It’s been a few days since Perfume ended. To say that I loved this drama while it was airing would be a stretch. Truth be told, the first episodes were incredibly upsetting for me for a variety of reasons. Reasons that I know were shared by many viewers who dropped the drama with an unceremonious thud and ran away. I get it.

However, for other reasons that I don’t fully understand, I did stick it out. Nervously. Was it that I wanted to see Shin Sung-rok finally not be the villain? Partly. But I think I was mostly curious to see if a kdrama would finally allow a lead romantic partnership between two physically and psychologically imperfect leads.

So, what exactly is my point for this post? Well, I’ve realized that everything that I hated and found traumatizing about the beginning of the drama was there purposefully. The offensive fat-shaming, the graphic suicide attempts, and the background music that elevated both of these things to make Min Jae Hee both monstrous and pathetic, were not there because she is, but because this is how she sees herself.

Yes, yes, I know that culturally, in both real and drama life, appearance, weight, education, and career success, all play a major role in how others perceive us. But I think what I missed while watching the drama unfold, is that the camera, the direction, and the music, is revealing Min Jae Hee’s perception of her own worth as a human being.

The hulking, clothes ripping transformations when the magical perfume wore off? Min Jae’s viewpoint of her change from her young model slim self. Not just in the moments we see it happening in the drama, but also Min Jae’s perception of herself during those years of her marriage. That her husband continually cheats on her with women that look like her younger self just confirms her perceptions that she is now both worthless and monstrous.

It’s important that Seo Yi Do recognizes her. Not the perfume transformed Min Ye Rin, but the real Min Jae Hee. But it’s even more important that Min Jae Hee, for the first time perhaps, sees that there is someone who not only sees her but also values her. (Is Seo Yi Do a bit weird, naïve, and problematic in that love? Yes, but this isn’t my topic here.)

What we do see with the direction as Min Jae Hee begins to gather confidence (slowly, oh so very slowly) is that the transformations still retain the offensively shaming clothes ripping effects and sounds, but they lessen over the course of the 16 episodes. Additionally, this is no magical emotional transformation even if the camera doesn’t linger quite so much, and the clothing doesn’t become quite so tattered, because even in the final episodes Min Jae Hee is still not fully confident in her own skin and head.

I was worried for the majority of the drama that it would be unable to give me the ending I wanted. That instead, like that drama that shall not be named (I will always love the security couple though), the OTP could only find true love and happiness together as “perfect” people. But Perfume, stuck the landing. Moreover, they managed to make a timeskip, a trope I usually despise, a meaningful and necessary space for our leads to heal and grow individually. But most importantly, they didn’t heal miraculously, rather they remained themselves, both physically and psychologically, but they were both able to accept that self and be kinder to it. Especially Min Jae Hee.

And now dramaworld, you better give me more Ha Jae Sook in fully realized, realistic, and romantic roles.

@katakwasabi

Also, I think another first-time writer (as far as I could see) telling a different story. Or maybe I should saw: puts a different slant on a familiar story.

Thank you @egads for sharing your thoughts. I have similar thoughts but you wrote it in a more coherent and beautiful way. 😊

From the promos I was wary of what Perfume would be like. I was aware that I might not like it despite being so excited to see SSR’s first foray as main lead. Ep 1 was weird and kinda validated my doubts. I didn’t expect the perfume to turn her into her young self, I was intrigued by that. Ep 2 solidified my reasons to stay, it was telling Jae Hee’s story. I was watching this from her point of view.

I noticed that no one else is saying much about her appearance except a select few, it was usually her downgrading her self. I can only imagine what emotional abuse she had to go through and how devastated she is with her life. The perfume brought her a new chance to relive her long lost dream, a dream she has forgotten after years. She grabbed it as soon as she gets it, determined to be happier before her time comes to an end. She did think it through for a while, she did not really question why she changed, but she thought how to use this change and make the best out of it. It’s good to notice that Jae Hee was never greedy, she wants to relive her days as a model and finally walk the runway. She got offered to be an actress, an idol but she turned them all away..she only wanted one thing, and she held on to that.

Her journey to self discovery was so so slow. But it was worth the wait. She did not change because of the magical perfume. The perfume only gave her an illusion to realize a dream and changed her appearance, all the emotional thinking had to be done by herself. Once she understood that she needs love herself as is, we got a more confident and radiant Jae Hee.