1
TeleriFerchNyfain
This review may contain spoilers
This drama starts out as if it's a wish-fulfillment fantasy, ie an older woman who's gained weight and whose husband has lost interest in her gets a magic perfume to turn her back into her younger self.
We've all of us had this fantasy, admit it. All those crying 'fat shaming' etc must either be too young to understand or not being honest with ourselves. In fact, it's not our heroine being fat so much as being 40 and out of shape - her dream was to be a runway model, and she's too OLD, no matter what shape she's in! The fashion industry does fat-shame to the point it wants anorexic androgynous young models - for real. I do believe there's a movement on to change this to a point, but we ain't there yet.
That aside, this turns out NOT to be fixated on this fantasy. In fact, it's more about dissecting said fantasy, and seeing how it works out in (semi) reality. The drama does flashbacks that show that in HIS youth our hero had the self-image problems, in fact.
The drama deals with other issues as well. Fan/saesang behavior, and toxic netizens, come under fire, as well as the dichotomy between the image of celebrities versus the actual persons.
All this sounds heavy, but in fact this drama had me laughing every single episode LOL Shin Se Rok has a comedic talent and his expressions and body language are spot-on. Everybody else in the cast acted as his straight man at some point or other :D I personally loved the interations with his half-brother LOL
The biggest amazement for me was the two lead actresses. I love Ha Jae Sook - and she had a leading role here :D Her younger self, Go Won Hee, totally impressed me. I still can't believe she's only 23 - there was a gravitas to her acting in this role that was definitely not there in the other dramas I've seen her in - I totally, completely believed she was a 40 year old rejuvenated because of her acting! Her facial expressions, body language, tone of voice, all of it convinced me. She's only a year older than the girl playing the daughter, but at NO point did I feel that the two were the same age at all.
The message in this drama ultimately - your appearance and age do NOT dictate who you are nor your innate loveability. THIS is something that South Korean society as a whole doesn't really embrace yet, and so this drama really emphasizes an area needing improvement :D
We've all of us had this fantasy, admit it. All those crying 'fat shaming' etc must either be too young to understand or not being honest with ourselves. In fact, it's not our heroine being fat so much as being 40 and out of shape - her dream was to be a runway model, and she's too OLD, no matter what shape she's in! The fashion industry does fat-shame to the point it wants anorexic androgynous young models - for real. I do believe there's a movement on to change this to a point, but we ain't there yet.
That aside, this turns out NOT to be fixated on this fantasy. In fact, it's more about dissecting said fantasy, and seeing how it works out in (semi) reality. The drama does flashbacks that show that in HIS youth our hero had the self-image problems, in fact.
The drama deals with other issues as well. Fan/saesang behavior, and toxic netizens, come under fire, as well as the dichotomy between the image of celebrities versus the actual persons.
All this sounds heavy, but in fact this drama had me laughing every single episode LOL Shin Se Rok has a comedic talent and his expressions and body language are spot-on. Everybody else in the cast acted as his straight man at some point or other :D I personally loved the interations with his half-brother LOL
The biggest amazement for me was the two lead actresses. I love Ha Jae Sook - and she had a leading role here :D Her younger self, Go Won Hee, totally impressed me. I still can't believe she's only 23 - there was a gravitas to her acting in this role that was definitely not there in the other dramas I've seen her in - I totally, completely believed she was a 40 year old rejuvenated because of her acting! Her facial expressions, body language, tone of voice, all of it convinced me. She's only a year older than the girl playing the daughter, but at NO point did I feel that the two were the same age at all.
The message in this drama ultimately - your appearance and age do NOT dictate who you are nor your innate loveability. THIS is something that South Korean society as a whole doesn't really embrace yet, and so this drama really emphasizes an area needing improvement :D
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