K-Drama Review: Surplus Princess

Hey guys, I just finished watching this new drama called Surplus Princess a few days ago and I decided to write a review about this drama! :)

Surplus Princess is a 10-episodes TvN drama which stars Jo Bo Ah, On Joo Won and Song Jae Rim. Recently, I have been watching a couple of TvN dramas and I have to say that the theme of TvN dramas are something different from the normal Korean drama that airs from the normal broadcasting station in Korea. I realized that they like to make either a fantasy themed drama or a very realistic and not so cliche drama plot. 

Surplus Princess tells the story about a mermaid named Aileen, portrayed by actress Jo Bo Ah,  who lives in the Han River. Just like the story of The Little Mermaid, Princess Aileen dreams of becoming a human and to be able to walk on both feet. One day, she found out that she could become human if she drinks a magical potion. She managed to get a hold of the magical potion and she magically turned into a human being after drinking the potion. 

However, what she wasn't aware was that by drinking the potion, she needs to find true love in 100 days. If she does not succeed in finding true love, she would turn into bubbles and disappear. One of the legendary merman who managed to find true love and to remain as a human being was Ahn Ma Nyeo. Ahn Ma Nyeo had no choice but to be responsible for Princess Aileen. He brought her to a share house to live in, where she would later meet her housemates whom she would form friendships with later on. 

Princess Aileen begins to live as Kim Ha Ni, a jobless university graduate who is looking for a job. Ha Ni has a huge crush on a celebrity chef named Shi Kyung. She is secretly in love with Shi Kyung and she stalks his SNS underwater using her smartphone. One of the main reasons that made Ha Ni drink the potion was because she wanted to attend a party that Shi Kyung will be attending. Thus, she believed that Shi Kyung was her true love that would save her from turning into bubbles. 

At the beginning, Shi Kyung acted cold and cruel to Ha Ni. However, slowly he finds himself falling in love with the bubbly Ha Ni. At the same time, Hyung Myung, portrayed by actor On Joo Won was in a relationship with his housemate, Jin Ah. After managing to find a job, Jin Ah moved out from the share house and she broke up with Hyung Myung because of his jobless state. Jin Ah, on the other hand likes Chef Shi Kyung and wants to date him. After breaking up with Jin Ah and staying with Ha Ni in the same house, he found himself unexpectedly falling for Ha Ni as well. 

The story continues to unfold the mystery as to whether Ha Ni managed to find true love in 100 days and whether her true love is her crush Shi Kyung or Hyung Myung. 

PROS:

1. The theme of the drama is quite interesting with its fantasy theme revolving around a mermaid who becomes a human and has to find true love in 100 days. The most interesting part of this drama is that you get to see Kim Ha Ni as a human and also as a mermaid when her feet touches water. And I love the color of her tail which is turquoise! :)

2. This drama only has 10 episodes which is a good thing for people who enjoy shorter length drama. However, the downside of the 10 episodes is that there is only 1 episode per week. So that basically makes this drama feels like a 20 episodes drama. 

3. What I liked about this drama is that the drama begins with the ending of the drama where we find Ha Ni walking along the beach and we see her slowly disappearing while turning into bubbles. We don't know exactly what happened and whether or not she managed to find true love at the end. And I feel that the starting scene of the drama makes a huge impact and is what makes the viewers curious about the outcome of this drama. 

CONS: 

1. The theme of the drama is quite interesting in the beginning of the drama. However, I feel that towards the end of the drama, it got a bit boring and draggy, and lost the momentum of the drama. The story line was also a bit lacking in the parts where you don't know which guy she would end up with at the end. At the beginning, it felt like she would end up with the second lead but towards the end it unexpectedly felt like she would  end up with the main lead instead. 

2. I feel that there is not much chemistry between the main leads, actress Jo Bo Ah and actor On Joo Won. Instead, I feel that the chemistry is much better between Ha Ni and Shi Kyung in the drama. However, it is difficult to predict which guy she would end up with and whether or not she managed to find true love. 

3. The ending of the drama did not match up to the beginning of the drama. As I mentioned above, one of the parts of this drama that made a huge impact was the beginning scene where Ha Ni was disappearing while turning into bubbles near the beach.  However, there was not much connection between the very first scene of this drama and the ending :( 

4. On a last note, I felt that the development between Ha Ni and Hyun Myung's relationship was lacking in many parts and happened a little too quickly. Up until the 7th episode of the drama, it seemed like Ha Ni would end up with Shi Kyung. However, towards the last episode, it seemed like the writer drove the plot towards the other direction which is in my opinion a little unexpected. 

RATINGS: