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bokminthe

Europe

bokminthe

Europe
Coffee Prince korean drama review
Completed
Coffee Prince
6 people found this review helpful
by bokminthe
Feb 11, 2023
17 of 17 episodes seen
Completed
Overall 4.5
Story 4.0
Acting/Cast 8.0
Music 4.0
Rewatch Value 1.0
This review may contain spoilers

Characters are annoying.

I was not sure how to rate this drama to be honest. I did entertain me at times and I was annoyed and bored at others.
Would I recommend? I think there are better things out there and generally I wouldn't recommend.

Firstly, I do think this drama is too long, and there are times when nothing happens and the slice of life being shown is not entertaining enough (and I generally like slice of life dramas). That being said, I found the middle part the worst one, because it became way too melodramatic but I was not feeling it at all, I only felt annoyed at the main character for the way she was handling things.
I give points for it being the most convincing gender bending drama I've seen so far. Sure, there were moments when it was clear she was a woman because of her figure but compared with other dramas I've seen it gets all my points for that.
There are certain concepts in this drama that I feel are now obsolete with the times, especially when it comes to the aspect of the woman having to take care of the household once married and the view on homosexuality.

When it comes to the characters, something I found bothersome is that there are not many women in this drama but they're all terrible, what a way to go... Even the grandmother that seemed just fine in the beginning turns into a classic controlling over protective grandma for a while (but hey, at least she does change).
Eun Chan was entertaining in the first few episodes (even if childish for her age) and then increasingly annoying, selfish and her tantrums ended up making me angry. I found quite insulting how she was not thinking how Han Gyul would be feeling in terms of questioning his whole life and sexuality for her simply because he thought she was a man (the implications of so in a society very against it). She was so oblivious and self-centered, and she continued to be that way the whole show, she was ok for him to give up his life dream but she couldn't make an effort to compromise with him about the marriage and finding a middle ground they could both be happy about. I understood her thoughts in regards to her father, but I still thought that she lacked maturity for thinking that every single situation and people you encounter will be the same.

Han Gyul was more tolerable to me although I despised a lot how he handled his crush for Eun Chan by sistematically insulting her and dragging her to do whatever he wanted during work. Totally not ok.

Yoo Joo is the kind of woman I've met before in real life, keeps her options open and uses men around her (knowing they like her) whenever convenient. She's a prime example of hypocrisy and the fact she hardly acknowledged this was giving me narcissistic vibes. She was love bombing and provoking Han Sung constantly and I would have prefered their story to be one of moving on and healing. Han Sung on the other hand is the classic "nice guy", and they try somehow to convince you that despite his mistakes he's still such a "nice guy". Funny enough, for me it was not the kissing or the crush he had on Eun Chan what did it, it was the way he was expecting certain traditional family dynamics once he married Yoo Joo, in a very "oh we're married now so I can finally control you".

All the princes at the café were also a hot mess. Sun Gi was a stalker, and then he only is nice to a girl in the end because she spoke japanese? Rude!! Also, while it can happen that people swears in their mother tongue naturally sometimes, he (if I didn't hear wrong) was half korean, so although not explained, chances are he was raised bilingual and the chances of that happening are very low. It was done for the funs, but personally I've always disliked when they do that. Ha Rim was background character, he started being a playboy and ended up being a playboy. Min Yeop was the classic dumb-fun character, and it would have been nice if he had grown up a bit, or they had shown to say no to toxic relationships but he didn't progress at all. Eun Chan's sister was the extrovert narcissist type, and so she manipulated, gaslighted and selfishly cared for no one but herself.
Eun Chan's mother was also a piece of work, and I don't even know why her story with the shop owner is shown, it goes nowhere, it was a filler. Han Gyul's parents were the nicest people in this show, they were a lot more grounded, but then again, I guess they must suck at parenting because they raised Han Gyul to be as he is when the show starts so... That being said, I do still think that Han Gyul is the character that changes the most throughout the show.
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