Right now I’m watching my 17th K-Drama, “The 1st Shop of Coffee Prince.” I’m actually enjoying it more than I thought I would. It’s really quite darling, although the plot is even more contrived than most dramas – basically, the heroine pretends to be the (straight) hero’s gay lover, before she ends up falling for him herself. And…POSSIBLE SPOILER!!!!…it takes him more than half the show to figure out that she’s not really a boy (and by that time, almost every other character has figured it out). END SPOILERS.
However, each of the four characters is quite endearing (partly because they each have very obvious character flaws). I was unfamiliar with most of the actors in this drama, except for the heroine (who plays the lead in “Goong/Palace”). Presumably her acting in “Coffee Prince” is considered to be much improved over her performance in “Goong” (although I thought she did fine in that). I didn’t think I’d like the hero (especially since he has an inexplicable earring), but he’s really quite charming. The secondary female lead is very pretty, and the secondary male lead has the most beautiful speaking voice! This is a very happy drama, overall (I’m up to episode 14 and no terrible tragedies yet), with lots of really cute scenes and a few very funny ones. There is a little more crudity in this drama than most (kind of on a par with “My Name is Kim Sam Soon,” which is probably the crudest K-drama I’ve seen), and the subject matter could be considered adult, but overall, my mom and I are really enjoying it! I would recommend this one!
