While “IDOL I” has never shied away from exposing the harsh realities of idol life, episodes 3 and 4 dig even deeper, shifting the focus toward Do Ra Ik’s (Kim Jae Yeong) painful past and the emotional wounds that continue to define his present. These episodes move beyond the surface-level pressures of fame to examine the long-term psychological toll of exploitation, fear, and neglect. From Do Ra Ik’s mornings being ridden with panic to the dream he once had that has now turned into a nightmare, here are four times “IDOL I” episodes 3 and 4 saddened us.
Warning: spoilers ahead!
Do Ra Ik being afraid of Maeng Se Na
One scene in “IDOL I” that is framed as light comedy, complete with playful background music but ultimately lands as deeply unsettling is when Do Ra Ik wakes up in Maeng Se Na’s (Sooyoung) house. At the end of premiere week, Do Ra Ik is shown drinking excessively before collapsing unconscious on the side of the road. Episode 3 opens with Maeng Se Na searching for him, eventually finding him passed out in a police station. Although her friend and investigation partner Hyun Jin (Park Chung Jae) offers to take Do Ra Ik home, Maeng Se Na insists on bringing him to her own place, even putting him to rest in her bedroom.
At first, the sequence leans into comedy. Do Ra Ik is asleep in Maeng Se Na’s room, whose walls have been carefully cleared of any traces of her former fangirl life, save for two lingering stickers. As she quietly removes the final evidence of her admiration, she tiptoes around him, desperately trying not to wake him, and succeeds.
The mood shifts the next morning when Do Ra Ik wakes up in an unfamiliar room. As he steps outside, he sees Maeng Se Na holding a knife. She’s simply cooking, but he immediately panics, assumes he’s in danger, and collapses to the floor. The bright lighting and cheerful music emphasize the contrast between how the moment looks and how it feels through Do Ra Ik’s eyes, shaped by years of trauma. What begins as a humorous misunderstanding quickly turns sobering. It forces viewers to consider how often Do Ra Ik must have been cornered by obsessive sasaeng fans to react this way. He has been followed, photographed without consent, stripped of privacy, and even had strangers attempt to break into his home. He cannot feel safe, not even when he wakes up in a quiet house.
Simply a cash cow
Being treated as a cash cow by a company CEO is, disturbingly, something audiences have grown accustomed to seeing, not because it’s acceptable, but because capitalism has numbed us to how often power is abused for profit. So when Maeng Se Na visits Goldie Entertainment and internally notes how the CEO squeezed every possible won out of the Gold Boys, it doesn’t come as a shock. It’s cruel, but familiar.
What truly devastates, however, is realizing that Do Ra Ik is also reduced to nothing more than a source of income by his own mother (Woo Mi Hwa).
In the latest episodes, Maeng Se Na meets Do Ra Ik’s mother to request that she refrain from giving interviews while the investigation is ongoing, warning that public statements could damage both his image and the legal outcome. Instead of concern, she is met with cold indifference. Do Ra Ik’s mother shows no compassion, no trust, and even suggests that he could be guilty. Her motivation is not truth or justice, but money. Watching a parent exploit their own child so openly is far more painful than corporate greed.
The dream of baby Do Ra Ik
Since “IDOL I” began, Do Ra Ik has been trapped in the aftermath of his bandmate and close friend’s death, leaving little room to see him as an artist. While Maeng Se Na repeatedly expresses her admiration for his passion, viewers had yet to understand what music truly means to him. Episodes 3 and 4 finally provide that missing piece.
In a flashback, we see Do Ra Ik as a child wandering through a bar, searching for someone. His eyes stop at the stage, where a woman is singing, his mother. The expression on his face is pure awe. After the club empties, he climbs onto the stage and sings for the remaining staff, his inner monologue revealing his longing: he wanted to perform so he could be seen, loved, and acknowledged.
The scene is heartbreaking in hindsight. What began as a child’s innocent desire to matter was turned into an opportunity for profit. His mother recognized his talent not as a dream to nurture but as a commodity to sell, eventually handing him over to Goldie Entertainment and effectively abandoning him.
“I didn’t know he was hurting.”
Maeng Se Na has always taken pride in knowing everything about Do Ra Ik. In one scene, she even hands his friend a detailed shopping list of his daily essentials—items she recalls perfectly without needing to look anything up. She knows his habits, his small quirks, what makes him laugh, how he acts when he’s nervous, and what it means when his lips press into a slight frown.
However, when she sees Do Ra Ik with Hye Joo (Choi Hee Jin), Maeng Se Na is forced to confront a painful truth: she doesn’t know him as completely as she believed. Her reaction isn’t rooted in jealousy, at least not entirely, but in disappointment with herself for failing to notice how deeply he had been hurting all along.
Even more heartbreaking is the realization that while Do Ra Ik was expected to smile and perform flawlessly on stage, he was suffering in silence, too lonely to share the weight of his breaking heart with anyone.
While the recent episodes highlighted the immense pressure Do Ra Ik has endured as an idol, the story also moved forward with the central murder mystery. With Do Ra Ik’s bandmate emerging as a potential suspect and his ex-girlfriend returning to town, the circle of suspicion continues to widen. As more connections and hidden motives come to light, the question remains: how many more people will fall under suspicion before the truth behind the murder is finally revealed?
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Javeria is a binge-watching specialist who loves devouring entire K-dramas in one sitting. Good screenwriting, beautiful cinematography, and a lack of clichés are the way to her heart. As a music fanatic, she listens to multiple artists across different genres and stans the self-producing idol group SEVENTEEN. You can talk to her on Instagram @javeriayousufs.
Currently Watching: “IDOL I”
Looking Forward to: “Positively Yours”