‘True Beauty’…Sweet, cute, supremely hilarious but nothing groundbreaking.

Spoilers Ahead…

I am really starting to enjoy dramas with Cha Eun Woo as the cold male lead. He (evidently with the writers) is putting a positive spin on a trope which so far has meant an aloof, introverted, smart, hot guy with issues; issues which permit him to ridicule, discourage and lash out at the female lead and vehemently deny his feelings towards her until the moment another guy enters the frame. But Cha Eun Woo’s characters (first in My ID is Gangnam Beauty and now here — I am yet to watch Rookie Historian Goo Hae Ryung) maintain these same qualities but subtracts ‘being a jerk’ from the equation, transforming him into a rom-com lead to actually root for.

For one, he wastes no time in letting the female lead know that he likes her and far from being embarrassed, he is extremely delighted to be dating her. He is thoroughly supportive and understanding of her and her problems. His intelligence goes beyond scoring good grades, as he is perceptive and sensitive in understanding many of the unsaid feelings and incidents involving the female lead. He is, on whole, an amazing counterpart for any drama with a female-centric narrative, where a romantic relationship can be one less thing she can worry about. (Jang Ki Young’s Park Mo Gun in Search: WWW, also comes to mind).

With a character like this, a second romantic interest is virtually not required, as his role is primarily to incite jealousy in the male lead so that he can finally accept and confess his feelings to the girl. When he does this on his own, the role of the latter as a romantic rival becomes redundant. That's why in My ID is Gangnam Beauty, I didn’t really like the addition of Wooyoung (played by Kwak Dong Yeon) as a potential love interest for Mi Rae (played by Im Soo Hyang) and now, in True Beauty as well, I didn’t really get the point of Han Seo Jun (Hwang In Yeop) being another contender for Im Ju Kyung’s (Moon Ga Young) heart when by the second episode, she and Lee Soo Ho (Cha Eun Woo) had already started developing romantic feelings for each other.

The inclusion of this additional romantic track prevents the drama from rising up from the age-old story about a pretty-but-doesn’t-know-it-yet girl caught between two hot guys. For a drama that was going to be about a teenage girl finding her inner strength and beauty through makeup, the show disappoints magnificently. (If it is fluff you are looking for, this drama is alright, but as someone who has watched better written fluff than this, I was let down).

Ju Kyung is what Mi Rae would have been if she wasn’t good at studies and her mom refused to let her get plastic surgery. It is an intriguing premise, as not all families are for getting plastic surgery (even Mi Rae’s father was angry with her for some time) or they just can’t afford to. The latter is a reasonable excuse in Ju Kyung’s case, as being the middle of three kids and a daughter to a father with immense debt, getting plastic surgery is a costly affair and an expenditure Ju Kyung’s mom (Jang Hye Jin almost in every drama this year after Parasite) wouldn’t allow at this juncture. Also, being married to a very handsome but inadequate husband (one without a job and who has lost money multiple times by investing in crazy schemes) it is unsurprising that Ju Kyung’s mom feels that being beautiful/handsome without other merits is not something to be proud of, or aspire to be. As a result, she constantly dismisses Ju Kyung’s worries about being the ‘ugly’ child and is oblivious to the fact that she gets horribly bullied at school every day. It also doesn’t help that Ju Kyung is sandwiched between two good-looking siblings, which gives relatives, neighbours, and others the free pass to comment on how she missed out on inheriting her dad’s good looks.

This is an interesting dichotomy to explore, as we always see students in dramas coping with the pressure to excel in studies but beauty (and fashion) is also an important aspect of these vulnerable growing years. We have all wanted to look pretty in high school, whether it is to impress our crush or to just be cool and popular, and it is a topic that is rarely explored in school dramas. As a teenager who has fought with her mom over wearing make-up to school and has spent more time reading fashion magazines than school books, I relate to this topic very much. But sadly, the show goes nowhere with this. Heck, it doesn’t go anywhere with the main makeup/no makeup plotline as well.

Due to Ju Kyung’s father’s debt, the family is forced to sell their apartment and move into their old house. This gives Ju Kyung’s a chance to start afresh and with some prodding from her online friends, she decides to start wearing makeup to her new school. I especially loved this part, as makeup is indeed seen as a quick fix to all beauty troubles, but it is also a skill that has to be learnt and practiced. And practice she does! In a series of montages, she learns the art form and transforms into a goddess (as seen in the poster above). But unlike plastic surgery which is a permanent change, makeup can wash off and Ju Kyung has to be careful not to be seen without makeup by anyone from her new school. While this does lead to some amusing situations, this storyline stops developing right there.

Ju Kyung quickly makes friends, has many guys thirsting after her, and is winning Instagram beauty contests. Her personality also doesn’t really change much, except for a few bursts of fear and insecurity here and there, but overall there isn’t really a constructive character arc we witness. Along with the decision to concentrate more on the love-triangle, the long runtime (seventy to eighty minutes of an episode) minimizes the impact of any potential character development we witness of her. Even her love of horror comic books and metal music goes nowhere, except for being a personality quirk which is tv speak for I-am-not-like-other-girls. (Why couldn’t the bits of her imagination resemble a horror comic book?)

This maybe isn’t that big a deal, but when you look at the messaging it serves to say, it can become problematic. Wear makeup and everyone becomes your friend, and two of the hottest guys in school will be falling in love with you! This is also considering that when Ju Kyung’s bare face is revealed, she doesn’t really get the backlash she (and we) expected. It is just one scene of people laughing and smirking at her, and when she returns, everything falls right back into place. The show doesn’t unveil the hypocrisy which we see in Ju Kyung’s former bullies, who start treating her nicely (although unaware that it is her) when they see her wearing makeup.

True Beauty is indeed made for a breezy watch. But for me, the topics discussed were far too heavy for it to be breezy (or at least to the extent the show exhibited them). Make no mistake, the drama is certainly hilarious, but in a manner similar to Goblin, where the humour regularly distracts you from the fact that nothing worthwhile is really going on. There were so many complexities right there in the story, which were just smoothed over, rather than being explored.
One, if Ju Kyung’s younger brother is only a year younger than her and went to the same school, wouldn’t he know that his sister was being bullied (through his school online forum where videos of her being bullied were uploaded) and convey that to their mother, who then would certainly be more empathetic towards her. Two, she has an elder sister, considerably older in age. As someone aware of how her own family and neighours treat Ju Kyung, and one closer in age to understand the pangs of adolescence, wouldn’t she be more supportive towards her?
We also never get a proper closure between Ju Kyung and her school bullies, except for a silly playground fight. What those girls did to her was nothing less than traumatic, pushing her to even attempt suicide. So, the comical payoff just doesn’t do justice to the pain she went through. This is also considering that Ju Kyung gets bullied again at an internship, later on. Bullies and bullying, sadly seem to exist everywhere, so it was vital for her to learn how to stand up and fight.

We also don’t get a scene between Ju Kyung and her mom, after she is notified about the bullying. I excepted a scene where we could finally learn why her mother had been so skeptical about her daughter wearing makeup, especially when she has witnessed people making rude comments about her daughter’s face and has likewise also witnessed the glowing compliments she gets when she starts wearing makeup. Except for one line in an argument where she states that she doesn’t wish for her daughter to end up like her, working in a parlour, we never really understand why she was so dead against Ju Kyung for wearing makeup or getting any treatment for her skin, considering that as a beautician, she would be well acquainted with these feelings.

But, all these shortcomings get concealed by the drama’s excellent slapstick humour. To give credit where it’s due, I don’t think I have laughed out loud this much while watching a drama. Characters like Han Seo Jun, Im Hee Kyung (Im Se Mi, who is just marvellous), Im Ju Young (Kim Min Ki, who portrays the annoying but caring sibling part down to the T), Han Joon Woo (Oh Eui Sik, who is the sensitive half of Im Se Mi’s forward Hee Kyung), Yoo Tae Hoon (Lee Il Jun) are all just so lively and entertaining. Moon Ga Young, who was my favourite part in The Great Seducer, is pretty good as well, but her character suffers from not having much to do after a point, but her antics gelled quite well with Cha Eun Woo’s straight face (who has also improved quite a lot). I also enjoyed Soo Ho and Seo Jun’s backstory (which carried more gravitas than Ju Kyung’s story).

The drama certainly gave me solace while watching it concurrently with Your Turn to Kill, where every character seemed to be the murderer (so four episodes of this, and one episode of True Beauty was the right mix). But, don’t believe the hype, the show is nothing new.