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She Was Pretty korean drama review
Completed
She Was Pretty
10 people found this review helpful
by manicmuse
Jan 8, 2016
16 of 16 episodes seen
Completed 2
Overall 7.5
Story 6.0
Acting/Cast 9.0
Music 8.0
Rewatch Value 5.0
I started watching this because I wanted to specifically watch a romance, and not something emotionally heavy. This definitely was the right choice for that kind of drama, though what I really liked about it was unexpected. The story is extremely basic as far as romances go. There's nothing new about a pretty girl pretending to be her supposedly less attractive and insecure friend. There's nothing new about a second lead who has no chance with the main girl. There's definitely nothing new about a makeover, that you know is inevitable from the title alone. Dramas use clichés because they work. The romantic plot is far from original, but the love story is still very sweet. What was unexpected is that the romantic chemistry is not the main thing that kept me watching. Hye Jin & Seong Jun make a cute couple, but I didn't like them much in the beginning. Seong Jun's abrasive personality, and borderline Asperger's social skills, were a bit of a turn off. He is a jerk so often that it was sometimes hard to actually like him. Hye Jin is the exact opposite. She is nice to a fault, and for the majority of the show she overreacts to any and everything wide eyed and very LOUDLY! She easily says "ottoke" well over a thousand times during this drama, which was becoming annoying, not endearing. Their chemistry, and backstory, does make up for it, but starts to get really extra cheesy in the last few episodes. If The romance alone carried the show It would have gotten old very quickly for me (even with the kissing scenes). The relationships I actually loved more than the main romance were the friendships with the two supporting leads. Ha Ri and Hye Jin's friendship was so great to see. It felt good to see two friends love and support each other that much. Their friendship is what made watching the love triangle so engaging. I was more concerned with their friendship than with which girl would get the guy. Then of course there is Si Won. I already read about him stealing the show in reviews before watching, but didn't really think much of his character at first, because he was so silly. After a while it was clear that he was not only the true star of this drama, but also hands down my favorite character. His scenes made me laugh (the "Jackson" thing was so funny to me) and broke my heart (had me literally tearing up). Soon I was more invested in his friendship with Hye Jin than the main couple. Whenever he wasn't on screen he was missed (Ironically I felt the exact opposite way about him in "The King of Dramas") The rest of the cast was good, and I did like the staff at THE Most (especially the ridiculous Kim Ra Ra, who was consistently doing "the most"), so the scenes regarding the magazine were entertaining. The magazine plot does start to take up most (pun intended) of the show's time in later episodes, but there wasn't much to that story either. It was clear throughout this drama that they were trying their best to stretch the story out to fit 16 episodes - which of course means plenty of flashbacks, frustrating coincidences, and scenes meant to sell you a particular Nikon camera lol. It's also been a while since I liked a soundtrack, and I liked this one. They even threw in the song from "A Tale of Two Sisters", for dramatic effect, which is one of my favorites. I'm also a fan of the Carpenters. I don't know if I would rewatch anything more than specific scenes. There were just too many filler moments to make me want to watch the entire drama again. However, I did end up marathoning through it in 3 days (so it wasn't too boring), and I really did love the ending. Not only did I love the way they wrapped up what happened with all the characters, but the overall moral (about being supporting characters vs leads in our own life stories) really touched me. Overall, As rom coms go, I was not disappointed. The plot is far from perfect, but characters were the driving force in this drama, not the story. Being predictable didn't stop me from wanting to watch it all happen anyway. If you watched "Kill Me, Heal Me" and wondered "what if..." then you may get a kick out of just seeing Hwang Jung Eum and Park Seo Joon together again. If you even slightly like Si Won, you should definitely watch him in his element. I hesitate to recommend "She was pretty" in general, because there's nothing extraordinary about it, but it still delivered what I expected it to in an entertaining way. Sometimes a simple love story, with some laughs, is all the drama you need.
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