A step back from “Princess Hours”? IU and Byeon Woo Seok’s “Perfect Crown” draws criticism despite the hype

Recently, Jung Seok Hee posted a video on her YouTube channel “Jung Seok Hee TV Review”, in which she shared her thoughts after watching episodes 1 and 2 of MBC Perfect crown.

In the video, he commented, “Neither the work itself nor the actors show qualities strong enough to be nominated for major awards such as the Baeksang Arts Awards,” adding, “Gong Seung Yeon’s acting transformation is remarkable. She seems to be playing a serious drama alone within a romantic comedy. Acting should involve interaction, but she seems to be struggling alone.”

He continued, “Because expectations were so high, there were some disappointed reactions. Many say that IU and Byeon Woo Seok’s performances didn’t live up to expectations, but for me the biggest disappointment was the production design and visual quality.”

Jung Seok Hee added, “When you think of MBC, you expect beautiful cinematography. In recent years, they have consistently produced high-quality historical dramas. But with Perfect crownit seems to lack MBC’s signature visual style. Director Park Joon Hwa is talented and someone I like, but I wonder why MBC gave a historical drama to a director who has mostly worked with CJ ENM. It doesn’t seem to use MBC’s production expertise at all. I even wonder if there was internal resistance.”

He also compared the drama to Princess Hourspointing out that both the concept of monarchy and the visual quality seem to have regressed.

The columnist further criticized, “I think the drama is structured mainly around the main characters to appeal to international markets rather than domestic viewers. There are too few royal characters. The former kings only appear in flashbacks and, apart from the queen dowager, there are very few royal women. The success of a drama depends on how well the veteran actors are used, but Perfect crown it lacks that level of supporting weight. If it continues to focus only on the bickering between the two protagonists, it will inevitably become boring. That’s exactly what’s happening here: there are no other characters or memorable lines.

Despite the wave of criticism, Perfect crown continues to give excellent results. Episode 4, which aired on April 18, recorded ratings of 11.3% in the Seoul metropolitan area, 11.1% nationwide and 5.3% among the 20-54 demographic, marking a new personal best. It ranked first in its timeslot in all categories, with a maximum rating reaching 13.8%, showing a steady upward trend (Nielsen Korea).

Sources: Nate

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