My ID is Gangnam Beauty

Episodes: 16
Synopsis:
Kang Mi Rae is a timid girl who grew up being bullied for being unattractive. After getting plastic surgery to become more beautiful, Mi Rae is trying to find her place in the world without being self-conscious of her face and plastic surgery and is still extremely timid in fear of being found out/bullied again. She starts her first year of university and people are very intrigued by her beauty at first and engage in friendly interactions with her to be her friend or romantic interest. However, the truth eventually starts coming out and people find out that she is not a "natural beauty." Immediately, she is called a Gangnam Beauty (a beauty who is only beautiful because of plastic surgery) and is bullied in numerous ways by students. While Mi Rae struggles to love herself as she wasn't accepted before or after surgery, she is able to find support and solace in her fellow classmate Do Kyung Seok. Do Kyung Seok remembers Mi Rae from his childhood and has always been drawn to her personality. He shows her that there is more to someone than appearance and is unwavering in his love and devotion to her as he supports her in her journey to find herself and love herself.

Review:

         I think this drama was a very cute, light-hearted watch. It definitely touched on a social issue that is faced in South Korea about the push for plastic surgery but also desiring the idea of natural beauty over "artificial beauty." The main character, Kang Mi Rae, is someone who has gotten plastic surgery to become beautiful and to escape her past demons of being bullied for being ugly. However, despite becoming beautiful, the past horrors still haunt her in college as people find out that she got plastic surgery and she gets called out for being a fake, a monster, and so forth. I really enjoyed the message that it was putting out and focusing a lot on being a good person, not being superficial, and finding acceptance and confidence within yourself. It was also interesting to see an actress get cast who has also gotten plastic surgery (and is very obvious that she has gotten plastic surgery) to play this role because it made it more real in many ways. 

            However, I did question the actress's acting here and there as I felt like there were other people who could've conveyed those feelings better than she did. At the same time, I also felt the "timid" character she had was confusing as it would shift weirdly from confident to being extremely timid to friendly. It wasn't just the actress's acting that I questioned as I also thought the male character's acting wasn't the best. Understandably, he wasn't an actor to start and is actually an idol. However, I think being an extremely attractive hero isn't enough to be considered a good actor. He had so little facial expressions it didn't seem to match the character he portrayed. It also didn't show the moral compass he held that well either. The character of Do Kyung Seok isn't what I'd want out of a K-drama boyfriend because he's so cold, emotionless, and yet acts out in ways that show how great he is. It just doesn't seem realistic and makes the character seem really one-sided. 

            The romance between the two was very cute though. I really enjoyed their dynamic and his unwavering support and acceptance toward her as she discovers how to love herself. The biggest driving factor of forcing the main character to come face to face with learning to love herself was the school bully, Hyun Soo Ah. Soo Ah is an extremely beautiful and likable girl who also suffered from insecurities that she kept hidden away. However, it was very clear that her insecurities were definitely manifesting in ugly ways and being released on to someone like Mi Rae. She also thrived off of the romantic attention males have toward her and wanted the girls to be her friend but never better than her. I wish they handled Soo Ah's character and situation a bit better. Did I like her in this drama? No. I would have definitely butt heads with this girl and attempted to put her in her place. However, do I empathize with why she lashes out the way she does? Yes. The girl has insecurities that are slowly shown and explained in this drama. However, she ended up getting scorned at in a similar bullying fashion when those insecurities/problems/unhealthy coping mechanisms came to life. They also never fully addressed her eating disorder which I feel like is also a big social issue that should be targeted--especially since Asian countries rarely talk about things of that sort in media. 

              All in all, this was a cute drama and I had a good time watching it. However, I do wish it could be better and I wouldn't go into this with high expectations for the acting, plot, and so forth. It is a very standard Korean drama following a very standard Korean drama formula. The social issues it targeted about superficiality and finding beauty within is always nice to see though. But do prepare to have your blood pressure raised when you recognize how childish these college students are for bullying Mi Rae and how they handle these issues. It's just frustrating with how incompetent and unempathetic they are when handling these situations.