*TRIGGER WARNING - Suicide and mental health concerns are mentioned*
Okay... *cracks knuckles*
I am not trying to bash the drama for no reason. I really want to hand it out to the production team - making a drama out of a well loved webtoon is always risky and they did a good job (I believe based on reviews of people that have watched the drama and read the webtoon) that the portrayal of the source material was done well. I however have many problems with the way the drama (well technically how the webtoon was written). It is infuriating and disappointing to say the least.

1. FAKE NEWS MORAL
*this may be a spoiler* - I am not going to shade Kang Mi Rae for undergoing plastic surgery - never ever. As a woman we have enough people judging our actions and she was bold and brave to be able to make a decision for herself - one that she believed would make her happy. Surgery is not easy nor is it cheap so she must have been really traumatized if she had to go to the extent of surgery. That said, the main social message in the drama comes when they are trying to "SAVE" Hyun Soo Ah from killing/hurting herself At that critical moment our main FL goes on to say something along the lines of you shoulnt have to change yourself and you should love and accept yourself. EXCUSE ME BUT WHERE WAS THIS REALIZATION WHEN SHE WAS UNABLE TO LOVE AND ACCEPT HERSELF??? It is a good message (albeit it is overused everything now seems to be hyping the Love yourself concept so it can come across as insincere) but I do not want to hear it from someone that still struggles to love and accept herself. She was so ashamed of herself and she still rates people and judges them based on their appearance. So for her to come round and say "Love Yourself" undermine the value and importance of loving and appreciating oneself. It would have been better if there was a character foil - a girl that was "ugly" and didn't change herself but learned to accept herself. If she came around and told both Mi Rae and Soo Ah to love themselves as they are inspite of their flaws then it would've been a much more powerful message. So plot-wise this drama was terrible.

2. CLASSIC PRINCE SAVES DAMSEL IN DISTRESS
The main ML's primary job seems to be the hot and popular guy that hangs around our main FL and saves her from distress. I already don't really like the shy, "weak" FL trope - why can't women be strong and independent? - and this Knight in shining armor concept makes it that much worse. I was hoping they could be a strong power couple - independently strong and amazing in their own right and together they are unstoppable. I really wished that for them but I was constantly disappointed.

3. UNREALISTIC TRANSFORMATION
I understand that a big part of the drama is showing how the main FL gains confidence and slowly becomes more and comfortable with herself but it takes years (if not decades) to erase the effects of trauma. If her childhood trauma had a such a deep effect of Mi Rae's self confidence then one year of college cannot flip her to becoming Ms Popular. Even if the world is deeply in love with her she is going to need a lot of time to accept herself so her sudden confidence halfway through not only seems unrealistic but also fake.

There however some good bits - they are not outstanding actors but they definitely have potential. The chemistry between the leads was cute. The OST was also really good. Other than that this drama was truly a miss for me. I watched it only after all the hype it got and I do not think it was worth the hype so sadly I was very disappointed.