An Unknown Foreign Beauty

River Trust Doctor/Writer/Artist/Asexual

[dangermousie]

When Ra Ik says that when he first saw her ad teens, he couldn’t just look away because she looked more miserable than he did?

That is why I think I like the character so much. He’s had a life so devoid of love and caring but he’s just so gentle at the base of it and I…aaaa

He’s just kind. And that’s the sexiest thing anyone can truly be.

[dramalove247]

Misery loves company.

Torturing ourselves with scenes that crushed us.

This entire series was filled with painful moments and we felt every one of these delicious tears!

[anunknownforeignbeauty]

Chapters: 1/1 Fandom: 아이돌아이 | Idol I (TV) Rating: General Audiences Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings Relationships: Maeng Se-Na/Do Ra-Ik Characters: Maeng Se-Na, Do Ra-Ik, Ye Sol, Choi Jaehee, Lee Youngbin Additional Tags: After episode 12, Married Life, Pregnancy, Baby, Soft Ra-Ik, Soft Se-Na Series: Part 3 of How we love each other Summary:

She beamed, unapologetic. “My bias is a good dad.” Or: Se-Na and Ra-Ik navigating married life, pregnancy, and parenting.

[anunknownforeignbeauty]

An Archive of Our Own, a project of the Organization for Transformative Works

Chapters: 1/1 Additional Tags: Post canon, Jealous Se-Na, Ra-Ik giving fan service, Humor, a little bit of spice, After episode 12 Series: Part 2 of How we love each other

Summary:

Or: Se-Na is jealous watching Ra-Ik giving fan service to his female fans. A companion piece to 'A Domestic Tragedy'.

[anunknownforeignbeauty]

Chapters: 1/1 Fandom: 아이돌아이 | Idol I (TV) Relationships: Maeng Se-Na/Do Ra-Ik Additional Tags: Post-Canon, Humor, Jealous Ra-Ik, Fangirl Se-Na, After episode 12

Summary:

She covered her mouth, trying not to giggle. “You’re jealous.”

“Of myself,” he confirmed. “Which is frankly humiliating.”

Or: Ra-Ik is jealous of Idol Ra-Ik competing for Se-Na's affection. 

[anunknownforeignbeauty]

Now COMPLETE. 

Tags: In the one year time gap, Idols, Idol Life, Healing, Returning to music, Romance, Canon Compliant, Before the episode 12, before the epilogue

Summary:Haunted by loss and a broken past, Ra-Ik has lost his music—and himself. Se-Na won’t let him face the silence alone. Under quiet nights and the watchful tickle tree, he begins to listen again. One fragile note at a time, he discovers that healing—and music—can return.

Or: What happened during the one-year time skip before episode 12? A three-chapter story following Ra-Ik's journey to music, to healing, and possibly to a new life.

[starseed-awakening]

Thinking about the contrast between the lyrics of his solo song to him telling the doctor that he "disappeared a long time ago."

It's reminiscent of all those companies giving their groups/idols songs with themes of self-empowerment and "be myself" only for those same companies to exploit those same idols and/or try their best control their images.

[calisverse]

Idol I (2025). EP1 / EP12.

Choi Soo-Young as Maeng Se-Na Kim Jae-Young as Do Ra-Ik

[anunknownforeignbeauty]

Summery: 

Across every timeline, one truth remained unchanged:

They would always find each other only in passing.

And somehow, in every life, he would love her all the same.

Yet through all these imagined lives, Raik still loved his reality. As strange as it might have seemed, after every dream—after princesses, idols, lawyers, and street singers—they had finally found each other as lovers. Raik loved Sena across every imagined universe, every past and future he had dreamed—but he loved her most in this one, here and now, when she was truly with him.

Anyone want to read this fanfic? 

[jasmine-does-wevertf-she-wants]

I finally got around to finish Idol I and want to process my thoughts.

The ending didn't do the drama justice. No argument about it. The drama overall did a great job delving into the rift between idolization and love what it can mean for people to be exploited for their public image what it can do to their sense of self and personal relationships. How much pressure idols are under and how fans often only add to that instead of being actually supportive - you know because they don't actually know their idols. The ending didn't carry that at all.

That's not surprising given how major the entertainment industry is in South Korea. I was rather impressed how blatant the critcism was throughout the drama and it's no wonder they couldn't end on that note.

But I do think the ending made sense within these constraints in a way. Ra-ik and Se-na's origins are in Ra-ik's music helping Se-na through her life and Ra-ik feeling he can be important as a person because his music can actually mean something to people. Of course this purpose got buried in the industry but they spent a couple episodes on Se-na telling him all the times his music carried her through her own life. With the development Ra-ik did it makes sense he would go back to making music and feel that connection. To honor Woo-seong I even get why he would get back to Gold Boys. And given how much that support can mean I actually think it's fine that Se-na went back to fangirling. If we accept the premise that being a fan can actually be a way of support - as long as you have a healthy perception of not actually knowing your idol and not being a part of thei life just supporting their work and rooting for their happiness as Se-na has learned throughout the plot - it's fine to me. She genuinely loves Gold Boys. She loves their music she wants to support them commercially. I think we can see her trying to separate her relationship with Ra-ik here treating him as she would any other boyfriend. She's not dating her idol she's dating her boyfriend and fangirls for a band. Those two are different as Ra-ik learns to his chagrin.

The show did an amazing job in contrasting idolization and love but has also shown us how idols can have a genuine and sincere impact on their fans without it veering into delulu territory. And likewise what it can mean for an artist and a person to know their work and life has such an impact and I guess we're seeing the attempt to develop these sentiments into a relationship that balances both. Does it completely work? No but I can see what they're trying to do and it's probably the most satisfying ending we can get within industry constraints.

Even so I think it would have been more meaningful if Gold Boys didn't do a grand world tour one year after the plot but maybe we were shown them managing themselves, taking time for themselves to process their career and everything that happened and then maybe start going back to play smaller venues to re-connect with fans on a more personal scale. But that would have likely already been too much a break from the industry so we're getting the self-managed(? I feel like it was implied Do Ra-ik is running a company now owning his own agency maybe?) global success with happy Gold Boys.

I don't agree with their attempts on redeeming the CEO and mom at all - why should Hong Hye-Jee be the only villain here? She's as much a victim of the industry as anyone else but alas. I guess we're getting a happy last episode if it kills us.

[justherefortheasianshows]

Um excUUUUSE ME but did anyone else notice the little stud in his ear 👀

gif credit @aousboom

[calisverse]

Idol I (2025). EP12.

Choi Soo-Young as Maeng Se-Na Kim Jae-Young as Do Ra-Ik

[calisverse]

Idol I (2025). EP12.

Choi Soo-Young as Maeng Se-Na Kim Jae-Young as Do Ra-Ik

"Now I can't leave."

[emletish-fish]

Things I loved about Idol I ep 11

Hye-joo brought the unhinged diva energy to the party and it was great. The actress did such a good job.  She was terrible but I also felt so sorry for her in the flashback. The lighting and disjointed camera work was a really great artistic choice because it felt almost like we were in her disjointed POV.  

 I love that it was a tragic accident.  It didn’t need to happen, but yet it was always going to happen. Wooseong would always protect Raik and Hyejoo would always be Hyejoo. 

Some people are quibbling about the lax investigation, but I feel that they are missing the huge plot point about the flaws in the South Korean justice system. Idol I isn’t just a doing a critique of the Kpop scene, but a critique of their legal system too. 

 Prosecutors determine the flow of the investigation, legal prosecution careers are hugely nepotistic and successfully prosecuting a high profile murder case is a springboard into politics. There are huge incentives for prosecutors to railroad people and ‘do what it takes’ to get convictions. 

Prosecutor Kwak Snr has political aspirations, he unfairly prosecuted Sena’s father and fabricated evidence, and believes the point of their system is to get convictions, not justice.  He is the metaphorical embodiement of everything wrong with  the legal system, and Kwak Byunggyun’s whole arc was learning how to break from that. 

But it’s an arc, so he has to start out following his father. He chooses a culprit and focuses solely on Laik, to the detriment of the investigation.  The show is making THE POINT  that this system is not ideal. We can see how much was missed in Sena’s father’s investigation just based on how easily she can find evidence to prove he is innocent even after 15 years. The situation with Do Raik is the same. Crucial evidence is missed completely because Byung-gyun is too focused on his theory and not on following the evidence. He and the police detective have multiple conversations and disagreements where the detective wants to follow the evidence and Byung-gyun wants to follow his Raik theory.  

This makes it so much more satisfying when he finally calls his dad out.

I’m glad he reconciled with the police detective after over-riding him, and he truly wants to make amends for his shitty ass prosecution. 

Kwak Byung-gun’s actor was also excellent. When we were meant to hate him, he was truly repellent. And yet, I felt so proud of him in the scene where he finally confronts his father. I hope more time with his mother and the countryside and letting himself live his life on his own terms does him some good. I would watch a spin off of this arrogant man falling for a good natured but sassy country girl and learning how to properly solve a crime  - sounds like a great Kdrama plot right there.  

Any way, I can handwave away the police not looking for the phone/investigating the phone cloud option, because they were operating under the direction of Kwak Byung-gyun, and he didn’t care for facts at that stage.  (once again, this was The Point). 

[emletish-fish]

Things I loved about Idol I ep 12

I’m a sucker for a soft epilogue and the last ep ties everything up so nicely. 

I love the little world Do Raik and Sena have made for themselves. 

I love that he was able to reclaim the joy he got from making music, and that he has a much stronger relationship with the boys, his manager and his land-lady.  I love that he gave chung-jae his first official case (and symbolically another chance at these two becoming friends). 

(I like that Chung-jae apologises and is truly channelling annoying little brother energy towards both of them. I like that he and Sena are family to each other again. This is how it should be).

I really liked the conversation he had with the Old Ceo.  I had originally dismissed all the times the CEO expressed paternal feelings towards Raik as insincere attempts to throw suspicion off himself. But since he was innocent, we are left with the realisation that those feelings were sincere. He did care about Raik.

 It doesn’t undo the harm he did, but it still means something because the CEO:

 1 - apologises directly to Raik,

 2 - admits he was very wrong to treat the boys the way  he did,

 3 - let them out of their contracts, gave them full copyright without fuss and it’s implied he helped them start their own company so they can be their own bosses. 

4 - honours wooseong of his own volition. (The boys have left his company and he has no contractual or financial reasons to bring flowers to wooseong’s grave aside from genuine sorrow at his passing.) 

Anyway, I don’t have much problem with Raik having a warmer relationship with his former boss, since the guy is clearly trying to change for the better and has taken concrete steps to make it up to the boys.  He also doesn’t expect forgiveness even though Raik offers it. 

Raik is literally one of the most forgiving dudes in all of Kdrama history. Even after all the shit the JaeHee said and did, he still went to the hospital to hold his hand and play his favourite song and stood up for him when JaeHee was the new culprit.  He took their old manager into his new company and gave him a job.  The man had forgiven and supported his mother over and over and over again.  He doesn’t even hate Hye-joo!

I couldn’t see him holding a grudge against someone who has taken steps to make amends to him. 

Which makes the scene with Chung-jae and his mother even more interesting.  First, the fact that he needs Chung-Jae to find her implies that he’s gone no-contact and cut his mother off. (Good for him!)  He doesn’t give her money or write her a note or send her any message aside from a concert ticket. It’s an olive branch, and the ball is in her court. But she is also going to have to work at it if she wants a relationship with her son again.  So the door is open a crack, but he’s not letting her in just yet.  (boundaries, so glad he’s found some!)

Which I think is a nice and ambiguous place to leave their troubled relationship.  It’s like with Hye-joo, we can see that Raik isn’t going to waste his time and energy resenting and blaming his mother for all the terrible things she did. He’s also not going to enable her anymore. He’s open to a relationship with her, but she has to make the effort  - and crucially, he will be completely fine if she doesn’t. 

Because he's not a kid anymore.

Because he’s built a much stronger support network for himself. 

I like that while Sena is his person, she’s not his only support person.  He has Jae Hee and Young Bin. He has his housekeeper as a proper friend/maternal figure. He has a good relationship with his manager.  

He was such an isolated and lonely character at the start, and now he has all these people around him who care about him and are invested in his success and happiness. 

I’m less worried about Raik back in the industry if he’s his own boss. The boys are setting the pace and the tone for themselves, and they all look so much happier for it.  No more crushing schedules and unreasonable demands etc.  (I still want him in therapy and working on those self-care skills, but he seems in a much better place mentally). 

(Sidenote: I originally wanted Raik to leave the industry and for all the boys to find their own passion. However biting the critique of the kpop industry was, a kdrama was never going to completely demolish the industry in the epilogue. Idol I has tried to show us a more balanced side of the K-Pop industry, and for all its problems it does bring a lot of joy and income into South Korea.

Since the boys were always going to stay in the biz due to Doylist reasons - the show instead gives us a 'wouldn't it be great if...' scenario. Idol I says wouldn't it be great if singers could be their own bosses and set their own schedules and have respectful fans and privacy?

I love that Sena has gone from also being very isolated to have a real life fandom friend. I like that fandom is social and pleasurable for her just for the joy she gets from it. She's less obsessive and more balanced. She doesn't have to give up being a fan for Raik, but the way she stans is a lot more grounded. (He may be her bias, but it's still his turn to do the dishes).

I just love that she has a real life k-pop friend who is also a work friend and real friend. (let this woman have friends!)

At the start, being a fan was her only emotional support and outlet. But now she has so many things that bring her a sense of purpose and joy. And fandom is a social thing that she enjoys with others, not in isolation.

I love that she's building her own support network so it's not all on Raik to be her only source of emotional support.

I love that he's her person too, but they are both collecting more people they love and trust.

She's got her Dad-boss, her annoying younger brother, a proper bestie who loves the law and the gold boys as much as she does.

She's got a hot boyfriend.

Her rigorous compartmentalisation of her life and all her emotional walls are much more fluid now. She's letting people in, and letting people help her and showing the parts of herself she's always felt ashamed of.

She's letting her bark fall off and it's beautiful.

She's finally getting justice for her father. (good for her!)

My only quibble is that she's still buying merch, even though Raik can get it for her for free. They're going to pound town frequently, and she's still buying his face cards.

She wakes up to that face! Just take a picture on your phone!

In my opinion, their night together wasn't their first time... Just their first time since he got back.

They've been dating a year at this stage, concert tours not withstanding, I think they've been partially co-habiting and spend a lot of nights together.

(Do laik doesn't go back to his house after flying in for a change of clothes, toothbrush etc. this implies he already has that stuff at Sena's house).

Also they both would have been waaay up in their feels and stroking each other's faces non-stop after their first first time. They definitely did it that night after he touched the tree and decided to follow his heart ... Back to music and presumably back to Sena's bedroom.

Anyway this feels more like a playful established couple dynamic. (Do Laik also shares my confusion about why she's still buying merch when he can get it for free and teases her about it - which is completely valid. Did they just need the shipping product placement in the story??)

The romance was sweet and lovely but it culminated in ep 10, so these eps feel more like a soft epilogue. I like that in the beginning, they only had each other, and that was full of yearning and drama.

But it's not healthy to only have each other, and the savior/savee dynamic was not equal.

But they've found a lovely and healthy dynamic where they're both allowed to be their own people and they love and suppor who the other person actually is.

Now things have settled down and they still have each other, they're still each other's person... But they are also both so much less isolated and having such wider support networks and healthy relationships and good friends around them too.

I like that the show is saying Love can be domestic and cosy and uneventful. You can be In Love but still have your own thing going on.

10/10 fun kdrama.

[unnursvanablog]

Idol I / kdrama review

This is a review of the kdrama Idol I with little to no spoilers.

Idol I is a very quiet character-study disguised as a mix of murder mystery and romantic comedy. And while the fun twists keep the audience in constant suspense and well-engaged, the drama's social commentary of the kpop idol industry, the depth of the characters and their search for their own identity, as well the calmness of life away from loneliness that the world has given them, is the real heart of the story.

Because alongside the tension of a rather well-executed "who done it" mystery, the drama also offers critique about the idol industry, that unhealthy one-sided intimacy and connection that often forms between kpop fans and their favorite idols that make products out of these people and the companies that use that for their own benefit. And unlike some other dramas that have attempted such an approach or similar social commentary goes Idol I deep enough within the topic for it to be satisfactory within the story.

It is this social criticism that is the driving force of the story; drives the plot forward and sets key events in motion. But at its core, the center of the story is these two lonely individuals who manage to find trust and hope in each other, in different ways and under different circumstances, when all else fails.

These characters seem very real and tangible, interpreted with a real emotional maturity and heart that makes their struggles recognizable and heartbreaking. Despite the great tension and stakes that the mystery highlights, the characters stay firmly grounded and never get too clichéd.

The narrative is effective and sharp but seems to also knows when to slow down for good, important character moments. The pace serves the emotional depth of the drama rather well and therefore manages to tackle both the theme of the story as well as the twists within the story with good sincerity and without relying too much on predictable tropes.

The romance is there, but it mostly simmers quietly in the background and never rises to a general rolling-boil, which fits very well with the story that this drama is trying to tell. The tone is rather melancholy but manages to strike a light chord from time to time, giving the audience enough time to reflect on the characters' loss of identity, the pressure, and the emotional cost of being an idol without it feeling too depressing.

Raik's feelings for Sena are perhaps a little too quickly revealed, making their romantic relationship a bit hasty within an otherwise rather coherent story – but that's probably because of how few numbers of episodes kdramas get these days.

In general, Idol I strikes a strong balance between dramatic events, the emotional weight of the characters and even the light humor without having too much tonal change within the story. The story therefore has a lot of heart and a clear purpose, keeping its promises to the viewer with a clean, concise narrative and a well-structured plot despite the limited number of episodes it gets to tell its story. Each episode offers an exciting storyline that makes the viewer excited for more and despite the interesting mystery, the story never forgets to focus on the inner conflicts of the characters and the heart of the story.

[kdramaspace]

KIM JAE-YOUNG as DO RA-IK IDOL I (2025-2026) | Dir. Lee Gwang-Young