Birth of a Beauty

It was back to the gym today after having a few days off for little dude being home sick. I haven't been watching any extra television, drama or otherwise (just getting through Game of Thrones...finally...dunno if I'll bother blogging about that though goodness knows I have lots of thoughts). I only had one thing downloaded from Netflix on my phone -- Birth of a Beauty, so I watched the first episode of that. I'd added it because I'd seen a few funny clips with the plastic surgeon doctor and the woman he "fixes" up.

Yeah. It's one of "those" stories. Which I'm not always a fan of. What I thought I knew going in: the overweight woman wants to get revenge on her cheating husband after he and his mistress off her and does so by getting extensive plastic surgery and coming back as a beauty and revealing their treachery on live TV.

Welp. So far it seems WAY more ridiculous than that premise, which was already really stretching it. It starts off with the new improved Sa Geum-Ran (played by Han Ye-Seul...who I just realised is the lead in 20th Century Boy and Girl, which I still haven't finished) swanning about town and acting like a celebrity while everyone she passes by follows her around like she's better than sliced bread. Including what seems to be a hoodied stalker. She coincidentally sees a television show about herself (not that she knows it--yet) as the fat and very unfortunate Sa Geum-Ran (played by Ha Jae-Suk) trying to get a complete makeover. It seems Geum-Ran has been married for 8 years, but for the last 7 she has been supporting her husband while he was in the US studying/taking over the business world and taking care of his nasty, very snide family for him back in Korea. The only one who is nice to her is the demented grandma. Who basically feeds her.

Of course, it turns out that he's cheating on her and she catches him and his mistress. The cheater husband Lee Gang-Joon is played by Jung Gyu-Woon...who played the jerky longtime boyfriend of the lead in Oh My Venus...seriously, is that his shtick? He only plays parts where he's cruel to fat girls?? A heckuva thing to be typecast as.

She wants to reconcile anyway (why??? he hasn't even responded to her messages in months and months) but the mistress quickly shuts her down. And she discovers his family knew about the mistress and his plans all along and they all are against her.

And...her mother and her only friend think she's dead after her car was found in the ocean and it's reported that she committed suicide. In fact, nothing in the flashbacks indicate it was anything but an accident, but based on a clip I saw, it was anything but, so....I dunno how that will work out. Spoilers. Derrr.

It's the end of some 49 day death service thing (which I am guessing has to do with the Buddhist belief about how long it takes for a spirit to move on). But, after the doctor (Han Tae-Hee played by Joo Sang-Wook--born in 1978! yay!) finally catches up to her and gives her some medicine -- apparently, she's having delusions because she had so much anaesthesia (????!) -- she learns that she didn't die (duh) but instead clawed her way into his life begging him to turn her into a beauty so she could get revenge. He was the doctor for the show she had applied for, though how she finds his house is beyond me.

There is so much weird and nonsensical about this. Why he would agree to this crazy scheme. How she could have possibly recovered from THAT much plastic surgery (literally, everything) in 49 days. Why she would have this weird delirious reaction (guessing it was for the comic factor? I dunno). Why he's helping her. Why she thinks being beautiful is the way to get back at her husband. It really makes no sense. Why she's letting her mom and friend think she's dead. Why she signs a contract with him that presumably makes her his veritable slave. Mostly...I really don't get why he helped her to begin with OR why he's declared he's helping her with her revenge plot. What's in it for him?

So...I'll have to see how it develops. The story seems (so far) like it really needs a shot of reality or at least makes-sense-ish-ness. But other than the one jerky husband actor (who I didn't really care for in the last show either), I am enjoying the other actors (admittedly, mostly from the clips I saw of future episodes). I'll give it a few more episodes to see how it shakes out.

Edit: There was no gym last week as it was half term and I was hanging with little dude (Comic Con, manga exhibit, Chinatown, playdates...). But it was back to it today. So I watched episode 3 (having watched episode 2 somewhere in between. So...some of the questions have been answered. Tae-Hee isn't actually a Dr. (his brother / foster brother?) is. But he agreed to help her because he's in love with the "other woman" who took Geum-Ran's husband (who apparently is the sister of his foster brother?). There are hints now that Tae-Hee is the "real" grandson of the owner of the Winner Group (yah, chaebol nonsense out the wazoo here....the "new" / pretend/whatever/replacement grandson is a serious arsehole who has some kind of sway over cheater husband). And Geum-Ran has finally realised that maybe, just maybe, her "accident" wasn't actually an accident. And we, the viewers, have seen that cheater hubby was in the car behind her when she crashed over the guardrail.

So...on the one hand, I am liking the two leads. They are likeable and have good chemistry together. At the same time, I cannot comprehend why either of them likes who they currently like because cheater hubby and other woman are both grade A slimey jerks. In an obvious way. And I looked up how many episodes there are to go...there are 21 episodes total! I was assuming it was the normal 16 episodes. And my immediate gut reaction was Oh FFS why so many!!? Which isn't good. I think it will take me a while to get through this one and I may need to watch other things at the same time. But I do like the two leads enough -- so far -- to carry on, chaebol crap notwithstanding. I'll at least give it a few more episodes.

Edit: Haven't actually watched past episode 4(?) yet but figured out what it was that was really bothering me. I feel like this is going to go the route of Beautiful Gong Shim; a show that was ostensibly about the title character but turned into a whole chaebol-fest of nastiness focused on the guy lead instead. It's like bait and switch.

Edit: Okay. I am up through episode 14. I remain torn. There are some things I'm really enjoying about this one and some things I'm really not and I remain convinced that it is way too effing long. Seriously. It should be wrapping up now. Everything is being drawn out WAY too much. Kang-jun (cheater husband) has just finally figured out that Sara is Geum-ran, even though evil mistress/fake sister to Tae-hee figured it out ages ago and has been pulling strings all over the place.

The reason I'm still going is that the two leads are adorable together (at least, when they are alone and getting on with each other). So loving Joo Sang-Wook as Tae-hee. And, strangely enough, for the moments that Team Leader/Tae-hee's secretary guy Choi (played by Kwon Hwa-Woon) appear. He's too funny and cute and steals the scene. Wouldn't mind more of him. He could definitely be a lead.

So. Time for a list, methinks.

Things I am not liking:

• The two second leads. Yeah, they're evil and all that but also their acting is so wooden and stiff and involve lots of glaring. Writing-wise, their motivation...well, hers especially, are muddy and just seem for plot convenience. Not enjoying them. Literally have an internal groan whenever they appear on screen.
• That sometimes character development / being true to the character is superseded by "going for the joke" instead. They don't veer too far off for too long, but it's still annoying. Like the date that Sara "ruined" by "being" Geum-ran-style instead of a "normal" woman. Sorry, but I don't care how much of a dowdy housewife she was, she'd still know what a date was. Those bits remind me very much of the moments I didn't like in Oh My Venus and Beautiful Gong Shim. Maybe it is partly a cultural thing; South Korea is very obsessed with looks/thinness/plastic surgery, etc.
• Things that make no logical sense. Like Sara/Geum-ran's peanut allergy. She eats peanuts. Doesn't get treatment until the next day. Passes out a few times. Throat closes up. COME ON. She'd have been dead. 

Things that I am liking / are better than I expected:

• The father-in-law does have a violent temper BUT he's also the only one in that family that tries to do the right thing. At least someone is. 
• The moments with the "fat" actress, which has been utilised in a better manner and more sympathetically (sometimes) than I would have expected. Also, she's lovely. Ha Jae-Suk. She plays it with more nuance than is probably written into the script.
• And my worry that it was going to go the way of Beautiful Gong Shim where Tae-hee's issue completely takes over hasn't been the case. I mean, yes, it has been growing in the story BUT not at the expense of Geum-ran/Sara's story. It's been pretty balanced. 

Anyway. I could prattle on for ages. Like this show. FFS it really is too long. The end better be worth it.

Edit: Finally finished this one. It was seriously way too long. Yeah, the story did progress a bit with each episode but it was really too drawn out, especially when the viewers didn't get any surprises so far as who did what to whom. We knew who the bad guys were from pretty nearly the beginning, so a lot of the latter half was watching the two leads flounder around being stupid and trusting people they shouldn't have when they both (but especially Geum-ran/Sara) knew better.

I randomly captures this screenshot when I had paused the show and thought,
hey, yeah, that's kinda what I'm feeling, O Cheater Husband. I'm ready for it to be done too.

That would be my biggest complaint, rather than length. In order to stick in the angsty separation, they had to have both characters suddenly become dumb. Here the writer had built them into this team and then they get split up...but it didn't totally work for me from a character point of view. Neither of them were stupid. She should have known not to put any trust in the evil half brother, even if she was worried about cheater husband guy. And he should have been asking himself why she has suddenly pulled away after being all gung ho. I mean, I see why they did it...but it didn't totally work. It was like the characters regressed until they finally had their wise-up moments. There were other issues around that, like Geum-ran's mom having her total change of heart on Tae-hee when he'd also saved HER more than once. And why Tae-hee trusted ANYTHING that adulteress fake-sister told him or did. And don't get me started on all the impossibilities...like being able to get a fake passport in, like, half a day.

But. Anyway. The things this show did well -- it didn't go the way of Beautiful Gong Shim. The story was about both of them all the way through rather than just becoming about Tae-hee. The second lead bad guys didn't redeem themselves in any way (which was way more realistic, given their personalities). Cheater husband's family/Geum-ran's in-laws also stayed themselves, with the dad being the only one showing true regret (the sisters and mother only shame and concern for themselves). The two leads when together were adorable and charming. And it did wrap up all the loose plot ends.

So, am I glad I watched it? Yeah, I guess so. I don't normally much care for the "fat girl finds happiness after getting thin & pretty" thing (why did I even start it? hahaha) but it was fairly well handled in this, even if so many things were ridiculous. Would I watch it again? No. I might watch some scenes again (like the funny clips that had dragged me in to begin with) but I would never sit through this whole thing again. Too long. Way too long.

I wouldn't mind seeing the two leads again either. Maybe I'll even pick up the 20th Century Boy and Girl one again that has the lead actress. I could definitely be fine never watching cheater husband actor again though. Or the adulteress wench. Besides the fact that the characters were reprehensible, I found them both to be a bit wooden and same-same. Though he was better than she was. But, man, I gotta admit that even the first time I saw him on screen in Oh My Venus that there was something about his smug face that I find very UGH. Dunno why. 

Beauty is a Vampire

Actually, beauty has nothing to do with vampires. Little dude has just been listening to Bullet with Butterfly Wings a lot lately and it's stuck in my head. Despite all my rage...perhaps, on reflection, I shouldn't have introduced him to that song.

Though, I suppose, you could make an argument that Beauty, subjectively, is a vampire in many ways.

But...that's not what I'm hear to talk about today. Not going that deep. Instead...I finally finished the Beauty Inside while at the gym today. I didn't watch any while I was in Prague (more on Prague another time, as I've loads to say about that).

So...well, I enjoyed this one. But, at the same time, I can't say that I absolutely adored it. It was good. It was fairly satisfying. But the last half...there weren't really any high stakes at all. I thought they'd at least go into some kind of chaebol fight for the company thing, but nah. And they stuck in a year separation (at least he was getting surgery to fix his face blindness...though in reality, no such surgery exists) that was kind of stupid and full of Noble Martrydom (on her part). But there was no immediacy or urgency in the story's last half.

I mean, I actually fairly like stuff that's low-key on the crazy drama front, but this was a little too low-key. There wasn't even any real tension in the secondary relationship and he'd started off wanting to be a priest!

I did enjoy the actors, though. Liked all of them. And the last episode was fairly full of the warm fuzzies. I'd recommend this one to people who hadn't seen any Kdrama before as it seems like a good entry point.

Am I glad I watched it? Yeah. I did want a bit more out of it...but I think that may be because I'm a bit jaded now. I've watched enough of these things that I know what's possible and what's standard and while the premise of this one was intriguing (if ridiculous), they didn't really utilise it much in the last half. It was a bit too predictable and "normal" (if that's the right word) in the last half, especially for a magical realism type of story.

Would I watch it again? Probably not. Though this is one that little dude might enjoy (the first half especially, where there were some ridiculous things happening because of her changing).