The Perfect Crown Review: Eat Fresh

Item: Perfect Crown
Rating: 6.7

May 26
6 min read

Updated: Jun 3

A modern day fairytale made stale by relentless advertisements and confusing stakes.

The Cast:

Actors From Left to Right: IU (My Mister, When Life Gives You Tangerines), Byeon Woo Seok (Lovely Runner, Solo Leveling), Gong Seung Yeon (Karma), Steve Noh (Pachinko, Genie Make a Wish), Subway (Eat Fresh)

Title:	Perfect Crown
Platform:	Disney+
MDL Rating:	8.4
Genre:	Contemporary Romance, Comedy
Parental Guidance Rating:	PG (Minor Violence)

Synopsis: Set in an alternate South Korea where the Joseon Monarchy never fell out of power, The Perfect Crown follows an heiress who will stop at nothing to receive a royal title—even if it means a marriage of convenience with the Grand Prince.

My Thoughts in a Nutshell:

This should have been what elevated Hallmark dreams are made of considering the cast, budget, and cinematography. Alas, it turned out to be mid-tier nothingburger with a lot of yelling. So what went awry?

An Advertisement Disguised as a Drama:

The Perfect Crown did what no drama has dared to do to such an extent, which is to take a bold, cinematic look at Subways delicious and fresh subs through the eyes of those who repeatedly take the world’s smallest bites of them. The product placement was bananas. At every turn something was advertised, from jewelry to mattresses to sandwiches. Product placement is a necessary source of funding for dramas in the era of streaming, so I don't always hate when it's there. And it can be done right. But the show wasn't even trying to to be subtle and it really took me out of the narrative. And you really expect me to believe that this rich heiress with a chef and a waist that small is out here in awe over some stale bread and questionable lunch meat? I don't think so.

(Please enjoy the collage of Subway. And yes, that is a Subway bag he's holding in the second pic)

Confusing Stakes:

Why was this so serious? Because it really wasn't. There were way too many characters plotting murder and mayhem, and for what? The modern day Joseon monarchy appeared to be modeled after the current British Monarchy, which has no political power. Of course, social status is a type of power but what would the big bad actually gain by the connection to the monarchy that they wouldn't have had without it? Drama Notes made a great video essay diving into the lack of stakes in the Perfect Crown. I highly recommend you give it a watch: Here.

Eat the Rich:

This brings me to my next point. The show expects the audience to feel bad for Seong Hui Ju (Female Lead) who is only the CEO of one Castle Group Company and although insanely wealthy and beautiful, cannot achieve the triumvirate of success because she is not noble. This is the inciting motivation of the whole drama but we're only given a brief look of Hui Ju being bullied at school... because she was illegitimate. Her lack of "legitimacy" is the biggest obstacle in her life as it is the source of conflict with high society, her family, and the path to becoming the heir, not her lack of nobility. And why in this day and age are you asking me to feel bad for a Chaebol? One pair of her shoes could pay my groceries for an entire year. The drama tries hard to frame Hui Ju as a type of girl boss Cinderella with a harsh family and a never give up attitude, but the narrative fails because Hui Ju is just so much better off than 99% of people regardless of her challenges. She has the perfect crown, not the glass slipper. I think that's why they included the hammed up plotline of her ludicrously unfair father, because to stomach a plot like this, you need to make Hui Ju the underdog. But if she is the underdog, we are all in hell lol (*Cries in late stage capitalism*). But you can only eat the rich if you eat the nobility first, I guess.

On a broader note, Somehow we have veered into Lucille Bluth territory with these Chaebol stories, but instead of laughing at the absurdity, K-Drama's are championing those who have already won. I fear these are now the vibes:

Nitpicking:

These are things I didn't like that are on me. IU (The Female Lead) is ageless and immortal but she deserved better hair and makeup. Her acting didn’t shine as much as it usually does and I am blaming the lackluster script. She embraced the character she was given but she wasn't given very much. Her acting felt very reminiscent of her Hotel Del Luna character. Byeon Woo Seok (ML) was giving cardboard cut out and God bless, I could see him straining through the substantial botox to emote. Funnily enough, both he and the Prime Minister had better chemistry with the Queen Mother than the Female Lead. The Queen Mother had the most nuanced portrayal, but I think she interpreted shouting her lines as good acting. The Prime Minister was fine but you cannot convince me that he ever looked like he was a high schooler, and I wish they developed his character more. As for the script, I want to champion original material as much as I can, but it suffered from being dissected to create a webtoon. The powers at be removed a chunk of backstory from the script to create a webtoon which audiences will probably never read. This probably wasn't the scriptwriters choice and I'm sure they did the best they could to stitch the story back together.

The Crown Goes to the Side Characters:

This is both an unintentional positive and negative. But I'm sorry, Aide Choi and Do had way more chemistry than the lead couple.

The real highlight of the show for me was Seong Tae Ju (FL's Brother) and his wife. 10/10. Loved them. Give me a K-Drama about just them and I will buy a subway sandwich in support. These four side characters were truly the heart of the show. Which is awkward because the heart of the show should have been the lead couple.

The Controversy:

After airing, the Perfect Crown has faced a slew of protests from native Korean viewers and has garnered thousands of signatures to remove the drama from platforms. According to The Korea Herald:

"Critics argue that although the story is set in a fictional 21st-century Korea where a constitutional monarchy still exists, the production overlooked how modern audiences might interpret its depiction of Joseon court traditions linked to the East Asian tributary system. For many viewers, these ceremonial elements recalled a historical hierarchy in which Korea appeared subordinate, rather than reinforcing an image of a fully sovereign and independent nation in the present day."

The backlash is in response to a scene where 9 beads are used instead of 12 beads on a ceremonial headdress for the king. 12 beads indicate the highest royal ritual, while 9 beads denote lower ranks. "Cheonse" was chanted instead of "Manasae", which is a major mess up because Cheonse is for rulers of a lower rank, while Mansae is for independent kings. The pushback is indicative of the recent political climate and is steeped in a history of oppression.

Final Thoughts:

While the Perfect Crown proved to be imperfect, it was still a decent, middle of the road watch. Go into it expecting a somewhat mindless, fluffy hallmark tale and you will not be disappointed. Disney+ delivered with high production value and an all-star cast. And I really loved the twisty ending. Bonus points for being an original script, but what should have been fresh, sadly turned out a bit too stale (see what I did there lol).

Parental Guidance Notes:

PG (Minor Violence)

RBTS Overall Rating: 6.7
Story:	6	Very Swiss Cheese in that it was a bit silly and full of holes, but enjoyable
Acting:	5.5	Fine
Production Quality:	8	High but I’m docking points because it was all an advertisement
Ending:	6
Enjoyability:	6	Fun time, eps loved the side characters