Anna is every bit as fanciful and unrealistic as your average K-Drama but has a more serious side as it confronts the grotesque mistreatment of the poor working class by the wealthy in South Korea. Yu-mi is a pretty, overachieving teenager whose older lover convinces everyone that she seduced him, so she gets in trouble and is sent to another school, where she unsuccessfully attempts to get accepted into college.
Anna tells a lie to another young woman at her boarding house about being a fellow student at the college which turns into a series of lies she seems to be getting away with, until the mother of her new and age-appropriate boyfriend discovers her true past.
There's something very Dickensonian about Anna from that point forward, in her gritty climb to the top in an unjust world but there's also a huge suspension of disbelief that must occur in the 21st century, that someone could lie THIS MUCH. (Maybe they can in SK? But they have the Internet too!)
The clothes are very interesting for both Anna characters, they remind me 1980s Margaret Thatcher era Chanel couture, I was so intrigued by all of the prissy neck bows, feminine suits and conservative length skirts. Not sure what this was supposed to communicate or if this really was the style for wealthy Korean women in the 2010s.
The "real" Anna character drove me nuts though with her bad eye job. Nothing like a South Korean beautiful actress getting plastic surgery to look like a mediocre white girl. I kept wanting to scream "she's not pretty!"
