Sunbae, Don't Put On That Lipstick (2021)

Soo annoying

I felt like this is Chinese drama, the characters are the same, shameless ML and selfish FL who all the times most hurts the ML. The main annoying thing is the FL can love any number at any time and can do live happily without ML but ML only wants to be with FL even though she pushes away and rejects number of times and insults the most.
In this drama what I got annoyed is
1. till 10 episodes FL push away the ML and rejects all the times but ML always run towards FL. Every time when she scold ML not to annoy her he always tells that from now on I will definitely keep distance with her but again in next second whenever he saw her he shameless ran to her and again get scolded, this was repeated number of times
2. In most of the episodes they screened only ML and FL, by some how they happened to be in same place and he ran to her and both starts the boring conversation and the main drawback in this drama is in most of the time they are not in relationship and their chemistry is very poor.
In acting wise FL did her best but the ML I don’t know how he became main lead in drama without good body language and with that poor acting skills. I really liked ML’s elder sister she looks very beautiful and her acting skills are way up to the limit.

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Career vs Love

What I like on this story is the simplicity of the story it talks about love vs. career. Which is very common. I like the poor and rich story or from poor to rich but I like a story with no financial standing involve. Although this story have third party involved I love how they didnt make it an over dramatic ex vs present.

In addition to this the story of heunseungs sister with the daughter is also interesting. I like how the cinematography didnt leave any small details like focusing on certain heavy scenes.

Before I like the cliche story with over dramatic plot but as I get older I seemed to like simple yet warm stories. Like run on..... encounter and this. I am actually disappointed on how lame kdramas nowadays compared to 2019 and below kdramas. Maybe on the next upcoming months for 2021 there will be new interesting kdramas.

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A breath of fresh air

I'm not gonna lie, I started this drama with low expectations. When i read the summary I was a little bit interested but the first episodes were a big a turn off to me. The whole "He's cheating on you, so why don't cheat him with me?" that the male protagonist throwed at the beginning was pissing me off, as I thought he should at least give some time for the female protagonist to digest the whole situation.
I decided to insist on it, and I was positively surprised. The drama managed to portray how this situations are handled in the real world, in a real workspace. Aside from the romance, they brought subjects that are often neglected when it comes to dramas that involve offices (like the dilemma that Song A faces in the last episodes, for example) and actually handled a serious matter in a responsible way (Jae Shin and Hyo Joo relationship).
The second paires weren't less interesting than the main one. Personally, my favorite side story was the drama between Yeon Seung and her husband Woo Hyun. That was one of the most unexpected developments for me, as I thought it would take a completely cliche route. Although I felt kinda bittersweet, I'm really glad by the way things were solved.
(Major spoilers ahead)
My main concern was the development of Jae Shin and Hyo Joo relationship. There's no secret that it was completely one-sided and that Hyo Joo was emotionally dependent on Jae Shin. Towards the last episodes, I feared that they would go back together and simply forget everything that happened. But again, thankfully, they took another route and it had a very satisfactory end.
I started hating Jae Shin but as the drama progressed, I felt more and more sad about his situation. I'm glad that he wasn't portrayed as a complete villain, but still got to pay for the things he done. Although I think that some of Jae Won actions towards him were a bit harsh.
(End of major spoilers)
Jae Won and Ji Seung dynamic was my absolute favorite, as they both were already experienced in the relationship field. They were very cute, and a great comic relief when the main story got heavy.
(Major spoilers about the last episodes)
Now, to Song A and Hyun Seung relationship. It started one-sided, but eventually Song A started to open herself and allow the feelings she had to come out. I have a little issue with the fact that it always seemed that Hyun Seung was the one who did everything in their relationship, the "only one" who was working to make it right. But I guess that Song A had her own way to express her love for him, as it was showed in the last episodes. I also really liked that they showed the struggles of long-distance relationships, that are often portrayed being perfect and without any issues.
(End of major spoilers about the last episodes)
To summarize, the drama had more ups than downs for me, and I really enjoyed how they decided to end it: no big "villains", just normal people who made mistakes and had to deal with the consequences of it. It was, as I said in the headline, a breath of fresh air to see a drama portray real situations and how they are most likely to be handled in the real world. Definitely recommend it.

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Lean on me

Honestly, this show was pretty good, there were points in the show where I couldn’t stop smiling. In the beginning, I really didn’t know how I felt about it. I saw there were like 16 episodes which made me feel off. But I could say it’s pretty good, a little drawn out but I loved the plot. I’m not going to lie there were moments that made me want to pull my hair out, but overall this show was cute. I wouldn’t completely go over the description that is on MDL as that isn’t the biggest problem. I thought that would be the biggest problem but seriously that’s not it, it’s a warm show. To put it together this is an office romance show, if you’re into that give it a try. I wouldn’t completely say that this is about older women and a younger guy, there are bigger issues in the show. Also on the MDL page, it says it’s a comedy, this show isn’t funny. Not saying that in a bad way, but rom-coms are different. This show is a more feel-good drama. Everything about this drama will make you want to continue watching. The first couple of episodes will get a bit boring but you just have to get through those get to the good part. The director picked great actors for this role, I’ve watched both of them in shows before and equally love them in these characters. I literally have the biggest crush on Rowoon and his character, this man is so fine and so tall, a scrumptious man. These two have great chemistry, it didn’t feel awkward watching them, also the side characters were great. I loved both of Hyunseung's sisters, their stories were great. And the plot for Song-ah I wished they went into depth with it, but like it was a moderate amount. The soundtrack not as memorable but I did listen to it after the show and it’s not bad at all. Episode 15 will put you on edge, but I 100% recommend this show.

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What is with the female lead?!

I have mixed feelings about this office romance. Rowoon as the lead was adorable and everything you want in a boyfriend, I also appreciated how he started as being obsessed with his crush but didn’t allow it to become stalkerish and gave her space. As for the female lead, she was fine as an actress. BUT as a character I wanted to slap her so many times for her selfish behavior, there were so many red flags. She chose her career over human connection and happiness. I don't know that she actually had much of a redemption arc, since she was always taking in the relationship.

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Not the most novel storyline but enough bright spots

There's a distinct lack of tension and intrigue to this show as its primary arc of the office romance between Ro Woon and Won Jin Ah sticks to checking the usual boxes. It's not altogether unwelcome though and even has some very nicely executed moments, particularly in later episodes. Ro Woon undoubtedly is effortlessly charming and has all the other attributes to carry a show as the central character. As a bonus, his sibling chemistry with Wang Bit Na and Ha Yoon Kyung (his older sisters) is marvelous.

The slow build of the pairing between Na's designer and Lee Kyu Han's chairman is a nice secondary storyline and the chairman provides some badly needed lighter moments. The most compelling secondary plot, however, is Ha Yoon Kyung's splintering marriage and this deserved far more screen time than it received.

Sadly, the show has limitations which ultimately cap its appeal as anything more than an amiable enough but not compelling production. Among them is Won Jin Ah who is a capable actor but not dynamic. The office crew around our main duo is present in many, many scenes, but they are rarely noteworthy. A strange subplot of a video channel run by a mask-wearing host appears, then disappears for almost the entire duration and then needlessly and distractingly pops up in a later show.

But the most serious flaw is the character of Lee Jae Shin and his portrayal by Lee Hyun Wook. The character is alternates from boor to bore. While it is theoretically possible to be a less sympathetic character without being an outright serial killer, it's a matter a relative degree. It's far, far beyond credible not only that three other seemingly bright and mostly morally upright characters would tolerate him and even have strong emotional attachments to him. Trying to shoehorn in a childhood broken family backstory to drum up sympathy only prolongs the discomfort. It doesn't help that Lee Hyun Wook's range is limited to sullen and petulant to sullen and irritable. The show would have been far more compelling to jettison his presence after the primary arc no longer required it.

What will stick (hopefully) is that Ro Woon should be in high demand to lead a show with a more complete package around him.

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An ensemble drama trapped inside an office romance, SWNK is filled with heart but lacks focus.

There is a lot to love about She Would Never Know. So much to love that at times I found myself frustrated that I had to see its glaring flaws. I wanted to give this a glowing review. I wanted to give this a score in the 9's. With some of the content and story lines found here, I wanted this to be an exemplary show and benchmark for Romance in the Kdrama world. This is honestly a story about how we all hate ourselves and how love fights to save us. It holds many lenses to society from family pressures, homophobia, divorce, ageism, success, to of course social strata and wealth. But to do this it employs a roster of characters that work outside of the main plot, and thus causes the story to constantly lose focus on its characters and main drive.

SWNK sells itself as an office romance, and even its poster plasters two sets of couples photo-shopped into this setting. In the beginning this is what the show delivers. You meet our female lead Song Ah (Won Jin Ah) a career driven, kind but hard, character who has garnered the respect of everyone that surrounds her, and her 1st year trainee Hyun Seung (Rowoon) a dashingly charismatic and handsome bright eyed follower. She is oblivious to his lovelorn stares and he is hopelessly lost in a secret love that consumes his every movement and thought.

Enter a third face from the poster, Jae Shin (Lee Hyun Wook) the BM (Business Manager? Never told to us through subtitles) or Head manager of the team they all work. He is revered as the greatest manager of the entire company, his team the strongest performers, and is best friends to the grandson of the conglomerate family that owns all their livelihoods. In the first episode our towering main male lead Hyun Seung discovers that his secret crush (FL Song Ah) is secretly having a relationship with Jae Shin, and his heart breaks.

But, his broken heart turns to anger when, by the episode's end, he discovers, through his sister's bridal shop, that BM Jae Shin is actually engaged to be married in a few months time to the granddaughter of the company they work for, (Our 4th face from the poster Hyo Joo (Lee Joo Bin)). And this is were our introduction to this world ends, and so does the first episode.

Everything seems inline with the MDL description, the poster matches this story delivered, and we come to love and hate the characters easily in the first go.

But then we get to the second episode and people are confessing hidden feelings already, the secret love affairs are laid bare to those involved, and almost the entire set-up from the first episode is resolved. What does remain is finished up by the third episode and what, you thought, was another love triangle you were going to have to sit through, is torn apart with our main lead Song Ah, building as much respect from you as a viewer, as she commands from those around her in the drama. She is broken behind closed doors, but steady and decisive in public to those that both confess their love for her, and those that confess their lies to her.

Within the first 1/3 of the series every character is on a different path and the push and pull of romances becomes peaceful. BM Jae Shin is completely severed from our main leads, and yet we keep spending time with him. We get his whole backstory, flashbacks and all, we meet his family, we learn everything as to why he is the way he is and how his life managed to get to this point, and you begin to wonder, Why?

Why am I still learning about him? Why does his character even matter at this point? Why am I spending so much time with him? You then realize you are spending just as much time with Hyun Seung's sisters and their lives. You are having entire stories of them making friends, falling in love, and working on rocky marriages. You are spending time with the grandson and director of the company, on his journey to find love, and discover the truths of his friendships. You are having an entire story in another town focused on the mother of our female lead, that seems just weird to have its own locations, extras, and characters.

And that is when you, or at least me, realized you have to switch gears. As much as the first episode set it up as a romance, as much as the poster and cast list claim this, and as much time that we do spend with out 2 main leads trying to fall in love and be in a relationship, this is NOT A ROMANCE.

This is an ensemble drama about these characters and the trials of their lives and their loves. It is a very different beast, than what it is trying to squeeze itself into. People want romances, they sell well and have a large audience, and so this story packages itself as such to garner views. But it really wants to explore many types of love, loss, and stages of life from many viewpoints and different characters.

When you switch to this mindset, you realize you want our main couple to get less screen-time. It isn't that you dislike them, I loved them, and it isn't that their romance isn't worth watching, it very much is, but it is that all these other characters and stories have a lot to say, some of them much much more to say, and the characters are just as interesting. If the drama is going to bring them up and have us deal with them anyway, then why not dig in and give us some real depth because they are worth it.

Of note, one of the strongest subplots revolves around one of Hyun Seung's sisters and her failing marriage. There was a sense of dread with this story line, as South Korea's open homophobia is well documented, and this single story could have made me really hate this drama. But it end up shining here, a beacon of what Kdrama's could give us, and yes, it brought tears to my eyes.

Unfortunately the series does cave-in to the whole Kdrama time jump for the last episodes which are set three years after the rest of the series. If you have read any of my other reviews, you will know my strong feelings on this now very over-used plot device. Here the series handles it a little better than most, BUT it still is an unneeded venture. All the characters are in the story lines they were in before the jump, something unrealistic considering some of the plots in play as its been 3 years of stale-mate. It does work more for the main 2 leads and their tale, but they were at a certain point before the jump, and well basically spend the last 2 episodes trying to get back to that same point.

Maybe if the story would have been told better over the time frame such as half set in 1 timeline, and the second half in the other. Or if there were three divisions of time. The start of it all, the middle and Europe, and then the end and each given equal weight. I actually would have enjoyed more of the reversal in roles we got at the end, and would have enjoyed watching the characters fight against themselves, but as it was delivered, it is just superfluous and dead weight.

Thus, in the end, the series doesn't fully work. It can't decide what it wants to be. A love story of two people and just stick to them and their tale while trimming all the fat around them to bare necessity. Or if it wants to be an ensemble drama which would require trimming the main couple and giving a bit more to the side stories. It doesn't trust itself enough to write their tale in the here and now and not need to give us tropes and plot devices that viewers have come to expect and rely on. And it leaves some subplots and side characters unfinished. Did Song Ah discover why the mascara was drying out? Did anyone find out why Jae Shin was asking for stock reports no one wanted? Are Hyun Seung's parents alive and how wealthy is his family? Did the chef come to simply break up the marriage and is evil? What happened to the other manager and his plot and backhanded dealing? Will he continue to work at the company with what Hyun Seuyng knows about him now that their families are intertwined? The list goes on.

But what it does deliver is fantastic. The acting strong. The characters painted with detail. Rowoon, shows that if he truly wants to dedicate himself to the craft of acting he could really end up something special. And many of the stories you do get to experience are worth their screen time. As such, I can't give it the marks of 8 and 9s that I want. Yes, personally I loved what was here. But I also can't be blind to what it lacked and what didn't work. 7.5/B/3 3/4-stars. It shows its flaws but remains strong and will likely be enjoyed.

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Too Sweet for Life!

First I would say I'm in love with the two leads, Hyun Seung & Song Ah are just the perfect couple. Their story is completely makes you feels like you're also in love. Both of the lead chemistry so real that they manage to take you on their love journey.

This drama, even if it's focused on the HS & SA, didn't left of all the supporting character stories, which makes it so special and complete in my view. The relationship between Ha Eun and Hyun Seung, Yun Seung & her husband, and how she deals with her family matter is something that's heartwarming and shows her true feeling for the family and for the husband, it is true love for her. Surprisingly I also enjoyed Ji Seung and Jae Woon story, it's pretty fresh and funny.

I like that I don't find many cliche and draggy story, I can enjoy the whole ride of this drama with many emotions, and a lot of laughs. It's a good drama to watch on Sunday with a hot choco or tea in a cold weather, it just has that vibes.

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The Chae Family Chronicles.

I expected something subpar by seeing the MDL ratings. This drama is perfect for viewers as a palate cleanser… if you are not much bothered by office banter and business. I have zero idea about how a cosmetics company works, but seeing a fictionalized portrayal of it through this drama was engaging.

The story as a whole does not belong to the main characters alone. Chae Hyung Seung, a marketting trainee under the guidance of Yoo Song-ah (his sunbae), knows his emotions well: he has a terrible crush on his Sunbae. Her lack of awareness about his feelings doesn't deter him from giving hints nevertheless, but his hopes are dashed after he finds out that the object of his affections already was in a secret relationship with the Branch Manager, Lee Jae Shin. Hope springs eternal when he discovers that the BM had a skeleton in his closet too: he was engaged to Hyo Joon, the granddaughter of the company's chairman. With the help of his sister, Chae Ji Seung, who makes wedding dresses, he forces Song-ah to witness her partner's back stabbing at Ji Seung's store.
A broken Song-ah is desperate to break off her sincere emotions, and Hyung Seung decides to veer fate in his favour, despite the endeavours he would have to go through, both personally and officially.

I was slightly creeped out by how absolutely persistent Hyung Seung was in chasing his Sunbae. (I'll just use that term.) I did find his feelings to protect her quite sincere, despite how trenchant he sounded while warning her against pursuing Jae Shin. He slowly grew out of it once he knew his feelings were out in the open. While he was a more lighter character, both his sisters stories are explored just as thoroughly as his. His second Noona and her 7 year old daughter were some of the scene stealers.

It was suprising to see Hyung Seung's entire family in the spotlight, which was why I decided to title my review as mentioned.

Song-ah aka Sunbae had a lot going on in her plate. Her repressed emotions got the best of her at times and her crying scenes were heart breaking -- Kudos to Wo Jin Ah for that!
But, I did wish that I got to see some of her mother's point of view. Her slowly growing to learn about Hyung Seung was interesting to watch and I loved how open she was about her thoughts. I found her romance with Hyung Seung quite calm, warm and healing.

Now... Jae Shin was an idiot. As the story progresses, I could see why Sunbae fell for him -- he had the potential to be a male lead, but threw his chance into the trash can right in the very first episode.
Although, I admire his perseverance in the business field, romance wasn't good for him.

The office gang was a surprising highlight of the drama. The rapport and support among it's members were delightful and heartwarming. I adored Lee Jae Woon's comedic moments.

The OST was absolutely beautiful, particularly the BGM at the end of EP1 and the end of EP16.

"She Would Never Know" is the most suitable title if we view it from Hyung Seung's point of view since he is the one who gets the ball rolling -- his Sunbae would suffer utter despair and humiliation if she doesn't know about what was going on behind her back. But, I find the original title more endearing and incites
A sense of curiosity: "Sunbae, Don't Put on That Lipstick".

Well, I discovered why he said that. It was a warm drama and I'm sure that I would probably rewatch it once again when I'm in need of a refreshing change.

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