A 16 episode romantic comedy series starring Song Seung Heon and Kim Tae Hee. This is also the drama that spawned the nickname “HeonHee”.
Lee Seol (Kim Tae Hee) is a normal student earning money from various part time jobs. Perky and unaware of her past as an orphan she meets Park Hae Young (Song Seung Heon) a diplomat and successor of Daehan Jonghap Group while working as a pretend princess at a tourist attraction. Park Hae Young is searching for the great granddaughter of the last Joseon Dynasty’s Emperor and Lee Seol doesn’t realise that she is the person he is looking for. As well as being a great granddaughter of a royal figure, she discovers she is a real life princess and Park Hae Young is in charge of training Lee Seol with the right princess etiquette. But the road to becoming a princess isn’t an easy road with conflicts flying at her from all corners.
The Good
* Kim Tae Hee portrayed Lee Seol a typical bubbly Kdrama female character. A tremendous contrast to her conniving, manipulative character in Stairway To Heaven and her analytical but determined agent role in Iris.
* Song Seung Heon – surprisingly capable of being comedic with a few gestures. I’m used to the actor as a suave and charismatic guy from watching him in the Korean version of A Better Tomorrow. My Princess is one of his light-hearted roles. I know he has done more so will find some more of his dramas to check out.
* The music is very ‘feel good’ and sometimes rather fluffy. It fits with the light, comedy scenes in the series.
* I found some of the songs made me irresistibly fuzzy inside no matter how hard I fought the sweetness. For example – Falling by Lee Sang Eun and Kasio by Taru.
* The quarrels between Lee Seol and Hae Young are silly and laughable.
* How Lee Seol refers to Hae Young as “Mr P” is adorable.
* Lee Seol measuring Hae Young’s eyelashes (Song Seung Heon really does have long eyelashes!!)
* A drunk Lee Seol is quite scary.
* I like how the series uncovers Park Hae Young’s past and shows the viewers how he became who he was up till the present time in the story. But I also appreciate how Lee Seol’s true past is revealed as the series progresses so the viewers are following the discoveries alongside her.
* The Royal servants are delightful.
* For a romantic comedy drama I liked how there was no major triangle between the main characters. Lee Seol was not the sole object of unrequited love (OK aside from the cute chef who calls her Noona though that’s for the fun side of My Princess).
The Bad
* Yoon Joo (Park Ye Jin) – although she could be the main “villain” of the series, I often felt the alternative sides to her character weren’t as obvious or made her character balanced as say Lee Seol’s. Of course with the flashbacks you see she is capable of genuine happiness however you could see her selfishness in wanting both the men she had intimate connections with. She could’ve been presented better by the writers.
* Yoo Gi Kwang (Choo Hun Yub) – it would have been great if there was much more back story for him, especially since Hae Young doesn’t exactly see eye to eye with him because of past conflict. We have to pick up the pieces from what little we know of this character aside from the fact he is a reporter.
* Not sure if I could classify this as a bad point of the series but you will find some characters who might appear nice and friendly to begin with change suddenly when they want to get what they want. It’s quite a sharp reality check and a reminder of how this could happen to anyone in real life.
Overall: Kim Tae Hee is one of my personal favourite Unnie actresses and she makes her natural Aegyo nature so effortless. Her chemistry with the handsome, smooth Song Seung Heon was very memorable and entertaining and they created quite a fanbase when this series aired. You may pick up some Kdrama cliches however don’t underestimate My Princess. It is not straight up romantic comedy or deep melodrama. It blends these two genres rather well without being too over the top.
