True Beauty: Episodes 13-14 Open Thread
by missvictrix
The moment has come for our heroine to face her demons. After her long-kept secret is revealed in the worst way possible, she has to decide how to react, and really, how she’s going to be known. And for a drama that has been a lot about inner character (and true beauty), it’s lovely to see things like courage, grit, loyalty, and true friendship win in the end.
EPISODES 13-14 WEECAP
After the absolutely cruel reveal of Joo-kyung’s bare face (and her most humiliating moment) to the entire school, she’s rightfully shattered. It’s painful to see her holed up against the world, but it’s such an understandable reaction to the betrayal, fear, and mortification she’s dealing with.
But the Joo-kyung we know is resilient and strong, and sure enough, she is able to find the courage to return to school, face her friends (and enemies), and continue on with her life. And she emerges a lot stronger on the other side.
A lot of this is thanks to the support she gets from those around her — her little brother jumps to her aid, Soo-ho literally scours the city to find her, Seo-joon plays a big part in confronting the bad actors, and even the adorkable homeroom teacher supports Joo-kyung, calling out her classmates’ behavior.
While Soo-ho is busy being Joo-kyung’s rock and emotional support, Seo-joon turns up with the tactical support: he confronts Soo-jin over what she’s done, and uses his connections (and looks lol) to get the video pulled off of the school portal.
I love both of these boys and how loyal and true-hearted they are, but honestly, nothing topped the interaction between Joo-kyung and her mother for me. This has long been a sore point in the story, but I was never 100% clear on whether it was going to be addressed adequately. But it was, and what a nice job they did with it.
Joo-kyung’s mother flips out about her desire to study cosmetology (as expected), but eventually her hysteria causes her to reveal the root cause: she doesn’t want her daughter to struggle like she has. Between this honest moment — and the homeroom teacher revealing Joo-kyung’s bullied past — Mama Im becomes the best mother hen around. The understanding that she and her daughter reach is a long time coming, and it’s truly precious.
After that wonderful closure, everything else felt like the icing on the cake to me: Soo-jin getting ostracized for her horrible behavior, Soo-ah reconciling with Joo-kyung, and the two of them not only rescuing Hye-min, but standing up against the bullies. The girls’ fight scenes (intercut with Soo-ho and his friends playing video games) was hilarious — but I love how all the silliness in True Beauty is so often grounded by values like standing up for the downtrodden, being loyal to your friends, and being a good person.
The drama also makes a really nice statement about how having someone as awesome as Soo-ho at your side is such a blessing — we see again and again how his love for Joo-kyung gives her strength and courage. They’ve announced their dating to the world, and though it at first causes Joo-kyung to second-guess herself, there’s really no denying the earnest heart of Soo-ho.
Finally, we have a little wrap-up for Seo-joon, too. He swept in to help Joo-kyung like the best of heroes, but he also kept a respectful distance, knowing that she’s dating his friend. Having these boys friends again is possibly the best thing ever, and it leads to hints of Seo-joon returning to music (and he should — what a beautiful voice!).
Their friendship also means honestly, and there’s a great moment where Seo-joon asks Soo-ho if it’s okay for him to come clean to Joo-kyung, in order to move on. I love their pretty mature take on this, from Soo-ho’s official okay, to Seo-joon’s oblique (and lost on Joo-kyung) confession.
As we can see for all of this, True Beauty does a great job of wrapping up all of our conflicts both cutely and satisfyingly. But wait, this is not our final week — so why does it feel like it is? Uh oh. *Gets wave of Do Do Sol Sol PTSD*
This is where the last few minutes of Episode 14 come in. We almost feel as though we’ve reached the end of our tale, with the conflicts dealt with, and Soo-ho and Joo-kyung on a seaside trip, drinking in each other’s company. But, Soo-ho’s father has a sudden stroke, which sends him flying off the scene (literally). So far, I’m buying this — perhaps Soo-ho’s reconciliation with his father is the final conflict to resolve?
But no, things go a bit haywire. First, we’re met with a sudden two-year time jump. We see our same crew (minus Soo-jin), cute as ever and gathered over a meal and drinks. Joo-kyung is passed out from over-drinking, and who comes in to look after her? Seo-joon. He calls her name informally, she greets him like one would a boyfriend, and then leans on him half asleep.
I… I am not sure what to say. Honestly, earlier on in the drama I was game for something like this, where Joo-kyung was pulled a little more between two very worthy beaus. But we never went there; Joo-kyung’s heart was always so clearly Soo-ho’s. So why are we doing this now? It seems like a cheap trick.
There’s about a 0.0005% chance the OTP will change, so what we’re most likely looking at is a final two episodes of explaining their split, enjoying some Seo-joon swoons, and then watching our OTP get back together (and Seo-joon having to give her up again). Personally, I think True Beauty owes us better than this, but I’ll hold my judgment till we see how things shake out next week.
RELATED POSTS
- Premiere Watch: True Beauty, Hush, Mr. Queen
- High school romance and mishaps in new True Beauty teaser
- Moon Ga-young primps and preens for tvN’s True Beauty
- First script reading for tvN’s True Beauty with Moon Ga-young, Cha Eun-woo, Hwang In-yub
- Cha Eun-woo, Moon Ga-young youth rom-com drama in the works
Tags: Cha Eun-woo, Hwang In-yub, Jang Hye-jin, Moon Ga-young, Park Yoo-na, True Beauty
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1 Omo Obonna
January 30, 2021 at 2:35 PM
I know right? I am definitely Team Suho but I adore Seojun and I hope they at least give him some sort of joy at the end. I don't see how they can make JK and Seojun fall in love in just two episodes (Not realistic), especially after building up the love between Suho and Jk in 14 episodes. Well next week is already here.
I just discovered K-dramas! I have to ask myself, how I've been missing such amazing dramas! One good thing that came out of being in Lockdown since last year, is I discovered K-Dramas!
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missvictrix
January 30, 2021 at 3:53 PM
Welcome to dramalannnnnnd! ^^
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Miky
January 30, 2021 at 6:59 PM
I sense the whole Seojun and Joo-kyung arc will be totally descarded considering how they constructed the drama but they still tease it till the end to keep the story and angst going.
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iamjustdanny
January 31, 2021 at 5:00 AM
Welcome to K-Dramas!!!
I'm in the same boat. I discovered K-Dramas during this pandemic and probably won't be giving them up any time soon.
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Screentime
January 31, 2021 at 6:50 PM
Lucky you. A treasure trove of SK drama catalogue awaits you.
Just beware, things that appear the same are not always. SK has its own culture and its own demons (as does every culture). It may take a while but some of those will cast a different light (a much darker one) on many of the incidental moments in dramas you will come to love. It may also make you love some dramas you overlooked even more.
SK Drama rightfully deserves it's reputation from its Hallyu wave. When you notice the craft that delivered these heights of SK drama story telling - 2hours a week - live shooting, it is nothing short of jaw dropping. I am sure many beanies will be jealous of your ability to see their favourite dramas with new eyes.
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2 Kurama
January 30, 2021 at 2:40 PM
It was nice to see JK being strong and fight for herself but for her friend too. Her mother realizing what she did wrong was really great. Their reconciliation was touching :)
SJ is such a nice friend, brother, "bother-in-law". I would have prefered they find him a new girl instead suffering beside JK.
I was sad for Soo Jin (even if she deserved what happened). She's struggling so much. I think SH should have talked about her issues with the others because he's only one who knows and could do something about it.
I think it's kinda the issue when the drama is not original but must follow the webtoon. The drama was clear from the start about Suho being the guy she loves. So I don't think they will change that.
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3 amara
January 30, 2021 at 2:55 PM
honestly having acne is really difficult even if ur a tiny thin thing so lol i may want to watch this shoooow
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BC
January 30, 2021 at 7:25 PM
I had problems with acne until I became vegetarian ( I was 15 or 16 at that time) and after it got better until nobody believed me that in the past I was ashamed permanently to go out. It affected my low self esteem much more as I have thought.
I stopped to use expensive cosmetics, once I've found out after I bought the most expensive cleansing milk they had in my pharmacy that I was probably allergic to tea tree oil, because after applying it my skin started to burn and when I went to see what had just happened I broke down in tears that my face was not only covered by pimples but in red spots as well. I still can't put any make up foundations on my face, because my skin suffers underneath and I have found a natural cream which I can use to not to feel itchy and scratchy after applying it. Air pollution and sweat doesn't help your skin at all but fresh water, good neutral soap and cheap non parfumed cream might help more than all the expensive cosmetics out there.
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brian
January 31, 2021 at 12:26 AM
When I was young my mother said that we would have better skin if we ate more vegetables, so there is something to that. Apparently there is a strong genetic component. My best friend's son has pretty bad acne to the point where he had to use antibiotics for it. His mother also had pretty bad acne as well.
I have two nieces, the older one has flawless skin and the younger has some acne. But the younger one has the better diet, whereas the older one would live on junk, so I'm guessing her genetics are just better.
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BC
January 31, 2021 at 1:16 AM
I didn't ask my parents, but on all of photos from their teens their skin is in very good condition. I was very sportive back then, running all the time, doing all sorts of sport at school and in the evening two hours of intense karate training. So I was covered in sweat most of the time and that's the problem, you need to wash it off with water and dry it. Most of the time there wasn't time for that. My sister had baby skin until she didn't start to stress a lot and picking it excessively.
It depends how you digest some food as well. Some people have very slow digestion so the digesting system is too acid and that's why your skin is very fragile. I was a permanent client for dermatologists and nothing was helping, even I started to take birth control pills to help with hormonal imbalance but it made it worse and my liver suffered from all those experiments. I only put on weight too much, I was like a pregnant woman, hungry all the time and put 15 kg in 3 months which is very bad for a karate competitions, when you have to watch your weight category. Istill get sometimes pimples when I stress a lot and sweat a lot in air polluted environment but I leave it be, doesn't cover it with anything and I make special herbal anti inflammatory tea and I apply that instead of a cream every half an hour and it works fine.
My childhood best frien had a baby face until her twenties when she started to wear make up and she started to look like JK in the drama. I told her to be bare faced as much as possible and she resisted, but now she knows that it's the best remedy for her. As for guys it is hormonal and it can be partly controlled with diet without too much protein, or vegetable proteins instead. My cousins husband has a fragile skin still in his 40's and it gets worse when he stress internally.
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4 happiness
January 30, 2021 at 4:01 PM
The last scene was definitely misleading us to think JK has moved on with SJ, I think JK and SH have broken up but SJ still hasn't gotten over his feelings for JK (I wish he had confessed to her and tried to move on when he had the chance!) and is still pining for her from the sidelines.
It wouldn't make sense for JK to suddenly like SJ even with the two year gap, speaking of which that time jump totally came out of left field.. but I guess we needed something to fill our time next week seeing as how almost everything was resolved
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sal
January 30, 2021 at 4:53 PM
The last scene is clearly a nudge to the webtoon. That scene follow up to how SJ and JG started dating in the webtoon. But I am pretty sure the drama would not go that way as I think it is just her in her drunken state thinking SJ is SH for a moment. Agree it would not be that easy forgetting the person that gave you comfort and helped you gaining some confidence. They did separate because of some external force not because they did not love each other. So it is very natural for lingering feelings to stay. I think this gonna play out as them finding their way back to each other. As for SJ he probably have to move on eventually.
I personally appreciate we get to see them venture into young adult life seeing how next stage in life looks like for them. Often high school dramas end when they finish high school.
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happiness
January 30, 2021 at 5:06 PM
ohh okay, I never got that far in the webtoon so I didn’t realise, I guess that would make me think that they started dating but I still think it’s meant to be misleading,
And I agree about venturing into young adult life, though I felt like it happened so suddenly or maybe I just wasn’t expecting it
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5 turnip123
January 30, 2021 at 4:07 PM
My favorite part of these episodes was the parents’ discussion at the table after finding out about the bullying of Joo-kyung. Throughout the series it seemed clear to me that the mother’s bullying and berating of JK at home was at the heart of why she allowed herself to be bullied elsewhere in her life. When they sat down and talked about their flaws as parents (the mom’s instilling of fear that led to a breakdown of trust/communication and the father’s absence) it felt like some larger comment on parenting in general. These are the moments I like best about the series: humor, emotion, and insight all blended in one scene.
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6 seoul_searcher
January 30, 2021 at 5:13 PM
I don’t have much to say other than I hope Seo Jun finds his happiness in the last two episodes whether that’s besides jukyung or not. He was such a gem in this drama thanks to Hwang in yeop and that last scene broke my heart.
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7 loveblossom🌸
January 30, 2021 at 6:02 PM
I was teary-eyed when Joo Kyung's mother finally learned the truth about Joo Kyung being bullied. Their healing moments were much needed. Fierce mama cracked me up at the plastic surgeon's office.
Soo Ho making up with his father makes sense for a final part of his story, but it's not super crucial. I feel like they could have finished this drama with less episodes like 14.
They're really torturing me with Seo Joon's secret crush until the end. It was nice seeing Joo Kyung and Seo Joon hanging out as friends during their meal. I was ready for him to confess and eventually move on. Focus on his life and possible singing career. So glad we got to hear him sing again (and he's gonna sing for the official OST!)
The 2 year jump was SO abrupt!!! I love Seo Joon, but a quick OTP change would not feel right. We haven't seen Joo Kyung like him in a romantic way. I don't think the show will go there. That would be insane... I hope the finale will be satisfying. I've enjoyed this drama and they've done a good job so far.
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8 BC
January 30, 2021 at 6:55 PM
Korean 2 years cursing - I was like this with the webtoon development. The author represented those two years as it was at least 5 to 10 years gap. When you're absorbed by work and having good friends around those two years are gone so fast, but what I have remarked, it looks like it's a big deal in South Korea. Couples usually break up before military enlistment or little bit after that. It's a mindset I can't fully understand. My best friend couldn't last long without boyfriend, the longest was like two months, maybe I am the weird one here🧐
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Miky
January 30, 2021 at 7:06 PM
No,you aren't weird,wanted to mention that,i totally understand it,i'm also let's call it old school(at least that's how i say about me) and if i truly loved and had a meaningful relationship 2 years wouldn't be an obstacle like u mentioned happening very often in SK with military enlistment per ex.That just proves the the love or feelings were amounted to that and might even be better to sever if it can't pass that test.
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9 LookieLooWho
January 30, 2021 at 7:34 PM
Teacher/Future brother-in-law was the star of episode 14. Oh Eui Sik was hilarious.
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10 brian
January 31, 2021 at 12:21 AM
Certainly, this show keeps you on your toes, regarding who wins Ju Kyung's heart. Thanks for the wee cap. A few thoughts.
Now I know why Cha Eun Woo tends to play moodier characters. When we see him brilliantly smile in episode 14 it's ridiculously powerful. I'm sure girls would just melt if he were to turn on the charm, which is why it doesn't happen. As they say, with great power comes great responsibility.
I also liked Mom and JuKyung's resolution of their differences. I also liked SooAh and JuKyung's resolution as well. I found it fascinating to see how hurt JuKyung has been in the past that while she was happy with her new friendships, she couldn't quite trust that her new friends would be able to handle the truth. Naturally, because Suho knows the truth, she's most comfortable with trusting him.
Her interactions with Seojoon continue to be both funny and enjoyable. I just like how they play off each other, like in the music room and at the restaurant. While she couldn't be certain he would disown her once he found out about how she really looks, she did seem to accept that he was on her side pretty readily. I also didn't know that he recognized her as Suho's "cousin". Hehe.
And as usual, Moon Gayoung's continued growth in accepting who she is gets better and better. Her voice is so cute at times it just makes me like her all the more.
And finally, while I hate time jumps, I'm just going to have to go with it and hope that with all of the drama, they continue to have some more fun. I also forgot -- the time jump will at least have a couple of benefits. It will show if Mr. Han and Hee Kyung are still together. And it will hopefully show us if Go Woon and Ju Young are closer now, or if she still will step on his love like the bug she compares him to.
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11 Mina00
January 31, 2021 at 7:40 AM
That was such a cute drama kept me something looking for that cold, dark ,full of Corona talk lockdown Europe :) I loved every single character even Soo Jin! I did understand and forgive her :) I am sure JK will also do at the last episode :) I was not team Su Ho or SeoJun. I defiantly belong to team Joo Kyung:) Such an amazing, positive, energetic, free spirit . The actress did a great job. I did not care she is beautiful or have pimples .She was amazing! I also loved girls bonding at this week's episode . Yeah go girls ! Such a nice feeling to have great friends to spend time with .
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12 Bob
January 31, 2021 at 10:03 AM
I'm here to defend the dramatic time jump, which I expect they'll backtrack on in episode 15 to show us the pair attempting a long distance relationship (a topic the drama 'More Than Friends' savagely tackled just recently). The time jump was a bold move. High school romances come with breakups at the end. That's how it usually works, whether its due to college or the military or the people just growing up. The test is to see if the relationship can weather the storm.
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13 Dan05050
March 30, 2021 at 12:28 AM
Comment was deleted
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14 ilikedrama14
October 14, 2021 at 8:30 PM
in the epilogue in episode 13 where baby Joo-kyung was cheering up baby SooHo broke my heart, because she was trying to cheer up someone else even though she was sad on the inside. Its like her mom said, she didnt know her daughter was suffering because she always had a smile and that just killed me
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