OK, before I start in on the final two episodes I just wanted to say a few things about CEO Yoo, who I find to be an incredibly interesting and complex character despite how little story is actually devoted to her. In many ways she connects all the threads of the various plots together.

I’ll start by talking about her as a businesswoman and CEO. I love that she is in this incredible position of power. I love that she looks as badass as she acts, and she takes no s*** from anyone. She is also comfortable calling out the men around her when she thinks they are making mistakes or generally being asses. We mostly see this with Jin-hyuk (for obvious reasons) but she also does this with In-woo and the producer who stole his music. She is not happy that In-woo let himself get screwed in the past, though she is also smart enough to realize that she cannot force him to do anything he doesn’t want to. She knows where her role as CEO ends and her role as friend starts. She is the same with Jin-hyuk, whose ability to spot talent she respects, but whose ability to manage talent she is starting to realize has been compromised.

Even if I don’t agree with why she wants to break up MUSH&Co., I can understand and even respect her reasons for wanting to do so. I see why she immediately saw Han-gyul as the one who should write a song for So-rim. She is perceptive and sharp when it comes to her work, and it shows. She only makes assumptions because she is not on hand every single day at SOLE N.

Finally, I want to talk about her style. As anyone who has followed along with me on this little adventure knows, I ADORE her style. It’s impeccable, badass, feminine, strong, and perfect. I love that she never makes the people she deals with forget that she is a woman – she always has jewelry on and she often wears very feminine colors. But at the same time she chooses materials and cuts that are slightly masculine, and which place her firmly in a man’s world while keeping her a woman. Leather shirt with rhinestone and spike necklace, a pinstripe suit in boxy but tailored cuts, structured blazers and shirtdresses that are figure defining without being clinging. It’s apt that the metaphor she and In-woo use to talk over work are her heels, because they allow her to be female and walk in a man’s world, but they also represent the constant pain she has to fight because she is underestimated. Her father underestimates her, Jin-hyuk disrespects her in his mishandling of the label, even In-woo distrusts (to an extent) her ability to right past wrongs. But none of this weighs on her, and she keeps moving forward and sticks to her convictions instead of focusing on a misstep (or a broken heel).

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    Slow clap… I love how “antagonists” like Chanyoung, Jinhyuk, Yoona, CEO Yoo in Liar are written. They are not really villains, even if they pose obstacles, because they are not evil, or devoid of feelings or their own set of maybe different but understandable thoughts and motivations, which, btw, are oftentimes motivations we can root behind or at least respect, even if we disgaree with their methods. Even the outright villain Sejung’s behavior didn’t feel unfamiliar, albeit still detestable and despicable. It was something we or someone we knew could have felt in our impulsive and mercurial youth, even had they not acted on those jealous impulse.

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    Bravo, brava. I loved the segment on her clothes. I wished her stylist could read this and see that a connoisseur appreciated her work. 😉

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    Very Nice. I do think she has a major “flaw,” which is her tendency to expect others to discard their feelings and unease as easily as she does. She expect cold professionalism from them as a sign of maturity, but maybe her definition of what’s mature and what should be prioritized is off and not always right for them.

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      I’d actually argue that she doesn’t expect this of others, despite the fact that she herself practices it. Instead I’d argue that she holds others to the same high standards of professionalism that she herself practices. The difference being that for her, coldness and disengaging works, but others can still maintain high standards without being disengaged. I think she expects her artists to be emotional, but she doesn’t expect those who manage them to be reckless the way Jin-hyuk has been. She knows he is emotionally invested in the music, but I don’t think she expected him to let this mess spiral the way it did. And it did that because he didn’t do the work required of him, which was to nurture those boys.

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