Title: Princess Hours aka Goong
Genre: Romance, Comedy
Duration: 24 episodes
Cast:
Yoon Eun Hye as Shin Chae-Kyeong
Joo Ji Hoon as Prince Lee Shin
Kim Jeong Hoon as Prince Lee Yul
Song Ji-Hyo as Min Hyo-rin
Synopsis: The series started with the King being seriously ill. Preparing for the worst, the royal family hurries to have the crowned Prince Shin (Joo Ji Hoon) married so he could take over the throne at any time. Prince Shin initially proposes to Min Hyo-rin (Song Ji-Hyo) but she rejects him thinking she would not be able to fulfil her dreams of being an excellent ballerina if she is confined in the palace. Prince Shin then accepts to marry a commoner Shin Chae-Kyeong (Yoon Eun Hye) to whom he was betrothed by his late grandfather in an old agreement with the girl’s grandfather. Chae-Kyeong, an awkward, clumsy high school girl, hesitantly accepts the agreement since her family were hounded by loan sharks. Thus, even though she knew the Prince is in love with another girl, she accepts the marriage in order to give her family a better life.
The marriage to the royal family instantly turns her life upside down as she has always led a carefree life, she now realizes that being a Princess means everyone is watching her every move. Being a Princess means she can’t just go home to her parents anytime she wants or be with her friends without her bodyguards or Prince Shin. Against her will, she starts to fall for her husband but the crowned Prince seemed to find it hard to let go of his feeling for Min Hyo-rin.
To complicate matters further, Prince Shin’s cousin, Prince Lee Yul (Kim Jeong Hoon) and his mother, Lady Hwa-Young, who was once the Crown Princess before the death of her husband who is the older brother of the present King. There was a scandal that led them being chased out of the palace with Prince Lee Yul growing-up in Britain. Lady Hwa-Young returns specifically with grand plans to restore her son back to the throne to the point of creating havoc in the palace to achieve her goal.
Meanwhile, Min Hyo-Rin realizes her mistake, declines her dream offer of studying ballet abroad and goes back to pursue Prince Shin even though he is already married now. Chae-Kyoung knowing of their past history, watches helplessly as Hyo-Rin entices the Prince Shin back to her. Prince Lee Yul seeing the hurt in her eyes, tries his best to console and comfort her but in the process, falls in love with her as well while Prince Shin is struggling to deny his growing feelings for Chae-Kyeong.
It is a beautiful story of love, sacrifice, and politics.
Review: At first, I was doubtful about the series since they used high school students as the main protagonist. Chae-Kyoung was so awkward and unrefined that even I felt she did not deserve to be a Princess. However, the transformation of her character was very subtle that before I realized it, she has transformed herself to become someone deserving the crown and Shin. Shin was so rude and awful to her but when he realized his feelings for her; he realized it was pure love.
I never for one moment sympathized with Min Hyo-Rin primarily because I felt her character was so wooden and dull. I guess I have never been really fond of Song Ji-Hyo even in Jumong or in Frozen Flower. The characters she portrays seem so unreal, wooden and dull in whatever role she does. So even if she has such a beautiful face, I can’t feel any sympathy for her.
Even though he portrayed the bad guy, I still felt bad for Lee Yul and still found him hot. If not for him, Chae-Kyoung would have had a worse life in the palace specially that Prince Shin constantly reminds her that he has no feelings for her. Shin can really be a bad bully sometimes but I guess that’s because he wants to make sure he does not fall in love with Chae-Kyoung and feel guilty for keeping her in the palace beside him. To the end, I still sincerely wished for him to be happy. I guess if he’s guilty of anything, it would have been to fall in love with the wrong woman and I can’t seem to hate his character.
The two main protagonists acted so well that I can’t help but get immersed in the drama and cry my heart out when they’re in pain. I believe the series did so well mainly because of the two actors and I can’t help but love both of them. Yoon Eun Hye was so beautiful when she cries and Joo Ji Hoon looked so hot even when he was being bad and took my heart when he kissed her goodbye...so sad. One of my favorite episodes was episode 13 when the sharing of room happened and forced Shin to take the tonic and he was fighting with himself not to touch her and started doing aerobics.CG was clueless with what's happening to him.It made me laugh till there were tears.
The plot was not so complicated but the execution was so beautiful that when the series ended, I fervently wished that there would be a sequel but I was bound for disappointment.
The show was funny, witty, romantic and sad. I give this show 9 out of 10 stars and belong to the list of my all-time favourite dramas.
No comments:
Post a Comment