Monday, January 4, 2010

Review on Korean Drama: You're Beautiful (2009)


Title: You’re Beautiful (2009)
Genre:  Comedy, Musical, Drama, Romance
Duration: 16 episodes
Cast:
Jang Geun Suk as Hwang Tae Kyung
Park Shin Hye as Go Min Nam/Go Min Nyu/ Gemma
Yung Yong Hwa as Kang Shin Woo
Lee Hong Ki as Jeremy
Yoo Yi as Yoo He Yi



Synopsis:

Go Min Nyu (Park Shin Hye) and Go Min Nyu are identical twins who grew up in an orphanage.  Having lived in the convent her whole life, Go Min Nyu decided to pursue the path of becoming a nun while his older brother pursues the career of becoming a famous singer.  Her life was disrupted when her brother’s manager sought her help to stand in for her brother who unfortunately had to have a surgery in the states and is said to recuperate after a month.  Incidentally, he was admitted to the famous group A.N.Jell, and the manager needed Go Min Nyu to pretend to be her brother at least until he comes back so that he would not lose this once in a lifetime chance.  He was determined to be famous in the hopes that he would be able to find their mother someday who left them in the orphanage.

Go Min Nyu met the strongest opposition from the group’s leader, Hwang Tae Kyung (Jang Geun Suk), who discovered she was a girl early on and does not want to get involved in the mess.  Hwang Tae Kyung is a surly, obsessive compulsive neat and control freak who never learned to smile, and is always in control of his emotions.  His world is turned upside down though when he met Go Min Nyu, known to be a walking danger zone, innocent girl who has an angelic voice and a pure heart.  It wasn’t long before she was able to win over everyone in the house including Jang Geun Suk albeit begrudgingly.
It is more of a story about complicated mysterious birth of Go Min Nyu and Jang Geun Suk, about friendship among the band mates, of falling in love, reaching for the stars, forgiveness and a lot of sense of humor.
Review:
If not for the picture used in the drama of the three seemingly angelic guys reaching out to a girl in the bottom, I would have watched this show long time ago.  I kept avoiding it thinking it was too cheesy for my taste and just not worth watching.  Fortunately, I was proven wrong and I enjoyed the show specially the mixture of comic relief and innocence of Go Min Nyu.  It does help that I thoroughly enjoyed seeing Jang Geun Suk on camera and how he tries to immerse himself into his character (although if looking at it objectively, there were moments when I felt his acting was awkward but I’m more than happy to overlook it) and how he tries so hard not to acknowledge Go Min Nyu’s ever-growing importance in his life.  That she always bring him trouble has become a given and has become a sweet pain to Tae Kyung who found himself helplessly drawn to her.

My heart went out to Shin Woo (Yung Yong Hwa) perhaps because I understand why some people would feel it unfair that the bad guy gets the girl and the good guy just get his heart broken.  However, if the feeling is not there, if there are no sparks, I believe there is no use pursuing a lifetime with someone you don't feel anything for besides friendship.    In this aspect, I like it that Go Min Nyu never wavered in her feelings and so did Tae Kyung.  However, because he is so nice and gentle and looks so good too, I felt that Shin Woo should end up with someone who could make him truly happy.
I was a little bothered by some of the storyline though like how Go Min Nyu and Go Min Nam are said to be identical twins which is nearly impossible since they could only be fraternal twins formed from two separate eggs fertilized by separate sperms unless after the zygote splits, it loses a y chromosome and develops into a female but she would then be affected by with Turner Syndrome. Also, how come the twins never had a conversation in the entire show making me believe they are not really that close?  
However, this is such a light-hearted, fun show that I thoroughly enjoyed although it failed to bring me to tears.  I give this show 8.5 stars out of 10.

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