I strongly believe that Eunseo suffered from narcissistic personality disorder, and i also can say that its not just ââslipping throughâ â itâs almost shining.
I had an old friend with whom we had been friends since our teenage years, and I literally watched how year by year he behaved more and more, letâs call it - ââstrangeââ. It took a lot of time for me to understand what exactly was wrong. My ex-friend became a mother early, so unfortunately i had a chance to see how a person with NPD communicates with their child. And, back to the topic - I see terrifying parallels.
Communicate with someone, whoâs diagnosed with NRL it's like we find ourselves at the card table, where this person has only two suits to play with - hearts and spades: affection and aggression. And these cards are always drawn with the same face expressions - sufferer (do-gooder) or punisher.
1. Pressure through guilt in case of disobedience or disagreement
Situation: Child returned home from school and tells mother that he is not hungry. The child has to repeat twice about the lack of appetite before the mother slams the table and starts the pressure.
At this moment of the plot, Eunseo's psyche is already in critical state cause, let me remind, she killed her husband and left her son's DNA at the burial site of the body a few chapters earlier, and we know what she will do in the future. Her food and housework are no longer just ââhouseholdââ - itâs an investment in her image. And also - a demonstration of care (only), for which she should receive gratitude. The child's rejection of such a âgiftâ means personal rejection and a direct challenge to her authority, because people with this disorder do not perceive their âcooked foodâ as a ââcooked foodâ, for them it is their own continuation. So itâs followed by coercion (forcibly shoving a spoon into his hand) and, finally, submission of the child. Moreover, her repeated âEat! Eat!ââ is really hypnotizing, and I think that's what was calculated.
Here you can use a good, simple argument - the food was poisoned and Eunso NEEDED Sangwoo to swallow at least a piece. And this argument is absolutely true, but let me continue, because unfortunately - all is not that simple.
2. Narcissistic defense: a person who sees their weakness is perceived as "attacker".
This scene is a biggest link in this analysis.
The child witnessed her cheaing - it makes a lot of risks: risk of being exposed, risk of losing the image of a good wife, risk of losing control over the situation and authority in the child's eyes, risk of feeling shame. I could go on and on, but what connects all the episodes I've described here: the greater the risk of their own vulnerability, the stronger the retaliation will be. And this is one of the main symptoms of NRL.
Letâs dive into the absurd of the mind:
The child "attacked" by witnessing her cheating. She enters his room, and in her words there's no even an attempt to explain anything - only a clever, calculated "counterattack" and the subsequent "punishment". That's right: the sexual scene with her husband, where Eunso turned her child into a spectator, was a punishment.
"It's not me cheating, it's you who doesn't trust me" - this person will never admit what theyâve done, and the blame arrow will always point at you.
Remember my words about cards, suits, and how they are played with just two expressions? This episode demonstrates how Eunseo just JUGGLING these combinations.
Eunseo returned home with her son after she faked her husband's death and secretly left her son's DNA in place, so that if the corpse was found - he would go to prison.
Itâs important to note that she doesnât say a word about what happened and where theyâve just returned from, because this could lead to uncomfortable questions or, even worse, the need to explain her actions (which has NEVER been done in this family). The thing is, such âsilenceâ makes it hard to piece together the whole story in head and it feels fragmented. So the child lefts with many painful questions as deep as a CANYON. With one of them, âDid I kill my father?â, Sangwoo was wondering until he died. I swear: only narcissists are so inventive and cunning in their manipulations.
âYou are the only one I can rely on... I will work hard so that you can rely on me too...â In this scene, Eunseo draws her cards again, this time with a deeply suffering face.
... All is not that simple.
Eunseo suffered from a list of psychological illnesses, so NRL and postpartum depression are just parts of it. Rereading this episode, I always have a feeling that her personality is simply falling apart, so despite her endless lies, for some reason I believe her words that she âloses her mind for a moment.â There is really a chance that she "shuts down" during the infliction of physical harm, which brings us back to the fact that there is something on the list of her diseases that we cannot identify.
After the violent scene, a sort of âsplittingâ occurs - she is emotionally thrown from one emotion to another, and at this point, unfortunately, nothing can be said for sure. Even her death looks to me like an act of narcissism, but at the same time it could have been a psychotic suicide (suicide in extreme state of psychosis).
There are two main types of narcissistic personality disorder:
- The Grandiose type - The Controlling type
We don't see in her any beliefs in grandiosity or any fantasies of "boundless success", but she is an absolute master at control. Also, if you look closely at her acting, she behaves like a "quiet dictator", which is also a trait of the second type.
I had to omit a lot of details to avoid making the text too long. I will mention some of them in the following post, soâŠ
That was my first analysis and thanks for reading it!
