Comfort Food
I know people like to call romance-oriented dramas "guilty pleasures," but I prefer to think of True Beauty as comfort food. It has all the familiar tropes of older kdramas, but it always knows how to put a fun new spin on them in order to keep viewers engaged and interested.Lim Jugyeong is a wonderful female lead, brought to life perfectly by Moon Gayoung, and her growth over the course of 16 episodes is believable and rootable. Cha Eunwoo, aside from being eye candy, gives his all to Lee Suho and really makes you feel pain and his love for Jugyeong.
Hwang Inyeop and Park Yoona may be treated very differently by the narrative in their respective second lead positions, but they are delightful and help round out a perfect cast.
In fact, every major character is memorable and exciting, with some twist or extra infusion to make them stand out from the high school drama pack. There are also fun dream sequences, bliss-tastic OST choices, and plenty of "restaurant ending" scene moments to go around.
If you love romance and kdramas, you cannot go wrong with True Beauty - as long as you don't get too invested in picking a team and instead let Jugyeong's feelings guide yours.
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Perfect balance of comedy and seriousness - I want to rewatch it right now!
Another title that I was skeptical about - was the hype real and would I like it.Short answer - I LOVED IT! So much so in fact that having finished it 3 hours ago - I want to rewatch it right away.
Don't get me wrong - this is not going to change the world in terms of cinematography or the uniqueness of its story.
Where it wins you over are the characters and their relationships - be they good or bad. It deals with bullying, the pressures of social media, abuse, and suicide - and it does all this with an element of truth and honestly - some of the bullying scenes are heart-wrenching for example.
It was the jokes though that took this drama to the next level - they were genuinely hilarious - brilliantly timed and delivered. The emotional scenes do what they need to - there was one episode where I found my bottom lip quivering before the tears came!
It's one of those rare occasions where you route for both parties equally as both are really decent guys. Who will get the girl? You'll just have to watch it to find out.
Negatives - as with most kdramas, the ending is a little rushed with a lot of story arcs being wrapped up but never the less it doesn't detract from the overall charm of this drama.
Go watch it now :). Should I rewatch it now? 😂
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Second-lead sydrome hit DIFFERENTLY on this drama
FINALLY FINISHED IT!I feel numb and my heartache, but regardless of this pain from this drama I am proud of the cast, crew, directors, makeup artist, and screenwriters. They did a wonderful job making this drama possible even during this pandemic.
The way the story goes was good but I feel like it will be better if they change things around - it is indeed different from the webtoon. If you finished this, I recommend reading the webtoon as it's still ongoing, so more heartbreak and fangirling. HEhe.
Anyways, I love their acting especially my HWANG IN YEOP (Sejeon)!! He attracted me the first time I saw him!!! Since Cha Eun Woo ( Lee Suho) acted similarly to the plot of the drama-I did not really fangirl a lot with him, of course, you can't avoid him but SEJEON caught my attention from the start. Cha Eun Woo did a similar project which is 'My ID is a Gangnam Beauty'. They are very similar, but this one focuses more on makeup than plastic surgery.
Moon Ga-young though!! She was AMAZING! I first saw her on 'Tempted' with Woo dO Hwan. She was the bitchy girl who always get what she wants, and here she acted differently and she portraits it perfectly. Her crying, feeling hopeless, and powerless was surreal.
It may be a basic Korean drama to others but nonetheless, I am happy with the story and ending. Sometimes, you can't live without the old-style/fashion or korean drama you know? hahaha
Moving on is the hardest part!!! It really hurt!! I hope to see them soon in their upcoming dramas.
The SUPPORTING ACTORS AND ACTRESSES THOUGH!! I LOVED THEM!! I began to notice that some are getting their recognition from IG! THEY DESERVE IT!! ESPECIALLY MY HWANG IN YEOP!
His future IS GETTING BIGGER! I AM PROUD OF HIM!! He has an upcoming drama with JI CHA WOOK!! YAY! I AM EXCITED FOR THAT!
Overall, Really recommend this! IF YOu want something clingy, high-school romance story with a SECOND-LEAD SYNDROME. I recommend this. It may be painful too much, but every drama has that. So, if you are interested GO WATCH IT! You don't need to watch for it anymore as most people did! hahaha
2/5/21 1:30AM
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thoughts on the cast and story
I love Hwang InYeop and i can’t take that Cha Eun Woo ended up with the FL so i dropped it. He’s literally so bland!!! I hate Moon Ga Young in that series too she’s so dumb and fOR WHAT??? urghhh i need a new hwang in yeop series where he gets the justice he deserves. I love the cliché story plot going on in the drama but its just not right for me lool i hate cha eun woos acting here i only watched for heang in yeop fr but i cant finish it bc itwas so ???? I love cliché story lines only if it was entertaining i hate this stuff but i loved it bc of in yeop ;((((Was this review helpful to you?
very cliché but well produced high school love story
the story was nothing amazing, it's the usual love triangle, evil friend, bullying scenario. but that wouldn't be such a problem if the strong message about self love and acceptance they strived to spread was conveyed in the right way !i think true beauty completely missed the mark on that. the subplot about jukyung's journey to accepting herself and her appearance, as well as getting empowered was totally hidden by the love triangle and futile fights. i wish they empasized this a lot more,, the arguments that were supposed to show jukyung's path to having a good self esteem were not compelling enough, kind of sloppy and misleading. moreover, the sad second lead trope was pushed too far, making seojun feel very miserable. and do not let me start on the lousy last episodes,,,
but true beauty also has good sides, it's really well produced, the sets and colors were very pleasing to the eye, the actors did a great job. the supporting actors were adorable too. i really enjoyed the side loveline which was extremely refreshing !
if you want a sweet, cliché, high school love triangle (bad boy + intelligent leads), this will be perfect for you! but do not expect a lot of depth and strong messages!
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Another heartbreak
The story starting was good. The former episodes were interesting and holded me for the next episodes. But after the camping episodes it all came to one more cliche story and known ending. At one point I thought they are going to change the ending but that was not the case :(This story was not different, contained no new content and more of a cliche. The lead characters were not that good and looked dumb. I don't know why creators always go with first love. Like in the same situation girl will accept a person who ignored her for years and acted like a creep on first meeting after that. It felt unrealistic, the main lead characters were not shown mature and practical.
In the last episodes main lead love story felt dragged and forced. Like creators just want them to be together. Did not felt any sparks in their love story. Last episode was really boring for me.
For me SJ was the saving grace of the show. His character was mature and handled every situation like that. I just felt bad for him for not having his love. But he got his music and career, happy for that. Not going to forget his dance on okey dokey. He stealed this show for sure. Even other side characters were good.
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The drama has no plot curve, bad sequencing, bad storyline and mediocre acting
The main issue with this drama is that it does not have any plot curves at all. It is filmed like a web comic. There's no act 1, act 2, scene 1, scene 2 etc. The drama just flows and shows every detail. Each episode does not have a particular storyline. There isn't really anything memorable about the drama, no conflict to resolve, no tension to overcome. The story is so bland, and the music that comes on whenever the male leads walk into the school, and how the rest of the students go crazy over them is extremely irritating.Cha Eun-woo is handsome no doubt, but his acting is too robotic. I do not really see much chemistry between him and Moon Ga-young.
The only upside is probably the friendship between the female lead and her friends, and her family dynamics. Else it is really not worth watching.
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Seojun is the best part about this drama!
I honestly didn't have much hope for this drama at first, because I hated both Suho and Jugyung in the Webtoon (She lead Seojun on and was very selfish and toxic in my opinion with him, while Suho just suddenly dipped when his dad got sick, and never even bothered with a text for 2 YEARS!! So even if I had liked him at one point, I hated him after that).I'm going to be comparing the drama with the webtoon, and I prefer the drama. And I'm basically ranting about the webtoon for 90% of this.
The drama had a better delivery in my opinion. But the first 3 ~ 4 episodes or so cringed me out like you wouldn't believe, and added some unnecessary childhood interaction.
After I powered through those embarrassing moments, the plot actually started getting better, and I liked that Jugyung was able to confront her bullies and wear her face proudly (she could buy better looking glasses).
I loved Sujin's character, and I was very touched by her and her situation, and I loved how the actress was able to capture the role really well.
The side characters, like Jugyung's dad, sister, teacher, friends, Seojun's friends, and the manga shop owner were really fun and amusing when they were on screen, but I would make the biggest eye-roll when Jugyung's brother or mom would appear. They were really inconsiderate and downright cruel at times.
Lady your daughter is obviously insecure about her looks and gets bullied daily. Why are you being this mean?
So I couldn't understand when both the mom and brother made a complete 180 and started being considerate. Don't misunderstand me, it was a really welcome change, but it was sudden and almost felt like completely different people.
Selene, who was not mentioned as Suho's sister got on my nerves. Like she's being mean and always destroying her self esteem for no reason other than she was distracted a little. Like what?!!! I know they tried to make her look all cool and amazing, but she was doing basic make up and humiliating Jugyung and then she calls her cool and awesome. I don't give a F*** who she is, she can't be that rude to anyone. So only the spoiled female idol was bad, but Selene is so cool?
Seojun on the other hand was perrrrrfect. I have nothing more to say other than Hwang In Yeop was able to capture both the role and my heart with his character. Call me a simp, but I would watch this drama anticipating his scenes and swooning whenever he appeared. I especially loved the bromance between him and his friends and with Suho when they made up at the hospital.
So it would would be understandable why I was heartbroken for him when he was crying in the last episode when he got rejected.
I know a lot of people hated that Jugyung would ignore all of his advances, never deserved his love for her and ultimately rejected him. But I was honestly relieved that she never lead him on or was swayed by him like in the Webtoon.
Spoiler for the webtoon!!
In the Webtoon, she actually started dating him when Suho dipped and cut off contact with both of them. And Seojun asked her to be his girlfriend, she agreed, and everything was nice. The problems started when Suho appeared again. Seojun was understandably insecure about her old feelings for Suho and how Jugyung was too close and friendly with him. They fought and she told him to trust her, he thought about his actions, apologized. Later on he would work as a courier on top of modeling, because he was really short on money, as he had to support his mom's hospital bills, and house expenses, but was really embarrassed about it so he didn't tell her. she would call him while he was working, he wouldn't pick up, she was insecure about it. Then he told her about it, after she saw him distributing flyers in the street, and they both agreed that neither would keep secrets from the other. surprise surprise, she was still lying about her original appearance and never showed him her real face, and that was a problem for her, because Seojun would come by her apartment building to give her gifts and such, so it was exhausting her to keep putting full make up on whenever he came.
And one time Suho and her were talking in front of her apartment building with her bare face, Seojun didn't recognise her, and Suho noticed that she hadn't told him .
Later on Seojun was passing by her apartment building while talking to her on the phone, she was there, he finds out her secret, she panics, runs away, a truck almost hits her, he saves her, tells her he doesn't mind, and everything is nice again.
One day she invites him for a morning concert thing with her friends, and the singer on stage asks if anybody wants to sing. She raises his and and tells them he's a good singer. He goes on stage, sings really well, and people love him. His video goes viral, and lots of entertainment companies ask to recruit him as a trainee (like the drama).
He mulls over the offers, and goes to tell her about it.
And here's where she starts getting on my nerves.
He tells her that he wants to be a singer, she tells him to go ahead and stuff, but her thoughts were (I wished he wouldn't)
And he tells her that she wouldn't have to worry about him being fan=mous
She's super insecure about his success, and after that point every time he would go out with his friends and post about it she would get sad, that there may be a girl in the group picture or something dumb like that because trainee girls are pretty. While on the other hand, she would go out with Suho ALONE even though she knew that it bothered Seojun that they used to have feelings for each other. And she would tell Suho her secrets and lie to him straight to his face while having thoughts like (I don't know how to tell him this or that) so she never tells him, until he finds it out himself, and gets mad.
And when he gets mad, she considers breaking up with him, and doesn't call him, so he tries contacting her to apologize. But she doesn't pick up, and and tells him to leave her alone. So when he does, she gets angry that he's not calling.And when he went to her house to apologize, she told him to leave, and that he was annoying when he comes by without notice. Then they make up after HE apologizes.
Later Selene tells her she wants her to work with her on a survival celebrity show, because she wants her to be around, so that Suho would have an excuse to see her more and make her his girlfriend again I guess, because he still has feelings for her after all those years that he refused to contact her (Like video calling or flying her over to him doesn't exist). So basically Selene is trying to make Suho steal someone else's girlfriend, because that's not unethical I guess.
And that survival show is supposed to recruit 5 boys, and they only had 3, so Jugyung shows them Seojun's modeling photos, and they agree. And Selen shows them Suho's photo, and they also agree. But the problem is that Suho hates these kinds of shows and would never agree to be part of them, and Jugyung tells Selene that. So Selene tells her that SHE will be the one persuading Suho, and Jugyung obviously doesn't say no.
When she goes to tell Seojun about the survival show, he's ecstatic. And asks her who else would be there, but instead of telling him about Suho, she tells him that they haven't decided who the last one would be, and doesn't mention Suho at all.
And at that point, I just couldn't read anymore, because I was so angry, so I skipped to chapter 128 I think and she was doing what I had thought would happen.
She called Seojun, who was apparently busy, because he had debuted or something (I'm not sure, because I didn't read the chapters before it), and couldn't contact her for two weeks, and he was like "I missed you", and she said "let's break up"
He was so shocked, sad, and confused and kept apologizing and begging her to stay and tell him why she was breaking up with him, but all she had to say was "We should break up before it gets harder" and more of that nonsense, and kept moping around about it for the next 2 chapters, like she wasn't the one who broke his heart.
Overall, she had no character development, and still stayed insecure about her face, and it started going as far as making me feel like she herself was contributing to the problem.
She also had some major drinking problem and drinking habits that weren't as cute as the drama.
And I think that Seojun was only written to be hurt, and ignored when Suho was back in the picture.
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I dont think it was as good compared to the webtoon
Personally, as a fan of the webtoon i was a little dissapointed by this drama. I felt like some of the characters had a completely different personality than in the webtoon and it bothered me quite a lot. The storyline was also? Weird to me, and i dropped it. I'm not sure if it had gotten better in the later episodes would've gotten better, but it unfortunately wasn't my cup of tea and i felt weird watching it.On the positive side, the actors were well picked! Cha Eunwoo really suited the role of Suho and he even has quite same looks haha! It made me thought if Suho has got inspiration from him LOL.
Original sound track was good too, it brought a nice vibe to the episodes :)
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Should they follow the webtoon?
I know it's a given they won't exactly follow the webtoon but as an avid webtoon reader (i didn't quite like some parts of it they became too bleak for me) i have to say that I can bat an eye for some parts but I don't like how seojun is completely neglected because they dated for roughly a year and she didn't even date suho in the webtoon what I'm interested in is seeing how she progresses because the whole thing is supposed to be about self love and acceptance and I'm not so sure they really convey that...overall I highly recommend you watch this show and maybe take a look at the webtoon if you're interested!Was this review helpful to you?
I'm sorry I dropped :((
Because I liked the one on webtoon so much, I was really excited and was anticipating for this drama. At first, I was like all eyes and ears, because, I'm gonna admit it was fun and really exciting, and maybe because of all the hype. But as the story goes on, it was like too much for me(?) It was becoming too cliché and cringey for me. The only reason I reached the 8th episode was because of Han Seojun (Hwang Inyeop). I'm sorry for all fans of the drama (not referring to the casts), I got bored :((Was this review helpful to you?
