I wasn’t going to blog about this because I’ve been jinxing myself lately with duds. Many of the kdramas that I’ve picked to rave about eventually end up as debacles. (cough. A Poem Shit a Day. cough.) So, in my outlandish logic, if I choose NOT to write about a drama, then perhaps it will fare better. — Or you could say I was applying reverse psychology on “The Beauty Inside.” I’m ignoring it so it’ll be forced to develop an intricate plot to attract me. Whatever.

But a cursory glance at current reviews of this kdrama left me frustrated. Many of the reviewers were expounding on superficial things like their “feels” for the characters and their chemistry (ugh, this word is so misused and overused!), and none of them were observing the things I was seeing. The paucity of analysis and good discussion persuaded me to rethink my hands-off policy. Hopefully, people can join me here and discuss this show. @oli? @phikyl? @lespoir48? @sansukini?

It’s a terrible waste of a darn good episode when elements that a writer had meticulously put in it, go over the heads of the audience and remain unnoticed.

For instance, the theme of flight.

The beginning, middle and end of this episode focused on her RUNNING AWAY.

In the beginning, Sekye (SK) ran away from the awards ceremony like Cinderella fleeing from the ball at midnight. SK even duplicated Cinderella’s fairy tale moment and left a glittery shoe on the staircase. Her white van was the pumpkin, and her steadfast friend was her fairy godmother.  Hmmm…This Cinderella concept must be making its round again; it was also utilized in that other kdrama Devilish Joy. SK’s hasty flight from the awards fueled speculations that she was keeping a dark secret, like a love child, from public scrutiny.

In a flashback, we discover that twenty years ago, SK had run away too in Europe. She and her friend were vacationing in Europe when the first transformation occurred. She had fled down the streets. Her voiceover said, “I thought I was dreaming. I thought if someone called my name, I would wake up from my dream. That’s what I thought.” She was running through the streets in her nightgown and bedroom slippers looking for someone to call her name and end her nightmare.

Then, back in the present time, we find out that she was also running away from her contract with DoJae’s (DJ) airline company.

She was his company’s model but she terminated their contract. But losing her would jeopardize his airline’s codeshare partnership with another airline company because the chairman of that company wouldn’t sign off on their deal without her. Apparently, the chairman’s daughter was a fan of SK and ignorant of SK’s “secret love child” scandal. (I know right? Totally credible. What a chairman would run his business on the whims of his daughter?!)

To save his deal, DJ started running after her – without actually running. He tricked her to come out of hiding by donating a generous amount to a children’s fund in her name. His gambit forced her to attend the reception honoring the benefactors. He knew that the media would make a big deal of her donation to a children’s fund, in light of rumors of her love child. Then he threatened to expose to the media that she hadn’t in fact given the donation if she didn’t sign the new modeling contract.

His wily maneuver tied her to him. She couldn’t run away now from the contract, including the last stipulation that she had to accompany him on business trips as the airline model.

Here, it’s noteworthy to mention that DJ already noted her propensity to run away. Despite their brief acquaintance, he knew of her habitual disappearing act, and he prepared contingency plans.

He required her wear a red dress not only because of his prosopagnosia, but also  because he could easily spot her in a red dress if…or rather, WHEN she ran away. She realized later on that the red dress were effectively her “shackles” preventing her from running away.

Additionally, he kept her luggage hostage, so she wouldn’t run away in the middle of the night. He also noted that she’d earmarked a tourist destination on her guidebook so he anticipated that she would run away there.

To her surprise, he left her in the middle of the road. But I’m sure, he knew too that she couldn’t run away anywhere as there was no other means of transportation.

Then, in the restaurant, he finally confronted her about her running away.

He thought that her “escapades” were her childish way to seek distraction from life and to seek attention from people. He thought that her running away is nothing more than an escapist’s retreat from responsibilities, and he warned her that, unlike her, he couldn’t run away from his responsibilities and shirk off his duties.

Although his cold assessment of her running away rankled, she didn’t rise to defend herself. Only later at night, in the safety of her room, did she vent her anger. She thrashed her pillow saying, “This is unfair. It’s unfair. I don’t want to run away either. I hate it too! You jerk! Are you listening? Are you? You jerk! I hate it too!”

Outside her room, he sat listening to her ranting. He seemed unmoved. He must not have believed her promise in the restaurant that she wouldn’t run away. He sat out there waiting for her.

He admitted as much the following day, on their return flight from their successful meeting,

DJ: I thought you might not show up.
SK: Then you would think I ran off again. Honestly, I hate running away. I’m not doing it because I like it.
DJ: I know.

But just as he was settling into the idea that she wouldn’t escape, she started running again. Without warning, she jumped up and escaped to the bathroom. She hid in there because she had transformed again. DJ came to rescue her and draped a blanket over her as she requested.

See that? From start to finish, the underlying theme of this kdrama was running away. It was about her flight and her escape. Lol. I wouldn’t be surprised if the writer planned that DJ works for an airline company to go with the theme. How fitting was that? The extreme form of running away is FLYING away on a jet plane.

But my main takeaway from that last scene is how the episode had come full circle. The first time this transformation happened, she had woken up terrified in a bed in a foreign land, and she began running. Ever since then, she had been running.

It couldn’t have been “fun” for her to undergo the same karmic-like metamorphosis for twenty years. And it couldn’t have been “fun” for her to wait all these twenty years for somebody to “call our her name” and end her nightmare. Remember in her flashback: she was running in the street, looking for somebody to call her name and wake her up from her dream.

So, it was symbolic then that in the last scene, she had fallen asleep — on DJ’s shoulder, no less — and she had woken up terrified and began running again.  But this time around, there was somebody to come out and look for her. He rescued her from her nightmare. He was there for her now. And in the future, he was going to be the person to end her endless running away.

😀

There are other things that might have been missed by the viewers. Like, the accident in the beginning.

I wouldn’t be surprised if that had been DoJae in the street and that accident was the cause of his prosopagnosia. Kdramas always find this ridiculous way of linking the past lives of two lovers. I just tolerate it because it goes with the idea that love is fated, love is ordained, blahblah. DJ and SK had met once before, he saved her back then, and now he’s injured because of her. And their fates are still intertwined.

Also, the prosopagnosia. The point of this illness in kdrama is to convey that love is blind. Even if DJ couldn’t identify her because of his illness, his true love for her will find her in a crowd of faces. Even when he’s blind, he’ll find her…. because of love. Sappy, isn’t it?

Same for her, and her sign language. Even when she can no longer speak for herself, she’ll find a way to tell him that she loves him. Hahaha.

Like this.

or this? (I don’t who this guy is. Is he a kpop idol or just some random Asian on the internet? Help?)

So, there you go. There are other little things in Episode 1 that I should point out but, as usual, I’ve to run now. I’m sure the smart bitches and readers of this blog have found them, anyway.  Hasta manana!