Perfect Crown with IU and Byun Woo Seok Drops Absurd Royal Twist in Last Episode to Achieve Dull Happy Ending
Wow, I was already disappointed with Perfect Crown for its trope ridden shallow narrative and character development heading into the finale that I didn’t think it could actually outdo itself and throw in a last minute plot twist to make the drama even worse. I don’t know what IU and Byun Woo Seok were thinking accepting this drama, except perhaps hoping to capture the same success and zeitgeist of Queen of Tears type rich people fairy tale escapism fun. Byun Woo Seok ascends the throne in the last two episodes as his child nephew abdicates to fulfill the last will of the former King, only to then have the monarchy abolished through a popular vote. Like, huh? A drama called Perfect Crown or 21 Century Prince’s Wife ends up not having a fictional monarchy by the end of the drama. It ends all the royal succession and power shenanigans and allows IU’s character to continue being a successful female CEO since being married to a royal required her to quit her job. The two end up happily ever after living an ordinary super rich life haha. Nothing is ever explained about anything that was used to set up conflict in this drama as character’s motivations are so shallowly brushed on the entire drama is just a pale dull facsimile of a show.
Ratings flop for public channel. Iu trashhh exposed as bad comic actress. Her fans coping everywhere. The trash takes herself out
Nobody copes harder than you trying to defend the trash Jisoo is. Can’t act, can’t sing, can’t dance. Jisoo is a DOZEN, exposed for being a awful actress and idol. I wonder how her bandmates stand her talentless ass. That’s why her fans are butthurt, rabid and foaming at the mouth everytime her mediocricy is notes. It’s soooo funny. She’s lucky to being in BLACKPINK as a filler member.😂
You cope everytime someone points out how DOZEN Jisoo is.🤣😂
You were foaming at the mouth last time because your fave is TALENTLESS. She’s lucky to being in BLACKPINK as a filler member.🤡
Poor Lisa, Jennie and Rosé having useless Jisoo in their team, hahahaha!
Madame Figaro Award✅
Cannes Award❌
Your whinning is not going to change the fact Jisoo’s is a dozen.
“ratings flop for public channel”
It’s MBC’s higest rated drama since January 2022 lol seethe all you want the numbers tell the truth
honestly this is the last thing I’d have a problem with in this show?
Right from episode 1 it’s established that the royal family system is dysfunctional and hurting even the child king, the female lead herself isn’t into the idea and there are like 4 murders or deaths over it one of which both the child king and the male lead are witness to? there’s no real justification to keep a monarchy in the 21st century anyway.
What I do have questions about is…. what happens to all the palace staff, I guess they work for that foundation thingy he set up? And all the hints about literally all the male lead’s family dying in suspicious deaths? And the spy in the prince’s house who they knew was a spy but kept around and she was eventually involved in trying to poison them?
It’s a fun fluffy watch as a romcom, they did one thing right by actually letting the characters deliver on the romance stuff for the finale (UNLIKE Queen of Tears where the leads spent the finale just making speeches and acting like they were middle schoolers on their first date not a married couple) and I enjoyed IU and Byun Woo-seok’s chemistry (much better when they’re allowed to interact naturally than being stuck with the slow motion and fancam editing style) but anyone who expected this drama by a first time writer to get the same level of ratings as Park Jieun and Kim Eunsook dramas in just 12 episodes, is just stupid (and I think it probably did better numbers than Kim Eunsook’s last drama too?)
I agree with you, especially about how their chemistry shines when they were allowed to interact naturally as against all the fancam and slow motion etc. I had real problems with that, trying to create unnecessary pageant walks for no reason instead of just acting naturally. Anyways, slow mo or not, bws was Soo handsome in this!
I don’t recall if I ever agreed with you, especially when Kim Soo Hyun still created much buzz with his loud and rabid fans. But this time I do agree about your points.
@Jennilee – yeah it was visually beautiful and it gets brownie points from me for allowing the leads to actually act like a couple who are attracted to each other
and I don’t mean just the kiss scenes, even things like their little glances at each other or the way they look when they talk about the other (when the other actor isn’t even in the frame) sells the picture of ‘a couple in love’
@Somebody – I’m on record in koala’s Queen of Tears finale post comments from two years ago complaining about the very chaste finale and leads acting like middle schoolers, at the time we didn’t know what we know now but even without knowing that I thought it was a disappointing finale that focused too much on irrelevant side characters. At least 21st Century Prince’s Wife (a more evocative title) remembered it was a romance first and not some comedy family drama
@Royal We
Maybe because Queen of tears was more family drama than romance?? Why drama need to remember romance comes first when they focused on family trope more from the beginning?
I can’t with people have some weird prejuce against QOT even 2 years later to the point of making such dumb criticism as “why they focused on this genre more than on this genre, I like this genre more”.
And “main leads talking like schoolers” is when they discussed in the end how to avoid conflicts and make their marriage life better and more stabile comparing to what was at the beginning of the show? I didn’t know schoolers discuss such things.
I still remember how QOT was trashed left and right here for having cliche plotlines, and it’s ridiculous to me to read how much Perfect crown praised here while having dumber plot, even more cliche plotlines and a lot of criticism of main leads acting skills.
Like make it make sense.
I stopped watching around ep4 cos eventhough it was watchable enough I was not excited enough for the next episodes. I thought IU’s character will have that aura of haughtiness like QoT’s Hong Hae In but the vibe is just different. Reading how it ended I am glad I didn’t waste my time and internet usage. I think Yumi’s cell is a better watch than this cos it was short and sweet and I didn’t even FF it.
HAHAHA.
Even the shallow woman in me who usually ignores plot holes & absurd storylines for eyecandies can’t help to rant watching this drama. 3 fires in the palace compound, and they used water in buckets to extinguish it, 21st century only existed outside the palace walls. And tons of other unanswered questions from earlier episodes. Added historical blunders some more. What a mess. If it weren’t for the actors, this drama wouldn’t be a hit at all. I put the blame on the number of episodes. 12 eps is definitely not enough. MBC really did the actors dirty.
Anyway, I think Gong Seung Yeon did a remarkable job portraying the Queen Mother. Hopefully it can be her breakout role for her. She’s good.
Absolute trash drama. I only have myself to blame for wasting my time watching it.
Good thing this drama is finally ending because there have been new controversies every week, from the acting, script, plagiarism issues, directing, and props to historical costume inaccuracies. Out of all of them, the script is probably the most questionable. How on earth did this drama win Best Script in the competition? Did they bribe someone or what? With a budget of 30 billion won and a full-scale marketing campaign even before the drama was released, I honestly don’t see this as a success, especially considering how many news articles and discussions have been focused on the controversies surrounding it.
Well, how many dramas attracted a 13.8% rating for its final episode this year? Probably none, except the weekender family drama. And this is the definitive measure of a drama’s success or not – with everything else pales in the background.
This is by no means a great drama and indeed, far from it. But the beauty and fluff certainly had given me 12 hours of enjoyable time and I can understand why the first-time screenwriter won an award for re-freshing an old school romcom story which unfortunately becomes rare these days. In fact, I love how it ends with abolishing the crown by our male lead – a most sensible move than continuing the monarchy for the monarch’s sake.
I feel like abolishing the monarchy is the least shallow of twists and the most reasonable reaction to the events of this drama, though it does seem unrealistically rushed. Questionable storytelling and writing aside, the drama did garner MBC good ratings – one of the best in the last couple of years. For a writer’s first drama, that is a pretty strong item to add to your resume. The drama probably didn’t even have to pay her as much as they would other top writers.
Sure, it pales in comparison to the actors’ previous hit dramas, but still a solid plus on their filmography.
It seems unfair to hold it up to QoT – written by hitmaker Park Ji-eun. It was the highly anticipated follow-up work to CLOY and her reunion with Kim Soo-hyun as the ML (before he was outed for his involvement with Kim Sae-ron, so his social capital was still) and KSH’s follow-up romance to It’s Okay to Not Be Okay. QoT’s writing quality also went sideways in the last quarter – like most dramas.
BWS reminds me of that 2nd ML in Boys over Flowers. CEW would get Oscar nominations compared to him. How can someone be so awkward in every way on screen, even in scenes doing nothing but sitting?
A Korean drama reviewer I follow on X summarized this drama as tacky – all packaging, negative substance. Similar to the engagement ring used in the drama, which was from a local jeweler and was shown in a Cartier box.
There is a bigger controversy brewing in Korean forums that I do not understand as a non Korean which I think is bringing this drama a lot of hate. But someone should also call out the blatant plagiarism. A lot of scenes were copied from QoT and LR down to composition. So tacky.
Well, perfect crown tops the most buzz worthy drama 5th week in a row. That pained Korean reviewer you follow, probably strongly adds to the buzz. Hate it or love it, final episode earned highest rating in its entire run, making it the most watched program (not even drama) of any kind to air on Saturday!!! Not those are facts. Feelings and complaints from online reviewers are not facts. Hating it after it has finished airing?! People do the absolute most because what’s the point?? I saw that they got some historical things wrong, and reading the response of the crew/team to the criticism, all I can say is CLASS!! they took it with such grace and wisdom, admitted fault and accepted the constructive criticism of those that wanted to constructively criticise as against hate!. The drama has succeeded already.
Good for them. I hope all their follow up drama get similar shine and acting reviews.
Definitely not a Cartier box. Fine details are different if you check closely. The local jeweler uses this red box for all its rings, as do many other jewelers these days. Cartier trickle-down effect?
The local jeweler that sponsored the ring posted a blog update and their box looks completely different from Cartier’s. Lol, they used a Cartier look-alike which is even tackier, befitting the drama.
He always looks like he is posing. In almost all his scenes. Like he wants to look handsome or sth – but he isn’t – n then combined with his botox and the fact that hes a mediocre one hit wonder actor, this stiffness is the product. He always looks like he can’t turn his head or refuses to turn his head 🤷♀️ im glad ppl are starting to see him for his lack of talents
I’m glad I binged the last 4 eps to see if all the rants about the drama are justifiable or simply personal opinions. My verdict: All the rants are subjective, like my opinion is personal preference too. lol
The plot of Perfect Crown could have been more complicated as I expected, but the show is still engaging enough to keep me watching. Byeon Woo-seok and IU deliver very natural performances. While their chemistry isn’t overly romantic, it’s a relief they aren’t as cringe-worthy as Kim Soo-hyun and Kim Ji-won were in Queen of Tears. lol. Besides, I think BWS and IU are on par acting-wise. In QoT however, KSH was apparently overshadowed by KJW AGAIN. It feels like his female co-stars outperformed him in almost all of his hit dramas, except for Moon Embracing the Sun. lol. His overacting didn’t help, obviously. lol. I don’t expect BWS and IU to be more popular after Perfect Crown. But they will continue to be sought-after candidates for interesting projects.
@Somebody – despite the controversies, as @prettyautumn pointed out it’s MBC’s highest rated drama of 2026 so far (and MBC’s highest rated drama period since The Red Sleeve Cuff in 2021-22, it very narrowly beat out The Judge Returns and Big Mouth)
Realistically, the numbers on both tv and streaming are solid enough that it’s done what it needed to do for both of them, it’s cemented BWS’s status as a trendy actor further after Lovely Runner and counts as another drama hit for IU (for whom Tangerines is barely a year ago so her delivering an actually good performance is still fresh in people’s minds. IU will be absolutely fine, Moon Lovers was also controversial and initially poorly received back in the day but people have mellowed out since, BWS will also do all right as long as his next couple of dramas aren’t total flops since this one at least established that he’s a reliable romantic lead.
I agree with all your assessments here, especially about BWS finding his niche in romantic leading roles. I’m not familiar with the K-drama domestic rating system. Since C-drama ratings are notorious for data manipulation, I am used to not relying on ratings to judge if a drama is good or not. Also, the vitriol hurled at BWS and IU feels misleading and lacks credibility. Ultimately, I needed to check out the drama myself. I enjoyed their screen presence anyway. Obloquy has no impact on my viewing experience or critique.
BTW, I asked AI about Perfect Crown. The responses echo what you said about the ratings. I honestly can’t live without AI now, lol.
@Somebody – kdrama ratings are calculated by Nielsen (at least for tv broadcast) who are considered widely reliable and honest. I don’t treat it as a measure of whether a drama is good or not, just whether people in Korea were watching, and they clearly were. d-addicts wiki usually has the accurate ratings figures.
I’m also surprised by the level of vitriol hurled at IU and BWS for everything from their performances (as I said, much worse performances by equally big name actors in equally or more hyped dramas have aired without anywhere near the level of toxicity in comments), the ‘historical distortion’ fuss just seems like more of an excuse to pile on. Entirely too much for what was supposed to be a light drama that’s a fantasy reimagining.
And for the record, I actually liked both IU and BWS’s performance and their chemistry in the drama.
@Somebody – apologies for my error, Knight Flower scored 18 percent ratings in January 2024.
So that still leaves this drama as MBC’s highest ratings draw in two years, and the third highest scorer ever in this time slot since it was established in 2021.
For audiences high on the royal/chaebol fluff/status/wealth, the final return to middle-class pedestrian life may be a let-down. But logically this is the rational end to the whole story. It is just that the show waited until the last two episodes to drop hints of the abolishing, perhaps for suspense and surprise. But it certainly weakens the plot development and gives it a rushed feel. In fact the whole show suffers from inadequate build-up and anti-climactic solution to dramatic events. The writer’s original script (as is revealed today) is so much more complex and detailed that I won’t blame the actors for liking it and taking it on. It is just the way the story is condensed and adapted into the final script and the way the director fails to deliver emotional and dramatic intensity with his choppy editing and superficial cinematography that lets the whole thing down. The show is two minds about whether it is a rom-com or a court politics sageuk, and should have done a better job of mingling the two. On the whole, however, it is an engaging and visually stunning show, and delivers on the romance part. I was not sure about the pairing of IU and BWS, but their natural interaction and sweet chemistry won me over. A great fan of the kiss scenes. The last stadium kiss-cam was so spontaneous and sweet. I feel BWS’s performance in the first episodes was stiff and bland, but he definitely improved in the romantic scenes and in the later episodes when his character sheds his stoic mask and reveals the resolve and determination of a prince.
A lot of noise has been made about the budget and expectations that it would be a CLOY level hit – but on that point the budget was about half of what Queen of Tears (57billion won) got, the writer is a literal first timer, the hype was entirely from IU and BWS (coming fresh off Lovely Runner) casting.
So the expectation was basically that IU+ It Boy casting with an unknown writer would deliver 20% + ratings, a number MBC hasn’t seen in over five years? Dramas from the 2010s with big name writers like Park Hae Ryun and It actor casting (arguably on par with what BWS’s and IU’s status is now) have been called hits with lower ratings than this drama got even when they barely reached double digits, but somehow this one is a ‘flop’ according to kmedia when ratings reached the teens.
I enjoyed this drama for what it was, very fluffy and cliche but little delivery on the chemistry. We got some good scenes from BWS through the crying scenes and stoic prince attitude, and some great chemistry/acting from the support staff. The main disappointment for me was IU. Yes she will be fine after this drama, but man, she did not deliver here. It’s like she was detached from the role and did not fully immerse herself. No chemistry whatsoever and seemed like she was playing pretend.