The 1st Shop of Coffee Prince

커피프린스 1호점
Starring: Yoon Eun Hye as Go Eun-Chan, Gong Yoo as Choi Han-Gyul, Lee Sun Gyun as Choi Han Seong and Chae Jung Ahn as Han Yoo Joo
Directed By: Lee Yoon Jung
Circa: 2007

Go Eun-Chan is a young woman, who had to become the head of her household when her father died at an early age. She works herself to the bone in order to support her capricious mother and spoiled brat of a sister. While doing a delivery for one of her employers, she encounters rich Choi Han-Gyul, who mistakes her for a boy. Later, he hires her as one of his coffee shop's waiters, thinking that she is one of the most hardworking men he has ever met. Since the shop, Coffee Prince, only employs male staff, due to the nature of its target market, Go Eun-Chan could not reveal her real gender. Problem is, Choi Han-Gyul finds himself slowly falling in love with Go Eun-Chan. He goes through an emotional roller-coaster ride, tormented by thoughts of forbidden love...

Gender is a social construct and it took a Korean rom-com to show what it takes to love beyond the socially constructed concept. In most culturally progressive countries, like Japan, as one of the characters pointed out, this situation would not have seemed problematic. But this was set in Korea, where everything sexual is an issue. (No wonder Korean men rank #1 in promiscuity all over the world. All that repression is bound to get manifested somewhere.) In fact, their idea of homosexuality is so antiquated that its existence in society is practically denied.

Coffee Prince explores this issue through an endearing arsenal of engaging dialogues that are surprisingly light-hearted, even during the few dramatic scenes. The setting is quite apt, too, since a graduate school classmate of mine, who spent a month in Korea, once said that gay men usually hang out in coffee shops. The customers in this TV series are expectedly female, of course.

Besides Go Eun-Chan and Choi Han-Gyul sticky situation, other male-female relationships abound. It's certainly interesting to observe Korean male-female discourses, even if it's fiction. This is one very witty show, directed by an extremely talented woman.

The 1st Shop of Coffee Princeis available at Amazon.com. Highly recommended.