Perfect Crown

Plot Twist... me think!

First of, after reading a few reviews i wanted to put it out there that i still have faith in Jeong Woo. This guy have been in love and friends with Hui-ju for so long that he will always have her back and loyal even if it means giving up his romantic ideas to make way for her love.. i really believe this.

Second, cant believe the palace, after so many fires still does not have the security ... or fire extinguishers 😅 to prevent this from always happening. Dude, security team should really be fired here.... really!

Third, is Lord Sung-won her father or her brother?! Hope Justin S Kim should really make up his minds here.. hahaha

Last, love love love this series! Ciao! ❣️

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IU- Extrodinary Idol/Actress- Great Cast

I started with a 9 because of the action/ drama of the early episodes but ONLY dropped to 8.5 because it could’ve gone to 16 episodes to better close the root causes to the monarchy/ political issues pointed out early in the storyline. Otherwise, the cast was great- Debe Mama stole the show as supporting cast (Jeong Yeon’s older sister) and brought positive and future notoriety to her career for a stellar performance. The ending for the PM could’ve been sorted out better. IU’s character brought out the best in her as CEO/ businesswoman applying her strengths, attitude and character motivation like a sharp edges Ninja and sliced/ diced anyone creatively in her way. Her vulnerability to her father brought drama to a high level. His majesty brought an effective performance that pulled your emotions and tugged on, I’m sure many female fans heartstrings 😊. I thought his performance in Lovely Runner was his peak moment but this project took him to the next level. All in all the storyline was very good. All characters portrayed well and production/ cinematography was well done as well. Just the short episode timeframe is my only negative

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the imperfect crown

The (Im)Perfect Crown.

Nothing is worse than a great storyline being overshadowed by the perfectly sculpted faces of Byeon Woo-seok and IU. It’s the same issue I had with The Pursuit of Jade. Modern Asian dramas are becoming clichés where appearances matter more than acting, storytelling, or emotional depth. The industry seems obsessed with cookie-cutter beauty rather than compelling characters and meaningful narratives.

Yes, there were plenty of “Kodak moments” filled with sweetness and giddiness, but the lack of depth and proper character development turned this series into something painfully two-dimensional.

The premise itself already asks to stretch reality: a functioning monarchy in modern South Korea, but for the sake of art, fine, let’s go with it. What pulled me out completely, however, was the palace fire tragedy where apparently no fire trucks existed in this universe. And this fire happened twice. Details matter. Instead, the writers relied almost entirely on the fame and beauty of the leads to carry the drama. And commercially, it worked but at what cost?

The series feels like a Disney-esque fantasy monarchy straight out of Cinderella: polished, utopian, and engineered for a happily-ever-after ending. But what about the rest of the world around them? Where were the supporting characters, the emotional consequences, the complexity? The story desperately needed 16 episodes to flesh out its universe and relationships.

In the end, the drama felt like the perfect date leading into an exciting night, only to end in complete disappointment.

If Disney and Netflix continue Americanizing Korean dramas, we already know where this leads. What once made K-dramas special was their innocence, curiosity, emotional sincerity, and sense of wonder. Once that authenticity is lost, it may never truly come back.

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I really looked forward to this drama...however, it still fell short in certain aspects.

I really looked forward to this drama, mainly because of Byeon Wooseok & IU being paired together for a romcom set in an alternate universe where the monarchy still exists. However, it still fell short in certain aspects.

Firstly, I'd like to commend the casting for both the major and support roles; honestly, I couldn't have imagined other actors who would've played the parts. Production was also of high quality, with me going "damn budget!" almost every episode. Not to mention, the OST is great as well.

Now onto the plot: I genuinely appreciated that the narrative written for Huiju's character was a strong, independent woman who doesn't necessarily need a man like a knight and shining armor to "save" her. I like how Huiju & Wan's dynamics balance and complement each other. In addition, sufficient context was given regarding why Huiju is the way she is through the drama. Sadly, I was not able to see the same kind of nuance with the other characters, especially Wan and Jeongwoo. After watching the drama, I still have unanswered questions lingering in my mind: Who tried to sabotage Huiju's car? How did Lord Inpyeong & Jeongwoo conspire? Also, the ending felt a bit rushed...

Not gonna lie, this drama really had the potential to be a 16-episode one, and that would've probably addressed the lingering questions I have. Needless to say, I enjoyed watching the drama for the most part; everybody was just so fun to watch. I just wished more nuance was made to give justice to such a creative plot and the huge budget.

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Spoilers ahead and just my own thoughts

Ok, I had so much high expectations for this. Like the casting, amazing, the actors are also amazing. For someone of IU’s calibre, I always expect so much from her shows.

However, I think from the very beginning, the story is so cliched that you can already tell what’s going on. Who had something for who in the past, who’s going to be the villain, what’s being hidden. Like all there remained was there to be an actual confirmation of all your suspicions from the very beginning.

Around this time (time of release), a recent cdrama Pursuit of Jade has caught many people’s attention, is in general the audience also want a more fleshed out plot like that and were expecting that from this show. So while Perfecr Crown, at any other time, may perhaps have been quite good for a kdrama standard, it has fallen short of the current standard that we want after POJ.

IU’s character is already high up there, rich, beautiful, etc., and so is Byeon Woo Seok’s character, so it just feels like you’re seeing two of the same kind of people. There really isn’t anything for them to achieve. IU is already immensely good at what she does and has everything except a status, which honestly only affects her right if succession for the company and nothing else. There is nothing that she has to learn along the way or even a bridge she has to gap. Byeon Woo Seok is the same. His character already has everything and the court is basically in his hands, he just needs to make his moves, which he’d practically been planning to do anyway. So there doesn’t seem to be a growth in the characters unless it’s about their growing love.

Maybe my expectations were extremely high, especially after POJ and When Life Gives You Tangerines. Especially for how well known it is that IU picks amazing shows to work on, this seems like a miss.

The looks are there, the chemistry is there, even the comedy is clearly there, but again, the story is too predictable and most people were already able to tell major plot points as soon as it begun because it was that obvious.

Those were the reasons I dropped it. I don’t think I would pick this up again unless I was giving this a second chance or it turns out the ending was insane and it entices me to keep going.

Happy watching! 🥰

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Everything was "Perfect" except the story!

You know, I usually don't care about English titles, but "Perfect Crown" was a bad choice after watching the finale.

The original "Wife of a 21st Century Prince" would actually fit the story more, not only because the crown wasn't perfect, but because she was actually married to a 21st century prince. Like, what makes this crown perfect? The crown doesn't even exist anymore.

Why couldn't this drama deliver with a cast like this? You can find the reason if you look at the writer. Her being a rookie isn't a good excuse. This isn't a complicated story, just another romcom. This has nothing to do with episode number either. You can give a writer 5 or 50 episodes. If they can't develop characters and build up their journey properly in 12 episodes, they won't be able to do it if you give them more. This is just a typical Kdrama fan way of thinking that quantity can solve problems, but in reality fans only want to see their favorite lead characters longer. It's not about the story.

So, let's see the actual story and how the writer demolished pretty much every character in "Perfect Crown" just like Ian demolished monarchy.

We have a strong, smart, and independent female lead who runs her own business. She's the richest woman in the country, but people in her inner circle don't respect her because she's not married to a nobleman. At least that's what the writer tries to tell us, but we've never seen this. So, she decides she's going to marry the prince for his status. Eventually she falls in love too obviously, just as Ian has loved her since their school days. The minute they fall in love, our dear female lead, Huiju, forgets her goal and her pride and says things like, "I never wanted status." This is basically a character suicide. It's one thing to move on from your original plan because you're in love now, but to say such a thing screams incompetent writing skills or at least ignorance.

Why do I care about writing when this is just a romcom? I can already hear you asking this. I didn't expect hardcore politics and scheming, but I want a well written script where the story actually makes sense, and I won't ask, "Why does this character do this?" There's no buildup to anything; they're just doing things because they have to.

I think it's safe to say the only character in the drama whose arc is logical is Ian, because when he wanted to be a king, he couldn't get it, and when he had a chance, he wanted to demolish it because it people were hurting each other over it. Not that this was explained throughout the season effectively, but at least it wasn't surprising. I have to be honest, Ian as a character is one of the most uninteresting male leads I've seen in a while. I never felt like he had plans; he was just there because he was the lead and things happened.

We've had 3 villains in 12 episodes, or did we? At first, the writer introduced the queen mother to us as a power-hungry, abusive mother of her 7 year old king. She obviously killed the late king, the father of her own child, but we never get a real explanation about this either. If anything, episodes later they were trying to convince us that she didn't do anything bad at all. So, a woman who killed her husband, not to mention wanted to burn her own son alive, got a redemption arc. Why not, right?

Now, our 2nd antagonist, who became one because everyone expected him to be. Everyone's favorite Jinmu. I don't remember if we've seen him till halfway or had any lines. Then, around episode 6 or so, they tried to convince everyone he was the culprit behind everything bad that happened. Again, a totally random villain arc without any buildup.

Here comes the worst of them all. The guy had more charisma than any other man in this drama, yet the writer managed to ruin his character arc completely and made him your average jealous teen boy who could burn down an entire country for a woman who never loved him more than a friend. Prime Minister Min could've been a great villain, but the creators chose to make him a third-wheeling, angry cat. He was basically like Anakin Skywalker, who wanted to reach the sky but couldn't walk. I always wanted to give him the benefit of the doubt because I was too naive and thought the writer might pull off something interesting, like he was just a double agent of Ian. Sadly, she just didn't care because she knew most people wouldn't pay attention to the story if the two main leads could carry the drama for her.

If there's one positive I can mention about this drama, it's the cast and their acting. They did a great job, especially the female actors, and they carried a bang-average (at best) script.

If I have to be really honest, the female characters did the heavy lifting because pretty much every male character was useless and boring or both.


Is there anything left? Well, I have to mention a couple of things for the last part.

We've had multiple plotlines, but almost everything was unanswered, or it was finished in a hurry.

What happened to the prime minister? He's probably in jail, but they spent so much time on things that aren't important at all; they didn't have any time left to actually mention the relevant things.

Who killed Ian's parents, or was that just an accident? How did Ian get the king's letter? How did Queen Mother get Huiju and Ian's contract? Who tried to kill Huiju? How can everyone burn down the palace so many times, and no firefighter goes in to save people except the main leads?

Why on Earth would the richest woman, who said she wants to marry a man who's not below her quality, stick to a man who can't, sorry, doesn't want to find a job for himself for 3+ years? Did Ian deal with some politics, or was he just signing contracts without reading them? Why did he never ask his wife or her dad to help him find a job at least?

I mean, if Ian were not the male lead, everyone would call him a red flag and a loser. A guy who wanted to demolish monarchy is now a housewife who can't cook, can't clean, and I don't think can do anything.

I'm sorry, but being a romcom doesn't excuse a female for forgetting her priorities just because she's in love. Everyone else got a job; even Hyeon runs a flower shop. I'm sure even the ex-Prime Minister guy has a job in prison.


I forgot to mention this, but why do Huiju and Ian still live in the palace's private residence? I guess the budget was low in the finale, so Huiju couldn't buy a new house because the ex-prince cost a lot of money.

To be honest, I could go on all day, but I don't see the point; I'm just too angry. "Perfect Crown" could've been an actually good drama with a good writer who could do more than just fan service.


This is the disappointment of the year so far.

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Could've been a movie instead.

ML: BWS
FL: IU
FL2: Gong Seung Yeon
MS: Yoo Soo Bin
FS: Lee Yeon

We learn early that the King treats the ML as if he's nothing or at the very least less than. This makes the rest of the writing for him, weird. He defies the Queen Mother (FL2) but is still written as he's less than. So he's loud but quiet, it makes little sense. The MLs acting is not bad but not good. he's boring, he's not funny, not charming. I get his only expression is supposed to be stoic because of how his father raised him but besides his looks, there's little reason for the FL to be interested. (they could've done more to show us why he's trying to not exist but be seen by the Queen Mother).

The FL is born out of wedlock and is not considered noble. So her story is she has to scratch and claw her way to the top. It's implied that she's intelligent and fierce, which they neglect to use in any of the scenes or episodes.....what a waste. Her acting was good but not great.

FL2 her story is explained through a sentence or 2 from the ML. She seems to have an interest in the ML but the writers missed and never delve into it. Another shame. (Her acting SAVED this show for me, otherwise it was a snooze fest). Best acting in the series.

The MS/FS we get to see them and their struggles nearly every episode. Honestly they have more chemistry than the ML/FL. They also kept me intrigued when the ML tried to put the audience to sleep with his monotone voice and bland acting.

This could've been a movie instead of 12 boring episodes or if they wanted, they could've made it 16 episodes and given us more story and what happened between the ML and FL2...?? They could've showed us how the FL became fierce and intelligent.

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Too short to get anywhere ...

so this basically was another example of a great potential wasted .
it started strong yet the plot fell flat and didn't make any sense so many times , everything in this drama was rushed maybe because it was only 12 episodes " the only explanation I could think of " .
you may lose interest before you reach half of the show , I don't get why this was so hyped to begin with , they showed us a lot of stories yi an story with his father and his mother death in an accident and showed us the rumors about them being killed yrt all of that went to trash and was never spoken of again , hui ju and her father at first they showed us he didn't care about her and that he hated and in the end he begin to show care and kindness towards his daughter that was very sudden for me as the actor who played her father didn't show that much which made me feel that the transition was quite fast and rushed .

the worst thing for me was the prime minister character development , I mean what happened ? all of a sudden he became the main villain what made his character reach that point was it hui ju's poisoning or that she loved yi an or was it all for power ? the explanation he gave yi an inthe end for trying to kill him didn't make sense .

on the other hand , yun I rang's character development was great he understood that there will be no turning back if she stayed silent and reported both her father and prime minister which was great .

ML's character was giving me mixed signals at first he wanted the throne then when he had it he didn't want it , why exactly ? was it all about freedom as prime minister said ?

overall I felt this was quite rushed , confusing and anti - climactic at many points .

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