Sunbae, Don't Put On That Lipstick

 Sunbae, Don’t Put On That Lipstick

7/10

Sunbae, Don't Put On That Lipstick

Genre:                                   Episodes: 16                         Year: 2021

Romance

Comedy

Melodrama

Synopsis:

Yoon Song Ah works in marketing for a successful cosmetic company. Her junior, Chae Hyun Seung, has a one-sided crush on her, but she refuses to date anyone in the same company as it causes career issues.

Cast:

Won Jin Ah (Yoon Song Ah)

Ro Woon (Chae Hyun Seung)

Lee Hyun Wook (Lee Jae Shin)

Lee Joo Bin (Lee Hyo Joo)

Lee Gyu Han (Lee Jae Woon)

Wang Bit Na (Chae Ji Seung)

Ha Yoon Kyung (Chae Yeon Seung)

Park So Yi (Kang Ha Eun)

Choi Jung Won (Ryu Han Seo)

Lee Dong Ha (Kang Woo Hyun)

General Thoughts:

Well that was fun. I feel like in the last year every drama I watched that had a good romance was also really heavily melodramatic. And sometimes a girl just wants to watch a nice cute couple without having an unbearable amount of angst, you know? Not to say that ‘Sunbae’ didn’t have angst or melodrama, because it certainly did, it just came in small, manageable doses in-between all the cute main stuff.

Woo bring on the cuteness

Initially it took me a little while to warm up to Song Ah, and I guess I kind of only really ended up liking her because Hyung Seung did, but she was a bit difficult at the start. I think it’s always a tricky thing for a romance drama when it starts itself off with one of the main leads in a relationship with someone who is…not the hero of the show. While I did sympathise with Song Ah’s situation, because no one deserves to be led on and lied to, the way she reacted to Hyun Seung revealing the truth to her was a bit sh*t (but then he also told her in a way that was pretty sh*t too).

I kinda don't get why she was so popular with the lads

While it was understandable of Song Ah to not jump right from Jae Shin to Hyun Seung, the way she took all her anger and frustration out on Hyun Seung when it was Jae Shin who had cheated on her was pretty lame. Next to Song Ah, Hyun Seung was just this perfect little ball of charm and wonderfulness. I admit, he was potentially a little too perfect, but as this is a simple rom-com I’m pretty happy to let that slide. Hyung Seung was the perfect blend of responsible, goofy and romantic and it made him an easy character to root for. Even though Song Ah didn’t seem that exceptional, I wanted her to end up with Hyun Seung simply because he wanted her so badly. Once the drama got past its opening set up with Song Ah dumping Jae Shin and starting to date Hyun Seung, I think that’s where it really hit its stride. The story may have been pretty simple, but sometimes, when you’re in the right mood, it can be really nice just watching how a couple that are really into each other interact and deal with their day to day lives. Thinking back, I can’t actually remember a great deal of what the actual plot was. I know there wasn’t a lot going on and many of the plot points centred around Song Ah and Hyun Seung’s workplace. Which sounds like it should be super boring. But weirdly it wasn’t. The drama didn’t focus so heavily on their workplace that it became lifeless and boring, but instead filled the office space with fun and interesting characters.

I weirdly loved the work group

Watching Jae Shin’s inferiority complex about Hyun Seung was interesting to watch play out, and I loved seeing how Hyun Seung took everything in stride and really worked to turn every situation into something positive, or at least a learning experience. Song Ah started to shine as her own character in these scenes as well. So often in dramas we are told about a female character being a competent worker but never actually see them do anything competently (I’m looking at you ‘Was It Love’), so Song Ah did start to grow on me as the drama showed the she actually was quite good at her job.

Was anyone rooting for Jae Shin? I think not...

Having a romance in the workplace also did great favours for Song Ah, as she was able to look out for Hyun Seung and guide him with her experience, and of course with her ever growing affection. The show did a good job at balancing Song Ah in the workplace- while it was clear that she was always ready and willing to help him, she was also happy to let him take the lead and make mistakes on his own, and only step in when absolutely necessary. I also loved the way the main couple tried so hard to hide their office romance, but we were shown that everyone in the office already knew about them. The office scenes were surprisingly sweet and I enjoyed them more than I expected to. The only thing in the workplace I didn’t enjoy is Jae Shin. I know that we needed his character for conflict and so Song Ah’s character could develop and what not, but jeeeez what a complete and utter lameo. A man with a massive victim-complex if ever I saw one. Honestly, his situation wasn’t even that bad. Sure his parents were deadbeats, but he had a friend who really cared for him (and was super rich to boot) and a sweet girl who was completely in love with him. Yes, the way he was guilted into marrying Hyo Joo was not cool, but he never really even made an effort to get out of the situation properly before he blew-up and self-destructed. He thought the best way to deal with the situation (for two whole years!) was to date a girl he really loved on the side and just…hope she never noticed when he got married? He added a lot of plot and interest to the story that’s for sure, but there was just no way to make Jae Shin into a likeable character. Not that the show didn’t try.

Can we just forget him and move on?

In the last moments they made a last-ditch effort to have Jae Shin have nice clean forgiveness scenes with everyone, which fell super flat for me. This drama didn’t really have a ‘villain’ character, so as the most unlikable character on the show, Jae Shin sort of naturally fell into that role. Which is fine. Someone has to be the least liked character. But when Jae Woon forgave him after he trampled all over Jae Woon’s long friendship it really made me want to barf. At least Hyo Joo just had the good sense to tell him she was doing so freaking well in her life that seeing him didn’t even bother her.

Now I want more good romance 

Like, absolute yes- loved that scene so much. The acting for all the characters was pretty so-so all around. This drama didn’t require particularly difficult emotions from anyone, so it was a pretty breezy one for the actors. You could tell a lot of them were having a good time filming the show, but due to the limited emotions of the story, no one really stood out that much. Ro Woon is certainly a great up and coming actor, and he did a good job here in what I believe is his first leading role. He picked a great character to have as his first lead, and delivered all the swoony, heart-fluttery moments every good rom-com leading man needs. Similarly, Won Jin Ah wasn’t a stand out as the leading lady, but did a good enough job that she sold the character she was playing and all the emotions that went with it. I think she had to do a bit more of the emotional scenes than Ro Woon did, and I thought that she carried those well, and did well at transitioning Song Ah from being broken-hearted one episode to starting to realising she had some sort of feelings for Hyun Seung in the next. ‘Sunbae’ is a pretty show with a plot that centres more around the characters than events, and while it isn’t the greatest rom-com I’ve ever seen in my life, it was certainly a breath of fresh air in this current rom-com drought. 

What Was Great:

Side Stories:

Seeing as this was a story that was so driven by its characters, it’s just as well that this drama had so many of them. Some got more screen time than others, but ‘Sunbae’ was a show that was well populated with detailed, likeable characters. Hyun Seung’s family took up a lot of the spotlight, but they were fun to watch and I enjoyed the trajectory of both his sisters’ stories. Ji Seung was a fabulous character and I was surprised at just how much I loved seeing her romance with Hyun Seung’s boss blossom.

I weirdly love this

Their relationship was definitely one of the lighter, more comedic storylines of the show, and I just loved the dynamic between these two characters. They were both a little dorky in their own ways, and it was lovely to see Jae Woon's heart in his eyes and his bumbling, slightly strange attempts to woo the classy and elegant Ji Seung. But what was better was seeing how these weird bumbling methods worked! It was super cute and lovey to watch play out on screen. A cup for every saucer indeed. The middle sister, Yeon Seung, had a storyline that took a little longer to get going, and while not as entraining as Ji Seung’s romance, was still an interesting story to watch play out.

Sad but not surprising

Having seen a couple divorce due to the husband being closeted (in ‘My Unfamiliar Family’), I can’t say I found the reveal of Yeon Seung’s husband being gay to be quite as shocking and twisty as I think the writer was aiming for. While not having the intended shock value, I still think the emotions of this story played out really well. Yeo Seung had always been the most confident of the siblings, so exploring her vulnerabilities and feelings of exclusion, both in her marriage and with her siblings was impactful and quite sad. However, the most emotional part of this plot-line was surely seeing how the deterioration of her parents’ marriage impacted Ha Eun. Park So Yi was a charming little actress and brought so much to the show, and I actually think she had some of the most emotionally heavy scenes, and she handled them so perfectly. Outside of Hyun Seung's family we had another couple in Jae Shin and Hyo Joo. While I wouldn’t say I liked the romance/showmance between Jae Shin and Hyo Joo, it was interesting to watch it all play out. It added a lot of depth to Jae Shin’s character (even though I didn’t like him any more for it), and thought that this was a great way to flesh out not only Jae Shin as a character, but Jae Woon as well. Jae Woon had a soft spot for his little sister and was very caring towards her, so this also flowed through a bit to his romance with Ji Seung.

I live for this sibling friendship

At the start of the show it was hard to get a read on Jae Woon and what sort of person he was, so having him be such a great support for his sister as she was struggling helped to emphasise how he could end up being a reliable and trustworthy partner for Ji Seung in the future. It was interesting seeing how each of these three separate scenarios weaved through the lives of all our main characters and impacted them differently. 

What Wasn’t:

That Whole End Bit:

What are two things I hate in romance dramas? 1- time skips. I hate time skips in any drama. Rarely are they used effectively, and often they detract from the emotion, relationship and story that the show has been building up for its entire run. 2- forced separation. This usually occurs when one member of the couple are forced to go overseas for whatever reason. There are usually two main reasons for this. Work/school, and magical medical cures that exist outside of Korea. And this drama, well it had both.

Yeaaaaahhhhh

This show nearly completely lost me in its last couple of episodes simply for pulling in these two completely unnecessary plot devices and trying to magic tension out of nothing. This story didn’t need tension. It was character based and emotion driven. Because the drama had also managed to go for most of its run while avoiding cliches and typical K-Drama tropes, I was even more disappointed when the writers opted for these two cheap ways to create friction in their story. I thought we had happily avoided sending one of our characters overseas for work experience as Song Ah toyed with the idea early on in the show, and early on in her relationship. It was a big step for her to realise that she was happy, comfortable and confident with her life the way it was, and she didn’t actually need that added experience of working in a foreign country.

Hyun Seung > Europe, and you're a moron if you can't figure that out

 It felt like a bit of a developmental step back for Song Ah to suddenly change her mind and go to Europe when there was no real need. Personally, I feel a better progression for her would have been staying in Korea and working to fill the Manager role that Jae Shin vacated when he left. I kind of hate that stories always feel the need to push the characters for more, more, more. I feel that realising that the place in life you are in currently can be the best place for you is an important lesson to learn, and one that dramas (particularly K-Dramas) tend to overlook. You don’t always have to have the biggest house, highest paying job, most successful spouse. It felt like at the end of the show Song Ah was too focused on the future that she gave up on her present happiness. She was in a good spot in both her work and personal life and she gave that up for…for what exactly? And that’s kind of where the time skip comes in. As a viewer I feel like Song Ah had a terrible time in Europe because the only parts we saw were her being exhausted at work and pushing Hyung Seung away to do more work. She could have had the best three years of her life in Europe but I wouldn’t know it and I wouldn’t believe it because I didn’t see it play out on my screen. For a time skip to work well, the audience has to really be filled with confidence and be able to imagine on their own all the things that took place during the time they don’t see on screen. And that use didn’t happen here. The relationship we watched being developed for 14 episodes completely deteriorated in a weird distant place that we didn’t get to see.

This drama for real nearly threw away everything it had going for it

We are detached from the emotions the characters feel, and are left feeling a bit out of the loop on what events have taken place. We don’t get to see the good parts of moving to Europe that Song Ah must have seen (and experienced because she stayed there for three years), all we see is her throwing away a very precious relationship that she and Hyun Seung worked very hard to build. Which is frustrating to say the least. The writer did an okay job salvaging the relationship with Hyun Seung making Song Ah work hard to win him back, but by that point so much of the damage had been done and so many emotions in the story had been lost.

Recommend?

There has been a bit of a lack of quality rom-coms in K-Dramaland over the last year or so. While I wouldn’t say ‘Sunbae’ is heavy on the comedy, it did have a light-heartedness I haven’t had in a drama recently. If you’re looking for a nice, simple romance with a good story but low stakes, I would recommend this for you.

Song Ah's lipstick actually has less importance in this drama than the title would lead you to believe