Princess Hours

Rich jerk? Check. Not only is he rich, but the male lead is a prince! Poor quirky girl? Check! Her family is swimming in debt and she dances to the beat of her own drum, evidence is her clothes. Forcing two people who hate each other to be under the same roof? Double check. They get married and the poor girl becomes queen. Love triangles? Oh brother. Triple check.

The drama starts off by clarifying that there is no present day Imperial family and that you have to pretend that Korea was just like England with their Kings and Queens. Like England, Korea’s monarchs hold no political power, but they are figure heads of their nation and they have to give off the perfect image.

We have the sexy prince who is too unattainable. He has body guards following him to his high school (which is for the arts) and he only hangs out with his entourage. Our prince isn’t as cold as he seems and is very much capable for love. He loves a girl he’s known for years named Hyorin, the top ballerina at the school.

On this side of the ring, we have our female lead. A girl who although is not immune to fawning over the Prince’s looks, has enough of a brain to be turned off from his attitude. Chae Kyung is quirky and violates the dress code daily. She wears sweatpants under her skirt and leg warmers on her arms. She is in the ‘art’ department, the one department that is looked down upon at the school.

The prince’s father, who is obviously the king, is ailing in his health, thus the Prince has the pressure from his family to get married. He can choose whoever he wants, but if he can’t find anyone, there was already a backup that was arranged when his grandfather was alive. Shin (the prince) proposes to Hyorin (his secret girlfriend). However, Hyorin turns him down, saying she has her own dreams and aspirations; being Queen just isn’t one of them.

Defeated, the prince allows for his parents to arrange the backup. His wife shall be the grandchild of the man who saved his grandfather’s life and surprise surprise, it’s none other than Chae Kyung . They get married, even though Shin hates Chae Kyung and Chae Kyung is only doing it to get her family out of debt. The real drama starts when Hyorin regrets her decision and tries t get Shin back while Shin’ cousin Yul is on a mission to get his throne back (he used to be the real prince but his father died before he succeeded the throne from their grandfather, thus Shin’s dad was the one who became king in the end.)

I suffered ‘second lead syndrome’ so badly in this drama. Yul is like a puppy that constantly keeps getting kicked until he finally snaps and goes evil on everyone. He really falls in love with Chae Kyung and you can’t help but say that he’ll appreciate her more than Shin ever will. To dig the knife deeper, when it was arranged for Chae Kyung to marry into the royal family, the grandfather had done while Yul was set to be Prince. Thus, originally, Yul and Chae Kyung were supposed to be together. Poor Yul.

And I hate Hyorin and Yul’s evil mother.

This drama simply has it all. Great acting, pretty scenery/sets the chemistry is very good and the plot just yanks at your heart. I can honestly say I cried near the end.

Title: 궁 (宮) / Goong (Gung)
Also known as: Palace / Princess Hours (MBC Global Media) / Imperial Household
Genre: Romance, Comedy
Episodes: 24
Broadcast network: MBC
Broadcast period: 2006-Jan-11 to 2006-Mar-30
Air time: Wednesday & Thursday 9:55 PM
Songs: "Perhaps Love" by HowL & J. , "You & I Are Fools" by Stay, "Parrot" by HowL
Inserts "Ice Pond", "Give Me A little Try" by Leigh Nash
Related TV shows: Goong S

Dramafully: 5/5


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