#I LOOOOOOOVE THE FOILS AND MIRRORS it remains my favorite element lmao i'm so glad you are interested in these things too!

[trashlie]

I find it worth thinking about Kousuke & Alyssa as mirrors who negatively reinforce each other as opposed to Nol & ShinAe. While AeGi managed to develop a positive effect on each other in a few months, KouLyssa failed to do that during all those years. Why is that? Is it because they don't challenge the worst parts of themselves? Because what they currently seek isn't emotional connection but power and influence? I agree Alyssa might actually see herself in him, someone who shares the same values as her. I've wondered, did Kousuke ever use her as a way to diffuse tension between him and Nol the way he did with Shinae? Has he ever compared the two girls? Like in Ep26, he had a conversation about favors and opportunities that tied into Yui's philosophy from Ep135. While Shinae didn't want a handout for the call center job, Alyssa took the offer to become a pop idol. What does he think of their choices especially after their outcomes? Would Alyssa's success reaffirm his beliefs? This is what I mean by not challenging themselves. Will their images have to break for them to finally reflect on themselves through each other? 1/?

Honestly, I'm surprised Alyssa doesn't seem to be taking her training seriously. I assumed that as a people pleaser she'd try harder to get on everyone's good graces. Even if she is losing her passion for dancing, she still wants to rise to the top. So, it sounds like she's favoring Yui's way of thinking: making powerful connections trumps hard work. (Funnily enough, I don't think Kousuke has any powerful friends.) But this would totally foil Shinae. Perhaps we'll see more of that in terms of their career paths, work ethics, and reputations. Something to parallel the boys or Yui and Yujing. But also Meg!!! How did Meg turn out so different from her? Because unlike Alyssa and Kousuke, she prioritizes passion in her career and is willing to take accountability for her actions. And while Yui took advantage of all three of them for their lack of strong support system and desire for validation, Meg was the first one to cut Yui off and learn to value herself. We need to talk more about Meg when it comes to them. She's clearly going to play a bigger role in both their futures. Anyways, it'll be interesting to see what shifts in dynamics the time skips bring. 2/?

IT IS TIME!!!! I'm so excited to answer this Nonny and talk about all of your incredible points! I'm answering the last ask in a separate reply, because we both know this is going to get long and I don't want that information to get lost.

This response is, to no one's surprise, really long lmao so enjoy!

From the moment you started talking about Aegi vs Koulyssa as foils, I was already excited because that's exactly it, that's exactly why seeing them as mirror pairs is so important! In the same way that Alyssa and Shinae are foils, and Kousuke and Nol are, as mirrored pairs they HEAVILY foil each other. I had never even given consideration to that, the fact that where Aegi boost and improve each other, we haven't seen the same from Koulyssa. Of course, one solid argument is that Kousuke has been stand offish with Alyssa and they haven't had a lot of time interacting TO make each other better, but I don't think that shoots this down at all.

I think something we see highlighted is that Nol and Shinae are drawn to each other like magnets and Nol has to work hard to avoid/stay away from Shinae after making his decision. The fact that Nol saw sad messages from his friends, including an I really miss you :( from Shinae and just abandoned his moral code and started throwing back drink after drink shows that it's not so easy for him to do it, even if he thinks it's right. On the flip side... does Kousuke have trouble, too? Again, we know so little about them and can only speculate based on what quim has shown us. Why was Kousuke so hesitant to call Alyssa when searching for Nol? Why did he deliberate so long and hard? IS it because in the past he used to her to diffuse tension and he feels some sense of guilt?

Where Nol is very aware of how many similarities he and Shinae share, I wonder if Kousuke is aware of the same with Alyssa. It's clear to anyone (and probably especially Yui, yikes) that Alyssa has a lot more in common with Kousuke, which I think sets a really dangerous precedent, because Kousuke was easily manipulated by Yui (i mean, as her child it's hard not to be lol) and Alyssa seems to follow in that vein. I still can't tell if Alyssa knows more than we think or if she's being pulled along blindly. At any rate, we do certainly see a disconnect, where Nol and Shinae have fought to free themselves of Yui and Kousuke and Alyssa remain in her firm grasp.

Now, something someone brought up while we were talking was: as the sort of "golden children" of their respective families, the ones carrying their families' expectations and the heavy weight of that burden, both Kousuke and Alyssa have likely developed a sort of "survivor" mentality. They've seen how their sibling has been treated (and looked down on) for the ways they perform and they endeavor to be better than that, so that they never fall from grace and experience that same treatment. It's far more evident in Kousuke, because his paranoia literally revealed that lol but Alyssa very likely carries this mentality, too - she can't quit now, she has to keep going and moreso, she must reach the top or else she will be subjected to what Meg was.

In a healthy family, these siblings might have learned to be a shield for their more tormented siblings, but it's safe to say that while maybe not as terrible, the Cho family dynamic is also unhealthy like the Hirahara one and instead we saw them adapt to the role they were shoved into, for better or worse.

Something I find interesting about Kousuke and "the favor" is he later admits he would NOT have given Shinae a job, had she asked, after she learns it was Yui who did it. So why would he bring up the the favor in that matter, anyway? I'm guessing he was testing her? He was surprised that she told him she didn't want him to offer her a job, when he knows most people would be fumbling over themselves to take advantage of an opportunity. Kousuke comes from a world of asskissers and social ladder climbers. Sure HE hasn't had to forge important, powerful connections (because he already boasts power), but he's surrounded by people who do it all the time, and has been instilled with the knowledge from Yui that you should take advantage of opportunities when they're given. Doesn't he later essentially tell Shinae what Yui told him, that she should be appreciative of these offers that anyone else would be grateful for? So maybe he HAS compared them - after all, I think even Kousuke might suspect Alyssa is only dating Nol for the connections it affords her, since he even told Alyssa he thought they were over. This I actually want to know more about, because we know Kousuke has some almost outdated concepts of love - like how he thinks Nol shouldn't have any close female friends lest people think the wrong think of Alyssa and she ends up embarrassed by a two-timer lmaooooo. Does he think it reprehensible to date someone who secures them a certain lifestyle or does he think it is to be expected?

(If it turns out that Yui and Rand ARE a convenience marriage and never really were in love, how would Kousuke feel about THAT?)

So yes, I think there is some merit to Kousuke's belief that handouts aren't always bad - however, I think Ayssa not taking her job seriously would give him conflict. Kousuke is a man who believes in hard work and credits his success to that (rather than, idk, handouts lol) so what would he think if he knew Alyssa was kind of coasting along? (It also brings me back to other contemplations: does Alyssa feel trapped by Yui in a career she doesn't want and has to stay for the sake of the lifestyle, because Yui has something over her head, because it's a stepping stone?)

Will their images have to break for them to finally reflect on themselves through each other?

This is certainly my belief. Given that both of them are propelled by their images and they are both god at shoving down and repressing their feelings or channeling them elsewhere (Kousuke's guilt often comes out as anger towards the person he feels guilty over) I think that's the ONLY thing that will get them to stop and reflect on themselves. Frankly, I can't see anything else that will make them change, because the person they most value is themselves and their goals. Anything that stands in the way of their goal gets cast to the side, and that includes examining the kind of person they are and the things they've done. Both of them have things in their pasts, rooted in their personalities, that are incredibly ugly, and they know it. Facing it means facing EVERYTHING ELSE and neither are ready for that. I think there's also something to the fact that acknowledge you've been manipulated or taken advantage of comes with a lot of shame, and if they were to examine this facet of themselves, how would they deal with that?

I've been thinking for a while now that the only way we will see Kousuke really reflect on his behavior and endeavor to become a better version of himself is if he loses everything or his image is tarnished - whether it's a scandal that he can't buy his way out of or finding himself in over his head in his new position and unable to keep up the way he used to (or worse, if he performs poorly and no one gives a damn because he's coasting by on his name; that would hurt his pride a lot). And because they are mirrors, the same goes for Alyssa. Until they are exposed and left vulnerable, they won't face the truth, because they are protected. Once they lose their image, their protection is gone.

I actually hadn't considered too much how Alyssa appearing to half-ass her career foils Shinae, because I usually focus on the other ways they foil each other, but yeah, that's a really good point! It also lends more to Alyssa saying she really admires Yui - does she mean it or not? This will get REALLY long if I get to deep into this, so maybe I need to revisit ep 59 sometime because in retrospect, the way Alyssa says Yui is such a charitable woman that she wants to be like with her eyes closed makes me second-guess a LOT of things.

Are Alyssa's eyes closed because she knows nothing Yui does is for charity, and that she covets aspects of Yui she knows aren't good? Is she uncomfortable, because seeing Shinae has just been up and given a job like that rings too true to her own case and she's seeing how it looks to others? Is she obscuring a discomfort at knowing Shinae, who knows about Alyssa's past, is so close to a family important to her? Is it that deep down she thinks there's no respect in this easy path? And if THAT'S the case why DOESN'T she work harder, try harder?

And I guess that does give us an interesting potential mirroring of Alyssa and Kousuke - if Alyssa is taking hand outs even if they make her feel uncomfortable and Kousuke tries to reassure himself that he got himself where he did via hard work, then we get a really interesting view of them as people trying to mollify themselves over things that make them uneasy. But hey, maybe they are content to roll with it, because some people are just more fortunate than others and who are they to deny themselves their opportunities?

Regardless, Shinae and Nol definitely still foil them. Nol isn't even getting a special position or role at the family company, but his worth ethic and people skills are absolutely benefitting him more than his name. Shinae has a job handed to her that she wants to leave, but she's still working hard and doing her best to actually earn and deserve that role.

As for Meg, I get the sense that she wasn't actually focusing on her education/career pre-Kim formal, and I think this was heavily part of Yui's manipulation. Yui prbably made Meg feel like she stands a chance (after all, she always pretends she can set them up and make him behave) and Meg probably got distracted, trying to get Kousuke's attention? It was only after she really saw how Kousuke sees her, and how chasing him down played a role in what happened to Shinae (because Kousuke refused to listen to or believe her so he wasn't able to intervene sooner) and I think THAT made her snap out of it and go wtf is wrong with you Meg you are better than this you are MORE than this. (And you know what, maybe there was a bitter little thought deeper down, too, that you aren't Ayssa you aren't going to get a hand out and have your life just work out for you and then realized SHE has to ACTIVELY work on her life.)

I think she was really tightly woven into Yui's manipulation schemes until, like Shinae, she found herself feeling humiliated. I wonder, too, if she's starting to pick up on what kind of woman Yui is - when she told Yui she thought it was time she starts to value herself more, that felt like a very subtle "please stop playing these games with me" undertone. Yui goes on to basically tell her here i can tell you exactly what to do to make things better with Kousuke and Meg tells her she's not in the mood for it - because she knows Yui has been playing with her this whole time and never really cared about her feelings? Because she realizes Yui has been treating her like a little toy for her amusement? I think that's really in line with Kousuke and Alyssa needing their image to be destroyed in order to really start to look at themselves. Meg was a hot mess lmao but I think finding herself humiliated over how she behaved at the formal was enough to make her go wow this is not who you are Meg, get back on track, and be able to step back from Yui.

(Notably, I think Kousuke and Alyssa have gotten "more out of Yui" if that makes sense? Alyssa is in active kpop group that debuted, she seems to have a lot of fans. Why would she start to step back from that? What was Meg getting? A lot of mixed signals and humiliation? Who's going to keep up with that?)

I do agree Meg will only continue to become more important, especially as she's aligning with Yujing (opposite Yui) and she's departing from Alyssa in terms of goals and values. I'm not saying she and Alyssa are forming a rift, but they are being set up opposite each other, possibly to further highlight their individual choices and what roles they take on in this "game". Unlike Alyssa, Meg is starting to realize that everything Yui does is for her own benefit and amusement and that she doesn't care who gets hurt and I think she's finding she doesn't want to be a part of that.

I think another interesting relationship I haven't given a lot of thought to yet is Shinae and Meg, as Alyssa's sister. As Meg becomes more integral and possibly involved in Nol's side of these games, does that mean we see more of Meg and Shinae? Wouldn't it be interesting to see Shinae and Meg as allies before we ever see Alyssa and Shinae reconcile?

Aaahhhhh I loved this ask and I don't know if this is a good answer because I feel like I wound up all over the place so definitely follow up more if you want to! I'm really, really glad you brought up the mirror pairs as foils because that's really important!!!! To how they develop! And if Alyssa and Kousuke as a mirrored pair will ever develop a relationship (not speaking romantically) due to their shared values and alliances. At that point will they start giving each other a better view of themselves or continue as they are?

#I Love Yoo #Alyssa Cho #Kousuke Hiarahara #Shinae Yoo #Nol #Yeonggi #Nolan Oliver T. Lochlainn #Yui Hirahara #Meg Cho #ILY Brainrot #I LOOOOOOOVE THE FOILS AND MIRRORS it remains my favorite element lmao i'm so glad you are interested in these things too! #i think there's a lot to learn about the characters via what is illuminated by their foils and what their mirror counterparts reflect #i'm also curious to see if Kousuke and Alyssa will continue as mirrors or not #I think we'll start seeing that soon in the story #GOD i cannot wait for the timeskip PLEASE PLEASE i want to see where everyone is then!!!!!!! and what choices they've been making #if we will see Shinae and Nol as a team again ;A; #if we will see Kousuke and Alyssa become more of a team #if we will see them looking deep into themselves by the timeskip or not lmao #every character's relationship to each other is so fascinating and i had the organization i would make the wildest chart ever LMAO