This weekend’s drama to marathon has to be one of the cutest dramas I’ve watched in a while. It’s full of adorable characters, a sweet plot-line and more warm-fuzzy inducing moments than a box full of kittens. In short, it’s the perfect drama to marathon during this holiday season (especially if you tend to suffer from more holiday blues than cheer) and one I’m sure you’ll love almost as much as Santa loves cookies.
Originally airing on MBC from mid-September to mid-November, She Was Pretty, is the story of two childhood friends/first loves who, after 15 years of separation, are reunited. The thing is, Kim Hye Jin (Hwang Jung Eum) grew up in an affluent family and was considered an incredible beauty as a child but as time passed her family fell on hard times and she lost her family fortune as well as her good looks. On the other hand Ji Sung Joon (Park Seo Joon) followed in the footsteps of the Ugly Duckling transforming from a chubby nerd -child into a handsome and well-to-do copy editor of one of the world’s top fashion magazines. Nervous about meeting Sung Joon after so many years, and more than a little worried about her appearance, Hye Jin talks her best friend, Min Ha Ri (Go Joon Hee) into meeting Sung Joon instead. Entranced by Ha Ri’s beauty, Sung Joon is immediately smitten by his first love and Ha Ri doesn’t take long to follow suit. As you can imagine, trouble ensues as Hye Jin’s best friend falls for her first love while Sung Joon spends an awful lot of time trying to figure out why this crazy temp employee at work reminds him more of his long-lost friend than the woman he’s attempting to woo.
Like I said, She Was Pretty is one of the cutest dramas I’ve watched in a long time. The whole idea of someone waiting 15 years to reunite with their first love is so sweet and you really can’t find a cuter couple than Sung Joon and Hye Jin. They’re such a pair of odd albeit adorable ducks on their own but when they’re together, they just work so well it’s almost magical. The flaws of one are covered by the strengths of the other and they have such a sincere love for each other, it borders on the edge of make-believe and fairy tales. Not that I’m complaining about that at all. It’s wonderful to be made to believe love like that actually exists and it gives hope that anyone can find such a love, regardless of what others may see on the outside.
As adorable as Sung Joon and Hye Jin are together, this story has some pretty great second leads that deserve mentioning. Reporter Kim Shin Hyuk (Choi Siwon) is every bit as quirky as his leading counterpart which makes him a great match for Hye Jin and his genuine love for her makes him a worthy rival Sung Joon. There’s no point in trying to deny the fact that Reporter Kim made my heart flutter on more than one occasion. As goofy as he was, he had enough moments of sincerity to make me wish I could be there to hug him every time Hye Jin refused his advances. I always have such a weakness for second leads it borders on pathetic but when you’ve got a character as lovable as Reporter Kim, how can anyone not love him? On the flip side, Hye Jin’s best friend, Ha Ri, is also a lovable character, despite her messing up with Sung Joon. It wasn’t like she was really trying to fall for Sung Joon, it just happened, and since she’s never really had a guy like Sung Joon around, it was hard for her to resist his warm nature and adorable charms. Yes, she did end up hurting both Hye Jin and Sung Joon but she apologized for what she’d done and though her relationship with Sung Joon will never be that of friends, there was no permanent damage done so I hold no grudges against her.
As much as I enjoyed this drama, and I really did enjoy it, I’ll be the first to admit I found Hye Jin more than a little annoying. Her super-bubbly personality combined with her rather loud and abrasive mannerisms just didn’t sit well with me. Yes, she had a good heart and she was far more forgiving than most people would be but her constant over-reacting, her tendency to screech and squawk and just go over-the-top over every little thing seriously got on my nerves. I’m sure some people found her super cute and all these traits I’ve just mentioned, endearing, but as one who spends her life surrounded by loud, crazy, tiny zombies, I prefer to avoid crazy whenever possible. I tend to shut down around the über-loud so it was a struggle for me to get through these first couple of episodes. The good news is Hye Jin does tone it down a bit as time goes on and being with Sung Joon calms her even more. She’s still as sweet and plucky and exuberant as ever but she doesn’t go overboard as often as the story progresses which made me do the happy dance of joy. Granted, Reporter Kim also has his moments of crazy as well and there were some moments when I wanted to push him away as much as Hye Jin did but he too mellowed and once he decided to get serious in pursuing Hye Jin, he became downright irresistible.
Even with a female lead who made me cringe more often than I like, I still ended up thoroughly enjoying this drama. It really was so, so cute and suffering from a serious case of Second Lead Syndrome seems to make me love a drama even more so naturally, I’m crazy about this one. If you’re looking for a super-sweet drama, with lots of heart, very little conflict and some seriously swoon-worthy male leads, you can’t go wrong with She Was Pretty. It’s an awful lot of fun to watch and you’re sure to get a healthy dose of heart fluttering warm-fuzzies which makes it a winner in my book. Of course I want to know your thoughts on this one so be sure to leave them in the comments below!
Yes, Hwang Jung Eum, is overacting so much that I can’t stand it either. If you saw her in “Kill Me, Heal Me,” it’s even worse — but my only consolation are the handsome men in the cast. 😀
I became an official Park Seo Joon fan because of “She Was Pretty.” 😉 His character was super romantic, in my opinion, PLUS, he never minded what Kim Hye Jin’s appearance.
Also, I don’t mind Kim Hye Jin’s facial appearance, but why did she have to dress so terribly in the beginning of the drama? It was horrible. Even if I thought of myself as ugly, I would not do the “Jackson” look and wear a holey sock for work.
I never thought Hye Jin was unattractive. A bit unkempt and frazzled, yes. But ugly? No at all! Her overly-bubbly personality made her endearing to most, her appearance just needed a little attention. It was a silly plot device to begin with as no one in a drama is ever ugly, unless their personality makes them so and Hye Jin was anything but. Like you said, the leading men in this drama are the ones who made it as great as it was. Park Seo Joon is just so adorably sweet in this role, he made my heart melt so many times, just by a look or a smile. Ugh! So cute! And Siwon, though almost as annoying as Hye Jin in the beginning, somehow managed to win my heart and I spent way more time than I should have, cheering his character on. I knew it was a lost cause from the beginning but I cheered for him anyway because he’s an adorable second and as we all know, I have an awful weakness for those seconds!
I don’t think of Hye Jin as unattractive either, but her self-esteem is too low to be real to me. She dressed up so badly for work in the beginning or doesn’t even tame her hair that I had a hard time believing her professionalism. If you know you work for a fashion company…look the part, even if she had to go to a street market to buy cheap clothes. I’m sure she could have done better. I really feel for her because I am also indirectly-related to the fashion business and I had no idea who is who and what luxury brands were out there. At least she should borrow money for a few good clothes to go in rotation for a while. And socks? I bet she knows where she can get it for a cheap price. I even found my daughter really cheap socks at Homeplus, I think
Eh, Siwon’s character was out of this world to me. I just can’t see him as a real character, who jokes around way too much. We see him as a successful person, but we don’t actually see many scenes of him doing any actual work.
I did not get second-lead syndrome because I became a crazy Park Seo Joon fan. It was an overwhelming feeling for me. 😀