'Perfect Crown' Episode 11 Recap: Does Lord Inpyeong Get Arrested?

Perfect Crown is coming to an end this weekend, and it’s certainly leaving big shoes to fill. When the show first started, it felt a little bit dull despite the marvelous cast that, in my opinion, can do no wrong. But as the show progressed, I realized it dove deeper into the characters, and also felt nostalgic in its presentation. A prime example is in today’s episode, when Hye-Jung and Hyeon share a sweet moment after the fire. You really want to see them hug, but you know they won’t. This is exactly what it used to be like for main leads in K-dramas. It wasn’t the characters pining for each other as much as it was us pining for them to be together, know what I mean? Anyway, the penultimate episode saw Byeon Woo-Seok in his element, as well as IU, but I’ve got to mention Gong Seung-Yeon, who gave a heartfelt performance in this episode, as well as Noh Sang-Hyun, who has embraced the role of villain completely. With that said, though, let’s jump straight into episode 11.

Spoiler Alert

Who Saved I-An? 

Perfect Crown episode 11 opens in the moments before I-An was caught in the fire in the council room. We see that the Queen Mother tried to call I-An, but Jeongwoo sent him a text asking to meet in the council room. Meanwhile, Huiju was just interacting with Inpyeong, presumably an alibi for the events before Huiju notices the fire and rushes to the palace. Next thing you know, she’s inside the council room trying to get to I-An, who is on the floor, nearly unconscious. When she’s inside, all I-An can think about is the memories they’ve shared together, specifically when Huiju told him that she’ll be by his side till the end. He can’t believe she’s putting her life at risk to save him, but he can’t stay up any longer and ends up falling unconscious. Huiju even stops calling him the formal way while looking for him and straight up calls him I-An, a true sign of commitment, I’d say. Turns out, it was Hyeon who went in after Huiju and carried I-An out of the fire. How did they not learn after all these fires, man? While all this is going on, the King rushes to the Queen Mother, because he fears his uncle will end up like his father. On the other hand, Jeongwoo shows up to see the Prince and yells at Huiju for putting herself at risk, not worried about how everyone in the building can hear him. Huiju notices that he’s being weird, and she finally seems to be tying two and two together. Meanwhile, Hye-Jung has been blaming herself for the fire, and when Hyeon arrives and tells her the Prince is fine, she finally sighs with relief. He tells her that the fire wouldn’t have just miraculously not occurred if she had been there, so she shouldn’t beat herself up for it. She makes it clear that she’s grateful he’s fine now, and they share a sweet moment of comfort together. Please protect these two. 

What Is Jeongwoo’s Plan? 

The next day there’s speculation that the prince is dead from the fire, that something crazy happened, and that that’s why everything’s being kept under wraps, but Jeongwoo doesn’t seem to be bothered by it at all. It’s Huiju who decides to launch an investigation and threatens the Dowager Queen to allow her to look into the shift records of the palace attendants. We all know that Yi-Rang isn’t the villain here, but for some reason, these two haven’t figured out that they’d work better together yet, sigh. Anyway, Huiju ends up pouring out her drink in front of the Yi-Rang, telling her that she doesn’t accept drinks so easily anymore. Finally, Jeongwoo shows up with yet another threat for Yi-Rang. He wants her to replace I-An for the time being, but before we can get into any further detail (half the time is spent on him telling her to “behave” herself, really), I-An shows up, stopping Jeongwoo from doing anything stupid. With I-An’s return, Jeongwoo needs to remember his place. I suppose he would’ve tried to manipulate Yi-Rang and gotten what he wanted: ultimate power. He’s also the kind of guy who always wants what others have, no? Because if he liked Huiju so much, why didn’t he tell her before? Why only when she chose I-An did he realize he wants her so bad? I-An then goes to see his wife, who starts to weep, and ironically, the same thing happens when he goes to see the king. Man, this little boy is so adorable, but also, he tells his uncle that he was so afraid he’d lose him like he did his father. Trauma after trauma for this little guy. 

Does Lord Inpyeong Get Arrested? 

When Inpyeong shows up to see Yi-Rang, he mentions that the prince was hurt in a gas explosion, which is something that was kept away from the public, but Inpyeong knew because he was the one who set it up. Immediately, Yi-Rang notices the slip-up, and figures out it was her dad who started the fire. The same applies to the original fire too, no? Yi-Rang goes straight to I-An to give him evidence of her father’s involvement. She gives him the documents on A-Reum and tells him that both the wedding and this were Inpyeong’s work. He wonders why she would side with him now, but she tells him all she cares about is her son not getting reprimanded in any way. She tells him he can punish her and her father to whatever extent he deems fit, but her son needs to be protected.  

When Jeongwoo shows up, he straight-up tells I-An that, though he knew it was Inpyeong, some stuff needs to be figured out before he gets arrested. I-An reminds him that this is the guy who tried to kill him, so he must be arrested immediately. Jeongwoo seems to be losing his cool a little bit at this point, and it’s because he’s going to get caught real soon. Additionally, Huiju noticed that he’s not wearing his rosary any longer, which means he’s lost it, and thinks it might’ve been in the fire somewhere. In the middle of all of this, Huiju is ready to show Jeongwoo who is boss and even points a gun at him, straight up calling him a threat to the nation, because he’s always talking about the nation’s choice. Huiju doesn’t trust Jeongwoo, and she even asks I-An if he does; he tells her that he does, but I guess he now realizes that he shouldn’t, following the failed arrest of Inpyeong. Finally, I-An commands that Inpyeong be arrested and also mentions to Jeongwoo that he’s going to abolish the monarchy once he becomes king. 

What Is I-An Going To Do? 

Inpyeong’s arrest doesn’t look good for the royal family, considering he’s literally the king’s grandfather. Yi-Rang asks her son to go to her uncle if he feels like things are going wrong, and the boy promises to do so. When I-An goes to see Inpyeong in prison, he tells the latter to keep his mouth shut and promises that history will remember him as a criminal and nothing more. 

In Perfect Crown episode 11’s ending, Huiju tells Jeongwoo that she found out he knew about Inpyeong before, but didn’t do anything about it. He comes back at her about not knowing that I-An plans on abolishing the monarchy. Huiju supports I-An and tells Jeongwoo that if it’s the crown itself that is a threat in the 21st century, then that might be the best move here. Jeongwoo will continue to say that the nation gets to decide about these things, but Huiju straight-up tells him that they are now enemies. The episode ends with the ceremony to make I-An the king. He’s finally wearing the red garment with the dragon on it. 

...