Coffee Prince (2007)

Nice watch

Overall, I liked the drama very much.

In terms of the 2nd lead couple, I thought that they should have paint more attention to the revelation that YJ was seeing DK behind HS's back for more than a year prior to running away with him, because that's pretty much a game changer. I would have had no problem with her deciding that she didn't love HS anymore and wanted to pursue something with DK, but then the least he deserved as a human being, and even more as someone that by her own admission had stayed by her side for almost a decade without even so much as getting coffee with another girl, was to be treated with a minimum of respect and honesty.

Frankly, I have seen some rather delusional takes, such as one person painting the picture of a promiscuous artistic environment, and a famous public facing artist, as opposed to her "hermit" reclusive boyfriend, attracting attention and wanting to "upgrade" the boyfriend with respect to the "old" throwaway model she had been with for so long, thus going for the rich fop instead. Now, there are plenty of tv shows where young people that have always been together decide to break up, though this "upscaling" seems utterly superficial (and she was around 27/28, not that being young means being superficial, in terms of inexperience/immaturity... in any case, they don't have anything to do with loyalty and honesty, the golden rule of treating others like you want to be treated, which is pretty universal and requires no particular wishdom of the years). But the show, while not giving precise details on what happened, clearly:
1. Does not make the artist environment out to be particularly filled with flaky, superficial, disloyal or even promiscuous people (plus this is SK there is high expectation fo public figures)
2. Does not at any point imply that she was relying on a man or going for someone more rich and successful, and the very notion is very disrespectful.
3. Makes it plain that HS also had girls going after him, he simply didn't want to partake. He was no hermit (if anything, one could say he saw more people on a daily basis that your solo painter) and *worked* in the city, the house is merely a villa on the hill, which many rich and successfull people have without being socially isolated -he has a car-.
4. Makes it plain that when she met DK she was no famous star, having just had her first lackluster exhibition.
5. She clearly states that she was in love with DK at the time, this was not her going for someone else because she was wondering what else was out there.
6. In any case, I don't think one can make generalizations about artists in the first place, particularly in a different culture like SK with certain expectations for behaviour, and we are not exactly talking about the typical male rockstar sleeping with their groupies, at least that's not how that environment was depicted in the show. It was classy and aloof. By the same token she didn't go partying hard or do drugs. And even if she was in a community where disloyalty and dishonesty were prevalent, it would say something about their behaviour, not on the morality of hurting, humiliating, deceiving one's partner, a behavior that is universally considered objectionable to say the least (again, this is separate from things like poly, etc., it's about honesty, not where to set the boundaries and whether sex or even romance with multiple people is in or out, the specific rules have to be negotiated with one's partner anyway). To be clear, if you are in an environment where theft and street violence are more common, it does not make engaging in such behavior moral.

Another insane take was the idea that having a more than year long affair and running off with her lover somehow being described behaving more like men to make her way in a (man's) world, I find the take to be an utterly insane generalization: while men are less faithful in general, not being faithful is not a defining characteristic of men, and in particular prior to her betrayal it was most definitely not a characteristic of HS, and certainly didn't help her nor anyone else make their way in the world (unless one is insinuating something like that DK only sponsored her because she slept with him, which seems insulting and the exact opposite of female empowerment). Much more respectful to say that she made her way in the world through her own talent. The only way she overturned gender roles there was proposing, which was cool, for the rest, her femininity has no impact on choosing her sexual partner (FL did it while passing as a male) or her career (surely it's insulting, not empowering, to think that she didn't get where she was through talent, or imply that DK only helped her because they were together).

Now, to tackle HS's behaviour, looking at what actually happened, they are the same thing in the same way that a paper boat and Bezos' yacht are both boats (I guess that technically they both float, but comparing them is like comparing a candle light to the Sun). HS had a small unreciprocated kiss with a girl that was not interested in him anymore. Frankly, in her place, I would be too ashamed by the sheer hypocrisy of the word about to escape my mouth to even mention words like not being able to trust, feeling pathetic, or pride, let alone mention reading a message when he was alone compared to more of a year of lying to his face in the same phrase.

Frankly, there is a long, long way to go before they can be considered to be "even". Even if he had cheated on her with another woman he fell in love with for more than a year, and then run off with her for another two without a second word, only to reappear all of a sudden two years later, expecting to find her there and ready to take him back, he still wouldn't have gotten even, because she would have done all of the above to someone that had always loved only her, after almost a decade together, and that had never even drunk a coffe with another girl, rejecting any other possible partner, on top of putting up with more than a year of her lying to his face and meeting DK in secret, and then running off for two despite his begging, only to return and dare to demand he takes her back now that she and DK have broken up... followed by a complete lack of care for his point of view or any desire or attempt to rebuild trust (if it was even possible), while he would have done all that to the very same woman that did the aforementioned cheating and running off and coming back after two years without hearing a word having the gall to ask him to take him back, without doing anything to regain his trust. Not that if she had tried for real to get his trust back it would have made any difference to what she had done to him and her complete lack of a leg to stand on and complain, in any case, just pointing out the kind of person that he would have been cheating on. In terms of karma and poetic justice, him or DK doing such a thing to her would have been something that she wouldn't have had any leg to stand on and complain about.

When she tried to threaten to leave with DK, the man she had cheated with for more than a year and run away with for two, until she showed up uninvited again, telling him that he still loved her, it should have made him more convinced to just break things off with her himself and go look for someone else. She has the gall to threaten to leave him for the guy that she had cheated with, and he is supposed to beg her to stay (which he unfortunately does)? Telling her to not let the door hit her on the a*s on the way out should have been the more appropriate response. The question is really not how he could have fallen for someone else after the hell she put him through (i.e. all it took before they could finally be together, specifically him with her... here she is probably forgetting that she was the one that went back to him after breaking up with DK, but certainly HS groveling and begging her to stay made it easy to forget that, and in any case it was basically a matter of showing up and asking, she didn't even attempt to do anything to regain his trust -doubtful whether it would have been possible in reality, but here it was all swept under the rug-), but rather how could he not have fallen for literally anyone else, or even chosen to stay single. And the hell was not finished even after getting back together, what with him being taken for granted, or the fact that the psychological and emotional trauma and suffering he went through and his understandable insecurities are ignored when not mocked, and he doesn't feel free to talk for example about how he feels regarding DK, and is mocked when he does, which he then goes along with and plays it cool, while being unable to open up and having his insecurities taken seriously, if they are not outright ignored or farcically twisted around like the pain he conveyed at being lied to for more than a year before she run off with her lover, which was completely ignored by YJ prompting the absurd question of how he could love someone else mentioned above (answer: how could he *not* love someone, anyone else, after being put through that and having her react in such a manner to his confession of utter pain? Only by not loving himself or having any self respect and self dignity left).

Talk about two weights and two measures, boundaries extremely loose for her, stricter standards for him, he has to guarantee that he will not feel anything for anyone else ever. Not talking about actions, but about straight up thought crime, like Orwell's 1984... Newflash, nobody can guarantee that, as we are in control of our actions, not of our feelings. We have thoughts and emotions, and then we have actions. The latter we control, and through reason we can orient our thoughts and judgment and evaluate our course of action: for example, if we are in an abusive relationship, we can choose to leave despite feeling attachment due to feeling from a happier past, and even come to the realization taht the person we might think we love and were convinced would have never hurt us in such a manner might exist only inside our head, and the real one does not deserve us. But you cannot choose to love someone on command. Emotions (which you feel, but are not tools of cognition), and spurious thoughts which come into your head whether you want them or not (and you can observe when you meditate, and let go), vs reasoning, vs actions. The reason the law punishes actions and not emotions and thoughts is that actions have the peculiarity, over those other two, that you can control them. You cannot choose to believe something you don't really believe simply because you want to (well, maybe there is brainwashing), and you cannot force yourself to love someone you don't. We can and should decide whether the love or attraction we feel for someone means we should pursue a relationship or not -maybe they are abusive, or they are in a relationship-. But we cannot force ourselves to, say, love someone on command, the only guarantee is to be honest and upfront with your partner and identify what the boundaries are and whether you want to carry on the relationship or pursue something with someone else.

In that respect I was repulsed and didn't agree with in the least with her minimization of ML's feelings for her when she said that he didn't love her because otherwise he would have tried to steal her from his cousin: there are other boundaries, and decent people don't try to get between two people in a relatioship, and hurt people that never did anything wrong to them -because they don't know them-, or that they care about -in this case, family-. This mentality is frankly completely self centered and self serving, and toxic, and reveals some rather ugly truths of her psychology regarding boundaries not to cross, etc. Note that when HS kissed her, FL was not with HS's cousin at the time -she was just getting infatuated, but obviously he wasn't even sure if she was really into his cousin, in fact until very recently she was into him instead, he missed by a very tight margin-. Plus, his cousin still thought the girl was a man. Otherwise I doubt HS would have considered coming between them, despite the fact that the latter routinely tried to get into his own gf's pants, so it's not as if he would have had any leg to stand on anyway. There is a point there about not trying seriously or for real, in any case walk by the river... had she reciprocated, not sure what would have happened, giving the benefit of the doubt that he would have pulled back, despite being rather inconsiderate in constantly flirting with her... I don't want to think that he shares YJ'S mentality, and wished he would have pushed back and called her out on that at any cost, including lying and deceiving other people who did not deserve it... wondering if she would be singing the same tune if she was on the receiving end for real, by someone that was determined to come between her and her boyfriend, rather than by someone that wasn't interested like FL, which was therefore not a threat-. There is also the concept of competing for the attention of the same person, versus coming between two people in an established relationship and trying to break it apart, which is what ML would have needed to have done in order to try to get YJ to leave HS.

Some quick final thoughts. Coming back to the topic of cheating, I wonder if her lover cheated with some kind of model or not (he does not mention it, she bring out a model when he asks about the musician, her bf... maybe it was just someone DK saw as a rebound after the breakup, while still pining for YJ?). Also, not to look into anyone's linen basked and go into *that* much detail, but no uncertainty about the kid's paternity? She was back for a month if I recall correctly when she slept with HG the first time. Not sure when she broke things off with DK exactly, I guessed close to the time she went back to SK.

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Iconic song by SML

Iconic song by SML

re: "Also, not to look into anyone's linen basked and go into *that* much detail, but no uncertainty about the kid's paternity? She was back for a month if I recall correctly when she slept with HG the first time. Not sure when she broke things off with DK exactly, I guessed close to the time she went back to SK. "

Maybe they used protection, after all she even planned to abort the baby thinking about the potential impact with her career, which makes it apparent that her and HS didn't use any contraceptive method (or I guess it failed, but I would go with the former)... This makes me wonder about what ifs, if she didn't come back because she was thinking about the next step, or if it was something like cheating following by her feeling insecure about DK, but it's also true that they didn't mention cheating explicitly, though she mentioned some sort of model when he asked about "the musician". Would have loved to know more about their breakup... did they ever consider a family? Iirc YJ answered she didn't plan to marry to the press (which HS read and reported when talking with their friends, and which to be honest kind of reflected her hesitancy at the end of the drama).

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By far one of the best dramas I have watched. The story line was well thought out, had a nice sequential flow,it was pretty original, and was just down right CUTE! The characters are all so loveable! The drama has the effect of Ouran High School Host Club, and other such shows that have a group of guys with unique yet equally enjoyable personalities. You just can't pick favorites, and when you think you have a favorite another character will do or say something so adorable that you fall back into that realm of uncertainty. I especially LOVED the ending! I wish I could say why, but I'm not sure if that would count as a spoiler...=/

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This is a very hard review to write. Because almost everyone loved this drama EXCEPT me. It wasn't that bad but, for me, it didn't live up to the hype. I've read so many good reviews of this drama and it has been recommended to me so many times, I thought that I would really love this drama. But sadly, I didn't.

I will tell you why I didn't like this drama. But first let me explain why it got 3/5 rating from me. Yoon Eun Hye. 2 out of the 5 is for her alone. She's an amazing actress! I already loved her as a model but I had only seen her in Goong before this so I couldn't say anything about her acting. So let me just say, I love her as an actress as well. She did such a good job playing a tomboy! And I love how she's not afraid to make a fool of herself on camera. She's also really good in the intimate scenes which, I've seen, is really rare among Korean actresses. So props to her for doing such a good job on the drama!

The other 1 is for the rest of the cast. All the Coffee Princes, Eun Chan's sister and Han Seong and his girlfriend. These were my favorite characters on the show and the actors did a splendid job in portraying them. I will talk separately about each of these characters, starting with Han Seong.

He was the first character I liked. He was cute and nice and I liked his story with Han Yoo Joo. BUT I hated how he gave Eun Chan mixed signals. It was obvious he was in love with Han Yoo Joo. And he just liked Eun Chan... JUST liked. Anyway, he was a good friend to her and I liked him. Oh and can I just say? I want to live in his house!! It's so beautiful!

Ha Rim was so cute! How can this cute boy be a playboy? And his "My Chan" was the cutest thing ever! It made me so happy every time he said it! I know it's weird, don't ask me why, but I loved his 'My Chan'!

Sun Ki was probably my favorite Coffee Prince. I loved his side story, his gothic style and I want his waffles!! There's not much to say about him, I just loved his character.

I really liked Min Yeop. He was funny, cute and innocent and reminded me a lot of Bong Joon Gu from Playful Kiss. I hated the way Eun Chan's sister treated him and how he let her treat him like that.

"She's so pretty!" That was my first thought when I saw Han Yoo Joo. I liked her character, the way she played it, but I didn't like her character's personality. Does that make sense? I felt like she loved Han Seong. But then why string along other boys? That annoyed me.

I think the actress did a good job playing Eun Sae but, like in Han Yoo Joo's case, I did not like her personality. She used Min Yeop and it was really rude. I got really angry at her numerous times. But I did like how she ended up.

Hong Gae Shik was funny and.. umm.. disgusting! But I liked him still. He was a fun character.

I'm mentioning Han Kyul in the end because he was probably my least favorite male lead in all the dramas that I've watched till now. Something about him irritated me. He was OK. Nothing extraordinary. Honestly, I think Eun Hye overshadowed him. One thing that stuck with me about him though was that he cried like a little boy. Which I found really funny. There's this scene in the drama where Eun Chan is leaving and Han Kyul cries and it's supposed to be really sad but I just kept laughing! :P He does have a good singing voice though...

I didn't care much about the other characters. I did like Han Kyul's family a bit. But that's it. Overall, the characters weren't that memorable I'd probably forget about them soon.

Now the reason why I didn't like this drama. The story. Just give me a moment...

There was nothing wrong with the Eun Chan being a tomboy thing or Han Kyul falling in love thing with him/her thing but it was the same thing in each fricking episode! Only the first few and the last few episodes were different. In the middle the story went like this: Eun Chan and Han Kyul are getting along well. Then suddenly something happens and they fight and breakup. And then they realize they love each other so they makeup again. And the cycle continues. Have you heard Hot & Cold by Katy Perry. There are a couple of lines in the song that go like 'We fight, we breakup. We kiss, we makeup.' That pretty much sums up the Han Kyul-Eun Chan story.

And that's what happens between Han Seong and Yoo Joo too. Their relationship depends on Han Yoo Joo's mood. If she feels like staying with him, she will. If she feels like leaving, she will. And Han Seong just stands there, waiting for her verdict.

And then there's Min Yeop and Eun Sae. That girl treats the poor boy so bad and he still follows her around everywhere. Hong Gae Shik's love left him after using all his money. Suk Ki is following a girl who is abused by her husband and STILL cares about him and doesn't take Sun Ki's help. He left Japan and came to Korea for her! Then Han Kyul's messed up family secrets. This drama is just full of unhealthy relationships! One or two would have been fine but it seems like each and every relationship in the drama is messed up! This annoyed me a lot!

This is also the first drama where I felt like sleeping while watching it. Trust me, I'm not lying. What with all the repetition, I felt so sleepy and bored. I was screaming at my screen to please go faster because the drama was so slow!

You know, this drama would've been good if it weren't for all the repetition and the stupid, complicated relationships. Eun Chan cried so much I felt like giving her a slap. She was supposed to be this strong, independent girl. But she kept crying in, like, every other episode! I think the directors love making Eun Hye cry (like in Goong).

It started out good. And I also liked the last 2 episodes because they moved a bit faster. But the in-between was hard to watch. I really wish I had liked this drama. The cast was excellent! But the story, which is the most important part, just made me really angry and I couldn't bring myself to like it.

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I thought the general idea for the plot was unique and fun, but I really felt bad for the main guy as he was "tortured" by the girl disguised as a guy. The blind date breakup plot in the beginning was really funny and enjoyable to watch. The main thing that p.o.'d me was how the grandmother changed her opinion of the girl when she found out she was a girl and not a guy. I was also a bit disgusted like the other user about the guy liking her as a guy -it was just akward and just plain wrong on so many levels.

The acting by all parties was excellent, as the emmotions and reactions were so realistic and not over the top when compared to other k-dramas. Music was fine, I must admit the intro song was adorable, and I would rewatch this again at a later date when I get through most of the dramas on my to watch list.

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Let's just start of with the fact that I've watched this drama 5 times and I love it more and more each time it is perfect. After this drama Gong Yoo became one of my top 5 actors of all times. It is a great story, with really good actors, hot sexy eye candy, and a great chemistry between the leads. I can honestly say that I really thought the leading girl was a boy. Even though the story seems a little out of the ordinary like "there is no way that something like that could happen in real life" the way the actors portrayed their characters you really could believe that was an everyday thing. It toke me untill after the 3rd time I watched it to realize that it really is fantasy you really would never have tought of it. It's cute and funny you just have to watch it you are going to fall in love with it.

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Wow what to write. I was absoulty blown away by this drama.Ive watched alot of drama's and couldn't even into them. I thought this would be the same but it wasn't at all. It sucked me in right from the start. A girl who is mistaken for a guy half the time, she works day and night just to keep a roof over their heads. She's hardworking, stubborn, saracastic and hates asking for help from others. Shes very indepedent. Then you have the guy who has everything he wants. His rich and handsome. He won't lift a finger either then laze about. When they meet, sparks fly and it has you hooked. I love how each charcter has been protrayed, you can almost imagine yourself as them because there background is so outlined it feels like your actually them. It was abouslty breath taking. I stayed up all night just to finish watching this because I just had to know what happened.

This is defently worth watching if you don't watch it then well your missing out big time. One of the best dramas I ever seen !!!

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My fav kdrama of all time!

Coffee prince is literally my fav kdrama of all time. So good. I mean the plot and the acting was amazing. No serious, I rewatch this show every year, no lie. It's so good, nothing can top this show!

Acting in this show, top notch....literally all the characters are so amazing!
Yoon Eun Hye played her role to perfection. I honestly don't know if anyone could have played it better.
Gong Yoo character's had such an fantastic growth, he literally learn to love at all her points in life. Such amazing chemistry between them.
ALL STAR CAST!!!!
Please you will not regret watching!

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This was one of my first Kdrama, and it's a gay drama in disguise, read my review to understand why!

Cast: 10
The cast is just perfect, they act natural, every one of them fit to their roles! i think the main actress discovered, and she was so so lucky! and we are also lucky by that!, she was a star shining in this drama, you can't even think how perfect she was there because no one can replace and reach to the level of cuteness she where, first- she was a real real tom boy, her act was natural, she was born for this role. i love her so much!!! but only in this drama, why? because after it she became so sad you can't even imagen!!!
this role was so huge that she made it international and than get into so much troubless because she was maybe too naive or sensitive i guess, someone just want her to fall, she couldn't cope, she became a sad person, it's also making me sad because i loved her so much , she like die inside, the light of her heart is just turn off, if you watch her dramas afterword you will understand, she was so huge star that someone just want her to get hurt and rip off her smile and cuteness, every time i think about her i get sad,


Story- 9
Originality not by the plot but the script, the dialogs, very emotional, natural, real!!!\
You know why it's epic?
After this drama nothing came out in this level. nothing!!! it became a desert!
because it's so care free and natural like a glance to their real world and struggles and love so that you feel it's real, and this story almost could happend to anyone, even you, this is the level of this cute drama,
so you feel in love, and you want to hug the charecters and be with them so much.
You can't see this anymore

cons:
the only con i have about this drama (and this is why i gave it 9.5 and not 10)
it's to my opinion was a libiration of the LGBT community, call them to come forward and give them some little joy in their gloomy LGBT community in korea
its gay drama, this is only my thought!!!

the conflict in the drama about being gay it's huge , everything is around this idea, so they take a spin on it and made her a woman dress like a man, but the struggle that someone found out he is gay and need to cope with this - cover up later- so if you are gay it's ok because she is a woman

what i like about this is that they light this idea of struggle and show how hard it is and there's no bounderies of love...
but still at the end they cover up...


Music 10
i swaer this k unforgetiable ost, i'm crying from thinking about how real music was there...it was so srong because it's like they take young artists and gave them a stage, it's not the usuall kpop, it was more rock and indie, so it was so so great and epic that since then nothing !!! again...no bands in those kdrama, no more!!!
those indie band was the corner of the corner in SK, they are srtist you just don't hear in the dramas..and also it's again one of the pain that they are going thtough, by not giving them a voice any more,

You will watch it 50-100 times a gain because there's nothin else!!!

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