October 11, 2022

Our Take: A light-hearted rom-com that'll give you all the feels

After hearing a friend rave about True Beauty, I jumped right into the show after the final episode aired. The premise was very similar to another K-drama I had watched a few years back — My ID is Gangnam Beauty — and loved, so I had fairly high expectations going into the show. After finishing True Beauty the past week, I would have to say that I was not disappointed at all. While True Beauty embraces the many romcom tropes present in typical high school K-dramas, such as love triangles, friendship betrayals, car accidents, family pressures, etc., the show was a fun ride that brought a lot of joy and hope.

The premise of the show is based on a high school girl, Im Ju-Gyeong (Moon Ga Young), a school outcast/ “dumpling shuttle,” who is relentlessly bullied by the popular girls at her school for being “ugly.” After being rejected by her first crush and humiliated by her classmates, she contemplates ending her life while standing at the ledge of a building rooftop, but changes her mind. After returning home that night, Ju-Gyeong learns from her family that they will be moving back to their old house and she would be transferring to a new school, which gives her a chance at a fresh start. Seizing the opportunity, Ju-Gyeong discovers the power of make-up from online tutorials and creates a mask that hides all her facial flaws.

At her new school, Ju-Gyeong becomes extremely popular due to her “goddess-like” looks and forms a new group of friends as well as catches the attention of the two most popular boys at the school — Lee Su-Ho and Han Seo-Jun (Hwang In-Yeop). As Ju-Gyeong navigates through the new realities of her life, she balances her studies, new friendships, family drama, career decisions, and new romances all at the same time.

As the show progresses, Ju-Gyeong slowly learns to embrace her flaws, build confidence, create a strong support network, and discover her self-worth. What I loved most was Ju-Gyeong’s resilience and vibrancy throughout the show. No matter what problems she was facing, whether it was school bullying, a betrayal by a close friend, relationship quarrels, or family pressures over school grades, she learns to grow stronger and heal from each obstacle.

While the concept of True Beauty is not fresh or new, the message behind the show really resonated with me. True Beauty helped me realize that chasing external and physical beauty does not always make you happy. Hiding yourself away behind a mask of make-up while in constant fear having your bare face discovered is not true beauty.

True beauty is about our actions and how we treat other people. It’s about supporting and caring for our loved ones; it’s about building others up and being there for them in their darkest times. This may sound cliché, but at the end of the day, true beauty lies within us and is not something we can achieve through physical appearances.

Final Thoughts

Overall, if you are interested in a fun and emotional K-drama, I would highly recommend you hop onto this sweet ride.