Captivating the King Episode 12 Recap and Review: Famous director, Jo Nam-gook known for his top hit series The Good Detective is back with a historical romance drama with a spoonful of twists and turns, Starring top-notch actors like Jo Jung-suk, Shin Sae-kyeong, and Lee Shin-young, Captivating the King (세작, 매혹된 자들) has all the fun and spice in it to make the viewers sit back and watch throughout. Both Netflix and TV are distributing the series, meaning its potential is global.
The three main roles are done by Jo Jung-suk as Lee In, Shin Sae-kyeong as Kang Hee-soo/ Kang Mong-woo and Lee Shin-young as Kim Myung-ha. Jo Jung-suk’s previous hit was Hospital Playlist (2020 – 2021), Shin Sae-kyeong’s last venture was Run On (2020 – 2021) and Lee Shin-young was last seen in CEO-dol Mart (2023).
– Captivating the King Episode 12 Review Contains Spoilers –
Captivating the King Plot
Lee In is a prince with a caring older brother, King Lee Sun. Pledging loyalty to his brother, Lee In is taken hostage by the Qing Dynasty. Unfortunately, King Lee Sun misinterprets this loyalty as betrayal, leading to a strained relationship. Lee In suffers emotionally due to his brother’s resentment.
During his time as a hostage, Lee In encounters an unknown baduk player who captivates him with her skills. Eventually, circumstances unfold, and Lee In ascends to the throne as the king. Despite holding a powerful position, he grapples with internal sadness and vulnerability.
Kang Hee-soo, previously known as a skilled but unknown baduk player, crosses paths with Prince Lee In and falls in love with him. However, fate takes a twist as she becomes a spy with a mission for revenge. Her journey involves approaching King Lee In, adding complexities to their intertwined destinies.
Captivating the King Episode 12 Recap
In the 11th episode, Hee-soo misunderstands the King and executes the assassination plan. The episode starts with the Crown prince wondering about the burnt peach tree that his brother once planted. He gets disturbed and thinks that it is a sign from heaven. He visits the Queen Dowager to discuss it but she tries to sweet-talk knowing that her son might take a foolish decision out of empathy. The King then asks in the general assembly regarding the thunder strike.
Myung-ha comes forward and says that heaven is angry at him for not taking care of the tree and requests the King punish him. Moved by Myung-ha’s bravery, the King declines punishment, triggering the Principal Director. The Inspector General adds that the thunder strike is a sign to take care of the country, find corruption, and fix it. The King finds the Inspector General’s words promising and orders all the officials to write a report regarding every loophole they can find.
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Principal Director gets jealous of the Inspector General as the King listens to his words more. Later when news regarding the Queen’s sickness goes around, the Queen Dowager asks the Principal Director to find a new Queen for the King. He then meets with his right hand, the military minister and asks him to prepare his daughter for an alliance. The minister believes that finally, he’s getting the chance to get into the Royal Family.
However, the Principal Director ropes in Hyun-bo and fixes his nieces for the King. Learning about this, the military minister gets mad. The Principal Director states that the alliance is not with the King but with the Grand Prince Mun-seong. He gives time to the minister to think about the offer. Meanwhile, the King visits the Queen and learns she will pass away anytime. The Queen speaks to the Great Lord who is her father and requests him to file a petition to the King to adopt the Grand Prince as the heir and make him the crown prince.
Simultaneously, Mong-woo and Myung-ha visit the Minister of Military and make him agree to give off his daughter to Grand Prince Munseong and support the petition to make him the Crown Prince. On the day of the general assembly, the Great Lord, with tears files the petition and shocks the crowd. The Principal Director panics and yells at them but surprisingly none of the other members support him but support the Great Lord.
The Inspector General also states that making the Grand Prince the Crown Prince will have many benefits. The King visits the dying Queen and learns that it is her wish as well and agrees to adopt Mun-seong as their son. The Queen Dowager gets extremely mad and states that the decision will be made over her dead body. That very evening, at the King’s private place, the Principal Director comes. Mong-woo hides and hears their conversation.
The King says that his intentions are evil and he will make the Grand Prince the Crown Prince only to expel and eliminate him. The Principal Director feels happy and leaves while Mong-woo/Hee-soo suffers in silence after knowing her lover’s evil thoughts. That night she and Dal-ha plan the assassination which is to be carried out the next night.
The following day, the King adopts Mun-seong as their heir and the little boy visits the Queen. The Queen happily passes away knowing she now has an heir to do the funeral service. That night, the King visits Mong-woo at their regular spot unaware that Dal-ha is hiding inside. When they prepare to go in, Hee-soo stops the King and starts crying.
She asks him to not go inside to which he asks whether there is another lover inside. After her silence, he asks her whether there is an assassin. Looking at her expression, he realises and the episode ends.
Captivating the King Episode 12 Review
Of course, the King spoke in such an evil way to the Principal Director only to sway him because it’s evident that if he had said something else, he’d have earned a betrayer. Sadly, Hee-soo misunderstands everything and doesn’t really understand the King’s motives. Regardless, she still saved her lover from the possible death and I feel bad for Dal-ha who’ll now get arrested.
In the following episodes, the plan would be to bring down the Principal Director because he is the main villain as of now. Soon Hee-soo will know who killed the late King and why so. It’s presumably the court lady because in one scene we see her remembering the moment the sick King made her kiss his rotting finger. She immediately controls her tears and tries not to puke. This shows that she would have been the one who poisoned the late King.
Captivating the King is streaming on Netflix. Let us know your thoughts in the comment section.
Also read: All Reviews of Captivating the King!