He’s everywhere. Perhaps not on quite as many shop windows and skincare advertisements in Seoul as Park Bo Gum, but pretty-faced actor Byeon Woo Seok is hardly avoidable in the metropolis. But can he live up to the powerhouse beside him in Perfect Crown?

Multi-hyphenate and nation’s princess IU displays Seong Hui-ju as a strong-willed businesswoman who gets straight to the point with her endeavours. Hui-ju’s moments of brattiness aren’t quite on the same level as the often insufferable Jang Man-wol in the hit drama Hotel Del Luna from a few years ago, but the fact that IU can convey two characters of similar persona with such fine distinction warrants all the flowers she receives as an actor. One thing is true: if you cast IU in anything, you’re guaranteed a good performance. 

Byeon’s Grand Prince I-an is a cookie-cutter male idol-drama performance. It’s difficult to tell if Byeon’s reserved expressions are intentional for a composed, princely look of the character, or if he’s just trying to maintain his own idol face. Interestingly, he seems to have better chemistry with the Queen Mother (Gong Seung-yeon) than IU, but we’d have a hard time believing it was due to the latter’s shortcomings. Only when Byeon allows his face to move does he do well. Gong is a surprising standout; though calm when she utters them, she is absolutely menacing with lines like, “Hunting inherently requires patience above all.” 

It’s not total doom and gloom for Perfect Crown. Far from it. It’s a sponge for intrigue: a constitutional monarchy in modern-day South Korea? Hanbok-donned royals on iPads? Not only is the concept simply fascinating, but it also gives way to some character building, particularly in Gong’s character, who, unlike the other main characters, wears her traditional dress as often as possible. We can assume this is for surface-level interpretations, such as her sticking to older values. The costume department, however, did a fantastic job on her hanboks, as well as Seong’s flashy outfits and bejewelled crocs.

Perfect Crown was clearly not intended as a fantastically intellectual bit of TV. It seems to fit into that category of exposition-flowing shows that allow viewers with short attention spans to watch while scrolling on Instagram. Thus, it’s a coffee table drama. You can pick it up in a random spot, and it won’t take long for you to get what’s going on.

A cute little aspect of the drama’s structure, however, is at its halfway mark. The end of episode 6 has one character asking another: “You’ll be attending the second half, won’t you?” in reference to a ball. It doesn’t take much deep digging to work out that that line is being put toward the viewers as well. 

By the time you’re halfway through, you’ll still feel up to watching the rest – like a bag of snacks being finished off. But it’s no heroine. Perhaps the musical score could’ve helped with being something other than stale drama lullaby #42. There was nowhere else to improve in the cinematography department, luckily; it was beautifully shot, particularly on the closeups, with massive lenses giving us a very pleasant and soft background while IU is doing her best emoting.

Thanks to IU and Gong’s heavy lifting as actors, feel-good humour that lands well when it tries, and a clear premise of official titles vs. real merit intended to be easily followed, Perfect Crown is a watchable drama, though far from perfect. 

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Written by Maddie Armstrong

Featured image © Disney+

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