The Madness of King Zøg

Part 3, Episode 9

**The Madness of King Zøg** is the ninth episode of season 2, Part 1 of *Disenchantment* and the twenty-ninth episode overall. It premiered on January 15, 2021.

## Synopsis

As a mysterious cloud of green smoke moves toward Dreamland and Zøg becomes more unstable than ever, Bean finds a unique way to communicate with him.

## Plot

Bean, Elfo, Luci and Prince Merkimer have returned from Bentwood with money and arrows, but no sooner to they get out of their carriage or Bean spots green smoke coming from just beyond Mount Ominous. Luci theorizes it's from an enemy army marching towards Dreamland, and is looking forward to the carnage it will likely cause. But Bean first has other problems at home; the crazyness of King Zøg is avancing rapidly. It's gotten so bad that Odval has to wait for Zøg to be asleep before sending his servant Abner into the Throne room with food.

Bean seeks out Oona, who is however planning to leave Dreamland again. She promises to return to help Bean in the future, but for now she needs to secure her position as a feared pirate. She first stops by Dereks room room to say goodbye to him, but Derek does not want to stay behind in Dreamland again, and follows Oona to her ship. Bean watches them leave. She then notices the green smoke has moved from the Badlands to the Even Worse Lands. Bean decides she must talk to Zøg, but Scruffles, Odval and Sorcerio all advise her against it. Bean goes in anyway, and finds the Throne room a complete mess. While Bean momentarily seems to get through to Zøg, he ultimately flies into another fit of madness and pelts everyone in the Throne room with whatever he can get his hands on.

Odval summons the council since Zøg is clearly no longer fit to lead. They plan to have Zøg put in the castle's old mental ward, but with Derek gone this means there will be no-one to lead the kingdom. And someone will have to visit Zøg while he's in the mental ward. They come to the conclusion that only Bean can do this. Bean wastes no time to make all the men in the council beg her on their knees to look after Zøg. Thus, Zøg is locked up. When Bean brings him food, she warns him about the green smoke. Zøg has degraded to the point he can barely speak anymore, but Bean finds out she can still understand his mumbling and rambling and writes down everything Zøg says. Through Bean, Zøg orders that Dreamland must prepare for the oncomming attack, and that Bean will be put in charge.

In his cell, Zøg hears the voice of Queen Dagmar, who promises to let him out. When Bean visits the cell not much later, Zøg is gone. Zøg escapes from the castle, and Bean follows him. She finally catches him at a cliff near the beach, and finds out Zøg has stopped talking completely. As they walk back to the castle, they pass by the Ventriloquist Dummies Shop. Zøg walks inside and finds a dummy named Freckles, which enables him to talk again, be it through ventriloquism. Bean buys the dummy for him, failing to notice the woman behind the counter is actually Dagmar. Back in the castle, Zøg is allowed back on the throne, as he can now talk through Freckles, and under both Zøg's and Bean's watch the castle begins to increase it's defenses, while the green smoke comes nearer.

However, even with Freckles Zøg is evidently not back to his old self as he keeps using the dummy to tell mean jokes and prank people. And when Bean catches Freckles speaking to her while Zøg is asleep, she begins to suspect something is wrong. She asks Elfo and Luci if she should take the dummy from Zøg, even though it may render him unable to rule. Elfo points out to her that Bean is practically running the Kingdom already. Bean decides to test Freckles; she takes him away from the sleeping Zøg and hides him under her own bed. Later that night, Zøg comes into Bean's room to take Freckles back. When Bean wakes up and finds Freckles gone, she searches for him and Zøg, eventually finding them in the Throne room. Through Freckles, Zøg tells Bean he is fully aware of how far gone he is mentally, and that it's beter if Bean sends him away. He wants her to rule the Kingdom in his place. With great reluctance, Bean accepts.

The following morning, Chazzzzz arrives with a cart to bring Zøg to the Twinkletown Insane Asylum. When they are gone, Bean visits the council, who now bow to her.

## Trivia

* A clockwork toy resembling Bender from *Futurama* can be seen on a shelf in the puppet shop.