Girl Rules Episode 3 Analysis: Character Foils Explained

MIRROR MIRROR ON THE WALL, WHO ARE THE FOILS AFTER ALL?

Spoiler: It’s everyone

One of the most interesting aspects of Girl Rules is that many characters are foils for one another. The purpose of foiling is to create a direct comparison for the audience and to reveal an inner truth. In other words, foils hold up a metaphorical mirror to another character so they can see parts of themselves that they don’t normally notice.

Prim and Shasha

Prim says she dislikes Shasha because Shasha toyed with her sister’s heart. While a plausible motivation from a devoted older sister, I think Prim’s animosity stems from something deeper. Let’s take a closer look at this exchange between Prim and Shasha.

Prim automatically assumes Shasha would lie rather than tell the truth, but why? Perhaps it’s because Shasha’s player persona forces Prim to confront an uncomfortable truth. Because by all accounts, Prim has a bit of a player streak going on too. So far we’ve seen Prim lead on both Gorya and Sairoong.

While Prim doesn’t invite everyone crushing on her back to her place within 10 seconds of meeting them the way Shasha does, Prim seems to enjoy the attention these women provide her. Most importantly, Prim doesn’t actively discourage their crushes. In fact, Prim actively fosters Gorya’s crush even when Gorya correctly points out that Prim was never going to see her as more than a friend as long as Bambi occupies her heart.

Prim squirmed a lot during this conversation with Gorya which suggests Prim knows her behavior is wrong, but Prim is more concerned with looking like the good guy than being truthful. If successful, that creates less of a comparison between her and Shasha, the bad guy (according to some people who are not me but definitely include Prim). Despite her best efforts, Prim’s inner truth slips out constantly and the person that knows her best calls her out on it.

Throughout the series Prim consistently says one thing and does another. Her external persona does not match her inner truth. As time goes on, I get the sense that Prim knows this and is desperate to keep her truths buried, but struggles to do so when in the presence of her foils.

Bambi and Prim

These two have a habit of lying to cover up their own bad behavior. A few notable differences are that Bambi is good at lying and Prim is not, and Prim has a hero complex and Bambi owns her villain era.

Prim needs people around her to see her as a good person and deflects HARD when someone comes close to calling her out… except Bambi. Bambi holds the metaphorical mirror up to Prim and says “you can’t hide from me”, and Prim hates that it’s true.

Additionally these two are god awful at feelings. Bambi refuses to feel her feelings too deeply and evades owning them outright to Prim. Anytime Bambi is asked a “tell me how you feel” question, she immediately flips the response by shining a spotlight onto Prim’s feelings instead. Likewise Prim deflects with her words, but her true feelings permeate through her actions.

Prim and Bambi’s foiling boils down to feeling unlovable and recognizing commonalities in each other, namely the worst parts of themselves. Perhaps that’s what made their love so strong in the past and impossible to move on from in the present— loving each other is the way they love themselves.

Shasha and Gorya

Based on Ep 3, it seems like Shasha perfected her diva behavior by observing Gorya. Gorya’s confidence and direct approach dealing with the impossibly demanding director impressed Shasha. In an attempt to get Goya’s attention, Shasha mirrors this behavior back to Gorya, and by all accounts this strategy works.

With everyone else in the series, Shasha is direct but with Gorya she engages in verbal sparring because Gorya seems to enjoy confrontation. It’s like her ego craves it and Shasha willingly holds up the mirror so Gorya can see it. Gorya who claims “games are a waste of time” engages with Shasha’s games every time.

The foiling between Shasha and Gorya builds confidence through flirtatious arguments for both of them, and it challenges them to self-reflect. Over time, Gorya can’t deny the truth that Prim will never choose her as a romantic partner and for Shasha… Only time will tell.

From the glimpses into her life so far, I get the impression Shasha doesn’t love her diva/player persona but adopts it to survive and thrive as a model. Hopefully there will be a time when Shasha and Gorya are less guarded around each other and we’ll get a better glimpse at their inner truths.

Bambi and Gorya

While these two have a few things in common, one character flaw they share is “saying one thing and doing another”. Prim is more obvious in this behavior as stated previously, but Gorya is guilty of this as well. Gorya tells Bambi to move on from the past while Gorya’s past with Prim blinds her to the present. Gorya says relationship games are a waste of time, yet she takes the bait every time Bambi confronts her and anytime Shasha turns on the confrontational charm.

Min and Preaw

These two cinnamon rolls are foils in a cute way. Granted, Praew is the character we know the least about in the series, so I can’t speculate too much on this, but from what we know so far Praew displays confidence, grit, and resilience.

Min sees this behavior, reflects, and realizes she has her own inner strength that she willingly suppressed in her previous relationship. I hope over time Min foils Praew back in a positive way, but only time will tell.

Want more? Check out our Girl Rules Episode 2 Analysis!