The BEST Episodes of The Last Empress
Every episode ever - ranked by fan votes!
Last Updated: Feb 28, 2021
Network: SBS (KR)
Oh Ssu-Ni is a musical actress with a bright personality. Suddenly, she marries Emperor Lee Hyuk. There, Oh Ssu-Ni goes up against absolute power of the palace and fights against the power. Meanwhile, she falls in love with Na Wang-Sik who is a bodyguard of the imperial family. Na Wang-Sik came to the palace to take revenge on the person responsible for his mother’s death. Due to death of Emperor Lee Hyuk’s grandmother, Oh Ssu-Ni breaks down the royal family with the help of Na Wang-Sik and finds true love.
#1 - The Prince is in Town
Season 1 - Episode 14 - Aired Dec 12, 2018
After talking to the Prince over the phone in after seven years, the Emperor starts to worry. Knowing that the presence of the Prince is a direct threat to his position, the Emperor confronts the Empress Dowager. Meanwhile, with newly found strength and courage, the Empress takes it into her own hands and strips Yu Ra of her title and incarcerates her.
10.00 #2 - Wang Shik Mourns at His Mother’s Side
Season 1 - Episode 28 - Aired Jan 3, 2019
Wang Shik calls the Emperor again threatening to know where his mother's body is, and Woo Bin persuades the Emperor to make a deal with Yu Ra. Woo Bin releases Yu Ra from the hospital and finally learns of where his mother rests. Meanwhile, the Empress does a live broadcast in an attempt to clear her name of the Grand Empress Dowager's murder, but it ends up backfiring on her.
10.00 #3 - Woo Bin Runs Away With the Empress
Season 1 - Episode 38 - Aired Jan 24, 2019
The Empress Dowager orders Woo Bin to run away with the Empress in the middle of the night. Woo Bin tells the Empress of this, but she decides to play along with the Empress Dowager's scheme. After everything plays out, the Empress Dowager ends up being the one to answer to the media.
10.00 #4 - The Fall of the Imperial Family
Season 1 - Episode 52 - Aired Feb 21, 2019
With the Emperor dead, the Empress Dowager rushes to make her escape from the palace. As she is about to leave, Kang Hee confronts her. Unaware of the police and media waiting outside the door, they dig their graves as their dispute reveals each of their crimes. The police arrest them and take them away. Later, Sunny completes her quest in bringing down the palace and the people in it, by declaring the abolition of the monarchy.
10.00 #5 - Yu Ra’s Demise
Season 1 - Episode 24 - Aired Dec 27, 2018
Wang Shik learns from So Jin that a court lady had tried the food made by the Empress for the Grand Empress Dowager before her death and is now missing. With this new information, Wang Shik and the Empress start to dig deeper into the Grand Empress Dowager's murder. Meanwhile, an anonymous person sends the Emperor information regarding Yu Ra 's connection with Wang Shik.
9.60 #6 - The Wedding
Season 1 - Episode 8 - Aired Nov 29, 2018
As the nation watches the extravagant wedding, the elevated platform Sunny stands on breaks and sets on fire. Just as the situation gets dire, the new Imperial guard, Woo Bin, saves her. Meanwhile, the Empress Dowager thinks of a way to get rid of Yu Ra who is now the chief assistant of the palace.
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#7 - Wang Shik’s Rage
Season 1 - Episode 10 - Aired Dec 5, 2018
After finding out the people involved, Wang Shik returns to Bichido and swears to kill Pil Joo, the Emperor, and Yu Ra. He also tries to abandon Dong Shik, Yo Ra's son, but doesn't have the heart to do it. Angrier than ever, Wang Shik challenges the Emperor to a sparring match and impresses the Emperor.
9.50 #8 - Pil Joo Finds Wang Shik
Season 1 - Episode 12 - Aired Dec 6, 2018
Knowing how the Empress must feel, the Grand Empress Dowager spends the day with her and invites her father to the palace. Pil Joo searches through Woo Bin's quarters and finds out that he is Wang Shik. When he goes after Wang Shik, he tells him the truth behind his mother's death.
9.50 #9 - Wang Shik Betrays the Empress
Season 1 - Episode 15 - Aired Dec 13, 2018
While trying to catch the Emperor in the act, the Empress gets entangled in a predicament of her own, putting her loyalty to the Emperor in question. Wang Shik betrays her, and with the Emperor's command, he pushes her off a cliff into a river. Meanwhile, Oh Sunny's father gets caught illegally gambling by the authorities again.
9.50 #10 - Princess Ari is Promised to Become the Empress Regnant
Season 1 - Episode 37 - Aired Jan 24, 2019
Princess Ari jumps up and down in joy after being told by Kang Hee that she will be the empress regnant very soon. Princess Ari keeps her joy in secret but ends up narrating to the Empress that the Chungeum Island painting by the Grand Empress Dowager was bequeathed to the Empress Dowager and not to her. Meanwhile, the Emperor visits Sunny's house and causes a commotion.
9.50 #11 - The Emperor’s 10-Year Anniversary Celebration
Season 1 - Episode 50 - Aired Feb 20, 2019
Knowing that Sunny planned to reveal everything during his 10-year-anniversary as the emperor, he asks her for her forgiveness one last time before he locks her up. On the day of the celebration, Yu Ra helps Sunny escape. Sunny makes it to the venue just in time, and when she stands in front of the crowd, she tells everyone of the unthinkable heinous crimes the Imperial Family had committed. Meanwhile, Mr. Pyo and his henchmen run down Wang Shik, causing him to crash head-on with a wall.
9.50 #12 - The Emperor’s Vengeance
Season 1 - Episode 51 - Aired Feb 21, 2019
Sunny recuperates from the blast with Hyuk at her side. When she wakes, he tells her that it was Na Wang Shik who was behind the attack. Later, at a press conference held at the palace, the Empress Dowager affirms Na Wang Shik as the attacker, and when questioned about the Empress's accusations, she pins it all on the Emperor. Shattered by his mother's words, Hyuk dresses up as Na Wang Shik and carries on with his vengeance to destroy the palace. Meanwhile, someone buries Wang Shik next to his mother's grave.
9.50 #13 - Betrayal in the Palace
Season 1 - Episode 11 - Aired Dec 6, 2018
The Grand Empress Dowager overhears Yu Ra and the Emperor talking and learns of their secret. She forbids their love and demands Yu Ra to leave the palace. Later, the Empress tries her best to please the Emperor but following Yu Ra's suggestion only angers him. Meanwhile, Wang Shik starts to get closer to the Emperor.
9.40 #14 - Where Is My Mother’s Corpse?
Season 1 - Episode 26 - Aired Jan 2, 2019
Wang Shik begins to taunt the Emperor and Yu Ra and lets them know that he is alive and looking for his mother's corpse. The Empress discovers that the diary of the late Empress So Hyun is a map that leads to the Empress Dowager's garden. Meanwhile, an awardee of the Imperial Family scholarship enlightens the Empress Dowager of the similarities in Vincent Lee's novel to the late Empress So Hyun's death.
9.33 #15 - Gifts From the Emperor
Season 1 - Episode 41 - Aired Jan 31, 2019
Woo Bin reveals his true identity to Yu Ra, but he doesn't kill her. He takes her to Kang Joo Seung to help him remember the past. The Emperor, who is now free from his duties, continues to court the Empress. However, his gifts to her family as reconcilement turn for the worst. Later, desperate to claim her right to power, Kang Hee visits the Prime Minister's wife at the hospital and reveals his infidelity.
9.33 #16 - The Empress Goes Live
Season 1 - Episode 22 - Aired Dec 26, 2018
Prince Yoon gives Baek Ho the late Empress So Hyun's diary to help uncover the truth. The Empress starts to broadcast a live show and causes an uproar within the palace. Meanwhile, Wang Shik saves the Empress from an attacker and takes a severe blow to the head.
9.25 #17 - Tell Me It’s Not True
Season 1 - Episode 9 - Aired Dec 5, 2018
Without knowing Yu Ra's devious ways, Wang Shik contacts her to meet face to face. When he approaches her, he gets a glimpse of Ma Pil and decides to abort for Yu Ra's sake. Later, his vigilance teaches him of Yu Ra's involvement in his mother's murder.
9.20 #18 - The Prince Returns
Season 1 - Episode 25 - Aired Jan 2, 2019
When the Emperor tells the Empress Dowager that he had taken care of Yu Ra without her consent, she smiles and embraces him. She then tells him of her decision to dethrone the Crowned Prince. At the Imperial Auditor's meeting, a new law is passed to keep the option of an empress regnant. Meanwhile, the Prince gives the Empress the diary of the late Empress So Hyun.
9.00 #19 - An Antique Clock
Season 1 - Episode 30 - Aired Jan 9, 2019
Prince Yoon charges into the Emperor's chamber and yells in disgust of the incident that took Sunny's mother's life to save the Emperor. The Empress Dowager feels no guilt or remorse of the event, but to the Emperor, it hits his soft spot. Meanwhile, the Empress Dowager orders Sunny to host the Imperial Family's bazaar.
9.00 #20 - Joo Seung Starts to Remember
Season 1 - Episode 42 - Aired Jan 31, 2019
Joo Seung remembers the day he was supposed to meet Yu Ra and explains it to her in detail. Princess So Jin asks Woo Bin desperately to get back together, and later, begs the Empress Dowager to make him hers. Meanwhile, former Chief Guard Joo reveals himself to the Emperor with information regarding the real Na Wang Shik's whereabouts.
9.00 #21 - Sunny Is Appointed as the Crown Prince
Season 1 - Episode 48 - Aired Feb 14, 2019
The Emperor regrets getting mad at the Empress and begs her not to leave him as she sleeps. Michelle announces Empress Oh Sunny to be the Crown Princess' proxy and tells her about the conversation about her she had with the Grand Empress Dowager before her passing. Later, Sunny tries to match the hairpin she receives from Michelle with the one used in the Grand Empress Dowager's murder, knowing that the only other one, was owned by the Empress Dowager.
9.00 #22 - The Empress Returns to the Palace
Season 1 - Episode 21 - Aired Dec 26, 2018
While the Emperor tries to restore his name to the people, Sunny appears boldly before him and forgives him publicly and asks to start again. Reluctantly, without an option, the Emperor and Empress are once again together. To rectify the issue of the Emperor's illegitimate child, the Imperial Family accepts Ari as a princess. Meanwhile, the Emperor promotes Wang Shik as the Chief Guard and asks him to court the Empress.
8.75 #23 - Wang Shik Starts His Revenge
Season 1 - Episode 45 - Aired Feb 13, 2019
To save Dong Shik and the rest of the imperial guards' lives, Wang Shik withdraws his gun and submits to the Emperor's wishes. However, when taken away by the Emperor's guards, they release him in return for his good deeds. Later, Wang Shik catches the Emperor off guard and gives him a little taste of what he had done to his mother. Meanwhile, the Empress Dowager instates Princess Ari as the Crown Princess.
8.67 #24 - Who Killed the Grand Empress Dowager?
Season 1 - Episode 17 - Aired Dec 19, 2018
The Grand Empress Dowager is found dead, and an investigation of her murder begins. The police question each member of the Imperial Family, but none of them confess to the crime. Meanwhile, while clutching on to an envelope given by the Grand Empress Dowager, Ms. Hong tells Sunny of her last words.
8.50 #25 - Baek Ho Enlightens the Empress
Season 1 - Episode 19 - Aired Dec 20, 2018
Trying to clear her name, the Empress returns to the palace to retrieve a recording device she had hidden in the Emperor's chamber. She barely escapes the Emperor and slips away with the help of Wang Shik and Baek Ho. Later, Baek Ho takes her to his secret operation headquarters and reveals to her of the Emperor's coverup of murder.
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