Breaking Down the Explosive Ending of 'Good Boy'
While Good Boy has done well domestically on Korean broadcaster JTBC and internationally on Amazon Prime Video (where it has been in the streamer's Global Top Ten for its entire run), narratively, the cop drama never quite found its rhythm. The series started its action intensity high, with explosions, fist fights, hit-and-run accidents, and department moles in the first episode, but didn't have anywhere to go from there. The show revealed its main villain, corrupt customs officer Min Ju-yeong (Oh Jung-se) from the jump, robbing the detective work done by the Special Criminal Investigation Team (SCIT) of most of its suspense and other character backstories, such as the Olympic origins of the main characters, never paid off outside of the action scenes. The show's central romance—between Dong-ju and former shooting prodigy Ji Han-na (Kim So-hyun)—felt more obligatory than inspired.
At 16 episodes, Good Boy spent most of its season in a redundant cat-and-mouse cycle that didn't resolve itself until season's end. But at least we got some killer fight sequences along the way. The show was at its best when it was letting Dong-ju, Han-na, and the rest of their team—including fencer Kim Jong-hyeon (Lee Sang-yi), wrestler Go Man-sik (Heo Sung-tae), and discus thrower Shin Jae-hong (Tae Won-seok)—use their very specific skillsets in elaborate, sometimes gloriously absurd fight sequences.
This was the case in the final episode, titled 'We Are the Champions,' which sees the SCIT squad finally taking down Ju-yeong for good. Let's break down the explosive ending of Good Boy.
Ju-yeong's villainous backstory and present
Like most of the characters in Good Boy, villain Ju-yeong doesn't get a backstory that complexifies his actions. Prior to becoming the evil mastermind controlling Insung City, he was just a part-time customs officer. When he is recruited by Oh Dollar, the gangster who ran organized crime in Insung before Ju-yeong, he quickly turns corrupt, shamelessly doing whatever he needs to do to make the most money.
Later, when he was tasked with digitizing reams of customs documents, he came upon a cache of files proving corruption from some of Insung's most powerful business leaders and officials. Rather than report the misdeeds, Ju-yeong decides to use them. He bribes the people incriminated in the documents, and then uses his influence to take out any of the criminal organization competitors in the city—including his gangster mentor, Oh Dollar.
Twenty years later, when Good Boy is primarily set, Ju-yeong's control of the city reaches into its highest echelons. He uses his power to sell Candy, a highly addictive drug, with criminals-with-more-of-a-conscience Leo (Ko Jun) and Drug Mom, aka Kim Yeon-ha (Lee Ho-jung), as minion-partners.
Ju-yeong tries to burn it all down
Heading into the Good Boy series finale, the SCIT team has Ju-yeong on the ropes. Unable to smuggle shipments of Candy out of the city, Ju-yeong's deal with the yakuza falls through. The Japanese criminal organization puts a hit out on Ju-yeong, and gangsters flock to the city to take him out.
Furious, Ju-yeong plans to destroy the city, along with all of his high-profile accomplices. First, he sends out four trucks armed with explosives. They detonate, sending the city into a blackout. The Insung Police are able to bring things back under control, when Ju-yeong strikes again. He lures the city's officials to his hotel in downtown Insung. He's rigged the sprinkler system to emit a toxic chemical that also ignites when it comes in contact with water.
Dong-ju and the rest of the SCIT team are able to stop anyone from dying, but Ju-yeong's girlfriend, a fellow customs officer named Kim Yu-na, slips away in the process. She meets Ju-yeong at the docks, thinking they are going to escape the country together. However, he has just been using her as a distraction. He has a truck standing by, ready to take her out as she walks across the street. Though she seems to survive, Ju-yeong doesn't care either way. He only cares about his money, and himself.
Dong-ju finally takes Ju-yeong down
Before Ju-yeong can get onto a boat, he is intercepted by the yakuza. They are trying to kill him when Dong-ju and Jong-hyeon arrive. Desperate to arrest Ju-yeong and have him face a trial for his crimes, they are put in the ironic situation of having to protect Ju-yeong. He slips away in the chaos, and Dong-ju eventually catches up with him on the rooftop deck of a nearby ferry.
'What kind of life have you lived that you kill someone like it's nothing?' Dong-ju asks Ju-yeong. When Ju-yeong half-heartedly mentions the early deaths of his parents, Dong-ju doesn't have any sympathy. He is an orphan, too. 'A scumbag like you doesn't get to make excuses,' he says, proceeding to beat Ju-yeong into submission. While the series presents it as justice or perhaps Dong-ju's job, it feels far more like brutal, unrestrained vengeance.
Ju-yeong manages to throw himself over the edge of the boat into the water below. He would rather die in the water than let Dong-ju win. A determined Dong-ju follows, handcuffing himself to Ju-yeong and dragging him to shore. The rest of the SCIT team is proudly waiting, and Ju-yeong is brought to jail.
Dong-ju somehow avoids permanent brain damage
Forget law enforcement outcomes—the big question heading into the Good Boy finale was: will Dong-ju suffer permanent brain damage from the beatings he took in literally every episode of this series? At the end of Episode 14, Dong-ju lost his vision, going 'punch-drunk' following a confrontation with his former coach turned Ju-yeong's minion Oh Jong-gu (Jung Man-sik). Jong-hyeon finds him, and convinces him to go to the hospital and actually get sustained treatment.
After that, there is a team effort to keep him away from the action. Unfortunately, Dong-ju has never met a fist he didn't think it was a good idea to throw his head against. He gets in several more fights before the series' end, and also is in close proximity to several massive explosions. Absurdly, Dong-ju finishes the series without permanent injury. In the final episode, we see him telling Han-na that his physical therapy is working, implying he has recovered completely.
Does Ju-yeong die?
After Ju-yeong's arrest, Dong-ju visits him in jail. Ju-yeong, who still has dirt on men in high places, doesn't think he will be in jail for much longer. Dong-ju doesn't seem particularly worried.
That night, a man dressed as a guard comes into Ju-yeong's cell and chokes him. We don't see Ju-yeong die, leaving the door open for a second season with the villain back out on the streets. We also don't see the identity of the choker— could it be one of the 'good' guys, taking justice into their own hands?
Does Good Boy have a happy ending?
The SCIT team are recognized as heroes, awarded medals for their work apprehending Ju-yeong. Dong-ju, who has reunited with his surrogate mom Jung Mi-ja (Seo Jung-yeon) and is now in a relationship with longtime crush Han-na, seems very happy.
Han-na is training to be part of the Special Operation Unit, and is in a good place with her mom. Jong-hyeon has decided to try professional fencing again. Jae-hong is happy with his wife and children. Man-sik discovers his wife didn't cheat on him, but rather his vasectomy failed—he is going to be a father again!
The show ends with a final shot of Dong-ju, running on Haeundae Beach as the sunsets. He is in his Team Korea jacket, with a big smile on his face. For Dong-ju, it is definitely a happy ending.
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Time Magazine
2 hours ago
- Time Magazine
Breaking Down the Ending of Netflix K-Drama 'Trigger'
If Trigger were a U.S. production, the action thriller that follows a police force as they deal with an influx of guns into their city wouldn't have a very novel premise. In the U.S., where gun violence was declared a public health crisis last year, there are more guns than there are people, with an estimated 120.5 guns per every 100 people. But in South Korea, where Trigger is set, there are only 0.2 guns per every 100 people. Korean gun control laws are strict, and the weapons are practically a non-issue when it comes to public safety. While gun violence does occur, as was the case last week when a father shot his adult son using a homemade gun, it is a rarity in Korea, where private gun ownership is uncommon. According to a 2022 article in the Korea Herald, private guns are intended for shooting athletes, manufacturers and sellers of firearms, and for those who need them for construction or as props in film or TV production. Licensed hunters may apply for gun ownership, but they must go through a rigorous qualification process and are only allowed to keep their guns at home during hunting season. Other times of the year, the firearms must be stored at the local police department. Otherwise, only authorized personnel in security-related fields can be in possession of firearms, and often, police officers choose not to carry them. Trigger envisions a world where gun control laws in Korea are ignored Trigger, a Netflix K-drama from writer-director Kwon Oh-seung (Midnight), imagines what would happen if all of these regulations were ignored, and unregistered, highly deadly firearms started streaming mysteriously and rapidly into the country. Across 10 anxiety-inducing episodes, we follow police protagonist Lee Do (Island's Kim Nam-gil) as he tries to keep Korean society from falling into a panic-induced frenzy, and succumbing to a status quo where gun violence is the norm. The thriller is simultaneously a parable for Korean viewers and a mirror for American viewers, who already live in a society where buying a gun can take as few as five clicks. Who is behind the gun plot in Trigger? The guns in Trigger are being funneled into the country by the fictional International Rifle Union (IRU), a black market arms dealer with immense political and economic power globally. The person behind the plan is Moon Baek (Evilive's Kim Young-kwang). Baek stumbles upon the IRU when as a kid, looking for revenge after being trafficked from Korea to the United States for his organs. Jake, one of the organization's higher-ups, sees something valuable in the desperate, vengeful kid. He raises Baek to be a part of the organization. The IRU's entrance into Korea is facilitated by Baek, who has been diagnosed with six months to live due to cancer. 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Moon Baek kills Captain Jo While Trigger has a complex cast of characters, Lee Do and Moon Baek are the protagonist and antagonist at its center. Both suffered tragedy as children. One was given the support they needed to become a happy, healthy adult. The other was not, and has grown into a ruthless killer as a result. While Lee Do wants to protect the innocent (and even the guilty) around him, Moon Baek wants to see people suffer like he has. Gun violence is his method. When Lee Do starts getting in Moon Baek's way, the criminal mastermind becomes intrigued by the stalwart cop. To get closer to him, he poses as just another recipient of one of the illegal weapons, and offers his 'help' in trying to stop various shootings. Do almost immediately identifies Baek as one of the people behind the organized influx of guns. However, when the police go to arrest Baek, he uses his immense resources to slip between their fingers and continue to wreak havoc. Captain Jo, Do's surrogate dad, becomes one of Baek's desperate targets when a jeonse fraud drives his daughter to suicide. Jo finds the men who scammed his daughter, confronting them at a karaoke room. When they show no remorse, he starts firing. Lee Do arrives on the scene once Captain Jo has followed one of the men outside. He convinces Jo to put the gun down, asking him not to let the feeling that killing the man will help fool him in this moment. 'How did you bear this pain at such a young age?' Jo asks Do. 'It was all thanks to you, Captain,' Do tells him, embracing his distraught father figure. Baek, who has orchestrated the entire scenario to drive up public anxiety around shootings and to break Do's resolve, doesn't like how the scenario ends. He comes out of the shadows to shoot both Captain Jo and Lee Do. 'Just wait and see,' Baek tells Do as he loses consciousness. 'You'll wake up to a whole new world.' The ending of Trigger explained As intended by Baek, Do is out of the action for at least a few days following the incident. When he wakes back up, he is devastated to learn that Captain Jo has died. He grieves Jo and her daughter, acting as the chief mourner at their funeral. Meanwhile, Baek has announced to the public that anyone who wants a gun in Korea can get one. Public fear is at an all-time high as thousands of weapons are delivered to the populace, and incidents of gun violence become more common as a result. On the news, political pundits begin to debate whether gun ownership should be legalized in Korea. The president is considering martial law. A 'Free Guns' rally is organized by Baek to pit the two sides of the argument against one another. Lee Do leaves the funeral in order to attend. Baek has a truck filled with boxes of weapons driven into the middle of the rally. Chaos breaks out as people frantically grab the weapons, thinking they need them to protect themselves. 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Baek has been shot, perhaps by his own hand. The plaza erupts into gunfire. In the chaos, Do sees a boy alone, crying for his mother, a gun in his hands. It is an echo of the boy he once was. Rather than defend himself, Do drops his gun and rushes to him. He embraces the child as the gunfire continues. 'It's okay. You're safe,' he tells him. The image is captured by a livestreamer on the scene. It stops nurse So-hyeon, whom we have been following throughout the series, from using a gun to kill the co-workers who bully her. Once the dust has settled, and scores of people are dead, the image of Lee Do embracing the scared child becomes a symbol of choosing empathy over violence. Later, we see the image at a memorial for the victims of the shooting. Another message at the memorial states: 'We will remember the innocent lives lost and work to create a safer world.' Does Moon Baek die at the end of Trigger? Baek is in a coma following the events of the firefight. The doctor tells Do, who visits Baek in the hospital, that he is unlikely to recover, due to his cancer and the blood loss sustained from the gunshot wound. Later, we see an English-speaking cabal of IRU members, including Jake, vaguely discussing their next business move. A woman walks into the wards where Baek is unconscious, presumably to kill him. Does Trigger have a happy ending? The ending of Trigger isn't happy, but it is hopeful. Across the country, the police hold illegal firearm drop-off drives to collect as many of the weapons as possible. One of the people who drops off a fun is nurse So-hyeon. "It took too long," she tells Officer Jang, who collects her signature. "You did the right thing,' he tells her. Lee Do survives to de-escalate another day. In an echo of what Captain Jo did for him, Do adopts the child he saved in the firefight. He picks the boy up from school, and holds his hand as he walks him home. Do is doing what he can.
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Business Insider
8 hours ago
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'KPop Demon Hunters' shows a way for Netflix to compete with Disney in family animation
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