Drama Short: Rooftop Prince (2012) Review

Grade: C+

What it’s about
A stuffy, self-important Joseon-era prince and his entourage time travel to modern-day Korea and try to solve the mystery of his beloved princess’ murder. While living with a modern-day girl, they become embroiled in the corporate intrigues of the family company belonging to the prince’s contemporary reincarnation.

First impression
Fun sageuk mystery meets...standard-issue chaebol/poor girl romance. Sigh. Are there really no other plots available, dear Kdrama overlords, especially given the spiffy time-travel raw materials you had to work with?

Final verdict

Saddled with a weirdly unsatisfying ending, this lighthearted romantic comedy is occasionally cute but overall tiresomely average. 

Random thoughts
• The jury’s still out: Park Yoochun, total babe or E.T. lookalike?

• Do Koreans actually hang giant pictures of themselves above their beds? That’s bizarre—although I guess I have no right to judge. I, like all good little Catholic girls, grew up with a sculpture of a crucified guy in a loincloth hanging above my bed.

• At first I thought I was going to hate the Joseon Larry, Moe, and Curly who make up three-quarters of this F4 grouping, but now I totally love them and their goofy clapping.

• Okay. I’ve never been very good at geography, but riddle me this: he fell off a boat off the coast of New York City, and somehow ended up in the landlocked city of Chicago, 900 miles to the west. Did he float up the Eerie Canal? Was the St. Lawrence Seaway involved somehow? UPDATE: In a later episode it’s mentioned that they were sailing on a lake, not the ocean. Which presumably means they drove 13 hours or so upstate to sail on Lake Michigan, rather than just heading to the ocean. Sounds like a great idea.