Lovers in Prague (2005)

Lovers in Prague is third drama by screenwriter Kim Eun Sook and second in Lovers trilogy.
Its predecessor Lovers in Paris was 11th in 50 top rated Korean dramas. Ratings for this one were good but not as amazing as for the first drama in this series.
This time Kim Eun Sook reversed the roles and rich guy, poor girl screenplay transformed into poor guy, president’s daughter script.
It is refreshing that it’s free from all the usual clichés (which on the other hand Lovers in Paris was full of). There is no vengeful ex (or self-proclaimed) girlfriend/fiancée, family secrets, parents that hinder their children happiness (at least not for two main characters) with excuse that they know what is best for them. In this aspect this drama is good but unfortunately it fell short in other aspects.
The biggest fault in my opinion is love triangle. I felt annoyed with their interactions and squabbles. Chemistry between main leads wasn’t strong enough to make me turn the blind eye on this matter.
And this, love triangle, turned quite lovely Yun Jae-Hee (played by amazing Jeon Do Yeon) into depressing woman. I also found second male lead boring and although the first lead wasn’t spectacular he was better.
One of the highlights in this drama are supporting characters and their stories. None of them seamed flat and they all had something interesting about them. My favorite side characters are Yun Jae-Hee’s bodyguard played by Ha Jeong Woo and Yun Jae-Hee’s younger brother, who also had the best side story. Jang Geun Suk was so adorable as lonely, slightly rebellious teenager and son of a president. His love story was so cute that I couldn’t wait to see the pair on screen again.
Ending wrapped up everything nicely. Nothing was left unexplained and confusing which is, you must admit, a rare occurrence.

Music wasn’t memorable but it also didn’t distract me from watching.
I don’t think I’ll rewatch it because I didn't like that love triangle and I’m not really a re-watcher.

Overall this drama was okay and if you have time to spend you can try it. Especially if you want to take a rest from rich man, poor woman drama formula.

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A drama filled with all the cliches & horrible drama tropes we all know and hate, and none of the charm I’ve come to associate with Kim Eun Sook dramas (Lovers, City Hall, A Gentleman's Dignity etc).

I hate intense love triangles; I really wish they weren’t such a major part of so many dramas. Upon starting this drama I knew one was prominently featured, but I figured if anyone could pull it off in a sensible way maybe KES could (given that she had done a pretty decent job with the love triangle in Lovers). Well, I was wrong. This was one of the more nonsensical, nerve jarring love triangles I’ve ever had the displeasure to witness. It made absolutely no sense to the plot and only served as a filler where a legitimate advancement of events was lacking.

Moreover, I absolutely hated how the romance played out here. One of the reasons why I like KES is because the romance in her dramas is, for the most, mature & realistically portrayed. So great chemistry, REAL kisses and fairly good physical intimacy between the characters are the norm in her dramas. You don’t usually see frozen face kisses or disengaged female participants in a KES drama, at least none that I’ve seen. But here all the childish awkwardness and inauthentic skinskip you can imagine abound.

The characters were just about the only good thing about this drama. I recognized them as hallmarks of KES’s writing. Older and more worldly than your average drama leads. Acting wise, I was particularly delighted to see Ha Jeong Woo in a supporting role. Even as one of his earliest efforts, he was as magnetic & charismatic as ever. I just love the man. Other performances were decent enough, though nothing to rave about.

Great characters notwithstanding, they alone could not make up for the poor writing. Though I understand this was written early in KES’s career, I couldn’t rate it higher than a 5 even though I really wanted to. Watching it was just too painful. I definitely would not recommend it.

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