True Beauty (2020)

Comfort drama <3

I have been a faithful reader of the webtoon since a year ago and always waited for them to pick it up and release a kdrama based on it. I fell in love with the cast choice since the beginning, they were so spot on on every character, specially Seo Jun and Su Ho. I have to say that even if i enjoyed Gayoung as Im Ju Gyeong, she's so beautiful that I never saw that much change between Ju Gyeong with or without makeup ;_;.

I knew that despite being so cliché I was gonna love it and that's what happened, I was waiting every single week for the release of new episodes and I was very pleased with the whole plot til the end. The show did it very well entertaining wise, I never skipped a single scene and that's really never common on me that I usually watch lots of dramas and tend to skip unnecessary scenes. This time every character here was fun to watch, especially Ju Gyeong's sister and brother storyline, they were so funny I couldn't stop laughing every time they were on the screen. I even loved the parents scenes. Of course, my fave character has always been Seo Jun, he is lovely both here and in the webtoon. I truly felt so sad at how dirty they did to Seo Jun in the kdrama storyline. Knowing what actually happens in the webtoon, that it's the complete opposite, I guess the Suho-Ju Gyeong ship really fit the kdrama plot they were hinting since the beginning so I have no complaints because it was also lovely to see their relationship and how they made Ju Gyeong very loyal to her feelings with no stupid doubts regarding both Seo Jun and Su Ho, lovely to see that.

The OST was amazingly chosen, I made a playlist to listen to it because the songs ended up stuck in my head the entire day after watching an episode. I'm In The Mood For Dancing has been my jam since its release, and all the songs sang by Cha Eun Woo, Hwang In Yeop and Cha Ni!!! A blessing I'd say.

I don't mind if this review is a bit biased ( I already loved the cast (big fan of Eun Woo here) and story before it even started) because since it didn't disappointed me and made me feel very happy every week I gave this kdrama a higher rating than I expected. I am definitely gonna rewatch this from time to time whenever I need something light and happy to space out. Definitely gonna be sad knowing that I won't get new episodes from now on. Good job True Beauty team!!!! I'll be looking forward to the cast next projects <3 <3 (might have turned into Hwang In Yeop enthusiast after this)

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It's fluffy cute and targeting important issues within coming of age. There's neither drive nor pure chill, the pace is a constant progressing with little exceptions, which makes it enjoyable even towards the end. The show is long, but the end isn't bad because it is dragged out. There is even a sense of accomplishment in the final details: everything achieved was worked for at length. Despite being entertaining, there are shortcomings. The character development is very strong up to the point where the first main conflict is resolved. From then on however, there's only repetition in a less convincing way: Trouble overcome is part of the past only, but never comes back - idealising and wrong. The soundtrack is plain, but effective, sadly it's very one-sided when it comes to actual 'story'-songs. The camera-work does nothing special. Everything is filmed smooth to the point, where you forget, that there is actually thought in the process of capturing a story. Never do the pictures express a part of the story, feelings, etc. themselves. There is no artsiness in the way the pictures are created whatsoever. The color-codes of the scenes are well composed, however implausible and often over-isolated. While introducing Ju Kyung through metal, there soon is a replacement: fluffy romantic harmless ballads, bittersweet, but one-dimensional. The two male leads have personality and a great dynamic. Facing the destined (not) to be theirs, they fall into the classic 'boyfriend material' trope, being less more than a puppy on a princess' lap. A lot of drama is introduced through Hospitalisations, which isn't elegant really. The story is, setting the romance aside, about realising one's goal, both in the sense of awareness and achievement. Sadly, the outcome (dream come true) is only shown symbolically through the found respect of significant non-romantic others (Ju Kyungs Sister and the fans for the boys, Her Idol for Ju Kyung). The to be realised dream of becoming a makeup artist is a necessary act of emancipation against the discourse of the 'natural beauty hierarchy'. Given the Korean beauty industry being highly competitional, it isn't an easy dream. There is a found inner beauty which is presented as important. The achievement of the inner beauty then directly transforms into outer beauty (makeup), which reverses the emancipating act. While the bigger sister is an absolute gender-exchange case, having no hybridity in the spectrum, manliness in character, beauty in the looks, Im Ju Kyung is just a feminine girl. Fitting the role of the girl seems to be more important, than overcoming boundaries. The only meant to be occupation of doing makeup is highly problematic, since it separates manly and feminine occupations. Why no male make-up artist in the whole show? Why not a female musician? Why is the rich guy getting the poor girl`? Where is the dad of Lee Su Ho in the end? And a last remark on the wedding: I guess one can say, the grandeur is Korean. It's pure kitsch, a badly mixed up Disney-wonderland tape. All the Korean traditional elements seem lost, except from the traditional dress of the mother. It's hard to believe, they stay true to tradition in food, but are western to the extent of 4th order simulacra, when it comes to a wedding. All together, worth the watch, instructive, emotionally confronting, but far from being a perfect show. It could and should have been more adventurous.

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1000x better than the webtoon, 1 of the only 2 kdrama I think are good.

This adaption was 1000x better than the webtoon and actually had lovely messages to send. It delivered well on the messages of inner beauty, strength, and courage.
There are weak moments in the first half, but the 2nd half was fantastically solid. The first half, Su Ho is very immature, but he grows up well, even if he did make a mistake later.
The romance was a hundred times better as well. It was so ridiculously sweet, I have cavities. But it wasn't cheesy in its execution and was done well. The wedding (side couple) was such a feel-good time lol.
The characters are much more well rounded and 3-dimensional, and the message of "True Beauty" (despite that not being the KR title) came out loud and clear.
I am so so so so ridiculously glad they didn't take the Seojun route for a 2nd season.
Kan Su Jin was 1000x better as well, as she was completely 2-dimensional in the webtoon, and her comeback made me cry, christ.
People often say in the reviews that this is cliche and typical, but to be frank, this is the only one that was executed well. I may not have seen 100 titles, but the popular kdrama I keep getting recommended are frankly just bad?? Cringy and full of bad acting. Uninteresting, or the main leads are dumb or whatever. Very superficial as well. The titles with high school settings have all been bad in my experience.
I do not agree that the main lead's acting is bad either. (What even makes them think that?!)
I do agree that the last 2 eps were a bit rushed, but considering what they had to work with, to be frank they did AMAZING in comparison.
People were saying Seo Jun stole the show, and while he /was/ amazing, and I love him for what he did in the end, but to be frank, he and Ju Gyeong's chemistry really simply isn't as good. That ending? Where they are curled up talking about their favourite comics? That's unreplaceable.
The last episodes made me cry a l o t. There are now only two kdrama I consider good. Secret Garden and this.

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If you like cliche school dramas this is for you

I started watching it because i knew most of the main cast from other dramas but i didnt know it was gonna be so cliche. Two of the most popular boys have a crush the same girl, one has top grades one is a baddie then her best friend betrays her. Not saying its an entirely thing of course but if you just want something simple and light to watch the i recommend this dramas. But if you want something more interesing then you should find other dramas. I really liked the chemistry of Seojun and Jugyeong thats the only reason i watched it till ep15. I thought they were gonna be together in the end cause Suho had so many scenes already. But no they had to make Seojun heartbroken thats when i had to drop it. Seojun and Soojin was the most interesting characters to watch, they shouldve had more elaboration its such a waste

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OVERRATED

WARNING: 2ND LEAD SYNDROME is incredibly strong

The first episodes were really amazing and I always look forward every week to watch this drama but as it goes on, the plot became more and more disappointing especially for the second lead. The writer/s of this drama must hate Han Seojun because they really did him dirty. Some scenes are cringey but tolerable. It still gives me the romance and it also made me laugh every now and then.

For me, the hype this drama got is because of Cha Eunwoo, Moon Gayoung, and Hwang Inyeop and not because of the drama itself. If they were not the actors, I kinda doubt this will get hyped like this. I still recommend this drama especially if you're bored and you want to experience some butterflies in your stomach,.

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Cliche storyline, Nice comedic scenes, Too much emphasis on the wrong things

Contains spoilers.

Got me hooked until the last 2-3 episodes. Looking back, episodes started getting really repetitive - leads are about to become official until some crap happens and they can't get together and that cycle repeats over and over. Then, they drop a second male lead to try and confuse the viewers on who the female lead will end up with even though it's so obvious because the drama gave all the SML's scenes to the ML?

Final episodes were so rushed for no reason?
- Soo Jin's character randomly apologises for her past behaviour just so everyone get can get a happy ending?
-Random 3-year time skip because they couldn't think of anything else to stop the main leads' relationship?
-Su Hoo [Male Lead] becomes stalkerish and obsessive and starts following Ju Kyung [Female Lead] around after seeing her 3 years later expecting her to run to him and say she loves him even though he broke up with her over the phone?
What's with that?
-Seo Jun [Second Male Lead] has been with Ju Kyung for 3 YEARS - he's GRADUATED with her; he's celebrated her BIRTHDAYS with her, he's BEEN THERE for her when Su Hoo was away and you're telling me they are going to make him confess his feelings to the FL to "confuse" the viewers. Of course, he gets rejected because the FL's heart still belongs to the ML even though the SML has done so much for her - more than the ML could ever pull off?
-Seo Jun's ending was so crappy - he was my favourite character for his cocky and charismatic personality, and they use him in Episode 14 and 15 just to cast him off to the side in Episode 16? He's not even there for the wedding and he's sitting in this staircase well crying because of his rejection - tears which are worth 3 years of loving this girl who didn't bat an eye towards him? Crappy. Then the producers try to make up for it by making Ju Kyung apply some lipstick for Seo Jun before he goes onto stage to debut and start his career as an idol? Stupid.
-Gave me too much heartbreak and SML syndrome seeing Seo Jun crying - the SML was one of the things that made me love this drama. We all know he had the spotlight the entire time.
-Hwang In-Yeop [who played Seo Jun] did so well in his acting and brought justice to his character until the producers cast his character off to the side.
-Cha Eun-Woo [whole played Su Hoo] just seemed kind of emotionless throughout the moments with Ju Kyung. I didn't really feel any chemistry between them? The SML x FL were so much better.
-The drama started focusing more on the love triangle - mostly the relationship between the ML + FL - instead of focusing on the actual point of the drama: "You don't need makeup to be accepted - you're beautiful just the way you are."
-However, the comedic scenes were amazing.
-FL's older sister and her relationship with the FL's homeroom teacher was weird but still quite cute and fluffy.
-Side characters added so much to the story.
-The drama did highlight the struggles of teenagers which was nice to see.
-At some points, the drama did focus on the "beauty" part indicating makeup isn't everything.
-Atmosphere of the drama was heartwarming.

Overall, I liked the drama a lot, but I was losing interest which watching the last episodes and, in my opinion, FL would've been better with SML - he deserved a much better ending.

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Was Great until the Last Two Episodes

True Beauty starts off as a show with a good balance of entertaining and lighthearted highschool angst with a backdrop of mainstream issues faced in school, such as self-image, understanding love, and bullying. I enjoyed how the drama touched on real-world issues in a way that wasn’t hard to stomach. My highschool self would’ve love this drama, and to be honest this drama had the potential to be so much more. However there is a tonal shift that occurs in episode 14 that completely ruined, and changed, my opinion about the drama.

My verdict for the show is that episodes 1-14 were highly enjoyable and had a great balance of drama, angst, and fun, but after episode 14 it goes downhill when the lightheartness of the show disappears and instead is filled with only drama and angst. The characters even shift, which created a bunch of characters who don’t feel true to their, episode 14, prior selves.

For me, the Han Seo Jin after episode 14 was disappointing. I had hoped he would get over his highschool love and move on, but instead you can see that he has not moved on. And it takes until the last episode for him to fully move on. The love triangle after episode 14 becomes uncomfortable to watch and is no longer fun.

I noticed that one overused plot element is that characters in the show only mend their relationships in relation to a an occurrence of a negative accident. What I mean by this is that, when there is conflict that needs a resolution the drama will introduce an illness or trauamtic event. These negative accdients have to happen before the character talk openly, so it never feels like the characters have open communication. For example, Seo Jin and Soo Hoo only talk about their past, once they have the car accident and are forced to share a room-- and I loved this element, however what I didn’t like is when this same element is used to mend Soo Hoo and his father’s relationship. The father having an illness felt very unneccessary. The subsequent move that Soo Hoo makes to America also feels unneeded. It would have been okay if Soo Hoo didn’t break up with Ju Kyung, but the break up was the straw that broke the camels back for this drama. It was very out of place for Soo Hoo’s character. One of my most hated elements of a drama is when long-distance is used as an excuse to break up, instead of having open communication between the two characters.

Soo Hoo is a character who gets closer to people through hardship, so his distance with Ju Kyung, after his move to America, does not make sense to his character, and instead creates anger for the audience wehre we have to suffer an undeed plot element because the writers thought it would be a good idea--and it indeed was not.

My disappointment in the show stems from how much I actually enjoyed it in the first 14 episodes that is why it's so heartbreaking to see the lazy writing the drama takes in the last two episodes.

I would recommend only watching up to episode 14 and skipping the end. The first 14 episodes are filled with fun youthfulness and the struggles of youth, but in a tolerable light-heartend tone that makes it enjoyable for the viewer.

My favourite character is Ju Kyung who stays true to herself throughout the drama. She uses her love for makeup to transform her life, but in a positive manner. At first she is sure that she is unworthy, but her character develops and she releases that makeup is not a clutch but an asset.

Soo Hoo, up until episode 14/15, also has great character development. He becomes more open about his struggles and emotions and begin to rely on Ju Kyung and Seo Jin for help when he is feeling down.

The way Seo Jin is portrayed makes me respect him, he remained in conflict over the ethical nature of his relationship with Ju Kyung, when she was dating his friend Soo Hoo. Initially he wanted to steal her from Soo Hoo, but once he lets go of the resentment and sees Soo Hoo as a friend he ends up growing as a character. Seo Jin’s character is a positive contrast to Soo-Jin, who destroys all her friendships over her crush with Soo Hoo.

I genuinely feel so much frustration over the last two episodes, even though the characters physically age they seem to mentally regress. In an ideal world, the way I would’ve wanted True Beauty to end is with Han Seo Jin, during his highschool times, learning how to grow from the difficulty of his unrequited love and fully moving on. I wanted to see Soo Hoo have a healthy covnersation with his dad, without the need of an illness to force him to have that conversaion. And for Soo Hoo to fully commit emotionally to Ju Kyung, so that the break-up would’ve never happened. My whole love for the show shattered with that breakup by Soo Hoo, and despite the happy ending, it feels soured because of the messy writing for the ending.

If you were also disappointed by the show and need a better drama to watch, you should try Something in The Rain, its much more heavy-hearted but the way the characters deals with their conflicts is very mature and satifsying. Or you could go back to our OG Crash Landing on You for a nice all-round drama.

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I loved the first half of this drama so much - I was laughing so much and I was rooting for the main characters. The the second half happened and I ended up skipping through so many scenes. I finished it and my final verdict: SO DISAPPOINTING.

I am so done with Cha Eun Woo. We can all agree the boy has a face sculpted by the gods but his acting reminds me of someone being forced to act in the school play. I am not convinced and he looks uncomfortable the whole time. I've read reviews that apparently he's improved since his other dramas! Man, I don't even want to know how those go. It's a pity he was pitted against Hwang In Seop, who pulled me in with his yearning gazes, his pain and his sincerity. I was rooting for him and Ju Gyung. Their chemistry was way better, I was glued to the screen for their bits because they're on fire when they're together! I was bored for the scenes with Ju Gyung and Lee Su Hu. Nope. Not convinced.

And why did they have to villainize Kang Su Jin! I appreciated her character so much at the start and they dragged her through the mud only to give her a pitiful redemption arc at the end. I skipped through all that drama of the school finding out about Ju Gyung's real face etc etc. Honestly maybe I'm just getting too old for high school dramas, but you'd think these kids in school would have better things to do than pore over one student's misfortunes. Also the way they dealt with Ju Gyung's bullies left a lot to be desired. It was funny how they handled it - but the bullying they did merited way more than a comedic handling of the situation. I would have much preferred a very real way of handling those bullies. With words, or with authority - because that fist fight didn't convince me that those girls would be changing anytime soon after it. Disappointing after all the horrible things they did to Ju Gyung and Hye Min.

My favourite character was definitely Im Ju Yeong, Ju Gyung's younger brother. He was so funny and lovable and such a dork! Absolutely amazing work by this actor! I loved Han Seo Jun without a doubt. Ju Gyung was fine but I cringed at her childish way of speaking. I don't know if the actress just speaks like this or if she puts it on for her character but it made me cringe. I hate when teenage girls, let alone adult women put on an aegyo act, or a little girl voice - its so weird and Ju Gyung had it going on real bad. Her sister was so much cooler, I loved her sister and her grapefruit love a lot!

Music was pretty forgettable. Rewatch value not great - I'd say I'll just rewatch the funny parts. The biggest problem with the acting was Cha Eun Woo - so its unfortunate how he was one of the main characters.

I'm highly disappointed. If you had asked me what I'd rate the first half of the drama, I'd have told you 9. Now, after watching it in its entirety, I'm gonna give it a 6.

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Hilarious Coming of Age Stuck-Between-Two-Loves Drama

I was going to just try one episode because i heard people is watching it right now. But the plot is funny enough to continue for another episode.

As i watch it, i fell in love with Su Ho character first. The possessive behavior is cute. The longer you watch into later episodes, the scenes are even more funnier, it made my stomach hurt from laughing. The other boy interest is showing his fun part too later on in the process.

I’d say this is one of the drama i will re watch later for its funny scenes, reminds me of Reply 1988 masterpiece for its family daily shennanigans. Worth your time!

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The ratings are too high for this drama

People out there definitely rated this drama so high because of the cast cause there's no way this drama deserve such a high rating otherwise the plot is a total disappointment I really liked how it started but then around ep 8 the story started going downhill , the last 2 ep were so rushed and bad I can't believe they really tried so hard to make us believe the 2 leads were so much in love and all but it came out as a totally forced one . I didn't like how they focused the last 2 eps on suho even though he was not around they could have gave seojun a chance to build his relationship with the FL but no . I don't ship seojun with jukyung because I don't think they gave us any chance to ship them they hardly had any cute scenes together apart from friendship which I really liked btw but i knew from the beginning she's going to end up with suho ofcourse but they could have made it a little better.

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Waiting for the next episode patiently.

I'm so excited with this series for 2 reasons

1. I love True Beauty, it's the 1st and only webtoon I really read and followed and I imagine Cha Eun Woo as Lee Su Ho while reading this. Having Cha Eunwoo as the ML is a dream come true for True Beauty readers like me.

2. I miss Cha Eunwoo in a drama. I've watched Gangnam Beauty several times already and never get tired of it.

I can't wait for the next episodes. I don't usually watch dramas that has few episode because I'm used of binge watching, but I cannot wait to see the episode so I started watching True Beauty even if it just started.

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Started good, but ended weakly

I walked into true beauty not expecting much, but right off the bat I was introduced to a colorful cast, big personalities, and an easy to follow and pleasant storyline. I began enjoying it a lot and it quickly rose to become one of my favorite kdramas. In the beginning what charmed me about true beauty is that it knew it was cliche and used that to its comedic advantage and didn't take itself too seriously which allowed me to enjoy the cliches. This ended up being its undoing later, but I'll get to that.

also one thing i'll (SPOILER) is that I try not to fall for the second lead/ship him with the female lead because they usually don't get the girl, but HAN SEO JUN. I seriously fell in love, he quickly became my favorite kdrama character EVER. And his chemistry with the female lead jugyoung (gayoung) was off the charts, seriously one of the best I've seen in kdramas period. It made watching true beauty ten times better for me :)

But alas the things that made true beauty charming didn't last. You see true beauty never had outstanding writing, but it was enjoyable and it made sense, plus the characters and ost made up for it, but about halfway through the show true beauty started to go downhill in the writing and production. The writing increasingly didn't make sense and had characters act weirdly, it even made characters I liked in the beginning dislikable for me : / an example is with the male lead suho who i adored episode 1-5, liked episode 6-7, felt okay with ep 8, and straight up disliked ep 9 to the end. It's even worse when you used to like the character or especially when he is the main character. (SPOILER) Just the way writers wrote him as possessive, and downplayed it as romantic did not sit right with me, the way the writers wrote him it seemed as if he was more focused or acted/thought that "jugyoung is mine" which I hate that mentality. Even if the writers didn't have him explicitly say it, his actions implied it. So sadly that ruined his character and the main ship for me : /

not to mention that this show is heavily promoted as a love triangle but it is not! it is very much centralized on suho and jugyoung, and the writers do not give seojun a real chance (like bringing in suho between every seojun jugyoung scene lol), but the most disappointing thing for me was that they did not include the seojun jugyoung relationship from the webtoon. also if the time skip was gonna happen and they kept seojun's feelings idk why they didn't go that route (honestly they were probably too scared to haha). but honestly its disappointing that they removed an entire relationship (and the only one) from the webtoon to the drama. :(

ok now onto the title 'true beauty'. what initially attracted me to the webtoon was the title and the concept of inner beauty and societal standards and what not. but in reality that is not the real focus of the drama. the drama focuses more on the love triangle, and at most points inner beauty is pushed to the beginning and the climax. i would've liked to see an actual journey and focus on the growth, but the show didn't let us see jugyoung's growth and instead wrote a rushed sudden confidence burst. (now i'm all for gained confidence), but the message wasn't there. for people who relate to jugyoung i don't think that it portrayed realistic growth or self-love. it is hard it is a process, it doesn't happen overnight, and most importantly it doesn't come from what others tell you (though compliments are nice) it comes from accepting yourself and forgiving yourself which is HARD. just writing this because the title indicates much larger of a focus than there actually is in the show, and there is no strong or impactful message on "true beauty".

lastly the writing. i mentioned earlier that in the beginning the show didn't take itself seriously in a charming way. later on that ended up biting it back because it started taking itself seriously in the worst way. the writing became cliche and it didn't make sense. they would create drama and drag it over four episodes only to leave the last two for a rushed ending. the show was doing so well with pacing that it really was remarkable how bad the pacing got.

the worst part about true beauty is that it started off so strong but started downward spiraling to a weak ending. if the ending and later half of the drama was better this would probably be one of my favorite kdramas ever.
though I do not regret the experience because through the first half of the drama I met many loveable characters, cried, laughed, and enjoyed myself :) i would suggest watching true beauty, just be prepared for a lotta frustration towards the end lol

ps: if you're like me and fell in love with han seojun (who wouldn't lol) then be prepared for heartbreak and frustration because tvn walked all over his character and gave him a mediocre but honestly unhappy ending (: lol not to be pessimistic though y'all have good taste ;)

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