Stories of revenge proliferate in all forms of media from the written word, to the lore of videogames, music, TV shows, and cinemas.
There is just something so satisfying seeing the comeuppance of a villain after making the life of the protagonist a living nightmare or taking a loved one away or being wrongly accused.
So in between bouts of Splinterland and Axie, I often would watch a music video, documentary, or series while waiting for my turn and then I would pause it to think about my next set of moves.
This came out as a recommended video on Youtube and having binge-watch several Red Velvet music videos I wanted a change in pace.
It is often a plot trope in Korean TV shows that there is this plump girl that is often gets bullied in high school as she would be at the receiving end of physical, emotional, and mental abuse.
Then there will be a tipping point where the protagonist either gives up or gets motivated to change. We would be shown a montage of inspiring scenes showing her exercising, dieting, changing her mental and emotional outlook, and being driven to get even or exact whatever revenge she has in mind.
This show follows all of that formula as the protagonist is bullied to the point that she decides to not go to school but talking to her friend ultimately decides to change.
She not only changes physically but also changes her name, the way she talks, and her outlook. After some time we see this gorgeous girl with full red lips mark her first victim in her revenge scheme.
She seduces him and he is instantly smitten, following her instructions right away and is willing to forgo friendship all in the name of love.
I am not surprised and this is predictably setting each member of the bullies against each other.
The house of cards swiftly fall down to as we see each one being physically hurt, humiliated or called out. As they say the only way to have a bully stop is to confront them and let them know that you are no longer afraid.
Simple plot and quick watch at 50 plus minutes. You can catch it in several streaming sites or in my case found it on Youtube.
WARNING SPOILERS AHEAD IF YOU THINK YOU WANT TO WATCH IT DON'T READ BEYOND THIS LINE
One thing that really bothered me in the show was the presence of this male best friend. He is always around the protagonist, giving advice or voicing an exposition.
We learn that he is an imaginary figure that functions as a sort of conscience or voice of reason at times. Sometimes acting like a confidant or morale booster but hardly substantial. A seemingly convenient plot device again.
Then we jump to a different scene where he gets stunned why the gorgeous protagonist can see him as he says that he was a figment of the imagination of the plump protagonist. Wait, what????!!!
Apparently, she is a completely different person as she is the younger sister of the protagonist. We learn that even if her sister was determined to proceed with her revenge plot it would take 2 years for her to achieve it.
There are several twists here but the younger sister takes on the mantle of taking revenge as we see it in a different light.
Then in another set of plot twists, we are suddenly in a clinic room with the imaginary best friend in a lab coat and glasses.
We find out that the protagonist is suffering from Dissociative identity disorder (DID) or Multiple personalities. Damn!
In recent memory, I remember watching Split starring James McAvoy, and man it was awesome how he portrayed the changes in personalities.
Then a book that I am currently reading one of the female protagonists has 3 distinct personalities and skillset that switch out depending on what they need.
Then one of my favorite RPGs in Playstation 1, Xenogears has its main protagonist have a split personality that manifests as the embodiment of destruction.
Having DID is often environmental in nature due to severe trauma in their childhood that would create these personalities as a way to protect the fragile ego and main personality.
I have watched several documentaries as it was something I was interested in when I was younger.
I often thought I had another personality who had a different writing style and language used when I was engrossed in writing poems and short stories during high school.
In hindsight, I knew I was just using it to force having a different mindset and writing style that was more aggressive and chaotic in nature. Seeing the old notebooks though I cringe at what I had hahahha.
Going back to the show the personalities were created in order to kill off the other personalities. This gave me another WTF is the writer thinking as there are inherent dangers to what is being explored but then again it is a show. They could have talked to several specialists though.
It was plot twists within plot twists in an attempt to not be conventional and turn the trope upside down. While it may be different it could be fleshed out better but then these are short web series that are churned out quickly and often are launchpads for unknown actors and actresses with minimal budget and sets needed.
These are following the footsteps of another Korean show Extraordinary You that tells the story of a webtoon July Found by Chance where the character discovers that she is not real and to top, it is just an extra character in the webtoon. Now ain't that a kicker you are not even the main protagonist lol/
