Time Traveling Romance
Spoiler Alert - If you have any interest in ever watching the K-Drama Rooftop Prince and have not done so yet, don't read this post.
Rooftop Prince ended in exactly the way I hoped it wouldn't--with the Joeson Prince traveling back to his original era and leaving the girl he fell in love with in the present. Forever. She does meet his reincarnation (Tae Yong) at the end, but hello--he's not actually the same guy. They do have him "transform" into the Prince at the end to drive home the point that these two people are the same in that they have the same soul but...the reality is that this guy doesn't have any of the memories of their time together. He doesn't have that cute way of speaking in antiquated, haughty banmal or always putting himself on higher ground than everyone else. And I just don't see how that couldn't be totally heartbreaking for the girl in the present. I mean seriously--a guy who looks exactly like the guy you loved, but doesn't actually remember falling in love with you or anything... It just seems creepy and weird. Especially since the Joeson Prince actually pretended to be his own reincarnation for a while and she's already been acquainted with all of his family for a while...
Even worse, though is what happens to the Lee Gak (the Prince). The Prince doesn't even get a consolation relationship with the girl's original incarnation because she's dead before he even leaves Joeson (this is a big plot twist--we don't know it's her that's dead until the last episode). So he has to live out the rest of his life pining after a woman who won't even be born for another 300 years. He leaves her a letter in a hiding place near the palace telling her how he's going insane wishing he could see her and touch her. He says, "If I could meet you by dying, I want to die right now." So, so sad. :(
In the end it wouldn't have taken a lot of narrative stretching to switch incarnations. Tae Yong could have learned to be a Prince with the help of Lee Gak's helpful and faithful Joeson retainers. Or Pak-ha could have gone back to Joeson with the Lee Gak. After all, her original incarnation, Bu Yong, is dead, and no one ever saw Bu Yong's face because of a convenient plot-central burn scar on her face that caused her to wear a veil. I figure if you already have time-jumping magic, this is not that unbelieveable. And it would have been far more satisfying.
Other potentially satisfying endings:
* Prince has to go back, Pak-ha doesn't meet his reincarnation. Tragic, but more satsfying than consolation relationship.
* Same as tragic ending EXCEPT the show ends with a scene where their future reincarnations meet again for the first time (neither has memories of the other at all)
* Prince has to go back, Pak-ha meets his reincarnation who, for whatever reason, DOES remember being Lee Gak. Basically, same as the end of the Fushigi Yuugi TV series if you don't ever watch anything after that and make assumptions about Taka's ability to remember his past life. You can sort of do this with the current ending with some wishful thinking, but I am pretty sure this is not what they are getting at.