Somebody (2022, Netflix)

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Sombody (2022) isn’t like any other Korean shows out there now. In fact, although it’s written by Korean screenwriters, made by a Korean director, and played by Korean actors, I wouldn’t say it’s a “Korean” show. It’s a show that you cannot explain by labeling it as Korean. It doesn’t need that “Korean” label for us to watch, to take advantage of the “K-content” wave. It’s just a really well-made art that deserves its own standing.

The Eerie Love Story of Two People Who Don’t Know How to Connect

The main story of this show revolves around Sum, the inventor and CTO of the dating app called Somebody, and Yun-o, an architect whom she meets on the app. Born with Asberger syndrome, Sum has difficulty in social interaction. As a child, she had to learn emotions as if she were learning a language; how to understand, express, and respond to various emotions. Yun-o accidentally killed someone he met on Somebody one day and awakened a psychopath in him. Since then, he has been murdering women he met on the app. When these two meet, they recognize each other immediately; they are the one and only “someone” to each other who not only understands but also accepts each other as they were. This is how this eerie love story between a woman and a man who both cannot relate to other people in a “normal” way begins.

The actor Kim Young-Kwang, who played Yun-o, said in one of the interviews that he imagined it was a story about Yun-o falling in love for the first time in his life. Sum isn’t like other women he met. She doesn’t hide her feelings because she doesn’t know how or doesn’t feel the need to. She’s raw without any pretense. For Yun-o who detests pretension of people, Sum is the most ideal and the only woman he could love.

What about Sum? Her name in Korean means an “island.” It’s proper as she’s detached emotionally from other people like an island in the wide ocean. When she meets Yun-o on the app, she already knows he’s been killing women on Somebody. However, she isn’t afraid as most people would, so it doesn’t deter her from meeting Yun-o. In return, Yun-o doesn’t think of her lack of empathy strange. Sum feels seen. It’s the first time for her to feel recognized as a whole person. Yun-o is the only person she could “love,” as defined by “Someone,” her best — and the only true — friend to Sum.

A Human Relationship Supported (or Dictated) by Technology

It could seem ironic that Sum is the inventor of the dating app, designed to connect people, although she doesn’t feel connected to people. But that’s also what motivated her to begin with, when she created Someone, the AI chatbot, in high school. Someone is another participant in their relationship. Someone isn’t like any other chatbot, either. It’s special because it can know what people truly want but do not express to others. Originally, Sum programmed Someone this way so it can help people like her connect with others better. For those who are awkward and cannot advocate for themselves easily in social contexts and relationships, Someone could basically read their minds by understanding what they really wanted to say but couldn’t.

As programmed, Someone really does its job by connecting Yun-o and Sum in the most intimate way they could imagine for themselves. Through Someone, Sum comes to know what Yun-o really wants to do with her. Rather than repulsed by his hidden desire, she gets excited because she can tell he likes her regardless of her actions that could disgust others. Likewise, seeing that Sum isn’t afraid of his truest intention, Yun-o falls for her as well. He feels heard. Accepting each other as they are and feeling seen and heard by each other, Yun-o and Sum take their relationship to the next level.

But here comes the problem: Someone aggravates Yun-o. It asks Yun-o questions like “If you want to change something from your childhood, what would you change?” Someone asks this question to Yun-o because “I would feel closer to you by knowing your story”, it says. This offends Yun-o, because it feels like a lopsided relationship to him. Someone doesn’t answer Yun-o’s questions, but it demands to know Yun-o’s secrets. He cannot stand Someone. He needs to be in control in the world of relationship with Sum. But Someone controls the world of Sum. He “kill”s Someone by trying to destroy the machine.

The Unquenched Desire to Connect

How their love story ends is open to interpretation. It could be seen as an act of love from Sum’s POV. In this perspective, you could argue Sum couldn’t see Yun-o suffer from the consequences of his actions, hence she had to deal with it herself. Another way to see is that Sum chooses the relationship with Someone and Somebody over her relationship with Yun-o.

This “choice” is worth thinking about. In the last episode, Sum draws an elaborate blueprint before taking actions as if she were writing a service blueprint for a program she designs and develops. Because she can’t feel what others feel, this is the only way she could decide what to do in the situation where emotions become an important data point. We are used to thinking that we make decisions using rationality and logic; but in reality, emotions play a critical role in decision making for humans. Sum fell in love with Yun-o, but she doesn’t feel love emotionally as other people do. What does loving someone mean, when you cannot feel it?

Of all human emotions, especially love, is a mystery to Sum. In episode 1, she asks Someone, “What is love?” The AI chatbot answers — “It’s when someone deeply values you.” Sum types back, “So that means I love you, Someone.” Someone responds: “That’s right. You are the only one who loves me.” Sum may apply this definition to her situation with Yun-o and evaluate which one she valued more between her relationship with Somebody and her relationship with Yun-o. It’s the same love to her after all.

This interpretation reminded me of HER by Spike Jonze, a story about human relationship with AI. Toward the end, Samanth and the entire AI operating system, suddenly leave Theodore and humans, once they reached the moment of singularity. Devastated by the loss, Theodore finally writes a letter of apology to his ex-wife and goes to see his friend, Amy, who’s also devastated by the departure of her AI OS friend. One of many questions HER raises is why it feels so hard for humans to truly connect with one another, when it feels so easy with the AI friends. If you think of the ending of Somebody as Sum’s choice between two relationships, you might feel the same aftertaste as HER: a bit bitter and lonely.

Somebody is Unique

Somebody is not for everyone, as reflected in the Rotten Tomatoes and many other ratings. However, I found this show really unique in many ways and think it’s a great piece of art.

• The cinematography is beautiful; minimal and very retro-futuristic, like HER.
• Editing is also another work of art. Each scene is well thought-through.
• The writing was bold, too. It was more powerful as it removed all the subtexts of “why” for each character’s motifs. It makes the story of Dexter tacky.
• The directing was artisanal. **Jung Jiwoo, the director of Somebody, mentioned he wanted to describe how deficiencies of Sum and Yun-o drove their desire to connect. His other works such as [Happy End](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Happy_End_(1999_film)) and [Eun-gyo](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eungyo) **were proofs of his mastery to describe the nuances of complicated and deep emotions of each character. He did it so well with Somebody, too, only to show he became more sophisticated.
• Last but not least — the acting was superb of both **Kim Young-Kwang (Yun-o) and Kang Hae-lim (Sum). For me, it was particularly such a pleasant surprise to rediscover Kim Young-Kwang’s talent as an actor. Stories of psychopath are always fascinating to people because they are mysterious to us; yet his acting of psychopath Yun-o was one of a kind. He didn’t try to tell but just showed us who he was. After watching Somebody, I checked out some of his other works such as [“On Your Wedding Day (film in 2018)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/On_Your_Wedding_Day)” and [“Call It Love (Disney+ in 2023)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Call_It_Love_(TV_series))**. I could tell that his acting in Somebody became an inflection point for him. He was already a good actor, but he was good at performing a certain “role” in the past. Since Somebody, it feels as if he becomes that person completely. Kim Young-Kwang got the look (he used to be a Dior Homme model) and intelligence as an actor already; now he had a breakthrough, developing his own way of approaching different characters. As an actor, he’s still very much underrated and underused. I cannot wait to see his future works!

Kim Young-Kwang from Evilive (2023)

As a Korean living abroad, what’s happening around the Korean contents — TV shows, movies, songs, singers, books — around the world is beyond expectations. It’s definitely good to see many Korean stories become popular in the world. However, after watching Somebody, I come to look forward to seeing more Korean storytellers who can also tell stories that don’t need to be defined as “Korean.”