The Princess' Man is, as the critics and viewers say, the story of Romeo and Juliet in Joseon style. Moon Chae Won plays Se Ryeong, cousin to the Crown Prince and the Princess Kyung Hye (Hong Soo Hyun).
She is at first betrothed to Kim Seung Yu (Park Shi Hoo)but as things go awry between their fathers, the Grand Prince Su Yang and Kim Jong Seo, they find themselves--and those close to them, inevitably caught in a complicated web of contradictions.
The story is a 9. There are some occasions where I felt the story should've picked up pace especially at those urgent times when it's a matter of life and death. Surprisingly, the side-stories were very well developed and I found the secondary contradictions among the characters much more intense than that of the main one (Se Ryeong-Seung Yu-Su Yang).
I have mixed feelings about the ending. If I had imagined an epic battle scene between Su Yang and Seung Yu, that was a grand, grand illusion. If anybody unlocks the message they were trying to convey at the ending, please tell me. As of press time, my brain can't decipher.
The acting is a 9. The cast did an amazing performance. Among those that really shone in this series are
Hong Soo Hyun for her terrific portrayal of the Princess Kyung Hye--reinventing herself at every turn: a cold princess, an unwilling bride, a woman slowly falling in love, a passionate wife and a calm, collected mother.
Lee Min Woo as the reliable Prince Consort Jung and BFFs to Shin Myun and Seung Yu
Song Jong Ho for his exceptional performance as the ever-tormented and tragic Shin Myun
Kim Yeong Cheol as the terrifying Grand Prince Su Yang, father to Se Ryeong
Park Shi Hoo and Moon Chae Won gave off sparks and did generally well although I felt she was a tad short on facial expressions for a number of emotions she had to portray. (And somehow, I could not appreciate her calling him 'seonsangnim' at the end...come to think of it, did you hear him say her name ever?)
Rewatch value and Overall: Solid 9. If you want a saeguk that tightly focuses on the love story and not so much on politics and war tactics, The Princess' Man is highly rewatchable.
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Well I am one of those who really does not like melodramas, still I think one should always give credit for a well done job. So here is a review for those who fear this genre as well as the reputation of the drama.
The Princess' man basically deals with love, friendship and family bonds. The story is pretty good.It is fluent and keeps you on the edge in every episode. Since this is a melodrama the story is a little exaggerated still I think it was acceptable. The caracters are compatible with the story, as well as the actors themselves. I guess most of the audience have fallen for Park Shi Hoo in his black suit like I did but I think all the leads even the side actors did a very good job. There were one or two scenes where I doubted Park Shi Hoo's acting but I forgave him since he was so cool. Still I am a little confused abaout the caracter developments/changes. I think they were brutaly radical but that is also why you will keep watching. Though I think it was the music that made me watch the drama. The OST is basically no good. The songs are ok but they just do not get you into the drama. The background music on the other hand, is another story. The highly manupulating and addictiv songs "Destino" and "Vola" with their perfect synchronization in the story give you the real feeling of the Princess' Man and raise the re-watch value even if you exactly know what will happen in the end.
Overall I think the Princess' Man is a very good production which probably deserves the first place in his genre. Even if I do not like this kind of stories much, I must confess I enjoyed it to the end. Since it helped me a lot, to distract me from my casual routine I do not think it was a waste of time...
Lastly here comes a warning, I think it is a real challenge to pass the first 8 episodes. Though, if you are patient enough, you will not realize how you reached the end.
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I chose to watch different dramas before I decided to start on The Princess' Man, since I was not particularly enticed by the few synopses and plot introductions that I read beforehand. However, as with each new drama that I watch, more and more do I learn not to trust but a single word of these short introductory summaries. I'm not sure who writes these, but they don't do a very good job of quickly explaining what the drama is going to be about. As such, this drama was above my expectations, though I could have known a little better since there we many reviews on this and the ratings were very high for this drama.
Now I do believe these ratings are somewhat justified, however the reviews for The Princess' Man do overstate things slightly, in my opinion. Dramabeans' Dahee whose writings I often enjoy due to their down-to-earth (and often cynical) approach to reviewing was far too positive in the Year-In-Review piece that was posted a few days ago, in my opinion. In the same series of Year-In-Review, javabeans goes even further to call the main leads' performances their career best, impassioned and fierce. Now while I did enjoy quite a few aspects of this drama, the acting performances of the leads was definitely not what I would highlight as an example of why this series is so good. Good it is though, that is without question. I hesitated between a 7 and an 8 for this drama, but there are simply too many small things that I take issue with, that keep me from rating this drama higher than others that I have previously reviewed here.
I'll start with these issues, so we may end with the positive aspects of this drama. One of the first bones I have to pick is the OST. While there are individual tracks that are excellent, especially the Italian style songs such as Vola and Destino, they become repetitive and almost annoying quite quickly. Fortunately, we have our unofficial OST Queen (sorry to those who put value on that poll from last May, Taeyeon is great, but there is just one OST Queen;) Baek Ji Young with I Love You Too. (Granted, my bias towards Baek Ji Young in kpop is comparable to my bias towards Son Ye-Jin in kdrama, but with her work from IRIS, Secret Garden and A Thousand Day's Promise combined with this song, I have plenty of excuses!) Where the tracks by unnamed artists were used repetitively and excessively though, songs such as I Love You Too and Missing You by Park Jung Min hardly make it into the drama, which is unfortunate. Missed opportunities overall, since the individual tracks from the released OSTs are all quite good.
My next issues are with the directing, costumes and overall production. If you are going to take on a Shakespeare story and turn it into an epic sageuk (historical drama) then I do expect a little more than the regular cable family drama style directing. Sure, it is not easy to find original camera angles when your drama lasts a full 24 hours as opposed to a 2 hour film, but when it is just the same as every other sitcom, it becomes exhausting to sit through. The costume design appeared to be flawless, but that also leads me to my criticism. While I understand that it is necessary to show the clear difference between distinguished nobles and slaves, everything was a little too perfect and a little too colorful in this drama. Especially within the historical context that this story moves in, I thought the costumes were just a bit too much at times. A little bit more realism would not hurt! Where it was a little too much on costume design, it was not enough in overall production. The Princess' Man was undoubtedly limited in budget and therefor choose a colorful approach to both costume design and interior decorations, as soon as the drama moves outside, we can quickly see that not much money was left to spend on scale. The 'palaces' are one example, but particularly the forces lead by friend-turned-enemy Sin Myeon, the few sword fights and the battles that play an increasingly important role as the drama progresses are inadequate in scale as well as acting skill. It may be perceived as extraordinarily unfair to draw in Hero as an example, but when we disregard the impressive special effects and immensely superior cinematography but purely look at the costume design and the scale of production in that film, The Princess' Man falls short even when taking into account the series smaller budget and historical context. In a historical drama, these are important issues that ought not to be overlooked so easily. From the individual sword fights to the production of the sets and the directing of the larger fights, this drama is seriously lacking. If any conclusion is to be drawn from this, it ought not to "reignite hope for Korean dramas", but rather serve as a reminder that they still have a very long way to go when it comes to assigning priorities in production value.
The acting however in The Princess' Man is overall very acceptable. From the large cast, I will highlight those individuals whose performances were most notable, be it in a good or a bad sense. To keep the thought of unfairly comparing Hero with The Princess' Man just a little longer, I will start off with Gisaeng house mistress Cho-Hee (played by Chu So-Young. It reminded me instantly of Zhang Ziyi's role in House of Flying Daggers. When she appeared for the first time in The Princess' Man, I had to look twice to make sure it wasn't actually her. This role was made for her and I hope casting agencies will take notice of this small support role that she plays so well. I was not so impressed by the performances of the supporting antagonists to the story, mainly the father of officer Sin Myeon but also the other conspirators (and later ministers). They all came off as flatly written narrow minded characters that were further impeded by uninspiring performances. The same goes for many of the other elder support cast (with the exception of Se-Ryung's parents and Seung-Yoo's father) whose performances I normally value in drama series. Perhaps they were instructed by the director to force their emotions too much, as they all suffered from this same issue. The acting of the two leads was decent, though main lead Kim Seung-Yoo (Park Si-Hoo, the Romeo of the story) pulls off yet another stiff performance much like in Prosecutor Princess. I am more pleased with Moon Chae-Won's performance as Lee Se-Ryung, Juliet of the story. Her emotions most likely brought in the largest part of the high ratings that this drama has enjoyed. She forces it a little too much at times as well, but does adequately well overall. Many have praised main antagonist Kim Yeong-Cheol as Grand Prince/King Sooyang for his acting in The Princess' Man and even though I am not sure if it is entirely worthy of the title of Best Supporting Actor given in this years dramabeans.com Editors' Picks, he does perform very well as he fights his personal battles and conflicts with those around him, but also with himself. In order to not make this review even longer, I'll skip the rest of the cast save for the most spectacular performance done by Hong Soo-Hyun as Princess Kyung-Hye. Without a doubt the best of the entire cast, her character is well written but the way in which she conveys the various transformations of her character over the course of the series is not rivaled by any other member of this cast. I will make sure to see more of her films and series and definitely hope that she will star in many more to come.
I'll finally spend a few words on the script and the overall writing. It's a mixed bag, as is this entire drama really. A properly executed Romeo & Juliet is unlikely to be unsuccessful and that is translated in the series well deserved ratings. There were however, moments when I felt that the series was starting to repeat itself. Especially after Se-Ryung admits to siding against her father the series paces up so quickly that it becomes meaningless. Then she's captured, then she's not captured, imprisoned, not imprisoned, in the palace, with the princess, hiding somewhere. All this over the course of two or three episodes is simply too much. Luckily most of that can be overlooked since it coincides with the introduction of a whole new support cast from the Gisaeng house. This additional dimension is very much welcomed as the other story lines were becoming tiresome. This contrasting experience resembles for the rest of the script as well and overall it manages to keep you interested, but at the same time it does very much draw out up until the very last episode. For some odd reason, that comes across as very much hurried as if they suddenly had to cut down on the number of episodes. The ending comes off a little bit of a cop out, but by then you've already had a hell of a ride, so it doesn't really hurt the series too much.
Overall, I would definitely recommend this drama to anyone who is looking for one to entertain themselves. As per the criticisms I mentioned above, I can't give it more than a 7 out of 10, but whoever isn't looking at the details and just wants their addictive drama, this is a great stuff.
7/10
http://www.reddit.com/r/KDRAMA/comments/nti3d/the_princess_man???_??_2011kbs_the_joseon_romeo/
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This is what I like to call a romantic tragedy because throughout the whole drama your heart literally bleeds for the characters. You want them to be together, you want them to have a happy ending but you do not know this will end. I believe that speaks volumes to the actors performances. First, Park Shi Hoo, who is hot, but wayyyy hotter when he goes to the dark side than when he is all smiles. (fangirl faint) He was incredible against Moon Chae Won who could easily have replaced and been better than anything that Koo Hye Soon is in. Two were believable lovers and just by their gazes you could tell what was up. In a side note I almost always hate Hong Soo Hyun because she’s always playing a evil chick, but that ferocity was good here.
Character wise the characters were pretty stagnant, and I loved it. I absolutely hate it when the female lead is strong and speaks her mind in the beginning but in the end wimps out, but that doesn’t happen here and I loved it all the more.
I could go on forever but, the drama is lengthy but not boring- I must confess to a little fast forwarding through the fights. A great historical drama that will not leave you wishing it was a modern day one. This drama really makes you question if love could ever really be like what you just saw on your computer screen.
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Baek ji young is a perfect singer i see this in drama too
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First half of the drama was great. rest is still intriguing yet also kinda draggy. I thoroughly enjoyed the first couple episodes, the last quarter, not too much. Ended up skipping a few bits of the last episodes.
Unpopular opinion: seryeong at times is actually one of the worst female leads ever. She was annoying, insufferable, at many times, especially the second half. Her love for seungyu sometimes didnt feel real at all, enough to the point where I was questioning why the heck she was willing to sacrifice everything for him. I found the beginning of their relationship cute though, when they had no cares about politics, and the whole thing was less melodramatic. I might have found it romantic or sweet if the relationship between the two of them was better executed, but unfortunately just ended up feeling pissed off whenever she acted out. I might feel this way probably because of the part of me that likes rooting for villains...
In my opinion, Prince Suyang's character was very well developed...Despite all the horrible things he did in order to gain power, I never truly hated his character. His story was well crafted and allowed for me to understand why he did the things he did, and his love for his kids really showed...which might be part of the reason I rooted for him.
The ending seemed rushed, especially since the whole conflict between the pro&antagonist was concluded in like 10 minutes. It also didn't explain what happened to the characters (other than the main) afterwards, which was pretty unsatisfying.
Despite how much I disliked some of this drama.... I must admit that everytime I tried to drop it, I would suffer from The princess' man withdrawal syndrome and end up crawling back to finish it lol.
The OST is great, one of the best in a drama for me.The number of flashbacks this drama had was kinda annoying for me.
Overall, decent plot, nice characters, good OST, good acting, rewatch value is low to medium because of the amount of sad scenes...I would probably only rewatch several scenes I enjoyed between the two main leads at the beginning.
ps. watch for Shin myeon aka the best & most dynamic character in the whole show.
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The Princess' Man parallels that of Romeo and Juliet, so naturally i expected the series to be quite melodramatic and depressing. There are many instances of tragedy such as death, betrayal and obviously the engaging love story of the star-crossed pair, but fortunately the tone and mood has just the right amount of angst, humour and romance. The romantic element is what really MAKES the drama. The leads simply staring at each other will keep your heart pounding. It's definitely what keeps me continually intrigued and wanting more (aside from the revenge factor) because it's so INTENSE and so! many! plot! twists! I just love them so much.
The only reason why the story isn't a 10/10 because it got a LITTLE draggy and the ending kind of felt rushed. Other than that, it's perfect.
The rewatch value is also up there. I wouldn't rewatch the political parts, but i could if i had the time and energy.
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This review may contain spoilers
I agree it’s one of the best historical romances ever, if not the best. The complex story is superbly written. Especially in the beginning, you will swoon and fall in love and feel the chemistry. It’s amazing.Then major stuff goes down and this is where it got a little dicey for me. I took away a star because of the portrayal of abuse and violence as part of their love story. FL was still swooning over him and literally clinging to him even as he made it clear he hated her and was a violent and dangerous person. He went on a killing spree, pushed her, choked her, tied her up and gagged her, watched her get hurt without caring, kidnapped her, and even said multiple times he was going to kill her. All the while FL still wouldn’t get over him and even told him I want you to kill me, which lets face it, is um…disturbing and sick. Exactly like an abuser and someone codependent on them. Their entire dynamic was unhealthy to say the least and sets a horrible example. I'm usually pretty lax when it comes to offensive things in kdramaland and give dramas a lot of leeway for the sake of entertainment. But this was a strange choice from the writer and I’m surprised it didn’t offend more reviewers.
It’s still a solid 9/10 drama for me. Highly recommended, just be prepared for the abuse in the middle.
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The absolute best drama!
I just loved the chemistry between the main actors! The plot is SOOOO intriguing and one just can't get enough. Love love love every thing about it!!!! So sad I finished the dramaAnd the songs.... I'm just overall speechless on every level. Love love love love love love love love love love love and more love!
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This review may contain spoilers
An extremely angsty romance with the tiniest speck of happiness...
I heard many people say this was like a historical Korean version of Romeo and Juliet, and that's true, but even though they both live at the end it feels a lot more depressing than Romeo and Juliet. So, if you're going to watch this I would definitely prepare yourself because it is actually sadder than dramas with a tragic ending if that makes sense. That being said, I liked the moodiness of the drama, but I think it could've been toned down a little bit because it just got annoying after a while.I really enjoyed the beginning of the drama and the end but in the middle it really dragged as I was just watching the same push-and-pull scenes on repeat. It could have done with having four or five episodes cut.
I really liked the many characters in this drama, Moon Chae Won and Hong Soo Hyun were fabulous actresses! I do feel like Park Shi Hoo had the same dark expression through most of the drama though...
The OST for this drama is actually really, really good but they use the Destino at least ten times in every episode. It's a good soundtrack but oh my goodness is it overused! Literally, it's in every scene, it drove me crazy by the end.
Overall it's not a perfect drama but it's definitely worth a watch when you're in the mood for something dark, gloomy and depressing!
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It was off with a very good start, I loved the characters and their personalities, the chemistry and cute moments between the two leads, but all that came crashing down when REVENGE comes along; 70% of the drama was elders talking and plotting (with Park Si Hoo sitting somewhere around the table - this made me not skip some scenes)-- This was very boring! I wanted more romantic moments between the two leads, I just thought the given wasn't enough for me, they made me wait for so long that when they finally got together, I lost interest.
The story dragged on and on.. all I can remember were people talking about revenge.. They could have honestly summed up the drama with fewer episodes. Yes the story was something new (kinda) but it wasn't very well though; I hated the fact that the female lead took the blame for her father's faults like she did the wrong. her father and she aren't the same person!
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