Byeon Woo-seok·IU 'The Queen of the 21st Century,' despite going head-to-head with competing works… 11.1% 'personal best viewership rating' [Comprehensive]

[My Daily = Reporter Lee Seung-gil] Byeon Woo-seok saved IU, who was trapped inside a runaway car.

The ratings for episode 4 of the MBC Friday-Saturday drama ‘21st Century Grand Prince's Wife,’ aired on the 18th, broke its own record with 11.3% in the Seoul metropolitan area, 11.1% nationwide, and 5.3% among viewers aged 20-54, taking first place in its time slot across all three measures. In particular, the 20-54 ratings, a key indicator of channel competitiveness that reflects changes in the media consumption environment, achieved the feat of ranking No. 1 among all Saturday programs. In addition, the peak minute-by-minute rating soared to 13.8%, recording an unstoppable upward trend. (Based on Nielsen Korea)

In this episode, Lee An Daegun (Byeon Woo-seok) appeared in front of Sung Hee-joo (IU), who was in danger because of a car with broken brakes, sending viewers' hearts racing.

The previous night, Sung Hee-joo and Lee An Daegun, who met with a wall between them, sensed the paparazzi's gaze and naturally continued acting as lovers. As planned, as soon as the picture-perfect kissing photo of the two was released, an emergency meeting was held at the royal palace. Lee An Daegun declared that he would acknowledge the relationship, citing the possibility of marriage, and Prime Minister Min Jeong-woo (Noh Sang-hyun) also supported Lee An Daegun's opinion, saying that further turmoil had to be prevented.

In the end, Sung Hee-joo and Lee An Daegun became a royal couple that officially acknowledged their relationship. However, Queen Dowager Yoon Yi-rang (Gong Seung-yeon) and the in-law faction created tension by seeking a way to separate Sung Hee-joo and Lee An Daegun before public attention grew even larger.

At the same time, before the opposing forces could emerge, Sung Hee-joo said they needed a powerful move to lock in the marriage and visited a baseball stadium with Lee An Daegun to draw people's attention. Although they failed to wear matching couple jerseys, their images appeared on the stadium's big-event kiss-time scoreboard, making Sung Hee-joo's plan a huge success.

As they built all kinds of memories together, Lee An Daegun's feelings for her were gradually growing. Above all, after their kiss, there were moments when he became conscious of Sung Hee-joo's every move. Even when he grew angry at Yoon Yi-rang's continuing pressure, he calmed his emotions at Sung Hee-joo's one remark, “I prefer self-pickup,” hinting at the change in Lee An Daegun's heart.

Sung Hee-joo also began preparing to become the Grand Prince's wife. At Anwhadang, she received rigorous training from court lady Choi Jin-suk (Park Joon-myeon) and steadily learned the royal etiquette. She also built special memories by playing various games with King Lee Yun (Kim Eun-ho), who came to visit Lee An Daegun.

Then, at the young king Lee Yun's request, Sung Hee-joo went on a drive with him and suddenly realized that the car's brakes had failed. Sung Hee-joo and Min Jeong-woo, who was following her car, both tried to stop it, but the vehicle kept racing ahead, making viewers' hearts pound.

And at that moment, another car blocked the front, and Sung Hee-joo's speeding car was brought to a stop. Seeing Lee An Daegun getting out of the car beyond her blurred vision, Sung Hee-joo let out a sigh of relief. Now attention is turning to what lies ahead for Sung Hee-joo, who ended up on a perilous ride with the king in the car, and to the ripple effects of this accident.

Reporter Lee Seung-gil ([email protected])