One of the dramas I was excited for, ‘She was pretty’, made its premiere this week and fortunately the show is full of hilarious moments for everyone to enjoy. Personally, I’m not a fan of childhood love stories, actually I’m sick of this kind of subject because Korea tends to overly use it (I mean, if someone were to ask me to name 3 dramas without a ‘childhood love’ subject, it will be hard for me to do so) but I do admit that the actors are the one that attract me the most when it comes to ‘She was pretty. However while I was watching the first episode, the comical part of the characters especially Hye Jin’s comical side makes me glue myself to this drama.
The comedy was a given after all the main writer is the same person who wrote one of the most known sitcoms, ‘High Kick’. Regardless, we also need some heartache for a rom-com drama so I want to see how the writer will deal with that side considering the lack of more depth(ish) projects. ‘High kick’ did have some deep moments but in this case we are talking about a prime time drama so the approach may take a different route.
Regarding the acting, I like Hwang Jung Eum. Despise how others may think, I like her acting and I find her to be fit for comedy as she is one of the few Korean actresses who just drops everything and thinks of her character while becoming one with it. On the other hand, no matter how much I like Park Seo Joon I am aware of the fact the he may not be ready for a main character (on a public broadcast channel). He is still at the beginning of his career. Shortly after being released from army he signed with Key East and become an actor. Even though he did some minor roles such as in ‘I summon you gold’ and ‘Shut up family’ I was still skeptical about him taking a major role. I need to see more of his character to actually come to a conclusion if he is doing a good job but for now Hwang Jung Eum’s character, Hye Jin, takes the spotlight from the show and she is doing the most at this point. But we are barely at the first episodes, so the other characters will surely have a stronger impact on the story later on.
Siwon is okay but it’s not like he had many scenes to actually comment on his acting yet a pleasant surprise was Go Jun Hee. I’ve seen a lot of her projects and she even worked in the past with Hwang Jung Eum in ‘Can you hear my heart’ however she never had a project to steal the spotlight or something to make her shine. To be honest, up until a few hours ago I had no idea that she and Jung Eum work together in the past so maybe this time her character, Ha Ri will make Go Jun Hee more known for her work rather than being known for her hairstyle.
As for the story, ‘She was pretty’ – as the name says is another show that tries to teach its viewers how it’s better to not tag someone by their outer appearance and see more of their inside, their soul. For a person who was bullied in the past for his appearance, you’ll think that Ji Sung Joon (played by Park Seo Joon) understands people better however in the second episode I’ve seen only a rude Sung Joon. A rude boss who thinks that his own subordinates aren’t worthy to be given more than 3 minutes to say their thoughts. I saw a Sung Joon who puts Hye Jin down just because she isn’t “worthy” of having that name – according to him. He looks up to his past, childhood love as being something above everything else.
In a way, I do understand him, the young Hye Jin made him overcome a lot of things and probably made him turn the person he is today but did he forget how it felt when people were putting him down? Thus what right does he have to call Hye Jin not decent enough to have that name? None. In this case he is just a bastard no matter how much he loves or appreciates the past Hye Jin. In the case of work etiquette, I do agree with him in some aspects. The guy wants to bring THE MOST magazine at the top so he needs people who will do a good job and not goof around. But goofing a little bit during lunch time won’t degrade their work.
Hye Jin (played by Hwang Jung Eum) is great. Although I don’t like the fact that they just messed with her hair and put some freckles on her face to make the girl look ugly (by the way, I am a proud owner of freckles myself), I like Hye Jin’s bright and the optimistic personality of hers. On the downside, Hye Jin lacks confidence and I want to see her gain some in the future episode. But also I don’t want them to give her a makeover, to make her look pretty and then have Sung Joon fall for her. Hopefully the show will teach it’s viewers until the end that someone shouldn’t look at the outside more than it should be the case. If they give her a makeover then ‘She is pretty’ will become as any other drama, with a superficial story.
A strong part when it comes to this drama is the directing. There were moments when I was thinking if I’m watching a movie or a drama but that was mostly in the first episode because the second one started to feel just as a drama. I want the director to bring back the style from the first episode.
All in all, from the first two episodes, ‘She was pretty’ was nice and I enjoyed the introduction of the characters. Sung Joon’s introduction was flat but I’m still replaying Shin Hyuk’s introduction part from when Hye Jin went to her interview and the two bumped into each other. For now I would recommend this drama for the comedy, the plot isn’t anything exciting but the show looks entertaining.
Four Seasons Dramas! 
I don’t think Hyejin just has freckles it seems more like rosacea. And Sungjoon may admire past Hyejin for being kind and caring but he doesn’t exemplify those characteristics at all. Hyejin is awesome at the job she was scouted to do but he doesn’t know that because he refuses to even know why she’s there. She was given the job of recording the meeting, clerical work and her reprimands her for not having an opinion on something when she doesn’t even know what’s going on.
The part with the freckles was more to outline their idea of making her look ‘ugly’.
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good for you that you can enjoy hwang jungeum’s acting. I personally can’t stand it 😦
or the fact that I’m pretty annoyed by how she played kim hyejin’s character only shows that she’s actually a good actress? lol idk. I don’t hate her, though.
currently watching the 6th episode, I hope everything gets better 🙂
The fact that she lets herself on the side to act a character w/o worrying about looking beautiful on screen that makes her a pretty ok actress. Yes she does exaggerates a lot and maybe other may not like that. Personally, I’m tired of actresses who worry only about looking pretty. Hwang Jung Eum made an acting style for herself where other actresses lack that.
However, we all have different opinions, she can’t make everyone like her acting XD