Synopsis:
Be My Princess (2022) is the highly anticipated drama of the year, featuring rising stars Kyulkyung and Jeremy Tsui. Adapted from the famous novel, Ying Di De Gong Zhu, by Xiao Jia Ren, this romantic comedy drama tells the story of two lovers from different time periods.
Kyulkyung plays the role of Ming Wei, a recent college graduate who works as an Italian translator. Despite her interest in Italian language, Ming Wei actually prefers acting and modeling. Therefore, she works part-time as a model doing beauty and traditional clothing shoots. One day, Ming Wei gets hired as a translator at a hotel, and she ends up meeting the famous actor, Mu Ting Zhou, played by Jeremy Tsui.
Although Mu Ting Zhou can seem arrogant, he actually just does not like to socialize with strangers. After meeting Mu Ting Zhou, Ming Wei becomes even more sure that she wants to pursue acting. She auditions for various roles, including the lead in a drama titled “Sekretaris Agung.” Initially, she was skeptical about her chances, but to her surprise, she landed the lead role.
Passionate about acting, Ming Wei finds it isn’t easy to act alongside Mu Ting Zhou. She makes a few mistakes, which stresses the director out. However, Mu Ting Zhou gives her valuable advice on how to adapt to the situation and character. Consequently, the filming goes smoothly, and the director even praises Ming Wei for her acting ability.
During the filming of the drama, Ming Wei and Mu Ting Zhou grow closer. Since the beginning, Mu Ting Zhou has had a crush on Ming Wei. He selected her to play the lead role and mentored her. Towards the end of the drama, just when Mu Ting Zhou plans to confess his love to Ming Wei, a tragic accident befalls him. He suffers from amnesia and thinks he’s a character from the drama, “Sekertaris Agung.”
Everyone is shocked when they see Mu Ting Zhou behaving like a Grand Master from the Ming dynasty. The only person he wants to find is Ming Wei, whom he considers the representative of the Ming Dynasty. With this unsettling behavior, Ming Wei takes it upon herself to help Mu Ting Zhou recover. During this recovery period, the Grand Master falls in love with Ming Wei, and vice versa. However, Ming Wei forgets that the Grand Master could forget this fairytale romance if he were to regain his memories as Mu Ting Zhou.
Will their love story stand the test of time, or will it fade away as just a fairytale romance?
Review:
Be My Princess (2022) tells two different love stories from different time periods. The romantic story of Ming Wei and Mu Ting Zhou, played by young stars Kyulkyung and Jeremy Tsui respectively, is enchanting. The second story, about “Sekertaris Agung,” which also features Ming Wei and Mu Ting Zhou, ties in neatly with the overall plot.
Nonetheless, the execution of this drama falls short in a few aspects.
Firstly, the screenplay writers and director failed to make both love stories complement each other. Each story has its moments of weakness, and instead of tackling it, the director leaves the love stories divided into separate segments. The brainstorming process needs improvement, with less focus on repetitive scenes from flashbacks and more in-depth development of individual storylines.
Secondly, the two final episodes chronicling the relationship between the Grand Master and Ming Wei should have been discarded. By the last episode, we’ve seen enough of the Grand Master character, and the drama becomes repetitive as the storyteller tries to build up the Grand Master’s final memory loss.
In conclusion, Be My Princess (2022) is a unique drama and is worth watching. However, the presentation could be improved by integrating both storylines, and excluding any repetitive scenes of the Grand Master’s amnesia.
