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The 2012 Korean drama starring Park Yoo-Chun as Crown Prince Yi-Gak/Yong Tae-Yong, Han Ji-Min as Bak-Ha/Hong Bu-Yong, Jeong Yoo-Mi as Hong Se-Na/Hong Hwa-Yong, Lee Tae-Sung as Yong Tae-Mu, Lee Tae-Ri as Song Man-Bo, Jung Suk-Won as Woo Yong-Sul, and Choi Woo-Shik as Do Chi-San.
Brief synopsis: While investigating the strange murder of his crown princess, Crown Prince Yi-Gak of Joseon finds himself magically time-traveling to Seoul of the 21st Century. He and his companions are deposited on Bak-Ha’s roof and figure that they’re going to have to link the murder case in Joseon to the strange happenings in this new world around them in order to get back home!
I’m revisiting this drama after seeing it for the first time some years ago. It was my first experience with a Korean historical drama and even then Rooftop Prince isn’t much of a sageuk! But rewatching it after so long ended up being a good idea.
The strongest point of this drama is definitely Han Ji-Min as Bak-Ha. The sheer amount of spunk and sass she shows in this drama is nothing short of legendary! Although her character is certainly set up to be the Cinderella of the entire melodrama, she has way too much of a fiery personality to really fit in that older cookie-cutter character.
In fact, my favorite line of the entire drama comes from her. In episode 19 she says “If I’m not happy, what’s the point of having a full stomach?” Food for thought.
Another character that doesn’t really fit the cookie-cutter is the sister Hong Se-Na. But I mean it in the opposite way. I didn’t realize just how malicious hers and Tae-Mu’s plots were until watching them again, compared to all the k-drama experience I’ve had since first watching Rooftop Prince. Some of their antics were really cruel and it’s been a while since I’ve seen my roommate hate a character so badly. But a brief reminder: that just means that Jeong Yoo-Mi and Lee Tae-Sung mastered their roles well. They were given villainous parts and simply worked hard to play it off at their best.
The prince’s companions Man-Bo, Yong-Sul, and Chi-San were introduced as keys to solving the murder mystery, but for most of the drama their sole purpose was to provide the “awww”s and giggles. I would have liked to see more of their struggle to acclimate to the 21st Century, and to see them play a much larger role in the prince’s quest. They sort of lost their value in the middle to the last quarter of the drama.
You can call this one melodramatic, call it inconsistent, call the characters stupid or whatever, say the music is too loud and overshadowing (and yet the tunes will get stuck in your head guaranteed), but this drama is remarkable for the fantasy effects it pulled off ahead of its time. If you’re not careful, it’s easy to get sucked into Yi-Gak and Bak-Ha’s story 😂. Overall, it’s worth 4/5 stars and some change.
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