Im Soo Hyang plays Kang Mi Rae, a girl who's "Gangnam Beauty" looks contradict with her shy and insecure personality. I thought she did a good job making Mi Rae sympathetic, and a character I wanted to root for. Sometimes I think she played up the shyness a little too much, and at times her wide-eyed stares felt less sincere and were more annoying. She is matched with Cha Eun Woo as Do Kyung Suk, who plays the emo-est emo rich kid that ever did emo in the history of "Emodom". I thought he played his anti-social hottie role quite well, but he had some wide-eyed extra robotic moments that bordered between cute and laughably bad. Their relationship was pretty sweet, but anyone expecting romance should lower that expectation. Their chemistry is much more awkward than anything. Still cute, but very VERY awkward. Maybe the age gap had a little to do with how tentative they seemed around each other at times, but they still looked pretty good together.
The rest of the cast was good, even if some of them were typical for this kind of drama. I really loved Mi Rae's parents, and liked Do Kyung Suk's family drama. I liked the students, although some were definitely more memorable than others.
Oddly my favorite performance in this drama was Jo Woo Ri as Soo Ah. She definitely helped to keep the show interesting, even though her actions would feel a little repetitive at times. I thought she had the best role and performance.
I know my perspective is different, as an outsider to Korea, but the themes were generally universal and often relatable. I will say their ideas of who was supposed to be attractive vs who wasn't were very odd to me, but the way Mi Rae broke everyone's' looks down was a nice touch. I doubt I will ever really understand the pressure to be attractive in Korea, or how normalized plastic surgery seems to be there, but I think we all can relate to wanting to fit in, and struggling to become comfortable in your own skin when society implies you aren't good enough.
Meanwhile, I am also a person who was distracted by Im Soo Hyang's plastic appearance, but that's probably because the show brings so much attention to her looks, when I would normally just overlook it. At the same time, I loved the way they handled how she used to look, and thought that was a smart choice by the director.
Overall this is a drama that actually tries to say something important, which I appreciate, even if sometimes it was as subtle as a hammer to the brain. It may not get high marks for romance, but they do make a cute unlikely duo, and as a coming of age story I was definitely entertained. This drama also touches on topics like bullying, harassment, sexism, abandonment, image pressure, suicide, domestic violence, eating disorders... without making the episodes depressing. Just consider this a feel-good drama about becoming confident in who you are, and not letting the past dictate your future. I may not have loved it as much as others, but I certainly loved the point it makes.
Oh, and the use of PSY's "New Face" was a cheesy but nice touch!
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I wish to add content warnings on this review, no other spoilers!
First of all, I want to start with listing all the content warnings about this drama that I wish I had seen before starting it. There will be no other major spoilers of the story I swear! I just felt some of the things in this drama could be really triggering for some people, and that there should be some warnings.CONTENT WARNINGS:
- extreme misogyny all over the plot
- a LOT of sexual harassment
- bullying (about appearance)
- eating disorders, glorifying/normalizing extreme dieting/losing weight
- man acting threateningly/violently towards a woman
- self harm attempt
- physical fights
- older men (6+ years older) chasing after young women
The story of this drama was okay, but I felt very uncomfortable a lot while watching this. I originally thought (because of the drama's plot summary) that it would be a wholesome romcom story about realizing your inner beauty, but in reality it really focuses on everything that's awful about living as a woman. I watch dramas to escape real-life problems a lot, so to see so much of women's struggle on screen made me uncomfortable, especially when I was expecting some fluffy wholesomeness. (Also see content warnings list above to see other reasons this drama made me uncomfortable.)
The cast was okay, the male lead seemed inexperienced in acting and his character was really one note. He had the exact same facial expression for like 85% of this drama. But he seems very young so I'm sure he'll be able to improve in the future if he wants to. The female lead was honestly an idiot for most of the drama, who made stupid decisions with weird excuses. But that's not the actress' fault but the writers'. The side (female) characters were the best characters in this whole drama in my opinion. I absolutely adored Taehee, Yoonbyul and Hyunjung. Kwak Dongyeon (Wooyoung Sunbae) is one of my favourite actors, but his character hanging out mostly with the freshmen main characters was a bit weird because he was so much older than them. Most of the other male characters were either creeps or just rude which wasn't very ideal or comfortable to watch.
However this drama has some very good OST songs, I might even add some of them to my playlist later.
Overall I scored this drama a 6.5 because it was just so uncomfortable for me for most of the time I was watching it. Also some of the characters' actions were really stupid and made 0 sense, which was very frustrating to watch. Not to mention that the only characters I actually really liked were side characters. If you liked this drama a lot, good for you, but it just wasn't my cup of tea.
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Gangnam BORING!
This was one of the most boring dramas I've ever watched mostly due to the fact that this romance was like watching paint dry. The FL had absolutely no personality and the ML was stiff af. By the time I realized that the FL was never going to develop beyond that one tortured expression that she kept making, I was too far in to drop. Also Sua, who was supposed to be this great beauty, was one of the most basic looking girls on the show. Ugh, I really did not enjoy this drama and found myself skipping chunks so I could just be done with it.Cet avis était-il utile?
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Precious Fluff with a Healthy Side of Substance
I originally wrote this review halfway through the drama, and I'm happy to confirm it did not disappoint me at all afterwards. So many kdramas become consumed by the male lead in the back half, or otherwise forgot to follow through on the female lead's story. But this wasn't the case at all here, because Gangnam Beauty was committed to Mi Rae's growth. The times that it strayed from her, it tended to follow the stories of the other women in the drama, most significantly antagonist Soo Ah's own perspective on beauty and self-esteem, but also Kyung Seok's mom and her attempts to reconnect with her children.This drama hit all the right notes for me. I was really reluctant to watch it because often stories about makeovers or plastic surgery have very negative messages which suggest either that your life will be better when you are "prettier," or else they emphasize the fat shaming and fall into the very tropes they're trying to fight against. But Gangnam Beauty did an excellent job of questioning beauty standards and showcasing the hypocrisy of a society that only values women for their appearance. I think it's only real flaw in my book is that it had what appeared to be PPL for a diet pill in one episode, but the pill was used by Soo Ah and the protagonist Mi Rae later called her out for all the methods women use to be the "most beautiful" when all they end up doing is hurting themselves. So while I would rather they never have shown it, I'm glad they turned it around after.
Anway, onto the cast: I think Im Soo Hyang and Cha Eun Woo did very well as Mi Rae and Kyung Seok. Even if the latter is a little green as an actor, he believably conveyed the subtle shifts in Kyung Seok's "coldness" and watching him warm up and become open as the drama went on was a treat. But of course, it's Soo Hyang who carried the weight of the drama on her shoulders, and she made Mi Rae's paralyzing fears very relatable while still allowing her inner strength to shine through. The side characters were all well-cast in my book, and their personalities were realistic and charming or even more realistic and infuriating as needed. I loved that the show never became solely about the romance - although the soft and slow progression of said romance was perfect for both characters - but really incorporated university life and friendships throughout.
I read the webtoon because of this drama, so I'm biased in the show's favor, but I think it conveyed the message from the comic appropriately. Adding Hyun Jung as a best friend for Mi Rae was an excellent choice in my book because it helped us understand how Mi Rae made it this far and showed that you can have a support system and still feel alone on a larger scale. Plus it set Soo Ah apart as a woman who lives for competition (even though that's something that society is partially to blame for as well) in comparison to several other girls in the show who were genuine in their intentions even if they sometimes fall short. I also like how it called out certain kdrama tropes, allowing our gallant male lead to learn more about how to respect the female lead even though he already started off leagues ahead of most men.
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Great message but delivery wasn't always there.
I enjoyed the show which is why I rated it quite high but I found the storyline a bit all over the place with no real depth.I loved the message of personality over looks, which can be shown in not only the main leads storylines but with all the characters. The "pretty people" were not all horrible and vain, while the "ugly/inadequate" were not all humble and nice. You were given a full variety of characters which made you really enjoy learning about their personality behind the "face value".
Though I will say I felt a bit disappointed with the main leads since while i did understand why they were both reserved, i was expecting their true personalities to be shown a bit earlier. I also expected more give and take between them, while it seemed like the male lead was extending himself and making a lot more changes within his life vs the female lead. The female lead seemed quite reluctant to help or extend herself to help the him but it is easily can be contributed to her insecurity and being unsure what to do in those social situations. Still the female lead did gain confidence and courage, she learned to find her own happiness that is not based on being "pretty".
In the end I just wished that we got more storyline after the main female gained her confidence, since that was when we got to really see her personality and also saw more of the male leads personality since she helped to bring him out of his shell. Still all in all it was a good series with a good message.
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I liked how it talked about taboo topics that kdrama land doesn't show often. For example,suicide,lookism and sexism,plastic surgery...etc.
I also enjoyed the feminist side that the writers added,the tshirts that the female lead wore were amazing but sometimes her personality was totally different from what they were portraying. Thank god her character slowly developed and learned not to judge someone solely on their looks because they are much more than an item to be displayed. And also learned how to stand up for herself. It was absolutely annoying when she didn't.
The acting was okay,it could've been better tho,everyone including the main leads were pretty mediocre.
Also one of the other things i disliked is that they were trying to send the message of "everyone is beautiful in their own way" but at the same time they were promoting weight loss products and saying things like "She's on a diet. She's trying to get a boyfriend" or "Let's go on a diet and get prettier together",i mean...
But overall,it was a refreshing and enjoyable story that made me squeal from time to time.
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Hypocrisy in the show
I thought a lot before giving this rating because I actually loved the story... however, I couldn't overlook the hypocrisy that was presented in the TV show.The show talks about how outer beauty shouldn't define who people are but there are many moments where eating disorders are enforced.
First of all, wile showing the wrong behavior of Soo Ah who pretends that she can't gain weight, the show shows us the name of the diet pills she takes as an advertisement... more than once. There are no warnings before they show her binging and purging either.
Second, skinny characters who are shown as normal like Hyun Jung are continuously dieting to get boyfriends???? What exactly are they trying to normalize?
These, among other things, made me give this rating despite the fact that I like the overall story.
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First couple of episodes are a bit awkward because they're focusing on all the "prettyness", pretty boys and pretty girls and even at the introduction ceremony at the university they are openly talking about how pretty the new freshmen are, it just felt a bit uncomfortable for me and I was happy it didn't last - but it did serve to set a tone initially.
The main female lead, as a child, was considered by her peers to be ugly and overweight. When she stepped up to fix the weight problem and became slim, they just found other names to call her and focused on their opinions of her face. This kind of long term bullying has a big impact on kids and you can see it has had a huge impact on her throughout the entirety of the show - any time you're thinking "oh jeez just say it already" or something, you need to reflect back on this history very carefully because it's completely undermined her way of thinking throughout her life.
As she gets older and looks to go to University she gets cosmetic surgery and completely changes her look - coming out the other side of that, she's now stunningly beautiful and that's essentially where the story kicks in.
Throughout the story, a lot of complex issues are covered, mostly those facing young women relating to cyber bullying, dieting, peer pressure, self confidence and many more.
The characters are great, even the one that starts looking like the nasty girl proves to have layers upon layers and a very detailed backstory that explains how someone gets to be the way they are today and some of the underlying non-obvious reasons for it. Towards the end when they were focusing more on that character, I was desperate for that character to just reach out and ask for help.
There is some irony that as I understand it, the female lead in reality also had plastic surgery and there are those commenters online who have been sadly shaming it. I've also seen comments that they felt the male lead was quite wooden but I actually liked the representation of that character - the put a shy guy inside a handsome body, someone who didn't know how to socialise and didn't know how to be around others because he always kept to himself. As someone who has always been that way myself (the shy bit, certainly not the handsome bit) I can only say I saw a lot of his manner reflecting my own personality and the way I would have reacted.
I also really liked a lot of the secondary characters, and the ML's mother was probably my favourite, the storyline of her reconnecting with her son and daughter was very touching and handled superbly by the author.
The OST didn't have any particularly memorable tracks to it unfortunately.
This story has a lovely slow burn romance throughout and I was utterly hooked from the start to the finish, watching it in two days flat. I totally recommend this one if that's the kind of story you're looking for.
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Kim Kardashians butt
Story- The story centered around a girl who got plastic surgery without both parents approval because she thought she was not beautiful. First of all, they wouldńt even show her actual face before the surgery so the watchers have nothing to conclude other than the fact she got plastic surgery because she was bullied. Even when she does get the surgery she still gets bullied and is unhappy so then it´s just frustrating watching her be so unconfident about something she so confidently wanted. Her overall character was just her being sad throughout the whole show and not showing much growth. The personalities of both the characters may have been why the chemistry felt so bad or maybe even the dialogue, but either way the romance aspect was so bland, which made it so hard not to drop the show.Acting- The acting was not it, the producers should have checked the chemistry between the leads. Even with a bad dialogue or clashing personalities I should still at least feel something between the actors but I just did´nt.
Music- I honestly don´t rember the music, if I ever rewatch I´ll change my rating.
Rewatch value- Not rewatchable at all.
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Second Female Will Anger You Like No Other
It's been a long, long time since I've seen this show but the one thing I do remember is that the second female was absolutely, horrendously, evil. Now, I've never seen The Glory but I've heard it's pretty dark. This is probably not even close, as I heard that is physical, but she is definitely twisted.Kang Mi Rae (Im Soo Hyang) is really sweet and after seeing True Beauty I realize they are a bit similar in story line and characters. Not to mention Cha Eun Woo is in both, and in both he plays the main lead!
I don't think I'd watch this again because I was livid throughout most of this show and then even more livid at the fact that we the audience are meant to feel sorry for the bully.
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The only minor reason I didn't give this a full 10/10 rating was because I wasn't a huge fan of the way the antagonist was dealt with. While I liked the attempt to give them a backstory and have it be in line with the message of the drama, it was basically all crammed into the last few episodes.
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