[REVIEW] SBS "Rooftop Prince" - 11th, 12th Episodes

A capture scene from SBS' series "Rooftop Prince" [SBS]

It is good to know that some dramas, which seem to follow the path of others and cliche plots at glance, try to tell the story of their own. But when their attempts go bad and fail to connect the episodes well, the drama will not be able to deliver their core messages to the viewers. “Rooftop Prince,” which is just past its half mark of the whole set, made this exact mistake. In the 11th episode, Park Ha(Han Ji-min) confesses her love to Lee Gak(Park Yuchun), but he turns her down by saying that he first needs to find who is behind his Crowned Princess' mysterious death from the Joseon Dynasty. However, he quickly changes his mind in the 12th episode, saying, “Looking into your eyes right now, I just realized that I’m in love with you.” That was a critical moment for a melodrama to show how characters check their feelings about each other, but in a big picture, too many things were happening at once, making “Rooftop Prince” lose its appeal with the viewers.

Not only does “Rooftop Prince” need to depict the love story of the four main characters, but it also has a huge task of solving the mystery of the Crown Princess’ death. However, with all the subplots simultaneously happening with their love stories-- Tae-moo(Lee Tae-sung) plotting a scheme after he feels threatened about Tae-yong’s return, Sena (Jung Yu-mi) lying for her good and the reveal of chairman Jang’s (Na Young-hee) biological daughter?it is difficult to define the genre of the series in one word; it seems to be standing somewhere between business dramas and romantic comedies. Instead of putting all these pieces well together, each subplot takes turns to tell the viewers what is going on, distracting the audience’s focus on the drama. Of course, watching Lee Gak’s heart-moving confession of love and his kiss with Park Ha while tears running down his face, it is not surprising that the series is still satisfying the viewers' expectation. But for scriptwriter Lee Hee-myung, who is known for trendy dramas during ‘90s, to have better ending, not to mention to go beyond being cliche and power the coming episodes, the production crew would have to weave the fragmented bits and pieces of stories together.

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