Summary
“Chase” mostly works on its own terms, but its real function is to set up the final three episodes — and in that regard, at least, it performs exactly as advertised.
Netflix’s new habit of releasing everything in multiple parts means that something like Episode 7 of Gyeongseong Creature Part 1 isn’t really an ending, or the Season 1 finale, but instead a stop-gap between this batch of episodes and the release of the final three in January. On that basis you have to judge it a little differently. Cliffhangers are suddenly not annoying – “Chase” has several – and a lack of resolution feels like a promise for future potential instead of a disappointing way to secure a renewal.
So, on the basis of the above, the “final” episode of Gyeongseong Creature is a great advertisement for the real ending, which I’ll see you back here in a month to discuss.
In the meantime, let’s unpack the horrors of Ongeong Hospital, reveal who lived (almost everyone) and who died (almost nobody), and what may happen in the future now that the Najin parasite it out in the big wide world.
Gyeongseong Creature Season 1 Episode 7 Recap
We left things in Episode 6 with Tae-sang and Chae-ok preparing to spirit the freed prisoners to safety. But it’s a race against time. Gu has been instructed to leave without Tae-sang if it comes to that, and Ichiro and Kato are furiously trying to keep everything covered up by killing everyone they can.
Does Tae-sang escape the hospital?
With time running out, Yeong-gwan, the undercover Korean soldier, is mortally wounded during a shootout with the soldiers. In his dying moments he gives Chae-ok his Korean name and address, and a tag to return to his mother. At least he died for a good cause.
With that sacrifice out of the way, Tae-sang and Chae-ok ensure the prisoners get out, but Tae-sang sends Chae-ok out first and decides to remain behind in order to create a distraction and ensure the others escape. He’s wounded by the soldiers and manages to escape through the vents until he eventually falls into a room full of bones, which is a pretty ominous detour.
Who survives?
Aside from the noble death and the heroic self-sacrifice detailed above, virtually all of the other main characters survives, having escaped from the hospital thanks to Tae-sang’s master plan.
Nawol manages to negotiate Jun-taek’s release, and he’s reunited with his father. Myeong-ja escapes and is reunited with Ishikawa, paying off his help in the escape plan – he got his mistress and unborn baby back after all. Yeong-gwan’s mother receives his name tag, and Chae-ok and her father are also alive and well.
Who is really behind Ongseong Hospital?
It is revealed that the true mastermind behind the hospital’s experiments is Ishikara’s wife, Maeda, which explains why she used the place to try and get rid of her husband’s mistress. But she’s also responsible for Chae-ok’s mother being there in the first place. Ichiro goes to see her and shows her the reports and drawings of the “successful” monster.
Who drank the water?
At one point Kato notices that the worm water on his desk that he tried to get Chae-ok to consume in the previous episode has been downed by someone. The only potential candidates are Chae-ok, Tae-sang, or Myeong-ja.
At the very end it is revealed that it was, in fact, Myeong-ja. We see the Najin worm wriggling its way to her brain as she spends the night with Ishikawa.
How does Gyeongseong Creature Season 1 Part 1 end?
Part 1 ends mostly with questions. What does the Najin being outside the confines of the hospital mean? How might the infection affect Myeong-ja’s unborn child?
We also have Tae-sang to worry about. He’s alive stuck inside the hospital, but he’s hurt, and trapped in the bowels of the building where his bloody handprints overlap with those of a monster. What other morbid secrets might the building be holding?
We’ll find out in the final three episodes when they release on Netflix on January 5, 2024.
What did you think of Gyeongseong Creature Season 1 Episode 7 and the Part 1 ending? Let us know in the comments.
