Beautiful Gong Shim began as a drama with infinite promise in the rom-com area. The two main characters are quirky and at first glance, you just expect a cute little romance that you can enjoy without much thought. I'll also point out that the first few episodes included some of the most ridiculously funny moments I've ever experienced in any drama, so my expectations were incredibly high as the rest of the episodes came out.
A little past halfway through it, though, the plot tried way too hard to be serious and suspenseful, thus losing its initial humorous merits. The feeling is somewhat like listening to your grandparents tell stories: at first, you're pretty interested, but it quickly gets boring, yet you feel an obligation to sit there until the very last word. I stopped finding things to laugh at. The romantic moments were less rewarding in the midst of the mess of the conspiracy plot the writers drew up for no apparent reason. The characters deteriorated and lost every trait that made them unique.
If there were one redeeming aspect of this drama, I'd have to say that it's Nam Goong Min. Usually a professional in depicting a psycho serial killer in other dramas, this time he's the lead male with a fair amount of goofballness. He was a joy to watch, but his character was not spared in the enormous *let's-make-everyone-generic* massacre. Everyone else fulfilled their roles nicely, but Goong Min's really the star of this show. (Which is interesting, as I thought the directors would give Minah more of a spotlight but she really dropped off the radar late into the drama. I could say less of the wig they made her wear though.)
The music was fun; there were multiple tracks that cheered me up along the way and altogether, they were nice to listen to.
In general, I'd recommend watching maybe the first ten episodes, if not less. The beginning is worth watching, as it puts a smile on your face pretty frequently. It's just the second half that becomes appallingly boring (trust me, you probably wouldn't even miss anything if you skipped straight to the last episode as soon as the story even starts to drag).
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Then the focus was lost or shall i say shifted. The Dan tae birth secret and uncovering culprit should have and would have made an okay side plot. Instead this thin plot with an unremarkable antagonist (that was transparent and revealed very early on) was stretch to fill many episodes. If they had stared true on the Gong shim path, more on her character development, growth in career and confidence and interactions with both Dan tae and Jun soo this drama would have been better. Instead she became a prop, mostly on the sidelines and only utilise when the writers feel like it.
Overall the storyline is forgettable but i will remember the wig, the brush Gong shim used to brush her teeth and some of the cuter moments of the trio.
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Story:
As a rom-com drama i have to say it was good. The romance between Gong Shim and Ahn Dan Tae was really cute and pleasent to watch. I wish there were more romantic moments between them though and also more kisses, which semeed too unnatural for me. There were a lot (like.. a lot) of funny moments and funny characters and i think these funny moments made me love this drama. What i didn't like in the plot is that there were some moments that seemed too unrealistic, at least to me.
Also everything was really predictable. Even from the beginning you know what's going to happen, you know what the writer's idea is. I don't really mind that though, it was interesting anyway.
Acting/Cast:
I just love the cast! When you see Minah as a main role, you'll probably think that she will ruin the drama with bad acting or something like that because that's what most people think that when they see kpop idol as an actor. But no, Minah IS good at acting. There were moments i just forgot that Gong Shim was actually Minah, she did a great job! But i have to admit, Gong Shim inspired me so much! She is really strong, she never gives up. She acts friendly even with people who hurt her feelings, just because she is too good. And the most important - she knows how to love herself.
It was my first drama with Nam Goong Min and i have to say i'm surprised (in a good way). His acting is really natural and it was just a pleasure to watch him.
Joon Soo is the one who made me smile the most. Ohn Joo Wan really did a good job. His character is really lovable and it's easy to like him.
What to say about Gong Mi though... Yeah, sometimes she was annoying, she was too unnecessary selfish, but i couldn't bring myself to hate her. The actress is pretty and gave me a warm feeling, so i didn't mind Gong Mi most of the time.
I didn't like Bang Eun Hee's acting, her voice were too deep and the way she was talking was so strange that made me cringe.
Music:
I love all the OSTs, especially Coffee Boy's song. It's a song that makes your heart flutter wherever you hear it. Most of the songs are like that - they make you smile like a fool, they make you happy.
Rewatch Value: I will rewatch this for sure. Maybe when I'm sad or maybe when I'm bored, but I'll definitely watch this again.
Overall:
This drama made me happy, it just gave me the warm feeling i needed. It made me believe in my dreams to some extent, so i don't regret watching it. If you love cute couples, even more cute bromances and funny moments this drama is definitely for you. Don't expect too much and you won't be disappointed.
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The best part of this story is the relationship between Gong Shim, Joon Soo, and Ahn Dan Tae (I don't know why the sister is even in the promo pic). The bromance, the romance, even the rivalry works. Together they are hilarious and heartwarming. I loved weird Gong Shim, in her wig. I think Min Ah was a strong leading lady. I loved sweet Joon Soo with his perpetual smile. Ohn Joo Wan is adorable. I loved seeing Nam Gung Min not play a sinister bad guy, but instead play a strangely adorable character with a random super power. The early episodes, where we get to know these characters, and they get to know each other, are the best episodes. It's like a completely different show compared to the rest of the drama. As soon as they started getting more into the missing kid storyline, the show went from fun romcom to the stupidest mystery thriller ever.
I am so angry at the writing that I actually had to google the writer. Apparently she wrote for some dramas that I liked, so I don't get it. I am giving the story a 4 only because of those early moments between the 3 characters, but honestly the cast deserves the credit for that. The story itself deserves maybe a 2.5 at best. The worst part of the story is that everything is obvious from the very beginning. EVERYTHING. We watch the whole show waiting for the characters to figure out what we already know, and watch them frustratingly misunderstand each other in the process. What also doesn't help is that our main characters suddenly start acting completely different. Ahn Dan Tae starts to literally seem like he has multiple personality disorder. He always retains at least a small part of his charm, because Nam Gung Min is a great actor, but once he started to change the show became less interesting. His booty is consistent though, and deserves an honorable mention.
The rest of the cast is pretty mediocre, and stereotypical, while some have some really horrible overacting moments. I liked Gong Shim' parents, but her sister is a useless character. If they wanted to make her a serious rival that we cared about, then she should have been much more involved in the story. The grandmother was another character that I honestly didn't care about, and some of her crying scenes were laughably bad. I liked the dude from the convenience store, but when a minor convenience store character outshines other major characters, you know something is very very wrong.
The soundtrack is good though. I really liked a lot of the songs, but some lost their charm when the show started to.
Overall, this is a drama of wasted potential. It didn't know if it wanted to be a romcom, or a melodrama, or a thriller, so it just tried to sloppily integrate the them all. All that did was water down what they could have done well.
As much as I want to recommend watching the 3 main leads, I have to recommend skipping this one. The story goes nowhere. It's longer than it should be, and felt like it. It desperately clings to drama clichés to fill in the time. The last two episodes are embarrassingly bad. Not only do they pretty much identical to another drama that aired around the same time, but the closure for the characters felt so forced that I could't take it seriously.
I hope someone takes the best moments between the three leads and edits this show to be the length it's supposed to be (10 episodes max!). I would recommend watching that video in a heartbeat. Otherwise watching 20 episodes of this is not worth hitting the iceberg. And if you already started it, don't listen to rose, it's ok to let go.
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I cannot, in good consciousness, recommend this show to anyone. I really wanted to. I was smitten with Nam Goong Min and Min Ah - those leads were the bright spot in the pile of poo this story became. (And incidentally, this is the first time I've seen either of them act. I've not seen NGM do his villainous roles, but I think comedy suits him.) The story is named after Gong Shim. However, the title character doesn't seem to be the focus of the show in the back half at all. And her sister, who is on the cover as a "main lead" - is relegated to an afterthought. Her story goes NOWHERE. Joon Soo, the other main lead, was likable, but mostly boring. The writers essentially did nothing with his character. The focus of the show ended up with Ahn Dan Tae. They described one story to us, and we got something completely different.
The ending was rushed and the last episode was completely and totally random and thrown together. I felt like they wanted to tie up a lot of loose ends, but they did not even do a good job of that. They had TWENTY episodes to finish this story. There was NO good reason that the ending should have been rushed. I feel sorry for the actors that were involved in this story. I would absolutely watch these actors do another show, and so wish that THIS story had been executed properly.
The Good:
The cast
The music
The comedic moments
The cuteness of the couple
The Bad:
The loose ends
The bait and switch story
The length
The unsatisfactory ending (happy ending, but not done correctly)
The Ugly:
Poorly executed storyline (throw it at the wall and see what sticks)
Characters backburnered and forgotten
Unending glares and stare-downs
What the Heck moments galore
I originally intended to give this drama a score of 7 because I WAS entertained and enjoyed ADT and GS so much. As my husband and I discussed it this morning, my rating dropped to a 6.5, and then by the end of our conversation I had to conclude that (as much as I hated to do it) that this story really only deserves, at best, a 5.5. Sorry show! I wanted to love you!
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I have never seen Min Ah in a drama. She was totally adorable as Gong Shim. I liked her character a lot. The other actors were good also. They are what made the dram worth watching. Nam Gung Min as Ahn Dan Tae was totally funny a far cry from his usual psycho roles.
The music is good.
I will never rewatch this.
I recommend this drama for the funny cuteness if nothing else.
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She dealt with the stress-induced hairloss by wearing her signature wig, conjoured up hilarious scenarios in her head, but never seemed to lose sight of what made her great.
Add to that a truly oddball main character in Ahn Dan Tae, who looked like a sort of hobo, but was actually a human rights lawyer after a stint in prison, wonderfully played by Namgoong Min whose facial gymnastics are a true highlight and a second lead in Sook Jun Soo whose bromance with ADT was a sight to behold as they never really fought over Gong Shim but both were enchanted by her character and wanted to help her because of it, plus some great humour and fluffy chemistry and you have a winning combination of characters and a good set up for a drama.
Gong Shim's family played the necessary foil to Gong Shim, especially her odious sister Gong Mi, and Jun Soo's family had a missing heir-secret that could be used to fill out the plot.
So where did it go wrong? How come my rating for this is so low?
Well, sadly as the story progressed Gong Shim and her dreams and aspirations fell further and further into the background. Ahn Dan Tae seemingly completely took over and missing heir storyline derailed the quirky, funny rom-com into another chaebol-inheritance-family-drama. Plot threads were pretty unceremoniously dropped and a drama where the name of the main character is in the title was no longer about the main character at all, suddenly she was the third lead instead of the first.
This is not due to Minah's acting, she was perfectly fine and her Gong Shim is a character I will continue to like, but it seems decisions were made to make the chaebol-inheritance plot the most important.
Plus the drama broke up the bromance for too long, the humour faded away and Gong Shim made some really weird choices that put her in danger and turned her into another brainless heroine. I want characters to make at least somewhat logical choices, so I can understand if not empathise.
EDIT: ADT also makes some questionable choices later on that I don't understand which soured me on the pairing as well.
Ah well, put BGS into the 'Meh'-bin for me.
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I recomend this drama a 100% if you are looking for a good time to push your worries aside.
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Saying all this, please watch it, I have seen worse dramas than this one, and although the producers made a little mistake with extending it. and making the plot different from expected still, it's worth to watch it!
Main couples kill with chemistry, and funny scenes. All other actors did a great job and overall I would say it was fun to spend two days on it. As for rewatching value - perhaps in the future, not now.
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This review may contain spoilers
Why did they ruined a perfectly good rom-com?
Dear gods of dramaland, what have I done to deserve this "bait and switch" of a drama? It was so good for the first 1/3 of the run. It was quirky, funny and sweet. The chemistry of the OTP was great and the 2ML was cute and nice (instead of the usual PITA). It has all the hallmarks of a great rom-com. Easy viewing and brings a smile to your face. There is a low key mystery about a kidnapping many years ago but it was really no mystery at all as the evil doer was well and truly identified very early in the show and his motivation as well. It is really who else is involved that is up for debate. It didn't take much deduction to work out the ML's real identity either.However, and this is a show breaking however, they changed tone and genre mid way and it never recovered. The problem here is that they tried to turn it into a serious drama and go big on the melodrama but there just wasn't enough substance in the storyline to sustain that. The worse part is that it derailed the romantic storyline. The ML ended up constantly backing off from the FL due to his backstory and the scheming. His personality also did an U turn. The show made it looked like he was hiding some big secret but honestly, it was only a mystery unto himself as viewers would have already worked out the plot long before. The OTP had reconciliations and there would be moments of sweetness (to bait us) and then the wheels would fall off again.
I still don't understand the use of cliché forced separation of the OTP at the end of dramas. Sure, it can work some times but only when there is a net benefit to the plot and character development, in this case, the writer just throw in a 1 year separation with all the angst filled built-up and misunderstandings. Only for the OTP to magically reunite in the twilight minutes of the last episode. The writer-nim even go as far as having the FL confront the ML and shout in his face why he disappeared for a year without even once contacted her. The ML's reply is so lame that it was sad; he was too busy. Really? Too busy to send a txt once a week/month? Or is it the old cliché of "if I hear your voice I would have to rush back to your side"? You went to the US of A, dude, they have internet there too. :P Is this just lazy writing?
On top of that, the villain is more annoying than evil. Suspense is minimal. Lots of meddling from parents and mediocre/generic support cast. The 2FL was wasted. She started off ok but she wasn't given room to do much later on.
As if acknowledging the error of their way, the ending of the show actually had the ML revert back to his original identity and carry on with his old job and his old goofy mannerism. If they had stayed their course and develop the story with the interesting characters they spent so much effort building up in the first 1/3 of the show, they would have a really fun and quirky hit on their hands, we ended up with a mess of clichés that did more harm than good.
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This review may contain spoilers
A bit of a loveable flop
This started out really strong and I loved the banter between the main characters, but I feel like it got a bit tired in the middle. It's one of those super frustrating shows, because I really liked the characters and acting, and there was a great storyline...but I feel like it had so much potential that just wasn't delivered.I did appreciate the switch around with Gong Shim chasing Dan Tae, but I feel like the secret keeping went on for too long and it just got painful to watch Gong Shim continuing to be 'oblivious' to how shut off Dan Tae was being. He realised how his behaviour was impacting her when she got so sick just because she didn't want to miss out on the breadcrumb 'date' (and trying to stay in hospital afterwards to spend time together?!) - but he still didn't then 'fess up.
I do understand why he couldn't let his cousin know though, given how he was acting like a prat to protect his mother.
Plus, I really feel the stuck-up sister was under-utilised. She had great promise as a manipulative character, but that just kind of fizzled out. The end kind of alluded to her feelings becoming real, but there was no big emotional moment, nor was there any confrontation between the sisters, or acknowledgement of her mistreatment of Gong Shim. I kept waiting for it to either be revealed that she'd been swapping Gong Shim's hair ointment and caused the bald patch out of jealousy...or for Gong Shim to stand up for herself and call her sister out for never supporting her and always being embarrassed about her. But neither happened.
I would probably still recommend watching the show. The initial love triangle is really cute and fun, and I loved how the rich/handsome/out-of-her-league Chaebol heir fell for the dowdy poor girl, only for her to then turn him down to focus on herself! There are also several cute side bits (the two husbands are funny together; the grandma secretly vetting her grandson's girlfriend).
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