User reviews

Rooftop Prince is a Korean melodrama that aired earlier this year (2012). It's another fantasy/time travel romantic drama that deals with reincarnation and circular themes that are common to many Asian productions.

SPOILERS AHEAD!

Your story begins with a prince in Joseon era (Korea; approximately 300 years or so ago) who dotes on his wife, but he also clearly has some interest in her sister. The sister was actually the one who was supposed to be the princess, but she got scarred in an "accident" before the engagement and was thus no longer deemed "suitable" to be the future queen. All is going along well enough, until the princess is found dead one night, drowned in a lake under suspicious circumstances. The prince sets off to investigate what happened and rounds up 3 people to help him (a legendary fighter, a brilliant scholar, and a cross dresser who hears all rumors and secrets in town). While investigating the mystery, the 4 of them are somehow transported to modern day Korea (via some magical once in a life time lunar eclipse or something).

While this is happening, there's a 2nd story taking place in modern day Korea. Two stepsisters are brought together when a widowed/divorced man & women meet. The older stepsister doesn't like this arrangement a whole lot, and she makes an impulsive decision to abandon her younger stepsister one day. The younger sister is orphaned then eventually adopted and relocated to America where she grows up not knowing/remembering her parents or what happened to her. Once grown, the adopted sister sets off to find her real parents and learn more about her history. So, she travels back to Korea where she and her stepsister are reunited.

Now, your "gimmick" here is that the 2 lead actresses play the roles of each sets of sisters in both the past and the present, and one of the sisters wronged the other during their youth in each time period. The prince from the past also plays another character who is the missing son of a wealthy family in the present; this makes for great karmic drama & intrigue that only adds to the overall entertainment value of this show. Korean melodramas have been pushing these dual role/character/timeline plots quite a bit lately, to a pretty fair degree of success, and it's easy to see why; this breaks up the status quo monotony, allows for actors to perform diversely, gives the writers and directors a chance to be creative, etc. I can easily foresee the day (probably very soon) when these productions will further expand upon this format by incorporating 3 roles/stories at once.

As the story unfolds, our 4 men from the past are transported to the roof top of the adopted sister's tiny apartment in modern day Korea. These men were the "cream of the crop" at their specific skill set in the past, but are totally incompetent when faced with modern day tasks; they can't even figure out how to feed themselves, much less understand how a toilet, elevator, TV, etc works. Our young heroine (the adopted sister) takes them in like a litter of lost puppies and puts them to work while she teaches them about the modern world they now inhabit. The prince is not used to living as a pauper though, or communicating with an independent woman in a modern society, so there's some friction between the two main characters to begin with. Soon enough though, the time travelers start to adapt to their new life, the prince becomes more involved with the 2 sisters in the present, and well, it doesn't take a genius to figure out where all this is headed.

This show has what you're looking for if you're a fan of this genre, and, as a bonus, it's mostly accessible to those who aren't 'fans'. You've got your dual back & forth love stories between and among the 4 protagonists, your manipulative male and female antagonists, plenty of fist clinching/hand wringing, family business/power struggles, growth and eventual acceptance between family members, etc.

The never ending Korean well, from which talented gorgeous women & hunky dudes seem to spring from, is still overflowing. The more put together or sexy characters are the meaner people, and the cuter ones are the nicer people, as usual. The main mean dude is ridiculously good looking, and, it's a shame the mean female lead didn't get to play the nice sister as her brilliant smile just lights up a room.

It's almost impossible to not draw comparisons between this show and "Queen In Hyun's Man"; both shows aired very close in time to each other, and each feature noble men from Joseon era who travel forward in time to modern day Korea. Intrigue, hijinks, drama, & romance ensue; you know the deal by now if you've seen a few KTV melodramas. "Rooftop" has more of a typical K-drama aesthetic to it in both production values and storytelling than does "Queen", and it is by far the more soap opera-ish of the two, whereas "Queen" takes a more stylized and slicker approach that's more similar to a well polished movie. "Queen" is also much better written than "Rooftop" IMO. That's no knock on "Rooftop" though, as this show is pretty entertaining. It is often sillier and more comedic in tone than "Queen", and it almost runs off the rails a few times and does get a little too over the top and repetitive as it progresses, but that's the way it goes. Which one is better?...that probably depends on what you're looking for, or typically like. I personally prefer "Queen", and I do feel it is by far the better of the two overall (for my tastes), but you likely can't go wrong with "Rooftop" either, and I liked it well enough.

Final Score: 7 out of 10 stars. I can't justify giving it any higher rating than that. It's fairly enjoyable overall.

The plot is creative, with a constant shift from modern to ancient to modern. This setting itself keeps you out of boredness. Male lead is sometimes expressionless, but this suit the role as a stern king. His assistants, on the contrary, acts well and funny.

Towards the end the story it is a bit illogical. Still, it is a drama worthwhile to see.

Fassbinder's Berlin Alexanderplatz (1980) was a long movie - over 15 hours long. The Thornbirds, Roots and other early TV mini-series were long movies broken into consecutive episodes. I love a mini-series as a melodrama that tells a story in the long movie format, as opposed to those that tell different stories in the same setting (like Grey's Anatomy, Mad Men and to a lesser extent Damages, Breaking Bad, and Revenge that change the story at times while keeping to a general story). In this regard, I have discovered some gems in the South Korean TV mini-series of recent years.

The basic melodrama is the oft repeated formula: Boy meets Girl, Boy loses Girl, Boy gets Girl Back. This me recur in the same story. Human relations can be complex even if only the boy and girl are involved, but this complexity increases as more people are involved. If personality dynamics are properly depicted in a valid manner, and if the production is skillful, then powerful emotions can be evoked in the viewer. In this way we can live many lifetimes through movies, in our one lifetime - greatly enriching our incarnate experience.

These South Korean productions (seen on Netflix streaming) are first class with excellent production and direction, some terrific casting and acting (particularly from some of the females who give some matchless world class performances), brilliant musical accompaniment, and staging. What makes these so good is the way they skillfully evoke deep emotion in the viewer. South Korean movie making is superb - world class.

However, the following caveats must be considered by the USA viewer. They are subtitled and some people hate this. The South Korean cultural norms, values and sanctions may sometimes seems silly or old fashioned to the USA viewer. The families are close knit and decisions by an individual may be subject to family approval. Social distance is maintained where formal speech is used, and personal speech forms are reserved for close friends or family. There is a strong work ethic and community cooperation/unity - sometimes reminiscence of a old Frank Capra film.

Most importantly, in order for the sometimes complicated sub-plots to work, people fail to communicate with each other as might be expected, keeping many in the dark as to what others are doing, and this leads to misunderstandings and error judgments of some people, that sometimes seem to be unlikely by USA cultural standards. The viewer may wonder at times why good but trusting people are so easily manipulated and deceived by bad and selfish people, but con artists do often succeed (just look at politicians for example). However this poetic license of improbability is needed to develop the story - just accept it as occurring even though unlikely at times. Taking these factors into account Will help you become involved and emotionally engrossed. It was hard t for me to quit watching at times so I binged watched.

I would rank these as follows but tastes differ and your rankings might not agree: 1 - 4 (hard to say which is best)

Shining Inheritance

When a Man Loves

That Winter, The Wind Blows

Secret Garden

5. Five Fingers

6. The Scent of a Woman

7. The Great Queen Seondeok

8. A Hundred Years Inheritance

9. Lie To me

10. Roof Top Prince

11. Dr. Jin

12. The Great Doctor

Rooftop Prince has a fantasy premise - a Prince and his immediate staff experience time travel into the present day from the past. Then it becomes a mixture of melodrama and fun. Time travel is rare but has been reported by reputable people. See J. Randles book, Time Slips, for more on this. Accept the fantasy and enjoy the fun.

I tend to enjoy a good time travel movie and as a Netflix subscriber, I get recommendations based on other things I have watched. Rooftop Prince was a Netflix recommendation. The idea of a Korean TV show with subtitles didn't seem like something I would care much about, but it wouldn't hurt to watch the first episode and see. That is what I did and I got hooked immediately.

Some of the things I found so refreshing about this show is #1-it is clean. No offensive joking or language. #2-it is hilarious at times and thrilling at other times. It has everything a good drama should have--greed, murder, mystery, romance, wealth and yet much of the time, it was very sweet. Throwing in some reincarnation and time travel just ices the cake for me. I love it. The two main characters (romantic) have a tremendous chemistry together. I would love to see them both again.

I binge watched all 20 episodes and I may watch them all again. At times the dialog went by too fast with the subtitles, I couldn't read it, but most of the time I was able to understand what was going on.

Each episode leaves you with a cliffhanger. Everything is concluded satisfactorily at last episode. Each episode is about an hour and 4 minutes long. I don't really get that odd amount of time. Here a TV show is fitted into an hour with commercials, generally so it might be 42 minutes without commercials. I wonder how they fit their TV shows in Korea for watching?

I gave it 10 stars because it was so enjoyable and addictive. I am going through withdrawal now that I am done watching it. In my opinion, there is nothing this entertaining on American TV lately.

If you can get through the first episode, keep going, it's a bundle of Wiggley joy! The first episode was a bit "um yeah" for me, but i kept going to appease my friend who recommended it and I don't regret it one bit and it's now a fave. There's a few LOL-spit-out-your-coffee moments, drama, mystery, suspense, weird fashion, history.... it's got it all!

Not sure how the yellow wiggle was going to keep that phone charged but hey, it's a kdrama, who cares?! ;)

A crown Prince travels 300 years into the future to attempt to solve the mystery of his princesses murder. When he arrives along with a few trustee assistants he begins to recognise people who resemble those from his time. It is an enjoyable well acted series and although it is a little slow initially and doesn't always flow smoothly the story itself is clever and entertaining.

I think this drama would have been even better if in episode 15 they had shown a girl tackling a guy to protect him "from guns" in the background of the fireworks scene lol. Like what happened in "Legend of the Blue Sea" . Then it could have somewhat tied the two dramas together in the metaverse. I think it would be awesome to see these awesome dramas to be linked by a single scene like the fireworks scene from "legend of the blue sea" and episode 15 of this drama. It's those little "Easter eggs" that hardcore lovers of kdramas would catch and totally love! Crossovers like that even if it's very small can make a HUGE impact to viewers.

The first episodes of the drama I was laughing so much; But then It got kind of serious and little sad. The drama is mix of comedy, tragedy, and mystery. I liked all the main characters some of the episodes made me so nerves, some excited, while others irritated me. I cried, laughed, and was moved with the characters. The ending was nice, realistic and acceptable.

For the first 10 episodes I would have said the show was at least a nine but then it felt as though someone had come along and says oh my guys were putting on an extra four episodes. The writer and director must have gotten lobotomies because the writing went absolutely haywire as there was so much needless padding being done that added nothing to the story and made the actors seem banal and out of focus.

The extremely poor attempt to make the cold hearted villainess redeemable was just pathetically sad and forced.

Regardless though it is still worth watching and you might not be a crotchety old git like me and love it.

Funny exciting romantic and brilliantly constructed story. Usually I am a bit wary of historical fantasy and modern rom com blend but this show is so well written and logical. There are so many things going on yet it's not confusing but exciting and enjoyable. From historical setting to reincarnation and high comedy as they adapt to modern life. Then there is treachery and birth secrets. Along side there is a lot of original comedy that keeps the tone right. The good thing is it doesn't feel cliched because the story doesn't rely on amnesia or conventional time travel which is usually not logical. A sort of reincarnation thing is going on which is a nice change.

The cast all give great performances. Han Ji Min is winsome and likable in this show. One of her best roles. Park Yoochun isn't the handsomest but he does a good job in the multi faceted role acting royal like. The relentless villains are brilliantly played and that helps . Lee Tae Sung is convincing as the villain so different from his romantic role. Jeong Yoo Mi is good to as his partner in crime. Good use is made of the 3 Joseon helpers and look out for a young Choi Woo Shik.

This 2012 show is the best of it's kind even till today in 2023. Haven't seen any show of this type as good.

I guess it's supposed to be a fun show about karma and stuff, the soul's of some people played out by the same actors in 2 different timelines, to some effect.

For me the writing seems off, the characters come off as rather flat and the plot they are supposed to build up never really get's me interested, I had a hard time paying attention to either the plot confusion, gender confusion or the acting confusion. I stuck around for 5 episodes because until this one I had not been disappointed by Korean show's but then I could bear it no longer.

Didn't give it 1 star because it seems like they did have some ambition somewhere, took a chance and I guess that's worth a star.

OK some of the acting, part from the leads is a bit iffy but the tneslip plot is well done with good twists and turns and a satisfying ending. Mainly st in modern Seoul ut with parts from 300 years ago with some interesting questions raisd on how reincarntion might work.

The first half is truly very funny in a fish out of water way but the plot gets serious half way through. The romance is sweet and well done and the plot weaves in and out keeping me anyway involved till the very good end. Really enjoyed this. Watched on Netflix.

Thought it would be interesting, a comedy romance.

Got stuck watching the 3 guys, they are cute, funny & amazing characters. Throughout the drama, they make it interesting to watch! But got tired of the show pretty fast half way through. Not because of the standard cliche - love & betrayal but 1 reason, the half sister gets away with lies, deceit & betrayal in every episode is getting too much! She gets away at every deceitful thing one can think of!

The love story is good enough. Romantic.

I watched this drama about a year ago during when lockdowns had happened, and let me tell you this I still am obsessed with it. The story has a lot of comedy scenes, drama, and a bunch of heartbreaking scenes. The ending was a bit sad but it was really good and I just was in love with the development of the characters throughout the story. I recommend this drama and if your just starting to watch kdramas I recommend to start here.

This k drama works well at two levels: the comedy arising from 4 Joseon men transported in to modern Korea yields some laugh out loud moments; and the touching romance between two key protagonists.

Furthermore Yu-mi Jeong gives it her all as one of the principal baddies. Her superficial beauty and winning smile fully explain her ability to keep ducking and diving.

Not everything else works as well. The plot requires some non-sensical stuff. For example, characters slip in and out of the story as suits the plot, sometimes being inexplicably absent when their presence would have been problematic: our heroine's mothers both disappear when she clearly needed them in the final episodes.

But overall it was an enjoyable series that kept me entertained throughout.

This drama was wayyyy more amazing then I expected !!! It's definitely a must watch ! Love the story and everything

Bad writers use traditional methods of creating suspense, in this case main characters who often acted so dumb that we nearly got too annoyed to watch. I cry easily, but I never cry when tragedies occur because of the main characters blatant stupidity. Here I shed not a tear.

I shall not reveal anything here, just be prepared for a lot of seriously unintelligent actions from the lead characters.

It's a cool premise. The first couple of episode had laugh-out-loud funny moments. But then...

The story's good team - everybody is just so irredeemably stupid. The evil faction - they're all pedestrian-level evil, complete with smirks and sneering laughs. And they're so bad at being evil! It got to where I was shouting stuff like "Drats! Foiled again!" and "I'll get you next time, my pretty!" every time their plots failed.

It is so absurdly bad! Never mind the long takes with distant glances. Those alone cost the series a good 6 episode. They surely could have been done away with. It's the idea that Joseon-era men suddenly know how to operate modern technology. They can all drive. They all function well in a high-pressure corporate setting.

I could go on - the whole show is a series of continuity errors and plot holes. But methinks you get the drift. It's shocking that so many big names - so much talent that shines in other productions, agreed to do this turkey.

It keeps you on the edge of your seat strictly so you can be the first to spot the next inanity. That's the only reason why it got 4 stars.

Rooftop Prince is a classic K Drama that one should watch, although, the further you are in your K drama experiance, the least good you'll find this one. First of all, the idea was interesting and entertaining, with the romance good enough to keep things interesting till the end. The past story was okay too and the family drama was good as well, with enough drama to keep you going. But, the drama was full of cliches, with the missing daughter, the evil male rival, the rich grandmother etc etc. At least the theme was original. In addition, the length was too much, as it could have been a few episodes sort. And yet, the ending was a bit too quick, leaving things hanging. So, 5 out of 10.

Its is the first kdrama which i felt the heroine acting is terrible.