The Art Of Sarah Review
Is it a scam if everyone Gets what they want?
WARNING: THIS ARTICLE MAY CONTAIN Spoilers from the Netflix series. There may be discussions of violence and murder. CONSIDER WHEN AND WHERE IT WOULD BE APPROPRIATE TO READ THIS PIECE.There are lots of mystery thrillers that explore the concept of identity. What exactly is an identity? Is it something we are born into, something self-made, or is it assigned to us by society? I love true crime stories and this one from Korea took me for a ride in its 8 episode limited series run on Netflix. Like all good murder mysteries, once you think you think you got the situation down, The Art of Sarah changes the narrative on you.
Art and luxury goods on display
I haven’t watched too many new K-dramas in recent years but I am well versed in the industry. What attracted me to The Art of Sarah was the poster art. Like I said, I love a good cold case and Netflix has provided me with a ton of great options over the years whether it be from a scripted drama or a documentary piece. This show is even more intriguing as the setting of the crime is centered around a high-society luxury shopping mall and we all can agree mega malls in Asia are some of the coolest shopping plazas to exist.
A Jane Doe?
Typically when I review tv shows and films, I dive into plot points for analysis, thus not being spoiler-free, but since a mystery thriller is the type of genre that is best experienced first hand, I’ll do my best not to elaborate too much detail to prevent spoiling the plot.
Here’s a quick rundown of the story without trying to expose the mystery. The body of what appears to be the enigmatic founder of a high-luxury bag brand, Sarah Kim, is found frozen to death in a sewer after a big party to kick off the new seasonal line of goods. Lead detective Park Mu-gyeong is tasked with unraveling the mysteries of not only the Jane Doe case, but the unexpected connection with the brand idolized by the elite society, Boudoir.
As the determined detective and his team dig deeper, they find themselves deconstructing multiple crafted lives of women who may or may not be that of the victim. The Art of Sarah is intriguing in how it weaves its narrative to the viewers. Each episode is titled after the name of a Korean woman that the narrative traces the case towards. How it's linked to the dead body is crafted through a series of interviews with people who have been associated with the suspected deceased Jane Doe. Detective Mu-gyeong pieces the story together, but we are never left knowing what is real or what is simply a theory taped together by investigators. The story is also weaved together in a specific linear line that is meant to bring to life a bigger than reality persona of the victim so that the investigators (and by extension the filmmakers) can dissect the holes in the reality in later episodes. There are a lot of little clues and “ah-ha” moments sprinkled throughout the early narrative that you as a viewer will understand better towards the end of the series that will have you wanting to rewatch the earlier episodes with the new information you now have.
Hulu’s Clipped Review
The story of losers, a racist, and the right hand arm.What is a scam?
This goes perfectly with the entire vibe of the series as we are presented with information that suggests Sarah Kim is a forged identity of a serial con-artist. In fact, Sarah Kim has supposedly created and lived the identities of multiple women of notorious influential presence. We get presented evidence from testimonies of associates or friends of the victim only to find out that they too have been deceived by her. No one truly knows who this person is or was. Yet, everyone is somehow linked to Sarah Kim including the detective himself as he too unknowingly encountered her during her previous endeavors. That makes all of them a potential suspect in their own way, yet the show never really presents any of them as a serious threat to being the actual figure they’re searching for.
While The Art of Sarah enthralled me with its narrative building techniques and little twists and turns, this was one of the stories’ biggest downfalls. When it was all said and done I had no doubts that the person responsible for the crime wasn’t any of the supporting characters. Every good mystery thriller investigation needs valid suspects that present enough to mislead some viewers they’re guilty of the crime. This show does not do that.
And that very well may have been done by design. Maybe the showrunners wanted to present the story in a way where the victim is the real culprit. There are times throughout the series that we as a viewer are presented evidence that would suggest the victim wasn’t even a victim.
“How can you tell a fake if the fake is just as good as the real thing?” That is a motto repeated over and over by characters on the show. We’re also presented another really interesting idea of what a scam actually is. “Can something be a scam if everyone gets what they want?” I’m sounding a bit philosophical right now, but don’t worry, The Art of Sarah never dives too deep into exploring and probing these societal and philosophical flaws. It merely refers to it on a surface level. That’s also rather fitting as in the high-society luxury goods market that this show centers around, luxury is merely a status symbol that we learn has nothing to do with quality. The powerful need to feel special, but special doesn’t always mean high quality. It simply means exclusivity. The rich are an exclusive club in society and the items they own need to be difficult to obtain or else anyone can match their status. It’s a fascinating thought and take on what the luxury brand market actually is. This is an exceedingly shallow world to live in.
What determines status?
When you take that ideology and incorporate these themes of what makes a luxury item luxury into that of a person, you get Sarah Kim. Wealth and status are not something one is born into just as a luxury brand does not get created already with status from buyers. Sarah Kim, through deception and perseverance, brought upon an exclusive brand that is desired by Korea’s elites. But if exclusivity and status is all those buyers are looking for in a bag, then why does the origin and make of the bag matter if they’re still getting that status symbol the brand provides them with that they desire? The same idea matches with the person behind the brand. If someone dies while impersonating a false identity, did they ultimately get what they desired?
A lot of what makes The Art of Sarah fun to watch is on the mental side. Sure we as viewers are presented with unreliable information piecing together the lives of this possible victim, but the depth of the why and how is what keeps you watching to the end. At least to me, the episodic experience where each episode presents exposition about a specific phase of the Jane Doe’s life in this huge con they’re supposedly pulling off on the elites doesn’t feel repetitive. They resolved it within the right amount of time by limiting the run to 8 episodes. The ending did feel a bit unsatisfactory as the final twist delivered by the two lead characters felt unceremonious. The logic is there and I understood it from a plot perspective, but it doesn’t have the emotional nor intellectual pay off that the show was building up to.
While the art direction of the show gives viewers a glimpse of the exaggerated world of luxury goods and the people who are addicted to these products, once again it's a rather shallow interpretation of this culture. Ultimately that’s what The Art of Sarah is. The acting, the writing, and the narrative building is good, but the show itself is nothing unique. Like Sarah herself, this K-drama knows the genre it wants to imitate and does a fine job of replicating the formula, but while it is plenty enjoyable for a weekend binge session, I don’t find the show memorable enough to be elevated into iconic status. And also like Boudoir– the very brand Sarah sacrificed everything to make relevant– a show like this doesn’t need to be a philosophical masterpiece to be enjoyed. I’ll take The Art of Sarah in the way it wants us to take it. I got enjoyment out of it and that was what I was seeking, then that’s all there is to it.
Alex
With nearly a decade under his belt running his video production team, and countless hours traveling the country to report on pop culture events during his tenure as a contributor for AXS Examiner, Alex has relied on a lot of gadgets over the years. That still hasn’t satiated his need to get his hands on the newest and greatest the world has to offer!