Moonikis

I honestly didn't expect to love Perfect Crown this much, but I ended up being completely invested in it.

One of my favorite things about the drama was definitely Hee-joo. I really loved her as a female lead. She's strong, outspoken, and refuses to let people walk all over her, even when she's dealing with royalty. But at the same time, she has her own insecurities, especially when it comes to her father and the feeling that she's never doing enough or that she doesn't fully deserve her place. That contrast made her feel very human to me, and I could relate to her in some ways.

And then there's I-an... probably one of the biggest green flags I've seen in a drama. I had a good feeling about him from the beginning, and thankfully I was right. He respects Hee-joo and her choices and never treats her as something that belongs to him. I also loved realizing that, even before he fully acknowledged it himself, he already seemed tired of the monarchy and everything that came with it. Finding out that he had loved Hee-joo since their first meeting at school made their relationship even sweeter to me.

Their romance was one of the highlights of the drama. There is technically another man who has feelings for Hee-joo, but I wouldn't really consider this a love triangle. I never felt like Hee-joo was torn between two people, and his feelings eventually became much more obsessive and possessive than genuinely romantic. So thankfully, this never had the frustrating love-triangle feeling that a lot of dramas have.

I also really enjoyed the supporting characters, especially Secretary Do. I loved both her personality and her style, and I was so happy to see her and I-an's butler together in the end because I had been expecting something between them.

The ending was probably one of my favorite parts. I loved that the final romantic moment happened at a match because of how much it contrasted with the beginning of their relationship, when so much of what they did was an act and they couldn't even properly kiss. Seeing I-an and Hee-joo kiss openly in front of the entire stadium felt incredibly symbolic: this time, they weren't performing for anyone.

I also didn't expect the drama to end with the abolition of the monarchy when I first started watching, but as the story progressed, I began to suspect that it might happen. In the end, I think it was the perfect conclusion for these characters. Rather than Hee-joo having to change herself to fit into the monarchy, they finally get to live outside of the system that had controlled so much of their lives.

Another thing I really appreciated is how surprisingly chill the drama felt to watch. Even with the political conflicts and more serious moments, it never felt exhausting to me. It's actually the kind of drama I could easily see myself rewatching someday, which is something I can't say about every drama I love. There's just something very comforting and easy to watch about it despite everything happening in the story.

The plot twists may not be the most unpredictable or shocking I've ever seen, but honestly, I didn't care. I was so emotionally invested in the characters and their relationships that I enjoyed the drama immensely anyway. It even made me tear up several times.

Perfect Crown may not be perfect in every possible way, but it gave me almost everything I personally want from a drama: a female lead I genuinely loved, a green-flag male lead, a romance I could fully root for, no real love triangle, characters I became attached to, and an ending that actually felt satisfying and meaningful.

I really, really loved this drama.