Note: Do not read this if you're waiting for all episodes and don't want spoilers. Only half of the episodes are out as I am writing this.
Idol I is a K-drama on Netflix starring Choi Soo Yung as Maeng Se Na, a high profile lawyer who's known for defending controversial clients and getting them lenient sentences. By day she's a cutthroat lawyer and after work she's a K-pop fangirl for the group Golden Boys. Her bias is Do Ra Ik played by Kim Jae Yeong. He becomes the prime suspect in a murder investigation after one of his group members is found murdered in his apartment. Maeng Se Na rushes to his aid to defend him and in the process of her getting to know her bias through a whole new lens, she also explores her feelings as a fan and how she feels about Do Ra Ik as a human rather than someone she puts on a pedestal.
When I say this show is good, it's really good and eye opening. I've seen other K-dramas address things within the scope of fandom and influencers and I have mentioned them before, but this one goes more into the parasocial relationship side of things. I had this show on my list but I was finishing up something else before I started it. Seeing clips of it on my feed I knew I had to dive right into it. Watching it, the first few episodes pissed me off right away because of the behavior of the sasaengs and seeing things play out that have actually happened to idols, some of whom I stan. It made me really sad and scared for these idols who just want to do what they love and entertain people.
There's a scene where we see Ra Ik dealing with what seems like PTSD, likely from dealing with harassment and sasaengs. He's at a fan sign for his solo release and a sasaeng asks him why he doesn't recognize her. This got to me because we (Threads ARMY) have often talked about how the same people game the system and end up at these fan signs over and over and often it's the sasaengs who end up being solos and post hate later about other members. Her demanding to be recognized was already unhinged then she demands his phone number because he keeps changing it. As she keeps up her selfish tirade he is experiencing tinnitus associated with anxiety. He hears this loud ringing in his ears that is effecting his ability to concentrate. She gets angry and throws a water bottle at him and hits him in the face cutting his cheek and drawing blood and that's when security intervenes. I think they should have dragged her away as soon as they saw him getting uncomfortable and her getting irate but that's my opinion. As she's dragged away, she shouts. "Do you know how much money I've spent on you?" She acts as if that gives her a pass to treat him like garbage and be abusive to him. I have seen this attitude that the more money these so-called "fans" spend on these idols they act entitled to more than just what they pay for and it's absurd. It's beyond absurd really. So you bought 30 of your fave's albums and have been to every concert. Who cares? You got what you paid for and they don't owe you anything more than that. Spending money doesn't mean that you own the artist.
This scene is powerful and really upsetting because no one should go through that. As an international fan outside of Korea, where I am we don't even get fan signs like other places do. I couldn't imagine saying some of the dumb things I see fans saying and doing that aren't this problematic yet still cringe, let alone insulting and physically assaulting someone. The fact that this sasaeng was banging on the table and becoming visibly irate before she even assaulted Ra Ik and security didn't get to her till after she hit him with the bottle is frustrating. He ends up leaving the room and going to the bathroom to calm down and we see that he has been on anxiety medication as he tries to take a pill and drops the whole bottle on the floor.
In another scene we see that sasaengs have broken into his home. This immediately reminded me of Jungkook and what he has been going through. Ra Ik has gotten so used to it it seems that he just tells them to come out into the open from where they are hiding. He calls security and has them escorted out. Not involving the police is where I feel he messed up. They shout mean things at him threatening him as they are dragged way and he yells back at them which they record and post to the internet to make him look bad. When the sasaengs video of him yelling at them goes viral, he's the one his management blames when all he was doing was defending himself against the psycho sasaengs. The agency is more concerned about their image than his safety. Letting the intruders go comes back on him later because they tamper with a vehicle he is riding in which causes an accident. When confronted with this after they are arrested for it, he once again lets them go. This pissed me off too. He justifies letting them go saying that all they'll do if he presses charges is come back more angry later and possibly do worse. So in my opinion what's stopping them from doing worse the next day since he let them go without them taking full legal responsibility for their actions. This is a weak stance and it's why these things keep happening.
Looking at what's happened with Jungkook recently, the police have let these women breaking in or attempting to break into his home off and released them, One was released on the grounds that what she did was seen as "fan behavior." Nope-- fan behavior is voting, streaming, buying albums and staying in a fan's place. Since when is attempted breaking and entering "fan behavior?" Way to normalize stalking. The most recent incident with Jungkook resulted in him getting a restraining order against the woman who tried to break in because as soon as she was released from her first attempt she came back within 24 hours and trespassed on his property again. Letting these psychos go is not it. They need to face legal punishment for their actions and in that legal punishment there needs to be a requirement for intensive psychological treatment to fix the mental issues before they are released back into society. A little delulu is fun but once you cross that line and cannot separate reality from fantasy and it crosses into criminal behavior that needs to be dealt with properly by trained psychiatrists and medical professionals trained to deal with this specific type of mental illness. The criminal aspect needs to be dealt with as well and the punishment should fit the crime.
As the show progresses there are a lot of other issues that they explore as well and the series isn't even done yet. It airs 2 episodes a week on Mondays and Tuesdays and there are 12 episodes total. As of this writing there have been 6 episodes so we are only halfway through.
In episode 5 we see that another member, Choi Jae Hee, becomes obsessed with reading negative comments left online by solo stans and other toxic antis. He sees comments comparing him to Ra Ik and saying things like he is riding the coattails of Ra Ik or that he wouldn't be missed if he left the group. Unfortunately that all sounds familiar as well. Solos are antis and exist in every fandom. Though Jae Hee is somewhat of an antagonist at this point I felt sorry for him during this episode because anyone reading negativity about themselves online, especially if they haven't done anything to deserve it, would feel threatened by the person they are being compared to. Calling for someone to leave a group they built their life around all because someone else in the group is your bias is crazy. Netizens take things way too far. I'm glad that negative comments and slander are taken seriously by Big Hit and Hybe and they actually do pursue legal action in these situations. We know BTS is active on social media and it makes me sad to think of all of the horrible things they see though we try our best to do damage control by blocking and reporting.
Dating rumors and the parasocial relationships between fans and idols is also a theme in Idol I. Se Na is a fangirl of Ra Ik and hides this from him when she takes on the task of defending him in the murder case against him. His toxic ex, Hong Hye Ju, resurfaces and causes trouble between him and Se Na. Se Na recognizes her as the woman from his dating rumors which he had publicly denied. She realizes that they actually were dating at the time and that the breakup left Ra Ik heartbroken and quite emotionally damaged. She remembers when she spent a few days in her room in the dark, depressed over the rumors. She is confronted by her friend and assistant, Park Chung Jae, who tells her that she can't possibly assume that a man of Ra Ik's age is single and has never been with a woman. This is a common thing among Kpop stans and gets pretty ridiculous when it comes to some of the beliefs around these grown artists over 25 or 30 being virgins and saving themselves because of or for the fans. Seeing idols as virgins or "innocent" as the term is often phrased is wild and there's so much to unpack with that that essays could be written on how wrong it is. Chung Jae makes Se Na think about getting out of her delulu. As the rumor is denied by Ra Ik she came out of her depression which was all because of her own delulu mind. When she realizes that he is human and deserves to be happy in a romantic relationship just like anyone else, she regrets getting so close to him in real life and wishes she could go back to loving him from afar.
I will always say that a little delulu is the solulu. Most of us indulge in a little delulu every now and then. It's fun and healthy as long as you don't take it seriously or lose touch with reality. It can help fans bond with other fans to joke about dating biases or being married to biases. When it gets crazy is when they fight over dating rumors or who can choose whom as a bias. Understanding that idols are human beings is the first step and realizing that when they say they love their fans that that "love" isn't sexual or romantic in the sense of a romantic relationship. That love is more respect and admiration for the work that fans do to keep idols in their career. We make it so that people who enjoy being paid to sing and dance get to be paid quite handsomely to do so. They love the support and respect the dedication of the fans- at least the artists I stan do. There is absolutely nothing sexual or romantic in a relationship sense in their "I love you" to fans. To think anything else is crossing that line.
As crazy as it seems there are people who take that as a romantic declaration directed to them. When their idol speaks they're speaking directly to them. That's a very dangerous thought to hold onto as a fan and if it goes too far it becomes all consuming and that's when people lose touch with reality. I've read the most outrageous letters on Weverse where fans have written that they are going to runaway and marry BTS members when they graduate high school. One such letter a person said that they have been estranged from their family because they chose their love of a BTS member over their family and blamed this member for ruining their life because they fell in love with him. These idols are not responsible for what happens in your mind. They have nothing at all to do with your fantasies or how you decide to see them. There's nothing wrong with crushing on your idols or admiring them but you need to be able to pull yourself out of your delulu fantasies and see them as humans deserving of respect and an opportunity to live as they choose. Sending hate letters on Weverse or flooding their IG comments with hate and threats over dating rumors is sasaeng behavior and it's disgusting.
As Se Na pursues the truth in the case against Ra Ik she realizes he has problems just like normal people do. He has difficult friendship dynamics with the members of his group. He has issues with his mother who is financially irresponsible and uses him for money. He didn't even get to enjoy his relationship because he was supposed to keep it a secret and it was exposed and he had to lie about it and end it. As a result of all of this he doesn't think he deserves love. The only person other than his lawyer that is really on his side is his former housekeeper. That shows how lonely he really is despite having tens of thousands of fans. He can't even trust his agency because they are all about money over everything else.
The series is good for making you think about how difficult idol's lives really are and of course the mystery is entertaining as well. The only issue I have is that I don't think they should steer it towards a romance between Se Na and Do Ra Ik because it defeats the purpose of exposing sasaeng behavior and how delulu can go too far if they make it so she ends up with her bias after all of this. With 6 more episodes left we'll have to see what happens between them and find out who the killer is.
Update: The show has finished and I give it a 9/10. The lost point is from the relationship aspect because I think it would have been a better drama if they had focused on the idol life and not put the main leads together as a couple. It makes it seem more like being delulu can actually become a reality because the main female lead ended up with her bias. Being that it was a crime drama mixed with romance, I get why they put them together though. It seemed like the writer was ARMY in the last episode because there are some things that seemed pulled directly from the fandom. The fact that the idol's fandom color is purple and they mention how the fans come together now to protect the interest of the idol. There's even a good quick scene where two women who were stalker-like sasaengs at the beginning turn into protective fans and demand that a sleezy tabloid reporter stop taking photos without the artist's consent. I loved that they turned around and did something good for a change and learned from their mistakes. We can only hope, I guess, that some fans actually get it and learn to respect the artist's privacy and respect boundaries set by the fandom and the company. Great series overall.
