Princess Hours
Genre: Episodes:
24 Year: 2006
Romance
Comedy
Synopsis:
The story is
set in an alternate version of South
Korea , in which the country has kept its
monarchy.
To fulfill a
promise made by their grandfathers, Crown Prince Shin and Shin Chae Kyeong get married. While initially the two are indifferent to each other, as Chae Kyeong
is taught how a princess should behave, the two grow closer.
Complications
arise when the previous Crown Princess and her son, Prince Yul, return to the
palace. Prince Yul’s mother has returned with the intention of placing her son
back in the line of succession for the throne, which she believes is rightfully
his. Prince Yul is attentive to Chae Kyeong, helping her when she has trouble
adjusting to palace life, and begins to develop feelings for her. At the same
time, Prince Shin is unable to completely cut ties with his ex-girlfriend
Min Hyo Rin.
Cast:
Yoon Eun Hye (Shin Chae Kyung ) |
Ju Ji Hoon (Crown Prince Lee Shin) |
Kim Jeong Hoon (Prince Yul) |
Song Ji Hyo (Min Hyo Rin) |
General Thoughts:
This drama
started out with a lot of promise. The first few episodes were, while not
riveting, light-hearted and amusing. However, things started to go downhill pretty
quickly. The main
couple hardly had any chemistry- it was a real stretch
of the imagination to think that they could ever be remotely happy together. I found
myself cheering for Prince Yul (before he became a giant ass), as the main male
lead -Prince Shin- was an arrogant, unlikable and rather underdeveloped character.
All the characters were so two-dimensional, with one track minds, inabilities
to communicate and were unable to do anything that would make the slightest bit
of sense.
No sizzle... |
While Shin Chae
Kyung initially starts out as a cheerful, stubborn, determined young girl,
by the end she had deteriorated into a weeping, useless mess.
All in all,
this drama was just on a slippery slope that didn’t have a whole lot of high
points.
Looking back, I
can hardly believe I managed to make it through a whole 24 episodes. Yikes.
What Was Great:
The premise:
This drama
sounds so interesting. A rom-com set in Korea where the imperial family is
still active. Yes, delightful. It’s just a shame the execution was so poor.
Such promise, much wow. |
Original Shin Chae
Kyung and Prince Yul:
He was so cute before they made him an ass |
Before Chae Kyung became a complete disaster and Yul became a mindless puppet for his mother
that only told lies, the two had some pretty good chemistry. When Chae Kyung struggled with palace life, Prince Yul (who had also experienced both palace and
regular life) was there to help and comfort- which lead to some pretty cute
scenes between the two.
Cute Side
Romance:
The suggested
love-line between Kyung Shin’s beautiful friend and Prince Shin’s playboy
friend was a cute, light-hearted distraction to what a catastrophe the main
cast were becoming.
What Wasn’t:
Unfortunately,
a whole lot.
Marriage:
The engagement
of the two main leads should have been drawn out for much longer than it was.
With the marriage happening so early on in the drama it didn’t give a lot of
room for Yul and Hyo Min to get involved. The marriage was solidified so early
on, and the idea of divorce brought in so late that there was never any real
tension that the leads might not end up together, which makes it a bit sad as
this is the only actual tension in the whole drama.
Did we honestly believe they'd break up? |
Recurring Plot
Points:
Song Ji Hyo's resting b*tch-face is on point |
The first time
Min Hyo Rin tried to split up the royal couple it was actually mildly
interesting. The trip, the kiss, the scandal- all great stuff. The second time
was a little less fantastic as we’d seen it all before (and to a much greater
extent). Her character is later wrapped up all nicely when she
decides to let him go, hooray- move on. Then apparently the writers forgot that
they had a whole bunch more episodes they had to write so- oh surprise- she
tries to get him back. Again.
Friends and
Family:
Basically all
Chae Kyung's friends (except one) and family are complete idiots. They show no
consideration for Chae Kyung and don’t support her in any way- all acting completely
selfish. Similarly, Shin’s friends were all underdeveloped, second-rate
characters that didn’t really have a point except as recurring extras.
Logic:
From about
halfway through the drama, literally nothing anyone did made any sense. Set
sh*t on fire? Sure. Love-line that goes nowhere? Okay. Continuously lie when
everyone knows you’re lying? Definitely. Believe those obvious lies- why not?!
The wailing mess that our heroine has become |
Sadly, what
started out as a very promising- if rather shallow- drama just became…this. It
had enough in it to keep from landing in the ‘will-not-finish-pile’, but also
didn’t have enough to recommend.
Would I Watch Again?
Probably not.
If someone really desperately wanted to watch with me, I may reconsider. But
only if I really liked them.
The bears told the story much better than any of our actors |
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