Surplus Princess

Surplus Princess

5.5/10

Surplus Princess

Genre:                            Episodes: 10                        Year: 2014

Fantasy

Romance

Comedy

Synopsis:

Mermaid Princess Ha Ni has an obsession with Kwon Shi Kyung, a famous, human celebrity chef. Believing Shi Kyung is her true love, Ha Ni becomes a human in order to be with him. She lives at ‘Surplus House’, a share-home where job-seekers live. Ha Ni has 100 days to find true love, if she succeeds she will become a human permanently, but if she fails she will disappear forever.

Cast:

Jo Bo Ah (Kim Ha Ni)

On Joo Wan (Lee Hyun Myung)

Song Jae Rim (Kwon Shi Kyung)

Park Ji Soo (Yoon Jin Ah)

Kim Seul Gi (An Hye Young)

Kim Min Kyo (Do Ji Yong)

Nam Joo Hyuk (Big)

Ahn Kil Kang (Ahn Ma Nyeo)

General Thoughts:

The cast is what makes the drama so enjoyable. Without the cast this series is nothing. We’ve all heard the mermaid story so many darn times before that you’d really be pushing yourself to come up with a new spin on the old tale, so it’s a good move to focus on the cast and characters rather than the plot. Because, you know, we all know what’s coming.

Adorable little babies

Our female lead was probably the weakest link in the casting, and that’s more of a praise to our support characters than a criticism of Jo Bo Ah. But as far as actresses go, Kim Seul Gi really steals the show. No surprises there. She always does, and likely always will.

Kim Seul Gi is dynamite. Forever. Always.

She gives such a dynamic yet endearing punch to every character she plays, and can deliver wackiness in the best possible way. I don’t think I could ever be dissatisfied with Kim Seul Gi’s performance. She’s just a total ace. Whenever I see Nam Joo Hyuk in anything, I just become increasingly more frustrated with ‘School 2015- Who Are You?’. Because his character was so sucky in ‘School 2015’ that I totally wrote him off as one of those model-turned-actors who can’t really act. But he continues to surprise me whenever I see him. He’s adorable as the surplus maknae, and the Noona Romance with Kim Seul Gi sure doesn’t hurt either. And Kim Min Kyo is just adorable and hilarious. He just is. Our two main boys are beautifully cast. And beautiful. Sure, they don’t have the most different or dynamic male characters ever seen, but On Joo Wan and Song Jae Rim give enough individuality to the characters that it doesn’t feel like we have our typical K-Drama heroes with new faces stuck on. Jo Bo Ah is sweet and quirky (because it’s a K-Drama, of course she’s sweet and quirky) and didn’t seem afraid to embarrass herself in the least.

He is indeed

While she did a fair enough job as the lead, unfortunately she does lack that certain sparkle and allure that the best actress emanate. But two thumbs-up for spending so much shooting time in water. Regarding the plot- well…it’s nothing new. It’s another retelling of the classic mermaid tale.

It's okay unemployed bums- Australian youth feel you all too well

So it was relieving when the writers chose to focus a little more attention on the job-hunting with the romance coming in second to being employed. It gave an interesting look into current youth, and how many young people have to give up on their dreams because they need a job. Any job. It was an idea that set this drama apart from other K-Dramas. As an audience we’re used to seeing downtrodden, overlooked characters with dreams of their own. And that’s what our characters in ‘Surplus Princess’ were like. But where they differ is that brutal punch of reality. Hyun Myung doesn’t make it as a famous artist. Ji Yong doesn’t become a respected judge. Both these men have to give up what they initially wanted for their lives in order to actually make a living for themselves. It’s sad, yet true to life, and does make it more heartwarming when we see how well our characters are getting along even after they’ve given up their initial dream-life.

What Was Great:

Great Ensemble:

Like I said earlier, it’s magic. It’s what holds the whole show together. Because this series could have quite easily been awkward and gimmicky, but instead remained light-hearted and fun, and most of that credit has to go to the cast.

We even get Gal Pals- how exciting is that!

The actors weren’t too afraid to embarrass themselves- particularly Kim Min Kyo, who ended up having some of the funniest scenes in the whole series (along with Kim Seul Gi). Everyone who participated in the show took it seriously, but not too seriously, allowing us viewers to enjoy the humour of the show without finding it cringe-inducing or lacking in plot.

Love Triangle:

One of the better aspects of the drama is that our two main male characters were able to develop easily along side one another, with neither getting shafted for a period in order to allow the other to grow.

Will it be the understated hero...

It made for a much more convincing love dilemma for our heroine, because we’ve witnessed her relationships with these two different men growing and developing simultaneously. It also makes it more interesting for the audience to watch, because it’s less clear which man our Princess will end up choosing. Hyun Myung is set up in our traditional hero way- what with his overlooked talents, unending determination, and b*tchy girlfriend who dumps him early on. So that’s where we expect our heroine’s heart to head after an appropriate amount of confusion for the sexy chef she became human for. Only, our heroine then spends a lot of time developing an unexpectedly in depth relationship with Chef Shi Kyung which progresses quite smoothly. And given the unexpected time constraints, it’s hard to peg whether the writers would go with the initial hidden hero love, or the newly sparked shallow love which grew unexpected depth.

...or the gorgeous Prince Charming?

Antagonising Antagonist:

Jin Ah sucked. She was a really dislikable character, given her manipulative nature and sense of entitlement. It’s kind of nice every now and then to stumble across a drama that has an antagonist you’re allowed to just flat-out dislike.

No redemption arc for you.

So many dramas lean towards mean, but not downright nasty antagonists, and then opt for the redemption arc. Not ‘Surplus Princess’. Jin Ah is dislikable to start with and dislikable at the end, and an all round great opposition for our heroine. Jin Ah is the perfect counter for our bouncy, if not mildly (or very) self-centred Princess. As both girls are aiming for the same guy, it gives us a reason to cheer for Ha Ni. Who initially comes across as selfish and dim-witted. But selfish and dim-witted beats b*tchy and manipulative, so I’m on Team Ha Ni for this one.

What Wasn’t:

Episode Cutback:

The episode cutback for this drama is pretty brutal. Most often I can understand the choice to cut-back a series’ episodes (when the plot is floundering and struggling to go forward), but ‘Surplus Princess’ seemed to be hitting it’s stride when the network chose to axe its airtime. The team behind ‘Surplus Princess’ were given the news that the series would be cut from 14 episodes down to 10 after the 9th episode had already begun filming. Meaning they were left with a single episode to tie everything up nicely. Eep. While the writers managed to do a praise-worthy job of bringing the series to a close in a satisfactory way, I still would have preferred that the show was allowed to run for its full length.

It all felt a tad rushed

While the plot did make sense, sadly it was our main pairing’s love-line that was rushed due to the cutback. The writers opted to go with their initial plan to have the final pairing be Ha Ni and Hyun Myung, which meant a lot of their relationship was played in fast forward in the last episode. And I was all for seeing 4 more episodes of Ha Ni and Hyun Myung realising their growing attraction and watching that develop. Ah well. We can’t have it all. Thanks for being a butt, tvN.

Confusing Ending:

I have no doubt that the confusion in that last episode was due to the episode cutback. While most of the story was handled nicely, we did have some aspects of the series that were left a little unpolished. Mainly being Ha Ni disappearing into bubbles. Yeeeaaahhhhh.

Sorry, what now?

What happened there? So she didn’t find true love with Hyun Myung? But then she appears a year later. Um, why? Where’s the logic in that? And what up with trying to tie off Chef Charming with Jin Ah? That was just some straight up bullish*t right there. It was a little alarming to have a series that had followed its own logic so well suddenly throw all the rules out the window. Rather than Ha Ni and Hyun Myung being happy after the 100th day passed and knowing they had found true love, we have Ha Ni vanish (presumably dead) before returning a year later, and the whole series ends on Ha Ni’s face with the caption ‘I’ll be back’. It felt like the whole ending sequence was basically a giant middle finger to tvN, saying that they had so many ideas planned that would now never be seen on TV because the network axed them. It was a giant middle finger disguised as art. I kind of like the guts it took for them to send their middle finger to the network, but at the same time the first and foremost responsibly of the team behind ‘Surplus Princess’ is to their viewers, who stuck with them through the low ratings.

Basically what the writers gave to tvN

So yes, it was amusing to watch and know that the writers were sending a message to tvN, but I also would have enjoyed an ending that made logical sense and didn’t open up enormous plot holes.

Re-watch?

Nah. It’s cute, it’s fluffy, it’s a one-time watch.

Right before she 'dies'