Disclaimer: This “True Beauty Review” may contain spoilers for this show.
True Beauty
I am back with another K-drama review! As you may or may not know my family and I absolutely love K-dramas and watch them all the time. Recently, we watched “True Beauty” so I decided to review it on the blog. I also asked my parents and sister to give their review so I’ll add that at the end so make sure to read all the way till there!
Plot Synopsis
Im Ju-Kyung has had insecurities about her looks since she was young. She was treated differently by her school mates due to her appearances and was bullied by them. This left her with really low self-esteem and caused her to have trauma.
However, she got a fresh start when she transferred schools and learnt how to use makeup well. By using makeup she was able to transform herself and made friends at her new school. Lee Soo-Ho and Han Seo-Joon are both boys that went to school with her and eventually developed feelings for her. Soo-Ho was aware of what she looked like without make up by See-Joon was not.
Lee Soo-Ho and Han Seo-Joon were best friends until the suicide of a mutual friend that Set-Joon blamed Soo-Ho for. Soo-Ho was, however, not responsible for the suicide. Both Soo-Ho and Seo-Joon also have personal issues in their lives that they must deal with.
True Beauty Review
I really enjoyed the plot of this show. It touched on a number of very important topics. Firstly, I liked that they talked about the impact of bullying on high school students because most people do experience bullying in high school and it can cause a lot of trauma. From what I have heard this is particularly an issue in South Korea and it does lead to suicide in some cases.
The show also attempts to describe how impossible beauty standards especially for young women can lead to serious self-esteem issues amongst other things such as bullying. The majority of societies these days put a lot of importance in physical appearance and pretty privilege is definitely a thing. This show explores what it’s like not to have pretty privilege and to live in a society where looks are often equated to your worth.
Characters
I liked the characters too although I thought Ju-Kyung’s character made some really dumb decisions. But I guess that’s just what people are like when they are teenagers. I liked both Soo-Ho and See-Joon’s characters. And I felt bad for See-Joon because he ended up alone at the end. I wish they would have found someone for him as well. This felt like a loose end.
I enjoyed the side characters as well as they often provided the comedic relief needed in more emotional parts. I thought they did a great job with that. Also, I thought Kang Soo-Jin’s descent into becoming the villain was interesting due to her back story and the abuse she went through because of her father. It brought out the way in which kids are affected by abuse and how this trauma can lead to mental health problems. I appreciated that instead of just making her the villain they showed how she was able to get away from the abuse and work on her mental health to become a better person.
Mental Health
This drama discussed multiple mental health issues faced by people today such as OCD, depression, suicidal thoughts, PTSD and more. Most shows don’t really go into too much detail about such issues so I’m glad this show discussed it.
The one thing I didn’t like about the show was that they kept going for too long. My guess is that they signed up for too many episodes. I felt that the last couple of episodes where Soo-Ho’s dad got ill and Soo-Ho was forced to leave Korea were unnecessary. They could have ended it with Ju-Kyung learning to love herself in high school and having a happy ending then.
Final Verdict
I decided I want to start giving the shows I watch and review a star rating. I asked my family to give the show a star rating too.
My rating:
3.5/5
The reason it didn’t get five stars from me is because of the extra episodes at the end that I found a little unnecessary. I also thought at certain parts of the show the story was a little slow and not really moving forward.
My sisters rating:
5/5
My sister specifically told me to say that she recommended this show because she really likes Hwang In-Yeop and thought it was “totally possible he reads this blog” 😒😂
My mum’s rating:
5/5
She says: “good show with a good message.”
My dad’s rating:
4/5
He said: “it was good with a nice moral.”
Conclusion
I really enjoyed this show and I think it’s definitely worth a watch even if the last one or two episodes are a bit unnecessary. I thought the actors did a fantastic job and the writing/plot was great too.
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