She was pretty, review (ENG/SPA)

Although in a way the plot it's about the story of the typical ugly duckling who is despised by society and that fact generates a great lack of confidence in him, the fact is that both protagonists are the ugly duckling, while Sung-joon was the "ugly" and chubby boy who was bullied by everyone, As an adult he is an attractive and very self-confident man (the typical story) but with our protagonist it is the opposite, as a child she was beautiful and popular but as an adult, she is ungainly, unkempt and although she tries hard to maintain her confidence, the rudeness of the people around her can cause her to falter.

I feel that even though we've seen a lot of stories about a protagonist in a story being ugly and then changing or falling in love with the popular handsome guy, the way this story approaches it gives it a unique perspective, and that is that when Hye-jin sees how handsome her friend looks when they are adults, she feels ashamed and hides, That feeling increases when her friend mistakes her for a beautiful girl, and that's when she decides to ask her best friend Ha-ri to pretend to be her to Sung-joon out of embarrassment at how she looks, thus developing the main problematic and driving force of the story, and as I said, something that at least I haven't seen in any other series (at least not a Drama).

This is where the story bothers me a bit, and it's the same thing that happened to me as with Boys over Flower. I've never understood how Hye-jin has such a great catch as the reporter Kim in front of her and yet she's still on the trail of her childhood sweetheart who even without knowing who she is, behaves rudely 🤦‍♀ 🤦‍♀

In fact my favourite character is Kim Shin-Hyuk, Hye-jin's co-worker reporter is funny, kind, noble and very loyal, he cares a lot about Hye-jin and her feelings, he is always there for her, he is a very empathetic character and makes you love him with his first appearances on screen and I think I'm not the only one who was frustrated that his feelings for Hye-jin were left in the air as she preferred to pay attention to her grumpy and clueless boss.

Hye-jin is a good protagonist, however it's quite frustrating that she puts so much importance on her physical appearance, even having her friend impersonate her and also being bent on her childhood sweetheart when he's most likely not the best for her, let alone having the reporter Kim by her side (and I'm not saying she had to love him by force) but she should at least try or just put her love for herself first. she's not a bad character but a very frustrating one.

On the other hand Ha-ri is an irritating character because from the beginning we see her as a successful girl who has everything she expects and wants, she is beautiful and successful and that leads her to have a selfish attitude against her friend by hiding that she keeps pretending to be her in front of Sung-joon, because she develops feelings for him and wants to take advantage of the advantage she has, although later she redeems herself, her attitude during the middle of the drama got on my nerves.

Sung-joon is a character you love/hate, as you would think that after being bullied as a child, he should be more empathetic and kind to people, however, he's rude, moody and even when he's in a bad mood he takes out his frustration on his employees, in fact he fires Hye-jin for a mistake she didn't even make, He's just angry at the situation she's in, and from the beginning he's been teasing her for having the same name as his childhood sweetheart, as well as Jun-pyo from Boys Over Flowers, then he's given heartwarming scenes to make you empathise and want Hye-jin to break up with him, but most of us still think it was better for her to stay with the reporter Kim.

It has quite nice cinemathography, a luminous colour palette and quality and its night scenes shine because of the city lights, its aesthetic is quite common but it is well cared for and looks elegant, warm and pleasant, in fact the locations and the cinematography in general makes you want to want to be in those places and I love the luminosity of some of the daytime scenes.

Tiene un fotografía bastante bonita, una paleta de colores luminosa y calidad, sus escenas nocturnas brillan por las luces de la ciudad, su estética es bastante común, pero está bien cuidada y luce elegante, cálida y agradable, de hecho las locaciones y la fotografía en general te hace querer desear estar en esos lugares, amo la luminosidad de algunas escenas diurnas.

Finalmente la banda sonora es encantadora pero es que los cantantes coreanos tiene la particularidad de componer muy bonito, tanto letra como música y es algo que descubrí en mi incursión en el kpop. De hecho mi canción preferida es Only You compuesta e interpretada por el propio Choi Siwon (Kim Shin-Hyuk) y es que es una canción desde el punto de vista de su personaje por lo que la letra es muy conmovedora, triste pero linda. Se las dejaré a continuación: