Beautiful Gong Shim

The unfortunate wig and actually a scene that I really liked where she's
stuck in a crowd and uses a bicycle bell to get people out of her way.

Beautiful Gong Shim aka Dear Fair Lady Kong Shim has been on my list for a while. I'd seen one clip from it a few times where she's dating someone (and wearing a godawful wig that makes her look even younger than she is--seriously, like, 15) and some other woman tries to butt in, acting like she's a teenager that needs to go away and let the big people talk. And the guy introduces her as his girlfriend. It appealed to me because it looked funny and I'm small and people often (when I was younger, anyway, and didn't have some silver hair sprouting out of the top of my head) treated me like that.

Welp. I've watched one episode now. Erm. I think it's going to definitely have a fair amount of funny bits but, man, it's way more depressing than I thought it would be at all from the description.

Can two sisters find their own personal happiness when they get involved with two very different men? 

Kong Shim (Minah) and Kong Mi (Seo Hyo Rim) are both trying hard to better their lives and find good jobs. But their lives are complicated when they cross paths with two very different men. Ahn Dan Tae (Namgoong Min) is a human rights lawyer who was falsely accused of a crime and served time in prison. Suk Jin Soo (On Joo Wan) comes from a wealthy family. 

Can the sisters find the happiness they seek?

Does that sound sad? No, not really. What it really is so far...Gong Shim (some day I need to look up what the deal is with Korean and "g" vs. "k") is the younger sister/daughter where the older sister is successful, beautiful and doted on by the parents (especially the mom) to the point that they gave Gong Shim's bedroom to her as a dressing room. That pretty much sums up Gong Shim's position in the family. Though there's a lot of pressure on the sister because she's apparently paying all the rent with her lawyer's salary and paying down her dad's debt. Meanwhile, Gong Shim is more or less a starving artist working horrible part time jobs. The only thing she has is a rooftop one room apartment that doesn't even have a kitchen. But she's forced to rent that out when she needs money to get Italian lessons. Her dream is to go to Italy and study art there. The reason for the wig is that she's been so stressed that some of her own hair has fallen out and she's covering it up. I'm guessing it's such a crap wig because she has no money.

She winds up renting the room out to a pro bono lawyer that she (at first) mistakenly thinks is some sort of gangster.

And, here's the weird part that I also wasn't expecting (and am not thrilled about) -- that dude is probably the long lost kidnapped kid from a wealthy family. More chaebol crap. Dammit. He's also a very talented fighter, saving his (probable) cousin(?) from some drunk gangster jerks. It's another one of those things where the grandmother is fairly horrible to the guy that's grown up as her "other" grandson, Suk Jin Soo, even though the other dude got kidnapped 25 years before. It's not like it's that guy's fault, though she's blaming him for it based on something that happened at his 1 year birthday party? Doesn't make sense.

So...I'm wavering. On the one hand, I think I like Namgoong as the lawyer dude. He's got a good smile and heart already. Could watch it just to see him enjoy the simple pleasures of food. Bonus that he's around my age so I can watch it and appreciate his smile without feeling like a cougar. Cough. I am so not a cougar. Anyway.

And I'm interested in Gong Shim because she's both gutsy and vulnerable. Curious about her journey to happiness. Also think On Joo Won looks intriguing and (thankfully) nice. Gong Shim's older sister...eh, not feeling a whole lot of sympathy for her so far. Gong Shim was beaten up by the wife of the CEO of her law firm (total beeyotch) and they all act like they have no sympathy or empathy for Gong Shim at all and are only concerned about preserving older sis' job. I mean, I get that her salary is the only thing keeping them afloat, but jeebus, some sympathy would have gone far. If they'd just said, hey, what she did was horrible and she's totally in the wrong, I'm so sorry that happened to you, then Gong Shim might have gone along with a settlement thing. Right or wrong, it's the world. But by basically saying your sister's job is way more important than you, they've really stuck it to Gong Shim. I feel bad for her.

BUT...I really dunno if I can do one with all the chaebol antics right now. I might give it another episode and see. I think I'll definitely watch it, just not sure I want to watch it right now. I was really looking for something more funny than not. I need some laughs 'cause I get the feeling this is gonna be a rough week.

And I just wanna say, hey, I feel you Gong Shim. Sometimes, all I want is for someone to just be fucking nice to me. That's not asking much, is it?

Edit: Just after episode 4. I'm really enjoying Minah and Namgoong Min in this, especially Namgoong Min with his sweetly goofy smile enjoying food to the fullest. It makes me smile. So not liking the older sister. I'm sure the actress is a lovely person -- well, no, I have no idea -- but her character in this is really horrible. It's not that she's terribly evil or anything but she's that kind of person who takes what she wants without seeming to feel any twinge of conscience and has no consideration towards her sister at all. I mean, really, she's imminently smackable. Not like Evil Mom horrible from Secret Garden or Evil Step Mom horrible from The Legend of the Blue Sea but just regular awful.  Actually, I don't even want to talk about her character anymore other than to say poor Gong Shim.

Thankfully, there are enough nice moments with the two leads that I'm still enjoying it. And Gong Shim has uttered the thought that will haunt her later and doomed her to falling in love -- He's totally not my type...

Edit: about to start episode 6. I'm sure that the older sister will wind up with the cousin dude at the end somehow based on pictures but, at this point, I really don't have any interest in that storyline occurring. Big sis is finally getting some humble pie served to her after getting fired from her job (the only thing that wasn't really her fault) but I can't work up any sympathy for her. Enjoying the sort of lopsided love triangle that has developed between the three other leads. I know she'll wind up with Ahn Dan Tae but I rather like that the Jin Soo has fallen a bit for her too, even with the wig (and never having seen her out of it) because of who she is. I really want the sister to have that rubbed in her face a bit. I wish they'd let her NOT find love with him; he's too nice for her. But it's a Kdrama, so chances are...

The humour is good.

Though we've now seen in a flashback that when Dan Tae was kidnapped (not that he has any clue yet) it was with the knowledge of Jin Soo's mother at least and by a guy that works with his dad. So they were obviously in on it. Not Jin Soo, obvs. as he was only a baby and he definitely still has no clue. No idea how Dan Tae wound up with the guy who he thinks is his father. Annoyed at his "aunt" who doesn't want the father to tell the truth. I get that she thinks of Dan Tae as "theirs" BUT she should have some kind of a guilty conscience about the grandmother that's still looking for him. Anyway. Would really have rather this was just a story about Gong Shim and her unlikely love story than this chaebol junk shoved in, but the three leads are so charming that I'll keep watching.

Edit: after episode 10. At this point, both the guys really like Gong Shim, though only Jin Soo has told her so. Twice now. The first time she basically told him that she needs to like herself first. On the one hand, I like that because it's a true thing. Though, on the other, she was crushing so hard on him to begin with that it's hard to believe she wouldn't have jumped at the chance...except she was just coming off being fired by his mom for being close to him AND she's got the beginnings of some feelings for Dan Tae, so I think it works okay. Both the guys are really sweet. Heck, their cousins.

The weird thing about this show is that there's a lot more of the mystery about Dan Tae than there really is about Gong Shim. The focus is on him at this point. And, while that story is relatively interesting (it's clear now that it was the wife and her brother that have been behind everything from the beginning and Jin Soo and his dad are clueless about their machinations and will probably both be horrified when they find out), why is this called Dear Fair Lady Kong Shim / Beautiful Gong Shim? It's a bit of a red herring.

Should read: I watch too much Kdrama...truth in fiction.

Ah, well. Still enjoying it. Just not what I expected.

Edit: About to start episode 17 out of 20. Hmmmmmmm. I'm pretty over the chaebol/kidnapping/mystery that's not really a mystery but is, at this point, more of a "if we only talked, this problem would have been solved 5 episodes ago" thing. There's no surprises in it, so it just feels really, really d-r-a-w-n out. On the other hand, the scenes that are just Gong Shim with either of the guys (first lead or second lead) fly by and are lovely and fun. I'm gonna finish it but I'm also kind of annoyed that yet again, here's a Kdrama billed as a "romantic comedy" with nary a word in the description that indicates that it will be 1/2 romantic comedy about the title character and 1/2 chaebol crap about a non-title character.

Edit: mid episode 18. I'm so annoyed with this show right now. The parts that are lovely are...well, lovely. Half of the last episode was a joy -- grandma checking out Gong Shim, Gong Shim and Dan Tae sharing some moments. But the "mystery" part that's not at all a mystery has gotten to the point of fingernails down a chalkboard. And I don't think the character choices they are making for either Dan Tae or Joon Soo are altogether the right ones. And the older sister is still a pile of manipulative crap. So I'm pretty disappointed at this point. Would have been so much better if the show had been more like 16 episodes with most of the chaebol junk cut out.

No, Gong Shim, it doesn't.

Final Edit. Finished it. Very annoyed at the ending. Actually, I suppose I should say I'm annoyed at the show. They finally wrapped up all the kidnapping/contract killing/family "mystery" stuff. Am not going to go into any of it because I already had to sit through it and I don't want to re-hash it. It went on for too long. Enough said.

Then the show went that incredibly stupid route of sending off Dan Tae for a year to America (to get his father's surgery + take management courses) wherein he doesn't contact Gong Shim EVEN ONCE not even to SEND A FREAKING TEXT SAYING HE'S STILL ALIVE. Nothing. And this was directly after she'd heard he was going to ask her to go to American with him from Joon Soo BUT he doesn't even ask because he's got Noble Boyfriend syndrome and thinks it will hurt her career. So, from her perspective it would seem like he decided he doesn't want to take her with him and then he doesn't even text her for a year. Then he does get back and goes to surprise her at work but sees her with Joon Soo and gets all jealous instead of saying hello and then follows them like a complete CREEPER and thinks he sees them having a marriage meeting. So when he walks into a meeting unannounced the next day, he's acting like a jealous grouchy bastard. Gong Shim is understandably shocked. Then Joon Soo disabuses him of the notion and Dan Tae is all Oi, I'm an idiot, help me fix this and tries to take Gong Shim out to dinner.

The only good part of this episode is that Gong Shim totally flips out on him and calls him out and doesn't accept his excuses about not contacting her for a year (first, he says it was because his father was in critical condition for the first 6 months, then because he was working hard in school). Does that make sense? she asks. And no, no it does not. Unless you're on a deserted island with no WiFi, no pen and paper and no hope of rescue or your hands have been chopped off...anyway I'm glad she said it. Sigh. At any rate, he finally gets her to accept the ring he bought a year ago (and left for her to find up in the rooftop room wherein she didn't find it because why would she go up there while he was gone and had already taken all his stuff?). Frankly, at that point, I was ready for her to just tell him to Fuck Off. Him and his trying to aegyo his way out of it. Seriously. I found the whole thing so ARGH that I'd rather Gong Shim had fallen for Joon Soo during the year and wound up with him instead.

AND they stuck in a scene where older sister confesses her sins to Joon Soo (how she was only at the furniture workshop and stole it from Gong Shim because she wanted to date the heir of the Star Group and how the only reason she was there to save him from the fire was because Gong Shim had sent her) and hints that maybe she'll get her man in the end. Oof. Fuck that too.

I don't actually use the F word much. But, seriously, they really screwed the pooch with this one.

Am I glad I watched it? Somewhat. The bits that worked (the early/mid romance stuff with Gong Shim and Dan Tae AND Joon Soo) were really nice. It's definitely another one that was NOT billed correctly AT ALL. Glad that I mostly didn't have to watch the older sister "winning" and I can at least pretend in my head that Joon Soo has better taste and will never wind up with her. Will I watch it ever again? No. I wouldn't sit through all the UGH bits again. I wouldn't mind watching clips of the happy stuff, but that's it. I liked the three leads. Didn't care for the older sister at all, but also not even that actresses' portrayal. It was very one note.

I get the feeling that the more I think about this one, the more pissed off I'm going to be. It could have been really lovely.