The Princess' Man - Review of The Korean Drama

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*dedicated to Palah and Patamah Gongju-mama. Hardcore Princess' Man's Followers who tirelessly cried each week for each episodes... What a dedication!"

It's my 100th post!! *supposedly celebration mood*

Duh. Who cares...

Anyway last week, I was in the intense mood for love. Why? Because I just completed watching a highly-romantic South Korean drama entitled 'The Princess' Man'. 24 episodes in just two days. Way to go, Ruby! *and the days were supposed to be filled with studying for International Law, grrrr*

But then, I was bored. Making notes for a law subject won't help either. So I was mentally stuck in front of my laptop with nothing productively interesting to do. I was left with only two choices in hand - 1) continue making notes for Nature of International Law and 2) watch how the superbly good-looking heroes and heroins fall in love with one another in quite a delusional manner in an even more delusional romantic/melodrama/tragic series.

I have to admit, even the most rational of man would pick the second option.

The first time I heard about this drama was a few months ago. It was dubbed as the 'Korean version of Romeo and Juliet', star-crossed lovers who couldn't be together yada yada yada, so the basic storyline is already quite predictable. But still, it was worth to see how the writers interpret the Romeo and Juliet idea into a historical Korean piece. Though I really prayed hard the characters won't be as dull and stupid as the Shakespeare version.

So breaking it down to its principle characters, we have....

1 - The Main Couple: Hero x Heroine

2 - The Second Hero [the tormented relentless one] - who's in love with the heroine but was rejected many many times. Never give up and of course, ended up dead.... without getting the girl or any girl in fact.

3 - The Second Couple - most reason why people love this drama. Total love-hate relationship at first, loveless marriage and misplaced arrogance. Transformed into perfect romantic, protective and sacrificial love. And the woman was the original princess in the first place. So many was of the opinion that the drama title actually refers to this couple. Haha.

4 - The Villain - the heroine's father, murderer of the hero's father, the second couple's hero, nobles and many more. Brilliant strategist, heartless leader, unsympathetic punisher and.................. loving father.

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So we have the hero, Kim Seung Yu, youngest son of the Second State Councillor [which is practically the Deputy Prime Minister in today's world]. His family - righteous and boring. As per usual. He worked as a professor yet at the same time often frequented the whorehouses with his buddies. So we have a playboy with a heart of gold. Same old same old. But thank goodness the actor [Park Shi Hoo] can really REALLY act. So I am not that annoyed with the character. At first I do find him boring but he amazed me later with his coldness after seeing his family killed. So from that innocent look, he turned into this...

THERE IS NOTHING HOTTER THAN A MAN WITH A VENGEANCE... PERIOD!

And the Juliet of this drama is translated into a young noble girl named Lee Se Ryung, eldest daughter of Grand Prince Suyang, head of the Royal Clan/most powerful man in court. Naturally, her father and the hero's father were mortal enemies. So we saw that coming, haha.

She was surprisingly normal. I mean, most writers would take advantage of giving the heroine at least some interesting characteristics, making them almost unreal. But the main girl is, by standards of that time, I presume, to be quite common. She's pretty but not that pretty. Smart but not that extraordinary. Not bitchy, quite polite, quite adventurous but still pretty much a daddy's girl.

So they met and innocently fell in love after a number of cutie-cutie misunderstanding. It was all flowery and peaceful.... for the first few episodes.

Then the heroine's father began killing people to get the throne. The hero hated her and wanted at first to kill her. But she was head over heels in love with him, so she just played along this sorta "just kill me if that makes you happy" game. At first the hero didn't buy it but after a few life-threatening situations where the woman almost sacrificed her life for him, he relented and gave in. Out of love, out of sympathy, out of reactionary gratitude - I have no idea. After many many obstacles [where the hero fought and the woman waited... and waited... and threaten to kill herself in front of her father... and waited] , they ran out of town to live as commoners and had a baby girl together.

So let's examine this symptom of supposedly 'Weak Heroine'. I used to be a total anti. Why? Because at times, I find the female lead in most dramas not instrumental to the storyline but only as accessory to make the screen prettier. She doesn't really MOVE the pace, what more have a function except for the factor of love?

Duh. I mean, since the beginning of time, it is always the male characters who are blessed with super-sexually appealing angst, revenge, mission and drive to do something. Females are often polite, soft, caring etc etc whose main task is to wait for things to happen. I do realize there are a few exceptions, for example 'Queen Seonduk', but then that drama protrays that if you are a woman and you choose your country and ambition over love, you'll end up dying alone. Good message there for drama-watchers, BAD BAD message for young delusional hopelessly romantic girls.

The heroine after becoming a Princess

Coming back to the heroine of The Princess' Man - I have mixed feelings over her. Which quite surprised me at first since I thought I'd totally hate her after a few episodes. Indeed, I felt almost neutral in the midst of watching the drama and after it ended, I have to admit, I probably almost........... liked her a bit.

Is she a weak heroine? Physically, yes. But then, she was restricted by her upbringing during that time. She seemed proper and cute. She's not that graceful though. But her innate rebellious was quite obvious. Her father was a power-crazy prince who had killed lots of people for the throne and he was planning to kill her lover, too. Therefore, I was looking forward on how would she react and make a stand of righteousness against the crazy man. She couldn't do much anyway - she didn't know how to fight, she wasn't that influential nor smart. But one things she did know was that she was the child her crazy father loved the most.

The power-crazy father, the villain and yes, the biggest reason why

you should watch the drama

So to stop her father from going out to kill her lover, she sat in front of the porch with a sword placed on her neck. "If my lover dies, I die." Her neck was slightly bleeding but she did not relent.

Hmmm... I liked her that time. Even though she knew that she did not have much abilities to control her father's raging ass, she did the best she could have done - putting her life on the line as she knew how valuable it was for her father. So it became a pattern. If the father tried to commit any wrong against her lover [who was being hunted for rebellion + threat to the goverment + one very HOT assassin], she would be among the first to face her father and use her own self as an obstacle. "You do this, you lose me." It worked a few times but not all the time. Her father was a smart-ass, an evil one at that.

So it can be concluded that the strength of her character stemmed from what happened to her lover. As her lover was embroiled in the deadly path to pursue righteousness against an evil prince/king wannabe, she was dragged along as well. She was against her father's ways but it seemed that the only reason she fought with him was because of the lover.

So I don't really like her at such times. Because she seemed to prefer love over righteousness. When two things are completely of different matter. Preferring love makes her romantic, not heroic. And I am not much into ROMANTIC HEROINES. Too many for a lifetime, don't you think?

So yes, if people are into romance drama, this is THE DRAMA you should watch. It has every ingredient to a Romeo Juliet retelling tale - unexplainable love after a few sights, devotion, obstacles, hate, yada yada yada and stuffs that can't really be explained but happened anyway. Sometimes we have to watch unrealistic materials. Having a realistic outlook in life ALL THE TIME is not healthy, I believe.

Hope is not an answer but a necessity. It may not happen but we can't be without it.

P/S: I realize that most people are attracted to the drama for the second couple, the former Princess and her husband who died in the process who were played by supporting actors. But I am a very pro-main couple person. If the main couple doesn't work, then it ruins the whole thing for me, notwithstanding how many amazing side-couples they put on screen. Haha. Fussy much?


Ruby Jusoh loves South Korean drama for its visualization. Everyone looks supposedly perfect. Milky white perfection that allows her to daydream for a few days until the ugliness of reality starts kicking in. 


Ouch.