Summary
The finale of The Frog balances payoff and ambiguity well. It’s a solid ending for a mixed-bag show that at least stuck the landing, even if it didn’t thrill all the way through.
The ending of The Frog has just the right amount of ambiguity and payoff. Some things are left unresolved, sure, but some important matters are concluded, and what remains unclear is largely the show’s point. Episode 8 is similar to all the episodes preceding it – you should read our recap of the entire season if you’re interested – in that it ponders context; whether a tree falling makes a noise without anyone around to hear it, and similarly, whether a crime with no witnesses is really a crime at all.
It obviously is, by the way, but at least the characters realize this.
Did Sung-a Kill Si-hyeon?
The big question of the finale has been the big question of the series ever since the premiere – did Sung-a kill Si-hyeon? Of course, she did.
Bo-min knows this, or at least suspects it strongly enough to authorize a search party to dig around the corn fields, contrary to the Chief’s initial wishes.
This is a good move, as it turns out, since Sung-a can only be detained for a couple of hours before her string-pulling industrialist father gets her released. While Sung-a debates suing Bo-min and goes to burn all her clothes, the search party discovers Seon-tae’s hacked-up body, which will certainly do for incriminating evidence.
Jae-sik Kills Sung-a
However, Bo-min never gets the chance to arrest Sung-a. She’s killed by Jae-sik, who confronts her with the rifle he took at the end of the penultimate episode. Her father can’t help her this time, and with her murder of Si-hyeon having clearly crossed a line, she’s left to the mercy of the boy’s father instead.
Despite her efforts to trick Jae-sik into shooting Yeong-ha, promising to reveal Si-hyeon’s location if he does, Jae-sik fatally shoots Sung-a as she flees. She bleeds out in the pool, any hope of finding Si-hyeon’s body going with her.
The Case Remains Unsolved
The Frog | Image via Netflix
Without a body, there’s no way to definitively prove that Sung-a killed Si-hyeon, but she got her comeuppance either way.
Similar can be said about Hyang-cheol’s murder, though in slightly different circumstances. Even though Bo-min establishes a connection between the rifle used to kill both Hyang-cheol and Sung-a, and she knows Gi-ho is guilty of the former, she refuses to do anything about it. In this case, she’s happy for things to remain unresolved. Wrong thing, right reasons.
Jae-sik is arrested for Sung-a’s murder, but there are suggestions even that won’t stick.
The Frog Ends With Lessons Having Been Learned
Through Sang-jun, Yeong-ha learned a thing or two about not running a business in such a way that it almost kills you. Sang-jun worked himself to exhaustion, and his exhaustion, something as simple as falling asleep at his desk, led to a sequence of terrible events that might, in different circumstances, have been avoided.
Through Gi-ho, Yeong-ha learned that he had to speak up. That got Sung-a arrested and saved Ui-seon, who didn’t lose her child in the end. But his reluctance to reveal what happened meant that Si-hyeon will never be found. Sang-a was brought to justice in a way, but not for the crimes she actually committed. Not the right way.
Unobserved crimes aren’t victimless. Sticking one’s head in the sand doesn’t hide the rest of one’s body. And honesty is (almost) always the best policy.
What did you think of the ending of The Frog? Let us know in the comments below.
