Overall I enjoyed this show. Most of the characters are very lovable and its has those little details that make a show come alive.
However it also has a lot of problems. The biggest one is that sad old trope where the guy is a inconsiderate controlling jackass with just a few touches of decency in there and playing that off as romantic. This made Ji Sung-joon a pretty unlikable character. But his character also seems very inconsistent. Its almost like he has multiple personality disorder. Most of the time he is so different from his childhood self that it's just completely unrealistic. And with some things about his characters its like they just forget about it halfway through (eg. it seemed liked they where working up to revealing he has a eating disorder, which would make sense which his background, but then they suddenly just completely forget about it and have him eat normally for the rest of the show). All-in-all, they just really butchered his character.
It also has a lot of these little sexist and homophobic jabs ("You should cover up", "It would be a waste if you where a lesbian", etc.). And its also a shame that they went with the usual cliche of having her "become pretty", instead of having herself and others accept her for who she his.
Review by chillikunBlockedParent2020-10-15T22:45:19Z
PLOT
Okay, so for the story, we have a love square with the majority working together at the same company and/or having a lot of money. Cliche much? Extremely so.
The story was pretty superficial and a bit of a mess. We had these beautiful characters but their stories didn't really come together to tell anything meaningful. Hye Jin as a young girl and Hye Jin as a young woman have a lot of similar interests but virtually no personality traits in common with each other. One is elegant, the other goofy and the story never explains how just because she ran into hard times a person could change so much. This is just one example of MANY where the plot details are thrown in but never really integrated into the story. The Management Team, Sung Joon's weird eating/zombie habits, Hye Jin's sister, Ha Ri's bizarre relationship with her parents and step-parents, (which had oddly both too much and too little detail)...and don't get me started about the CEO's son mystery. In the end all of these things just felt like red herrings thrown in to fill time around the central love quadrangle.
For once I didn't feel that spammed by flashbacks as I usually do when I watch Korean dramas, which is good. The filming was also deal with pretty nicely, I guess. I at least have nothing to complain. What I do have to complain about though, is the storytelling and execution. There are lots of points that are ignored from episode 1 of the show, which people tried to assume, but till an official answer, it just stays as that: assuming.
CAST
Hwang Jung Eum. Oh, Hwang Jung Eum, you are only sweet when you stop overreacting, sweetheart. Comedy doesn't mean overreaction; no, let me rephrase, comedy doesn't mean yelling and hiding under tables, dropping everything in your way and act as if you're on crack 90% of the time. It's the problem that I had with Kill Me, Heal Me comedy as well, when she was involved.
For the rest, I must praise Siwon although irritating but I really liked to witness his famous "derp faces", as well as his funny to bittersweet expression changes. It was very warming.
As for Park Seo Joon, I must compliment him when he had to deal with his post-traumatic condition, but besides that, not much else. The rest of the cast was pretty much average, didn't really made me care about their performance.
Music
Forgettable and limited. I can't remember any of the tracks up to now.
VERDICT
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.
I really, really enjoyed parts of this show but, despite the show being about the importance of what's below the surface, as a cohesive drama She was pretty lacked a lot of depth. Watch it for the cute fluff but don't expect much more.
If you're looking for a feel-good romcom without too much makjang, She Was Pretty will deliver. After some initial complications, the story does wind down towards the end - with some revelations and business/magazine arc taking over. The storyline and the chemistry between the cast does make this drama a very easy watch, though the pace does vary quite a bit between the episodes.