Celebrity – K-drama Episode 3 “#likes” Recap & Review

#likes

Episode 3 of Celebrity begins with the police getting numerous calls about Seo A-Ri’s ongoing live stream. It is at this point that Detective Jang Hyun-Soo hears that Seo A-Ri might be alive. He is immediately intrigued and asks his fellow detective if he is sure it is Seo A-Ri.

In a flashback, we go back to the events of the night Seo A-Ri was summoned to the police station. Jun-Kyung was so desperate to get her attention after she ignored him, that he decided to turn himself in as the suspect in the sexual harassment case she never reported.

Seo A-Ri thinks that he is trying to intimidate her by proving the extent of his connections, and rips into him. She decides to report him for harassment to prove a point. Seo A-Ri narrates that her night was going from bad to worse and she felt shitty. However, that changed when she gets a call from Jeong-Sun and learnt that Min-Hye’s little marketing stunt had caused the sale of their beauty products to skyrocket. That is also when Seo A-Ri discovered the bewitching power of social media.

The next day, she is surprised as more sales come through and her boss asks why she never mentioned Min-Hye before. On the other hand, Jeong-Sun takes it upon herself to manage Seo A-Ri’s Instagram account, making it look like she stayed at a popular hotel. The account starts taking off as many brands and marketing agencies approach Seo A-Ri online to offer her jobs and sponsorship. This is too much for her to deal with so she opts to reach out to Seung-Hyeok.

Elsewhere, Si-Hyeon visits Jun-Kyung’s mom to ask for her participation and support for her charity event. Jun-Kyung’s mom happily agrees to help and laments how Jun-Kyung lost the chance to marry Si-Hyeon. She was under the impression that Jun-Kyung only wanted to be friends with Si-Hyeon. She was upset when Si-Hyeon ended up with Tae-Jeon but she still wants Jun-Kyung’s company to be involved in the charity event.

After her meeting with Seung-Hyeok, Seo A-Ri’s mind is open to all the possibilities the influencer’s world has to offer. Seung-Hyeok gives her a taste of the good life by getting her a makeover and how sponsorship works.  All she needs to do is to get more than 10,000 followers and the doors open for her as brands beg for her attention. Seo A-Ri starts to seriously consider becoming an influencer and accepts Seung-Hyeok’s offer.

As Seo A-Ri gets schooled by Seung-Hyeok, Jun-Kyung, Tae-Jeon and Myeong-Ho meet at Aragon club. It seems like Myeong-Ho has struck a deal with Yong-Tae to scam more people through his luxurious car dealership store. Jun-Kyung tells Tae-Jeon about his little incident at the police with  Seo A-Ri. Tae-Jeon asks him to be careful and offers to call the commissioner general for him. Myeong-ho asks Yong-Tae to bring them girls but the is annoys Jun-Kyung who leaves immediately.

The following day, Seung-Hyeok summons Min-Hye and makes her an offer to support  Seo A-Ri’s career. He believes that they can fix Min-Hye’s image by finding a new bestie to replace Biniimom. Min-Hye is against the idea but a girl still gotta make money somehow. She begrudgingly invites Seo A-Ri to her next event. They act as friends for the Gram and the plan seems to be working.

People start paying attention to Seo A-Ri and the Gabon Society is pissed. Yu-Rang, in particular, is worried that she will be replaced as Min-Hye’s loyal friend. Min-Hye is also scared that Seo A-Ri will become the next “it’’ girl and tries to demean her when they are alone. During the event, Si-Hyeon and Seo A-Ri apologize and thank each other. Later that night, Seo A-Ri posts photos of the events and her followers are curious about her outfit so she tags the local stores she got them from.

Days go by and Si-Hyeon’s charity event finally happens. The plan is to have her close friends and acquaintances bring some of their belongings to sell and raise money. Seo A-Ri and Jeong-Sun are excited to attend and sell their items. They packed a lot of stuff in a big suitcase and think they will do amazing. They arrive there and realize that Min-Hye gave them the wrong time. Si-Hyeon gracefully welcomes them as they drag their big suitcase along.

It dawns on them that all the items in the auction are from high-end fashion stores. They start getting embarrassed by the stuff they brought. Jeong-Sun starts to unload their items on the table but Seo A-Ri asks her to stop. She apologizes to Si-Hyeon and opts to leave immediately. Everyone is looking at them weirdly since it is clear they seem out of place. The ladies from the Gabin Society can even be heard loudly mocking them.

On the other hand, Jun-Kyung is late to the event because he dropped by the police station for the cross-examination of his case with Seo A-Ri. The detective informs him that Seo A-Ri didn’t wish to see him and had already given her signed victim statement. Jun-Kyung is bummed that he won’t get to see her. He heads to the party and stumbles upon her falling as she drags her suitcase.

She was leaving the event in a hurry following the embarrassing encounter she endured. Jun-Kyung reaches out to help her and everyone is left stunned.  Jun-Kyung followed Seo A-Ri on social media and saw she would be at the event.

After the event, Chae- Hee relentlessly asks Jun-Kyung to tell her how he knows Seo A-Ri.  He refuses to tell her much and Si-Hyeon joins them for a drink.  Seo A-Ri is also going through the same thing with Jeong-Sun who is dying to know. Seo A-Ri doesn’t know what to say and wonders why a chaebol like Jun-Kyung would be interested in her. He even offers them his car and driver to take them home. Seo A-Ri gets home and is shocked to see the increase in her followers.

Back in the present, Min-Hye is reeling from Seo A-Ri’s live stream. She tells Yu-Rang that Seo A-Ri is messing with her even after her death. Yu-Rang asks if she is sure Seo A-Ri is dead but before Min-Hye can respond, Detective Jang Hyun-Soo shows up. He asks to talk to Min-Hye and is shocked when Min-Hye speaks ill of Seo A-Ri. Min-Hye calls Seo A-Ri an absolute jealous bitch and insists she doesn’t know if Seo A-Ri is alive. She only knows that everything and anything Seo A-Ri says in the live stream is a lie.

On the other side of town, Chae-Hee and the other ladies are losing it after learning Si-Hyeon called the police. Si-Hyeon insists she had to since is back, there are bound to be questions.  Chae-Hee asks her how she can take Seo A-Ri’s side when the latter screwed her over too.

The episode ends with Seo A-Ri in the live stream questioning whether she really was a bitch as people claim she was.  She mentions a post she posted a while back that rocked social media to its core.  The post was related to her dislike of the fakeness and hunger for attention on social media. Her choice of words in the post seem like she’s calling the Gabin Society out. That infamous post led to an online feud like no other.

The Episode Review

At this point, we still don’t know if Seo A-Ri is alive or who allegedly killed her. We honestly don’t even know if she was murdered or she simply died. All we know is that the live stream is driving the Gabin Society insane. They are all out to save their necks and make Seo A-Ri the villain of the story. Min-Hye and Si-Hyeon look very suspicious in this episode too; what did Seo A-Ri allegedly do to Si-Hyeon?

Let us dive into the next episode to see the consequence of Seo A-Ri’s infamous post. It seems she is not afraid to speak her mind online and offline but was she prepared for what that post unleashed?