It’s a day that brings both happiness and sadness to many kdrama fans, tvN’s popular drama “True Beauty” aired its 16^th and final episode today and we’re here to recap “True Beauty” final episode.

Note: below is a recap of the highlights and most important moments of “True Beauty” episode 16, this is not a detailed recap.

Note: this is a subjective review. I will share my personal opinion while keeping in mind how others might perceive it. This is a spoiler review

The quick recap

After Seo Jun hugs Ju Kyung in front of Su Ho, she ends up pushing him away. Before she’s able to turn him down or say anything, he takes off. He’s confronted by Su Ho, they have a drink together.

Su Ho asks if he’s confessed his feelings to Ju Kyung, he says they’re dating but Su Ho knows he’s lying.

The next day, Ju Kyung calls Seo Jun to tell him something, after he’s done practicing, he goes out to meet her. He knows what she’s about to say, but he decides to decline her invitation to eat dinner because of his ‘busy schedule,’ he gives her one final hug and ends up lying to her saying that Su Ho is about to leave for the U.S to see his dad.

After telling her that and letting her go, he goes to the stairs and cries remembering their times together and how much he cared for her.

She panics and leaves to see Su Ho. She arrives at his house and knocks at his door crying hoping he’s not left yet. He opens the door and she cries in his arms. She’s flustered when she realizes he’s not leaving, he offers to take her home.

In the car, Su Ho officially apologizes to Ju Kyung nd when she asks why he’s left, he says he’s thought that the pain of waiting for him would be too much and thought breaking up with her was the best way for her to move on from him and find her happiness. He apologies to her and says he would’ve begged over and over again until she’s accepted him back.

On the way home in the car, Su Ho stops it to give her a kiss. They’ve made up.

On another day, Seo Jun is still thinking about what he’s said to Su Ho when he met him that night, he’s said the best way to move on from someone you’ve had a crush on is for you to confess and then get rejected. As he remembers his conversation with him, Ju Kyung texts him to meet up.

The two sit down at a coffee shop, Ju Kyung is there to turn him down and he can see it, he apologizes to her for confusing her by his confession, Ju Kyung also apologizes for turning him down and says she feels sorry for doing so.  

Su Ho comes by to Ju Kyung’s family house often after they reconciled. At her work, Ju Kyung is suffering because of an idol who has a crush on Seo Jun. She ends up giving her trouble and humiliating her, Ju Kyung fires back at her rudeness before being cut off by her managers who hears the idol fake crying, he extends his hands to hit her, right then, Soo Jin shows up and kicks him in the face.

Soo Jin is there to apologize to Ju Kyung for what she’s done to her and for how long it took for her to do so. Her parents had gotten a divorce and she’s left overseas for a while and cut off contact. Ju Kyung says she’s forgiven her and that these wounds don’t hurt as much anymore. They reconcile as well.

At the studio, Hee Kyung asks Su Ho to write for Seo Jun’s debut group saying she’d love to hear what he’s composed be sung by Seo Jun. He agrees to do so and gets to work. Meanwhile, and despite initial struggles at work, Ju Kyung’s superior sees potential in her and gives her tasks and rewards.

At night, she and her bestie Soo A meet up. They realize that their boyfriends had gone out together. Su Ho got hammered so Ju Kyung takes him home. She sleeps by his side as he sobers up but she gets flustered when he gets close after he wakes up.

She had fallen asleep for a while and realizes its 2 a.m. her bestie had already lied to her parents saying she’s with her and tells her to have fun via a text. Ju Kyung reluctantly decides to leave, but Su Ho stops her and asks her to spend the night with him. They have sex. He cooks for her the next day.

At the studio, Seo Jun is singing the song Su Ho worked on, he did a great job and Hee Kyung is happy with the results. Su Ho tells Seo Jun he’s decided to study music, they still meet up and care for one another.

On the wedding day, everyone shows up including Soo Jin. And as Hee Kyung is trying the ring on, it gets stuck and after her father helps pull it away, her face gets stuck as she tries to fetch it, so she decides to hold the wedding with a part of the wood surrounding her face. Everyone has fun at the wedding.

On the day of Seo Jun’s debut.

After he finishes practice, he goes to get his makeup done. Ju Kyung is there as an assistant to the makeup artist, but at the end, she asks her to wrap up the makeup look for him and compliments her.

Despite his nervousness, Seo Jun successfully debuts and Su Ho is there to see him sing his song. He gets emotional.

The final scene of the drama

Su Ho and Ju Kyung sit together at their comic store, they’re happily reading and talking about comics, as they’re about to kiss, the ahjussi walks on them but apologizes before he leaves.

Later, as she’s trying to get a book from an upper shelf, Su Ho extends a helping hand and kisses Ju Kyung.

The end.

So what did you guys think of “True Beauty” ending? did you like it? Share your thoughts in the comment section below.

The review

Before I start sharing my thoughts on “True Beauty,” I thought it’d be appropriate to clarify a couple of things because I know many won’t like what I have to say. First, I know I am not the targeted audience for this drama since I am older than the average demograph watching “True Beauty,” second, aside from the fact that I am picky with kdramas, I’ve been watching for a decade and have seen more kdramas than I can ever recall, and I’ve seen at least 20 kdramas with similar plots to “True Beauty,” added to that, I am not anti but here to share my two cents.

Now if you’re fine with this and don’t mind reading differing opinions, lets goooo.

“True Beauty” was an interesting phenomenon; it’s been a while since I’ve seen a high-school kdrama get this popular outside of South Korea, and aside from “Start-up,” there hasn’t been any other kdrama that truly divided kdrama fans on which couple to root for in recent memory. Regardless of what I have to say, a lot of people had lots of fun watching this drama and that is not to be taken lightly.

Having said this, “True Beauty” script was below average, I was surprised it was made at first, but after thinking about it, I reached the conclusion that this must be this generation’s “Boys over Flowers,” just like we had that kdrama, they have this one and each generation will fall in love with a similar romance kdrama. It was dumb of me to ask why it was made.

And from watching experience, this format works wonders, because no matter how simple it is, with the right cast, audience will become invested. “True Beauty” does a lot of kdrama clichés by the book, down to the last plot development which includes the male lead ‘leaving’ and deciding to break up with his gf on his own for him to come back and ask her to be back to him. I’ve seen this happen at least 50 times.

“True Beauty” cast performances also varied and it’s been a while since I’ve seen some weak performances because I’ve stopped watching high school kdramas for a while now.

Usually, they include many fresh faces of rookie actors or rookie idol-turned-actors. This is also my first time ever watching Cha Eun Woo in a drama, after searching his name, I found out he’s from a group called ASTRO, but honestly, I am not that big of a kpop fan so I don’t know any new groups, it’s been a while since I’ve kept up with kpop.

His performance wasn’t up to his counterparts in my opinion, it was made even more glaringly obvious when he was alongside his co-stars. He’s paired with Ga Young who’s been acting for such a long long time, you can see clear discrepancy and it disrupted the watching experience for me. If I could offer advice to him, then it would be he focuses on his eyes and his mouth and how to convey what his character thinks or feels without exerting much external effort, and if he’s taking acting lessons to continue doing so or if he’s not to go back and get more. Many great actors took acting lessons to become what they’ve became.

He has a long way to go, and the same goes for Kim Min Ki, but that’s his debut project, however, I do expect better from someone who’s been picked as the lead of a kdrama.

Hwang In Yeop also started off a bit iffy but as the drama progressed I could see him understand his character more and he became better. He felt a bit awkward at first, as if he’s not in tune with his character but as time went by, I saw him embrace it and do great.

Hwang In Yeop started acting in 2019, and this is his 3^rd project. If he keeps this up, he will have a bright future ahead of him.

Next time, I wish he won’t pick the first male lead but choose to play the second lead or a supporting role, what he needs at this stage in his career is more experience, he should pick a huge project starring huge names as his next one, if he does so, he’ll be up to a great start.

Moon Ga Young was, again, amazing. I am excited to see how she progresses from here. I’ve known her since “Heartstrings,” it’s been a long time coming and she’s truly blossomed into a great actress.

If you’re asking why I’ve watched this drama, I’ll tell you. It’s because I decided to turn off my brain and just enjoy the ridiculousness. Aside from that, right now, there aren’t many kdramas and this has been fun to watch, cringy at many times, but overall, it had a charm to it and I bet I am not the only one who’ll say this.

There won’t be a separate spoiler-free review for “True Beauty” for various reasons including the fact that I don’t want to be cancelled and I know if I went down the analytical route, it’ll be a scathing article.

Having said this, thank you to the actors and staff of “True Beauty” for your hard work, can’t wait to see the actors’ next projects. I’ll be keeping an eye on many new faces I learned of because of “True Beauty.”