MBC Royal Romance K-drama Perfect Crown with IU and Byun Woo Seok Heads into Finale Weekend Carrying the Weight of Too Many Tropes
I so wanted to love Perfect Crown, and I did for the first two episodes even. Alas the excitement and interest faded quickly as the drama got going, a combination of not enough character or plot development due to the truncated 12-episode length and the lack of chemistry between leads IU and Byun Woo Seok. They were together very good looking onscreen but the narrative and their lack of sexual or romantic tension sunk the chance of this drama being the next big thing. This weekend is the finale and the drama for me is limping into the last arc on the back of now so many tropes it’s almost comical. There has been three (3!) fires at the palace already in just ten episodes (don’t even get me started with trying to put it out with buckets), both leads have been in the hospital (IU for poisoning and Byun Woo Seok for a car accident), and the female lead also had a car accident with her brakes cut in an murder attempt, there is a high school crush arc for three out of the four leads, and so on so forth. If this script won an award I’m scratching my head wondering just how bad the competition for that award was from the other contenders lol. Who knows, maybe the final two episodes will tie this baby together and make it work.
It isn’t rating smash nor critical acclaim. Iu doesn’t have the comic edge. She is ok in cold roles. But comedy requires jun ji hyun level ott acting. She doesn’t have the skills
Her fans needed humbling n got it. The trash took itself out
Yep, IU is still a mediocre case. But your fav Jisoo is also an appaling actress. Lmao. She seems like she has a dildo stuck on her butt.😂😂
That Jisoo lady can’t act for her life. She is lucky to being a BlackPink member. Otherwise she will be TOTAL flop left and right. The other girls can hold a note at least, this Jisoo is one of the most untalented idols ever. A true DOZEN. Even Jin from BTS, who is also a talentless dude, seems more competent than her. The bar is on hell. Lmao.😭🤣🤣
Jisoo and IU are both bad actors. But Jisoo in AI boyfriend drama was more tolerable than IU in Perfect Clown. I literally squirmed watching her belt out those cringy lines and gave up after 2 episodes.
@Kdramawatcher. Nah, IU overall has better actings. Jisoo is a hopeless case, a DOZEN. Lmao. Both can be awful, but Jisoo doesn’t have any credibility.😂
What’s frustrating me now are a few things – that they don’t have proper conversations after major incidents happen. Inaction or delayed action seems to be the go to or they’ll ‘hide’ an important scene, play it later. It’s not flowing well, feels stilted which impacts on the chemistry. Of which there are glimpses of. I think they would have more if it was written/flowed better.
😂😂💀 bullet dodged. Can’t believe that’s how it all unfolded. Cream of the crop right there. Wow.
Yet you like Esther Yu and Liu Yuning.🤣😂
You should check your tastes, you sound like a moron.
how are you nitpicking this pair (who imo do have chemistry, I look forward to their characters’ interactions onscreen and for a kdrama couple, were constantly talking to each other even when they’re trying to break up) but rooted for Kim Woobin/Suzy who were a chemistry dead zone in not one but TWO huge, hyped dramas that didn’t do the expected numbers? Make it make sense.
I don’t think IU or Byun Wooseok are the best actors ever but I do enjoy them as an onscreen couple, they vibe well in character. And yes the script is tropey, but certain things about it feel fresh – the female lead being written more like a classic kdrama male lead (rich, daddy issues, being the initial pursuer in the fake relationship), the king being a literal child and this being used for pathos and not just absurdity/humour, the amount the couple talk (I’m repeating myself but yeah this is unusual, even noble idiocy attempts don’t last long because they argue or confess their way out of it), grown adults actually being able to tell they’re attracted to each other, a male lead who confesses his feelings but also has the emotional maturity to tell her he’s not going to force her to stay in the marriage and they can still get the divorce. No second lead throwing any character into confusion over hr romantic prospects (a rejection is clear). And the high school crush angle is unobtrusive between the leads, it’s NOT like the deeply irritating ‘childhood fated connection’ trope dramas love to use, because at least the way the script presented it, I don’t think he was carrying a torch for her the entire time since high school unlike the second female lead.
I wonder who was going around expecting a drama by a literal first time screenwriter to do the same numbers as dramas by Park Ji-eun and Kim Eun-sook? Based entirely on IU and BWS being the cast? That’s a compliment to the actors, if anything.
Don’t get me wrong it has flaws, the cinematography really needed to calm down on the excessive slow motion and filming BWS in particular like he’s in a fancam edit (cringe), the bad press on nails are distracting, the music is a bit too loud and IU’s wardrobe is sometimes distractingly hideous (all those Chanel-type jackets, too old-lady looking). But I overall enjoy it and I think it has the right level of old school kdrama romcom feel without many of the things that made them so frustrating.
my thoughts exactly!
Agree with you totally except for where you said Suzy/ Kim woo bin had no chemistry!! I haven’t seen the genie, but uncontrollably fond?!! If they didn’t have chemistry I honestly don’t know who did in the history of drama, chemistry was oozing in that drama, acting was on point, Kim woo bin earned my unwavering respect and Suzy too from that drama. But I align myself with all you said about perfect crown and bws/iu
TBH I was expecting this to be pure fluff so I was ready to look past all tropes and cliches and questionable/bad acting just for the sake of a love story but the lack of chemistry between these 2 is so glaring that it took me out of the fantasy completely. What a shame. One more to the long list of Modern Korea Royalty Fantasy fails.
It was seen coming.
This was such a mess. I wasn’t feeling it after two episodes but still somehow pushed through. Mistake. I guess I might as well finish it now.
The plot is just bad. I cannot connect at all to these people who are up in their eyeballs in privilege because the script didn’t even try to make them relatable. The chemistry doesn’t exist. He only has one facial expression and she is trying too hard, to the point that it’s obvious she is acting. The character is also obnoxious AF. They are in love. Why? Who tf knows.
Then all the plot problems and just, I don’t know. Did they think the star power is enough? Well it isn’t.
🤣🤣🤣 I cannot with people! You struggled through all 12 episodes of a drama, without duress of any kind? Why not just stop for Pete sake. After episode 2, you didn’t stop,4 or 6. And all the while the characters were obnoxious, the acting was bad, the chemistry was zero?? The question isn’t why are they in love, but why did you not stop? And even admitting you intend to complete it! 🤣 Ooo humans!
It’s a bit weird coz to me, IU-BWS chemistry is on and off depending on the scene. It’s pretty confusing. And I would get cancelled in an instant if I said this on all major social media platforms, but BWS really can’t act. I’m sorry, it’s hard to watch him being wooden in 80% of the drama. Given how it took him almost 2 years to come back, I expected him to improve bcs I’m sure he’s heard the criticism surrounding his acting. Yet here we are. Sunjae is a less complicated role so he did a good job. On the other hand, the grand prince was supposed to be more layered in emotion but BWS failed to at least deliver an adequate performance. IU did her best as always. I like her acting, but the story being lackluster makes it so easy to fastforward even her scenes.
BWS being a bad actor is a popular opinion though. He’s been acting for almost a decade and still can’t show any authentic skill. His fans like to drag other bad actors, lol, the audacy.
The script is horrible, characters are half baked, motivation is hazy, thrown in every cliché into the pot..the end product is a bland, tasteless dish but at least it looks shiny if you know what you mean…and let’s just be honest that neither Byeon Woo Seok, nor IU have the skills to make lotus bloom in the mud. They’ve got skills but they have an upper limit which they’ve seem to hit here. Chemistry is also not the strongest, its non zero is the nicest thing that can be said. Gong Seungyeon was the star of the drama, too bad because of IU, BWS choosing to sit out post drama press….she can’t even get her flowers. I think it’s time for her to leave VARO behind. Better luck with next project to BWS especially, IU too. At least they had numbers so that’s not all that bad.
LOL at all the rants. It just shows how subjective our tastes can be. For example, while I considered Queen of Tears a total dud, it was wildly popular with a massive cohort of rabid fans. I enjoyed the first 8 episodes of Perfect Crown before getting distracted by the gripping, high-octane world of Game of Thrones. However, I’ll pick up Perfect Crown again this weekend to see if the complaints are actually justified or just a matter of personal preference.
I’m rarely a fan of rom-coms or romance dramas. There are very few exceptions that I truly appreciate, such as Crash Landing on You and Business Proposal. Perfect Crown didn’t have an intriguing start like those two, but unlike cliched Queen of Tears, the plot is moving well enough to keep me watching. To be fair, it’s not easy to pull off impressive character development in only 12 episodes. Perfect Crown isn’t Game of Thrones, after all — the latter is just iconic when it comes to plot development.
What does GoT has do on here, considering that they are different genres. Lol. If anything, GoT easily sweeps The Untamed, doesn’t it? You’re going to have a hard time by making comparisons.🤣😂😂
Or do you mean technical aspects such as good writing, round characters, heavy worldbuilding? That’s factual. And it can be in all genres. Perfect Crown has writing and pacing issues. QoT as well, but KSH fans hyped it because of him.
GoT is a random thought since I happened to follow the series RIGHT NOW. lol. I’m not writing an executive report. So chill!
@Somebody, it can be subjective. But if I don’t like it, I’ll just conclude by saying I found it boring, I didn’t find the plot gripping. What’s the point of pretending that those who liked it have mental problems? If they are personal preferences, what is the point of trying to determine who is right and who is wrong?
Note that people on this site don’t like either IU or BWS. It’s just that users’ biases are obvious. Lots of emotion, little logic. Lol. It happened with Chasing Jade lead actor.
Aw I’m totally agreed with you. That’s my main point!
Asian dramas are not going to have the level you expect (GoT-ish) so you better focus on your Western series lmao.
LOL. Your suggestion is odd! I can appreciate both Michelin-rated restaurants and sensory-rich street food. You sounded butthurt though since I praise Got that is produced in the US???? You don’t need my approval to enjoy your Asian drama though. lol. It’s personal hobby!
@Somebody. Nope, LOL. I could never be hurt by the opinion of a stranger on the internet; you’re the one overreacting. My point was that, so far, I haven’t seen any Asian fantasy dramas with a narrative cohesion similar to Game of Thrones. In Western, there are several high-end projects. It’s easier to find suggestions there than in East Asia specifically. Were you ready to turn my simple comment into a political discussion? WOW. I’m American though. Lol.
OK, my bad! My apologies. I took it out on the wrong person this time, lol. I have had beef with a few Asian snowflakes when critiquing Asian dramas, but you’re not one of them. Good! It has nothing to do with politics. It’s simply that many Asian drama fans take my critiques personally.
Lol GoT is so overrated.
Oh well, to each their own! While you think Game of Thrones is overrated, I feel the exact same way about almost all Asian dramas after watching a couple of seasons of Game of Thrones. You like oranges and I prefer apples, lol. No big deal. Chill!
It’s one of the MOST OVERRATED TV series I’ve ever watched to me as well. LOL. GoT fanbase act like a cult. LOL.
@Somebody – Game of Thrones had a final season/finale so bad that it’s considered one of the all-time worst endings for a show in any country, so even a previously well plotted series can end badly.
see also: Stranger Things (I was a fan and enjoyed the first 4 seasons but the fifth and final season and ending were so horrifically bad that it got the whole internet asking if the creators were using ChatGPT to write it and if they were doing money laundering using the half billion dollar budget because visually, it looked so cheap). even Perfect Crown – a drama made on less than one sixteenth of ST budget – looked better than that! Aesthetically and in terms of leads’ visuals (it made me genuinely sad to see Millie Bobby Brown’s face so visibly distorted with lip filler and possible botox because she was such an incredible actress in seasons 1-4 but by 5 she was struggling to emote at all.
@Royal We, oh yeah? I’m not there yet, still on season 3. I’m satisfying so far.
Besides, I’ve never been into Western dramas — PBS’s Masterpiece Theatre was always the only exception. However, I randomly ran into a list of HBO recommendations where GoT was at the very top. Since Asian dramas have been feeling a bit stale lately, I gave it a shot out of boredom. Boom, it hit the mark immediately.
@Somebody – oh wow, I didn’t know you hadn’t finished GoT! It was one of the hugest western fandoms of the 2010s, I couldn’t watch it past one episode but it was very popular back then, at least before the last season. I used to keep up with the fandom without actually watching the show haha
For me, Stranger Things was that show – it felt nostalgic but in a fresh way, had an amazing cast and even great child actors… but then the creators made such a bad final season that it just didn’t even feel like the same show from season 1. Bad writing, bad directing leading to poor acting, cheap looking special effects, even the costuming was down the toilet compared to earlier seasons.
Back to fix my typo: I meant to say I’m satisfied so far! I usually treat spelling checks like terms and conditions—I completely ignore them. lol. But since we have a self-appointed English ‘CZAR’ policing this blog, I figured I’d do the bare minimum to stay out of her grammar jail. Better do a little homework than deal with the spelling tribunal later! lol
@Royal We, Stranger Things is next on my list! lol. Looks fun, thanks for the rec. Honestly, I’m getting bored of Asian dramas—the plots are just lacking substance lately.
but the rating is high on korea and no 1 on disney?? how do you explain that. I have not watched the drama but i am looking for good reason to watch after the drama completed its airing.
They are famous and pretty people. I mean I am still watching even though I have a lot of criticism because some time has already been invested and it’s not offensive bad. So eh. Nice eye candy.
eye candy is subjective i guess, cos neither of these 2 are eye candy to me. quite the opposite really
@Anne, it’s not subjective at all. IU is just above average looking. Byeon Woo Seok is tall and has some facial features that science promove as desired. Feelings aren’t that relevant in this topic because our ADN still dictates preferences.
But since you like botched and mediocre folks like Wu Lei, let’s agree with you.🤣
It’s simple my dear,they have chemistry!! The story may be flawed and some things were not perfect but other than goblin ( my opinion) which other drama is perfectly flawless? So don’t listen to all these people crying here, the drama is good. Bws was great in his role, nailed it as expected. Royalty looks so good on him and he carried himself like a king! Well, I better stop here before I get Carried away 🤣🤣
@lala2, why don’t you just watch 1-2 eps yourself? You don’t need others to tell you if you’ll like it or not. I personally had fun watching through the end that is rare since I’m not a fan of rom com or romance.
I mean what were people expecting with 2 mediocre leads? That was already a sign. And then the script sounded so cheesy and cliched.
Mediocre like your fave Wu Lei. Lol. But for him, you acted all rabid in this site. Can’t handle the same energy?😂
I will say it again that they should’ve casted relatively unknown actors who could act and have chemistry rather than big star names. It’s hard to get immersed into a fantasy genre when all you can see is IU with the guy from lovely runner.
Also, I’m not sure how to explain this but even from D promos I could tell that these two had no chemistry.
Kdrama needs to stop throwing two famous people together, hoping for magic to occur Without looking at suitability for the role or chemistry with each other.
This is why older shows worked where the plot was absurd, but two people acted so well and had so much chemistry with each other that you were willing to buy all sorts of plots.
Ugh, same I enjoyed Filing for love, My Royal Nemesis and The wonderfools more. I mean I love IU and Byron Wooseok but for God’s sake they really don’t have chemistry for the love of Christ. Plot is predictable and some scenes are cliche. Their acting is just like they’re acting
Despite being a massive fan of Park Eun-bin, I’m really struggling to enjoy The Wonderfools. The narrative is incredibly bizarre. Even as someone who typically loves black humor and fantasy thrillers, this show isn’t hitting the mark for me. I’m hoping it gets better after the second episode, but so far, it doesn’t hold a candle to Moving. Cha Eun-woo’s stale performance isn’t doing it any favors either. lol
I already dropped it. Characters’ writing is THE flack for me. They’re naive, foolish, oblivious to their surroundings. Main problems stem from their terrible decisions. It was predictable from the start, but a better execution could have made it gripping. Series don’t necessarily need a strong plot level, but rather the ability to deliver entertainment. Taxi Driver also has a simple script, but well driven, it’s fun.
I gave The Wonderfools a try because I enjoyed Moving, it’s going on my list of recent appalling dramas alongside Cashero.
Perfect Crown has greater artistic merit, but, as I mentioned earlier, there’s a strong bias at play here. Lol.
@ANT, Oh man, you reminded me how I wasted time on a complete fiasco, Cashero. lol