This is easily one of the best kdramas I've seen and for sure the best historical drama I watched.
I knew after only 10 mins that I would love this drama so if you're still unsure if you want to watch this just do that.
The first episode starts with a scene 10 years in the future and this show leads up to this beautifully filmed sequence.
Basically this is a show about two best friends that get affected by the downfall of Goryeo and the establishment of the Joseon Kingdom and how their own definition of how they want their country to be makes them drift apart.
Moreover this is also a story of the political game at that time, especially by Nam Jeon, a high ranking minister, a General that will become the King and of course Bang Won, played by Jang Hyuk with a breathtaking performance, who for sure outdid himself in this role.
The actors were all exceptional in their roles and the OST is simply amazing and matched the mood of the show very well.
One of the best things of the drama was definitely the high production value, the amazing directional and camera work and the great fighting sequences which I personally loved to watch.
It is a serious drama with a lot of tragedy, heartbreak and angst, but more than that it shows amazing fleshed out characters and their unique development. While it was definitely character driven it had a high-paced storyline and the show suffered a little bit of squeezing so much storyline into 16 episodes. I think 2/4 more episodes would have made it even greater.
While I liked the romance, it was overshadowed by the amazing friendship portrayed by the main leads. It was truly one of the best I've seen on TV and I thought the writer made a great job of exploring the different stages of it.
There are a few things I think could have been made better, like the expansion of the FL storyline that started to feel like a secondary character at the end, the unrealistic recoveries of stabbing wounds and the huge timeskips in which a lot of storyline happened offscreen without much explanation, which could be a bit confusing for people who aren't familiar with korean history (like me).
But overall the show was just SO good that I could easily ignore those things in favor of this amazing show which I will definitely rewatch (when my heart is ready again).

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How can a time-loop drama be this good?

You would think this drama gets boring after a couple of episodes because we see the same bus drive and explosion over and over again, instead every new loop brings the MLs new information and they slowly unravel how to stop the loop.
It never gets boring, there are so many great twists, I was on the edge of my seat the whole time.
Even though this is a fast paced plot driven drama we really get to know some of the characters and their backstory too, which really helped to make them more three dimensional and actually made me pretty emotional a couple of times.
The acting is excellent, especially of the police officer and the mother.
What I loved so so much, was that no stupid decisions were made by the MLs just for plot reasons. Both MLs are really smart regular people that have common sense (which a lot of dramas are lacking sadly). There are no clichés, no cheesy romance, just a bonding of two people who go through insanely traumatic events over and over again.
I wasn't aware of any plot holes which is great too, some things are implied and not explained! (like the reason for the loop)
The script of this drama was simply perfect, thrilling, exciting and one of the best of the genre I'm sure.
I really hope we will see more c-dramas like this!

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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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Dark Complex and full of twists

I never thought I would love a show more then Stranger until I discovered the masterpiece Watcher.
I didn't know any of the actors before but all of the mains became favorites of mine. The acting was excellent.
The side characters helped to lighten up the very heavy and dark plot.
I felt like the show gaslighted me as a viewer. There were so many red herrings and so many twists and false accusations that I couldn't trust myself anymore on whom I believed to be the killer. Everyone was sooo suspicious. I became so paranoid I suspected everyone in the show.
One thing I loved about the show is that at the end I didn't even care that much who the murderer was. The journey until the reveal was the true highlight of the show.
I absolutely loved the relationship between the three main characters. They felt like a (dysfunctional) family sometimes.
The characters were written beautifully because you didn't really get to know them until you watched the full show ( or in the case of the chief stayed mysterious forever). Characters like the attorney which I didn't like at all in the beginning became my favourite by the end.
I never felt bored while watching the show. From beginning till the end it stayed interesting and surprised me until the very last scene.
While it was still on the air I rewatched it because I had forgotten certain characters and this show is really complex. And I loved it so definitely rewatchable.
I really hope there will be a second season!

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