2015 definitely had some great quality dramas filled with buzz and fervor such as Kill Me, Heal Me, Healer, and I Remember You. Even though the three dramas mentioned contains comedy, its underlying plot is heavy and convoluted. Sometimes, we just want a simple, straightforward plot that are guaranteed with comedic chops and hijinks. To me, She Was Pretty is the perfect example for that. It is indeed light, funny, and often times crazy, but there is definitely heart in the drama that tugs our own.
Personally, I've developed a connection with Hye-jin, for many particular reasons. Her character is an embodiment of the majority of women. At some point, she is relatable - and worth rooting for. Even with its flaws, SWP tugged at my heartstrings. I enjoyed it while it lasted, cried during moments of insecurity, and laughed when absurdity comes in full fold. Indeed, the story fizzled out after episode 12 (if I remember correctly), having not enough plot points to delve into for four more episodes. Siwon's ddeol-kija (crazy reporter Shin-hyuk), Hwang Jung-eum's Jackson / Kim Hye-jin and Park Seo-joon's Ji Sung-joon will definitely light up a cloudy day.
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First the things that I liked... I really enjoyed the relationships that developed between all of the main characters and the staff at The Most (yes, THE Most). Ha Ri and Hye Jin are adorable together. While Ha Ri does have some demons I really do feel like the girls authentic friendship was delightful and not something I see in many dramas. The main couple were cute together but SIWON WAS AMAZING. If it were up to me, his character would be the lead of a spin off show. Also shout out to Shin Dong Mi as the Fashion Director. It was a minor role but she brought a lot of heart to it and was one of the main reasons that I loved The Most staff.
Okay, now despite all of that... the story was pretty superficial and a bit of a mess. We had these beautiful characters but their stories didn't really come together to tell anything meaningful. Hye Jin as a young girl and Hye Jin as a young woman have a lot of similar interests but virtually no personality traits in common with each other. One is elegant, the other goofy and the story never explains how just because she ran into hard times a person could change so much. This is just one example of MANY where the plot details are thrown in but never really integrated into the story. The Management Team, Sung Joon's weird eating/zombie habits, Hye Jin's sister, Ha Ri's bizarre relationship with her parents and step-parents, (which had oddly both too much and too little detail)...and don't get me started about the CEO's son mystery. In the end all of these things just felt like red herrings thrown in to fill time around the central love quadrangle.
In summary, I really, really enjoyed parts of this show but, despite the show being about the importance of what's below the surface, as a cohesive drama She was pretty lacked a lot of depth. Watch it for the cute fluff but don't expect much more.
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This review may contain spoilers
When is a woman beautiful? When is she not (anymore)? What does it mean for love? For work?
"She was Pretty" is a true story, so they say. It's about love - of course. The first love, too. And about being a woman in South Korea. When is a woman beautiful? And when is she not (anymore)? And what does that mean for her then? For love? For work? For social life? For your self-esteem?That's what this KDrama is about.
Wanting to be beautiful as a woman is widespread. Needing to be beautiful as a woman is deeply Korean. In hardly any other country do women spend so much time on skin care and make-up. Impeccability of the personality is reflected (in the South Korean self-image) in the form of pure skin and so facial care is part of a comprehensive ideal of beauty. The KBeauty industry supplies innovative products for this. In Germany, there are an average of three to five care steps that women use for their facial care. South Korea has become known for its "10-step Korean Skincare Routine", which (should) lead to a flawless porcelain complexion in lengthy and loving detail work.
In my experience, series that deal supposedly critically with ideals of beauty, bullying based on appearance, discrimination based on aesthetic value judgments and norms tend to have a hard time. They can't really be critical since their sponsors often come from the KBeauty industry... And they can rarely present an "ugly", "repulsive" character as a protagonist if they want the viewer to identify with it and actually watch the series. The subject calls for compromises before the story can even be thought through, let alone be told. Most of the time, this results in a transformation process for the protagonist: she transforms into a beauty that men and women can no longer overlook, and as a result she at last gains (now well deserved) self-esteem.
That's why I'm not a fan of this type of series. Even if the actresses are usually very committed, perhaps because the topic is so important to them. But the story can't help it... In the end, the solution is the transformation - the ugly duckling blossoms into a pretty woman and thus causes plenty of "Aha!". That doesn't convince me personally, because the core of the problem is rarely shaken, at most it is touched on the shell.
Accordingly, "She was Pretty" is not among my favorite series. Still I like it. Why? After all, there is the male character of Shin-hyuk. He's a great guy, he's good-looking, he's got what it takes - but he doesn't act like the norm. He takes a close look behind the facades and encounters the human in the woman, not the image of the woman. And falls in love with the woman as she is (before some kind of transformation). I think we need more role models like this. In "She was Pretty" at least there is one. It's encouraging and also fun to watch Shin-huyk (refreshingly played by Choi Si-won) in his encounters with the 'Ugly Duckling'.
Of course, ugly is relative in this KDrama as always. The protagonist, Kim Hye-jin, was once one of the prettiest girls in her class and totally hip. However, she has inherited her father's skin, which is characterized by a noticeable redness in the cheek area. Also, her hair is naturally frizzy. Although this might disturb the eye of the South Korean viewers, it is actually nothing that cannot be remedied with a few interventions, if a woman wanted to. Hye-jin just doesn't want to. To her it's not worth it (also in monetary terms). Yet that's how she offends people and makes social life and professional life difficult.
She compensates for her flaws (and thus her lack of value as a woman) through hard work. At the same time, she and her goodwill constantly invite others to have her be exploited. There's a memorable scene in which she takes on the new job with a competitor. Her co-worker is what you might call pretty (at least she's done a lot to be). As a reward, she is given permission to manicure her nails during working hours and to work rather slowly (if at all). Hye-jin, on the other hand, is passed around, pushed and insulted. The ideal of beauty for women - beyond performance - thus influences hierarchies in the working world. Unfortunately for South Korea this is a widespread status quo.
With Hwang Jung-eum and Choi Si-won being in a cheerful mood and providing plenty of fun in the midst of the actually less funny social conditions, the KDrama becomes worth seeing. The exalted editor-in-chief of the lifestyle magazine, who changes her hair color and her outfit with the hour and constantly recites from Italian operas, also ensures a good mood.
Ah, yes, this Kdrama is first of all a rom(ance) with some com(edy) in search of a happy ending. Some things may be predictable, but some are not.
As far as the beauty-topic ist concerned: It´s never too far from the norm, but some socially critical echoes could still be sprinkled nonchalantly throughout the course of the story. ...Humor paves the way for serious messages...
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This review may contain spoilers
You know what? I really tried. Some of you might raise eyebrows that somebody is able to drop something when there's only one episode left, but seriously, I do not even care anymore and I'm going to explain exactly why. Story
Ugly Betty. Which actually made it interesting for the first 10 episodes; also, having worked in this setting before, I was engrossed into the whole editing team problems and how hard is to actually write a successfull magazine. That's till the main characters kept being more focused on their cheesy love story, rather than their overall lives, which almost made them look like a bunch of teenagers that sway at the sight of their other half instead of 30 years old adults, till the last few episodes where the setting was once again picked up, which signed some enjoyable moments overall, but a bit late for me to not feel deeply annoyed about most things at that point; everything was rather unbalanced. But turning back to the romcom part, based on the title, "She was Pretty", I expected a love story about a guy that turned handsome and a girl that turned "ugly" (even though Hye Jin was anything but ugly, more like uncared for). I expected them to fall in love despite their very different priorities and very different styles, to learn to accept eachother for what they are, which they did at one point, but the message was never properly delivered in the end; "She WAS Pretty" had no meaning in the end. As you know, Korea is a society that focuses on looks to the point of obsession, the drama was initially good at showing us that, if you have messy hair and don't apply make up, people are going to look at you almost with disdain, if you're fat, it's even worst, alienation and bullying is going to await you; well, unfortunately, drama didn't manage to keep to its own theme. During the last 6 episodes, it barely even mattered anymore; I felt like I was watching a different show entirely, which was a real pain for me because I really enjoyed it overall up to halfway through. What could have turned out as a memorable fashion-related-setting romcom with the good message of "looks into a superficial world don't necessarily have to matter", fell into the usual troupes of its own genre.
Characters:
Mostly superficial. Bland. Nobody saved itself, besides Shin Hyeok. And let me get this straight. There have been attempts of giving them deepness and character development. I liked Seong Joon's condition, I liked Hye Jin's self sacrificing personality, I liked Ha Ri's inner struggle, but they went nowhere. By episode 15 of the show, Seong Joon turned into a hopeless romantic, Hye Jin turned into an observer, just simply answering and reacting to what was happening (typically romcom heroine), as for Ha Ri, useless tragedy and convenient reason to drag the plot, but I did appreciate her resolve to start doing things on her own, without any help. The rest of the cast? Forgettable, despite being lots of developing potential through the editing team characters as well, but just ignored for the sake of romance. As for, Shin Hyeok, he was the only character that knew and had any shades of "greys". And no, for any one of you that is starting to assume, no, I am not a Siwon fangirl, I didn't even consider his existence till this drama. And no, I did not exactly ship Hye Jin and Shin Hyeok; to be sincere, I did not ship anybody. He was just the character that connected them all and that, in the end, tied them all up and motivated all of them up. If there's a reason why the characters managed to reach that little character development that they had, is exclusively because of Shin Hyeok.
Acting/Cast
Hwang Jung Eum. Oh, Hwang Jung Eum, you are only sweet when you stop overreacting, sweetheart. Comedy doesn't mean overreaction; no, let me rephrase, comedy doesn't mean yelling and hiding under tables, dropping everything in your way and act as if you're on crack 90% of the time. It's the problem that I had with Kill Me, Heal Me comedy as well, when she was involved. For the rest, I must praise Siwon, of course. I don't know if he improoved or not from his last role, but I really liked to witness his famous "derp faces", as well as his funny to bittersweet expression changes. It was very warming. As for Park Seo Joon, I must compliment him when he had to deal with his post-traumatic condition, but besides that, not much else. The rest of the cast was pretty much average, didn't really made me care about their performance.
Music
Forgettable and limited. I can't remember any of the tracks up to now.
Tools/Storytelling/Execution (because I consider them important enough to mention now)
For once I didn't feel that spammed by flashbacks as I usually do when I watch Korean dramas, which is good. The filming was also deal with pretty nicely, I guess. I at least have nothing to complain. What I do have to complain about though, is the storytelling and execution. There are lots of points that are ignored from episode 1 of the show, which people tried to assume, but till an official answer, it just stays as that: assuming. For example (jump over this if you don't want to read SPOILERS), we have Hye Jin complaining and saying that she wished she had Ha Ri's face and body, yet, as the best friend and "wife" Ha Ri is supposed to be, did she try to help Hye Jin? No. Did Hye Jin ask for help? No. Explanation? None. Another one, Hye Jin is asked by the director to be more Most-like and she tried to apply make-up, which she fails horribly. Why did that happen? Pride because she had no intention to ask for help? Then what about later? Somebody that has no idea how to even apply eye-shadows, suddenly becomes able to. How? Errr....And there are more but I'm just going to END SPOILERS HERE.
You might say that nobody cares and these are just me picking on unimportant details; well, I must bring to your attention that these "details" makes the "execution". I do not take a story seriously, when the details just don't match or are skipped over. It's a superficial way of storytelling and execution that I will never aproove of, unless its intent IS clear to be superficial to begin with and have a completely different goal than me focusing on the story.
Overall
It was painful. The reason why I dropped it when I only had one episode left, is because it was so painful to think of what it was and what could have become, that I couldn't bear my frustration anymore. I don't usually drop series. I watch even what doesn't particularly interest me; a good show can be good even if I'm not emotionally invested in it or I can't care less about the topic. I even keep watching it, when I find it bad, but at least I can have fun to point out everything wrong with it. In this case, I couldn't even have the pleasure of laughing at it, for how frustrated I became. If it rode on Kill Me, Heal Me's popularity? Maybe, yes. But I don't count that as the only factor why it failed. And I didn't even like Kill Me, Heal Me either.
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One thing that caught my attention was Seo Joon's acting in certain scenes, which i thought he did a wonderful job with. On the other hand, Hwang Jung Eum, and Siwon. Usually in dramas when they try to act funny, it just doesn't work, but here, i think these two did amazing, because i actually found myself laughing at them occasionally.
All in all, if you're looking for a drama that's light to watch, has those funny side characters that make you laugh with them, and a pleasant atmosphere, this would be it!
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Okay, so for the story, we have a love square with the majority working together at the same company and/or having a lot of money. Cliche much? Extremely so. The character that picked this drama up was Kim Shin Hyeok. He was one of the best second-lead characters I have ever seen, he just knew how to entertain his peers and become loved by all. And yet again, we have the best character overlooked by our main heroine. I'm sorry, but Shin Hyeok has pretty much everything (personality, looks, charisma, etc.), and yet, he doesn't win. Anyway, besides the fangirl-breaking-of-hearts, the plot could have been better, but despite everything negative about the story, it could be quite enjoyable.
Now, this is what I'm talking about. Hwang Jung Eum. Park Seo Joon. Go Joon Hee. Siwon of SUPERJUNIOR. What a line up. Everyone thought they couldn't get past the idea of Jung Eum and Seo Joon going from siblings to lovers, but that was forgotten about completely as soon as the fourth episode ended. That is just how well done these actors are, and the directors and writers should be proud of their acting choices. I don't want to babble on so much about how amazing these actors are, but there are a few things I want to say about Siwon. Firstly, thank you for making me laugh so much. He pulled off Shin Hyeok's character amazingly and I'm so glad to see him diverge from his normal, chaebol-like characters (although Shin Hyeok is still a rich character). After She Was Pretty ended, you have no idea how much pain I felt knowing Siwon was going to leave about a week later for his military service and I couldn't see him again for two years. Good luck Siwon in the army!
I don't think I've found a drama where I have disliked the music. The soundtrack for this drama was superb, and I especially loved the track of Only You by Siwon himself. It has such a lovely tone and I could not help falling in love with it (along with Siwon again). Not much else to say, just listen to the soundtrack if you haven't.
I doubt I will watch She Was Pretty again. As much as I loved the amusement that this drama brought me, I can't going through Shin Hyeok-Hye Jin scenes again without mentally crying.
Overall, acting and music for She Was Pretty was absolutely brilliant and I could not complain, however, the story was a bit of mess and over-the-top cliche. Writers, you need to step up your game with drama stories and make more unusual ideas.
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The story is not the most original and it's pretty basic: the cute and smart girl turns ugly growing up while the shy and fat boy becomes sexy and all (and, of course, NOT nice towards the main character).
Some parts were a little bit too silly but they were acceptable (??) even for someone like me (I even laughed out loud at some points!). After the 10th episode, however, the drama became less funny and this is the only flaw I can say about this show.
One thing I didn't like is that they never explained why and HOW Kim Hye Jin turns """""ugly"""" (c'mon, even with messy hair Hwang Jung Eum is NOT ugly! Nice try PD-nim!) and goofy but that's what makes this drama special: it's crazy.
I think all the actors had great chemistry with each other but I supported Kim Hye Jin/Ji Sung Joon couple more than the Kim Hye Jin/Kim Shin Hyeok one. It was my first time seeing Park Seo Joon acting and I think he was REALLY good: I fall in love with him XD I hope to see him in more serious roles...
It was also my 1st time seeing Hwang Jung Eum acting and I think she's a great woman and actress; I hope to see her more as well!
Last but not least: Choi Siwon (aka The Living Derp)! How is possible to NOT love him and his character, Kim Shin Hyeok?! Believe me, this guy is unique!
The OST is really cute and relaxing! Can't wait to have the full collection of the songs!
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The story isn't special nor is it different. It's like a generic Bollywood movie plot blended into Korean style. Yes, there's a Bollywood movie of a similar premise which I happen to dislike but this drama is way better. A drama which was a strong 9, the rating went down to an 8 because of a few issues which I couldn't overlook- the revelation happens too late and the last episode was downright awful.
Anyway, thanks to this drama I discovered Park Seo Joon and he is so handsome! I was skeptical about the drama as I didn't know the cast very well but they managed to make me like them a lot. Hwang Jung Eum has been on a roll since Secret. Seems like she's an actress whose works can be trusted. She seems to pick good dramas most of the times. She acted well in this drama as well. Also, Siwon was wonderful. He was cute and I managed to have Second Lead Syndrome a lot of times in spite of Park Seo Joon being there. :D
This plot may or may not be for everyone but I really like cute stories based on childhood love. Plus it had a good soundtrack. A couple of songs really stood out for me and I have them on my playlist for more than a month now.
These days romcoms themselves are rare and watchable ones are even rarer. I am glad I decided to give this drama a go because it was definitely worth all the time. Sadly, for me hardly any drama possesses rewatch value so I am gonna rate it low on that.
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Then there was this cute story of this long lost first love, that due to all kind of shitty life things, got lost. And whoo, after so many years they find each other again and it's just hilarious.
THEN there's Siwon. As there is no other way to describe, he's just the life of the party called She Was Pretty. When everything in the storyline went a bit bad - there was Siwon. And I loved his role in this drama.
It was fun to see a bit of in depth 'magazine making' and just the general message of "follow your dreams - even though life is hard and you don't really dare to dream so much anymore". I loved it. This is a the kind of drama that picks you up after a long day at work (or school/uni). Or just when you just had a really shit day. It's like a warm blanket of happy and fuzzy and cute.
Also this is my first time writing a recommendation/review - I've watched many drama but never really found it necessary to write a review. So yay, She Was Pretty! :D
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The series started off well, but midway through it got boring and lost a bit steam and because of that I cannot give it a perfect score. But it was sooooooo good even without the steam at the end that it was difficult not to. Has to be one of my favourite rom-coms along with Coffee Prince and You’re Beautiful. The actors were amazing. I totally fell in love with Choi Shi Won- period! He was so witty and soooo funny and it showed me how flexible an actor he is. Also it was definitely refreshing to watch Hwang Jeun Eum and Park Seo Joon together. I wasn’t expecting them to show such a sweet and hot chemistry on screen. Even the supporting actors were amazing and so cute, they had a totally “Most-like” look (you’ll understand after you watch this drama ^_^).
All in all a cozy and super fluffy and funny drama with a lot of cute moments in it. Has to be one of my favourite rom-com. For all the Oh Ri On and Oh Ri Jin fans who shipped them in Kill Me Heal Me, this drama is totally for you guys and those who didn’t(I was one of them btw :P) will totally love it as well. And yes I am pretty sure that after this drama history will repeat itself and Hwang Jeun Eum will be paired with Choi Shi Won, Amen to that :p. Pungent, refreshing and totally worth your time! Saranghae She was Pretty. You shall be missed <3.
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The story is extremely basic as far as romances go. There's nothing new about a pretty girl pretending to be her supposedly less attractive and insecure friend. There's nothing new about a second lead who has no chance with the main girl. There's definitely nothing new about a makeover, that you know is inevitable from the title alone. Dramas use clichés because they work. The romantic plot is far from original, but the love story is still very sweet.
What was unexpected is that the romantic chemistry is not the main thing that kept me watching. Hye Jin & Seong Jun make a cute couple, but I didn't like them much in the beginning. Seong Jun's abrasive personality, and borderline Asperger's social skills, were a bit of a turn off. He is a jerk so often that it was sometimes hard to actually like him. Hye Jin is the exact opposite. She is nice to a fault, and for the majority of the show she overreacts to any and everything wide eyed and very LOUDLY! She easily says "ottoke" well over a thousand times during this drama, which was becoming annoying, not endearing. Their chemistry, and backstory, does make up for it, but starts to get really extra cheesy in the last few episodes. If The romance alone carried the show It would have gotten old very quickly for me (even with the kissing scenes).
The relationships I actually loved more than the main romance were the friendships with the two supporting leads. Ha Ri and Hye Jin's friendship was so great to see. It felt good to see two friends love and support each other that much. Their friendship is what made watching the love triangle so engaging. I was more concerned with their friendship than with which girl would get the guy.
Then of course there is Si Won. I already read about him stealing the show in reviews before watching, but didn't really think much of his character at first, because he was so silly. After a while it was clear that he was not only the true star of this drama, but also hands down my favorite character. His scenes made me laugh (the "Jackson" thing was so funny to me) and broke my heart (had me literally tearing up). Soon I was more invested in his friendship with Hye Jin than the main couple. Whenever he wasn't on screen he was missed (Ironically I felt the exact opposite way about him in "The King of Dramas")
The rest of the cast was good, and I did like the staff at THE Most (especially the ridiculous Kim Ra Ra, who was consistently doing "the most"), so the scenes regarding the magazine were entertaining. The magazine plot does start to take up most (pun intended) of the show's time in later episodes, but there wasn't much to that story either. It was clear throughout this drama that they were trying their best to stretch the story out to fit 16 episodes - which of course means plenty of flashbacks, frustrating coincidences, and scenes meant to sell you a particular Nikon camera lol.
It's also been a while since I liked a soundtrack, and I liked this one. They even threw in the song from "A Tale of Two Sisters", for dramatic effect, which is one of my favorites. I'm also a fan of the Carpenters.
I don't know if I would rewatch anything more than specific scenes. There were just too many filler moments to make me want to watch the entire drama again. However, I did end up marathoning through it in 3 days (so it wasn't too boring), and I really did love the ending. Not only did I love the way they wrapped up what happened with all the characters, but the overall moral (about being supporting characters vs leads in our own life stories) really touched me.
Overall, As rom coms go, I was not disappointed. The plot is far from perfect, but characters were the driving force in this drama, not the story. Being predictable didn't stop me from wanting to watch it all happen anyway. If you watched "Kill Me, Heal Me" and wondered "what if..." then you may get a kick out of just seeing Hwang Jung Eum and Park Seo Joon together again. If you even slightly like Si Won, you should definitely watch him in his element. I hesitate to recommend "She was pretty" in general, because there's nothing extraordinary about it, but it still delivered what I expected it to in an entertaining way. Sometimes a simple love story, with some laughs, is all the drama you need.
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