The Scandal

If you go and check the plot of the novel The Scandal is based on, you will understand the story better than actually watching this show. Now, what’s disappointing is that this show has a truly powerful story to make it a global hit but they missed the underlying parts of the story and focused on the erotica part of it. I am not against having sexually explicit shows but not strongly putting forth what is leading to sex, or better than that, what is sex used for here, is unfair.   In stories like The Scandal, sex is used as a weapon. We cannot forget that The Scandal is all about the mind games a power-hungry woman is engaging in for her own benefit. It’s nothing but manipulation. And who loses the game? Two people – Cho Won who has been madly in love with Lady Cho since they were kids and Ahn Hui-yeon who is being used as a mere pawn in the game of human chess. This summary itself should have laid the foundation for nail-biting, nerve-wrecking episodes – if, let me repeat, if they had tightened the noose around the neck of a loosely written script.  Manipulation, for the sake of power, comes at a cost – emotional, mental, and physical. The story covers each and every aspect of this loss but the show failed to cover it. When a young boy like Cho Won starts indulging in sex, only because he is trying to get over what feels and looks like betrayal by the only lady he loved, the emotional intensity and depth of this character should have been different. Ji Chang-wook is capable of portraying such emotionally complex characters but in this show, it felt like he has been wasted and reduced to nothing but a playboy. I did not even once feel that Cho Won and Lady Cho have been longing for each other.  Coming to the third main character, Ahn Hui-yeon, the widow who, unnecessarily, gets trapped in the game these two lovers are playing with each other. Her wish to die, then not wanting to die yet wanting to live makes her feel like she is betraying her dead husband while wanting to live an ordinary life with the man she now loves (which we should believe in only because that is what they ask us to do) – all of this is an emotional thunderstorm but that lady felt like still waters. She couldn’t convince the viewers of what she is going through emotionally, physically, or mentally hence you neither feel sorry for her nor does your heart break for her.  The last two episodes, though, increase the tension – between the characters and for the audience. My only point is why didn’t they keep it so tight throughout all 8 episodes? Why did the first 5-6 episodes feel tormenting due to the slow pace when they had so much to tell in just 8 episodes?  I am nothing but disappointed because this powerful tale of manipulation and its consequences deserved better treatment.  P.S.: The way this show ended, I am assuming The Scandal will have a Season 2. If yes, that would explain why they did not speed up their storytelling in the first few episodes. But this is said to be a limited series, hence whether Cho Won has died or not is left to the viewers’ discretion.