of, and attachment to, the King as a character is partly because of his potential, both intentional and unintentional, but also partly, or perhaps a lot because of the acting.
If Jingoo is good as the Clown, then he is phenomenal as the King. (Bonus points for when he’s the King and the Clown in the same scene).
In fact, he’s almost too good as the King. The writing does not live up to his performance. That is, Jingoo somehow brings out nuance and agency in the character that I do not think would be there if anyone else were to play Yi Heon. The way Jingoo plays the King draws on all his reserves, all his emotions, and it brings something out of the character that the writing doesn’t equate for.
Jingoo’s acting, and the King’s character, deserved more than to just die in episode 8.

And so the greatest tragedy of this show for me, will always be that it somehow wasted Jingoo’s indescribable acting, and what could’ve been one of the most interesting on screen characters at very least in the last year, if not ever.

—————————————————————————————————————————

(A couple of side notes:
1) The death of the King makes Haksan’s character fascinating, but terrifying, and I am heading towards truly disliking him. He betrayed the King’s trust., he betrayed the King, all for his own agenda. Of course, part of this is the writing- he betrayed the King’s trust because the plot required him too. But how sad I was, how heartbroken that perhaps the last person who was on the King’s side, gave up on him, because he was not the figure to lead the country to a better place and his ideal. On a political level I do understand this ruthlessness, but on a personal level, on the King’s level as a human being, and as a character I enjoyed, who I thought deserved much more than to just die because of political ruthlessness and bad writing, it makes me mad, and sad. And fear for the Clown’s neck. Because clearly Haksan is not the Frodo to the King’s Gollum, let alone to anyone else.
I do enjoy the Clown and his sassiness, but I could never sink my teeth into him, so this show will have to pull something amazing for me to keep paying attention now that the King is gone. And if he’s not dead… well that’s a whole other kettle of bad writing fish.
2) I wish I could express in eloquent and comprehensible words how amazingly well shot, well-acted, and well written (for the single scene itself, not overall) Yi Heon’s Death scene was, but I cannot, and others have done it better before me. It is worthy of its own film essay though, and I may just make it my desktop background, for whatever that is worth.)

16
44

    Thanks for writing this Sica, I love your perspective as always and it was a great read.

    One of the reasons I don’t entirely agree with this is a reason I’ve had difficulty putting into words and so I haven’t tried to express yet. I don’t know enough about Korea, Korean history or Korean cultural ideals to really express it properly and I’m wary about commenting about another culture as an outsider when I feel this is a really deep-seated thing that i’ll never entirely understand.

    That is – that I feel that with the King’s death, something else was dying. That in the representation of Cray and the Clown that something else was being shown. Maybe as @kiara pointed out, the two sides of the historical Gwanghae? But maybe the two sides of Joseon itself? That the King represented something about traditional Korea that died in the same way that he died.
    Ultimately pointless, meaningless, almost unremarked.
    It was something in his big dreams and his utter inability to fulfil them. Something in his fantasies of conquest and domination and rivalling the larger Empires around him, while being an impotent puppet instead. While the Clown is “good” and has more modern ideas of justice and selflessness and ruling for the people. But he is just as much a slave to those interests as anybody; just as likely to realise his own impotence as Cray was.

    So for me the pointlessness of his life and death was a powerful statement on the pointlessness of … I don’t know… I don’t want to say ‘Korea’ because that seems really patronising and judgemental and did I mention that thing about me being an outsider? But this is a country that has done little but be occupied in one way or another throughout its history. And I feel like there’s something there that writers are trying to say.

    Which is to say – maybe there’s a reason sageuks never have happy endings of justice and rationality and logic prevailing. Maybe there’s a reason they’re so damn bleak.
    Maybe.

    8
    2

      That’s an interesting take. And I really like the part about the King’s death symbolising something in its meaninglessness.
      … I probably didn’t make it clear enough but I was trying to come to this from a purely writing perspective (which is always most important to me) rather than a historical perspective, because like you, I don’t know enough about it.
      However in my experience there are more bad writers who DONT think or intend to write about things like that, than there are writers who do, and whilst it would be cool for this to be some grand sweeping statement about history and politics and and metaphysics in general… I’m not sure it is.
      Although now I have an entirely different angle from which I want to analyse this, even if my trust in the writer’s intelligence is not high…

      5
      1

        Oh, hell, after my Boyfriend experience I assume nothing. Which is silly because I should have assumed nothing after…. several other kdrama experiences. It was just a sense I got as he stood there – this broken addict who has achieved nothing – talking of his big, empire building dreams. They way they framed his death as being small and swamped in this giant reality. It felt bigger than this one person.

        But from a writing perspective I get it. I know a lot of people hoped that Cray would end up in the troupe and discover what life was life from the bottom. That he and the Crown would somehow meet in the middle as new, complete people.

        5
        1

          And then because this is fiction and art in a sense, that’s a perfectly reasonable thing to take from it. Albiet a very sad and oh the world is ending kind of beautiful one ;).

          I honestly wouldn’t have minded a tragic ending for the King had he just been given more than 2 hrs screen time … Happy endings sometimes seem contrived and just as empty.
          It’s all about how you tell the story, and how you use the characters you have. So that ending wouldn’t have been my preferred option either to be honest, or well that’s not how I would write it. But, it’s not my story.

          5
          0

      Which is to say – maybe there’s a reason sageuks never have happy endings of justice and rationality and logic prevailing. Maybe there’s a reason they’re so damn bleak.
      Maybe.

      There is definitely a lot of common sentiment in sageuks that basically boils down to 2 points
      1) King and princes are not powerful. They are either bound by policies dictated by Mongolia, Ming, or Qing emperors or controlled by their king father/empress dowager or their powerful evil ministers.
      2) Yongban (artistocrats) is the terminal illness that killed Joseon.

      Due to the lack of great kings and a contemporary anti-monarchy sentiment, the serious sageuks rarely have happy endings. So I don’t expect Ha Sun to be a great king. Maybe just a more humane ruler who will probably fail at the end. The best ending they’ll giving him is probably return to a village with Sowoon.

      6
      3

        I mean … rarely have happy endings for kings and princes (excluding romance genre, which just doesn’t elaborate their later unfortunate years)

        2
        0

        Perhaps Sageuks should stop focusing on Kings and Princes and Queens… Hmmm. But also maybe not since they would still be living in the time of Kings of No Power.

        2
        2

          *googles sageuks without kings*

          Showing results for time traveling

          1
          0

          On a side note, I feel like many kdramas feature royalty or very rich and influenciado people, much more than for example jdramas do. I think that it reflects the mentality of the viewers in Korea that they aspire to be rich and influential and respect these things more than possibly people from other countries do. Does this mean that these things mean more to society in Korea? In jdramas the stories are very often about “normal” people fighting to make a living and trying to balance rigid social rules with the idea of creating something new or improving on the things that are.

          1
          0

        I was thinking of a similar idea for sometime. Aince gwanghea was deposed along with his wives and son, would they go on the same path and let ha sun get deposed along with his family and go to a remote island with so woon.

        0
        0

    My fear is that they will have the Clown devolve into the same madness. Maybe I shouldn’t have said that out loud.

    6
    4

      I totally expect the Clown to really become the Cray👑 in the second half.

      I understand @sicarius ‘s disappointment because I also found the Cray👑 much more interesting to watch. However I have a feeling that he is the beginning and the end game. Not that I expect him to return from the dead, but that Ha Sun will show us how politics ate that once gentle prince’s soul and turned him into the merciless king.

      10
      1

        Yes I think this is one of the more obvious options for the Clown’s development. I’m not particularly interested in it going either way at this point, but that will entirely depend on how they handle his downfall if they go that route.
        I should try and enjoy it I guess. I know Jingoo will act that phenomenally. I’m just a bit sulky still… Hehege

        5
        0

      I HOPE he does tbh.

      4
      0

      I think he’ll have to become more grey but will stay good and a ray of sunshine til the end because this is a kdrama lol

      3
      0

      @ndlessjoie mugyuljoie,

      I’m on the same wavelength with you. It has occurred to me, too, that Ha-sun could well follow in Yi Heon’s footsteps right off the deep end — except that he probably won’t be a raving drug addict when he does so. He’ll be stone cold sober when he goes Ivan the Terrible. To me, that would be a truly tragic development.

      5
      1

    Thank you for tagging me! I really enjoyed reading this. And I completely agree.

    I loved Cray. LOVED. Was he terrible? Yep. But he was interesting. He was dark, sinister, and ruthless. But he was so interesting. I didn’t even really want a redemption arc, I just wanted him around being crazy and making everyone’s life hell. Jingu did AMAZING. I was stunned to silence many times while he was cray. He deserves all the awards.

    Now, I do love Clown, he is good and compassionate, everything that Cray is not. But….I see some of that sinister and ruthlessness in him. In the first few episodes, I can see him falling into the same craze as the King. And dare I say that I hope he does?

    I am also upset that he was killed off so early, but Jingu did some of his best acting in that final scene. I mean, wow. But there was so much untapped potential left in Cray. I think a lot of the reason he was taken out so early is more because of Jingu and having to film double the scenes, and it was probably wearing him down.

    I request Jingu play the most evilest of character next role please.

    7
    0

    This is very nicely written! Thank you for it and for calling me to the party XD

    After I’ve read it I understood what you meant by overthinking about a drama that’s not finished yet and breaking your brain XD you’ve thought SO much about it XD

    Jokes aside though, I too would have hoped for a redemption arch, however I was very skeptical from the beginning whether anything of the kind will happen. Kdramas just tend to be very… G or at least PG rated? They barely ever have well developed characters who are not all good, it must all be peace and rainbows with only a few interludes of trouble, the more to stress the kindness and strength of the main characters. Mainly “bad” people just meet a sticky end and that’s it. They don’t even often have grey characters who are well developed, possibly not to offend the delicate sensibilities of the general public. I guess Haksan will be our best grey character here now.

    I thought the interaction between LH and Haksan was very interesting, we get to see LH alternate between almost insane and very much aggressive and ruthless (a dangerous combination) and showing glimpses of this hopeful, idealistic, loving young man he had once been. Haksan obviously loved him at one point, maybe more so than he would have a son, but in the end he chose what really matters for him, namely his ideals to reform the country, and neither the allegiance once sworn to LH nor the one he now swore to HS holds any real meaning, he is not as good a person as he perhaps would like to be, he can only prioritize one thing at a time.

    Despite the tragic death of LH and the chances that are lost with it, I still haven’t given up on the drama, because now I’m expecting the story of HS and Haksan! (I’m not here for the romance AT ALL lol). I’m also on soompi and there somebody said that there might be a fallout between the two of them because of Haksan’s the end justifies the means way of acting, and that I think is actually much more probable than a redemption arch of LH had ever been. How will HS react to the news? Will the guard whom Haksan promised, while he was weeping in despair to bring back his king, ever forgive him? I don’t think so. What will the Queen do when she finally finds out that not only had she been engaging in romance with a person who’s not her husband at all, but that he’d long been murdered? Despite all his faults and the fact that they were estranged, we have seen a lot of glimpses of the loving relationship they’d once had, and that is not the least reason of why she was so drawn to HS, she thought that LH had started to revert to the kind and considerate person she’d once married! Will she be able to forgive herself or those involved in the murder of the king of her country? I’ve got the impression that she is above all also a very righteous person who will not let something like this slide.

    5
    1

      So despite my predictions I honestly have no idea what is going to happen next and this makes me very excited! Not many kdramas manage to be truly unpredictable. I wouldn’t have guessed in my wildest dreams tbh that Haksan would just decide to kill the king like that! This is enough bonus for me to stay invested.

      I’m also praying that a lot will yet happen because for some reason, despite my love for YJG’s acting, I can’t bear seeing him just expressionless or brooding for a long time. Possibly because it’s such a waste of potential XD

      On a somewhat unrelated note, I was in love with a drama last year I think called The King Loves, have you seen that one? I keep thinking that LH is the extreme version of the king/crown prince there, love starved and incredibly sad, but also prone to bursts of agression and anger especially towards the ones he loves. The story is completely different of course.

      3
      2

        @winter,

        From what I’ve seen, prime time Kdramas that are broadcast over the public airwaves are usually rated 15; occasionally a show will have an individual episode rated 18 or 19. (IIRC, VOICE had one or more because of the gore.) Cable stations sometimes broadcast entire dramas with a higher rating. I posted some information on Korean Media Rating Board standards on my fan wall.
        http://www.dramabeans.com/members/pakalanapikake/activity/707489/ . I’ve also seen dismayed and angry comments on shows whose villains have been considered immoral, or shows whose resolutions failed to mete out enough retribution to the baddies. If it seems that many Kdrama villains are black-and-white rather that grayscale, I suspect it is to clearly underscore the difference between good and evil.

        To my eye, the breaking point came for Lee when he read Yi Heon’s condemnation of the Queen. Something in Lee’s eyes and demeanor changed when he read that letter. Yi Heon literally signed his own death warrant.

        I have a feeling that we’ll be seeing the devolution of Chief Royal Secretary Lee to someone akin to former Minister of the Left Shin Chi-soo. Whereas Shin is a greedy materialist who is power-hungry, Lee is an idealist — which I find to be a lot scarier.

        Apropos of THE KING LOVES, Wang Won’s mother was played by the same actress as Daebi Mama in CROWNED CLOWN. Jang Young-nam does imperious, conniving, and bloodthirsty very well.

        0
        2

          I just thought that when LH returned to the palace, he did something he maybe had never done before: he threatened and blackmailed and generally directly harmed those who were in a positive relationship with him. Before, we see him being paranoid and ruthless in dealing with political opponents, although his actions may be way over the top, they are understandable as in he was really threatened and he had been treated very badl over an extended period of time. This time however he was mainly acting out of jealosy and insecurity, there was no real threat he was fighting against, he was just lashing out because he wanted to. To me it was not only (or even mainly) the decision to kill the queen that must have shocked Haksan but I think that the moment LH imprisoned the few people out there Haksan still cared about, trusted, and had contact with to chain him to himself, he lost him. He could have been however unhinged or aggressive and act in very inappropiate ways, but from what we’d seen he had always been very clear with his affections (even though the queen seemed to not have noticed) and his vulnerable and love-starved side always showed. Now he seemed to not care at all anymore about the feelings of Haksan and the queen (frankly those are the two people he seemed to care about) but only wanted to control them without regard to what they would want. In that moment he (imo) lost the right (?) to their loyalty and love that before he had earned.

          I don’t know if this made sense… I just think he crossed the line with Haksan. The queen didn’t even know what he (or Hasun) had done but he certainly also crossed the line with her without her knowing.

          3
          2

            Does one really lose their right to be loved though?
            Isn’t what makes love more powerful, when you love even when someone is least deserving of it and it makes no sense to keep loving that person?
            That’s partly why I made the LOTR comparison.
            Tolkien says it better than I so I will simply link it : http://excerpts-from-tolkien.tumblr.com/post/25617989248/sam-was-cocksure-and-deep-down-a-little
            The most notable line for me being “”the nobility of service to the unlovable and of perception of damaged good in the corrupt””

            Of course the topic in itself, whether someone ever loses the right to be loved would in my opinion make a fascinating topic to be explored in dramaland or otherwise… however I can see it being tackled even less so than a mere fully fleshed out anti hero character…
            And this show is not Lord of the Rings, nor can I expect it to be, but if you’ve sworn to love and protect someone, and then give it up for the sake of politics and weak writing… colour me unimpressed with your decision making, no matter how realistic that is to what most people would do irl 😉

            4
            0

            @Sicarius the Queen of Melonia
            I phrased it very unluckily. What I mean is that he had to earn their love, respect, and trust, and despite the other things that he did and they might have disagreed with, he had never turned on them, he had never crossed the line (as far as we know) and betrayed them, until episode 7, at least in my opinion. I think he crossed a line there and it would have been justifiable for them to in turn, turn agains him, despite all the other things they had tolerated out of love to him. (However I don’t think murdering him was justified on an emotional level)

            1
            0

          I loved Daebi Mamma in The King Loves btw. She was such a fury, beautiful and terrible, and she wore her wounds of unrequited love towards both her husband and her son so well, they were like her armour.

          This daebi mama is less complicated as of now XD I like the other one better, though I still love the actress.

          1
          0

        “They don’t even often have grey characters who are well developed”–> I agree.
        That’s probably why I like Do Han from Lookout so much. Prime anti hero material. It’s not even necessarily always about whether they’re morally grey or not- I just want rich characters. The underlying moral spectrum of a show can be black to white, but I want to see people fight along that spectrum more.

        I am looking forward to everyone’s reaction to this when they find out. And for sure Haksan I think is now going to be the cause of central character conflict. Hopefully I can move on from this and enjoy the show still, for what it still might give me.
        It will, as I mentioned above, all hinge on how they portray the characters from here on out. Characters are the medium through which we as humans relate to a show, and connect to a story. You can have the best plot in the universe but if your characters are shallow your plot means nothing. Alternatively, you can have a shallow plot and fantastic characters and that will still make for good watching. At least it will for me. Characters give soul to a story.
        So this plot can do whatever the heck it wants, for whatever political machinations it desires, but if I am not happy with the ending character direction, I probably won’t be happy with the show in it’s entirety and unfortunately for the show, I’m going to be judging it more harshly from here on in… D: I am sorry, Clown!!! I am such a hard taskmistress, I know.

        Re. Predictability-
        I guessed when they were in the cave eating the soup- does that count? I don’t know why; the thought just went through my head, the way that conversation was framed- “please don’t kill please don’t kill him oh gosh you’re gonna kill him aren’t you”. Then I was terrified the soup was going to be poisoned. When it wasn’t I knew it was going to be the drink at the beach. So it was an in-episode prediction but still a prediction. It didn’t make watching that scene any easier though…

        I haven’t seen the King Loves but it was written by Healer and Sandglass’ writer, and I hold her to some esteem, so I was going to watch it and I think it’s on my to watch list. I actually sort of hate love triangles though, so I think that’s why I avoided that show initially.

        3
        2

          @sicarius, if you cannot abide love triangles, be forewarned that THE KING LOVES chased its tail like crazy. On the other hand, Jung Bo-suk’s bickering with his empress was entertaining. And Hong Jong-hyun was dandy as the honorable Wang Rin — sans the SCARRED HEART Guyliner of Evil. Nice bromance with him, Im Si-wan, and his pair of guards, too. 😉

          1
          0

          Personally I don’t think TKL is all about the love triangle, though it rapidly became the only thing anybody ever talked about. To me (who loves the king in the king loves XD) it’s more about a platonic kind of polyamoury XD I don’t want to give too much away and I hope you will watch it and not only through the conflict of the love triangle. The interaction between the 3 main characters (imo they are the 3 main characters) are much more complicated than just jealous romantic love. There is familial, friendly, and possibly romantic love between all three of them I dare say that shifts over time.

          1
          0

    Thank you so much for this! Sorry I’m late to the party and still trying to get my thoughts together.

    I noticed that a lot of sageuks seems to always have a propaganda behind it and it’s always related to the current politics or state of the country. Sageuks do send strong messages especially to those running the country.
    Here is one based on the movie that this drama is taking inspirations from.
    http://koreajoongangdaily.joins.com/news/article/article.aspx?aid=2959509

    And another from JEON DO YEON.
    http://koreajoongangdaily.joins.com/news/article/article.aspx?aid=2984372

    Not only sageuks but dramas like FOREST OF SECRETS and I guess that’s one reason why there is so many legal dramas.

    2
    0

    Thanks for the invite, @sicarius. 😉

    Redemption arcs are my catnip, too. I agree with you on the King’s unrealized potential as a character. On the other hand, the show’s literal title in Korean means “A man who became king” (thank you, Google Translate) — which says to me that the emphasis is on the clown. Although it technically could refer to both of them.

    Having watched a fair number of sageuks, my spider sense is tingling like mad. I won’t believe Yi Heon is really, truly deceased until I see his corpse. Call me a cock-eyed optimist, but it’s possible (even if only 1%) that Haksan knocked him out for an extended period in rehab, or resorted to inducing amnesia. (Oh, wait. Wrong show. As far as I know, Yi Heon is not an energumen, but that would explain a lot.)

    Thanks for the reference to Lord of the Rings. The parallel between Sméagol/Gollum and Yi Heon is most apt. 😉

    3
    2

      Would it be weird and inappropiate if I compared him to Boromir instead? (Because I personally dislike Smeagol ^^°°°°°°°°) Both went down the wrong path for an understandable reason (albeit both could still have chosen another path despite that reason), Boromir was bewitched by the ring like many others, while some have resisted its temptation, LH drove himself into a corner of fear and resentment, and both payed with their lives, even though both had (I will just claim this) potential for greatness and not the least, kindness.

      2
      1

        I agree with all your comparison points-
        But you’re supposed to dislike Smeagol. Like Gollum is not lovable. That’s the entire point. And because it’s me, and I always end up liking the characters one is supposed to hate, I like Gollum. Also I don’t think you’re supposed to like the King so in that sense the comparison is closer, because Boromir starts off honourable. I think if we’d SEEN the King’s “Downfall” he would be more comparable to Boromir sure.
        “even though both had (I will just claim this) potential for greatness and not the least, kindness.”- I would claim that for all three hahaha. But Smeagol succumbed to the ring hundreds of years ago, so we only ever briefly saw what he was like before the ring, and only briefly saw what he could’ve been like without the ring.
        I don’t know, I think both comparisons work, because Boromir and Gollum’s bewitchments are both due to the Ring. Then maybe it would be better to compare what the Ring does to people to Yi Heon’s descent to madness.

        (Also sorry Paka I haven’t replied to you fully yet. I got mentioned 28 times yesterday hahaha.)

        3
        0

      Yes I do, and did realise the Clown is supposed to be the main character… It’s probably just a shame I have been and am prone to getting attached to characters who are not pfft.

      I… as much as I don’t like that they killed him, I’m not sure I want them to bring him back to life either- to what end?!! He’s in the way of the rest of the plot in his current state, and even if they game him rehab… what then? We kill the Clown? I don’t know… I’m beginning to think even the premise of this story is just one that will not satisfy me no matter how it’s done.

      I seem to be making all the Tolkien references these days pfft. I think I’m just gonna have to reread again.

      3
      0

    Party-crasher here…I’m not watching the drama just yet. But wow, all of the comments here are so very interesting and thoughtful. I probably would agree more with @sicarius because the bad guys are usually the most interesting, especially when they get to have a redemption arc. In fact, I’ve heard most actors would rather play the villain for that reason. Think I’ll definitely wait til this is over and see what you guys all think, because if the Clown becomes just as crazy wouldn’t that be the most predictable thing to happen, especially since it’s only halfway through? Or do the majority of viewers still want the happy ending?

    3
    1

      Party crashers welcome.
      Redemption arcs I feel, aren’t done enough. Not from like, an actual villain like character such as the King. And unlike Lollypip on the recap, I don’t think he was irredeemable: I don’t think anyone is irredeemable.
      I think the Clown becoming crazy is predictable, and I think a happy ending would be contrived. So really at this point I will be happy with neither predictable outcome. Pfft.

      2
      1

        Re Redemption Arcs, one of my favorite themes. What really shocks me is how much I’m enjoying Chinese dramas/fantasies since their heroes never need a redemption arc. They come fully good, honest, pure in heart, and stay steadfast in their beliefs til the end, no matter what they have to endure (and they endure a LOT). Usually their love is pure for the same lady thru the series. If they “die” at the end because of their sacrifice (either for her or for nation) they get to come back. Why do I like these characters and find them fascinating? I’ve no clue as it goes against everything I say I believe in what makes an interesting character.

        2
        0

    This describe perfectly how I feel about the King’s death, but it’ll.be a lie if I say I didn’t saw it coming. Is a K-drama after all and like you said the King’s existence only purpose was to make the Clown more likeable. However still believe the writer can do interesting things with the King’s character (and no, miraculously resurrecting him is not what I have in mind). Something like showing us the impact of his death in the Royal Secretary or the inner struggle of the Clown who is now forever bound to live another person’s life, could be great… Got my fingers crossed.

    2
    0

    Gahhh I loved this Sic ~ I’m sorry I didn’t see it earlier, but it’s very interesting reading all these comments in hindsight (or as far advanced as ep 13 lol).

    The Clown really was meant to be the main character the whole time, which makes sense once you’ve watched the movie (i know I know, the plot is different, but 80% of the screen time belongs to the clown).

    Jingoo has done that which happens more often than we admit, an actor gets a part in his hands that is simple and stereotypical (be a tyrannical ruler like in the movie), but makes it brilliant in his hands.

    I agree with you on Haksan, he is both more interesting and more terrifying now, as a man who kills those he loves for his ideals. I found the discussion here on whether someone can deserve to lose love interesting, not least because I believe you shouldn’t even as past experiences with people show that human love can be twisted, distorted, and, yes, lost.

    I mentioned this elsewhere but i just finished rereading TTT, so this scene is fresh in my memory. Thank you for writing this chingu ~

    1
    1

      It’s really interesting even for me to come back and read this and realise a lot of the reasons I’m frustrated with what’s happening in the show NOW are linked to my opinions here.

      Now I think an analysis of the Queen’s character and the fallout or lack thereof of the King’s death is in order. I may steal some of your ideas on the Queen that you wrote on the recap actually because I agree with you and think you hit the nail on the head regarding her character and her grief.

      I know the Clown is meant to be the main character but I think I was always in denial about that and hoping it would be more interesting than that. It wasn’t, but I can dream, even if it means getting burnt lol.

      I was interested in Haksan more, until now where there hasn’t been any more development on him, or his past, just this kind of constant bickering and push and pull between him and the other Minister. It’s part of the reason I’m getting frustrated and bored.

      Re. the deserving love argument- I really wanted to keep talking about it on here with people but I sort of ran out of energy and the mental capacity.
      I’ll tell you a secret Cocoa- the first Love February post I wrote? About the strip of grass by the cemetery? It was a direct reaction to episode 8 of this show.
      I simply could not explain in direct words why I was so frustrated with that writing decision and why I was so cut up about it and how some people kept dismissing it as just Confucian ideology and that it made sense politically, as if that was justification, when the whole thing, Haksan killing him as if he meant nothing just seemed so WRONG to me. It still does. And even more so now that nobody yet knows the how of the King’s death, and that the Queen’s reaction to his death was made NOTHING for the sake of the love line. I’m still mad about it to be honest. Except that now I realise it’s because of my worldview, which is inherently Christian, and therefore balks at the Confucian worldview (at least when it’s taken seriously like in this and not watered down with fantasy as in other shows) and because to me, love and grace are neither earnt nor deserved. They are given. Just because I am personally terrible at giving love to people right now, and just because humans themselves can lose love or twist it, doesn’t mean I can’t hope to see such love expressed in film or literature. So the treatment of the King will always frustrate me thus.
      And because of the way they went about writing the entire show, like just their attitude and approach to the story, doesn’t sit well with me, either as a writer or as a human, I don’t think I’m going to be able to say I ever loved this show.

      And all of that is why, LOTR, and Tolkien’s approach to love and morality, is SO IMPORTANT. I love the Two Towers btw. It’s my favourite book of the volume. And I love that scene so much it hurts.

      1
      0