I rarely experience such high as the first couple of episodes of this drama gave me. I was beyond hyped and the excellent soundtrack kept me entertained and in the mood (for dancing) the whole week. However, True Beauty ended up for me like a bottle of soda that you buy, excitedly open, drink a couple of glasses of, and you when you leave it overnight in the refrigerator all the bubbles disappear and it's simply not as yummy anymore. You finish it the next day regardless, because you know, you bought it and you are not going to just pour it down the drain. So I finished it.

The story is very intriguing and I liked all the levels it presented. I think that was also the deal breaker for me - there was so much to be explored here, filled with refreshing ideas and in the end it just turned into a cliche story with a love triangle and a mediocre villain. To be honest, I did what I almost never do and forwarded some bits of the last four episodes. What heresy!

On the other hand, the secondary characters here are superb. Even the parents of the FL are super entertaining. This drama also created a story based around family, friendships and community and I think that it should be praised for that. I personally enjoyed the subplot around the FL's older sister.

The performances of the actors are A+, the casting on this drama was done phenomenally. The most notable performance is delivered by Hwan In Yeop and he pretty quickly became a fan favourite. Cha Eun Woo grew a lot as actor, in my opinion, and I liked him here a lot. Moon Ga Young was very good as well, she created a lot of mannerisms for the character, including the best derpy smile, which I liked. It made the character of Im Joo Gyung seem very real to me. This drama also featured a lot of enjoyable cameos that makes it almost seem as a part of a bigger universe. The soundtrack is superb and I'm pretty sure that my neighbours now think I'm crazy for listening to it over and over again.

True Beauty presents a unique atmosphere revolving around a very particular age in every person's life. The quarrels between the schoolmates made me go on a trip down the memory lane and I found myself laugh out loud more often than I thought I would. On the other hand, somehow, it is also the drama's downfall. There is a good chunk of middle episodes that feel just stagnant and the tempo is greatly distorted since there is not much left to explore, since the story stayed within the basics. The drama also makes a hasty couple of ending episodes featuring an element that did not do anything for the plot at all, it just made a leap for the characters to tie everything up at a quicker pace.

That all being said, I don't regret the time I invested into True Beauty. It's a light drama that made my gloomy days a bit brighter.