It’s not easy to adapt a classic novel across cultures, but The Scandal does it beautifully.
asserted
Scandal → ’ → it
Like The Handmaiden before it, the Netflix series transposes a story originally set in the Western world—in this case, the frequently adapted 1782 French novel Les Liaisons dangereuses—into the setting of 18th century Joseon.
asserted
series → transpose → Joseon
Under Jung Ji-woo’s masterful direction, the story of two aristocrats who toy with the lives of others for fun moves seamlessly into the rigid, Confucian society of the East Asian kingdom.
asserted
who → toy → kingdom
There, Son Ye-jin (Crash Landing on You, Decision to Leave) stars as Lady Cho Yun, a deeply intelligent woman whose potential is hindered by her sex.
asserted
potential → leave → sex
Bored within the limitations placed on her, Lady Cho suggests a game with her cousin Cho-won (The Colony’s Ji Chang-wook), a writer and consummate libertine.
uncertain
Cho → bore → cousin
If Cho is able to seduce An Hui-yeon (Mask Girl’s Nana), the widow who vows to remain chaste following the death of the husband she never met, then Cho will sleep with Cho-won after years of denying him.
asserted
Cho → seduce → him
However, if he fails to do so, then he must impregnate So-ok (Shin Yoon-ha), the aspiring concubine of Lady Cho’s husband, Lord Yoo (Lee Ji-hoon).
asserted
he → fail → husband
As the game develops, things get messy, leading to a conclusion that is as devastating as it is inevitable.
What is The Scandal based on?
The Scandal is based on Les Liaisons dangereuses, the 1782 French epistolary novel by Pierre Choderlos de Lactos.
asserted
Scandal → develop → Lactos
The book’s many adaptations include a 1988 film starring Glenn Close, John Malkovich, and Michelle Pfeiffer.
asserted
adaptations → include → Close
It was also the basis of 1999’s Cruel Intentions, which transposes the action to contemporary Manhattan and stars Sarah Michelle Gellar, Ryan Phillipe, and Reese Witherspoon.
asserted
which → transpose → Gellar
In 2003, Korean filmmaker E J-Yong directed an adaptation set in 18th century Korea.
asserted
Yong → direct → Korea
Called Untold Scandal in English, the film stars Lee Mi-sook (Queen of Tears) as Lady Cho, Jeon Do-yeon (Possible Love) as Lady Jeong, and Bae Yong-joon (Winter Sonata) as Cho-won.
asserted
film → call → won
While The Scandal Netflix series does not follow the exact same plot as Untold Scandal, it is quite close.
asserted
it → follow → Scandal
The Scandal ending, explained
In the final act of The Scandal, Lady Cho’s scheme spirals out of her control.
asserted
scheme → explain → control
In an attempt to seduce Hui-yeon, Cho-won convinces her to run away in the middle of the night.
asserted
won → seduce → night
Everyone thinks she has finally done the respectable thing and killed herself to join her dead husband, and begins celebrating her extreme virtue.
asserted
she → think → virtue
Her mother-in-law, the Left State Councilor’s wife (Kang Ji-eun) pressures Lady Cho into writing to the King to request that a memorial gate be built in Hui-yeon’s honor.
asserted
gate → pressure → honor
Also, now that she has further interpreted the religious teachings from the secret Catholic gatherings she has been attending, she now believes that it would be wrong to take her own life.
asserted
it → interpret → life
When she and Cho-won sleep together, she falls in love with him, finally believing his months of vows that she is also the one he loves.
asserted
he → sleep → vows
Hui-yeon realizes that she wants to live.
asserted
she → realize → ?
Meanwhile, Cho-won has been tasked by the King with finding Hui-yeon’s body so that he can rule on the memorial gate request.
asserted
he → task → request
When he brings these updates to Yun, she outlines the easy solution: Hui-yeon must be convinced to kill herself, wrapping up this situation in a nice, tidy bow.
asserted
yeon → bring → bow
However, Cho-won has begun to develop feelings for Hui-yeon.
asserted
won → begin → yeon
He decides to run away with her, asking his servant Chil-seong (Kwon Do-gyun) to prepare a ferry for them to leave Joseon.
asserted
them → decide → Joseon
The situation is a heartbreaking echo of the plan Cho-won once had with Yun.
asserted
won → have → Yun
Years prior, when the two were young, they decided to run away together, rather than allow Yun to marry someone who wasn’t Cho-won.
asserted
who → decide → someone
They booked the ferry, but before Yun could sneak out of her home, she found her father crying.
uncertain
father → book → home
When she asked what was wrong, he lamented the fact that she was born a woman, and therefore she could not reach the heights of her massive potential.
uncertain
she → ask → potential
The conversation convinced Yun to stay and marry Lord Yoo.
asserted
conversation → convince → Yoo
Cho-won was left waiting for Yun at the ferry port until daybreak, and then yelling for Yun as she married Lord Yoo.
asserted
she → leave → Yoo
Following the heartbreak, Cho-won fell into the life of a notorious playboy, never fully giving up on Yun.
asserted
won → follow → Yun
Worried that Cho-won will face harsh repercussions for lying to the King, Hui-yeon flees to Lady Cho’s in the middle of the night, not knowing Yun’s role in her predicament.
asserted
yeon → face → predicament
When Cho-won finds her there, Yun asks him outright: Who do you choose?
asserted
you → find → Who
In that moment, Cho-won decides he cannot go with Hui-yeon, as he had planned.
asserted
he → decide → yeon
Even if he loves her, he realizes he is not willing to let go of Yun.
asserted
he → love → Yun
A heartbroken and betrayed Hui-yeon runs into the night without her gat to disguise her as a man.
asserted
yeon → betray → man
Lady Cho believes she has won, and that she still has Cho-won’s complete loyalty.
asserted
she → believe → loyalty
However, after he leaves, he finds Hui-yeon and gives her the gat.
asserted
he → leave → gat
He tells her the truth, and she tells him that she will live with the resentment she now has for him.
asserted
she → tell → him
They part ways.
asserted
They → part → ways
…and 51 more, not listed.
The Aporia
