Paramount+'s 'Yonder' Episode 3 Takeaway: It's easier to steal personal information with user consent
Spoilers for 'Yonder' Episode 3
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA: The ever-growing streaming platforms are currently on the path to expanding their content catalog by adding movies and TV shows from various cultures and languages. Netflix's blockbuster contents like 'Dark' and the recent 'Squid Game' are some examples of it. Following the line, Paramount+ is also gearing up to release international content, including the K-drama 'Yonder'.
Paramount+ has recently released the musical series 'Grease: Rise of the Pink Ladies' and Season 5 of the Western drama 'Yellowstone', but the upcoming 'Yonder' is nothing like the aforementioned series. Paramount+'s 'Yonder' is a sci-fi fantasy drama that showcases the possibility of life beyond death. The concept of capturing live memories of a dead person to offer an interactive experience is visualized here. The series stars Han Ji-min as Cha Yi-hoo and Shin Ha-kyun as Kim Jae-hyun. While the show explores a unique concept of virtual reality, Episode 3 showcases the harsh reality of how it is easier for one to gather all the personal information from people, and that too, with their consent.
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The group of Bereaved
Titled 'Rendezvous with a Memory', the third episode introduces us to a group of people who are mourning the loss of their loved ones. All of their loved ones took the VRorphin (the chip to upload one's memories) before they left the world. The bereaved form a group for themselves to share their sadness. It is shown that every person in the group is glad to have stored the memory of their loved ones as it allows each of them to interact and spend some time with them in virtual reality. However, Kim Jae-hyun, who recently lost his wife Cha Yi-hoo, does not approve of this method. Jae-hyun wants to hold on to the actual memories of his wife, rather than create a fake one.
Taking advantage of one's loss
However, the real horror happens when Jae-hyun learns that even the memories of another person can also be uploaded without the consent of the others. This revelation shocks Jae-hyun but the rest of the group does not mind seeing all the loved ones there, even if they hadn't gone through the VRorphin process. When Dr K (Jung Jin-young), one of the creators of the virtual reality world 'Yonder' speaks to the audience, it becomes clear that the people who partake in VRorphin give up their information voluntarily. The company uses the vulnerability of the people who had lost their loved ones to easily lure them into giving out their personal and intimate information without showing any resistance. In fact, most people are willing to do this process so that they can see and spend almost real-time with their loved ones.
And the best example of the process is Cha Yi-hoo wanting to live in a painless world with her daughter. This is the main reason she is dragged into the memory-storing process. And by using the emotional weakness of the bereaved, Dr K's company goes as far as even creating a new world in which the memories of the deceased and the living can co-exist. So without taking any precautions or even considering the possibility of impending danger, people in 'Yonder' acts on the imposed decision which Dr K's company takes advantage of quite easily.