Is “True Beauty” Really worth Its Hype? Review of “True Beauty” Episode 1-3

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Is “True Beauty” Really worth Its Hype? Review of “True Beauty” Episode 1-3

Highly anticipated kdrama “True Beauty” premiered recently!

“True Beauty” is a webtoon adaptation drama, which simply means that the drama is based off a webtoon. Coincidentally, I have been following the webtoon so when I heard that it was coming to my screen, I was intrigued.
Would it be done justice?

NOTE: This is not a recap of the kdrama but my personal unbiased opinion of the kdrama.

Even before the adaptation came to mind, readers of Yaongi’s popular webtoon comic, “True Beauty” kept talking about the webtoon. It was said that the male lead of the comic bore an uncanny resemblance to ASTRO’s Cha Eun Woo and BLACKPINK’s Jisoo was recommended to play the female role.

ASTRO’s Cha Eun Woo did get the role of male lead; the smart but cold and aloof Lee Su Ho, however, Moon Ga Young and not BLACKPINK’s Jisoo acts alongside him as the cheerful Lim Ju Gyeong. Hwang In Yeop plays the rebellious Han Seo Jun.
I watched the first three episodes of “True Beauty” and In respect to the kind of hype the drama generated before its premiere date, “True Beauty” is sincerely a flop. The cast was hyped, the storyline was hyped, the teaser was hyped and when I watched the drama, I ended up disappointed.

Is it the actors’ acting skills or the plot?

Well, Both.

THE CHARACTERS

Cha Eun Woo plays the role of cold, Lee Su Ho, he gives us the cold and aloof appearance with his expression and some scripted actions but that is where it ends. Since his character is multi-dimensioned, he has to maintain that cold front while showing the audience his weak, hurt side and that is where he starts to fail.

I love Cha Eun Woo with all my heart but found out that during the drama, his acting felt off. In a scene of his, he had to show his character having a bad dream. That scene felt so uncomfortable to watch because it looked forced. His facial expression tensed up so much, he made a few uncomfortable sounds then gasped loudly, to signify waking up from a bad dream… I ended feeling like there was more he could have given to that scene since his character was being haunted by the painful memories of his childhood, he could have made us feel that, or at least see it. It’s easier to hide such glitches with comedy scenes but when it is a setting that requires the actor to demand the audience’s emotion. He keeps holding back on us.

Hwang In Yeop was never in my radar, I only got to know of him through “True Beauty” and sincerely, of what I have seen, he is stealing the show.

He plays the role of rebellious, rough Han Seo Jun. Just his expressions give you the vibe of rebellious and rough af and I love it.
His kills his comedy scenes and I find myself laughing my head off. One scene that really demanded more emotional acting on Hwang In Yeop’s part is the ending of episode 3 where he comes across an intimate interaction between Lee SuHo and Lim Ju Gyeong and then gets angry or jealous?; we don’t know it yet, but he killed the display. The scary, pissed-off demeanour he puts on, his body language and behaviours really drove home the point.

For some reason, he doesn’t like seeing Lee SuHo and Lim Ju Gyeong together.

On to the female lead of the show. My queen is a 10/10 and no, I am not even biased even though, I am very sure I have seen a drama with Moon Ga Young in it, let me check...
However, while watching true Beauty, I decided to disregard all that and look at her as an actress I have never seen. I had many expectations ( i have never seen her before, remember). She nailed her character, but that is the problem.

As the female lead, Lim Ju Gyeong, she delivered her comic scenes with beautiful finesse and relatability. She makes you fall in love with Lim Ju Gyeong as a character, makes you adore her and sympathize with her.
Her emotional scenes are done beautifully too. For example, a scene where she cries her heart out to Lee Su Ho, about his “bullying” her. She makes the viewer understand the character’s pain.

Despite that, whenever I look at her, I feel like there is still more she could give. Her case is different from that of Cha Eun Woo, he could give us more, his character and script demand more but he keeps holding back, almost like he is scared of accessing or showing Lee Su Ho’s emotions.

Moon Ga Young delivers what her character demands of her, but her character doesn’t ask for much. As Lim Ju Gyeong has been carved out to be a comedic character with just a sprinkle of emotional relatability, there isn’t much she can put in. In fact, I believe if she puts in her full potential, she could end up pushing the character, Lim Ju Gyeong into a different hemisphere.

I understand this so I am curious as to how much more her character will demand from her and, can she deliver?

THE PLOT

The plot of a not-so-pretty girl who uses makeup to make herself pretty, gets discovered by her handsome classmate and so on…. is not bad and that is part of the problem.

The plot makes the audience ask what else? so much that at a point during the kdrama, please remember I am just in the third episode, the drama began to feel forced, empty and dragged out. There were the occasional, funny scenes that make you roll and laugh hard, then the dragged out scene where I found myself wanting to scream “CUT!” numerous times.

Compared to the webtoon version, the kdrama is different. While the webtoon waits and drags things out with the characters, the drama shows us whom we are working with quite quickly. In the webtoon, it took a while before we saw the fatherly figure that Lee Su Ho had emotional baggage with but, this was given to us in the first episode. I still cannot decide if that’s a good thing or not.

The question remains “To Watch or Not To Watch”

it is a watch for me because although “True Beauty” definitely disappoints when compared to what was expected. When you keep away your expectations and Watch it for the characters and the comedy, then you could have a fun time with it. Other than that, I warn you, you might be dropping sooner than you expected.

The drama is just in its fourth episode and I believe it still has a lot of potentials. I am curious as to how much more we could be shown.

Did you enjoy this review?
Tell me your thoughts on our Instagram page! – @theasiane

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  • Cha Eun Woo's Acting
  • Hwang In Yeop's Acting
  • Moon Ga Young's Acting
  • True Beauty's Plot

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