Hwang Jung-Eum plays Kim Hye-Jin. When she was young, she was pretty and rich and just generally winning at life. She was also kind and sweet and the first friend that Park Seo-Joon (playing Ji Sung-Joon) ever had. He had been a chubby kid without any friends before her. They were very close until he and his father moved to the US and they lost touch.
They partly lost touch because Hye-Jin lost everything while he was gone -- her father's wealth, gone. Her looks, gone as her hair frizzes out and she gets some kind of rash (?) on her face. She's 30 and working part time jobs and trying to find a real job. But at least she still has her best girl friend, Min Ha-Ri, played by Koh Joon-Hee, though Ha-Ri has the looks, confidence, and money (and provides her with a place to live rent-free, as well as moral support). But Sung-Joon returns to Korea years later and emails her.
She's super excited to see her old friend again, still envisioning him as the chubby kid he used to be. She goes to meet him, but whoa he's Park Seo-Joon now and a handsome, confident dude...who walks right by her without recognising her at all. She doesn't want to spoil their "first love" memory for either of them...well, let's be real, mostly I think she's just ashamed of herself and intimidated that he's now a super hot dude. She talks her friend Ha-Ri into pretending to be her and saying hello to him, but then telling him that she's off to study in England, thereby hopefully putting a graceful end to their friendship.
Of course, then she lands a job as an intern. And because she's kind of an agreeable pushover, but also talented and smart (just not confident), she winds up being transferred to the magazine...where, at the end of the first episode, we learn he's the new deputy editor being transferred in from NYC.
We do briefly also meet the second lead guy (who I already know from clips that I'm going to like him), Kim Shin-Hyuk, played by Choi Si-Won, who also works there. He's handsome but goofy and I always like that.
I have to admit that I groaned out loud when she had Ha-Ri pretend to be her. I really really really hope that it was just a one time thing and doesn't become anything like the situation in Sierra Burgess is a Loser because I will want to Hulk Smash it if it does. It's old, it's tired, and I hate it. So crossing fingers. Because, so far, other than that, I really like it.
Edit: Grrrrrr Netflix has episode descriptions and I noticed that episode 4 says: Ha-ri starts falling for Sung-Joon as she continues meeting him as Hye-Jin. Frick. Now I'm already annoyed. Continue on or give it up?? It does have Park Seo-joon...
Edit: I decided to go on because I was too lazy to try and start something else new. Second episode didn't develop things much more, really. Sung-joon is a real jerk to her but a) he's actually kinda being a jerk to everyone equally at this point because his job is to whip the magazine back into the number one spot in 3 months OR it shuts down and b) she acts like a stuttering idiot whenever she's around him (even if she imagines in her head what she wants to say, she can't get any of it out). Am I being more forgiving because it's Park Seo-joon? Possibly. Hard to say. I'm more annoyed at her than him, though, because the hiding thing was her idea in the first place and now that she's trying not to get caught, she's acting like a real numpty and if I were him, I'd probably be thinking (though not saying) the same things. Ha-ri is even getting fed up and I don't blame her.
I suppose my enjoyment of this show will depend on whether SHE shows any growth or not. Anyway, Sung-joon runs into Ha-ri at the end of episode 2. The other half of whether or not I'll enjoy this is how long it gets drawn out with Ha-ri pretending to be Hye-jin. URGH. Really don't love that plot device.
But I am liking second lead dude. Actually, at this point, that's the character I'm liking the most. Hmmm. Yes. Definitely watching for this smile and snark.
Edit: Episode 3. Glad that the best friend Ha-ri told off Hye-jin for complaining but not doing anything about it (i.e. if you're stuck working at a fashion magazine and you know nothing about it and you need to, to do your job, then hey, maybe you should try to learn instead of just bitching). Overall, it's going okay. Still not my fav thing, the whole lying to someone thing. At least, I suppose, Hye-jin doesn't realise it's still ongoing in an active way.
Edit: I finished it, though it took a long while with guests visiting and not much gym time. It was pretty good. Not amazing, mostly because it's a pretty tired plot that's been done to death. Still, it was one of the better handlings of the whole "pretending to be someone else" thing and the girls' friendship was really nice to see. Loved Choi Si-Won and he's definitely up there high on the list of second lead dudes that you really root for. He was gloriously irreverent. Which might drive you insane in real life, but was fun to watch. Still love Park Seo-joon. He's consistently charming, even when he's in alpha dude mode, partly because he's always a goofball underneath. I wonder if he's like that in real life? Who knows.
I would say it's probably a fairly decent one to get people started on Kdrama (before they've seen this plot re-hashed over and over again). It's not taxing. It's fairly low angst but heartfelt. The actors were all good. You cared about them.
Am I glad I watched it? Yeah. Would I watch it again? Hmmm, I dunno. Maybe. Mostly for Choi Si-Won because he was so adorably kooky. Though I'd probably forward through lots of it if I watched again. They also did a LOT of flashbacks towards the end to the point I was, like, okay, I liked seeing it the first time, but I've now seen this clip about five times...kthxbye. So maybe it's not a re-watch. More like a oh look, a clip randomly came up on Facebook, I'll watch Choi Si-Won be ridiculous for a minute.
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