Usually I watch two episodes before putting down my thoughts on the first impressions I get after watching a drama. But I have made exceptions in the past when I’m so happy to watch the premiere episode that I jot down my feels well before the second episode. So here they are — my first impressions for She Was Pretty.

I was already liking the plot for the show and my only worries came from the fact that I had seen leading lady Hwang Jung Eum‘s over acting in Incarnation of Money and I feared that this role might demand the same. Thankfully, she is really good here and although there might be a few scenes where it might have happened but overall, I liked her acting and character. In fact, I enjoyed each of the four main leads — each having a distinct personality of their own and all pretty likeable.

Here is a brief summary:

Kim Hye Jin (Hwang Jung Eum) and Min Ha Ri (Go Joon Hee) are best friends who live together. Hye Jin is not so good economically and works through various part time jobs. Appearance wise, she has this frizzy hair and very ordinary face, and we can see she doesn’t pay attention to her attire or looks. Hye Ri, on the other hand, looks quite rich and stylish.

Ji Sung Joon (Park Seo Joon) is a man who has just returned from abroad. He and the two girls share a childhood period when he came to live in Ha Ri’s house with his dad, which was next to Hye Jin’s (who was rich at that time and also very popular and pretty). He was a chubby and under-confident kid. As Hye Jin befriends him, she becomes his best friend and they become each other’s first love. He goes abroad with his dad and here, she becomes poor due to some business problems and the genes of her not-so-handsome father overpowers the ones of her beautiful mother.

Presently, Hye Jin receives mail from Sung Joon, telling her about his return to Korea and that he would like to meet her. She is very excited and goes to meet him. But when she sees him completely transformed into this hot, handsome man, she hesitates as she realises that he would expect her to be the same popular, gorgeous, rich girl from his memories and she wants to keep that first love fantasy intact. She asks Ha Ri to meet Sung Joon, disguising herself as Hye Jin. The feeling comes all the more as she sees him go past her without recognising her as he thinks one of the other nice-looking girl is Hye Jin.

Ha Ri meets Sung Joon and with help from Hye Jin, she manages to complete their conversation regarding some old things they shared. In order to end this meeting once and for all, she tells him that she is going abroad for studies. He looks disappointed but says goodbyes and gifts her an umbrella (which is tied to a childhood memory when he felt scared due to heavy rains and Hye Jin gave him comfort by telling him that she will be always on his side from now on and shared her headphones with him — that song he also hears in the beginning of the episode when we meet him).

Hye Jin is understandably sad but she deletes the mails received by him and says goodbye to her first love.

There is a good news — Hye Jin gets a job as an intern at a magazine. There she runs into Kim Shin Hyuk (Choi Si Won), who is the Feature Editor at the same magazine. Due to her exceptional job perfection, she gets transferred from initial management support department to magazine’s editorial department as the latter team gets impressed by her work (as she went there for some minor task but got loaded with lots of tasks as they misunderstood her as some new freelancer).

Next day, she is in her new office and then comes the head along with a new editor-in-chief — Sung Joon.

Thoughts:

I love how this show balanced the comedy, romance and emotions. There are scenes which made me smile, laugh and then sigh due to the poignancy of it. Everyone was wary of the premise that it would give importance to shallow thing like outer beauty but I like that the drama only shows how the society lays importance to it and the characters are not so much affected by it.

Hye Jin can be a lot like the usual optimistic candy but here there is a deeper meaning to the positive way she takes everything — be it the insults or hardships. She uses it to shield the hurt she feels during these times. I love her spirit and enthusiasm in whatever she does and I also love the fact that she was always this great person as we see how she helped and supported Sung Joon when they were kids. So it’s no wonder why he likes her so much as she was the first person to give him so much importance and hope. I can understand why Hye Jin feels no confidence to face him. Not only is she the same attractive girl, but she didn’t have any job or anything, basically a loser and she didn’t want to kill the memory of the fairytale time they spent together.

I love all the memories they have shared and objects attached to it — the peeping girl puzzle, the song, umbrella — I’m sure these things will play a greater role as we move forward when they would act as identification marks for our hero to finally realise that she is actually the Hye Jin he loves and adores. I don’t know how much the plot of The Truth Between Cats And Dogs aka Ha Ri-acting-as-Hye Jin will be shown but I’m so excited for the workplace rom-com hijinks. I can’t wait for Sung joon to meet Hye Jin and to know who she really is. But then it’s also great when he actually doesn’t know it. Oh the dilemma!

Sung Joon seems like such a nice guy. Just look at that small moment during that elevator scene when he tells Hye Jin to enter the elevator instead of that pretty girl who came later — small but shows a lot about him as a person. I can’t wait to see him more and Park Seo Joon is perfect for this role. Let me add, he is so hot and swoon-worthy! The whole scene of their reunion (or not) was very well done with a gentle and smooth touch.

Choi Si Won cracked me up in all his scenes. This guy has great comic timing and the way he acts all cool but indeed is not as smart as he wants to be — it makes me laugh.

Ha Ri is also a delight to watch and the two girl friends are such a rare thing in dramaland but something I always welcome with open arms. I do wonder who she will fit in as the three characters are already in the same office space.

All in all, it was a delightful first episode of She Was Pretty and I can’t wait to watch more.