First off: I liked this show. I really did. But at the same time I couldn't help but think how unrealistic and a little too optimistic this show is. But let's see:
The plot:
It's about a young woman in her early twenties who majors in weightlifting at a sports university. While pursuing her dream of becoming a professional weightlifter she runs into a guy, Jung Jun-hyung, whom she was good friends with in school until he suddenly moved away. So they finally meet again in university and start their friendship anew.
Apparently the plot is loosely based on the real life story of professional weightlifter Jang Mi-ran. All good so far, right?
Wrong. Because let's take a very shallow look at professional female weightlifters like Jang Mi-ran and then put Lee Sung-kyung next to them as she represents those weightlifters in this show as the lead role Kim Bok-joo. And what you see is a big fat difference in their physiques. While female weightlifters even in lower weight classes are strongly build, Lee Sung-kyung has a model-like figure and face - because she IS a model, duh. And though they tried to make her more unattractive (sarcasm) by giving her a bob, making her walk weirdly and wear loose clothes, she still is Lee Sung-kyung with an angel face and a top physique. A weightlifter? Not really.
The hardships:
This show is obviously a comedy and maintained its happy go lucky bubbly image most of the time. In between there were a few hardships the leads and supporting characters had to deal with. And I think it's great they added topics like depression, bulimia or family problems to the mix. I do like a bit of realistic content in shows. But here's also the problem: while they displayed those hardships quite well at their peak, ALL of them were kind of sweeped under the rug pretty quickly. The hardship was there and just like that everything got better - in one episode. Which is kind of fatal in my opinion. If you bring awareness to subjects like depression, don't make it seem like it just goes away by starting a bucket list. Because that's just not how it works and makes it seem like people who are depressed get out of it easily.
Keep in mind, this is just one of the hardships of the characters which was dealt with in a too optimistic and realistic way. In another case, the character just runs away from its family and just like that all family problems are gone. Right, because that's how it works.
The only hardship they did picture quite realistic without sweeping it under the rug in just one or two episodes was the bulimia case. But see for yourself.
So after all this, why do I still give this show an eight out of ten?
The cast and the characters one by one. All of them did an amazing job. They played their roles so well, you tend to to forget about the show's faults. Specifically Lee Sung-kyung and Nam Joo-hyuk are real talents and masters of facial expressions and putting several emotions into them.
Also, the characters were all adorable as hell, you just couldn't help but love them with all your heart. And even though their behavior was often teen-love-like, the main couple just steals your heart because they're SO GODDAMN ADORABLE!
The characters make you wish you had a friendship like them and a romantic relationship like them.
They honestly do.
