True Beauty Finale - ep 15-16 Discussion post

[yakuniku-8.livejournal.com]

Drama: True Beauty
Revised romanization: Yeoshingangrim
Hangul: 여신강림
Director: Kim Sang-Hyub
Writer: Yaongyi (webcomic), Lee Si-Eun
Network: tvN
Release Date: December 9, 2020
Runtime: Wed. & Thu. 22:30
Language: Korean
Country: South Korea

CAST: Moon Ga-Young as Im Ju-Kyung, Cha Eun-Woo as Lee Soo-Ho, Hwang In-Yeop as Han Seo-Joon, Park Yoona as Kang Soo-Jin

PLOT: Im Ju-Kyung is a high school student. Since she was little, she has had a complex about her appearance. To hide her bare face, Im Ju-Kyung always wears make-up. Her excellent make-up skills makes her pretty and she hides her bare face in front others. She gets involved with 2 men; Lee Soo-Ho and Han Seo-Joon.

Drama info and poster from: AsianWiki
You can watch it on: Dramanice

*All the actors deserve to get more mature roles next time

Comments

[missshallelujah.livejournal.com]

the time skip was so badly done. why squeeze two years of plot in one episode lol, they should've extended it more.

seojun was done soooo dirty! he barely had anything to do that wasn't related to jukyung and these last two eps were especially and unnecessarily cruel to him, i would've liked to see him heal and move on but they had to drag the triangle until the end sigh. hwang inyeop is very charming and that's what i get out of this drama, having dicovered him. i hope to see him in something more age appropriate and good next time.

the "we know each other since childhood" trope is tired, i'm tired and bored.

overall i expected a bit more of a drama about learning to love yourself. the writers said fuck female friendship and only your cute boyfriend can make you feel better about yourself lol. the actors (and by that i mean moon gayoung, hwang inyeop and eunwoo's face) were the ones that made me want to keep watching past episode like 8.

[yakuniku-8.livejournal.com]

All of this. I was team Sooho but seriously he came back after 2 years and they started dating again just like that? Seojun was there everyday for 2 years, he deserved more.

I agree with the "we know each other since childhood".

The show was fun overall but they should have gone deeper. It was normal to expect more when the title is "True beauty ". They sould have revealed her secret sooner so that she could search for her beauty inside.

[missshallelujah.livejournal.com]

i was team suho as well bc they had a lot in common and seemed to be better suited for each other. but like you said, it was stupid they got back together so soon like why have the time skip at all then??? i'm guessing it was to keep seojun pinning and hoping but that's so cruel and unfair to him. he had decided on episode 14 that he wanted to move on so why all this shit? let him move on and get his own happy ending. ugh i'm actually so mad bc i started not really liking the character but he turned out to be very endearing and sweet, so even though i'm pleased with the jukyung/suho endgame, they didn't need to fuck seojun over like this just so they could be together without feeling guilty.

[sweetestbliss1.livejournal.com]

I felt SO bad for Seojun when he was crying in the stairwell. Poor baby. I kind of felt like his performance scene was too long lol. I was like "They're playing another song????" The scene transitions in episode 16 felt very choppy.

I seriously despise the "we knew each other when we were kids" trope, too. It's (usually) a cheap way to drive home the idea that the OTP is meant to be and that their love is so strong/deep/etc. I felt like it was really unnecessary in True Beauty and added nothing.

Yeah, the English title of the drama/webtoon is really misleading. I expected more. The cast was great though, so that made up for it.

[broadcities.livejournal.com]

i’m happy the drunk kiss fell through, no @ kissing when there’s no actual constant

heekyung and grapefruit teacher supremacy

aw it was quite nice to see hang inyeop/seojoon get more of the center stage in this show, he’s such a cute dummy.

soojin is getting her redemption in the last episode i can feel it… making her volunteer for “poor african children” is nagl

lmaooo @ me being shocked that there was suggestion to a sex scene is this drama i was not expecting that

for the rest, this episode was a filler, with everything being resolved so soon. seojoon deserved a better ending, but happy with this suho x jookyeong endgame

the last scenes were cute though, with this meta discussion of changing the ending of a beloved story and the sort of ex-you ending

overall, i enjoyed this drama mostly because i liked (most of) the humor, (most of) the characters and the way the drama portrayed teens’ inner lives quite well. however, the character development and storylines of especially the main female characters was disappointing to say the least and relied too much on tropes. next to the sudden change of soojin’s character from a really cool girl to a guy-obsessed mean girl, i also thought it was frustrating and unsatisfying to see jookyeong’s main character arc not revolving around her learning to love and accept herself regardless of her looks, but which hot guy she would choose and be happy with. my id is gangnam beauty did it better imo

[yakuniku-8.livejournal.com]

Agree about the drunk kiss scene.

The sex scene was so unnecessary, it didn't feat their characters. I know it was one month after Sooho's arrival and they are supposed to be adults now but we saw them as cute and silly teenagers during 14 episodes. It happened too quickly.

[sweetestbliss1.livejournal.com]

The dates with Seojun reminded me of Ex-You lol. "Here's some cutesy scenes with the second lead last minute to assuage your heart" kind of thing lol. Poor Seojun! The crying in the stairwell! :(. I'm glad they didn't make him leave though and that the episode 16 preview was only trying to mislead us.

LOL the Oh Nam Joo cameo!! "My girl likes strawberries." It would have be even funnier if when he answered his phone, he had actually said "Hey Joo Da."

I was also shocked about the bed scene!! I saw it on IG before watching the episode and gasped lol. It was so unexpected. Haha. I did enjoy the cute Suho/JuKyung scenes though. The ending scene with the book was totally a nod to Ex-You. I was like "THIS FEELS FAMILIAR" when he stood behind her and grabbed the book for her.

The cast definitely made this drama way better. The time jump felt really unnecessary, but I guess they needed to age them up to show growth. shrug. Overall, I was impressed with Cha Eun Woo's acting and was also shocked to find out that that is not his real name. LOL! Moon Ga Young is lovely and I hope to see her in more dramas in the future. Hwang In Yeob is great with comedy and I need him in a rom-com where he's the lead. Oh, AND the scene where he texts JuKyung back about going on a date and he grabs that stuffed animal? He reminded me of Hwang Tae Kyung from You're Beautiful. They both are in a band, too!

[broadcities.livejournal.com]

i knoow i really felt for him :(

if this drama succeeded in anything it's cameos from the ex-you cast lol i guess the director also missed that drama

i gasped too! i just really didn't expect it in this type of drama. but i quite liked it, please normalize people having sex!

the cast really made this drama bearable, but plot wise it was quite disappointing. it was nice to be introduced to some new actors — i'd never seen hwang inyeob and moon gayoung in dramas before but really enjoyed them — and cha eunwoo's acting definitely improved! i hope he will take on more diverse roles for himself though, instead of playing a cool, cold, good looking type

[sweetestbliss1.livejournal.com]

It was my first time seeing Hwang In Yeob in a drama too. I saw Moon Ga Young in The Great Seducer and she was great in that too. A completely different character from True Beauty! I'd recommend watching it just for her and Woo Do Hwan. They have fire chemistry. Yeah, Cha Eun Woo should branch out more so he can improve. He really did do quite a good job in True Beauty, so props to him since I was superrrrrrrr skeptical of his acting before.

It was nice discussing and reminiscing with you about Ex-You! :)

[broadcities.livejournal.com]

ooh thanks for the tip, i'll check the drama out, especially now i know that woo dohwan is in it lol! i thought cha eunwoo was not so good in my id is gangnam beauty, but i thought he was pretty cute in rookie historian goo haeryung — i think he's good at picking out strong female leads in his shows.

yes, i really enjoyed it too :) hope to see you back in other drama posts :)

[sweetestbliss1.livejournal.com]

Haha sure! It does get messy, though, so be forewarned lol.

Yeah, see you around!! :)

[timetobegin.livejournal.com]

The drama left me feeling just like the webtoon did: invested in a few of the characters, but entirely frustrated with the plot and character developments. I was really happy to see they gave Soojin the ending she deserved though, wow.

The entire cast is too pretty. As a Jugyeong/Suho fan I found MGY and CEW super cute together. Thanks to all the actors and YES definitely need mature roles next time! And a ml part for HIY were he isn't on the losing end of a love triangle lmao

[kazu-kumaguro.livejournal.com]

I haven't watched but from reading the comments I'm just happy that the plot doesn't drag like in the webtoon.

[secretkeeperr.livejournal.com]

I just finished it and omg... did the writers change during the show or something? the vibe of the ending was so different to the beginning. The whole time jump thing was... I kept thinking theyd go back to the earlier time the ENTIRE time and was waiting on it, just felt so odd. I'm going back to binge weightlifting fairy and the first season of age of youth, need some good tv!

[sweetestbliss1.livejournal.com]

The second lead syndrome in this drama was strong, BUT Suho/Jukyung being endgame made the most sense.

Overall, I'd probably give the drama a 6.5/10. All the tropes and overused plot devices were disappointing. The friendships and interactions were cute though. Cast did a great job. In the end, the downfall was the writing/source material and there's not much the drama could have done to change that.

This drama got me thinking about second lead syndrome though and the fact that it is usually in reference to the second male lead and rarely the second female lead. I think this is made by design, but am wondering if anyone has had any instances where they experienced SLS for the female characters? The only instance I can think of at the moment is Romance is a Bonus Book. I wanted Editor Song to be with Lee Jong Suk's character.

[accioanime.livejournal.com]

I agree about how SLS is almost always the male second lead. Dramas dont fully flesh out the female second lead past the bitchy jealous ex of the male lead. The only time they do is if the female second lead was not a threat at all to the female lead, i.e. she is paired up with someone else or not interested in the main guy. Why can't women be friends and compete fairly for the guy the way the guys always manage to do? Why isnt there a Bromance equivalent for women wanting the same man?

[sweetestbliss1.livejournal.com]

Right? I mean, I get that it probably has to do with the idea that the main viewers of dramas are women and it is more likely that they'd be more interested in two guys pining after one girl vs. two girls pining over one guy. But still! At least please do away with the typical bitchy, conniving second female lead. It is so very annoying and tiring to watch.

I'm really trying to think of an instance of a female SLS and I am coming up short.

[accioanime.livejournal.com]

the show sucked at writing female characters, and even the main male lead was frustrating. He was an ass to her at the beginning but everything is forgiven because he was going through trauma from suicide of his friend, yet he never apologizes and just gets away with his behavior. I have said this about his previous shows and I will say it again: Cha Eun Woo has the acting range of a teaspoon. It's like he trained from Suzy's school of idol-turned-actors where he skates by enough by managing to say the correct lines and use minimal facial muscles to convey an emotion but does not bring depth or anything else to a role that couldve been done by the next hot guy. I do see how he has gotten more comfortable in this role and not as stiff as before, but wow the bar is so low for hot guys in entertainment lol. It pisses me off to think he is gonna keep getting lead roles over more talented actors because of his face (let's face it, its a pretty face).

Ive been thinking about how the show was supposed to tout True Beauty and how you dont need to be beautiful for 2 hot guys to love you... yet they cast MGY who is gorgeous and she looks the same even in her "ugly" phase. I love MGY's acting and she made the show bearable, but I think her being casted instead of someone who totally doesnt fit the Korean standard of beauty just proved how even the staff behind the show dont agree with the shows message, because they know folks might not watch or support an actual "ugly" lead. How dare Cha Eunwoo kiss someone not in the same beauty standards as him in real life?

[sweetestbliss1.livejournal.com]

HAHAH. Your comment made me laugh. "Suzy's school of idol-turned-actors." lol. I also must admit that he does have a pretty face. This was the first time I've seen him act and heard about his not so impressive acting so I was superrrrrrr skeptical. He is lucky that he has a pretty face and that Suho's character is not hard to play. Also the fact that he was surrounded by stronger actors who were able to make up for what he lacked. Overall, he did better than I expected, but I think it mostly has to do with the fact that this role was not hard to play. I think Rowoon is in the same boat. He was good in Extraordinary You because the role fit his level of acting skills (for the most part). I saw a few clips of Rowoon in his new drama and I cringed. I was going to give the drama chance, but after watching those clips I was like I'm going to pass.

I think part of the blame is also on the source material. The English title of the webtoon itself seems to be so misleading too. Does it actually explore finding true beauty within oneself?? Honestly, Korea as a culture is SO fixed on physical appearance and vanity so that is very telling in and of itself. There was no way they were going to cast someone who was not traditionally attractive or "normal" looking. The likelihood of them doing that would be in the negatives (-100% chance) lol.