When I Was the Most Beautiful Korean Drama - Ha Suk Jin, Im Soo Hyang, Ji Soo

When I Was the Most Beautiful is about a woman (Im Soo Hyang) trying to heal from the pain of her past who gets involved in a complicated love triangle with two brothers (Ha Suk Jin and Ji Soo).

When I Was the Most Beautiful Korean Drama - Im Soo Hyang

Im Soo Hyang plays Oh Ye Ji. She is a student teacher who aspires to be a ceramic artist. A difficult past has left her feeling alone in the world, but then she meets two brothers who develop feelings for her. Her life then takes a complicated turn.

When I Was the Most Beautiful Korean Drama - Ji Soo

Ji Soo is Seo Hwan. He’s a high school student who falls for his new student teacher, Ye Ji. He has a pure heart, and he sees her pain and struggles and wants nothing more than to be able to help her.

When I Was the Most Beautiful Korean Drama - Ha Suk Jin

Ha Suk Jin is Seo Jin. He’s a race car driver who is arrogant and determined, but he also suffers from a traumatic incident from his past. He immediately takes interest in Ye Ji and decides to pursue her despite his brother’s feelings.

When I Was the Most Beautiful Korean Drama - Ha Suk Jin and Ji Soo 2

When I Was the Most Beautiful is the definition of an angsty melodrama. It’s incredibly soapy and filled with tropes. And I thoroughly enjoyed it! This is not going to be a drama for everyone though. It has a serious love triangle that is complicated on so many levels. Of course, when is two brothers being in love with the same woman ever not complicated?

This story is not really a happy one, and our main characters are quite tortured throughout the drama. They face so many difficult challenges as well as not always making the best decisions. If you’re easily frustrated by lack of communication, pushing away those you love for a variety of complex reasons, and a healthy dose of dishonesty, you probably won’t enjoy this. This is not a fairy tale, and the relationships are extremely messy.

When I Was the Most Beautiful Korean Drama - Ji Soo

The way the drama was executed really reminded me of older melodramas. The melo factor was so high along with it utilizing music a lot. It featured a lot of emotional scenes that solely use music in the background with no dialogue for the entire song.

This was much more common in older dramas, and it isn’t used quite as much today. As long as you don’t find lingering on these types of scenes boring, which I generally don’t, it adds an extra layer of emotion.

When I Was the Most Beautiful Korean Drama - Ji Soo and Im Soo Hyang

I’m a fan of both Ji Soo and Ha Suk Jin and was concerned I wouldn’t know who to root for. That ended up not being the case at all for me though. I was always rooting for Ji Soo as Hwan.

Hwan is just so pure and has the best intentions towards Ye Ji. He does so much for her as well as gives up so much for her. Ji Soo does what he does best and pines for her from afar a whole lot. It was hard to watch knowing just how much he cared for her and everything he had done for her.

When I Was the Most Beautiful Korean Drama - Ha Suk Jin and Im Soo Hyang

Jin on the other hand was so arrogant and relentless that I had some trouble connecting with him. I did feel for the pain he had suffered in his past, but his disregard for Hwan’s feelings was hard to take. He is self-admittedly very selfish, and that was evident.

He is determined to save Ye Ji no matter what and sort of bulldozes his way into her life. That aside, he does genuinely care for her and accepts her for who she is, past and all. He is a powerful man and is able to really help her.

When I Was the Most Beautiful Korean Drama - Shin Yi When I Was the Most Beautiful Korean Drama - Kim Mi Kyung
When I Was the Most Beautiful Korean Drama - Ha Suk JinWhen I Was the Most Beautiful Korean Drama - Choi Jong Hwan When I Was the Most Beautiful Korean Drama - Park Ji Young

There are plenty of interesting characters in the drama. Some are quite likable while others just aren’t. We also get a classic absolutely horrible aunt whose life purpose is to ruin Ye Ji’s life. This is a tough character to handle because of how awful she is.

There’s a meddling mother, the kind father, the toxic ex-girlfriend, an estranged mother, and so many more. We really get a variety of characters with this one and lots of relationship dynamics to explore.

When I Was the Most Beautiful Korean Drama - Ha Suk Jin and Im Soo Hyang

The show features some truly gorgeous scenery. Beautiful settings that are framed wonderfully are used throughout the drama. It is such a pretty series to look at. The soundtrack is quite lovely too with lots of gorgeous piano music used in the background throughout.

SPOILERS BELOW

At its heart, When I Was the Most Beautiful is a story of star-crossed lovers. I personally liked the chemistry between Ye Ji and Hwan much better than between her and Jin. Initially, they have a naturalness to them while Ye Ji and Jin just seemed forced. I know she loved Jin in a way, but I just didn’t really feel it.

Of course, Ye Ji married Jin and joined the family. Hwan was left as a pining brother-in-law. But then Jin disappears and is presumed dead for years. This really complicated the feelings between Ye Ji and Hwan.

When I Was the Most Beautiful Korean Drama - Im Soo Hyang When I Was the Most Beautiful Korean Drama - Ji Soo

We knew Hwan openly had feelings for her, but I thought it was clear that Ye Ji had feelings for him too. She just buried them for a variety of reasons. First, he was her student, and then he was her brother-in-law, which basically makes the relationship forbidden.

Ye Ji really seemed to disregard Hwan’s feelings in every way and constantly pushed him away. It was so sad that she couldn’t even seem to maintain any kind of relationship with him. Emotions were always very high between this pair. Even with Jin gone, they just couldn’t get on the same page.

When I Was the Most Beautiful Korean Drama - Ha Suk Jin

Then Jin shows back up years later, now paralyzed from a racing accident which is what caused him to stay hidden. And well, the happy reunion is short lived. Secrets he has been hiding for these past years as well his suspicions of Ye Ji and Hwan cause a major rift between him and Ye Ji.

Honestly, he was pretty obnoxious. I could understand his reasons for staying hidden, though I disagreed with them, but his attitude towards Ye Ji was just terrible. She spent years alone pining for Jin and not wanting to believe he could be dead. In one of her lowest moments, she fled to Jeju Island, the place of their honeymoon, very distraught.

When I Was the Most Beautiful Korean Drama - Ji SooWhen I Was the Most Beautiful Korean Drama - Im Soo Hyang

Hwan eventually tracked her down out of concern. They did spend time together, and Hwan did try to kiss her. Yes, she had at least some spark with him, but she quickly shut it down and proceeded to basically end her relationship with Hwan. She stayed faithful to Jin.

And how was she rewarded? She was questioned at every turn and forced to defend herself. All while Jin had tons of secrets of his own including spending all of those years in hiding with his toxic ex-girlfriend, Carry (Hwang Seung Eon). He really was something!

When I Was the Most Beautiful Korean Drama - Ji Soo and Im Soo Hyang

After much pain and heartbreak, Ye Ji, Jin, and Hwan are forced apart. Ye Ji and Jin just couldn’t reconcile, and despite Ye Ji admitting her feelings for Hwan, they couldn’t be together.

They all go on a hard journey of growth and do come out better at the end, but it was quite sad that in order for that to happen they had to go their separate ways. I personally found their ending fitting for the story we watched play out. It was very bittersweet.

END OF SPOILERS

When I Was the Most Beautiful Korean Drama - Ji Soo, Im Soo Hyang, Ha Suk Jin

When I Was the Most Beautiful is an incredibly emotional watch that is filled with angst and heartbreak. It’s a long, torturous road for our characters, and we get a front seat to it all. It’s not a happy journey, but it’s a poignant one that left an impression.

My Rating: 8/10

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17 responses to “When I Was the Most Beautiful Korean Drama Review”

  1. raistlin0903 Avatar

    Don’t know if this is a drama for me, but just in case I did skip over the spoilers part for your review. Nonetheless I did get a good impression of this one through the rest of your post. I think I missed this one in some way, as I don’t quite remember having heard of this before reading this post. That said, it doesn’t sound half bad, and I’m especially interested in the characters, especially the horrible aunt!😂😂

    1. Kay Avatar

      I don’t recall you ever reviewing a series like this, so I really don’t know what you would think of it. This drama is definitely only for those who like soapy love triangles and loads of angst, hehe. It’s great though if you’re into that genre. And the aunt is horrible indeed! It’s the kind of character many people hate to even watch, but characters like that can be entertaining too 🙂

      1. raistlin0903 Avatar

        Haha, the worst character I have ever seen in a K-drama was the hospital manager from D-Day. If you survive that one, you are ready for anything!😂

  2. Timescout Avatar

    Oh, I could feel a bout of makjang allergy coming just by reading the post. 😁 Definitely not for me.

    1. Kay Avatar

      Oh yes, stay far away from this one Timescout! It would only bring you suffering 😂

  3. Areesha Avatar

    I generally like light dramas which make you laugh so that`s why I think I won’t watch this,also I hate love triangles because they make everything so complicated and I can’t relate but I am kinda interested in the typical meddlesome auntie or the mom,she sounds desi

    1. Kay Avatar

      Yeah, you should probably skip this one then because it is very angsty and depressing, and the love triangle is strong and super complicated. The meddlesome aunt is something though! She’s the definition of the kind of character most people absolutely hate, lol 😂

  4. D Avatar
    D

    Thanks for the review Kay. I was already interested in this but in your review you mentioned angsty melodrama and old school and so I totally want to watch this now. And the fact that you gave it an 8. Even better. I love old school angsty melodrama. Only thing is it’s not available for me anywhere. 😟

    1. Kay Avatar

      You’re very welcome 🙂 I love some angsty old school melo too! That’s why this one worked well for me. Not too many people enjoy strong love triangles, but I’m one who does, so that’s another reason this one was good for me. I hate that it’s yet another one not available for you though! I really hope it’s one that eventually comes your way.

    2. kfangurl Avatar

      Just butting in to say that you can get around geo-restrictions using Opera’s built-in VPN. If you select Asia as your region, you should have no problems watching this show on Viu here: https://www.viu.com/ott/sg/en-us/vod/289758/When-I-was-the-Most-Beautiful 😊

      1. D Avatar
        D

        Hi Kfangurl, really? Awesome. Thank you so much 😊

        1. kfangurl Avatar

          You’re super welcome! 😊

  5. kfangurl Avatar

    Hrm.. I originally had this on my list because of Ji Soo and Ha Suk Jin, but after When My Love Blooms failed me, I’m thinking that if I want some old school angsty melo, I should just rewatch Winter Sonata. 😁

    1. Kay Avatar

      They are both excellent in this drama. But I know what you mean. Sometimes it’s better to just revisit some old favorites when a particular mood strikes 🙂

  6. Kate Avatar
    Kate

    Really appreciate the review so I can steer clear of this one. I was really looking forward to it because of the cast but definitely seems like a pass for me.

    1. Kay Avatar

      Probably a good idea. Go for things a little less depressing, hehe 🙂

  7. […] When I Was the Most Beautiful is an incredibly emotional watch that is filled with angst and heartbreak. It’s a long, torturous road for our characters, and we get a front seat to it all. It’s not a happy journey, but it’s a poignant one that left an impression. My Rating: 8/10 (When I Was the Most Beautiful Review) […]

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