Beauty Newbie (2024)

An adaptation no one needed

I'm actually writing this review much later than I actually finished the series, because I was certain my angry screams weren't quite review material. And when I say angry, I was seething.

This is one of the worst things I've watched, and the moral, feel good factor aside, this was literally a mess. After all that, they didn't even get the moral, feel good story right, did they?

I'm trying to be as eloquent as I possibly can, otherwise this would just be a lot of angry rambling, about how the story was beyond horrible, that having the lead spout some generic pap about forgiveness and togetherness after making her go through 12+ episodes of torture and bullying doesn't really cut it. It's so messy and difficult to watch. The storylines are either incredibly boring or downright offensive.
The characters are also the literal worst, I had such a hard time rooting for any of them. You just go from episode to episode wondering how people can be this horrible, insensitive and just plain annoying at times. Sometimes, you just want to go feral and jump through the screen to knock some sense into them, because mostly, they all suck.

The acting.. it wasn't horrible. Well, it wasn't horrible from everyone except the leads. You would think the leads would be the two characters you would most want to see, that they're the ones you would root for, but never have I ever come across two characters whom I have wanted off my screen. Kind of worked though, because Win's character Guy, he's barely in it. Great's character Saint probably had more screentime, as probably did Jane's character Faye. Which would have been fine since the two of them actually acted, but like I said, you don't really want to see any character on screen. Except for Ann. Ann is good, Ann is the best.
Now because Guy isn't featured a lot, he doesn't share a lot of scenes with Baifern's character Liu, and Saint has more scenes with her. So there were a lot of people who had a hard time believing in Guy and Liu as the main couple, and while there may be some truth to this, I don't think it was the main problem. Win and Baifern just don't have chemistry. Yup. They have absolutely no chemistry together which is surprising because I've seen a bunch of their works and they're good actors. They could have pulled off these roles with a much better nuance than they actually did so I don't know what happened. I will admit that the screentime Guy got does have something to do with them not being able to quite convince us that Guy and Liu work well together, but when it comes down to it, the leads have no chemistry. They're both always yelling at each other, or yelling that they're hurting each other or crying about hurting each other that by the time they cross all their misunderstandings and get together, you're praying for them to break up.
Which brings us to the pacing. 10+ episodes on needless bullying, manipulation, trauma, which doesn't really stop until the last ten minutes of the finale. It just shifts from one person to another until you're clutching your head, begging them to end it. And if you came for the romance, let me tell you it took literally forever for them to actually have some semblance of a good relationship and even then, you really can't care enough.

This review is already longer than I intended it to be, so I'll try to keep the rest of my thoughts to a minimum. It was difficult to watch, I appreciate that they tried to portray the reality (to some extent) on the emphasis of physical appearances that is forced onto everyone these days, but nope, it didn't work. It absolutely did not. After everything is said and done, let's be honest, this was an adaptation that never should have happened.

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The worst remake I have ever seen.

Before starting this series, I was excited to see Win as the protagonist. But when I saw the first episode I knew this was going to be a disaster, unfortunately I was right.

The Korean version is a very important series for me because I identify with both Sumi and Mi-rae. I could feel the pain that they both had to endure what toxic society demands of us women. Be beautiful, thin and kind to the point of hurting yourself so that this cruel world will accept and love you. They both suffered in different ways, but they were both hurt in the process of being accepted.

Here the first thing I felt was that Liu did not carry the same burden and they did not judge her as much for her operation. Which is a crucial point because Mi-rae by having to go through those horrible criticisms of hers was able to overcome, accept and love herself as she was no matter what others said about her.

Secondly, his great hatred towards Guy was problematic. She made the character frustrating until the end. She could unconditionally trust anyone she barely knew, except Guy, who she really hated for no reason. It is very ridiculous and her character was not well written or well executed by the actress. I really think it was a bad decision for the actress to take this role, she didn't really convey any kind of sympathy or compassion for what an idiot she was.

Guy... Well, I started watching this because I was excited to see Win. But the minutes on screen were so few that it made the chemistry between him and the actress difficult. He didn't acting well either, he looked like a robot. Unable to resolve or help Liu like Kyung Seok did with Mi-rae. I think he still needs a lot of training to act.

Faye... the actress acted well. I think she is the only redeemable one in terms of acting. But her story was ridiculous. Her motives of hatred towards Liu were also. Sumi hated because a friend of hers stole the boy she liked for an operation. Not because of whether she had money or not. She really lived in a pigsty. She barely had a mattress on the floor to sleep on. Still, she Faye complained when she even had a computer to streaming lol.

The ending was just as disappointing for me. I really wasn't expecting anything at this point but it still managed to disappoint me even more.

I liked that Sumi made a change in her hair, and she who hated perfumes will start using them. I also liked seeing that there was a psychologist to treat her mental problems. And the conversation she had with Kyung Seok.
I also think it was a good decision for Sumi to take a break from university so she could be better about herself. And although she and Mi-rae didn't become friends, it was a nice gesture that she returned to university just to give Mi-rae the perfume she always used to wear as a gift from her.

With the damage that Sumi did to Mi-rae, it was totally normal that they couldn't be friends but that Sumi, in her own way, thanked her and asked for forgiveness.

Faye and Liu... they could never be friends with someone who really wanted to see you destroyed. That's not credible.

Saint was really annoying, when the sunbae's character was actually very kind and understanding. He seemed more of a protagonist than Guy and that was the case until the end. I also didn't feel that friendship that Kyung Seok formed with his sunbae. The only thing Saint did was bother.

And what can I say about the final kiss? Nothing really romantic and everything very forced. Since Liu spent most of his time hating him, they couldn't have had chemistry. It also seemed like Win was being forced. He and the actress really had no chemistry at all.

The Korean version's message is much deeper but no one wants to watch it because it's "boring." So what was this?

It was torture to watch it, but I told myself I was going to finish watching it so I could have all my thoughts about this remake clear in my head.

And no, I didn't want it to be exactly the same. I don't criticize him for that. A remake always brings new things and that's great. But here time was wasted on so many absurd things that the essence of the original work itself was lost (I'm referring to the webtoon).

The director and the screenwriter really did a very bad job.

So no, I don't recommend it at all. I know there will be people who will like it but from my point of view if you are looking for a well-defined message, with romance and chemistry, just don't watch it.

I for one will pretend this drama never existed and will never watch it again.

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