Hermès, Dior, Chanel, Louis Vuitton, Gucci, Cartier, Rolex and Tiffany & Co, are just some of the luxury brands dominating the luxury market. If one has a collection of any of these brands, it’s already consider an investment, especially Hermès, which the exclusivity is so special that buyers cannot just buy it by walking in the store but instead, getting invited to buy, not only that, you will have to accept whatever they will offer you because you cannot choose the color, leather or even the design, if they offer you one bag, you’re lucky if that’s close to whatever you’re looking for, if not, then you will have to settle buying the exact bag you wanted through a third party seller only to pay double or maybe triple the price in the store, like I mentioned, investment.

Nowadays, having these luxury brands somehow represents your social status or hierarchy. Most of the time, Hermès represents a different level of hierarchy. One bags costs twice of a price of a house, and the rest, can be actually available for retail, sometimes, on sale. Meanwhile, Hermès don’t really go on sale nor drop its price, rather, it goes higher and higher every year. However, be careful coz these luxury goods are so in demand that there are so many counterfeits available in the market and some of them can actually pass like the real deal.

A new limited series revolves in this luxury goods making the series relatable to the social norms nowadays and this is The Art of Sarah, starring Shin Hye-sun as Sarah Kim and Lee Jun-hyuk as Detective Park Mu-gyeong. The story is about a lady that is being investigated for a murder case, however, the detective cannot figure out the real identity of the perpetrator because she has been hiding within so many identities and one of them was Sarah Kim, owner of Boudoir, a luxury brand from Europe that is launching in South Korea.

Sarah Kim is known for being rich but where her money came from, no one knows until the detectives slowly unveils other names connected to Sarah Kim’s identity; Mok Ga-hui, Kim Eun-jae and Kim Mi-jeong, these are the names that they suspecting the real identity of Sarah Kim.

In the series, it will reveal the story of each lady and how the murder will slowly unfolds connecting everyone to Sarah Kim. Now, the job of the detective is to know who the real killer is or if the real Sarah Kim was the killer or the one who was killed.

The Verdict

I love how it shows the difference of real rich to someone who plays rich. You’ll know a real rich won’t look at the price tag while the latter will use an imaginary calculator to make sure that the price is under their budget. The series showed more its main character’s personal journey, relationships, and artistic expression, giving viewers something meaningful to connect with.

Each episode clearly is connected to the story of the real Sarah Kim however, there are minor shortcomings. slow pacing issues in each episodes making it a little too boring, some predictable plot points, or side characters who aren’t as fully developed as a connection to the lead but still exists however, none of these flaws ruin the experience, but they keep the show just shy of perfection.

All in all, I would give this 92% wonderroanne rating because of its unusual plot and it’s definitely worth watching because it is engaging, memorable, and above average, while still leaving just a bit of room for improvement.

Ending explained

Well, there’s so much more to say, before you even read, make sure you have watched the series, because this is a huge spoiler.

Sarah Kim is not dead, nor alive because there’s no Sarah Kim that exist. The real identity of Sarah Kim is Mok Ga-hui, she staged a suicide for her to escape and start anew. She was born poor and now she wanted to live a new life as Sarah Kim. Along the way, Sarah Kim, met so many people that helped her especially the contract husband whom she offered her kidneys to in exchange for money. This gave her a boost to start a new life under a new name and identity leaving the trace of Mok Ga-hui gone.

While building Budoir, she met Kim Mi-jeong, who was working as a counterfeiter, making copies of different bags from different brands. Sarah hired Mi-jeong to create luxury looking bags, making the whole thing fraud because Budoir was actually made in South Korea only, very different from the initial claims that they came from Europe. Mi-jeong became a fan of Sarah, making her so obsessed with Sarah’s confidence and wit, copying her all to the point that no one can actually tell who’s who.

Sarah Kim discovered that Mi-jeong has been impersonating her, making her a threat to the whole business. At the night of the launching, they got the awaited confrontation and Mi-jeong threatened Sarah. They got into fight leaving Mi-jeong dead.

With all theories even without evidences pointing to Sarah Kim, she flipped the switched and confessed that she is Kim Mi-jeong and that the person who is dead is actually Sarah Kim. She said that she was impersonating Sarah Kim, and she wanted to have Budoir to herself.

Sarah Kim chose this route because she wanted to save Budoir, she can post as Kim Mi-jeong and be in jail with 10 years sentence but Budoir will still be Budoir because of the issues going on with Budoir, it increased it sales and exclusivity even without Sarah Kim, the brand has gone more famous, making her only dream come true.

In reality, Sarah Kim’s identity is Budoir. It is her creation.