KBS’s new weekend drama “It’s Beautiful Now” is based on the marriage project of three unmarried brothers and started smoothly with ratings exceeding 20%.
According to Nielsen Korea, the viewership ratings for the first episode of “It’s Beautiful Now” scored 24.5%. The ratings for the first episode of the previous weekend drama “Young Lady and Gentleman” was 22.7%.
Well, let’s try to figure out why this drama scored such high ratings from the start!
Quick Character Recap:
Lee Hyun Jae is a quirky, straightforward lawyer who does not take any lame jokes and rather takes everything literally.
Hyun Mi Rae is a personal shopper who enjoys decorating and filling the needs of the customers. She grew up in a loving family, but the only flaw she has is…he gets involved with scammers too easily…
Sim Hae Jun is a professional divorce lawyer and a CEO of a law firm. She trusts Mi Rae with anything she helps with fashion. Hae Jun helps Mi Rae, who recently was deceived by her soon-to-be future husband.
Lee Yoon Jae is the older brother of Hyun Jae. He is a professional dentist who was raised with lots of love from his grandfather because he was the firstborn son of the family.
Han Kyung Ae is the mother of three sons. She gets pestered with negative comments from her friends like, “who cares if you have so much money like that, all your sons still aren’t married!” However, she is proud of her sons, who are a dentist, lawyer, and the youngest son is … studying hard! LOL
Lee Soo Jae is the youngest of the three brothers. He is currently unemployed and is studying hard to become an officiary. He has already failed the exams twice but does not give up!
Lee Kyung Soon is Lee Kyung Chul’s younger sister, who is a bit guilty that she is still living under her older brother’s roof. Not only that, her son (Man Ri) and all his family are living with the help of Kyung Chul. Even when Kyung Soon feels guilty, her daughter-in-law (Hey Young) confidently and blatantly says it is okay to get help.
Na Yoo Na is someone who loves to eat bread. She is studying to become a baker but meanwhile works at a shipping company with Soo Jae.
- Hyun Jae meets Mi Rae as his client. Mi Rae lied about everything from her soon-to-be husband and wants a legal annulment. However, Hyun Jae suggests that this case has to be legal cancellation of the marriage which means even if she wins the case, there will still be a record that she was once married. Mi Rae vents her resentment and regrets about being so naïve and gullible, then she tells him that she is also in the process of talking to another law firm to hear a second opinion for this case. She is startled at how calm Hyun Jae is reacting to this.
- Mi Rae’s family is worried about Mi Rae’s future after she was involved in a fraudulent marriage. When they were casually discussing it while having family dinner, the doorbell rings, and Mi Rae sees her ex-husband at the door. Park Joon Hyung (ex) is relentless in wanting to talk about why he had to lie to Mi Rae in the process of getting married. Jung Hoo (Mi Rae’s younger brother) encounters them two arguing in front of the house and threatens Joon Hyung to leave.
- So this is complicated. Kyung Chul, who is the father-in-law of Kyung Ae, is also an older brother of Kyung Soon. Kyung Soon has a son named Man Ri, and he is married to Hye Young. Hye Young has a son named Sung Soo. Poor Kyung Ae takes care of Hye Young’s grandchildren out of kindness. Hye Young, who is from the States, is also known for gaslighting her husband, Man Ri.
- Kyung Ae shows her concerns to her husband about her three sons not getting ready for marriage. She visits her second son to give him a dish she made for dinner and beguiles her husband to tell his sons to get married. Hyun Jae doesn’t seem to take it seriously and Kyung Ae leaves with frustration.
- Mi Rae quit her job prior to getting married. However, now that she is not getting married, she is jobless. Her ex-mother-in-law comes and finds her and asks for understanding. Joon Hyung sends flowers to Mi Rae saying that they are destined to be with each other and Mi Rae finds this creepy. Mi Rae hurries up the process of this divorce marriage case and visits Hyun Jae to ask him to defend this case. But he refuses. LOL
- Hyun Jae is worried that she does not have enough intention to win this case. However, Mi Rae strongly persuades him and he finally takes her offer and becomes a team. Mi Rae gets the necessary documents for the case and realizes that she has a husband! Mi Rae does not hesitate further to speed up the process of legal annulment and tries to collect evidence that her ex-husband lied.
- Kyung Chul does charity work and he takes her younger sister Kyung Soon. She walks with a bit of room from him because she hates the fact that people at charity mistake them for a couple. Kyung Soon provokes him that she has grand-grandchildren and he does not. He gets irritated by her comment.
- A flashback shows where Kyung Chul helps a poor kid getting bullied. We can assume that Kyung Chul’s son (Lee Min Ho) is his adopted child. Kyung Chul and Min Ho have a beer together and talk about how they saved each others’ lives. Kyung Chul talks about his concerns about his grandchildren not getting married.
- Min Ho and Kyung Chul go for a morning stroll where Min Ho proposes to Kyung Chul about this master plan to have the three brothers get married. Since these brothers like to compete, Min Ho suggests an idea to make this marriage a grand competition project: whoever gets married first will be given an apartment.
- Mi Rae and Hyun Jae, now that they are in a team, work really hard to win the case. Mi Rae wants to show appreciation to Hyun Jae and decides to go shopping for a gift to give to his wife. Little does she know, Hyun Jae is not married. Hyun Jae is distressed that everyone mistakes him for a married guy and questions his cousin if he looks that old.
- Hyun Jae’s boss Hae Joon visits Yoon Jae’s Dentist to get her teeth checked. It seems like she is a bit interested in Yoon Jae, but this is just a wild guess. Yoon Jae and Hae Joon have an awkward conversation about Hae Joon’s fame due to her frequent appearances on the television but Yoon Jae responds with nothing. He doesn’t watch television (LOL!) She tells him that she is the boss of Yoon Jae’s younger brother, and she thought he would be more cordial with her.
- Kyung Chul, Min Ho, and Kyung Ae summon all three brothers and drop a bombshell deal. Whoever gets married first within six months will be given an apartment, which is about 1 million dollars. Soo Jae, the youngest, is ecstatic to hear this news because he is confident that the two older brothers are far from interested in getting married. However, these two are intrigued after hearing the price of the apartment.
WOW! That was a lot of information to consume! From the characters to the storyline, so many things were thrown at us. The first two episodes went by so quickly, and, honestly, this is a really compelling story. A worried parent proposes a deal to three single brothers to get married, and whoever does it first will be rewarded. I would be so down to join this competition! Let’s find out what will happen in episode 3.
Hye Young finds out about this news and tells Kyung Ae that from what she has seen, Soo Jae will win this competition
Soo Jae asks Yoo Na to pretend to be his soon-to-be wife, then he will give her 30 grand.
Yoon Jae is actively hitting on Hae Joon after this competition has started. Hyun Jae shows concern for Kyung Ae saying that Yoon Jae can be really scary. He might even bring a girl who he just met home to win this competition.
Mi Rae is still having a heated conversation with her ex (Joon Hyung), and to vent, she calls Hyun Jae and asks him to buy her a drink.
Hyun Jae reveals the competition his family has proposed to Mi Rae. When Hyun Jae encounters Sung Soo, he says, “Hey, I am getting married.”
What do you think will happen in the next two episodes? I cannot wait! I hope it doesn’t have too many makjang elements like it did in “Young Lady and Gentleman.”
Stay tuned on KOCOWA for the next episodes, and meanwhile, watch episodes 1&2 of “It’s Beautiful Now” in both English and Portuguese subtitles only on KOCOWA!
