Summary
A-ri starts to become the very thing she hates as her inevitable downfall begins.
This recap of the 2023 Netflix K-Drama Celebrity Season 1 Episode 8, “#hierarchy #the_world_we_live_in”, contains spoilers.
Once you reach the top, where do you go from there?
This is a relevant question since, as of “#hierarchy #the_world_we_live_in”, A-ri has reached the top of the influencer game. She commands the highest prices for endorsements, she’s on the front of every magazine, and she’s on every red carpet. Her business is rapidly expanding, she has moved her mother and brother into a swanky new pad, and she’s leaving the Gabin Society in the dust.
Once you’re at the top, isn’t the only way to go… down?
Celebrity Season 1 Episode 8 Recap
In all her newfound success, A-ri is becoming the very thing she hates.
A-ri refuses to budge on how her Instagram account is managed. She’s rude and dismissive to Jeong-sun. She flaunts her wealth and popularity.
This all comes to a head at a charity event hosted by Si-hyeon at the Aragon Club. All the Gabin Society are present, but they’re demoted to worse tables, and the press stop fawning over them the second A-ri arrives. When they audibly bitch about her, she confronts them, gloating about how, by their own metrics, she’s now on another level than they are.
To be fair, they probably earned that slight. But when Chae-hee tries to pursue A-ri and falls over, dragging down a table and splashing drinks over A-ri’s dress in a callback to the start of the season, A-ri just offhandedly says, “I can buy it.” That’s when she realizes who she’s becoming.
Also at the Aragon Club, crucially, is the sister of the man who overdosed. She’s looking for information about his death since she can’t believe he’d commit suicide, and she gets a slap for her trouble. This matter isn’t going away. In her present-day voiceover, A-ri describes this night at the last when she would get any peace, and that’s easy to believe. It feels like a turning point.
Why did Si-hyeon break up with Jun-kyung?
This episode finally gives us the backstory that we’ve been teased about all season.
In flashbacks, we learn that it was Jun-kyung who gave Si-hyeon that dress A-ri ruined earlier in the season. That’s why she looked so wistful about it. She kept it because she couldn’t stand to throw it out, since there was never any closure surrounding their relationship.
Si-hyeon left Jun-kyung because he was too aloof. They seemed happy together, but she could never tell how much he really cared about her. When her family pushed for her to marry into Tae-jeon’s family, he played cool about it, acting like he totally understood the rationale. And this inadvertently pushed Si-hyeon away.
Celebrity Season 1 Episode 8 Ending Explained
The biggest mistake A-ri made was thinking she was too big even for _bbbfamous.
After ghosting the account, A-ri responds to its demands with hostility. She has bought into her own hype, forgetting that whoever this is had enough kompromat on the entire Gabin Society to potentially ruin them. It stands to reason they could do the same to A-ri if they were pressed.
The episode ends with the death at the Aragon Club being exposed online, and the Gabin Society, the clinic, and Tae-jeon all implicated in the cover-up. A-ri, on the cusp of a monumental collaboration with a Chinese influencer, is visited in her showroom by an unexpected stranger, who says it’s time they finally get to meet.
I think we all know who this is.
You can stream K-Drama Celebrity Season 1 Episode 8, “#hierarchy #the_world_we_live_in”, exclusively on Netflix.
