She Was Pretty: Episode 1
by javabeans
Surprisingly affecting for a madcap romantic comedy, She Was Pretty starts off strong with a first episode I really liked. But more than that, I absolutely LOVE the characters, and have a feeling they’ll be a winning combination. I’m relieved that the first-love story is more poignant than trite, but that’s nothing compared to the awesome girl bonding we get between our two leading ladies, which is sadly so rare in dramaland as to be a real anomaly. Ratings may have started off disappointingly low (4.8% for the premiere, against Assembly’s 5.4% and Yong-pal’s 21.5%), but I’m so encouraged by how much I responded to the first episode that I already don’t care.
SONG OF THE DAY
Park Bo-ram – “예뻐졌다” (Became prettier) [ Download ]
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EPISODE 1 RECAP
We follow a man whose face remains unseen as he puts together a puzzle of a Renoir painting, which is missing one piece. Then he looks up someone online—the name is KIM HYE-JIN, and we can surmise from the stack of handwritten letters in his keepsake box that she was a childhood friend.
But those letters were all returned to sender, leaving him without a clue. He must be the sender, JI SUNG-JOON (Park Seo-joon), who’d mailed those letters to Hye-jin in Seoul while he’d lived in New York.
At a trendy pool-slash-nightclub, a party rages on around the leggy birthday girl. She’s MIN HA-RI (Go Jun-hee), and she calls her friend to complain about not being here yet. Her friend is busy working at a bar, though she lies that she’s on her way.
The friend is frizzy-haired and ruddy-faced (Hwang Jung-eum), and she serves popped corn to a table of disgruntled men who’d much rather be served by the pretty other waitress, which they request directly to her face. She’s got a positive attitude and admirable bounce-back, agreeing that the other girl’s nicer to look at; she assures them that the other girl will bring them their order.
This is the elusive Hye-jin, and she hurries to Ha-ri’s party afterward, finding her surrounded by rich oppas vying for her attention with pricey gifts. Ha-ri can hardly contain her boredom, but perks up considerably when Hye-jin arrives, squealing at “Wifey” to join her. Aw, they’re cute.
One oppa marvels that Ha-ri could have “that kind of” friend, which earns him a swift stiletto to the foot. Dig that sucker in, girl. Ha-ri returns the expensive necklace he gave her and tells him to get lost.
Ha-ri’s all set to ditch everyone to eat dinner with Hye-jin, but Hye-jin insists the birthday girl return to the party. As she eats by herself, Hye-jin gets a text reminding her of her upcoming student loan payment, and takes a wistful look around at all the free-spirited people here. But she only lets herself feel down for a moment, bucking up right away.
Ha-ri trips in her heels and falls into the pool, triggering a whole wave of rescue efforts by all the men. Hye-jin leaps up too, but when she gets knocked into the pool, nobody comes to her aid. As she sinks, she thinks, “One day, the thought occurred to me, that it wasn’t only in movies or dramas where protagonists existed.”
But when Hye-jin’s feet touch the bottom of the pool, her eyes pop open and she simply pushes herself back upward. Good girl.
As she surfaces, she continues, “Just as popped corn gets shoved aside for the main order at a bar, in reality, some people are treated like main characters while others live as supporting cast members. Then I might only be the heroine’s Friend 3, or an extra with no presence, who never receives or even suits the spotlight.”
All the attention centers on Ha-ri, and Hye-jin trudges home, soggy and glum.
In the morning, we find that the friends are also roommates. Ha-ri gets up in a mist of soft lighting and breakfasts on one apple, while Hye-jin jolts awake and scarfs down a full meal, to prepare for a big job interview today. She’s in the thick of employment-hunting, all of her energies focused on securing that holy grail of the full-time job.
Once at the office, Hye-jin gets on the elevator, only to be pressured into stepping off when the weight capacity buzzer sounds. Another woman boarded later, but she’s prettier, so off Hye-jin goes. Then to her surprise, the doors reopen as the pretty woman is instructed to leave, making room for Hye-jin instead. What, you’re not gonna show us the face of the guy responsible? Fine, be a tease.
The interview is for an intern spot at a magazine, and Hye-jin’s middling credentials earn smirks from the more qualified candidates. To rub salt in the wound, upon her exit she’s hit with loose trash flying in the wind and raindrops from a sudden storm.
Arriving in her neighborhood, she sees roommie Ha-ri making out in a convertible and scolds her for the public display of affection, and with a guy she isn’t even sure she wants to date yet. She asks if Ha-ri’s ever been in love with any of her guys, and Ha-ri asks what that true love is. I think that’s your answer. Hye-jin waxes poetic about romantic things, while Ha-ri scoffs at the idea, preferring to just date whomever interests her, for as long as he interests her.
Ha-ri adds that all men are basically the same, so there’s no need to split hairs. She advises Hye-jin to abandon her old-fashioned ideals and just date. Hye-jin points out that nobody wants her, not that she doesn’t have her plate full with other concerns.
Hye-jin is pleasantly surprised to receive an email from Ji Sung-joon, which is full of questions about what she’s up to and ends with a request to meet when he arrives in Korea. Ha-ri remembers him as a chubby loser who’d moved into her house after her family moved to Japan, and was shocked when she later heard Sung-joon and Hye-jin had become best buddies.
But Hye-jin is thrilled at his request to meet, smiling to recall Sung-joon as a sweet, innocent boy.
On the day of their meeting, Ha-ri drives Hye-jin and lends her her cell phone (Hye-jin’s broke in the pool dunking), though she’s at a loss as to why her friend would be so eager to see Chubbo again. Hye-jin says he was her friend and first love, which Ha-ri can’t believe.
As Hye-jin arrives, we linger on two men also arriving in the same parking lot. One’s chic and sleek in a nice car, and the other’s a leather-clad bad boy on a motorcycle.
The chic one enters the museum first, just as a teacher explains a Renoir painting (the same one in the puzzle, “Dance in the Country”) to a group of schoolchildren. He’s our hero Sung-joon, and he interrupts to correct her assumption that the dancers in the foreground are the main characters, suggesting that there’s another way to read the scene.
Then Mr. Motorcycle arrives—he’s KIM SHIN-HYUK (Choi Siwon), and he introduces himself as a feature editor here to write about this exhibition.
Sung-joon smiles when Hye-jin texts that she’s arrived, while outside, she waits with nervous anticipation. She spies a fat man sitting alone eating a pastry and grabs his hands enthusiastically, squealing that it’s great to see him again, which of course doesn’t go over well when he huffs that he’s not Sung-joon.
Then Sung-joon calls to confirm that she’s near the fountain, and heads over waving in her direction.
She’s stunned at the transformation… and then he walks right past her to the pretty woman behind her. Hye-jin gasps in horror, remembering, “There’s one important fact I’d forgotten while I was so busy earning money! The Kim Hye-jin that Ji Sung-joon remembers looks like…”
Flashback to their school days, when Hye-jin was a gorgeous girl (Jung Da-bin) who’d cause fights between the boys who all wanted to sit next to her. But she was super nice, too, and when students would taunt Sung-joon, it was Hye-jin who shoved them away. (It’s Ding-Dong!)
Sung-joon realizes he’s approached the wrong woman just as Hye-jin hangs up on him. She runs out of sight and rejects his call, and a glimpse of her reflection causes all the recent painful slights to rush back to her. Snubbed for her looks, rejected for her specs.
She tells us that after Sung-joon immigrated to the U.S., her wealthy family was ruined, and the pretty looks she inherited from her mother were overpowered by her scraggly father’s genes.
So Hye-jin chokes back tears as she finds Ha-ri, telling her friend why she left. The beautiful Hye-jin in his memory had completely vanished, and she’d been afraid of looking even more pathetic in his eyes.
Ha-ri exclaims that Hye-jin’s totally fine and should meet him anyway, but Hye-jin counters that on top of the looks are her sad status as a 30-year-old unemployed loafer. She’d rather preserve the first-love fantasy.
She sighs that she wishes she could borrow Ha-ri’s appearance just for today… and that sparks an idea.
A short while later, it’s Ha-ri who shows up at the fountain where Sung-joon’s still waiting. He lights up while she awkwardly says hello, and then he pulls her into a hug. “I missed you, Kim Hye-jin,” he tells Ha-ri.
Flashback to Hye-jin and Sung-joon’s first meeting. She had dropped by his house soon after he’d moved in and introduced herself. He’d been so startled he’d run away, only to show up in her class.
The next time she dropped by, he was working on that Renoir puzzle, and Hye-jin had seen the small face in the background. Ah, that’s the missing piece from the first scene. Sung-joon had shared his opinion that the lady was looking at the man in the foreground, nursing a one-sided crush. Hye-jin had called the lady a hidden picture, easy to miss entirely if you’re not searching for it.
Now in the present, Hye-jin watches her first love hugging her best friend, thinking, “On that day, in front of my first love, I became a hidden picture.”
The couple heads to a restaurant for dinner, while Hye-jin eavesdrops from a nearby table. Sung-joon is clearly bursting with curiosity but asks questions slowly, while Ha-ri fidgets uncomfortably, replying according to the instructions Hye-jin had issued. She sticks to vague comments, but missteps when asking after his mother, which causes Hye-jin to leap up and signal madly that Mom’s sleeping in the sky. Thankfully, Ha-ri smooths it over and he doesn’t think too strangely of it.
Sung-joon explains that he came across a box of their old letters recently, which made him want to see her again. He asks why she stopped writing, and she gives the pre-planned answer that her family moved to Japan and she lost his information.
Sung-joon says that he also found the puzzle, but Ha-ri doesn’t even know what a “puh-joo” is and stalls while Hye-jin scribbles a note. She has no idea what “hidden woman” means, but mentioning her makes Sung-joon happy.
Then Hye-jin imagines herself in Ha-ri’s seat as he says earnestly, “Before I met you, I thought being alone every day was obvious. But I realized for the first time after becoming friends with you… that if you have even one friend with you, the world isn’t lonely. It could be fun. And to have the friend with me be a cool girl like you—it was so fortunate. Thinking that, I suddenly felt grateful, and wanted to find you. Meeting you now, I’m glad I found you.”
Ha-ri forces a smile, and Hye-jin slumps a little, sighing, “I’m glad I hid.”
It’s clear that Sung-joon wants to meet again, but as the date winds down Ha-ri follows Hye-jin’s instructions and gives him her excuse. He’s floored when she says she’s leaving to study in England tomorrow, but he regroups and figures they can keep in touch and meet on his work trips to England, which happen several times a year.
But he can’t let things end just like that, and asks her to wait five minutes. He races to a shop and returns with a box, saying she can use it to avoid “the disliked thing.” He offers a handshake that he can’t quite let go of, and then hugs her goodbye.
Around the corner, Hye-jin blinks back tears.
The gift is an umbrella, which stirs a specific memory. Flashback to a school trip on a rainy day. Sung-joon suddenly gets up and asks the driver to open the doors, and Hye-jin watches in concern as he steps off the bus alone, shaking in the rain. Sung-joon whimpers about his mother and being scared of the rain, but suddenly Hye-jin is there with him, holding a shirt over their heads.
He’s still stuck in a bad spell as they sit there, so she sticks an earbud in his ear. Playing is the Carpenters’ “Close to You,” and it immediately calms him. Hye-jin promises, “I’ll be with you now. I’ll be your umbrella.”
When he’d left for the States, he’d given Hye-jin that puzzle piece of the hidden woman, so they can finish the puzzle when they meet again. Then he’d kissed her before running off to make his flight.
Now Hye-jin selects all of her emails from Sung-joon—there’s a whole page of them as they’d planned their reunion—and deletes them, thinking, “Goodbye, my first love.”
On the upside, Hye-jin gets hired as an intern at a magazine, and she shows up for her first day full of enthusiasm. Even when minor hiccups arise (like ripping her slacks on the way in), she brushes them aside with her eternal optimism.
Also heading inside is editor/bad boy Shin-hyuk, who looks cool, but is actually much less cool than he thinks. He tosses a piece of gum in the air and misses his mouth, and when he bends over to retrieve it, he trips Hye-jin, who faceplants on the pavement.
She wails in pain, thinking the gum is her front tooth. Shin-hyuk offers assistance, but she bolts up and dashes inside lest she be late on her first day.
The company has hired two interns in their management support department, and the other one is a fashionable young woman with a distinct air of snootiness about her. The internship will last three months, at the end of which they’ll be up for full-time employment. Hye-jin is given her first task and races around madly running errands, while the other intern sits around.
Still, Hye-jin tackles her work with alacrity, super excited to finally have a job. In the following days, she takes on every assignment efficiently and competently, and her boss crows that he was right to hire her… because it would have been a productivity-killer to only hire attractive women—they just make the men slow down and then quit to get married. He wanted someone who would never get texted by a man or resist working late because of dates. Barf, you stupid little man.
Then he gives Hye-jin the task of dropping off a box with another department within the company, The Most magazine’s editorial team. She heads to the flashy Most office and makes the delivery, only to be mistaken for someone else and given another errand.
She leaves that box with a Most editor outside, hurrying away before recognizing him as motorcycle-riding Shin-hyuk. He recognizes her vaguely, but can’t quite place her.
Somehow Hye-jin gets roped into even more work for Most—ha, they mistake her for the new freelance copy editor, and she’s given stacks of papers to proof. Hye-jin attempts to ask why she’s being assigned this work, but everyone at Most just cuts her short and issues directives, so Hye-jin finds herself making coffee runs to a fashion shoot on top of everything.
She’s exhausted by the time she finally makes it out, and then the Most team realizes the mixup when the real freelancer shows up. The editors wonder who Hye-jin was, noting that she did all her work perfectly.
The next day, Hye-jin is transferred to Most on a temporary, three-month assignment. She isn’t keen to return there, but Most has the most pull within the company, and what they want, they get.
So off she goes, where she’s shown her seat and once again eyed by Shin-hyuk, who continues trying to figure out where he’s seen her. Heh, if he can’t think back two days, I fear he may never know.
Hye-jin’s voiceover cuts in to tell us, “Reality is when suddenly one day, without any warning, it escapes our expectation.” That’s when Sung-joon arrives at the office building, and a passing employee recognizes him as the guy who kicked her off the elevator. (Aw, I knew it.)
“That’s why in life, you can’t let your guard down,” Hye-jin continues. “Expectations don’t work.”
Sung-joon enters Most’s office, and the editor-in-chief introduces him as their New York transfer, now their deputy editor.
Hye-jin gasps in shock just as Shin-hyuk remembers where they met. Hye-jin narrates, “None of us expected this.” Sung-joon joins the voiceover to say, “This is the beginning of our hidden picture search.”
COMMENTS
These characters! I luff them! It’s very early to be loving anything without qualification, but they really won me over with this foursome. I’d expected to like Hwang Jung-eum and Park Seo-joon together, having seen them acting together before, and I expected to like Siwon since he’s the best cocky doofball around, but Go Jun-hee was a surprise. Which speaks to the writing of her character, since she’s normally got a cooler, less friendly vibe. I did like her as the little sister in What’s Up Fox, but that doesn’t compare with Ha-ri here, who makes a great counter for the bubbly heroine.
Hwang Jung-eum’s brand of indefatigable pep really works to the character’s advantage here, and that’s not something I can say of all her characters. (I think she’s a good actress, but I dearly wish she would sometimes turn her energy dial down a notch. Not everything has to be emoted at 11!) But because Hye-jin’s energy is put on, it comes off as a bravado meant to protect, to cover up how much it hurts that people treat her like crap because she doesn’t fit their idea of pretty.
As to the whole prettiness point—that was the part that had me the most worried about this drama going in, especially when it was promoted using the words “ugly gene” and calling her “bomb woman” (slang akin to eyesore). It’s a potentially tricky premise to base a show around someone being valued for their looks, but the show’s approach is to focus on the effects of her ugliness. We’re not making value judgments about the ugliness itself, but portraying how less attractive people are disregarded by the entire social order, and that’s something that resonates.
Also, Hye-jin’s fear of being a disappointment rings very true; I thought that entire exchange around their reunion was played in a lovely, heart-tugging way. I appreciate that Hye-jin’s not so down on her looks that she ties up her self-worth in it; it seems like she’s largely disregarded it and rolls with the punches as gracefully as she can. But combined with insecurity over not becoming anything in her life yet and the potency of a first love fantasy—well, I totally get her. I loved her as a child for being sweet to Sung-joon and not thinking anything of his appearance, but you grow up and can’t expect the same open mind of the world, sadly.
(This is why, as much as I hate Hwang Jung-eum’s hair—always the hair with her!—I really don’t want the show prettying her up, because the answer to the conflict can’t be that she overcomes it by becoming conventionally pretty. I… don’t actually know if the show will accomplish this. But I’ll go into it with optimism.)
As for Park Seo-joon… omg why is he so hot? I’ve thought he was hot before, but man does he really do it for me as Sung-joon. It was almost painful watching him with Ha-ri, knowing what he didn’t, but that’s the kind of angst I always think hurts in a good way. He already feels something’s off about Ha-ri, but we’ll have to see how long the fantasy can hold up to the reality in front of him… and how long it’ll take him to recognize the real Hye-jin. I simultaneously want him to figure it out immediately and very very slowly, and can’t decide which is better. But at least the anticipation is a good thing.
RELATED POSTS
- Press conference day for rom-com She Was Pretty
- She Was Pretty on the cover of a magazine
- Laughter and tears for She Was Pretty’s second leads
- Hwang Jung-eum on building her character for She Was Pretty
- She Was Pretty’s first teaser doles out sweetness and kisses
- She Was Pretty confirms leads, adds Park Yoo-hwan, Kang Su-jin
- Siwon considers MBC rom-com She Was Pretty
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- Hwang Jung-eum, Park Seo-joon courted to reunite for new drama
Tags: Choi Siwon, featured, first episodes, Go Jun-hee, Hwang Jung-eum, Park Seo-joon, She Was Pretty
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51 Sam
September 17, 2015 at 6:07 AM
I totally love Everything about this darama! I even like HJ's fluffy hair way better then it was in KMHM. lol I want to sit down NOW and marathon the whole drama without stopping to it's conclusion! Gah! I have to be patient cause there's no way that's going to happen. This drama is going to be my Happy Place to hang out at! Loving it! :) ok..going back and rewatching it again this very minute!
Thank you. ..thank you...thank you for the super speedy recap! Awesome job as well. You never fail me! :)
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52 cheliwel
September 17, 2015 at 6:09 AM
Hwang Jung-eum's reddish cheeks...is that really necessary? I feel like the "perm" is the go to hairstyle to make a girl "ugly" in kdramas. THAT or wearing glasses. Anyways, I'm almost done with episode 1 and so far it has potential.
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53 dramacasualty
September 17, 2015 at 6:23 AM
Great recap!
I luff all the characters and the besties bonds between the girls. I hope they stay besties. It's just a rare thing in drama land for the second and first female leads to be supporters of each other.
The zippy pace and bright colours of the first episode is great and I love the poignant childhood inserts that show how cool the Hyejin was as a kid.
also love the part where siwon misses the gum...back to crazy eyes King of Drama days - still one of his best characterisations yet!
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54 ultramarineblue
September 17, 2015 at 6:28 AM
Thanks for the recap!!
I'm so glad that Hwang Jung Eum's character is not ugly; more unusual compared to the other women. It really hurt to see her first love just walk straight past her...I didn't support her decision but I understood it. I'm hoping this drama can be like Twenty Again and not keep Sung Joon in the dark for too long mostly because I want him to realize his mistake :(.
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55 amara
September 17, 2015 at 6:44 AM
i really loved the first episode (it was also lowkey telling about beauty ideals and misogyny and socialization. how she was readily to accept her first love's perceived ugliness in terms of his fatness but she wouldn't let him see her that way in terms of her perceived flaws in terms of her face. not really expecting much for a drama to go into that but i liked how they got into that a little.) HJE's acting is great, imo.
my favorite is the relationship between HJE/GJH so fucking much. how confused GJH everytime HJE puts herself down or doesn't go for men, how she kind of ignores her comments belittling herself or tells her to just go for it, or how she just tells her to date and do what she wants (when she caught her in the car making out with the dude. yes!) calling her her boss husband and her girlfriend. instead of telling us they're best friends and /showing/ us they're best friends. if that's tested, that's fine but to weather through it i can't wait to see that.
i am excited for the romance aspects since i love it. can't wait to see how HJE/PSJ fare. even though the ratings are low i hope it will fare low and keep it up with it's own quirky and gentle humor and good spirit about love and friendship and it's not all about looks.
i could see a makeover or something happening if and only if she realized she did have intrinsic beauty--inside and out--and she could do with it in whatever way she deemed fit. it's a really cute show that could go downhill but for now i'm enjoying it.
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56 melody~
September 17, 2015 at 6:49 AM
Think they failed at making Hwang Jungeum ugly...
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57 music
September 17, 2015 at 7:14 AM
I think it may have already been said. I think SJ is certain that something is off about his meeting with HJ because in the voice over at the end he joins her in saying that the search for the hidden picture has started. If he didn't suspect them, there would be no hidden picture for him to look for. I think what made me suspect this is that fact that as HR was saying good bye to SJ, she waved. However, when SJ finally said goodbye he shook her hand and held on. Similarly, at the airport when the little SJ was leaving, HJ and him shook hands as well.
HJ is aware that she is the hidden picture just like in the jigsaw puzzle. However, does she really want to be found or remain as a background to him. Does she think that he suspects the foreground shown to him has a hidden picture?
I REALLY like the girls as besties and I think conflict between them in unavoidable. However, if directed right, the conflict can be a stepping stone to a closer relationship between them. I would like to see a development similar to that.
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growingbeautifully
September 17, 2015 at 9:37 AM
@ music
"HJ is aware that she is the hidden picture just like in the jigsaw puzzle. However, does she really want to be found or remain as a background to him. Does she think that he suspects the foreground shown to him has a hidden picture?"
I like what you've written here. Hye Jin is making use of Ha Ri in the foreground to distract Sung Joon from seeing her in the background. She will think that she should hide in the background so as to not get his attention.
The allusion that Sung Joon made about the painting, saying that the dancers in the foreground need not be the main focus, depending on how one looks at the picture, is telling. He himself had suffered as a person who had been in the background, ignored and lonely. He had his friend and savior in Hye Ri who had also noticed the girl in the background, and who brought him out of himself.
Of all people, I want to trust that it will be Sung Joon who will notice the changed Hye Ri, all the more because she expects to be ignored like the girl in the background. (I'm guessing), that the more she tries to hide, the more he will want to help bring her out, because that's what his friend did for him. The irony will be that he does not know that his friend is the very same person he will want to help. :)
I believe Hye Ri does not know it yet, but she very much wishes to be found and accepted as she is. Perhaps just staying in that background is the very thing that will earn her the attention she will be trying to avoid!
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music
September 17, 2015 at 5:40 PM
I just can't wait to see how everything will unfold. It should be endearing to see how he will draw her out when she thinks she doesn't want to be found. I wish she will accept herself well and no longer thinks of herself as a side character in the world. Hopefully she will understand that she is the heroine in her own story and no one can take that away from her. I wonder if he will remember her from the elevator or see that it was her in the background when he mistook random lady for her.
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Gidget
September 17, 2015 at 11:04 PM
Speaking of hidden pictures, color me crazy or is the fashion photo at the bus stop Hwang Jung Eum? (Or a look she could VERY easily recreate?)
It seemed like they were trying to make a point with that shot. I wonder if it's showing us her true self which has been hiding in plain sight. And that her current image and mannerisms are simply the result of years and years of internalizing, then externalizing, others' opinions.
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panshel
September 18, 2015 at 5:28 PM
The bus stop advertisement was Lee Yeon Hee.
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58 Ivy
September 17, 2015 at 7:35 AM
SO IN LOVE ALREADY!! Gosh, this show is so cute, sweet, and full of heart! Couldn't agree more with javabeans about the characters! They're awesome
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59 Adal
September 17, 2015 at 7:50 AM
I already LOVE this show! And we're just in the first episode. It's exactly the kind of rom-com I've been waiting for after all the drought of good dramas. All the characters are sooooo endearing.
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60 teukie
September 17, 2015 at 8:14 AM
The friendship feels~~~
That makeup removing scene was so awesome.
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61 annflln
September 17, 2015 at 8:40 AM
why i'm saving all PSJ's pictures in this recap like crazy? LOL
He do look HOT jb!!
I'm gonna watch this bcos HJE and PSJ.
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62 isabel
September 17, 2015 at 9:13 AM
IT WAS GOOD !!!!!
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63 vanilla_latte
September 17, 2015 at 9:17 AM
I loved Sung Joon's speech to "Hye-Jin" about why he loves her so...I can see stars in his eyes! swoon** The wording was so touching. Can't wait for tonight's episode.
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64 growingbeautifully
September 17, 2015 at 9:19 AM
Thanks JB!
This is delightful. I feel positive about this show. We get some background of the main relationship, the 4 main characters with varying degrees of personality showing through and the setup all in place. Very efficient and neat in just one episode. So the hijinks and twists can already begin.
I also really like the 'hidden girl' metaphor. I'd like to see it re-emerging as Hye Jin allows herself to be un-hidden from behind Ha Ri, as well as while she discovers/rediscovers her own hidden depths, talents and lovable qualities, and that she has no reason at all to be ashamed of herself.
It feels very assured ... this show knows what it wants to do. While I believe we probably can guess what to expect, I also anticipate some interesting and unexpected developments to take place. Already Hye Jin has gained notice and more positively than I would have expected, so soon. Might I hope that the downtrodden heroine trope gets quickly over and done with and her makeover happen naturally, for her own self more than to please another. Better yet, how about no makeover at all! That will really be an interesting first. :)
I look forward to all our protagonists being brought together through Hye Ri, (the missing puzzle piece) and making a complete picture together by the show's end. :)
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65 maryann
September 17, 2015 at 10:20 AM
Yay! recpas! Thannks Dramabeans.
It's past 1 am here and I am grinning from ear to ear after watching the first episode. It's the same feeling I got while watching Falling for Innocence.
And PSJ...he totally showed us a sincere boy who was curious about his first love. Glad that after his cable stint last year, he is finally in a leading role in one of the Big 3. PSJ aja!
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66 Fiona
September 17, 2015 at 10:36 AM
One of the first dramas where the lead actor and actress do not meet each other face to face in the first episode! Seems promising!
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67 Jane
September 17, 2015 at 10:41 AM
Great synopsis and pointing out how society associates self worth with beauty. I think this is especially the problem in South Korea, where plastic surgery is considered the norm and being different or unique isn't. It can be seen in everyday instances of the importance South Korea gives to 'beauty' by just turning on your tv and seeing the immense number of commercials that are associated with makeup and skincare. I'm always baffled when I watch reality shows and an issue with parents or children or adults in general is weight or beauty. I even once saw a show where a parent was saying how it was an issue that their daughter was more than 100lbs and wasn't beautiful enough. hope that this drama continues to keep Hwang Jung Eum as 'unbeautiful,' and keeps Go Jung hee the way she is, friends with Hwang Jung Eum despite their differences. It's heart warming to see that Go Jung Hee doesn't judge Hwang Jung Eum's outer appearance but instead supports her many endeavours.
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68 sarika
September 17, 2015 at 10:57 AM
Episode was good...enjoyed it .
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69 wookah
September 17, 2015 at 10:58 AM
Talk about making a girl cry in the first episode!
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70 katshirou
September 17, 2015 at 11:17 AM
#InLove yey ?? added to my #NowWatching ?
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71 elvira
September 17, 2015 at 11:47 AM
Ding-dong!
Ah, now I wanna watch Chajumma.
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72 earthna
September 17, 2015 at 1:30 PM
I've never liked the lead actress because she's too loud so I was hesitant to watch this. I gave it a try because I didn't have anything to watch and boy was it worth it. Second leads are always the best when they are friends instead of one part of a love triangle. This is to hoping we don't get to that! Too early to say this but I think I already love all of them! Siwon's Michael Jackson will be ringing in my ear for a while. Thanks for the recaps, javabeans!
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73 Alice
September 17, 2015 at 2:15 PM
So I have been following dramabeans since...well, forever, but this is the first time I really feel the need to comment.
I skimmed through episode 2 with such high expectations on the guy...to see the caricature on the claasicl early episodes Kdrama lead jerk. Also, I really don't trust Ha-ri. I love how awesome and sweet and caring their friendship is, but in the outline of the plot it's said she starts dating the guy...while he believes she is his first love. Id hate for this to happen since I'm weary of the ''friend turns enemy over a guy'' plotline. As to the said guy, being punctual high-functioning professional and overall cutiepie to someone you like doesn't magically make it okay to treat ''that less attractive colleague '' the way he did in episode two.
Sorry for the chunk of negativism, I love the cast, I was won over by the story so I over analyze. I really can't wait for the lead to stop being a douche - usually it takes half the episodes, but we are rewarded with swoon and puppieness in the latter half.
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bbstl 🧹
September 17, 2015 at 3:08 PM
Yes, probably most appropriate to post comments with their respective recaps (ep. 2 in this case).
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whilethemusiclasts
September 18, 2015 at 1:48 AM
SPOILER ALERT
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74 Dramaaddit
September 17, 2015 at 3:04 PM
JavaBeans I am waiting for your episode 2 update ???????? Fast please ?????????
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75 Val
September 17, 2015 at 3:12 PM
No joke, my sister actually messaged me demanding that I watch She Was Pretty. That was odd because she never does something so ridiculous. Lo and behold, a couple of seconds in and I realize why. My hometown was on Spokeo (founded by a family friend too!), the website that was literally on the screen for a couple of seconds. How she noticed that I don't know. That was a strange coincidence and I decided to watch the rest of the episode. I didn't make a mistake because I dig this episode almost as much as I loved the first episode of Oh my Ghostess (which remains my ultimate fav alongside Twenty Again). I just hope that the two girls won't battle it out in the end like the cliche that is all too common in kdramas :(
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76 Noelle
September 17, 2015 at 3:56 PM
finally a show i want to watch!
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77 llonna
September 17, 2015 at 4:23 PM
I just finished watching the first episode. I haven't felt this way about a drama for a very very long time. I AM SO EXCITED to read recaps and watch this one!! <3
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78 exquisitemelody
September 17, 2015 at 6:25 PM
I don't think I've loved a drama so much in the first episode than in this drama. So many things I loved, I don't know where to start!!
1. How much do I love that the girls are BESTIES?!?!?! I don't think I can think of one drama where the two girls are actually friends. I feel like Protect the Boss almost got there...I don't remember the drama well, but I remember the second lead become less like a conventional second lead. But I hope their friendship can make it through this drama. It'd be a pity for her to gain a boyfriend and lose a best friend.
2. The fact that she got her job at Most because they recognize that she actually does a competent job. I don't know why she didn't want to go there - that seems like an upgrade of a position if you ask me.
3. Choi Siwon. Probably laughed every moment he was on screen. Is his 'mystery' the fact that he's got the most horrible memory ever?!
And of course, our leads. I'm super excited to see how this plays out. I hope he doesn't figure it out that fast, but with her working there, he'll obviously get her name in the next episode. Can't they try to stretch out the truth for a couple episodes?!
I hope this drama stays as awesome as it is now...here's to hoping!
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79 Zawse
September 17, 2015 at 8:46 PM
Yay! twenty again and now she was pretty. another kdrama that got me hooked. I like Choi Si Won's character so much(already?) . >.< Can't believe it's still the first episode but the characters has won me over already.hehe
Thanks for the recap JB! :D
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80 Cocoboo
September 17, 2015 at 8:57 PM
Yessssss I love the main cast! I'm in love w/ this drama already! It had me crying w/ laughter. It tugged at my emotions so well.
I adore Hye Jin's and Ha Ri's close relationship. Sweet and fun to see.
This first episode was fabulous. Hope the ratings/interest go up!! :)
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81 Viki
September 17, 2015 at 9:20 PM
Loving this already!! And I agree about the characters :)
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82 canxi
September 17, 2015 at 10:40 PM
Yay! Yeo-mance! I love it. Keep it coming with the female friendship, it's nice to see.
The drama sounds really cute and fun and seems to be get right to the point. Can't wait to watch! As for the prettying up, I don't mind at all. I think things like this are best done as a gradual change and not like a "salon montage" type change. Like in Ugly Betty where Betty got prettier and more stylish every season. There was no real emphasis on it, it just happened.
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83 Tess
September 17, 2015 at 11:37 PM
This drama has taken me by complete surprise...not what I was expecting at all, particularly with the great gromance/womance between Hyejin and Hari. Their scenes together were my favorites from this episode. How delightful was it to see two women taking care of and cheering up each other (did anyone else love the makeup removing scene??) ...so rare in tv land. More than anything I hope the writer preserves this relationship, because the romance is pretty inevitable so I am not worried about it. What I would love for Ha Ri's role to be would be for her to secretly help the leads get together (as opposed to becoming a barrier).
I was surprised by the depth and subtlety of emotion in Hwang Jung Eum's acting as I was never a big fan before. I could really sympathiZe with her character.
Can't wait for ep 2 subs to be released!!
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84 Chanelboy loves Jang Ki Young Argh
September 17, 2015 at 11:51 PM
Omg the recap and the comment sections flooded so fast!
I'm okay with the pilot episode, but certainly there's highlight here and there :
*Episode 1 already makes me cry a river!! The tonal and the mood, or Park Seo Joon or HJE's acting or, argh I don't know but how can you cried with this new character fiction less than an hour ?? Good job damn it
*I love HA-RI clothes!
*I think HJE totally shows again and again how DEDICATED she is for her work. For real.
Ugly-ducking heroine has been beaten to death scenario in k-drama, but for honest, the actress all look still pretty! No offense to them, but HJE show how extra-extra miles she is willing to go for her acting department. The first cut of her face being a waitress gets me. I already do know how bad life beats her down, inside and out. Her fashion is a honest very common-girl who struggling for life, no fancy-ing or try manipulate as to maintain her face as A-list actress.
Most actress(company) still try to maintain their persona and not totally so common ex: IU in YTBLSS, her complex is too perfect to be pass as normal, and even her outfits is simple, but it does put together in fashion sense.
HJE's face complexion, her outfits, the shirt the loafers, the socks, the $15 sling back you get for salary-worker, is so right to the point I immediately believe in her.
I really appreciate and honor to see one of kind actress like her. She acts to be recon as artist and drown herself deeply, not merely for fame and bucks <3
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85 whilethemusiclasts
September 18, 2015 at 1:44 AM
Wow. First episode and I'm sold.
Here's to hoping everything pans out nicely... Keep the girls friends forever. Don't make the guys assholes. If prettification must happen, hopefully the guys have already fallen for her before the makeover takes place. With kdramas, that's the most I can hope for. But overall, yes. I'm excited for this one.
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86 Jayhee
September 18, 2015 at 2:04 AM
wowww ..I looooovvveee this..I want more..of thiss....
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87 Dramaaddict
September 18, 2015 at 2:27 AM
JavaBeans ?????
Where is 2nd episode
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88 charm
September 18, 2015 at 6:04 AM
whoooo,i speechless,i've never seen an acting like this, just standing there looking at your first love hugging your best friend,i felt the emotion coming to me.what can i say...hje...you really earned my admiration and respect.
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89 awakenasleep
September 18, 2015 at 8:35 AM
Very delightful first episode and totally love the spotlight on the girl friendship especially the bonding moments which totally warmed my soul. I am more keen to find out how their friendship will evovle or how they will deal with the challenges that are inevitable in threatening their bond more than the romance. In fact I view the male lead as the '3rd wheel' coming between the hyejin-hari wifey union, and am certainly rooting for the latter. I like how hye jin character is portrayed as able to look past the surface in others and accept them as is - bringing chubby boy a plate of hamburgers and apologizing for mistaking his age, wiping off ha ri's make-up as a metaphor for uncovering the girl who hides behind the makeup and clothes; but is unable to look past her own exterior as readily.
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90 Odessa Jones
September 18, 2015 at 8:47 AM
Choi Si Won!!!
Choi Si Won!!!!!!
Choi Si Won!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I'm happy.
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91 lunatic4kd
September 18, 2015 at 9:20 AM
I'm BAAACCCKKK! I knew it would have to take a drama this awesome in its first episode to pull me back into DramaBeans comments after my insane love for Healer - and this is it!! How can I love a first episode so much??? I couldn't wait to see Hwang Jung-eum and Park Seo joon as romantic leads after their AWESOME chemistry as brother and sister in Kill Me Heal Me and this is better than I could have imagined. Episode 2 (watched on VIKI) is the bomb! There is nothing I don't love about this drama. Kudos to the writer and actors. I am in love again!!
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92 dinithi
September 18, 2015 at 9:36 AM
I'm waiting for episode 2 recap.actually it's a wonderfull drama.
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93 SuziQ
September 18, 2015 at 1:32 PM
Totally hilarious and sad first episode!
Ding Dong is back! Nice to see him back in a comedy...Ditto for Si Won.
Don't know why HJE is always cast in some fugly hairdo, but her character is strictly over board and so funny!
I had to look up the puzzle PSJ had. It's of a Pierre August Renoir painting,"Dance in the Country". I've seen the painting before, but never realized that there was a girl peeking at them dancing. Loved the writer's analogy with Hye Jin's life and Sung Joon's. It's sad that Hye Jin accepted him when he was a fatso kid, but not vice versa as an adult. Don't trust Ha Ri from betraying her later too.
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Zawse
September 18, 2015 at 3:09 PM
oh thanks for telling about the puzzle. hehe Been looking for it
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94 Sara
September 18, 2015 at 2:23 PM
Guys please please I just wanna know about that background song that played in the supermarket, it's around 12:30 in the first ep!!! I need it
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95 alienshore
September 18, 2015 at 4:23 PM
The 4 leads are so adorable I think I'm getting a toothache! Love it! My only concern is how they'll maintain any tension. It doesn't seem particularly rife with conflict.
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96 ricekate95
September 18, 2015 at 8:10 PM
Thanks, javabeans, for the recap! Finally..found a gem in this production. Park Seo Joon -- swoon worthy!! He's adorable and a hottie at the same time (how is this possible?!)
Hwang Jung-eum who plays HyeJin - she's over the top talented - I like her already! Can't wait for the next episodes!
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97 Nicnac74
September 18, 2015 at 9:06 PM
Isn't the actress sitting next to a picture of herself at the bus stop???
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charm
September 18, 2015 at 10:37 PM
I also think that the picture next to her is herself, maybe years younger.I dnt know.
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98 ara
September 19, 2015 at 2:44 AM
I am late for the comment party but I literally cries in 1st episode, cry because it just so real concept and it funny enough
it's really simple things for girl,
like who has thought that you can scored your 1st love as child?
that's literally a dream, not to mention how she has many things going on than hope for the long lost love.
this is totally different with him cause she accepted and changed him mentally and he wants to payback all of those deep in his heart.
What really make me loved this drama is how realistic this drama feels, it so relatable in so many aspect.
I always feel weird to love the same person because they meet a childhood and this drama really want to make them love each other because they are now, I can't believe the pilot is this great!
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99 yayabean
September 19, 2015 at 8:38 AM
No episode 2 recap? ?
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100 bunny
September 21, 2015 at 3:08 PM
anybody knows what's the song played where hye jin and ha ri's in the mart?
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