jTBC Drama The Beauty Inside Wraps with Decent Acting and Disengaged Narrative
This week concluded the airing of jTBC Mon-Tues drama The Beauty Inside, an adaptation of the movie of the same name but with a gender switch and also tweaked body morphing logic. Female lead Seo Hyun Jin changes once a month for a week and has managed to become a top actress, albeit one known for suddenly disappearing for a chunk of time. She crosses paths with face blind male lead Lee Min Ki and together the drama piles on the romance but I really didn’t connect with their relationship. I don’t know if it was the lack of chemistry, both have been way better with previous costars, or the general vibe that these two well-off and successful people can find a way to be with each other and navigate her face changing problem. The side stories also didn’t hook me and the only relationship I cared about, and did so deeply, was Seo Hyun Jin’s character with her onscreen mom. Those middle episodes were the highlight of the drama bookended by meh narrative and too much kissing, hugging, and professing love without making me feel the connection in my gut. Ratings wise the drama was high for jTBC, averaging in the 4% and counts as a success. I did love each individual cast member and am happy to see them below celebrating at the drama wrap party!
Lol. This year alone we have been complaining over this kind of drama – the excessive kissings to prolong the episodes which should have ended earlier and make up for the lackluster plot and no story. Both “Beauty Inside” and “Pretty Noona” pulled off the same formula and both dramas coming from jtbc. Now now… jtbc is slowly heading to my crap list.
As I have predicted, the movie is much much better than the drama. This drama has lost its steam half way through, and just keeps on dragging…. ?
Wowww congratulations for getting it through. I couldn’t get pass the first 2 episode. I don’t know if it’s the lack of material, but the directing is very lackluster. Not as alive as Another Oh Hae Young for me. It cures my insomnia.
I am surprised with the high ratings because this drama was so boring the leads were pratically kissing every freaking minute most said they shared good chemistry but i saw none. The movie was much much better than this tbh.
Not surprised. Romance dramas should be only 12 episodes; most do not have enough narrative for more episodes.
well i agree with you @sunny. 12 ep would be enough for this kind of drama.I left after ep 8 even if i like both actors. It was boring and they didn’t sell me the couple. But it’s just my opinion. No offence.
Agree.I can watch a well written/directed/acted korean thriller drama for 20 episodes but any korean romance drama with more 16 or even 12 like you said is bound to have filler episodes which add nothing to the plot.
See how many thriller drama have season two like voice, mystery queen, bad guys etc..they have been request for life on mars, secret forest, signal, guest and others to have a season two..but i cant see myself watching a season two of descendants of the sun, love from the stars, secretary kim etcuby
@Rubyred Life on mars, signal, were so good… as for romances i can’t see myself watching season 2 too . After all Doesn’t the fairy tales end with ” they get married and …”
Welp, it’s not perfect but I love it lol. Live filming caught up with them so the quality is compromised as expected but I’m already invested so no biggie. I’m glad for the exposure that it brought to the main actors and may this bring them better projects soon <3
I think the way they changes the story was interesting but not enough for 16 episodes. The story of the second couple was boring and the actors not so great. The main couple had a great chemistry and I loved their kissing scenes but at the end it always was the same, it was just lovey-dovey but there was no more emotion… I had the same problem with Why Secretary Kim. I think I would have liked to see more changes of body. They should have taken more risks about that.
What a shame for both leads as I like them both. But there is absolutely no storyline! So so boring.
It had a lot of potential. Wish they could have delved deeper into her father’s side and what his story was. Also agree for the amount of story, 12 episodes would have been sufficient. Still enjoyed it, regardless.
Wow so many people didnt like this drama. Oh well i loved it a lot, normally i get bored pretty quickly and drop them but this one was amazing for me. Except for one epi where she left i loved all the rest of the drama. For me the leads had amazing chemistry as compared to their co stars. I have tried watching 2 dramas of seo hyun jin’s 2 dramas and dropped both of them and even though i really loved because this is my first life i love this one more. I have even watched behind the scenes and it was really fun so see these two.
I think Seo Hyun Jin’s another drama, Another Oh hae Young is still much better. There was definitely more story than only romance. Well, I love her chemistry with Eric because it was so natural and I think they were one of the best on-screen couple, but Another Oh Hae Young had a story about the family, friendship and the french couple is most Loling one…
I am a fan of HJ since AOH but I’m agreeing with Koala’s term of disengaged narrative regarding the drama. It’s disappointing for me despite HJ’s impressive acting depth. The last two episodes just didn’t resonate with me.
It’s a romance drama. Lately many dramas were so dry and zero kissing and hugging (Terius behind me).
I enjoy a romance with lots of kissing and hugging.
But I have to agree that Beauty Inside lacks content. There’s no storyline. The end part where Seo Hyun Jin realised the purpose of her changing faces: I think this could have been developed to show the true content of its purpose