Frumusețe Adevărată (2020)

A decent drama, but not for everyone

I was a fan of the webtoon in its early days. Back then, all I desperately wanted was for the webtoon to become a drama. Eventually, I drifted from the webtoon (partly because I didn't like where the story was heading). But I kept my eyes and ears open for any news regarding the drama. After a year and half of waiting, my dreams finally seemed to be coming true. Cha Eun Woo was playing Lee Suho, and I couldn't be happier! But now that I have finished this drama, I have conflicting thoughts.

Story-wise, I liked the message behind the show, throwing light on the 'pretty privilege' that goes unreviewed even in today's society. I liked the comedy in the show. In the beginning, it's a bit overboard, to the point where instead of laughing you are just cringing and/or feel like dying because of second-hand embarrassment. But after a few episodes, it is laugh-out-loud funny. Also, I feel like the story had a lot of unutilised potentials. The writers wasted too much time on the main couple's romance. They could've easily used that time for the development of certain characters. I don't know why they kept pushing the love triangle even up until the last episode. Inevitably, the ending was a bit rushed. It felt underwhelming. But the writers' handling of heavy topics and comedic elements is commendable, and I don't have any complaints regarding that aspect. Some heavy topics in this show can trigger some audiences. I have mentioned them at the end of this review since might be considered as mild spoilers.

Lim Ju Kyung was cliche makeover kdrama female lead. She was the usual pitiful, weak female lead with almost no likeable trait. Lee Suho too was the cliche, too-perfect-to-be-true, wealthy, cold male lead. Even Han Seojun's character was of the typical second male lead; the bad boy who's soft on the inside. Still, I might've liked him more than I want to admit. I assure you by the end of the drama you will fall for SJ real hard. Kang Soo Jin was a well-written and complex character, for a change and I enjoyed her quite a bit. The side characters were quite refreshing and made the show much more fun for me. They made the show much more bearable for me. Ju Kyung, thankfully developed as a character by the end of the show and I am pleasantly surprised!

As a now die-hard Seojun fan, I want to take a moment to appreciate the man. He deserves the whole wide world. I cannot tell you the numerous times I have had to pause the show to scream about how precious Seojun is and the fact that I won't be able to meet a guy like him. And the okey-dokey dance. Holy~! I see that scene every time I close my eyes and I am so not complaining. I have nothing more to say. I gonna stop now, or I will just burst into an unintelligible blabber about my love for Han Seo Jun.

I feel like I was not as invested in the main couple's romance as I was in Hee Kyung and Grapefruit's romance. Maybe it's because of my clear bias towards HSJ, or maybe it was because I LOVED their chemistry!! Hee Kyung and Grapefruit were the opposite of the cliche couple in a kdrama. Their romance was food for my soul. I enjoyed it so much! I also thoroughly enjoyed the Go Woon and Ju Young's little romance. The Lim family was quite an entertaining mess. I like how all the characters developed through the show; how they all became more sensitive towards each other and how they always had each others' back through thick and thin.

Moon Ka Young's acting was top-notch *chef's kiss*. She played JY perfectly. Cha Eun Woo is particularly chosen for roles like Suho's, and he plays them pretty well. This drama was the first time I had seen Hwang In Yeop act, and I was pleasantly surprised. Park Yoona did an amazing job playing Kang Soo Jin. She made me love and loathe her character just right, which I think is one of the qualities of a good actress.

The music was pretty decent. HIY's vocals gave me life, and so I will die for them if I have to. The other songs weren't particularly memorable.

Overall, the drama was different from the webtoon but still predictable. It is not a drama everyone can enjoy. Don't expect too much from this drama and you will enjoy it! I was a bit disappointed because I kept my expectations too high, but it might be different for you.



*Trigger warnings for suicide, bullying.*

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Strong and original in the beginning, predictable and cliché ending

So, here's the thing. For me, this drama started out strong. It was refreshing, had a good positive message and had me laughing out loud at times, while being super heartfelt at other times.
The actors did a fantastic job in my opinion. Hwang In Yeop (Seo Jun) is obviously a very skilled and versatile actor, and he definetely stole the show. He stood out to me as a second male lead, even though the second male lead arc has been (over)used time and time again in kdramas. I am not the biggest fan of Cha Eunwoo's (Suho) acting, but he definetely improved from his acting in My ID is Gangnam Beauty. Instead of his usual tsundere/stoic character, he got to show more range and he was pretty convincing in this drama. Don't get me wrong, he still has the tsundere feel, but he had some touching and sincere acting moments where I almost felt the emotions along with his character.

It was pretty good, and then, somethings changed and more and more clichés piled up. I started feeling less connected to the story around the 13th episode, but I really felt disconnected by the time I reached the 15th episode. In the last two episodes, too many things with the story felt wrong for me to keep enjoying the story fully. Borderline creepy behaviour was played off as a romantic gesture, there were a lot of filler scenes, and all trace of originality in the storyline seemed to have vanished. At that point, I didn't care much about the romance, or even the plot as a whole. The only scenes I looked forward to were the ones where I got to see Hwang In-Yeop. He was so so wonderful in his role, dealing with both a really sentimental and comical sense to his character.

I think the main problem with this drama is that it is too romance focused rather than dealing with its actual subject. Had it dealt more with their subject of "true beauty" and the actual challenges the main character lives because of her appearance, things would have felt way better in my opinion. It feels like they pretty much forgot what they were trying to say by the end and only focused on the romance aspect. They resolved her worries too quickly. It's a shame, because I think this drama could have had a good message, but it was drowned out under the weight of the romance.

To be fair, I didn't HATE the ending. I just wished it was a bit more original, as it felt like I had seen this "perfect" ending 100 times prior. However, I have to say I do like open endings or bittersweet endings, so it may only be my taste that didn't suit this ending.

Quick note on the OST: it was great. I litterally have nothing to say. The song written by Suho and SeYeon is so so so beautiful.

So, I'm definetely not saying "do not watch this". I think it's a pretty good drama. But I think keep your mind open to the fact that the ending is pretty predictable and things don't make sense sometimes (like the fact that we are meant to believe that Ju Yeong (Moon Ga Young) looks unrecognisable with makeup, when she just looks like herself with bad skin). That's probably okay too, after all, kdrama endings are usually predictable.

Overall, I would recommend it, if it's your style. I probably won't be rewatching this though (maybe just compilations of Seo Jun's scenes...)

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it's super cute and lovely. im team suho but I love seo Jun!!it's not bad, but it depends on your taste.

I am an avid True Beaty webtoon reader, and although I must admit that I am not a big fan of the webtoon, but I think this drama is pesonally... alright?

This drama is honestly, in my opinion, better than the webtoon. They made the characters more relatable and lovable, and it was quite different compared to the webtoon. The pairings were pretty interesting, and there were many funny and cute moments.

I think the casting and acting was great because they really portrayed the characters well! But the story... was really cliché and predictable. I found myself cringing a lot while watching. Not to mention the fact that there were so many stereotypical characters.

Overall, I didn't enjoy it very much, but it depends on your taste. If you love sappy and cliché dramas, go try this out! (my sister quite enjoyed it, so you might too, if you have the same taste as her)🥺🥺🥺🥺🥺❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️

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Funny, but lost interest

This drama has a empowering theme and talks about bullying and the resulting effects bullying can have on a person. Beauty is only skin deep. At first, I really did like the drama--it was cute, funny, and refreshing. The character development was nice and the gradual relationship build was good. However, I have to admit the story itself is cliché and predictable--which I did not mind at first, but the story started getting drawn out and I found myself having lost interest by episode 9-10. Then, I ended up dropping it altogether at episode 12. Perhaps, not the drama for me. Other people who enjoy the light-hearted, fluffy-wholesomeness, slow-paced may enjoy it more.

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DON'T BOTHER WASTING YOUR TIME — HORRIBLE PLOT, ACTING & INSUFFERABLE CHARACTERS

"IT'S SOOOOO BAD I WANT TO GIVE YOU A ZERO. BUT THAT'S NOT POSSIBLE SO I GIVE YOU A ONE."

I hate this drama and doubt I'll ever watch it again. I was irritated to death by the FL. I despise the plot and everything else about it. The entire premise of her being bullied, then relocating to another school and learning to do makeup so that she is suddenly liked, popular, and attractive sends the wrong message. The flashbacks of her allowing her ex-classmates to harass her in this way and without fighting back or trying to defend herself made it much worse. The whole plot of bullying someone just because of their appearance enraged me even more. When the FL then attempted to commit suicide because she was bullied for being ugly just made my head hurt. The point is that she isn't even ugly. The fact that the writers deemed an ugly person to be someone who clips up their hair, has acne, wears glasses, and has rosacea infuriated me even more. Overall the whole transformation of female lead -- her watching videos and learning how to put on makeup in order to be beautiful when she was already perfectly fine left a bad taste in my mouth. Ugh next. I'm sick of these boring, insipid female leads... didn't we leave this behind in the past? Then having the most popular guy at school ignore / dislike her when she is "beautiful" and treat her nicely / appear as if he likes her more when she is "ugly" makes absolutely no sense. Not to mention that the male lead is bland and dry as hell, and he CANNOT act! I don't care if you people like him because you think he's gorgeous that you ignore his horrible / emotionless acting because I WON'T.

Idk what else to say other than I dropped this show and I see it as a complete and utter waste of time. I legit cant even fathom why my friend recommended this garbage to me.

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True Boredom

True Beauty is essentially the high school version of My ID Is Gangnam Beauty.
It has its good-hearted, clumsy girl who was bullied for her looks, its cold and extremely good-looking male lead, who is again played by Cha Eun Woo, its second lead, for whom the viewers root more than for the main lead because he is a better person, and a group of supportive friends. The story is a cliché – one of those in which you have no idea why the male lead fell for this particular girl and you are not motivated much to care about their romance. Furthermore, it requires you to suspend a lot of disbelief because the idea that someone can wear enough make-up to transform her face completely and no one will notice that thick layer of make-up is ridiculous.

The couple in whose story I was invested were Soo Ah and Tae Hoon, the classmates who have been together for a long time and still managed to be more interesting than Joo Bal and Su Ho. The other thing that kept me watching until episode seven was that I wanted to know what happened to Su Ho and Seo Jun's friend and if the two of them will become close again – they had more chemistry with each other than either of them had with Joo Bal – but I eventually stopped caring about that too.

Overall, this series did not manage to hold my attention because it is too predictable. Unless you enjoyed My ID Is Gangnam Beauty a lot, you like the actors, or you want to watch sixteen episodes of Cha Eun Woo's being handsome, there is nothing interesting to be seen.

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Stayed for the story of the second lead

While the story is not realistic (or maybe makeup can really make a person’s face beyond recognition?) it was likeable enough. It was interesting at the beginning, started to fall apart somewhere in the middle and by the end it was a mess.

This may be the first kdrama I’ve watched thus far that the secondary characters outshone the main leads. I don’t know what it was that made me cringe at Moon Ga Young’s crying scenes, they were awkward and annoying to be honest. I adore Cha Eun Woo but he really needs to stay away from the cute but angry at the world characters or he will be typecasted. Thank goodness Hwang In Yeop saved this series for me, now he has a bright future in the acting world. Honorable mention in the acting department were the sister and her funny relationship with teacher. The dongsaengs’ in this series were also cute.

Watch if you’ve got nothing else to watch but I promise you there’s so many that’s well worth your 16 hours or so.

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Awareness to Bullies

Everyone who is a KPop fan should watch this. This story highlights and defines what a bully is. Moon Ga Young who plays Lim Joo Gyung acted her behind off to make her part of the story real. Cha Eun Woo who played Lee Su Ho, I was impressed with his acting and how portrayed his character. There is a lot of storylines where the daddy is about the company and not about his children. I love Cha Eun Woo, not because he is a KPop idol but because of his personality and that is one beautiful tall man. Hwang In Yeop who played Han Seo Jun, I mean I didn't have time to look at his acting because his beautiful eyes got in my way and stuck in my brain. OMG those eyes though! His acting, uh, did he act... lol yes he did and he was great.

I want to thank the writers for this storyline. I'm an activist who advocates against hate, racism, bullies, etc.! I have seen a lot of bullying on the internet but not like I have with the KPop fandoms. Toxic fans will harass and target Kpop artists so badly that can cause these artists detrimental mental trauma. Not only do toxic fans target artists they also target the fans too. Even though this drama was aired in 2020... this has been going on since 2001 or earlier, especially in 2022. I am a member of the BTS ARMY fandom and it can be very Toxic.

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Will Be a Cult Classic

What do I even say about True Beauty? It's amazing. Everything about it. The lead actress is beautiful and so, so funny. She makes the character so loveable, both by the 1st and 2nd male leads, and by the rest of the cast and audience.

There is a little bit of that trope where when she's the "ugly duckling" it's almost like the early 2000s romcoms where she just has her hair up and some glasses on. lol But it's still amazing.

My only complaint is how unbelievably difficult they made it for us to choose which guy she should be with. This is hands down the worst case of 2nd male syndrome I've ever had. And I'm not the only one. To this day I see half the people #TeamSuHo and half #TeamSeoJun. I don't even know if I know where I stand. lol

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Surprisingly one of my favorites

Really loved it! When it was released I thought it was overhyped because it's based on a romance/comedy webtoon so I was like I'm sure even if it's good it won't be great because I like to watch romance/comedy dramas sometimes but it's not my favorite genre also people tend to over hype tv shows with idols in it..But I really wanted to watch something for Cha Eunwoo because I love him as a person so I was like I'll try watching this just to see how he acts and wasn't expecting much from the show... But omg it's actually really good.

The show was heartwarming,cute and hilarious. Absolutely loved the cast,it was my first time watching anything for all the leads and loved them all. The story wasn't like entirely new but how it's put together was good. And without spoiling much was I the only one who like didn't side in which one she should've end up with?..Like I loved both leads and both were good for her and whoever she ended up with it makes sense and I agree with,but I feel bad for the other one he deserves better but not getting her ..like he should've had some different ending romantically wise..

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