SUMMARY:
The REAL selling point (besides CZY's portrayal of XYE) is the relationship/character growth between HWQ and XYE. If you feel like the plot is getting repetitive, know it gets better after the first half, and know that the build up of the last few episodes is incredibly well done and so painful in the right way. If you do not have a sentimental attachment to this story, or if you do not care for familial relationships, I don't think you'd particularly like it. However, if you like wuxia and you like familial relationships, I would power through just for CZY's XYE and for the build up of the last few episodes.

Ok here's the full review:

I don't usually write reviews because I am too lazy, but I felt like I had to write one for this drama. I watched The Proud Twins (2005 HK/TW version called 小魚兒與花無缺) while it was airing, and it has always been one of my favorite shows. I also love Hu Yitian from ALSB, so I was very excited for this drama. When the casting/characters were revealed, however, I was kind of worried because they replaced my favorite villain from TPT which I felt was one of the biggest selling points of TPT. Another thing I felt was incredibly well done in TPT was the tragedy in several relationships, and when I found out that HS did not include those specific tragedies, I was extremely disappointed.

WITH THAT SAID. If you loved TPT, for sentimental reasons, WATCH THIS VERSION.

ACTING/CHARACTER PORTRAYAL:
- Chen Zheyuan does Xiaoyu'er //so// much justice. I don't think they could have casted a better actor for him. I don't even have enough words for how much I love CZY's XYE. He absolutely carried this show. 100% you will fall in love with him. He brings XYE to life just as well as the XYE in TPT, and he showcases how multifaceted XYE is. The dynamics of his principles, what is good/bad to him, what's evil/wrong or right/just, he just does such a good job at expressing his emotions and reactions. The struggle he experiences in terms of who he wants to be, who he thinks he is, who he actually is is just beautifully laid out and his growth is beautiful and makes sense. I will say that BOTH the brothers' character development is visible, realistic, and touching.

- HYT gets better as the drama goes along, and I think he does a good job in playing his two characters differently. His acting and his character improves as the drama goes along. At first, I was kind of thrown off by the difference b/t this HWQ and the one in TPT, and it took awhile for him to grow on me. I would say it wasn't until the second half of the drama that I started to care about HWQ, but once I got there, I really, really appreciated his part in the show. He serves as a wonderful contrast to XYE, and over the course of the show, both brothers learn from each other. The similarities between the two noticeably grow in the second half of the show, and I felt it was very well done.

- In general, there is a lot of room for improvement plot-wise and acting-wise (specifically for Hua Wuque, Tie Xinlan, and Jiang Yulang).

CHARACTER TLDR: XYE is Ironman and HWQ is Captain America.

ROMANCE:
If you're here for the romance, you'll probably be disappointed. There isn't much focus or development on these relationships. There /is/ a love-triangle. If you hate love triangles (I do), don't worry, it works out pretty well, it's never the main point, and I think it creates the right amount of conflict that leads to growth.

PLOT:
If you're familiar with the original plot, it's pretty cool to see this version. It feels a bit messy in the middle 1/3 of the show. It seems like they're constantly going on irrelevant side quests, but the end does (for the most part) tie everything together. It might feel kind of repetitive and annoying after awhile, but I would power through for the ending. The plot could have been improved, but I think the skeleton of it worked and set up for the real selling point of the drama which was the relationship between XYE and HWQ.

SET/VISUALS:
This was beautifully done! The fight scenes were so cool, I love how they were choreographed, mad props to any newbies to wuxia (HYT). The costumes were never over-the-top but were still incredibly appealing, and this is definitely a good looking cast! The landscape/background/everything was just very aesthetic and beautiful. Nothing looked fake or cheap.

SPOILERS/THOUGHTS BELOW:

If you watched TPT, they did SuYing dirty as hell lmao and the XiaoXianNü in TPT is basically SuYing in HS. They should've introduced SuYing way earlier to make the connection more legitimate. I also felt like HS!TieXinLan was super useless and I really missed Fan Bingbing's version. Even though she lost her wugong pretty early on, she just had more of a personality and was more relevant to the plot.

I also thought the way YaoYue unraveled at the end wasn't super well done? I dunno, it seemed pretty obvious that XYE would pull the trick he pulled at the end, and it seemed OOC for no one to expect that. Also, why would YaoYue not even check for herself to see if XYE was really dead??

I also didn't like the way the drama ended. I wish the last scene was between the two brothers and not with the respective love interests. Oh well! The build-up to the final fight was still very well done imo, I was in soooo much pain LOL

Last fun fact - they have the same actor in TPT for Du Sha, one of the 十大惡人, in this version! Anyways I'll go back to crying about this drama now, thanks for reading

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I really, really, really don't understand how this movie's ratings are so high. It's just so cringey. I watch plenty of Asian dramas so I'm no stranger to cringe or secondhand embarrassment, but this was just...bad. Maybe I'm just not used to the pacing of movies, but this seems like a story that needs a great deal more build up. There was SOME build up, and I thought Wang Dalu did a really good job of portraying whatever he had to work with (all 7 stars for acting go to him), but not enough to be believable.

I love Jelly Lin, I loved her in Fights Break Sphere, but I really couldn't get behind her portrayal of Yuan Xiangqin. It just seemed unnatural and cringey in an abnormal way. Also, with an entire Taiwanese cast it seemed like she tried to act with a Taiwanese accent? And her Chinese accent would come out a lot and that just made the entire experience very uncomfortable. I kind of wish she just went with her normal accent. It just made things unnatural and weird.

Overall, wouldn't recommend it.

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Ok first things first, the main actress. Yes, her freaking out really annoyed me. I almost dropped the show entirely because I couldn't see anything sticking around for bc of some really repeatedly negative interactions, but I'd say give it at least 6 episodes and it'll probably hook you in. She freaks out WAY less after that and the romance picks up then. And she's pretty awesome in all the other non-freaking-out aspects of her character.

Everyone's comments about SLS are NO JOKE. This really is a disastrous love square but it of course all works out and isn't frustrating for too long. And you will really fall in love with Siwon.

Last thing - a lot of people said that they dragged the plot on way too long, and I could totally see that. However, I wasn't really here for the plot anyways, I wanted a rom com and I got a rom com. The drag was fine to me bc it just gave me more time with the characters developing and building relationships. At the end I was really happy with how they wrapped up everything for everyone. Also, all the side characters were fun and only added to the overall enjoyment!

Here's my breakdown:
Pros:
- Park Seojoon
- cute ass couple
- good looking cast
- Siwon!!
- positive messages about pursuing your dreams and believing in yourself
- strong female friendship!!!
Cons:
- freaking out from the female lead
- love square
- really negative interactions in the first 6 or so episodes

Again, I wanted a rom com and I got a rom com. So if you're also looking for a rom com, I'd say don't let the cons stop you from She Was Pretty, and stick it out 6 episodes to receive full benefits.

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If you're trying to decide whether to watch this show, it basically depends on what you're looking for. If you're looking for quality, you won't find it here. If you're looking for some pretty faces to stare at for a couple hours, I'd say you could do better although familiarity breeds attraction so if you watch for long enough you're likely to start finding them attractive. I'd call this show a trashy rom com type of show, like those really bad romance novels you read on summer vacation just to mindlessly pass time in a fun, unattached way, hence: one night stand type of show.

This show is fun to watch. It is funny, the interactions are funny, you have all the relationship tropes play out the way you'd want to see them play out in any standard rom com show, and honestly I skip past all the interaction that isn't the main couple or the friend. So if you're just looking to pass time, this isn't a bad show to watch.

One thing I will say though - I'm sure it's well known that every Asian drama is extremely problematic in terms of how it frames abusive relationships and sexism as normal and okay and even romantic. You kind of have to suspend your beliefs about healthy relationships in order to fully enjoy any Asian drama from my experience. This drama, however, seems to be particularly problematic. I haven't gotten to the big plot twist people talk about yet, but from the reviews/spoilers I read, this drama is truly particularly concerning. So if you're sensitive to that, this isn't the drama for you. If you are able to compartmentalize and overlook it and are just looking to pass time, go for it!

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