“I wanted to write a story that was an allegory or fable about modern capitalist society, something that depicts an extreme competition, somewhat like the extreme competition of life. But I wanted it to use the kind of characters we’ve all met in real life,”
I’ve never seen a show fuck up an ending so close to the end.
That final episode just had so many points where it could have stopped, and it just… kept going, with more and more bizarre choices.
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It could have stopped with him seeing the money in his account, if you want sorta happy, hollow endings.
It could have stopped with him clutching his dead mother.
It could have stopped with him staring into the river drinking soju.
It could have stopped with his meeting with 001 being a dying fever dream, with him being the guy freezing to death outside.
It could have stopped with him seeing the recruiter train away.
It could have stopped with him getting on the plane.
It felt like they had half a dozen endings, couldn’t pick which one they wanted, and strung all of them together in sequence.
I’m also really not a fan of the old man twist—by that point in the show, ‘who’s behind it’ wasn’t a dramatic question. We already knew: it was rich assholes. Adding the old man to the mix for a shock twist was entirely unnecessary, and undercut the impact of his character.
Similarly, the protagonist’s dye job and sudden desire to stop the game being played came at the last second, and was blatant sequel bait.
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i only finished it yesterday, so I'm a bit late but I think
would have been a fantastic ending. but I do really agree that showing 001 was BEHIND it ALL was really not meaningful or helpful in any way. It just added more questions that you don't really care enough to answer imo.
I remain convinced that was one of the potential endings that got cut to make it more palatable to studio execs.