First Impression: Birth of A Beauty

Last weekend, SBS debuted a new romantic comedy Birth of a Beauty and I must admit, I wasn't all that interested in watching it. I kept an eye on the initial reaction, but was hesitant to watch for a couple of reasons 1) The plot didn't seem too interesting. A man helps a woman change her appearance so he can get his lost love back? Of course this is super summarized, but even with the articles about the show, I wasn't very interested. 2) The pre-surgery character is played by an entirely different actress and I was worried that this would send the wrong message to viewers. After watching the first 2 episodes, I am glad that I was wrong. I should have learned from Blade Man that you can't judge a drama by its initial synopsis and actually have to watch to see what the plot is really about.

Birth of a Beauty stars Joo Sang Wook (Good Doctor, Cunning Single Lady) as Han Tae Hee, the (lost) heir to a major corporation who suffers from broken heart syndrome due to psychological shock while Han Ye Seul (Myung Wol the Spy, Will It Snow At Christmas?) stars as Sara, the woman whom Tae Hee is using in order to get his lost love back. Seem simple enough? Well Sara use to be Sa Geum Ran (played by Ha Jae Sook), a woman who was considered unattractive due to her weight and is often taken advantage of due to her kind nature. She begs Tae Hee (thinking he's a doctor from a popular tv show) to help her become a different person, after she gets into an accident and everyone around her thinks she's dead, to get revenge on her cheating hubby.

Sa Geum Ran led a very sad life as an unappreciated and badly mistreated daughter-in-law and wife, she was also treated coldly by strangers and wanted to lose weight so people would treat her better. I found episode 1 to be very sad, I wanted to cry. Seeing how her husband's family treated her like dirt was appalling, she tried to hard to make them love her and they stepped on her like she was nothing. All she wanted was love and respect, but sadly she didn't get any of that especially from the one person who vowed to protect her: Her husband, Lee Kang Joon (Jung Gyu Woon, God's Gift - 14 Days) who didn't even have the decency to divorce her before he began his not so secret affair since his entire family knew (minus the dad) and never bothered to tell her. No one had any respect for her to even tell her, but they wanted a housekeeper and that's where they got it. Then his mistress turned fiance just had that sense of entitlement that was I wanted to slap out of her. Gyo Chae Yeon (Wang Ji Hye, Hotel King) is a news anchor and met Kang Joon in the US, the fact that she had to tell Geum Ran that she no longer suited her own husband was ridiculous and was out of line considering she was the other woman and intentionally hurt her.

I think I feel so sorry to Geum Ran because no one appreciated her enough and she thought becoming a totally different person would give her that respect she never got. This brings me to my #2 reason for not wanting to watch this show, the whole changing yourself so others will somehow appreciate you and respect you thing which I am glad that so far it doesn't seem to be the case. Even though Geum Ran has turned into Sara, she's essentially the same person before: Same eating habits, hobbies, and way of speaking. Tae Hee said she's still the same ahjumma as she was before so she has to change her habits in order to win her husband back. It's an easier said than done because she messes up almost every time, but Kang Joon is still drawn to her. It can be her looks, but it's more attributed to her personality and how she seems to somehow connect with him on a level that it's obvious he doesn't have with Chae Yeon. So for me, this show will be more about how personality and who you are on the inside that'll count more than what's on the outside. If this show does go this route then I will love the writers forever to give this simple message to its viewers.

We don't know enough about Tae Hee to give a major judgment on his character except that he's very odd and Joo Sang Wook is portraying him very well. You can tell he's been hurt in the past and considering both of his parents are dead and he's an heir who's long though to be dead adds to his mystery. He lied to Sara about who he was, but when he decides to tell the truth she thinks he's joking about it. I don't exactly blame her since he hasn't been the most open person, but it shows he's putting some trust in her. This will aide in them falling for each other and it seems to semi have already started with briefly looking at her differently in episode 2, but of course we have quite ways to go before anyone becomes jealous.

As for Kang Joon and his family, it's obvious they are only out to use people to get what they want then dump them off when something better comes along. Chae Yeon is rich and is giving the parents opera tickets and other expensive gifts to get them to like her, she's Geum Ran all over gain Kang Joon has never said he loves her that's because he doesn't, he only loves himself and very good at manipulating women to get what he wants. Chae Yeon should not be surprised when he starts going after Sara, that's how she became his fiance in the first place, right? The shoe will soon be on the other foot and she'll experience first hand what she did to Guem Ran, little does she know is that the woman she hurt will be the one to inflict this pain. What goes around, comes around.

Birth of a Beauty airs on SBS every Saturday and Sunday! Want somewhere to discuss this drama? Check out the official thread on Soompi!