She Will Never Know Review: A Show Filled With All Kinds Of Love

With the advent of monsoons in my city, I was in the mood for a melo and slow drama. God bless all the fans who make fan MVs because that is how I discovered ‘She Will Never Know’ which was originally titled ‘Sunbae, Don’t Put On That Lipstick’. I’m glad they changed the title because the original title was quite confusing.

‘She Will Never Know’ is about all kinds of love. Selfish love, true love, unrequited love, deceiving love, fake love, and pure love. Every major story arc in the show deals with the dynamics of different kinds of relationships. It takes time to develop each relationship and lead it to a satisfying conclusion. The slow pace of the drama can be a dampener for viewers but be patient as the show does have its good moments.    

She Will Never Know (Sunbae, Don’t Put On That Lipstick) (2021) (16 Episodes)

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Yoon Song Ah (Won Jin Ah) works as an ABM for the cosmetic company ‘Klar’ in their product marketing department. She is a hardworking employee and does her job with utmost sincerity, which earns her admiration and respect from her colleagues including her junior, Chae Hyun Seung who is secretly in love with her. He silently looks out for her and eventually confesses his feelings. Due to certain circumstances, she turns him down. But he does not give up and keeps love bombing her till her heart melts and she finally falls in love with him. However, life is not easy for the two lovers as they both tackle personal battles to be together. 

Let’s see what’s good and what’s not so good about this slow-melo romance drama.

I enjoyed watching ‘She Will Never Know’ because…

…I loved Song Ah. Song Ah is the only child of her parents and comes from a relatively small town. She was always a bright and studious child. As a young child, she witnesses something she shouldn’t have and that makes her despise her father. After her father passes away, her mom is left to fend for herself and she grows extremely dependent on Song Ah. She is unable to get over the loss of her husband (deceiving love), which causes a rift between Song Ah and her. When Song Ah moves to Seoul, she maintains distance from her mother and avoids talking to her.

In love with her job, Song Ah puts her 200% into it. Her dedication makes her appealing to her senior who then starts dating her. But what she doesn’t know is that he is hiding something from her. Her boyfriend’s secret (selfish love) is revealed to her by her trainee, Chae Hyun Seung who is in love with her.

After the big revelation, Song Ah is left shattered as she dreamt of marrying her boyfriend. Hyun Seung offers to be her shoulder to cry on but she vehemently declines his offer. And this is what I like most about her. A rebound relationship is a shortcut to get over a painful breakup. But Song Ah does not take that route. Her experiences as a child have toughened and matured her and it clearly shows in the choices she makes in the show.

She accepts (true love) Hyun Seung in her life only after she has grieved sufficiently for her failed relationship and truly feels for Hyun Seung. And when she is with Hyun Seung she is only with him and her feelings do not waver even once.

But even love cannot take away her focus from her first love, her job. She is very ambitious and a thorough professional. No matter what’s on in her personal life, she never lets it affect her work. The girl is tough and I Iove that about her.

Seeing actress Won Jin Ah in this refreshing glamorous avatar was quite surprising. She played the career-oriented, honest, and gorgeous Song Ah elegantly as always. Her styling seemed a little over the top sometimes but it’s okay because she carried it off well. She excelled in emotional scenes as always and her chemistry with actor Ro Woon could have been better. They weren’t bad but the couple’s love was not magical either.   

…apart from our lead couple, I loved the unrequited love of Lee Hyo Joo. Hyo Joo is the granddaughter of the owner of Klar cosmetics and a professional photographer. She falls in love with her brother’s friend and Klar’s employee, Lee Jae Shin. Jae Shin does not love her and makes it very clear to her. But she is obsessed with him and does everything she can to keep him with her.

I don’t approve of such obsessive love but I liked the character of Hyo Joo a lot. And I think it has a lot to do with actress Lee Joo Bin’s acting. Hyo Joo has her reason to love Jae Shin and if you look at it from her perspective, she just doesn’t want to give up. Coming from a rich family she probably has never had anyone say no to her for anything hence she cannot accept a no from the man she loves. So, she goes all out to make him hers. Her fixation with Jae Shin, her anger, her depression, her loneliness, and everything about her felt very true, very real.

Actress Lee Joo Bin does a great job as the stubborn and entitled Hyo Joo. Even though she is somewhat a negative character, I still liked her because of the vulnerability that actress Joo Bin exhibits. You can see the desperation in her eyes when she sees Jae Shin drifting away from her.

She is madly in love with someone she cannot have and she holds onto him with her life. It feels awful to see her cling onto Jae Shin who does not want her. But even when she behaves badly, you cannot be angry with her because you know she really likes Jae Shin. She is a decent person but only in love with the wrong person.

The conclusion to her story is also as real as it can get and this is another point why I liked her storyline so much. It isn’t glossed over to make the viewers happy.

…of the heart-breaking love story of Hyun Seung’s sister, Yoon Kyung, and her husband Woo Hyeon. Theirs is a different story. An unconventional marriage is the last thing I was expecting from this drama. Yoon Kyung and Woo Hyeon’s love story (fake love) is difficult to understand. It was my first time watching a sensitive topic being addressed in a drama and it was interesting to watch something I hadn’t seen before in a show.

The best part about their marriage is their little daughter Ha Eun (pure love) who loves and cares for her parents. Don’t be deceived by her small size and age. She looks like a kid but talks like an adult. Are all kids today like that?

I did NOT LIKE ‘She Will Never Know’ because…

…I found Hyun Seung unbearably annoying. For me, this is the first time disliking a male lead. And I’ll tell you some reasons why. Here are some minor spoilers below.

1. Hyun Seung meets Song Ah at an employment camp in his university and he learns that she has been working despite being hungry. He leaves his interview mid-way only to return with a food box for her. He then sits guarding the hall where she sits so she can have her lunch peacefully. One meeting and such benevolence? I know there are genuinely nice people in the world but this nice is a little too good to be true.

2. Song Ah has some ex-boyfriend trouble when he tries to sort things with her. And like a typical drama lead, Hyun Seung appears out of nowhere to grab the ex’s wrist and protect his lady love. This is common in the drama world. But the instances shown in this show are too frequent, unrealistic, and impractical.

3. Song Ah’s boyfriend is a cheater and Hyun Seung helps her with it. But the help is clearly motivated. He wants her for himself and is more than happy to have her breakup. He then imposes himself on her, taking advantage of her situation. If you see from his angle, I know he is trying to help the woman he loves and he wants her to forget the bad ex and be happy with him but there is a way and time to do it. The way things go down, even though he apologizes to her later, feels extremely wrong.

4. Who is the perfect lead in a drama? The one who is handsome, madly in love with the female lead, and the super-rich. And Hyun Seung is conveniently all of the above. He comes from a rich family, lives in a fancy house, wears expensive clothes, and drives a cool car (the same car that the director of his company drives. Thank you sponsor!!). As a viewer, you might feel “Oh he is such a good guy, so rich and so loyal. He can have anyone blah blah blah….” But honestly, I think I have had enough of these rich boys who are impossibly loyal and omnipresent for their lady love.

5. Hyun Seung is always around Song Ah. Sometimes deliberately and sometimes ‘coincidently’. She goes shopping with her friend and he is there. She goes clubbing with her friend and he is there. She is about to take the elevator and he is there. She gets in trouble and he is there. Seriously! I’m not exaggerating. He is always around her like a typical drama hero. My girl is strong enough to handle tricky situations. I don’t think she needed him in any of the instances I just mentioned. But that is the writer’s prerogative of how to bring the two leads together and if they chose this then what can I say? Lazy writing? Or catering to the mushy romance lovers?

That was all about Hyun Seung the character. Coming to actor Ro Woon, I didn’t like him much either. This tall and handsome idol-actor is really young and has a lot of scope for improvement. I found his body language awkward especially in scenes when he doesn’t know what to do with his hands. I may be wrong but this is what I felt on multiple occasions while watching the show.

Ro Woon is a decent actor and can become better with more experience but in this show, I feel he could have been better.   

 

‘She Will Never Know’ is slow but a good show with a sincere cast and exceptional parallel storylines. It explores different types of relationships bound by the common factor called ‘love’. The story offers depth but takes time to establish the same. Even the lead couple’s romance develops, grows, and strengthens with each episode. And then, there are some extremely sweet moments between our two lovers when they express their love and support for each other. All the love stories in the show get their perfect ending, which leaves the viewers happy and content.

I give ‘She Will Never Know’ 3 out of 5 rating. If you do not like slow-paced dramas then you may want to skip this one. If you like unbelievable, unrealistic but cute romance then this one is for you. Warning: watch for entertainment but do not believe or expect such unreal romance in real life. The drama has its high points that are enjoyable and should not be missed.

 

Screenshots Courtesy: JTBC

 

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