Aahana Swrup
The Japanese medical drama series ‘Plastic Beauty’ delves into the sinister side of the cosmetic beauty industry while simultaneously analyzing the practice’s social relevance through a sympathetic lens. The story revolves around Fumi Numata, a surgeon who has an unfavorable perception of aesthetic surgeries and treatments. However, life brings her to an unexpected turn when working for Tohyama Cosmetic Surgery Clinic, a renowned establishment for plastic surgery, becomes her only chance at progression. This puts her in direct clash with Dr. Rin Tohyama, a celebrity beauty surgeon with the reputation of being blessed with the “Hands of God.” Yet, as the two gifted doctors work together, overseeing a varied pool of patients, their individual relationships with beauty, medicine, and the scope of their duties as surgeons expand. SPOILERS AHEAD.
Plastic Beauty Recap
Popular influencer Kanabun attends an industry party days after undergoing breast augmentation surgery. The party, hosted by the famed plastic surgeon Dr. Rin, serves Botox fillers to the guests on proverbial platters. However, when the influencer helps herself to a serving, it leads to a drastic medical emergency. One of the waitresses at the event, an aspiring influencer, Yoshiko, escorts Kanabun to a hospital. Much to the surgeon’s surprise, the patient seems more concerned with preserving her breast implant than her life. Dr. Fumi Numata overlooks these wishes, instead focusing on saving her patient’s life. In fact, she discovers that the latter has a tumor, which, paired with the implant and the added Botox, created the near-lethal situation in the first place. In the aftermath, though the patient survives, she is horrified to learn of what has transpired.
Nevertheless, Fumi refuses to budge from her position and lets the influencer know exactly what she thinks about her priorities. Shortly thereafter, Kanabun commits suicide and blames the surgeon in her suicide note. When the hospital attempts to suspend the doctor for this transgression, she brazenly quits her job, asserting that she would never regret doing her job correctly and saving lives. As this scandal unfolds, the Tohyama clinic grows concerned about potentially getting dragged into the mess. Apparently, they are right to be concerned because Fumi is currently trying to build a case against them despite her lack of luck with getting Yoshiko to attest as a witness. However, Rin formulates a different plan. Recently, the celebrity surgeon has been considering the idea of hiring more skilled medical surgeons to build an expert roster. Unsurprisingly, Fumi was at the top of her list of candidates.
Consequently, Rin does something unexpected and offers a job to Fumi. The latter’s recent unemployment has put a lot of pressure on her family due to their outstanding debt. Furthermore, her details have been leaked on social media, ensuring that no other hospital would hire her. For the same reason, she ends up accepting the job offer. Initially, she plans to work as an insider to uncover the clinic’s dirty secrets and eventually blow the whistle. Yet, the more she interacts with the patients, the more her perception of the practice begins to change. Patients like Yuriko, an elderly woman diagnosed with cancer, play a pivotal role in influencing Fumi’s understanding of what cosmetic surgery means to people in the modern world. On the other hand, Rin’s compassion and protectiveness over Moneo, a pre-teen influencer, showcase the other surgeon’s humane side.
Eventually, things begin to take a turn when Arata, Rin’s father, shows an interest in coming out of retirement, which would essentially rob his daughter of her fame and reputation. Around the same time, Fumi suffers a great loss when her mother passes away as a result of a devastating accident. The aftermath of this death brings up some sensitive topics for the doctor, especially regarding the unknown identity of her biological father. Thus, things grow complicated when Arata shows up at Taeko’s funeral, compelling Fumi to wonder what the nature of his relationship to her mother could have been like. Meanwhile, Rin fights hard to hold onto control of the Tohyama Clinic as his father publicly relieves her of the post of his successor. As long-held secrets of her own muddied past threaten to come out in the open, Rin struggles to overcome her insecurities and prove her worth as a surgeon.
Plastic Beauty Ending: Is Arata Fumi’s Biological Father?
The possibility of Fumi’s biological connection with Arata arrives as a pivotal development in the series. The rivalry that sparks between the famed retired surgeon and his daughter has many hidden layers of familial drama behind it. Unbeknownst to the public, Rin is actually Arata’s adopted daughter. This knowledge of her lack of blood connection to the Tohyama name has shaped the bulk of her complicated relationship with the medical practice. In turn, when her father seeks to return to work, the same issue causes friction between them as power dynamics shift. Meanwhile, Fumi’s life has been significantly shaped by the lack of a father figure. Her tense relationship with her mother and Taeko’s alcoholism are the most foundational examples of the same.
Once she begins to entertain the idea that the popular surgeon could be her father, it also explains her mother’s vehement opposition to her employment at Tohyama. While a confirmation about this doubt will help bring some clarity into Fumi’s life, it will also complicate other matters. For one, it will muddy up her relationship with Rin, which had only just begun to look up. Over the course of working together, the two have started to understand each other in unique ways. Additionally, Fumi momentarily becomes obsessed with watching Arata fail as he goes after Rin’s business. Therefore, she ends up throwing in her lot with the latter. Thus, declaring the veteran doctor as her father would sow seeds of mistrust in this newfound camaraderie as well.
Even so, Fumi begins to realize that she doesn’t truly care about these petty grievances and the fame-hungry world of cosmetic beauty. The competition between the Tohyamas is purely born from their respective egos and refusal to back away from a public spectacle. Nonetheless, while the surgeon has started to recognize the merits of aesthetic medicine, her opinions about its pageantry remain unchanged. In the end, she realizes that honesty and authenticity are more important to her than some imagined contest. Therefore, she decides to come clean to Rin about her paternity suspicions, albeit in an email. Tragically, shortly afterward, Fumi gets caught in a serious car accident. Although she survives, her body takes significant damage, leaving her in the hospital and bed-bound.
During this time, Arata finally comes to visit her without any pretenses of grandiosity. His newfound estrangement from his adopted daughter and his own nearing demise have made him realize something important. To him, blood relations hold a certain weight. This is likely because of the way Fumi’s skills and artistry as a cosmetic surgeon far surpass Rin’s natural talent. Arata has always been obsessed with legacy and leaving behind a successor. Therefore, where he had previously run from Taeko and inadvertently had their child together, he now wants to embrace Fumi as his heir and successor. Thus, while visiting her in the hospital, he finally confirms that he is indeed her father. Ultimately, this act of admission ends up changing everyone’s lives.
Does Rin Overcome Her Yips? Does She Leave the Cosmetic Surgery Industry?
Rin undergoes a severe roadblock in her career throughout the story as she develops a case of the yips. As Arata’s daughter and official successor, she has had the world’s eyes on her since day one. As such, she has had to become the best cosmetic surgeon in order to earn her keep and carry her father’s legacy. However, this created a sense of deep-seated insecurity in the doctor. Even though she is skilled in her craft, she remains terrified of failure and imperfection. Therefore, she’s destined for the worst when she actually ends up making a mistake on the surgery table. While working on a high-profile patient, Sara Kokoine, the daughter of a Tohyama clinic investor, Rin makes a mistake that costs the young girl her eyesight.
In the aftermath, Sara agrees to keep the surgeon’s secret under the deal that she becomes her personal doctor, constantly available at her beck and call. As a result, Rin becomes compromised in many ways. On the other hand, her yips prevent her from performing anesthetic surgeries. This is why she comes up with the idea of employing more reputed medical surgeons, like Fumi, who will be unwilling to be the faces of the brand. Consequently, they can be secretly used to perform Rin’s surgeries without anyone’s knowledge. Nonetheless, eventually, circumstances push the celebrity surgeon to take the knife in her own hands. In these moments, she realizes that she can find a sense of calm and focus through Fumi.
Even so, while this works for a while, Rin eventually realizes that her career is built on lies and overcompensation. She has been working her entire life to impress her father. In time, this incessant need to earn his approval gave her the yips. Although she overcomes them by taking inspiration from Fumi, she also realizes that the cosmetic industry isn’t something she wishes to pursue. She isn’t interested in battling with her father for custody of the Toyhama name, nor does she want to work for the competition. Instead, she wants to pursue other challenges and adventures in life and find her real passion. Therefore, even though Arata ends up giving up her Tohyama name at Fumi’s request, Rin decides to give up her cosmetic medical practice. Yet, as seen in the epilogue, where she reunites with the other surgeon, she hasn’t entirely shut the door on the possibility of returning to the game one day.
What Happens to Fumi’s Face? Does She Return to Work at the Hospital?
After Fumi decides to walk away from the Tohyama family drama, she faces a new adversity of her own. During a bike ride with her family friend, Macky, she ends up getting in an accident. In the aftermath, her body needs time for recovery, and her face requires extensive facial reconstruction. Throughout the story, Fumi has been on a journey of understanding cosmetic surgeries and the significance they can hold in an individual’s life. At first, she turned her nose up at people who cared about such beauty. Nonetheless, as he continues working with a wide variety of patients, she begins to realize that in the modern world of pervasive beauty standards, cosmetic treatments have become an incredibly valuable tool for many.
Despite the exploitative cycle this creates, it doesn’t negate the tangible reality of the situation. Thus, it’s almost ironic that after undergoing this transformative journey, Fumi finds herself in a position where she requires the same cosmetic medical treatment. At the hospital, the specialists don’t view the upcoming treatment through the lens of beauty. For the same reason, Fumi seeks out Rin to perform the facial surgeries on her. Nonetheless, initially, the latter turns down the offer since she plans on shutting down her practice and moving to Florida to work for MCB.
Yet, Rin ends up changing her mind at the eleventh hour. She realizes the importance of the procedure and the gravity of Fumi’s impact on her own life. She shows up to the surgery and performs the treatments on the other surgeon. Ultimately, her work is so splendid that Fumi’s facial recovery unravels without any hiccups. After undergoing these experiences, the doctor realizes that she wants to use her skills to help people regain their sense of self, much like what Rin did for her. For the same reason, instead of returning to the hospital, she decides to follow in her biological father’s footsteps. She becomes his successor and opens her own practice in her family’s old snack bar.
Read More: Where is Netflix’s Plastic Beauty Filmed?
