The story of She Was Pretty is nothing new here, childhood sweethearts who grow up looking for one another except with the twist of puberty not being too kind to our female lead while the ugly fat duckling grows up into a cool handsome swan. However despite the cliche premises, I adored the story and all the extra elements they injected, such as the metaphorical 'hidden character' in the painting which is symbolic, and the mystery behind several characters. And lots of squeal-worthy, cozy moments to be had here if you're looking for that. The other characters and secondary relationships are also strong in this one, that to say it is complimentary to the main story does not do it justice. What made the series alive to me was that the other characters outside of the main couple, also faced very real problems and did not get cheated out of a good profile or storyline. Yes I'm talking about Siwon's Shin Hyuk who might just be the best Second Lead ever (possibly even more popular than Sung Joon the male lead). I would also like to defend Hwang Jung Eum here. I see enough criticisms about her overracting, but I simply think that Kim Hye Jin was written to be this clumsy, OTT bumbling fool, a rather stark contrast to what she was in her childhood heydays, and a complete opposite to the calm, collected and cool that her childhood sweetheart had become. Her over-the-top antics is therefore necessary, and big part of the comedy here. Siwon does not disappoint either with some very natural comedic chops and Park Seo Joon can deliver the different sides of his character when needed while stealing a couple key scenes. However with all the potential presented for a great story which I could only describe as strong in the beginning, it started to become underdeveloped as the show went on. Not weak or bad, but fell somewhat flat considering the promise and places it could go from all the ideas writers were throwing at us in the beginning.The latter half did not live up to what was built in the first few episodes.