Sky Castle

Sky Castle

8/10

Sky Castle

Genre:                                                 Episodes: 20                             Year: 2019

Melodrama

Synopsis:

Sky Castle is an estate where wealthy doctors and professors live. The husbands are determined to become the most successful, and the wives are determined to get their children into top universities.

Cast:

Yum Jung Ah (Han Seo Jin)

Jung Joon Ho (Kang Joon Sang)

Kim Hye Yoon (Kang Ye Seo)

Lee Ji Won (Kang Ye Bin)

Lee Tae Ran (Lee Soo Im)

Choi Won Young (Hwang Chi Young)

Chani (Hwang Woo Joo)

Yoon Se Ah (No Seung Hee)

Kim Byung Chul (Cha Min Hyuk)

Park Yoo Na (Cha Se Ri)

Kim Dong Hee (Cha Seo Joon)

Jo Byung Gyu (Cha Ki Joon)

Oh Na Ra (Jin Jin Hee)

Jo Jae Yoon (Woo Yang Woo)

Lee Yoo Gene (Woo Soo Han)

Kim Seo Hyung (Kim Joo Young)

Kim Bo Ra (Kim Hye Na)

Song Geon Hee (Park Young Jae)

General Thoughts:

Boy am I getting lucky with my drama watching lately! First ‘Kingdom 2’ was awesome, then ‘Sky Castle’ was awesome, and now it’s looking like the current drama I’m watching (‘Itaewon Class’) is going to be awesome too! What a nice little stint. When I first heard that ‘Sky Castle’ was becoming a raging success, I couldn’t really figure out why that was.

Ah yes, rich people sending their kids to university. Sounds...riveting...

The synopsis of the story just sounds so…dull. And it sounded like it had about an 80% chance that it went full makjang (aka- completely bonkers). While the story did at times have makjang elements (hello hidden identities, hello birth secrets), it weirdly fit in with the show, and the writers were able to present these events as something that seemed very realistic and plausible,

So classy, and yet...so scary

and not at all like some nutty way to get more viewers to tune in. By having the whole setting of the show be this elite estate where everybody was obsessed with being better, richer, happier than everyone else, all these strange actions started to make sense. And of course there’s a reason why so many writers use these over-the-top story elements in their shows. When they are done well and right (as they certainly are in ‘Sky Castle’) it makes the story SO interesting and SO twisty and SO easy to keep coming back for more. I couldn’t even contemplate not continuing the show, because I so badly wanted to know why Teacher Kim was such a creeper, and what crazy scheme Seo Jin would come up with to try and get her daughter into SNU, or how Hye Na was going to torment Ye Seo and her mother next. There was often so much going on in the plot, that these crazy turn of events weren’t the sole focus, which helped them seem like events that were happening naturally and authentically. Unlike most of my dramas that I watch (which I marathon in a few weeks), I watched ‘Sky Castle’ at a slower pace, which stretched the series over a few months- which put me closer to a live-watch experience than a marathon experience.

This is basically how my my Mum looked at me every time I told her I was too busy for an ep of 'Sky Castle'

I must say that I do think that this worked better for the drama and its pacing than a marathon watch would have. A fair few of the major plot points that were stretched out over the whole series could have been a bit repetitive had the episodes been viewed back-to-back, but by having more time padding out the episodes, when these ideas resurfaced,

I mean come on- she looks shady as all hell

it felt like it had been a while since we had visited the issue, rather than it feeling like our characters were mulling the same problems over and over and over again. Such as Soo Im’s decision whether she would write her book or not, or Seo Jin deciding whether or not she would fire Teacher Kim. The other thing that I thought the show did extremely well was managing it’s tone. There were some very heavy moments and heavy topics addressed in this drama (such as depression, suicide, image focus), and that could have very easily tipped the show into being too dark and too depressing (much like ‘Rescue Me’ which had a lot going for it, but was just far to bloody bleak). The writers of ‘Sky Castle’ perfectly laced a good dose of humour throughout each and every one of the episodes- keeping the show very much in the realm of enjoyable entertainment, rather than a dark and saddening look in on the struggles of pressured, over-worked students. The Woo family were predominantly the comedic effect of this show. While all the other families were having their internal strife, complications and issues, the Woo family tended to happily breeze on through- their complaints were rather minor, and their fallouts fairly minimal.

Thank you for your cheesiness and you humour

The snappy, snarky comments from the fiery Jin Hee paired with her husband’s much more complacent, don’t-rock-the-boat attitude made for a funny pair, and their loving attitudes towards each other were a nice break from the strained marriages in the Kang and Cha families. Another way the writers helped balance the tone of the show was to make sure that only one family had a catastrophe going on at a time.

If only this guy knew just how far he was going to fall

When the Kang family was dealing with illegitimate daughters and psychotic teachers, the Cha family were having some wins with Seung Hee finally standing up to her domineering and overpowering husband in order to protect her children (massive yay). When Seung Hee and her kids were being bullied and oppressed (and quite often verbally abused) by Professor Cha, Hye Na and Hye Bin were getting along and Ye Seo was doing well with her studies. There was never too much doom and gloom going around, and there were happy moments sprinkled throughout each of the episodes. Even in the final conflict where Woo Joo was in prison and Ye Seo and her mother had to choose between letting an innocent boy stay in prison or giving up their dream of SNU, we saw all the other families banding together in support of the Hwang family. ‘Sky Castle’ certainly doesn’t sound like he most exciting drama out there, but the simple synopsis masks a complex and compelling story about status and pressure in South Korea, and was an interesting look in on elite life. The writing, acting and directing pulled together to create something quite wonderful.

What Was Great:

Sociological Story:

So, I recently read an article about why ‘Game of Thrones’ fans loved the show initially, but then disliked the later seasons (I promise you this has a point that relates to ‘Sky Castle’). The short version of the article is this: the first seasons of ‘GoT’ (the ones that were following the book) told the story of a society, not of individuals.

Please excuse me while I ramble about this article- as you can tell it excited me a lot

The story had an abundance of characters and shaped them not only by their personality traits, but by the societal norms, events and other people around them. This sociological way of telling the story meant that people were able to identify with the characters even when they did terrible things. When the show outpaced the books, the showrunners went with a psychological way of telling the story- highly individualised character arcs.

Seung Hee was defs the most likeable character in this show

By switching the way the story was told from sociological to psychological, the show started to suggest that characters’ actions and reactions were due to their personality rather than the society around them. By telling the story this way, certain characters (*cough Cersei and Dany cough*) suddenly started to become difficult to identify with. Their actions could seem sporadic and non-sensical, and when they did things the viewer didn’t agree with, it could be hard to understand why. This dramatic shift is not really the showrunners' fault, as Hollywood doesn’t really know how to tell a story from any other view but psychological. They need their hero. They need someone to back. Sociological stories are few and far between, and that it what made the earlier seasons of ‘GoT’ so unique and so addictive. Now how does this relate to ‘Sky Castle’? Look, I’m not expert on the subject (I have ready exactly one article on the topic), but in my opinion, ‘Sky Castle’ had a lot of similar sociological elements in the way it told its story. Characters were not plain black and white- all fell in the murky grey zone.

Hye Na vs Seo Jin- I don't even know which side I'm on!

They were layered and multifaceted, and their actions were not simply a result of whether they were a nice or mean person. Ye Seo didn’t hate Hye Na simply because she was a nasty girl- she had been raised in a highly pressured environment, where she had constantly been told that she was superior and special, and only really felt the love from her parents when she was the top of her class.

She's mean, but I kinda get her

Hye Na was a threat to her success, and thus the love of her parents, so it was natural for Ye Seo to be scared and reactive to her. Of course, there were other aspects of the girls’ relationship also, but my main point is that the story was written in such a way that the viewer could put themselves in Ye Seo’s place and think ‘oh, if I’d been in Ye Seo’s place and grown up that way, maybe that’s how I’d act in that situation too’. This makes the characters so much more sympathetic, and much harder for viewers to write them off as completely dislikable. This wasn’t just the case for Ye Seo, but for every single character in the show (exceeeeept maybe Teacher Kim). In one episode I would be thinking that Seo Jin was a reckless and selfish mother, and in the very next episode I would be identifying with her struggles and feeling pity towards her character. Even Soo Im, who was originally painted as the less-strict, go-with-the-flow mother, was at times not entirely likeable. Her desire to get to the heart of what happened to the Park family could at times be very intrusive and nosey, and in my opinion, kind of rude. However as we learned more about the history of her character and the structure within the Sky Caste estate, we could empathise with her desire to protect the children, even if we didn’t think she was going about it the right way.

Everyone in this show is a little whack

Even a character like Hye Na, who in any other drama would be painted as the sweet, innocent victim had some darker tones to her. Realistically, a girl who had grown up in Hye Na’s environment and then made the discoveries she did was unlikely to be sugar and spice and all things nice. Having to be the sole support for not just herself but her sick mother also forced Hye Na to have a strong backbone and self-assured attitude.

I feel like I should feel bad for her but I just...don't

Sure, there were parts of her character that related more to her personality then environment (her slight vindictiveness), but these were enhanced and shaped by her environment, society and experiences, making her not an innocent victim, but also not an unforgivable aggressor. This way of telling the story meant that redemption arcs were much easier to handle when compared to other shows. Ye Seo and her mother’s eventual decision to testify for Woo Joo at the expense of Ye Seo getting right into SNU didn’t feel forced or unexpected, but rather a logical conclusion after their hard struggle with the situation and the choice they had to make. Doctor Kang’s breakdown and regrets could have felt like a complete character-flip had the story not been told from a sociological perspective, so instead of his choice to quit the hospital and his despair over Hye Na feeling random and from left-field, again it felt like the logical steps for his character. Sure, Doctor Kang had for the most part been presented as cold and calculating and willing to do whatever it took to get ahead in his career- but that was because most of the time we saw him was in the hospital where he worked, where this attitude was encouraged. The few times we saw Doctor Kang at home, he was a man who loved his two daughters and doted on them.

HUGE Cast:

There were so many characters in this show. And they weren’t a bunch of supporting characters either. Each of them had an important role to play in the story, and were most definitely the stars of their own lives. It gave the show a rich setting that was populated with realistic (in their own way) and developed characters.

The Mum Clique

It really felt as if we were dropping into their lives which had been going on long before we got there. The character of Seo Jin was basically the star of the show, with most of the drama focusing on her family, and she was at the centre of it all. Yum Jung Ah did an excellent job as the main mother in the elite estate, and she acted Seo Jin with a perfect balance of elegance and determination,

I sure wouldn't want to be on her bad side

making Seo Jin a mother who gave the appearance of having it all together, but while remaining a person you wouldn’t want to mess with. The other great thing that comes from having so many major characters is that it gives you so many different relationships to delve into. Each of the married couples had a different dynamic- Seo Jin and Doctor Kang were cool and professional, Soo Im and Doctor Hwang were understanding and supportive, Seung Hee and Professor Cha were strained and their relationship was starting to crack, and Jin Hee and Yang Woo had an easy, cute dynamic. Similarly there were so many relationships going on in the mother circle. It was interesting to see how their allegiance and loyalties to each other changed as events unfolded, and how they had to consider their husbands' positions when thinking about their friendships, as any waves caused between the ladies was sure to eventually flow through to the husbands. The kids were a little more sectioned off than the adults, which is fairly understandable. When I was in school, my older sister didn’t want to hang out with me and my friends either. 

She was actually quite cute with how she liked Woo Joo

Kim Hye Yoon was a standout among the younger cast, as she gave Ye Seo so much personality and fire, but was also able to showcase Ye Seo softer side- such as when she was crushing on Woo Joo. She also nailed Ye Seo’s descent into guilt and fear really well, and made it feel like a perfectly natural progression for her character, who had actually been quite self focused all series long. It’s a testament to Kim Hye Yoon’s acting ability (and the writing) that this progression felt smooth and natural, and not at all out of character. Most of the relationship conflict between the kids centred around Hye Na.

Boy, she is playin' you so bad

Hye Na used Ye Bin to get into the Kang household (though I wouldn’t completely rule out that she had some sisterly feelings towards her also), and similarly she used Woo Joo’s feelings for her as a way to antagonise Ye Seo, fully knowing that Ye Seo had a crush on Woo Joo. It didn’t make Hye Na the most likeable of characters, but man did she stir things up and get things happening. 

What Wasn’t:

Teacher Kim’s Reasoning:

One of the biggest mysteries of this show that continued for nearly its entire run was the question around why Teacher Kim got off on ruining the lives of all her students and their families. Even now, I’m still slightly unsure of why she did what she did.

What is your deal, lady?

Jealousy seems pretty lame a motivator for a woman who has indirectly caused suicides in two separate families. I kind of wish that we’d been given a bit more information on Teacher Kim’s situation and her motivations a bit earlier, as by holding all of her story back until the last few episodes, we were given very little time to wrap our heads around what was going on with her. Sure, we’d been given hints throughout the earlier stages of the drama- her husband was dead and she was suspected to be involved, and her daughter was mentally handicapped. But the hows and the whys were held back until the final few episodes. I don’t completely buy that Teacher Kim is doing all this crazy stuff because she can’t stand other parents having smart and gifted kids. While the idea isn’t completely implausible, it just seems a bit light on to be the reason behind why Teacher Kim was such a rift in the lives of her students’ families. Similarly to Teacher Kim’s story, I wish that Teacher Jo’s story had been unveiled a bit earlier also. He was so obviously uncomfortable with what was going on with Hye Na and Ye Seo that it was becoming perplexing as to why he wasn’t leaving this job and Teacher Kim behind.

Also, how is her track record so clean if she's messed up that many families?

He certainly didn’t seem the type to throw two young girls under the bus for a nice apartment. Had we known a bit earlier on that Teacher Kim had used him to cut the breaks on her husband’s car and that she had given him a new life away from the drugs and poverty he had been living in, his choice to stand by Teacher Kim’s side as she lost everything and destroyed herself (and him in the process) would have been a lot more understandable, and even a little heart wrenching. 

Not Divorcing Professor Cha:

I knoooooooow I mentioned above that the redemption arcs of the characters were good and believable. And that’s true. For all but one. Professor. Cha. I did not believe it for a second, and I remained bummed out that his wife and children believed it.

Yeeeeaaahhhh, he ain't gonna change guys

Sure, it all worked out in the end- but maybe it kinda shouldn’t have? Seung Hee’s whole storyline was about her learning to stand up to her husband and fight on her children’s behalf, as they couldn’t rebel against their father on their own. Her small victories with the study room and serving her husband instant ramen when he cut her card felt like monumental victories, and were a great thing to watch. These moments only increased once Se Ri was in the picture with her own rebellious spirit.

Drop him like a hot potato

All series long Professor Cha has stuck to his own principals and has never considered what either his wife nor children had to say. We were never given any hints that there was any love at all between Seung Hee and Professor Cha, so it seemed surprising that Professor Cha had back pedalled so much at the idea of divorce. For 20 episodes we have watched Seung Hee try (and fail) to convince her husband to see things from another perspective, and he refused and fought her at every turn. While I understand that divorce is never easy on the children, I can’t help think that it may have been the best solution here. Honestly speaking, how long can we expect Professor Cha’s new attitude to last? Once the threat of divorce fades, so will his fear, and he would once again return to the dominating, controlling man he was before to both his wife and his children.

So glad Se Ri came home and shook things up in this family

It felt like for the whole show’s run we were building up to Seung Hee realising that her husband’s attitude was severely damaging her sons’ mental health, and finally taking them and walking out. When she started threatening to do just that, it was an exciting moment that felt really empowering. Only the show then decided to undercut that with Professor Cha having a sudden revelation that he loved his family and would completely change his ways for them to stay.

I loved any time Professor Cha was knocked down a peg or two

Only not once in this entire show has he given us any inkling that he loved his family. The closest he got was his doting on Se Ri, but that completely disappeared after he found out she didn’t actually go to Harvard- which only further enforced the idea that Professor Cha didn’t care about anything but success, power and status. Which made the whole turnaround completely out of character and completely unbelievable. Perhaps if they’d spun his change as more of him being afraid of the gossip and stigma around divorce in South Korea I would have believed his change of heart more. While it was super cute to see him happy and singing and dancing with Se Ri, I just did not believe the journey the show took Professor Cha on to get him there. So yeah, it was a cute moment and all, but all I could feel while watching was ‘man, this family is going to feel so sh*tty once he goes back to his old, horrible self’. Because there is no doubt in my mind that he would.

Recommend?

Definitely. There’s a reason this show became such a huge hit. I can’t promise that it will be everyone’s cup of tea (I certainly didn’t think it would be mine), but it is very unique and very addictive.

What an interesting journey

My ID is Gangham Beauty

My ID is Gangham Beauty

7.5/10

My ID is Gingham Beauty

Genre:                                                   Episodes: 16                                      Year: 2018

Romance

Comedy

Synopsis:

Kang Mi Rae has always been teased and bullied because of her ugly appearance. Before entering university, Mi Rae has plastic surgery to become pretty in order to be able to live without being ridiculed. At university she meets Do Kyung Seok, who used to attend her old school and knows what she used to look like.

Cast:

Lim Soo Hyang (Kang Mi Rae)

Cha Eun Woo (Do Kyung Seok)

Jo Woo Ri (Hyung Soo Ah)

Kwak Dong Yeon (Yeon Woo Young)

Park Joo Mi (Na Hye Sung)

Min Do Hee (Oh Hyun Jung)

Park Yoo Na (Yoo Eun)

Kim Do Yeon (Jang Won Ho)

General Thoughts:

I always like when I go into a drama not not really expecting much and end up happily surprised. I thought this drama was going to be pretty light and fluffy, with some fairly standard inner-beauty commentary, but it turned out to have much more substance than that.

A cute, fun rom-com that also has a bit of meat to it? Score.

Every time I expected this drama to take the typical K-Drama route, it tended to go in a way that I didn’t think it would. The plot overall was pretty predictable, but the characters were what made this drama so interesting. To start with, we were given a great heroine. This drama could have totally fallen on its face if it didn’t have a decent heroine to back it up- as this whole story is basically the story of Mi Rae’s experiences.

She was so easy to love

Despite the premise of this story being centred around physical appearances, it was a smart move to not have Mi Rae focus solely on being pretty- she just wanted to be average. We started the story with Mi Rae being bullied and ostracised because of her appearance, and we really felt her heartbreak and her struggles- particularly when she thought that by losing weight she’d finally be accepted, only to learn that if it wasn’t her weight it was her face that people would make fun of. It was upsetting and confronting to watch, particularly as I’m sure we can all relate to Mi Rae’s character in some way. We were all at one point either Mi Rae, the ones who teased her, or the ones that turned a blind eye. Because this situation is one we all know goes on in our appearance-focused world, it made it that much more heartbreaking for our heroine. Early on we were rooting for Mi Rae and wanting her to find that normal life where she fit in that she so desperately wanted. Then we follow Mi Rae on her journey into her new life with her new face, and see just how much (or little) things change due her now attractive appearance.

Go for it, girl

What made Mi Rae even more relatable is that she wasn’t chasing perfection. Had Mi Rae got plastic surgery for the sole purpose of being pretty, she risked being a character that people wouldn’t be drawn to- as that desire would be perceived as shallow. Mi Rae believed her looks were what prevented her from having an ordinary life where people would treat her equally,

'Looks don't matter' says Mr. Handsome

and so she did what she thought she needed to do in order to be ‘normal’. And it’s just hard to dislike someone for wanting to fit in. Similarly, Kyung Seok is a character that could have been perceived badly, but actually ended up being charming and endearing. There’s something inherently annoying about attractive people saying looks aren’t important (like, would you still feel that way if you weren’t a 10/10?), but Kyung Seok’s disinterest in those around him did help in making it a bit more believable that this good looking dude didn’t really care about appearances. Why would he care about appearances when he doesn’t care about people in general? Kyung Seok’s character hit the sweet spot of being cool, yet approachable. He was more or less a passive observer of life, and only really disliked those who went out of their way to hurt others- such as Soo Ah and Chan Woo. I appreciated that our two leads weren’t strangers at the start of the story, as I would have found it hard to believe that Kyung Seok wouldn’t have cared what Mi Rae looked like had he never encountered her pre-surgery.

They're so cute and awkward

Their love story was sweet and simple, and I actually ended up enjoying how uncomplicated it was. The interest in their relationship came from watching them slowly discover their own, and then each others’ feelings, and I always find that much more enjoyable than when a third party tries to butt in. I ended up enjoying Soo Ah as an antagonist more because Kyung Seok saw right through her facade. It made Kyung Seok feel smart and switched on (unlike other K-Drama heroes) that he didn’t naively assume that everyone was nice.

I love that he saw straight through her bull

On the flip side, Mi Rae did kind of believe that everyone was nice, but even that was understandable as she’d spent so much of her life thinking that people would like her and treat her well if she was pretty, that she just assumed that would be the case. Even though I usually want a bit more substance in a university romance than what you get from a high school romance, I found that the innocence and awkwardness of Mi Rae and Kyung Seok’s relationship pretty sweet.

She gave 110%

Due to the fact that both of them were isolated from their peers growing up, it made sense that neither really knew how to go about being in a relationship- which made their baby steps cute rather than unbelievable. The chemistry between Cha Eun Woo and Lim Soo Hyang wasn’t exactly fireworks, but it was cute and bubbly in a way that made it fun to watch. I was impressed as a whole by Lim Soo Hyang’s acting. For starters, I think that this kind of role is one that an actress has to be very confident to take on. The makeup was incredible, and was done in such a way that it made Lim Soo Hyang look like she really might have had a whole lot of surgery (whereas when you see her with regular makeup she just looks far less plastic). With the topic of the drama being plastic surgery, it was obvious that no matter how she looked, people were going to talk about whether the leading actress had got any work done or not. Which must be pretty intimidating. Yet Lim Soo Hyang just dedicated herself completely to acting out her character the best she possibly could. She was sweet and funny, and I adored the hint of backbone that she gave Mi Rae. Even in Mi Rae’s moments of insecurity and low self esteem, Lim Soo Hyang made her character’s desire to adapt and change prevent her from becoming pathetic or irritating.

Her insecurity was understandable rather than annoying

On the other hand we have Cha Eun Woo. I can see why he was cast- he’s super handsome and does look kinda like the character from the webtoon. But no one is kidding themselves into thinking that he’s a good actor. Thankfully his character was one who didn’t really show his emotions to begin with, so it made it less noticeable, but it was still clear that he’s got a ways to go before he can properly handle a leading role- Lim Soo Hyang did all the heavy lifting here.

Very pretty, but pretty wooden

Cha Eun Woo is improving, don’t get me wrong (he’s come a looooong way from ‘To Be Continued’), but he’s just not quite there yet. Even so, he was more cute awkward than painfully bad. Kwak Dong Yeon was absolutely delightful as the sweet Sunbae, and he smashed his role. He turned his charm up to the max and delivered an endearing character. He’s an actor that improves with every drama he films, and he’s the type of actor where seeing him in a project makes me excited to see what he’ll do next (please give the boy a leading role now). Jo Woo Ri is interesting because I feel like for a drama that seemed pretty focused on getting actors’ physical appearances to match the webtoon characters, Jo Woo Ri didn’t really look like Soo Ah in the webtoon. That being said, she did act out the character’s duality well. She was able to flip believably between Soo Ah’s sweet public face, and manipulative real face, and made her character feel unique and set her apart from regular, obviously b*tchy second female leads. I think all the support actors did an amazing job rounding out the cast, and gave 100% percent to their characters, no matter the size of their role. One thing I always find with dramas, is that you can really tell when the cast members are having a fun time- it makes watching them all that more enjoyable.

This drama was so fun

‘Gangnam Beauty’ was one of those dramas where you can just tell that people were having a great time filming it. The actors felt calm and relaxed, and able to bring their best performances, and the energy was really buzzing in scenes that involved the extended cast. 

What Was Great:

Social Commentary:

The winning point of this drama is definitely the way it approached the construct of physical beauty. It’s not the first drama to give it’s heroine a makeover at the beginning so we can see how her life changes, but admittedly I do tend to shy away from these sorts of shows (‘Birth of a Beauty’, ‘200 Pound Beauty’).

He thought she was cute and fun pre-op

Because usually in these situations there’s someone on the receiving end of being called ugly. And as this show pointed out, beauty means different things to different people, and what some people find attractive/unattractive, others might not. I’ll never get over how angry I was at ‘Queen of the Ring’ for calling the insanely adorable Kim Seul Gi ugly. For starters, ‘Gangnam Beauty’ never showed Mi Rae’s face before she had surgery.

This worked so much better than I thought it would

It was an interesting choice, as it made filming a little trickier, but in the end I believe it was highly successful. We understood Mi Rae’s pain and self-loathing, but there was never any anger or resentment for some poor girl getting cast as ‘ugly’ Mi Rae. It also happily avoided the issue of young girls (who are the target audience for a drama like this) looking at the actress playing pre-surgery Mi Rae and finding similarities in their appearances and thus forming the idea that they are physically unappealing. It’s a big tick from me, as this is usually a sticking point I can’t get over in these transformation dramas. I expected this drama to be pretty light-hearted and for its final conclusion to be that it’s inner beauty that counts- which is a nice idea, but one that is ultimately incorrect. What I adored about ‘Gangnam Beauty’ is that it took the idea of beauty seriously and didn’t wash over the issue with the typical ‘it’s what’s on the inside that counts’. Instead, this drama took the stance that inner beauty is what should matter, but it’s not, so how do we deal with that? A much more realistic, thought provoking position. Because the fact is that if inner beauty is what mattered then Mi Rae would never have been bullied for her appearance in the first place.

Looks should matter less than personality, but the sad truth is that's just not the case

Rather than simply stating that the world should be one way, this drama explored how and why our world is the way it is. And it’s alarmingly shallow. People like appealing things, and want to possess appealing things. So if you’re not appealing, it stands to reason that people won’t like you. The interesting aspect that this drama explored is definitely the natural vs. man-made stance.

I enjoyed how there was various opinions on the matter

Soo Ah was well liked because she was pretty, and considered a ‘natural’ beauty. Mi Rae was also well liked because she was pretty, however there was an underlying feeling that Mi Rae was a bit of a cheater because she had used plastic surgery to become pretty. As a ‘Gangnam’ (plastic) beauty, Mi Rae wasn’t on the same ‘level’ as Soo Ah. The way the show expressed its commentary was through the views of each of its characters. Each character had a different view on what was pretty and how important being pretty was, and each character had a different view on plastic surgery- some thought it was fine to use surgery to become pretty while others viewed it as fake. It was the female characters that felt the most pressured to be pretty, with Mi Rae being an obvious example. However, the show also expressed the pressure through other characters such as Soo Ah and Tae Hee, who felt like the world expected them to be a certain level of attractive in order to be treated well. Interestingly enough, it was also the female characters who tended to be the most judgemental of each others' looks, which I also think rings a bit true to real life.

I appreciated that the drama didn't try to pin all women image issues on men

The boys tended to just focus on the pretty- they saw someone pretty and so they liked the pretty person. Feelings of jealousy, inadequacy and superiority were often brought in by the female characters- though with that being said Won Ho also had these types of feelings towards Kyung Sung, showing that it’s not necessarily a gender-based cycle with only one gender perpetuating unhealthy ideologies. I think that each viewer is going to come out of this drama with a different conclusion on what this drama focused on, as not only are there commentaries made by the drama, but these commentaries are impacted by our own views of beauty that we hold before we even go into this drama.

I could ramble for hours about the different topics and character reactions

By having so many characters expressing so many different views, the drama was able to look at the issue of beauty from several angles, and managed to get away without offending anyone (as far as I can tell). 

What Wasn’t:

Mentally Ill, Not Mean:

Oh K-Dramas- unless the antagonists are nothing short of pure evil they will always try to save them. The redemption arc for Soo Ah in this drama I found particularly irritating. I could see that we were going down this path, and I wasn’t all to happy with it. 

Some people can just be insecure and mean without needing a sob-story

The quick backstory that got thrown in during the last few episodes just wasn’t enough to make me care about this horrible girl at all. So she had a rough childhood- is that supposed to excuse all the sneaky, hurtful things she’s done since? I really think I would have preferred if the drama had kept her as a nasty girl who couldn’t stand others getting attention, rather than making her out to be some wounded kitten. Having watched ‘Sassy Go Go’ not too long ago (though admittedly it is a few years old now) really made the character of Soo Ah (even has the same name as the ‘Sassy’ antagonist) feel dated and not very intuitive. Quick turnaround for a villainous character by suddenly painting them in a sympathetic light- done, done, and done. I’ve seen it a million times. Yes, I understand that often the case is that the writer is expressing how all people have events that have shaped them, and that detrimental behaviours don’t necessarily come from a place of evil but also from a place of hurt. But having had this spin put on so many characters it’s starting to become a bit predictable. And predictable is (usually) boring. 

Saving the mean girl is getting a bit old now

I can tend to forgive these redemptions in high school dramas, because no one really wants to say that your life is set at 15, and those characters obviously have a lot of time to change and grow. And we can’t ignore the teenage angst that makes everyone kind of crazy in high school. However ‘Gangnam Beauty’ was set in university, and the characters were all on the cusp of adulthood. Soo Ah has passed the age where you can be forgiven by simply being a hurt person yourself. She’s an adult now, and so I didn’t give her the same slack I give child characters. 

Grow up, girl

I also didn’t appreciate that the show gave her a mental illness. I feel like this was a plot point that might have been revealed slower and in smaller pieces in the webtoon, but just got dumped on us at the end of the drama. All drama long Soo Ah has been horrible and manipulative, yet completely sane. Then suddenly with hardly any buildup she’s gone completely bonkers and is ready to commit suicide. Sigh. The suicide card. It’s a quick fix that I think a lot of dramas lean towards in order to create an easy, stress-free redemption for their antagonist. 

Not all b*tches are mentally ill you know

Unfortunately, I think this kind of representation can actually be quite damaging for those with actual mental illness. There’s already a lot of stigma around depression and anxiety, so I don’t really think this idea that those with mental illness are a ticking time bomb is really one that needs to be encouraged. The issue as a whole goes much further than this drama alone, but I can’t ignore ‘Gangnam Beauty’ for perpetuating the myth. In trying to create an easy out for one of their characters, the writers (most likely unknowingly), are encouraging the idea that those with depression/anxiety will at some point self-destruct. By trying to use mental illness as an excuse for harmful behaviours, the drama is also supporting the idea that people with mental illness tend to not be very nice, and take out their pain and personal issues on others. Which is just not true. I also didn’t appreciate that the show tried to make it seem as though Mi Rae was the only one who could save Soo Ah from her world of self-loathing- as if she was duty-bound to help her. 

Let her solve her own problems

The problem with this is that it then ends up being Mi Rae’s ‘fault’ if Soo Ah does end up harming herself. Which is an idea I absolutely hate. Sure, if someone has tied Soo Ah to some train tracks and Mi Rae has ample opportunity but chooses not to untie her,

Just focus on the cute not the crazy

I can buy that Mi Rae has partial responsibility in Soo Ah’s injury. However, I argue that forcing Mi Rae into a corner where she has to help the girl who has been harming her just so Soo Ah doesn’t personally choose to hurt herself is a dirty trick. It’s a personal choice and Mi Rae does not share the responsibility for that outcome. I find placing blame on others for self-harming behaviours is a dangerous practice and is more often than not an external excuse for an internal problem. The whole situation reeks of revenge-self-harm (I’m going to hurt myself so you’ll feel guilty about not treating me better), which is a topic that I personally think should only be touched on very carefully and very sensitively (and remains one of the reasons I refuse to watch the American hit ’13 Reasons Why’). For a drama that was so contemplative and thoughtful on the issue of physical appearance and self-esteem, it was painfully ignorant and insensitive in the way it handled the mental stability of the antagonist. The whole issue could have been avoided if they’d just made Soo Ah a nasty person and didn’t try to save her character in the last stage of the show.

Recommend?

Yes- for younger viewers or those who like sweet, innocent romances this is a great watch. 

An unexpected hit