K-Drama Mini Review: My ID Is Gangnam Beauty
Alison Pegg
If you’ve check out my About page, you know I’m more than a casual fan of k-dramas. In an attempt to share more about why I love them, and to catalogue what I’ve watched, I’ll be sharing mini-reviews.
I totally get it.
How this drama is one of the highest-rated ever.
Why everyone is obsessed with Cha Eun Woo.
And finally just how obsessed South Korea is with beauty.
I came across My ID is Gangnam Beauty on a twitter suggestion thread for k dramas to try. Recently my favourite kinds of dramas feature a strong female lead, who isn’t obsessed with her male costar. But it’s totally okay if her male costar is obsessed with her. *swoon*
Gangnam fulfils this concept perfectly, but where it really excels is in its overall message. Strong, evolutionary, female friendships that support strong, moral women, while still showing the everyday physical and emotional insecurities that college women face. I especially love how the perfume storyline was a metaphor for the character’s social interactions, in group settings it was all about beauty on the outside, where perfume, and to an extent scent, represents beauty being more than what you can see.
Once “Gangnam Beauty” is defined, it makes total sense how much time the drama spends talking about plastic surgery. True, it’s the catalyst for the entire plot, but once the characters stories and arcs start to take over half-way through, our lead, Kang Mi-rae’s surgery takes a backseat and the drama starts to hit its stride. The romance, the family politics, the message and the villain storyline really start gelling, to the drama really hits its stride in the message, the romance, the family and villain departments.
Gangnam also has one of the better drama villains in all of dramaland. Early on, it’s hard not to get the spidey sense that Hyun Soo-a is evil wrapped in a pretty package, with more and more characters becoming sceptics to her schemes. Just like Mi-rae’s insecurities are peeled away throughout the story, Soo-a’s insecurities start to appear, hidden by her schemes. Her downfall is heartbreaking to watch, and when Mi-rae comes to help her, you can’t help but notice the symbolism at play.
While the two ladies, rightfully so, deserve most of the screen time, we can’t forget our handsome Do Kyung-seok. Strong, steadfast and independent, he takes his own journey throughout Gangnam to discover his family and adulthood, becoming and support system and cheerleader that Mi Rae deserves. And while never directly said between the two of them, the story does allude that Kyung-seok had a crush on Mi-Rae way back in middle school, long before her transformation, making their coupling all the sweeter.
My ID is Gangnam Beauty is a perfect comfort, a show full of confidence and heart, that is guaranteed to make you feel better after viewing.