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When I Was the Most Beautiful (Initial Thoughts)


When I Was the Most Beautiful is a romance-melodrama that finished airing about a month ago and I've finally gotten around to it. Starring Im Soo-hyang (Gangnam Beauty, Graceful Family) as female lead OH YE-JI, with our two male leads SEO HWAN and SEO JIN played by Ji Soo (My First First Love, Strong Girl Bong-Soon) and Ha Seok-jin (Something About 1 Percent, Your House Helper) respectively, this drama focuses on two brothers who fall in love with the same woman and the struggles that ensue. While there's bound to be some serious love triangle shenanigans for the remainder of the series, the first episode has a far lighter tone. 

INITIAL THOUGHTS AND COMMENTS (SPOILER ALERT)

Episode 1 takes its time to weave the drama's basic plot as well as give us some backstory to our leads. Starting in the year 2013, Hwan is a high school student while his older brother Jin is a competitive racecar driver who has just been discharged from the military. Ye-ji is a student teacher who ends up teaching Hwan art and he becomes infatuated with her because of her beauty. Of course, life isn't all peaches and cream for our leads, as Hwan's parents are estranged, with his mother living in a hotel as a "sugar mummy" while he lives with his father, a famous potter. His father uses a crutch to get around and through flashbacks, we get an idea that he injured his leg in a rock-climbing accident. Ye-ji on the other hand, is still recovering from a breakup and she gets super drunk after meeting with her ex-boyfriend. Naturally, Hwan ends up chancing upon her while she's drunk and he takes care of, the pair becoming closer. 

Later on, Ye-ji ends up meeting his father in order to use one of his kilns for her project and while at their home, she meets Jin, who has finally come home after his military service. Jin himself has a bit of trouble in his life, having broken up with CARRIE JUNG [Hwang Seung-eon (I'm Not a Robot, XX)], the sponsor manager for Jin's racing team and who's desperately trying to win him back even though he clearly has no plans to get back with her. Along the way, he also starts to fall for Ye-ji, even driving her to catch up with a bus that she missed. The love conflict between the brothers takes root, with Jin planning to date Ye-ji, much to his younger brother's surprise. The end of the episode gives us the idea that Ye-ji's life is in much more turmoil than we think, with flashbacks to her younger self with her mother and the intense sorrow expressed by Ye-ji giving me the feeling that some kind of tragedy has happened to her mother.

Episode 1 isn't mired in plot yet, purely serving its purpose of introducing us to the leads while also giving us a look at what's to come, namely the love triangle between the two brothers. It's going to be a huge shame to see them fall apart because of this and I predict that it's going to be a huge mess, especially because Hwan and Jin seem to be really close. Since Hwan is played by Ji Soo, who is generally recognised as the "forever second male lead who never gets the girl", I'll just assume he probably doesn't end up with Ye-ji but hey you never know. So far, I'm intrigued, especially since episode 1's ending leaves me curious about our female lead's backstory. I also do want to see how Carrie comes into play for the rest of the series and how her intense jealousy will push her to drive a wedge between Jin and anyone who stands in her way. 

I very much look forward to the rest of When I Was the Most Beautiful and I hope it'll be as engaging as the first episode. 

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