The Haunted Palace EP3 grabs highest rating yet as Bona and Yook Sung Jae battle the Eight-feet Spirit

SBS’s fantasy-romance drama The Haunted Palace has reached a significant milestone, with its third episode airing on April 25th, 2025, achieving its highest viewership ratings to date.

Proving, it seems, that fans are loving the SBS drama more and more as it progresses.

The series, which blends elements of historical drama, supernatural intrigue, and romance, along with a heavy dose of comedy (you either love it or you hate it), is one of the more unusual K-dramas of 2025.

And it shows in its ever growing audiences.

The Haunted Palace, Episode 3 ratings

According to Nielsen Korea, The Haunted Palace, Episode 3 earned 9.30 percent of the nationwide ratings on Friday, which is substantially up from its previous episode’s audience share of 8.30 percent.

The Korean drama also earned 9.00 percent of the viewership from audiences in Seoul — up from 8.40 percent for Episode 2.

Plot overview

Set in the Joseon Dynasty, The Haunted Palace follows Yeo Ri (played by Bona), a shaman who rejects her supernatural destiny, and Yoon Gap (Yook Sung Jae), a royal librarian now possessed by an ancient dragon-like spirit known as Gang Cheori.

As children, and before he died and was then possessed, Yoon Gap was close with Yeo Ri.

Now, as adults, the two confront a powerful vengeful Eight-feet Spirit threatening the royal family, while navigating a complex web of growing personal emotions and supernatural challenges.

Episode 3 highlights

In the third episode, the tension escalates as Yeo Ri and Yoon Gap, now possessed by the spirit of Gang Cheori, face increasingly perilous situations.

Including Yeo Ri luring the young prince to a remote area of the forest, so she can exorcise the Eight-feet Spirit currently possessing him.

Of course, as you might expect, the exorcism doesn’t exactly go as planned, and Yoon Gap is forced to intervene.

That intervention goes badly when the King and his troops arrive and, not understanding that the young prince is possessed, attempt to stop the exorcism.

Critical reception

Along with its increasing ratings, critics have also praised The Haunted Palace for its innovative fusion of genres, blending historical drama with elements of fantasy, comedy and romance.

The series has been applauded for its strong performances, particularly the chemistry between the lead actors, and its ability to maintain suspense and emotional engagement as new episodes release.

With its third episode achieving record ratings, it appears The Haunted Palace could now be poised to continue its already successful run with even higher audience shares going forward. Fingers crossed.

If the writing continues in the general direction it has been going, viewers can also anticipate further developments in the complex relationships and supernatural conflicts that define the series.

Watch The Haunted Palace, Episode 3 on Viki now, with Episode 4 premiering later on tonight. And let’s see how its ratings hit tonight.