Disney+ K-drama Perfect Crown: IU and Byeon Woo-seok lead fantasy romance far from perfect

Lead cast: IU, Byeon Woo-seok, Noh Sang-hyun, Gong Seung-yeon Latest Nielsen rating: 9.5 per cent With all its slow-motion close-ups, high-society razzle-dazzle and swoon-worthy stars, the new romantic vehicle Perfect Crown, starring IU (When Life Gives You Tangerines) and Byeon Woo-seok (Lovely Runner), has all the trappings of a classic Korean drama, an alternative-history fable the kind of which the industry has been routinely producing for 20 years. On paper, the concept is a winner. Imagine South Korea as a modern constitutional monarchy, where Joseon-era royals, who are treated like K-pop idols, still lord over society while clashing with insecure chaebol (Korean family-run conglomerate) heirs. The set-up is ripe for the sort of timeless fantasy romance that fans have never grown tired of. Thanks to rising industry budgets, the modern breed of K-drama fantasy romance boasts more ambitious ideas and seductive production values than before, while beneath the polished sheen of the streaming era, characters in these stories have gradually become more relatable and more universal. Most of us could never dream of walking through these worlds but, by way of the often prosaic wants, needs and anxieties of the protagonists who populate them, we can experience them vicariously. This is not the case with Perfect Crown, however. The show never gives us the chance to immerse ourselves in its world because none of the characters inhabiting it even remotely feel like real people. This is a top-down problem, starting with the lead characters Seong Hui-ju and Grand Prince I-an, played by IU (aka Lee Ji-eun) and Byeon, respectively. Adored by all who cross his path, I-an is a typical example of a fantastical male romantic lead: time stops when he enters a room, he is always dressed to impress and his cheeky grin leaves no doubt that he is fully aware of his sway over people. Unfortunately, he is also rather dull. Beyond his proficiency as an archer in his youth and a fondness for cat-themed classical artwork, he is essentially as flat and two-dimensional as a fashion magazine cut-out. Byeon is a tall, popular and devilishly handsome model-turned-actor, but when the characters he plays on screen are not fleshed out on the page, he occasionally struggles to bring them to life. The charming romcom Lovely Runner gave him a character with some personality, but Perfect Crown does not seem interested in letting him play a fully realised role. Of course, this is not unusual, as K-dramas are by and large concerned with courting a mostly female audience. I-an is supposed to be aloof and unattainable, and part of the pleasure derived from viewing these shows is witnessing a flawed but recognisable female lead crash from her ordinary life up through the upper crust inhabited by the male lead. This brings us to Hui-ju, who has all the spunk and self-confidence we like to see in a modern female lead, yet is somehow even more of an abstraction than a modern-day Grand Prince. Beautiful, brilliant and glamorous, Hui-ju runs Castle Beauty, the cosmetics subsidiary of Castle Group, which is operated by her father, Seong Hyeon-guk (Jo Seung-yeon, Beyond the Bar). However, she is looked down on by some in high society as it is well known that she was born out of wedlock, unlike her snotty older brother Tae-ju (Lee Jae-won, A Hundred Memories), who relishes putting her in her place. Hyeon-guk wants to marry Hui-ju off to a man she considers beneath her, so she decides to find a suitor in her own league. In her eyes, the appropriate groom is I-an, the kingdom’s most eligible bachelor. When he is not receptive to the idea, Hui-ju doubles down, becoming an omnipresent nuisance in I-an’s life until he relents. Hui-ju may have a psychological chip on her shoulder that drives her behaviour, but her superficial and vain personality, coupled with her enormously privileged status, makes it difficult to root for her marriage aspirations or care about her plan. IU, one of the most accomplished actresses of her generation, remains a dynamo who commands the screen. Here, she overwhelms her co-stars – including Noh Sang-hyun (Love in the Big City) as potential romantic rival Min Jeong-woo, and Gong Seung-yeon (The First Responders) as Queen Dowager Yoon Yi-rang – with her sharp and practised energy. Unfortunately, Hui-ju is a caricature, made all the more frustrating by how much she pales alongside IU’s many scintillating past protagonists. With its premise, flash and star power, Perfect Crown does not need to do much more than tread water, but it is unlikely to hold a candle to the shows that paved the way for it. Perfect Crown is streaming on Disney+.

Disney+ K-drama Perfect Crown: IU and Byeon Woo-seok lead fantasy romance far from perfect

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}A love story about a chaebol heir and a modern-day prince, Perfect Crown follows a winning formula but is let down by unrelatable characters

A love story about a chaebol heir and a modern-day prince, Perfect Crown follows a winning formula but is let down by unrelatable characters