Dali And The Cocky Prince; Hit Or Miss?

In between raving hype surrounding the main cast and the plot, screenwriter Son Eun Hye’s  ‘Dali And The Cocky Prince’ has erupted quite a stir amongst avid drama watchers praising the series as ‘’dynamic’’ and ‘’fresh’’. However, this boils down one ultimate question; “Is ‘Dali And The Cocky Prince’ actually worth watching, or is it a classic case of an over-hyped production?”
 
The series applies the basic romantic comedy formula of ‘’ opposites attract’’; Moo Hak( Kim Min Jae) is a confident and nouveau riche social-climber, whilst Kim Da Li (Park Gyu Young) was born into “ old money” and is a naturally talented art exhibitor and critic . During a trip to an art exhibition in the Netherlands Da Li and Moo Hak end up encountering one another for the first time . Soon afterwards Da Li finds herself struggling to keep her art gallery afloat and consequently through several setups become indebted to Moo Hak. However (typical of romantic cliches) Moo Hak and Da Li begin to fall in love…


One of the greatest strengths of ‘ Dali And The Cocky Prince’ comes through Kim Min Jae and Park Gyu Young’s onscreen chemistry. In between some of the more questionable line deliverances at times Min Jae and Gyu Young’s pairing was dynamic and fun, but ( playing to the drama’s strengths and downfall as a consequence of testing viewers’ attention spans) slow-burn.

Actress Park Gyu Young’s performance and stylist helped to convey a sweet and charismatic charm surrounding the female lead. Da Li is refreshingly not your typical ‘’spoilt princess’’ female lead archetype. She is kind-hearted, an afficionado of  Modigliani  and has a natural artistic flare which has long been nurtured by her parents ( her namesake evidently being famous Spanish surrealist painter Salvador Dali), but as a child of a prestigious family, she often finds herself lost in cloud cuckoo land when dilemmas regarding the museum are raised. Whilst aspects of Kim Da Li’s past and background help to explore her character in more depth and do help to present her goals, personality and motives, Da Li undeniably did often feel shoehorned into the role of the ‘’ victim’’. (Especially in later episodes as more revelations come to light.)

Of course, the ‘’victim’’ trope isn’t always necessarily a bad thing in a series. It can help to explore characters in more depth and it did present some more raw moments for otherwise seemingly impeccable characters. For example Da Li is not truly made aware of her attempts to bury her head in the sand until Mu Hak acts as her personal anchor to ground her back to reality. However, whilst praise must be given to presenting Da Li as someone who gradually faces reality with grace and charisma, it seemed odd that the series didn’t present more opportunities for the female lead to take her first steps through more independence and personal growth rather than being enforced into the role for the “ sake of plot tension”.

Of course this naturally brings us onto our second topic of debate; male lead Jin Moo Hak. Expected of his namesake from the title Moo Hak has become accustomed to a wealthy of hedonism and money since his tiny family run-restaurant turned into an international food conglomerate through successful business ventures. Kim Min Jae walks onscreen with an air resonating Jay Gatsby; gaudy suits, satisfaction over materialistic purchases and truly buying into his own ideology that money can truly buy love and happiness.

Moo Hak is arguably the perfect foil and counterpart to Dali; arrogant, haughty and overly confident (which both provides to his advantage and lands him in hot water throughout the drama) but not without his more “ redeeming” character traits either. For example Moo Hak is undeniably a hardworking and charismatic entrepreneur, as well as gradually more empathic as he comes to see ( from Dali) the importance of genuine and authentic relationships that money cannot buy. On the other hand Moo Hak ( similar to the female lead) is very much enforced throughout the series as a plot device; existing to create a splash of tension and jealousy to keep their potential romance “ interesting”, but often dismissing more intriguing elements of Moo Hak’s journey and success along the way.

‘ Dali And The Cocky Prince’ really did not shy away from reimbursing all the overused tropes and cliches you’ve seen before from the “ foreigners” to the the infamous “ drunken escapades of your main character”, “ mistaken identity” and even the “ shower scene” find their ways multiple times throughout the drama.

However one dreaded creme de la creme of cliches which appeared in the storyline occurred through the issue of the “ love triangle” setup between Moo Hak, Da Li and her “first love” second main lead Tae Jin ( Kwan Yool). In the expected setup that you can imagine, Tae Jin and Da Li ended their relationship on an “awkward note”. (Pining and unrequited love ensues for Tae Jin as the “ impartial female lead” is milked by screenwriter Eun Hye throughout the subplot.) Then to add the cherry on top of “ tension for the sake of tension” there’s also the unrequited feelings ( which are often played for comical foil than actual heartache) of Ahn Chak Hee ( Yeonwoo) who often “bickers” with Moo Hak over her feelings for him and leading to numerous comical misunderstandings.

Thankfully Eun Hye only added these “ tropes ” as a side storyline with an major plot shift to a “ thriller mystery” subplot soon taking frontal stage as the focal point of the drama. In between these scenes there’s a notable shift on other characters unexplored in this latter half.

For example there’s supporting character Won Tak ( Hwang Hee) who is a hardworking police officer with a sibling like relationship with Dali, and Moo Tak’s quirky secretary Yeo Mi Ri ( Hwang Bo Ra). Whilst admittedly both characters were often the root of “ plot motivation” or “ comical foil”, they admittedly did add a sweeter note to the darker subject areas of the drama.

Then of course there’s the last topic surrounding director Lee Jung Sub’s take on the cinematography. Whilst honestly it did feel as though Jung Sub had some more evident missed opportunities with playing with the artistic creativity of the plot, there were admittedly some brilliant scenes and aesthetics carried through adding a warm palette to the romantic-comedy. The ending was admittedly trope-induced; not bad per say, but lacking more fluid coherency towards the characters’ own choices and decisions in the final act.

So what’s left to say about ‘ Dali And The Cocky Prince’ ? Is it worth watching or is it an “overhyped” drama? The biggest thing to say about the rom-com is that the drama accommodates from lighthearted to more serious to suddenly lighthearted again, and isn’t afraid to interplay the cinematography more subtly with this.Our main leads had good chemistry and it was surprisingly sweet to see the “ polar opposite” trope executed once more. On the other ‘ Dali And The Cocky Prince’ isn’t an inherently original or brand new concept with tropes and cliches often weighing down more intriguing story elements, characters and even the ending (to a certain extent). The drama isn’t entirely “ original ” as a consequence of this screenwriting decision and whilst the comedy may vary for viewers, the drama is certainly a decent and sweet enough rom-com.