"Did I become a butterfly in my dream or did I become me in a butterfly's dream."
For a moment, I thought it's going to be one of those cheesy and sensational plotlines with the usual stuck-up chaebol, the very reason that has dissuaded me from watching this till now.But Beauty Inside deserves much better than that. Beneath all of the Hallyu star and rich chaebol glamour, the drama explores the dark side of media and social perceptions in a nouveau and refreshing context. It proves that inner beauty MATTERS as we witness the female protagonist battling her identity crisis in a society full of piranhas that are constantly preying on her, all while scandalously saving the day by protecting those in need.
The pairing is irrefutably perfect, like that of My Love from the Star or What's Wrong with Secretary Kim. It is cynical at first but, because of that, it has the opportunity to become extremely sweet and charming. For once, a rom-com is able to survive and flourish without a love-triangle to pull the tension.
After having seen the slice-of-life Because This is My First Life, I'm shocked by Lee Min Ki's transformation, to say the least. He was able to shed his quirky guy-next-door vibe and become such a slick executive. On the other hand, the chic Seo Hyun Jin that we have come to know from Dr. Romantic and Another Miss Oh has made me fall even deeper in love with her gorgeous fashion and even sassier attitude. And when you start questioning how to survive all of this, you'll be hit with the stunning and wholesome second couple, Lee Da Hee and Ahn Jae Hyun no less.
The OSTs are to die for with K.Will's explosive vocal, Davichi's wistful melody and a slight momentous twist featuring up-and-coming artists like Rothy, Vincent and 2morro.
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This is the best drama i have watched by far this 2018. I highly recommend for you guys to watch this drama, but i also warn you that this is not for everyone as this tackles more of a mature love. Like finding and getting to meet your other half that could complete and compliment all your flaws. that is also the reason why i rated it only a 9.5 despite being the best for me.
Talking about the plot, i love how this drama started as cute, and just completely corny cheesy, and funny but it starts to get serious and picks up itself in the middle of the series without completely letting go of that romantic comedy drama vibe. I am just amazed as to how the writers were able to make this drama come up as something sweet and heartwarming and not overly comedic unlike some dramas that came out this year. The plot and the main topic of this drama was just so beautiful. Portraying love beyond the sweet and romantic kind of love we know but it is rather loving someone for themselves and their personalities and traits. Finding that love, like one has been searching for his/her other half and finally feeling complete and alive after meeting that person.
As for the acting & cast.. i can only say wow! I love how they casted actors that are around the same age. I think this is the reason why they were able to create the fun, easy, and friendly environment around the set and also it allowed greater chemistry among them. Lee Da Hee looks so pretty here! She perfectly matches the role of Do Jae's sister and clearly she slays the rich heir to the company role with her pretty face and slightly cold looks. I have to also say, I love the Seo Hyun Jin & Lee Min Ki pairing, their kissing scenes are the best! This couple can make even the sweetest subtle scenes look so heart thumping and give you all the feels! Another bonus is that they are cute and sweet on and off set! The way Lee Min Ki looks at Seo Hyun Jin even off cam is just so sweet that i am secretly hoping they are actually a couple. ^^
Overall, I have to give props to JTBC and the whole cast and crew of The Beauty Inside for making such a great drama. I hope other dramas would step up their game and produce wonderful results such as this one as well!! and I will definitely look forward to more Seo Hyun Jin & Lee Min Ki collaborating in the future!!
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I won't go into the details, but this is basically a story about two people who seem uniquely matched, and in some ways ill-fated. There is also a general theme about empathy and opposites attracting, which is also echoed by a secondary couple. These are very common themes in Kdramaland, but usually, the story becomes more involved and engaging with each new episode. The opposite happened to me while watching this. Everything interesting happens early on and then too much of the time is filled with repetitive tropes and boring scenes full of annoying banter that goes nowhere and adds nothing to the overall story. Her uniqueness remains unexplained for the entirety of the show, and his issue is resolved so simply that it almost felt like cheating. Well, at least there's a great pairing to carry the show, right? Well, yes... and no.
The cast is lead by Seo Hyun Jin as Han Se Gye, who I am a big fan of, and she hasn't disappointed me yet. Instead of playing the quirky odd lead, here she plays a celebrated actress... but don't worry, her quirky charm still shines. She is matched by Lee Min Ki as Seo Do Jae, who usually takes some time to grow on me. He is always super low key and straight-faced in the roles I've seen him in, and this is no different. His robotic charm and her unpredictable energy do work well together for the most part, and they have good chemistry, especially in the earlier episodes. The main problem I had with them is that, once they didn't have a strong conflict to play off of, their scenes started to feel more forced and cringe-worthy. I feel like sometimes they tried too hard to be cute together, and it just turned out to be more annoying than adorable.
The supporting cast was a mixed bag of people I really liked and people I could barely stand. Lee Tae Ri and Moon Ji In both played their loyal assistant/bff roles well, and had good chemistry with their bosses, but one character who I was never really sold on was Ahn Jae Hyun as Ryu Eun Ho. I honestly don't get his appeal at all. Much like Lee Min Ki, I've always seen him play low key characters, but having two low energy males in one drama felt like a downer at times. My problem with Ahn Jae Hyun is that his character is meant to be super attractive and innocently charming, but to me, he just felt subtly arrogant and often boring. The dog's acting had more range than him. Most of his scenes, especially the drinking scenes with Han Se Gye & Woo Mi, made me want to skip all of his dialogue completely. The one thing that made me almost like his character was his chemistry with one of my favorite characters in the whole show, Lee Da Hee as Sa Ra. I loved Sa Ra's mean but reluctantly nice attitude, and matching her with a guy wanting to be a priest made their relationship fun to watch. There were times I looked forward to their scenes together as much as I did the main couple, but like the main couple, their story became very repetitive and dull towards the end.
Also, keep an eye out for lots of glaring cameos! It's almost like actor product placement lol!
Would I watch this again? Definitely not. There's just way too much filler to justify 16 long episodes worth of show, and every episode felt like an eternity to me! I even fell asleep while watching more than once. I would have to skip through most of the scenes just to rewatch the parts I like. Also, the last 2 episodes were so incredibly boring that just watching all the combined flashbacks would basically give you the entire drama in a nutshell. The ending didn't do much as far as closure or answers either, so even completing this drama until the end the first time felt like a waste of time.
Overall, I wish this drama was better since there was the potential for it to be good, but I think the lack of a strong storyline, the repetitive moments and flashback abuse, the way too easily resolved conflicts, and cheesy dialogue make it impossible for me to recommend this drama, even to die-hard romcom fans. There was a missed opportunity to create a really interesting love story, but instead, they decided to go with standard clichés and a super light-hearted and safe plot that won't make audiences too sad or upset. They even tried to imply a meaning for the main character's "identity crisis", but it came across to me as an afterthought and a stretch that failed to give this drama the substance it was going for.
But I guess, like beauty, this drama is in the eye of the beholder. Count me among those who are unimpressed with "The Beauty Inside".
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Seo Hyun Jin acting was good but, I preferred her in previous dramas such as another miss oh and temperature of love. The same goes for Lee Min Ki I didn’t really love his character as much as I wish to have done. I felt as though I had seen him play this same character in Because it’s my first life - emotionless at first but gradually romantic and wanted to see something different.
This drama just misses something for me, the chemistry between the leads was there but maybe the writing was what lacked in the drama it just felt very ‘safe’ to me. The ‘fantasy’ element of the drama wasn’t really there the drama is set in morden day, the only fantasy element was the fact she changes appearances sometimes.
Music- the music wasn’t exceptional but it was good. I did like a few OST’s.
Rewatch value- I cannot see myself rewatching this drama in the future it as it just didn’t have a lasting impression on me. It was just average and I’m honestly surprised at some of the high reviews of this drama especially since the drama had no real plot.
On the other hand, this drama can be praised for it’s attempts to reverse roles and have the female lead be the one that change her appearance rather than the male which is shown in the original story.
Overall, if you are looking for a thought provoking or unpredictable drama I’m afraid this isn’t it, unlike the title suggests it to be like.
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I know a lot of people were quite excited for this drama, because it is a remake of the popular korean movie 'The Beauty Inside', which I really, really adore. The movie was full of sadness, Woo Jin's life was life that noone of us could ever imagine. He had a new face evey day, he didn't even remember his own body. While here, in the kdrama version, Han Se Gye changes into a different body for only one week a month. It is very different from the original, so that's why some people were hesitating if the remake will be as good as the original. Well, trust me, it is.
I know it might seems like the cliche, cheesy dramas where the rich chaebol falls in love with a girl who has a hard life and they overcome their problems together blah blah blah. Well, it's pretty much that. But there were many other more important problems - self-acceptance, learning how to love yourself and the others and it shows the importance of the inner beauty.
I loved how the two main characters completed each other. With the help of Do Jae, Se Gye learns to love herself and all of her bodies. He helped her realise that her inner beauty is the most important. Do Jae also learns to love himslef thanks to Se Gye. As a man who suffers from Prosopagnosia, his life was a mess. He was insecure, lost, he didn't know where and how to ask for help. These two were really an inspiration for me.
I wish the second couple, Se Ra and Eun Ho had more screen time, I loved them as much as I loved the main couple. Ahn Jae Hyun was really something. His smile and chubby face were just out of this world.
I didn't like the melodrama part. I guess it was a necessary part of the development of the plot, but still. There were also some rushed moments that felt out of place. That's why I'm giving it an 8.
The cast was amazing! Seo Hyun Jin is my favourite actress and I was so happy to see her paired with Lee Min Ki. They both nailed it!
So. overall, 'The Beauty Inside' is a beautiful drama with strong characters and relationships and I recommend it to all of you.
( Also thanks, director-nim, for the cameo appearance of the Another Miss Oh cast at the end, it made the ending even more beautiful! )
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The acting overall was excellent, The music was good, especially the song by K. Will, whose voice has the capacity to make you want to weep no matter what he's singing about. But it was spoiled by over-use, and by the end I was sorry I had downloaded the song. Maybe I can listen to it in a couple of years.
Some people seem to really like the show, others, like me, found more to dislike. IF it weren't for Lee Min Ki, I wouldn't have lasted more than a few episodes. YMMV.
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I still enjoyed this drama despite the last 4-5 episodes. Also,character wise, this drama was full of strong independent women and i liked the raw emotion and depth that the characters had (and wittiness).
I also kinda wanted to see more from the other characters like Sa Ra and Eun. They grew so much on me that i was more interested in them than the main leads.
Overall,this would've had a better rating but they used up all the the plot they could think of up until the 10-12th episode. But give it a go if you like cheesy, fluffy light hearted romance dramas.
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This is not your typical rom-com, yes of course it's funny but it's also deep, meaningful. It's about accepting & loving yourself & by doing that, you love & accept everyone else with all the bad & the good, with no prejudice. No matter your gender or physical appearance, love is love.
The women of this drama were so smart, powerful, gorgeous & very confident, INTELLECTUALS. Also +100 stars to this drama because the men didn't have that disgusting fragile toxic masculinity that you often watch in korean dramas. THIS IS A MUST-WATCH. The only thing i regret is that I didn't watch it sooner.
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However, Beauty Inside is a complete waste of time. It looks like the writer and producers just vaguely thought they could make money out of the movie's good plot idea. They turned it into a "healing drama" to follow the 2018 trend, and stuffed it with as many clichés as possible.
We have to bear once again the boring chaebol settings. So the male lead is of course a CEO, who has much more power than our actress heroine. He's a jerk but he hides a terrible disease (he doesn't recognize faces), so we are bound to soon pity him and find him "cute". The heroine has a weird condition of changing appearance once a month during one week (!). She is supposed to be strong but she is just as cliché as most drama heroines. It's hard to believe that it's a JTBC drama.
This main couple is unbelievably boring, not only because the characters are empty shells, but also because the 2 lead actors have no chemistry. Lee Min Ki has zero expression on his face during the whole drama, to the point that he looks ice cold even when he reunites with his lost love after 1 year. I like this actor usually, but here he is just lazy, acting the same as he did in his previous drama (except that it was justified, then). Seo Hyun Jin was much better in Temperature of Love, but she takes her job seriously in Beauty Inside, and puts efforts into her character although Se Gye is very poorly written.
The second couple is not interesting either, even if Lee Da Hee stands out among the cast.
There wasn't enough substance in the script to make a whole drama, moreover a 16-episode drama. Hence they tried to add unnecessary drama to keep the viewers interested, like this absurd melodramatic plot device in episodes 9 and 10, that made me lose the last tiny bit of interest I could have in this drama.
They also accessorized the drama as much as possible to fill time, adding some supposedly cute elements to bring the rom-com feel. They added a little dog like in Thirty But Seventeen, a drama that was broadcasted on SBS just before this one. But contrary to Thirty But Seventeen, they never treated this dog as an animal, rather as a prop, a toy. They put it on the sofa or on the dining table like a decorative object. They customized it with clothes to fit the actors' clothes in each scene. They even made it wear dresses and hats that covered its ears! Poor dog. it's my first time being shocked by this kind of thing in a drama.
Beauty Inside is one of those dramas that should never have been made in the first place. I hope Seo Hyun Jin finds a better work to showcase her acting skills next time.
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PREPARE TISSUES WHEN YOU WATCH. I don't cry easily when watching dramas, but along with the lovey dovey scenes, there was also raw emotion. I'm glad the writers and directors didn't just breeze past it for the sake of adding a tragic element to Hyun Jin's character. They dove fully into and gave those emotions the appropriate screen time they needed to be fully fleshed out. Do Jae's little sister (Lee Da Hee (actress)/Kang Se Ra) also stated something very true about the process of one recovering from sorrow.
I was truly awestruck by Seo Hyun Jin's acting. She made me feel her pain with her soft tears, happiness with her bright smile and continuously impressed me throughout my viewing of the drama. I'm sure a large reason for why I loved her acting so much was because of her character, who is an actress. Actors and actresses tend to be nouveau rich, and Hyun Jin did an excellent job of portraying a down to earth, yet wealthy and ambitious woman. Her leading half, Lee Min Ki also did a great job in his role as a conglomerate who came from an already wealthy family.
The only problem I had with Min Ki's character is that he was so expressionless. Even when smiling or laughing, it felt so artificial and I felt like I was watching a robot at times. What made this worse was when his character was joking around or crying. These scenes just fell flat for me because there didn't seem to be any authenticity to the character. This was a huge con for me personally. It also majorly affected their chemistry, especially in the first couple of episodes.
As well, as is with most dramas, the last few episodes were a bit laborious to get through. Most of the plot had been resolved and you already got a sense of how it was going to end. Still, it's always nice to see how it ends. I recommend skipping episode 14 however. An hour long episode felt like 5 hours; it. was. PAINFUL.
I'm always a sucker for side stories and friendships. I loved the friendship between Se Gye (Hyun Jin) and her two best friends. The bromance between Min Ki's character and his secretary was also incredible and you really got a sense that they have known each other for years. I also loved the romance between two of the secondary characters. At times (especially near the end), I wished they would show more scenes of those two getting closer. I was watching on Viki, and many people were commenting the same thing. This just serves as a reflection of how strong the cast is and the nuances in the story; it was more than just a sudden romance exclusively between an actress and rich boi. There was friendship, family, loss, discovery of love and self love.
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This review may contain spoilers
When I heard about this drama I had to check out the movie first. This drama is good to watch if you want something light and not too heavy on the heart. There's a sad part in the middle of the drama but it's only short. The acting and ost are really good and I love the characters. At some point I didn't really feel the drama was dragging. I love Sara. She stood out to me in this drama. Overall, it was a fun watch. It made me cry a bit. It would have been nice if they revealed Woomi's boyfriend. Was this review helpful to you?
