Netflix’s The Scandal seems to give us a familiar story.
Jo-won approaches Hee-yeon because of a wager.
Then something changes.
He begins protecting her, helps her escape and appears to develop genuine feelings for the woman he was supposed to seduce.
So the obvious conclusion is:
Jo-won fell in love with Hee-yeon.
But some viewers noticed something strange.
What if it wasn’t really romantic love?
What if Jo-won saw himself in Hee-yeon?
Hee-yeon and Jo-won Are More Similar Than They First Appear
On the surface, they are opposites.
Jo-won appears confident, experienced and free.
Hee-yeon is a widow trapped by the expectations placed upon women.
But beneath that difference, both characters are prisoners.
Hee-yeon is trapped by society.
Jo-won is trapped by his past and his relationship with Lady Cho.
Neither can simply choose the life they want.
That similarity may explain why Jo-won’s feelings toward Hee-yeon become more complicated than the original wager.
Was He Trying to Save Hee-yeon—or Himself?
Some Korean viewers interpreted their relationship very differently from the 2003 movie.
In the Netflix series, Jo-won may not fall deeply in love with Hee-yeon in the conventional sense.
Instead, he begins to recognize her pain.
He sees someone being pushed into a life she did not choose.
And that experience is painfully familiar.
Jo-won himself carries the memory of being unable to escape his relationship with Lady Cho.
Helping Hee-yeon therefore becomes something more than protecting another woman.
Saving Hee-yeon may be Jo-won’s attempt to save the version of himself who was never able to escape.
That Changes Their Love Story
This interpretation explains why their romance can sometimes feel unusual.
Jo-won is attracted to Hee-yeon, and he clearly becomes emotionally attached to her.
But their relationship is also filled with pity, recognition and shared helplessness.
Hee-yeon represents something Jo-won has almost lost:
the possibility of leaving.
She still has a chance to escape the world controlling her.
Jo-won increasingly believes that he does not.
That may be why helping her becomes so important to him.
And Lady Cho Never Really Disappears
Even when Jo-won is with Hee-yeon, his emotional history with Lady Cho remains in the background.
That is crucial.
If Hee-yeon had completely replaced Lady Cho in Jo-won’s heart, the ending would be easier to understand.
He could simply choose Hee-yeon and leave.
But he does not.
The past remains too powerful.
Lady Cho represents the life Jo-won cannot escape, while Hee-yeon represents the life that perhaps could still be saved.
Jo-won stands between them.
And ultimately, he saves neither relationship.
So Did Jo-won Love Hee-yeon?
The drama never gives us a simple answer.
And perhaps it should not.
Jo-won may have loved Hee-yeon.
But love does not have to be the only reason he helped her.
He may also have felt compassion.
He may have recognized his own wounds in hers.
And he may have wanted Hee-yeon to escape the fate that he believed had already consumed him.
That makes their relationship more tragic, not less.
Because perhaps Hee-yeon was not simply the woman Jo-won loved.
She was also the person he still had time to save.
And by saving her, Jo-won may have been trying to save one final piece of himself.