401. Pretty Li Huizhen 漂亮的李慧珍 (2017) Chinese

Dilraba Dilmurat, Peter Sheng, Vin Zhang, Li Xirui

Drama Rating: 7/10     Neck Score: A+

I knew I probably shouldn't have started Pretty Li Huizhen when Vin Zhang was the second male lead AGAIN, and he was just going to make me get SLS just like Siwon did in She Was Pretty, but I for some reason just did it anyway. Also, I probably should have looked up how long it was, because I struggled in the middle as they took a 16 episode K-drama (She Was Pretty) and turned it into a 40 episode C-drama. I did the math, removing the 5 minutes of intro and credits all C-dramas have, that's adding 10 hours to the story.... yeah, it got pretty draggy in the middle. Especially since I felt like all 10 of those hours were BEFORE he finally figured out who she was. Um, he's a very gullible, trusting dude, I guess. This did mean that there was way more time for character development for both our male lead and second female lead, but it also meant that there was a lot more time for them to stew on their life choices. She spent a lot of time feeling guilty (or justifying) about her lying and stuff. We did know what he was thinking more, but he spent a lot of time talking about his feelings with his friend and feeling like a cheater as he fell in love with real her while dating fake her...



If you haven't seen She Was Pretty, it's about childhood friends (read: first loves) who got separated for 12 years before finally reconnecting, only they are suddenly opposite from how they looked before. She was pretty and popular and now she's frumpy and he was fat and now he's hot and successful. Because of this he doesn't recognize her, she suddenly feels self-conscious, and she makes her pretty friend pretend to be her, hoping it would just end with that one encounter and be over. Only then it naturally turns into a roller coaster of crazy bad luck, which is what happens when you lie.

This version was great because it expanded on the backstories of the characters and made them way more sympathetic. The friendship between Huizhen and Xia Chao was beautiful, and while it got old and draggy, having her feel as guilty as she did made it way more believable, friends-wise. I also found Bai Haoyu more likable, since we knew what he was thinking the whole time, but I also knew the story, having watched the original. Either way, I didn't think he was as hatable at first like I did when I watched the original. But I will also say that I missed Park Seo Joon's piercing stare and making out skills. I mean, I love Peter Sheng, but I love him way more when he's being a pouty flirty Junwang with a sexy high ponytail. Now I want to watch Oh My General again.... Dilraba was also really consistent with her character. I like how she slowly started getting more fashionable, but still acted like herself after her huge transformation.

So, to wrap up, I liked that it was able to take the time to fully develop relationships and characters, but they didn't need a full 40 episodes (but I was binge watching it instead of taking it slow, so that is something). Maybe the fact that I wanted to binge it is a pretty good indication that it was pretty good. It stuck close enough to the original that I wanted to rewatch it, but it also had it's own flavor and character to it. I felt like they cutified it a lot too, making characters nicer and taking out some of the steam, but I still liked it.