The Journeys of Two Broken Souls

It's time to say goodbye to

one-dimensional second leads.

There is one thing I noticed recently. And it is that whenever I think of Nok Soo from Rebel Thief who Stole the People, I always end up thinking about Rie from Bridal Mask. Until now, I did not really pay much attention to this apparently incredibly trivial fact and thought that it most probably was simply because those two women are by far, two of my favourite female second leads in dramaland. But then, suddenly, last night, as my mind wandered, I realized that there must be more complex reasons behind this association my brain seemed to have unexpectedly made between those two awesome characters. So what exactly could explain this link my mind made unconsciously?

spoilers ahead

I am posting this for #KDACA in the hope of somehow reviving the team. But this will not be a character analysis as I used to write them.

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The first thing Rie and Nok Soo share in common is their lust for power. Both women wanted to prove the world they were brave, competent and forces to be reckoned with and thus got into a relentless pursuit of power. By doing so, they were trying to get their revenge against the world they were living in and the men who destroyed their lives without feeling even an ounce of remorse or shame. Moreover, interestingly, their greed for power were both fueled by a similar and mutual mistrust in the human kind after having been hurt by men. Indeed, while Nok Soo was forced to become a gisaeng by a sick nobleman who was a client of her mother, Rie also got stuck in a gisaeng parlour after her whole family was killed by freedom fighters.

So even more than a mean to get their revenge, their quest for power was also a way for them to become more than "simple" entertainers who were used, thrown away and replaced at one's own convenience. After having been treated by overly-desirous men as withering flowers who considered their beauty - which they, on top of that, saw as fleeting - as their sole quality, they decided to become the ones in charge, the ones who would treat others as puppets. In Nok Soo's case, this ended up being materialized in her desire to get into the palace and seduce the unwavering King to earn the highest position a woman could ever have. And as for Rie, her never-ending efforts to appear as worthy of her high position as well as her condescending exterior were definitely a result of her resolution to change and become more assertive.

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Another surprising common point in Rie's and Nok Soo's journeys is the role played in them by the male leads of their respective dramas. Both of them, despite only having a brief story with our dear ladies early on in their journeys, impacted them in surprising ways. Indeed, Kang To and Gil Dong became what I guess could be considered the saving graces of the h̶u̶man kind. They brought back hope and light in Rie's and Nok Soo's otherwise pessimistic vision of the world and of men. You are wondering how so? Gil Dong by offering Nok Soo the genuine appreciation and love she always deserved, but never got and Kang To by saving Rie's life and being the first and only person to ever stand up for her and to side with her.

What I find amazing is that in dramaland, women are usually the ones bearing the role of "the saviour" of the traumatized male lead with a complicated past. And here, in both dramas, the second female leads are given the opportunity to actually shine by having a true and complete background story and by being at the very centre of a gender-reversed trope, which a lot of female leads do not even get to get near to. If that is not awesome, I truly don't know what is. Anyway, getting back to the point, I do think that Kang To and Gil Dong played a huge role in the future of Nok Soo and Rie by making things less Manichean. And maybe both of them would actually have been less morally grey and even more ruthless if not for the short encounter with their respective male leads, who themselves, let's it it are quite far from being saints.

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Let's now move on to the third common point which will be all about names and identity as both Rie and Nok Soo didn't use their birth name throughout most of their respective dramas. Indeed, Rie, who was born a Korean, did not reveal her real name, Choi Hong Joo, until her very last scene and used either "Ueno Rie" which was her Japanese name given by her adoptive father or "Rara" which was her undercover name, depending on the situation she was in. The main reason behind that is that for the longest time, Rie denied her Korean roots. And giving out her birth name or, even worse, using it, would be itting that she was not a Japanese, that she was one of these "lowly Koreans". As for Nok Soo, she also made the deliberate choice of using a new name once she got into the palace. She was not - and she mentioned it several times - Gong Hwa; that person was dead after she decided to not wait for Gil Dong.

We often forget how important our names are and how heavily they participate in forging our identity. By using a new name, both of them wanted to let go of their past-selves and of everything which was linked to them so that they could be anything and anyone they wanted to be. Rie was not a Korean anymore and could be respected; Nok Soo was not the woman who loved Gil Dong and could seduce the King without any remorse. They may have had different motivations, but their reasoning was fundamentally the same. By using these new names, they intended to fully embrace a new identity. One that was absolutely blank and which would be completely independent and different from their past ones - or so they thought.

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As I have briefly mentioned it in one of the earlier points, both Nok Soo and Rie were very morally grey characters. And it would be incredibly simplistic to straight out say they were "good" or "bad" or even that they were misunderstood souls. Because while they definitely had their reasons - survival being one of them - to flirt with their darker side and take very morally-questionable choices, those do not nullify the pain they caused and the evil they did. What really made them appear as more than simple cardboard cut-out antagonists was their little, brief moments of vulnerability during which they let go of their masks and proved that they were indeed prone to guilt and remorses.

What is also very important to notice is that while both Nok Soo and Rie vacillated more than once between good and evil. They both ended up taking parallel, but opposite paths; one refusing to redeem herself while the other went on a journey towards self-love and discovery. More than "villains" or "antagonists", I almost want to call both of these beautifully written ladies "antiheroines" because, despite being "only" second leads, they were some of the most compelling and emotionally-conflicting female characters I have ever gotten to see during my journey in dramaland. I would even go as far as to say that Rie completely stole the spotlight from Mok Dan and that if not for Chae Soo Bin's impressive interpretation of Ga Ryung, Nok Soo would have probably done just the same. Yay for more complex and interesting female second leads!

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And that's it for this blog for which I still haven't found a title, haha. I have made the purposeful choice of only discussing Nok Soo's and Rie's similarities, but there would definitely also be a lot to tell about what sets them apart. I actually do not know if a lot of people have watched both Bridal Mask and Rebel Thief who Stole the People, but I hope that even if you did not and still read the blog, you enjoyed reading it! If you have anything to add or if you just are in the mood to talk about these two badass ladies, I am always ready, so do not hesitate to comment or even pm me about it.

Thanks for reading. ♡