Summary
Celebrity settles into a catty rhythm in its second episode as various characters navigate the fallout of the party.
This recap of the 2023 Netflix K-Drama Celebrity Season 1 Episode 2, “#following, follower”, contains spoilers.
A-Ri is dead. Or she’s supposed to be dead, anyway.
The framing device of Celebrity is fairly clever. It isn’t new, of course, but the context is funny. Influencers survive on the idea of a perfect life. Seeing the illusion break down is oddly satisfying.
Is A-Ri a ghost, they wonder? What might she reveal? How many live viewers does she have? She’s responding to their comments in real-time, so the theory that perhaps she recorded all the footage before her death doesn’t hold much water. Whatever she’s going to reveal — and it’s time for cheat code number two in “#following, follower” — the influencer inner circle is going to have to deal with it.
Celebrity Season 1 Episode 2 Recap
Picking up from the end of Episode 1, Biniimom is still on the warpath. When A-Ri tries to intervene, Biniimom turns on her, throwing a drink over her borrowed dress. But A-Ri isn’t having it. Since she’s not concerned about her reputation, she lays waste to Biniimom, chastising her for letting her mask slip and exposing who she really is.
The stained dress is a problem, though. Since Si-hyeon recognized it as the dress she was having alterations made to, she’s curious about its whereabouts. As the dress is worth 12 million won, A-Ri and her mother need to find a way to get it cleaned up and returned.
How does Si-hyeon find out about her dress?
Unfortunately, a suspicious Si-hyeon goes to pick up the dress early, and the stains are still there. A-Ri and her mother are terribly embarrassed, but Si-hyeon takes it quite well. She says they don’t need to pay her back for it, despite A-Ri offering her half of the money on her debit card with a promise to pay the rest back within six months.
Si-hyeon claims she barely wears the dress anyway and should have probably thrown it out ages ago, but there’s a hint in her wistful flashbacks as she looks at the ruined dress on the car seat that she perhaps has more fondness for it than she was letting on.
It’s also Si-hyeon who defends Min-hye, whose reputation is severely suffering after the party. The other influencers are ghosting her and details about her “real past” are being revealed, but Si-hyeon berates Chae-hee about the optics of cutting off a close friend at the drop of a hat.
Since Si-hyeon is more famous and successful than all of them, they have no choice but to consider what she’s saying.
How does Min-hye try to “help” A-Ri?
But the knock-on effect for A-Ri is very positive. She has gained many followers simply from Min-hye following her back, and her argument with Biniimom has attracted the attention of a top consultancy firm that manages influencers.
After she explains her real backstory to Min-hye, about her dad going broke and dying and her current gig selling cheap cosmetics door-to-door, Min-hye invites her to a live stream with the Gabin Society. She starts selling A-Ri’s cheap cosmetics to her followers, ostensibly as a favor, but really to try and regain her “bestie” image after her publicly falling out with Biniimom.
Celebrity Season 1 Episode 2 Ending Explained
Following the live stream, A-Ri and Min-hye have a very nasty argument. Si-hyeon listens from nearby, but doesn’t intervene. From Min-hye’s aggressive, spiteful response, it’s obvious that A-Ri’s accusations about her trying to manipulate her misfortune for her own benefit were accurate.
A-Ri’s present-day voiceover explains how easily followers can be bought — as we see Min-hye buying a load to try and recoup her popularity — and how little they count for, especially when real celebrity interaction and endorsement is the real goal of all influencers.
As the episode ends, A-Ri gets a call from the police and is summoned to the station, where Joon-kyung is waiting for her.
You can stream 2023 K-Drama Celebrity Season 1 Episode 2, “#following, follower” exclusively on Netflix.
