Presentation
Korean Title: 선배, 그 립스틱 바르지 마요
Aired in: 2021 (16 episodes)
Channel: JTBC
Grade: 9.5/10
Actors: Won Jin Ah and Rowoon
For more…
Won Jin Ah:
– Melting Me Softly
– Just Between Lovers
– Life
Rowoon:
– Extraordinary You
– Where Stars Land
– About Time
– School 2017
Office Romances:
– My Shy Boss
– Romance is a Bonus Book
– What’s wrong with Secretary Kim
– The Secret Life of my Secretary
Analysis
Synopsis
Yoon Song Ah and Chae Hyun Seung work together for a cosmetic brand. Hyun Seung is secretly in love with his sunbae but she doesn’t reciprocate his feelings.
My Opinion (No Spoilers)
I seriously liked this drama a lot! It is a sweet and nice romantic comedy that you can easily watch. The main couple has some good chemistry together and, though the plot development is expected, you still enjoy following the ups and downs of Song Ah and Hyun Seung’s relationship.
If you want to watch an enjoyable drama without too many complications, I recommend this one!
Analysis (Spoilers Alert)
Characters:
Yoon Song Ah (Won Jin Ah) is a talented young woman. She is a senior brand marketer for a cosmetic brand and has worked hard to get where she is. Her relationship with her mother is a bit difficult because of an incident in the past, creating a certain tension between both characters each time they meet. She is reliable, hardworking and responsible. She is also very good at training others, especially her hoobae (junior) Chae Hyun Seung (Rowoon).
Song Ah has always been very independent, so she mostly relies on herself. She is also very discreet and private when it comes to her personal life. That’s the reason why she is able to perfectly hide her relationship with her boss Lee Jae Shin (Lee Hyun Wook) for 2 years. Finally, Song Ah appears to be a very rational character, who doesn’t act on impulse. She thinks before making a decision. This behavior can sometimes appear as distance or disinterest, but she is honest and sincere.
Chae Hyun Seung’s main quality, in my opinion, is his patience. He is always very respectful of Song Ah’s decisions and never forces her to do anything. This is a major difference with Lee Jae Shin, Song Ah’s boyfriend at the beginning, who tends to only think about his feelings and therefore act in a selfish way. Hyun Seung is an adorable and reliable brother and uncle, an excellent marketer, who joined the company only because he fell in love at first sight with Song Ah during recruiting sessions. I seriously found his character lovable because he is kind and vulnerable (when he explains how his ex-girlfriend cheated on him for someone else). I could really see how deeply attached to Song Ah he was and how important she was to him. Even though his actions were sometimes cruel (forcing her to see Jae Shin at the wedding dress store with Hyo Joo), he always manages to act in Song Ah’s best interest. Despite the apparent emotional wound that he inflicted her, he imposes himself as a trustworthy pillar in Song Ah’s life, putting her first before anything else. This, I think, is also one of the reasons Song Ah ends up falling for him.
Together, they form an impeccable duo. Though they are unable to conceal their relationship at work, which leads to some funny scenes between co-workers, they really have at heart to protect each other. Even when Song Ah chooses to break up with him at the end, I could really see that it was more a question of guilt (for having him wait for her) rather than a lack of love or the will to continue on her own. More importantly, their romance blooms little by little, without necessarily going through the usual ups and downs or dramatic confrontations. By the time they decide to become a couple, they constantly stand next to the other, until the very end (even though there is a separation in-between). A very good example of how you can progressively build trust through respect, patience and genuine feelings.
Jae Shin and Hyo Joo: Opposite to them, the dynamics in Jae Shin and Lee Hyo Joo (Lee Joo Bin)’s relationship are totally dysfunctional. Indeed, Jae Shin doesn’t love Hyo Joo but stayed with her, after she attempted suicide when they broke up. He became somehow a prisoner of the relationship (although, in my opinion, he still had the possibility to leave). When Hyun Seung and Song Ah trust and respect each other, are equal in the relationship, Hyo Joo is constantly trying to control Jae Shin and to force him into doing things. She seems unable to let go and to live for herself, even at the end. She eventually succeeds in getting over their break-up only because Jae Shin stops being greedy and leaves. Indeed, being friends with Lee Jae Woon (Lee Gyu Han) (Hyo Joo’s older brother) since high school, he benefited from an excellent position in the familial company. His job also created another type of debt towards the Lee family, as Jae Shin felt guilty and as he owed them his life. Naturally, it is also because of Jae Shin’s father’s addiction to gambling, making him ask the family for more money every time.
As the relationship and feelings were not reciprocated, the marriage seemed to be already failing. In comparison to the main couple, Hyo Joo and Jae Shin couldn’t cut ties, whereas Hyun Seung and Song Ah needed to create some and rely on someone other than themselves.
Ambiance: Tenderness, love, warmth were always present in the drama, often conveyed by the pink tones hinted at the atmosphere of a romantic comedy. It was a nice mix of humor (at work essentially), romance and a more serious tone at times. All in all, the drama was very balanced, which made me watch it, without having to rack my brain to follow the intrigue or the evolution of the plot.
What are the themes tackled?
The world of cosmetics: Obviously, the drama enables us to immerse ourselves totally into the world of cosmetics. An important part of the action actually takes place at KLAR Cosmetics and we actually get to discover the joys and plights of being a brand marketer. Taking care of the inventory, designing and developing new products, checking those being sold, convincing clients, buyers, working in sales, facing production problems, dealing with negative reviews, entering a new market (Europe)… I can’t actually tell you how much I discovered. I felt as if I was doing a virtual internship there. Though I wasn’t there to do the tasks characters were assigned to, I had the impression that I, myself, was Song Ah’s hoobae.
Affairs: Apart from the romantic relationship, the drama also focuses a lot on affairs, but in a rather unexpected way. Indeed, without her knowing, Song Ah becomes Jae Shin’s mistress. He is about to get married to Hyo Joo, but feels as if he can’t breathe in the relationship. When he meets Song Ah, he finally enjoys freedom. He feels comfortable and she appears to be a ray of light in his prison life. He thus starts two-timing. Though I deeply empathized with Jae Shin’s situation, he seemed really pathetic, I clearly couldn’t condone his action. First, he always had the possibility to get out of this relationship (what he does at the end). Second, Song Ah is a collateral damage of his unhappy life, as she had nothing to do with it at first. He indirectly implicated her in an affairs and made her greatly suffer the consequences. Finally, it really felt as if Jae Shin had in fact no respect whatsoever for Song Ah, using her, lying to her and betraying her every time. Even after, he was constantly trying to justify himself, when there was no way he could justify such as behavior.
Unfortunately for Song Ah, she was made a mistress. When she learned the truth, she put an end to the relationship, only because Hyun Seung was there. She says it herself at one point, that she probably wouldn’t have had the courage to do it herself. When Song Ah turns out to be the mistress, it is interesting to compare that with her mother’s situation. Her mother has not yet overcome her husband’s affairs (that Song Ah witnessed) and his death before having received an explanation. She has not been able to move on since then and keeps restraining Song Ah in order to protect her from going though the same suffering. What her mother doesn’t know though is that Song Ah has always been aware of that affair and that protection is unnecessary. By the end of the drama, they finally solve this past situation by communicating their feelings. Her mother admits that she has been hurt, which frees her from her own past and frees Song Ah as well.
A third kind of affair is developed in the drama: that of Hyun Seung’s sister Chae Yeon Seung (Ha Yoon Kyung) and her husband’s. Their situation is a bit more complicated and is actually combined with another theme: self-acceptance. Indeed, when he was at the university Kang Woo Hyun (Lee Dong Ha) spent a night with another man Ryu Han Seo (Choi Jung Won). However, he categorically refused to admit that he was attracted by men and repressed this side of him. He then got married to Yeon Seung and they had a child. Woo Hyun is a very quiet character, who seems quite tortured. There is a feeling that he is trapped as well (like so many other characters!). Unexpectedly, he reunites with Han Seo, who still hasn’t gotten over him. However, Woo Hyun refuses to accept the fact that he may be gay and keeps the relationship secret to his wife. Parallel to that, Yeon Seung becomes friend with Han Seo, until she eventually discovers what happened in the past.
I found it quite interesting to see that characters can only break free after a somewhat hurtful revelation: at the wedding dress store for Song Ah, at the doctor’s office for Yeon Seung. It seems like they really embodied the saying: truth hurts. Nevertheless, a violent confrontation with the truth remains the unique way to make them realize that they are living a lie.
That’s exactly what happens for Yeon Seung. Learning that her husband is either homosexual or bisexual is a great shock, which she accepted with a lot of dignity and compassion. I was really impressed to see that, like her brother Hyun Seung, she was very empathetic and preferred putting her husband’s suffering and her daughter’s well-being first. Though the decision may have not been easy, she decides to stay with him until he is able to accept himself. It was at the same time a beautiful message and proof of friendship.
Difficult parent: Apart from Song Ah’s mother, Jae Shin’s father is the perfect epitome of the bad parent. He threatens and blackmails his son, makes him live in misery, uses him and puts him in debt, while forcing him to enslave himself to others to keep his dignity. He was terrible and somehow I believe his death really relieved Jae Shin from his burden. It freed him. If he hadn’t died, Jae Shin probably never would’ve had the courage to escape.
Breaking free: That’s what the drama actually revolves around. All characters are, or have been, prisoners of a relationship: a lover, so Chae Ji Seung (Wang Bit Na) broke her engagement, a parent (Lee Jae Shin), a situation (Yeon Seung) or themselves (Woo Hyun and Hyo Joo). The ending was quite satisfying, as all of them more or less manage to have a fresh start in a better and happier environment.
Long distance relationship: I was very surprised to see that Hyun Seung and Song Ah were on of the rare couples, who really tried to do long-distance. After Song Ah chooses to go to Europe for 5 years (a very long time), Hyun Seung accepts it, respecting once again her choices and supporting her. They really wanted to make long-distance work and I could see the attempts. I really believed they would last until the end without breaking up. Unfortunately, like in every drama they did. Nevertheless, I was still quite glad to see a drama with characters at least trying long distance without breaking up directly.
The title: I am not going to lie, the English title should remain the same in Korean, literally: “Sunbae, don’t wear that Lipstick”. Indeed, it already contains most of the themes that are going to be tackled, when we extrapolate a bit of course. “Sunbae” and “lipstick” are two good clues hinting at the environment and the relationship between characters. In a more subtle way, the injonction cleverly refers to Jae Shin’s lipstick which he offered to Song Ah. We thus can imagine that Hyun Seung tells her not to wear it because he has feelings for her and because he doesn’t like Jae Shin’s actions.
The title is quite meaningful as such. It is way better than She Would Never Know.
The poster of the drama: I absolutely had to talk about that poster! First, the picture of the two main leads kissing in the middle of the street is amazing! It reminded me of US romantic comedies of the 1960s. Yet, it is even better when you see the scene actually taking place in episode 16! A perfect way to put a final point to that sweet love story, quickly followed by a marriage in preparation. So cute!
Once Upon a Drama 