MBC ‘21st-Century Grand Prince’s Consort’
‘21st-Century Grand Prince’s Consort’ Byeon Woo-seok seized the ending as he signaled the start of a full-fledged contract marriage.
In the MBC FridaySaturday drama ‘21st-Century Grand Prince’s Consort’ (directed by Park Joon-hwa, written by Yoo Ji-won) that aired on the 11th, Grand Prince Ian (played by Byeon Woo-seok) faced Seong Hee-joo’s unabashed flirting. Earlier, Seong Hee-joo had proposed marriage first, but Grand Prince Ian firmly refused. Afterwards, at a riding arena, a Korean set-menu restaurant, on the road, and at a movie theater, he consistently pushed away Seong Hee-joo as she approached him without hesitation, saying, “I wanted to see you.”
However, an unexpected scandal instantly turned the narrative on its head. After running into Grand Prince Ian’s aide, Seong Hee-joo learned of his health issue and entered Ian’s hotel room. With a scene captured of her even summoning his personal physician, a scandal broke. Grand Prince Ian apologized to Seong Hee-joo for the controversy sparked because of him and asked what she wanted, and ultimately drove the ending by declaring a full-on contract marriage: “Prepare to become the Grand Prince’s Consort. Your counterpart will be the entire nation.”
Byeon Woo-seok steered the plot seamlessly as Ian, a man possessing both decisiveness and execution. As the central axis that grasps and guides the drama’s flow, he convincingly portrayed the character’s sense of responsibility and charisma. When his only young nephew, the nation’s sovereign, felt cowed by the pressure at the Entrepreneurs’ Day event and sought out Ian saying, “I’m scared, Uncle,” he showed, more than anyone, the qualities of the royal family’s pillar with a dependable, warm presence, replying, “I have come to fulfill my duty as your subject, Your Majesty.” And when Seong Hee-joo became embroiled in a scandal because of him, he called her in himself and drew a striking contrast by making the bold choice to decide on marriage, amplifying the character’s dimensionality. In particular, the final scene in which Byeon Woo-seok, with unwavering eyes, revealed Ian’s decisiveness and charisma has sent shivers through viewers and is eliciting a heated response.
Meanwhile, ‘21st-Century Grand Prince’s Consort,’ the drama in which Byeon Woo-seok, at the story’s center, is propelling a brisk pace as Grand Prince Ian embarks on a contract marriage with Seong Hee-joo, airs every Friday and Saturday at 9:50 p.m. on MBC.
