Let’s be honest here — all of us are watching Oh My Venus for one sole reason: So Ji Sub and Shin Min Ah and with hopes for them to have a crackling chemistry. And so with this notion I’m writing my first impressions for the new rom-com on KBS. To sum it up in one sentence, I didn’t find it very good but I liked the characters and want to see more of them. And I’m glad that there is not much fat shaming.

The plot features Kang Joo Eun (Shin Min Ah) as a lawyer who was extremely gorgeous when she was in high school. But she was equally intelligent. She falls in love with Im Woo Shik (Jung Kyeo Woon) and they have a 15-year-old relationship before he breaks up with her. On a trip abroad, she meets Kim Young Ho (So Ji Sub) who is a renowned fitness trainer known by the name John Kim and also a rich heir. Later in Korea, they meet again and he comes to know about her situation of heart-break. We also meet his two buddies — an athlete  Jang Joon Sung (Sung Hoon) who he is a coach to and also his manager Kim Ji Woong (Henry). Then there is Oh Soo Jin (Yoo In Young) who was best friends with our heroine in her school days but due to some misunderstanding, she dislikes her now. She was overweight then but now she has a slim figure and she has come back in Joo Eun’s life as a new lawyer at a superior position at her firm as well as her boyfriend’s new girlfriend.

I like that Joo Eun doesn’t really worry about her figure which thankfully is not shown in over-the-top fat suit. She is chubby and has gained weight in all these years. Yes, she did try to lose that but this doesn’t bother her much. Even in the days when she was slim, she believed in the power of studying and having a career rather than being happy about how pretty she is. She was actually beauty with brains. I like her a lot and I’m happy that she is very strong too. She does not spend time in self-pitying. Same way, I’m glad that Young Ho never makes fun of her in a degrading way. He seems concerned about her health and even is very caring. I have to say that the scenes involving his family and everything bored me. But I liked the dynamics he has with his two buddies — very odd as they look very young as compared to him but really cute.

I also like that Woo Shik is not a straight forward jerk. He is concerned about Joo Eun’s feelings. As for Soo Jin, I don’t know what her intentions are. Did she purposefully start dating Woo Shik to take revenge or was it just a coincidence. I hope she doesn’t go into the path of full time villain. I also like how Joo Eun reacted after meeting her for the first time after all these years — she was not at all bothered or embarrassed by how the girls have changed in appearance. She only laments that she forgot to say she was happy to see her.

Well, I didn’t like how the drama kept on making comments about how that woman (who participated in that fitness program in the US) got a new life thanks to her new figure and John Kim. I hope the drama will stop making this point again and again, and will instead give us a message of healthy living and valuing beauty which is inside a person in his or her heart.

As for our couple, I love their bickering and chemistry already. I’m also looking forward to how the story will unfold now that Joo Eun misunderstands that it’s Ji Woong who is John Kim — this was a surprise as it was not mentioned earlier in the synopsis.

All in all, an okay start for Oh My Venus.