My latest obsession: Korean drama Miss Korea, both gloriously camp and surprisingly thoughtful, currently halfway through its twenty episode run. So to while away those agonising hours until Wednesday/Thursday nights *withdrawal twitches* I thought I'd share some screencaps from and drivel about the show, in hopes that you'll all begin to watch it* with me and squee along :D
*dramafever broadcasts English-subtitled versions in HD a day after the Korean airing for those in the US, and for those outside the US, google will lead you to streams.
![]()
Miss Korea is set in 1997, and most of its flashbacks a decade earlier, and the 1997-98 Asian financial crisis backdrop is actually thoughtfully deployed to provide a genuine sense of peril and high stakes (as opposed to the usual petty/straight-up idiotic romcom motivations) for all of the characters, goodies and baddies and inbetweenies alike (and almost all the characters are really inbetweenies). The IMF bailout is also hi-lariously deployed in a few set-pieces I'm loathe to spoil, but trust me, they're literal comedy gold.
...okay, one example:
![]()
And the setting even mitigates some of the usual k-drama annoyances -- since mobile phones aren't ubiquitous by this point, at least it kind of makes sense to run around moodily-shot city streets set to a soundtrack of melancholy indie guitars when someone goes missing, instead of just CALLING THEM FFS. And Miss Korea similarly problematises a lot of things that are usually swept under the carpet of k-dramas, especially about the rather poisonous nexus of beauty-worth-money-power-fame-vulnerability for women, which is very much its foregrounded subject as well as its unspoken setting. Ahem. Also, hello '90s pageant makeup and hair :D
![]()
Though the campiest period-appropriate costuming tends to be reserved for the comic relief characters, while the main characters strut about in cute AW-2013/4-'90s-revival gear instead. Which I'm not going to nitpick, because cute.
Like the garçonne duds on the female boffin played by Song Seon-Mi:
![]()
And this oversized cobalt coat / collared teal shirt combo on our main gal here:
![]()
(Yes, girl in red is checking out her own boobs, Typically for this drama, this is both played for laughs and a sensibly handled plot point later.)
Anyway,
![]()
Our protagonist, my dears, is one Oh Ji-Young (played by Lee Yeon-Hee), and this is the introduction that endeared her to me immediately. Upon waking up hungover with last night's makeup smeared all over her face, the first thing she does is to call up the cosmetics company to complain... with slightly unexpected (or do I mean 'very expected') results.
![]()
She's ONE OF US, know what I'm sayin'?
Remarkably for a K-drama, these characters are both cartoonishly entertaining and psychologically persuasive! Oh Ji-Young is a great example: realistically self-aware, and aware that she's pretty to boot (zomg, no 10-episode arc with multiple 'makeovers' persuading the beautiful lead she's not hideous!) but with a reasonable share of human blindspots and insecurities and emotional scars. Which, again realistically, sometimes leads to slap-worthy self-sabotaging behaviours (which she usually recognises and berates herself for, to be fair) and sometimes leads to fun badassery:
![]()
Anyway, so clearly she starts the drama as an elevator girl. And the male lead is the eminently squishable Lee Sun-Kyun, who rocks every assholish, self-aware-about-being-kinda-assholish and surprisingly loyal-and-awesome-despite it moment in this (and if you've seen him in Coffee Prince, you'll know how well he delivers an unconventional second-chance love story). But I get extremely bored writing recaps and intros so advise you to hop over to dramabeans for the meat about the actual plot and characters and stuff. And then come back for the frivolity frosting...
![]()
...like Oh Ji-Young's killer lip colours, which are playing havoc with my shopping list. I don't think I have quite this pink-red in among my dozen other pink-reds...
Or this reddened pink, among my dozen reddened pinks...
![]()
Haz already established my YSL Pêche Cerra-Cola isn't quite right for this, either:
![]()
....Oh shut up, OJY, and tell me where you got your peachy glossy magic! *weeps*
Again, her makeup isn't particularly '1997' and seems to me to have a lot in common with currently trendy 도 화 (do hwa) placements... but my, it's pretty!
![]()
![]()
![]()
The two fabulous queen-makers also rock plot-appropriately similar-but-different liner wings:
And not only is this a drama with awesome makeup, it's also a drama ABOUT makeup. Our loveable supporting cast form an underdog cosmetics company, who happen to invent this newfangled thing called a 'BB cream'...
...which, it being 1997, no-one's heard of or particularly wants to invest in...
![]()
....and their rivals, investors, plots-within-plots and involvement in the Miss Korea storyline add further meta beauty geekery rainbow sprinkles to an already delicious cake of a show. Bless 'em, they do try.
Family moments can make for the cosiest or cringeiest bits of a K-drama, and I can report that this show excels, again. Here's Oh Ji-Young's family (grandpa, dad-she-calls-mum, uncle, brother), contemplating the ramifications of their democratic system:![]()
Families of all kinds emerge throughout the show -- we're only halfway through, but incredibly enough there've been many of instances of strong and often unexpected sisterhood, as well as the catfights and bitching you'd expect (nay, demand!) of a show with a beauty pageant at its heart:
Cosmetic surgery is another topic tackled head-on in this show, both comically and realistically, no weaselling around it \o/
![]()
*dramafever broadcasts English-subtitled versions in HD a day after the Korean airing for those in the US, and for those outside the US, google will lead you to streams.
Miss Korea is set in 1997, and most of its flashbacks a decade earlier, and the 1997-98 Asian financial crisis backdrop is actually thoughtfully deployed to provide a genuine sense of peril and high stakes (as opposed to the usual petty/straight-up idiotic romcom motivations) for all of the characters, goodies and baddies and inbetweenies alike (and almost all the characters are really inbetweenies). The IMF bailout is also hi-lariously deployed in a few set-pieces I'm loathe to spoil, but trust me, they're literal comedy gold.
...okay, one example:
And the setting even mitigates some of the usual k-drama annoyances -- since mobile phones aren't ubiquitous by this point, at least it kind of makes sense to run around moodily-shot city streets set to a soundtrack of melancholy indie guitars when someone goes missing, instead of just CALLING THEM FFS. And Miss Korea similarly problematises a lot of things that are usually swept under the carpet of k-dramas, especially about the rather poisonous nexus of beauty-worth-money-power-fame-vulnerability for women, which is very much its foregrounded subject as well as its unspoken setting. Ahem. Also, hello '90s pageant makeup and hair :D
Like the garçonne duds on the female boffin played by Song Seon-Mi:
And this oversized cobalt coat / collared teal shirt combo on our main gal here:
Anyway,
She's ONE OF US, know what I'm sayin'?
Remarkably for a K-drama, these characters are both cartoonishly entertaining and psychologically persuasive! Oh Ji-Young is a great example: realistically self-aware, and aware that she's pretty to boot (zomg, no 10-episode arc with multiple 'makeovers' persuading the beautiful lead she's not hideous!) but with a reasonable share of human blindspots and insecurities and emotional scars. Which, again realistically, sometimes leads to slap-worthy self-sabotaging behaviours (which she usually recognises and berates herself for, to be fair) and sometimes leads to fun badassery:
Anyway, so clearly she starts the drama as an elevator girl. And the male lead is the eminently squishable Lee Sun-Kyun, who rocks every assholish, self-aware-about-being-kinda-assholish and surprisingly loyal-and-awesome-despite it moment in this (and if you've seen him in Coffee Prince, you'll know how well he delivers an unconventional second-chance love story). But I get extremely bored writing recaps and intros so advise you to hop over to dramabeans for the meat about the actual plot and characters and stuff. And then come back for the frivolity frosting...
...like Oh Ji-Young's killer lip colours, which are playing havoc with my shopping list. I don't think I have quite this pink-red in among my dozen other pink-reds...
 |
| Apparently, this is two coats of YSL Rouge Pur Couture #57 Luminous Pink lipstick |
Haz already established my YSL Pêche Cerra-Cola isn't quite right for this, either:
....Oh shut up, OJY, and tell me where you got your peachy glossy magic! *weeps*
Again, her makeup isn't particularly '1997' and seems to me to have a lot in common with currently trendy 도 화 (do hwa) placements... but my, it's pretty!
The two fabulous queen-makers also rock plot-appropriately similar-but-different liner wings:
 |
| Lee Mi-Sook as Ma Ae-Ri |
 |
| Hong Ji-Min as Yang Choon-Ja |
And not only is this a drama with awesome makeup, it's also a drama ABOUT makeup. Our loveable supporting cast form an underdog cosmetics company, who happen to invent this newfangled thing called a 'BB cream'...
 |
| right on, boys and girl! |
...which, it being 1997, no-one's heard of or particularly wants to invest in...
....and their rivals, investors, plots-within-plots and involvement in the Miss Korea storyline add further meta beauty geekery rainbow sprinkles to an already delicious cake of a show. Bless 'em, they do try.
 |
| well, he's nailed the pageant hair |
 |
| Vivi cosmetics: slap your way to a dainty face! |
Family moments can make for the cosiest or cringeiest bits of a K-drama, and I can report that this show excels, again. Here's Oh Ji-Young's family (grandpa, dad-she-calls-mum, uncle, brother), contemplating the ramifications of their democratic system:
Families of all kinds emerge throughout the show -- we're only halfway through, but incredibly enough there've been many of instances of strong and often unexpected sisterhood, as well as the catfights and bitching you'd expect (nay, demand!) of a show with a beauty pageant at its heart:
 |
| Team Cherry vs Team Queen: bathhouse deathmatch! |
...So this is why I don't write recaps. I totally just squeed a cosmetic surgery theme. That's what this show does, people. It's incredibly fun and can be hysterically campy, but never vapid. The romance is sweet but never sickly. Every major character has understandable motivations, which sometimes self-contradict. The soundtrack is ace. The cinematography aint bad either. And there's so much beauty eyecandy. Why aren't you watching already?
Waikiki, folks!