REVIEW: True Beauty
Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars
Re-watch value: 2 out of 5 stars
SYNOPSIS
*From MyDramaList*
True Beauty is a romantic comedy about a high school girl Lim Ju Gyeong, who rises to pretty girl fame after she masters the art of make-up from YouTube. She turns into a goddess because of her makeup skills, but would rather die than reveal her bare face to anyone. It tells her love story with the only boy that saw her without makeup, Lee Su Ho. Lee is an attractive and handsome boy who appears cold because of his dark past but is actually very caring. They grow when they meet each other, sharing their secrets and finding love with each other, but can Su Ho make Ju Gyeong find her true beauty?
RAMBLING
*beware of spoilers*
I needed a palette cleanser after crying my heart out with Move to Heaven, so I picked up this high school show, and it was just the ticket! People need to know that K-dramas in which there’s a timid girl with two hot guys after her are comforting. There were moments when I caught myself smiling like an idiot while watching, and I would never have realized that had my sister not walked into the room and my expression changed.
There’s something enchanting about a ridiculously beautiful boy being the epitome of all those beauty sayings: “Beauty is in the eye of the beholder”; “Beauty is only skin deep, but ugly goes clean to the bone”; etc. Can a boy with idol-perfect looks be completely oblivious about conventional beauty standards? This is the second Cha Eun-woo fronted show that tries so hard to make you think so. I had serious issues with My ID Is Gangnam Beauty, and I’m here to say that True Beauty wasn’t that problematic, but it felt like a close cousin in terms of the romance.
Cha Eun-woo. I hadn’t really thought of the term “pretty privilege”, but it fully describes this dude. Here’s an excerpt from my review of My ID Is Gangnam Beauty:
Cha Eun-woo is beautiful, no doubt about that, but he had such limited range in facial expressions. Namely, he didn't smile. He did a lot of communicating with his eyes, but honestly, after seeing a lot of behind-the-scenes footage of our cast and how outgoing and happy Eun-woo is, I was disappointed not to see even a glimmer of that in Kyung-suk. Maybe that was the character, but I think Mi-rae deserved a gorgeous dude that didn't look like he was holding in a fart all the time.
You know what? Not much has changed. He’s certainly improved a bit in True Beauty, and I felt that whenever he had a dramatic run-in with his estranged father and tears started flowing, but on the whole, he’s still just as stoic. There was one character who even tells Su-ho that tsundere is out! At this point, it feels like he’s trying not to create wrinkles on his face? If I were to rank the Cha Eun-woo shows I’ve watched, it’d be (1) Rookie Historian Goo Hae Ryung, (2) True Beauty, (3) My ID Is Gangnam Beauty.
This is my second time seeing Moon Ga Young. She was just villainous in The Great Seducer (Tempted); her role in True Beauty was completely different. Joo-gyung is this horror manga-obsessed teenager with bad grades and a bad complexion. She’s utterly endearing, and I enjoyed watching her family interactions, especially with her little brother. I can’t say that I was ever mercilessly bullied in high school, but I feel like I know a thing or two about being an ugly duckling growing up, dealing with acne, finding my own style, learning how to do make-up (a rite of passage for any lady).
I was spellbound by Joo-gyung’s deception and those moments when she might have been exposed, and I think her relationship with her brutish mom was enthralling. There are still a few things about my life that I’ll never tell to anyone, let alone my parents, so Joo-gyung shielding her parents from her horrific high school life is super relatable. I thought I’d simply hate the one-note mom, played by Jang Hye Jin (from The Red Sleeve, Parasite, and CLOY!), after she throws away Joo-gyung’s beloved make-up, belittles her love for comic books, and refuses to support her dream of becoming a make-up artist. But once the bullying video resurfaces, her heart breaks for her child, and she becomes much softer.
The one complaint I have about Joo-gyung, or rather Moon Ga-young’s portrayal, is that she sounded too aegyo the whole time. I hated the baby voice she kept using, as if she was a little girl. Hated it.
This was my introduction to Hwang In-yeop, and baby, I’m here to see what else you do. I’m in your corner.
He kind of blew me away with his performance as Han Seo-jun. I don’t know how a man can pull off a mess of earrings, guyliner, and a mullet and still be so charming, but Hwang In-yeop did not come to play. The second male lead (SML) syndrome was heavy on this show. I’ve fallen for a boy with a motorcycle in my youth, and truth be told, that guy was ugly, not even a former K-pop trainee with the voice of an angel.
I need to shout out the hilarious bromance between Seo-jun and Su-ho. Loved every minute of their shenanigans, and the hospital scenes were a riot. I doubled over laughing when Seo-jun needs help to pee, and Su-ho jumps on the phone as if to call for a nurse’s help but instead dead-ass requests to have his room changed.
The show didn’t quite work when it handled the suicide subplot and the aftermath of a K-pop idol’s false bullying scandal. Sure, the boys were suitably cut up about their friend’s death, but I don’t think that subplot necessarily gelled with the larger storyline of our girl Joo-gyung. On that note, Su-ho breaking up with Joo-gyung because he felt bad about making the relationship long distance while he cared for his comatose father in the states? the time jump in the final episodes? Ick. Felt like a mid-2000s plotline to me. (See: Boys Over Flowers) I know they’re still in high school, which means they’re all just punks, but I think Su-ho was crafted as a very smart character, and even if Cha Eun-woo’s not emoting, Su-ho seems to be a very caring and feeling person, so I don’t buy that he’d ever want to let Joo-gyung go. The way Su-ho desperately tries to get back with her after a kismet meeting on the snowy Namsan Tower (aka Seoul Tower) was straight from the C-drama A Love So Beautiful.
After sitting with my thoughts for almost two weeks, I heartily recommend True Beauty for anyone looking for a relatively chill, sweet watch. Just like beauty, this show is only skin-deep.
Did you see True Beauty? Tell me your thoughts in the comments below!
Follow us!