She was pretty

 

I've already heard, read and seen hundreds of reels about this drama that it's finally time to watch it. THE TIME HAS COME 😇 The drama was so praised that I expected a masterpiece that would knock me down to my knees ....

But first things first - synopsis by MyDramaList:

As a young girl, Hye Jin was impossibly cute and lived a comfortable life with her wealthy parents. Since entering her teens, both her looks and fortunes have drastically changed. She currently lives rent-free with a friend and is a part-time clerk at a convenience store. Out-of-the-blue, Sung Joon, her childhood friend, contacts her and suggests they meet. He is unaware that Hye Jin recently spotted him and knows how fit and handsome he had become. Not wanting to disappoint him, she insists her pretty best friend go in her place. What could go wrong?

After landing a full-time job, Hye Jin is surprised to find out that Sung Joon is her boss. To add insult to injury, he is treating her with nothing but disdain and contempt. This is not the friend she fondly remembers, so she goes about hiding her true identity from him.

Sounds interesting and fun right? and it is but that masterpiece that everyone was talking about definately is not there 😒

 

"The show had some really good moments and the actors all had great chemistry, but ultimately it fell short because there just wasn't enough story to keep it going for 16 episodes." This is the best sentence I read on one of the forums which also in 100 % covers what I was thinking when this drama has finished. I felt a bit cheated because so many k-drama fans was recommending it as being excellent and superb while is real life it was just good 😬 I thought I don't understand something that is happening in the drama ... that there are some hidden meanings ... so I was reading some reviews to not to seem dump saying "She was pretty just ok, nothing crazy was happening there" and I noticed that I'm not alone in this thought 😄

Drama gave me a huge vibe of Ugly Betty. For those who don't know who Betty is - she is not so pretty girl dressing up very "specially" with Latin America origin who somehow is hired in the well-known fashion magazine. She is working against the odds and trying not to break due to her fashion-crazy collegues. But She was pretty takes place in a country where beauty goes first. Skill later. So in Korean take on Ugly Betty - Hye Jin is not an ugly girl, she is at most just not well cared of with a small skin issue on cheeks 😅 and is turned her into Cinderella. Someone here couldn't decide on a remake story. But at least they combined it quite well together as the first half of the drama fits more into the Ugly Betty trend, and the second into Cinderella. Not bad ... but still a bit odd combination... 😩

Another not so bad element and certainly not refined are characters. They were all rather bland, without any elements of surprise or specialties. Boring and typical. The friendship between Ha Ri and Hye Jin was fantastically portrayed, but nothing else was unique. Some time after seeing this shop you will at most remember them being adorable together AND THE GUY THAT WAS PURSUING HYE JIN 💘 -Kim Shin Hyuk (portrayed by Choi Si Won). He was the only character that had meaningfull background, great development, twist, genuine acting and fantactic overall that will stay in my head for a long time. The rest of the cast? Forgettable. If I was Hye Jin I would go for Shin Hyun ... oh well ... maybe next time?

 

Referring to the very title of the drama "She WAS Pretty", nothing sticks to eachother here. I know am nitpicking here, but it bothers me how the story of this drama turned out to be. I know that Koreans have an obsession on beauty but Hye Jin was not ugly at any point of her life. I hated how her little sister behaved against her. Maybe in Ugly Betty they were fussy about her looks but everything there was taken to the extreme, while here they wanted to make it realistic and it was just bugging me most of the time 😓

Ok... Do I have anything positive to day about She was Pretty? 😇😆 Yes! I enjoyed that the fashbacks were kept to a minimum and didn't interfere watching. Dramas sometimes have too much nostalgic tendencies and reminiscing about something that already happened is irritating for me and just takes up airtime that could be spent on meaningful scenes. And the acting - Hwang Jung Eum (here Kim Hye Jin) is a fantastic actress but this drama wasn't vibing with her. In Mystic Pop-Up bar she was extrodinary and I will keep that always as her skill reference. Mentioned before Choi Si Won was excellent while Park Seo Joon (here Ji Sung Jun) is totally not my cup of tea. He was good but I don't feel his character nor him as an actor.

 Okay, despite all of that messiness, drama is not the terrible. Characters might be blant but still are acceptable and had planty funny moments plus leads had many of cute scenes together so watch-time wasn't in 100% wasted 😁 In overall drama gets from me streched 6/10 as the concept behind wasn't stupid, just the execution was lacking. The praysing of others was kinda out of place here 😒 and hyped me up for nothing. Maybe if drama would be cut into 12 or 14 episodes it would be better😬