The Most Mind-Boggling K-Drama Endings

[partyon]

27 minutes ago, Lmangla said:

save the pigeon!!!!  inzaghi was true MVP.

It is inexcusable that my dear Kwakkie didn’t get a happy ending in Vincenzo, but that the pigeon did.

Save uri precious Han Seo!

 

Down with that pigeon!

[LeftCoastOppa]

Just a few thoughts on mine ...

 

- Crash Landing On You

 

Just two things ...

 

1) Gu Seung Jun SHOULD NOT HAVE DIED!

 

2) See Item 1

 

 

- Do Do Sol Sol La La Sol

 

15 hours ago, partyon said:

Adult ditzy broke pianist falls in love with runaway rich high-schooler. He gets cancer and noble idiocy syndrome and disappears from her life without a trace or explanation. She is heartbroken but he comes back after some years when he is cancer free, and she forgives him in less than 2 seconds.

 

Spoiler

Oh there was an explanation alright ... he faked his own death ... FOR 5 YEARS!

 

This drama was a fun, lighthearted (mostly), with alot of sweet characters, and the last episode ruined it. I'm glad he wasn't dead but that was not a good way to end an otherwise wonderful rom-com

 

 

- Oh My Ladylord

 

15 hours ago, partyon said:

Everyone thinks he's going to survive in the end, but then he disappears (presumably dead). Time jump - 1 year: FL receives a letter from the ML, but it turns out it was written a year ago - before he died.

 

Another WTF was that type ending - The last letter was just the final nail in this drama's coffin

 

 

- Sisyphus

 

While the ending was the worst part of this drama, the story was still great. I enjoyed the leads bickering-to-love story, and one of the greatest villains in kdramas. 

 

 

- Tomorrow

 

I never saw the webtoon so I don't know how close to the source material the story was but the ending was flat out unsatisfying in any degree.  The fractured love of the FL and the 2ML was, as Noona described it ... "palpable".  Add to it, the 2ML owned what few scenes he had.  The lack of the 2ML character in more of the dramas storyline was one of its biggest failings

 

 

- Vagabond

 

Give me a Season 2 and all is forgiven ... until then, it deserves a place in this poll.

 

 

- Alice

 

16 hours ago, partyon said:

The secret killer ended up being a variant of ML himself. He was the one who killed his mom, and the one pulling all the strings in the background. In the end, FL is the only one who remembers everything, while everything seems to have changed. ML does not remember her, and then they hint towards them meeting in the end.

 

I was completely in LOVE with this drama, right up til the 15th episode, and then ...

 

 

Noona is far too generous - she left out the mis/under -utilized father/ALICE agent character - the "ALICE" Book that turned into this drama's McGuffin that never gets explained ... LIKE WHO WROTE IT, AND WHEN?  And finally, the woman who stood unfailingly by Joo Won's side throughout the drama. She never failed to side with him even when his actions were questionable. Near the end she even puts aside her own feelings for him just for the chance of staying with him solely as friends ... and in the end???  HE COMPLETELY FORGETS HER!

 

There's a reason we don't speak of ALICE ... well besides here that is

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[partyon]

21 minutes ago, LeftCoastOppa said:

 - she left out the mis/under -utilized father/ALICE agent character - the "ALICE" Book that turned into this drama's McGuffin that never gets explained ...

Guess I am hungry?

Read it as McMuffin 

 

[africandramalover]

Korean dramas have this tendency towards poor endings even when they are not outrightly bad. They need to borrow a lesson from Brazilian telenovelas. Tight writing from begining to end with no let up in the tension. With a humongous cast, no one's storyline is useless or dissipates into nothing, and they are wrapped up satisfactorily. Brazil is superior in this aspect, as far as I'm concerned, from the telenovelas I've watched here in my country.

[itsmeash]

Honestly, everything about Oh My Ladylord was mind boggling. It was supposed to be a romcom, but was straight up the opposite. Nothing good or happy came from that entire series.

[frozentundra]

13 hours ago, lilyphenix said:

Spoiler

In the end, he did kill someone, though... So regardless of his reason/his grief over his wife's death, he did switch over to the dark side. In that sense, it is like the cycle continues. The first Big Mouse became so because his daughter was killed by the NFR, like Mi-Ho was.

 

 

This is what bothered me about the ending of BM. I mean, I guess you could say in the end it was a

Spoiler

classic tragedy (where the "hero" makes all the wrong choices and ultimately goes down a bad path.) But I mean...he ended up doing the same thing, becoming a murderer.

But since so much of it was aimed in the opposite direction, and Miho even

Spoiler

specially asked him to be a good Big Mouse, just before she DIED--it seemed just a bit too much. Because what was the point of all that effort, then?

 

But like you, I had zero issues with the acting, it was fantastic. 

[sweetroad]

Some of these shows were on my watchlist but after this poll I'm not so sure.

 

I didn't know Reply 1988 was traumatic? I've heard it's so good.

 

At first I was surprised to see CLOY and My Love From the Star in the poll, but then upon reflection I realized the EO's were perfectly correct - they ARE mind-boggling endings!

 

Crash Landing on You open questions:

- What happens if they have kids?

- Will there ever be a time where Hyun Bin and Son Ye Jin can spend more than 2 weeks together?

- Will she ever see the soldier boys again?

- Will North Korea ever stop Hyun Bin from visiting Switzerland every year?

- And yes, why did they kill Gu Seung Jun?!

 

Their relationship just doesn't seem sustainable to me if they can only spend days together at a time. But it was still a sweet ending in that they weren't separated forever.

 

My Love From the Star open questions:

- Can they actually kiss now? Is he supposed to have gotten stronger after going back to his planet?

- Can they have kids, cuz according to the rules set out for Do Min Jung's existence, stuff like that can't happen without extreme peril to himself...?

- Whose apartment do they end up living in? Because both of their apartments are pretty amazing.

 

 

Honestly, one of the most traumatic dramas for me was Moon Embracing the Sun, where they killed off Prince Yang Myung. Totally unnecessary.

 

 

And Inzaghi was NOT supposed to show up in any more polls! Why is he here?

[partyon]

9 hours ago, africandramalover said:

Korean dramas have this tendency towards poor endings even when they are not outrightly bad.

 

Yeah, lately we've been getting more worse endings than ever. What's going on here?

24 minutes ago, the_sweetroad said:

And Inzaghi was NOT supposed to show up in any more polls! Why is he here?

 

He's not IN the poll, as per se. hehe

 

3 hours ago, itsmeash said:

Honestly, everything about Oh My Ladylord was mind boggling. It was supposed to be a romcom, but was straight up the opposite. Nothing good or happy came from that entire series.

 

So I voted for this, because the ending sounded so ridiculous. I actually voted for a lot of dramas I haven't watched - as I was researching this theme, I found so many bad endings they actually made me laugh out loud. This was one of them.

 

As for me, the ending that I have absolutely HATED THE MOST, is hands down The Last Empress.

Anyone who has known me for a while, knows I couldn't even talk or even think about this drama for years after it ended, because it made me so angry again. Choi Jin Hyuk's character being killed off in a 53(?) episode drama right before the end JUST BECAUSE THE WRITER DECIDED TO EXTEND THE DRAMA and Choi Jin Hyuk not being able to participate in filming due to other engagements? Nah, that doesn't sit right with me. We didn't even get a kiss between the ML and the FL.

 

The only good thing that came out of this drama, was this epic transformation of the ML

cr. to owner

 

EDIT: Okay, it's been 4 years. I'm still angry!

[MayanEcho]

Is there any drama ending more strange than that of The Last Empress? 

 

I've seen only the clips, but who destroys the ML that way for finale? It's as if the scriptwriter was having childish tantrums. I rather find the crappy ending a cheap shot of making the drama controversial. 

[itsmeash]

56 minutes ago, the_sweetroad said:

My Love From the Star open questions:

- Can they actually kiss now? Is he supposed to have gotten stronger after going back to his planet?

- Can they have kids, cuz according to the rules set out for Do Min Jung's existence, stuff like that can't happen without extreme peril to himself...?

- Whose apartment do they end up living in? Because both of their apartments are pretty amazing.

They have the money, open it up and turn it into a mansionesque apartment.

 

As for the first two questions, since they weren't answered and the series was left open ended where it's concerned, I like to headcanon that yes and yes.

 

The only worry I do have for them, though, is MJ will always be an alien... while SY will remain human. I'm curious how they work that out..

[UnniSarah]

12 hours ago, the_sweetroad said:

Honestly, one of the most traumatic dramas for me was Moon Embracing the Sun, where they killed off Prince Yang Myung. Totally unnecessary.

Hi @the_sweetroad I think the reason he died was because the Lrince became a Hero and can never be used to start another fight for the throne thru him or descendants. Yes it was sad but I think that is what the writer wanted to express. 
 

@partyonThanms for the mention

 

I have my own titles that wasn’t mentioned

Miss Monte Cristo

Glamorous Temptation 

Money Flower

Good Person

Noblewoman

Sweet Enemy

 

 

PS will come back to write more

[Sleepy Owl]

For me, the first drama whose ending made me go "WTH" was IRIS.

 

Spoiler

The leads suffered a lot, and finally they were able to defeat the bad guys. Finally the ML could take a break now, and was planning to propose the FL, and then, BOOM, shot by an unknown person, and drama ends there.

 

I almost had the flip table reaction back then. 

 

 

And this continued to be the case in several dramas, since Kdrama writers just like to kill the leads, or 2nd leads or anyone. THEY JUST WANNA KILL SOMEONE! And most of the times it didn't make sense to me, since it felt as it was forced. 

 

But then again, things are never in your hands with such stuff. 

 

While IRIS was the drama with worst ending for me, I ended up watching "The Third Charm". The drama I regret the most to have watched. 

 

Spoiler

FL dumped poor ML just before he could propose her, because she now had feeling for some other dude she just recently met. Poor guy goes into depression so bad, he leaves his job as detective, leaves the country, goes to a European country (France I believe) and signs up in a course to become chef since he liked cooking. 

 

Now here we had the 2nd FL who had feelings for him, but never confessed since she knew ML was dating someone else. But then on coming to know about his break up, and also how he became depressed, she spent her savings, went and met him. This continued for years, and I MEAN YEARS, like 5-6 years, when 2nd FL would find sometime and go to meet him and they had already in a very serious relationship. 

 

ML returns back, he plans to marry 2nd FL, everything is going smoothly, and FL just ends up coming to this dude's new restaurant. She divorced her husband since after their child's death they grew apart. FL is depressed, alcoholic, and ML starts to mixed feelings now, and questions his feelings for 2nd FL. Dude breaks up with 2nd FL and cancels the wedding 

 

And in the end, he does not even end up with FL. It is implied that they are just friends now. IT was such a bad ending, you had to feel bad for the 2nd FL who wasted that many years on a guy like that. She supported him during his bad days only to be dumped since his first love came back. 

 

I believe this is also the lowest rated drama on my watchlist in MDL. 

 

Now as for the others, the latest worst ended dramas for me are "Again My Life" and "Big Mouth", and Big Mouth had worse ending between the two for me. 

 

I got to mention Alice for @LeftCoastOppa Chingu, and Mouse (tagging @ferily Chingu for no reason here, I promise). Well, I felt like Mouse had a fine ending (many may disagree), my issue was with the overall plot rather than the ending. But who cares, I will not really go back to this drama. 

 

I usually very rarely drop dramas (I usually pause them indefinitely), but then again, there are some dramas, who had a very sad ending, but then again, I wouldn't classify them as bad ending, because it was something which was bound to happen.

 

Spoiler

One such example for me is "Scarlet Heart". One of my favorites, I liked how dark it became starting off on a rather lighter note in the first few eps. Its ending was surely very sad, but then again, I had expected the FL to return to the present timeline at sometime in the plot, and the ML being left alone. Knowing a bit about the ML as historical figure, I knew how things would move forward too. So I was fine with the ending, but of course very sad.

 

And then, finally we have dramas, who just end out of nowhere. Its as if someone points gun at the writers and forces them to stop writing no matter where they are. The examples for this would be Vagabond (tagging @LeftCoastOppa Chingu surely for some reason) and Arthdal Chronicles. 

 

Spoiler

In Vagabond's case it honestly felt like a cliffhanger for a non-existent season 2. They just ended it in the middle. Nothing was concluded, instead somehow new arcs in the plot were kinda started in the background for both FL and ML who would follow their own paths to get the bad guys.

 

Nothing happened to the bad guys, and as I said, they concluded nothing and left everything open. I don't really expect it to have a second season, but yeah, I don't think what was going on in the writer's mind. Did they really want a second season, or just wanted to pull a prank on the viewers. 

 

Spoiler

As for Arthdal Chronicles it was more of the production team's mistake rather than the writers. The writers are actually very famous Sageuk writers and have penned down some of the best Sageuks out there like "Tree with Deep Roots", "Dae Jang Geum" and "Six Flying Dragons". The writing was good in my opinion. 

 

Its just that, by the looks of it, the writers wanted this to be a 3 season long drama with 18 eps in each season, which meant this was supposed to be a 54 eps drama. But I think the production team or whoever was in the charge of it may not have been very confident about this project (considering this was a big budget project), they instead came with 3 seasons (or better say parts) with 6 eps each.

 

Ended the drama in the middle, as the main post says with painting depiction of what happened in the story later on. But seems like this will be having a second season, so keeping my fingers crossed for this 

 

 

 

But, looking at the poll above, I cannot help but say, 

 

[LeftCoastOppa]

45 minutes ago, Sleepy Owl said:

And then, finally we have dramas, who just end out of nowhere. Its as if someone points gun at the writers and forces them to stop writing no matter where they are. The examples for this would be Vagabond

 

Well said Chingu -

 

45 minutes ago, Sleepy Owl said:

Spoiler

In Vagabond's case it honestly felt like a cliffhanger for a non-existent season 2. They just ended it in the middle. Nothing was concluded, instead somehow new arcs in the plot were kinda started in the background for both FL and ML who would follow their own paths to get the bad guys.

 

Nothing happened to the bad guys, and as I said, they concluded nothing and left everything open. I don't really expect it to have a second season, but yeah, I don't think what was going on in the writer's mind. Did they really want a second season, or just wanted to pull a prank on the viewers. 

 

 

[frozentundra]

15 hours ago, the_sweetroad said:

Crash Landing on You open questions:

- What happens if they have kids?

- Will there ever be a time where Hyun Bin and Son Ye Jin can spend more than 2 weeks together?

- Will she ever see the soldier boys again?

- Will North Korea ever stop Hyun Bin from visiting Switzerland every year?

- And yes, why did they kill Gu Seung Jun?!

 

Their relationship just doesn't seem sustainable to me if they can only spend days together at a time. But it was still a sweet ending in that they weren't separated forever.

What I heard was that originally there was a more definite ending, but due to real-life relations with NK in real life, they toned it down and went for a vague one instead. In my head, I finished it as if the war finally ended and they were able to freely travel across the border and decide where they wanted to live. (And once his parents passed away, they came down to SK.) 

 

What actually makes the ending bearable, though, is the real-life ending of the actors. I DON'T usually ship actors (it's a job, not a dating service, and it takes a lottttt to convince me there is something going on in real life), so I stayed away from following too much at the time. However, even aliens from space could see what was going on between them, and they did in fact get married (with the Swiss embassy in Seoul posting congratulations on their official IG, lol)--so I have to conclude that in all lives and forms, it was going to work out somehow.

[ElleSor]

The dramas that totally mind-boggled, shattered by brain cells and disconnected my synapses are the following, in no logical order:

 

ALCHEMY OF SOULS - note the title is in caps because I never want to watch it again or any of its stupid offspring. 

The Last Empress - THIS!!! I couldn't get over how the two leads were not OTP. 

Cheese in the Trap - I. Cannot. 

Love Alarm - This is one of the first dramas that I watched that had a season 2. I wanted the OG leads to end up together and when they didn't I just gave up. 

Memories of the Alhambra - the leads had no chemistry to begin with. And the ending was meh.

Scarlet Heart Ryeo - was really good. I just didn't understand why the ending didn't follow the OG CDrama.

Tomorrow - I loved this drama except for the fact that FL had no ML at all or she didn't reconnect with him?

 

As for Inzaghi, ML should have brought him to Malta with him.

 

[madmad min]

Lol for Reply1988 making the LIST.

 

I WANT JUSTICE FOR JUNGHWANG ...But cant Lol. 

 

 

Also You who came from another star, The Alien cant swallow Saliva but can get a Human pregnant and survive...WHAT?

 

WHAT? WHY? HOW? WHEN...

 

 

 

 

 

[willenette]

*** Well, not all K-dramas storyline end with “happily ever after”. Not all couples stay together nor do the main characters finally get their shot at long-lasting love. But, note that I didn’t regret watching them. Why should I when they are my male biases. So, these are K-dramas, that's not weirdest for me but just not satisfied due to have bad endings.  

 

1. Moon Lovers: Scarlet Heart Ryeo - Lee Jun Ki

The show's finale episode caused a stir as Ha-jin (IU) dies in the past just when Wang So (Lee Jun Ki) realizes his true feelings. She wakes up in the present without any memory of living as Hae-soo.

2. Record of Youth - Park Bo Gum

The two main characters go through a tough time as the male lead (Park Bo Gum) rises in fame as an actor as the female lead (park So Dam) gets recognized as a makeup artist.By the end, they part ways believing that it's not the right time for them to be together despite their love for one another.They do promise that if in the future they come to meet by fate then they'll give it another go. The last episode shows them meeting by chance at a movie shoot, strike a conversation, and just walk together.

3. Uncontrollably Fond - Kim Woo Bin

Viewers already know that Joon-young (Kim Woo Bin) only has few months to live. He comes to terms with his life during the final scenes. Joon-young rests his head on Noh Eul's (Suzy) shoulder, who later asks if he's asleep. With no answer, Noh Eul realizes he's passed away. In the final scene, she kisses his poster and says, "See you tomorrow, Joon-young."

4. Mr. Sunshine - Lee Byung Hun

Eugene Choi, (Lee Byung Hun) who was born to slavery, escapes as a kid to the United States during the 1871 US expedition to Joseon. In the end, the existing political turmoil leads to Eugene’s death while he fends off his enemies. 

5. Stairway to Heaven - Kwon Sang Woo

Jung-Suh (Choi Ji Woo) reunites with her childhood friend and true love only to fall ill with the same type of cancer her mother died of. Fans were left heartbroken by the sad ending as Jung-Suh doesn't get her happily ever after. She dies in the arms of her love (Kwon Sang Woo).

6. Empress Ki

Empress Ki is a highly popular historical K-drama that had a sad ending that left fans heartbroken for the main character. The final episode of the drama entails the last of empress Ki's (Ha Ji-Won) enemies to be defeated. The joy of their win is overshadowed by the death of a main character.Ta Hwan (Ji Chang-Wook) realizes that he's been betrayed by someone close to him. He's been secretly fed poison for some time & dies.

[partyon]

21 hours ago, MayanEcho said:

Is there any drama ending more strange than that of The Last Empress? 

 

No.

 

5 hours ago, ElleSor said:

As for Inzaghi, ML should have brought him to Malta with him.

 

Yeah, stuffed. As a souvenir.

 

Justice for Han Seo and my Kwakkie!

 

3 hours ago, madmad min said:

Also You who came from another star, The Alien cant swallow Saliva but can get a Human pregnant and survive...WHAT?

 

 

3 hours ago, willenette said:

6. Empress Ki

 

They killed my oppa in this drama!

 

[Lmangla]

On 9/21/2022 at 10:57 AM, UnniSarah said:

@partyonThanms for the mention

 

I have my own titles that wasn’t mentioned

Miss Monte Cristo

Glamorous Temptation 

Money Flower

Good Person

Noblewoman

Sweet Enemy

 

 

PS will come back to write more

why do you think they were bad -- just give your snark review and we will have laughs even if we didn't see the drama.  

[liyahsbutterfly]

A good chunk of these are endings that make sense to me, especially Penthouse and Temptation of Wife... others... not so much. I was so traumatized from Love ft Marriage and Divorce that I had no idea the drama ended. Fashion King is infamous though. There's a big line between sad endings and stupid endings. Princess Aurora takes the cake for "stupid"... and Fashion King is runner-up. Penthouse made sense (mostly) plot-wise.

4 hours ago, Lmangla said:

Miss Monte Cristo

Glamorous Temptation 

Money Flower

Good Person

Noblewoman

Sweet Enemy

 

Miss Monte Cristo also mostly made sense except for a few characters. Haven't finished Glamorous Temptation, never watched Money Flower, didn't finish Good Person. I actually dropped Noblewoman since it took a deep dive into insanity by the 2nd half with the random brain/mind transplants. Sweet Enemy... I feel like the romance screwed up the ending overall.

 

20 hours ago, willenette said:

5. Stairway to Heaven - Kwon Sang Woo

 

RAGE INDUCING. DO NOT REMIND ME. I almost punched my laptop after seeing that ending.

 

I would like to add Phoenix 2020, with the drama that happened behind the scenes, the ACTUAL drama spiralled into complete chaos.