Warning: Spoilers ahead for Dear X
Since its early November debut, Dear X (친애하는 X) has had Korean drama fans on the edge of their seats with the twisted tale of actress Baek Ah-jin (My Demon’s Kim Yoo-jung). The melodrama follows the rise and fall of the dark protagonist as she uses a combination of manipulation and pretty privilege to claw her way to the top of Korea’s entertainment industry, unmoved by the ruin she leaves in her wake. The series is based on a popular webtoon by Vanziun and is brought to vivid life by Lee Eung-bok (alongside Park So-hyun), the director behind some of Korean TV’s biggest hits, including Goblin, Mr. Sunshine, and Sweet Home.
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Dear X just wrapped up its 12-episode story. Though the drama deviated from its source material in the final act, it still led to some major consequences for Ah-jin. “As a live-action adaptation, the actors’ sweat and tears bring an added layer of emotional depth, and the adult storyline in the latter half of the series was newly created for the drama,” Lee said in a press conference for the series. “I wanted viewers to sometimes root for Ah-jin, and at other times feel a sense of sorrow or conflict toward her.” Was K-drama’s biggest fall hit able to deliver an emotionally satisfying ending? Let’s break down how Dear X arrives at its twisted conclusion.
What happens in Dear X?
Dear X is the story of how Baek Ah-jin survives an abusive childhood to become one of Korea’s top actresses. The story is structured in three tragic arcs. The first focuses on Ah-jin’s childhood and adolescence and the murder of her father. The second follows Ah-jin’s time as a rookie actress and the suicide of actor boyfriend Heo In-gang (Family By Choice’s Hwang In-youp). The third chronicles Ah-jin’s downfall, which leads to the deaths of her closest confidantes, school friend Kim Jae-oh (Love Scout’s Kim Do-hoon) and ex-stepbrother Yun Jun-seo (Kim Young-dae).
Dear X has been recognized for its unique structure within the Korean drama scene by refusing to dull the cruel edges of its female anti-hero. The series succeeds for most of its run by simultaneously provoking sympathy for both Ah-jin and for her victims, making it intentionally difficult for the viewer to decide if they are rooting for Ah-jin’s success or not.
At the beginning of the series, when Ah-jin is young and trying to escape her life, it is easier to sympathize with the character. She may be hurting people, but they aren’t particularly likeable. Poor and plagued by her abusive father, Ah-jin has little relative power. Ah-jin’s actions are objectively immoral, but they are also relatively easy to excuse as a viewer.
However, as Ah-jin’s story progresses, she gains more power in the form of fame and money, and her victims become more sympathetic. In-gang, a fellow actor who Ah-jin dates for more than a year in order to grow her star power, truly loves Ah-jin. He welcomes her into his family, despite his better instincts and falls in love. He plans to quit acting and marry her.
Dear X’s middle act is its best, as Ah-jin gets the closest she ever will to breaking her cycle of destructive (and therefore self-destructive) behavior. She considers choosing happiness and love over power and emotional isolation. However, when In-gang’s mother, the one person who has shown Ah-jin unconditional love, dies suddenly, Ah-jin loses hope that she can have a “normal” life, as she calls it. She breaks up with In-gang cruelly, and he dies by suicide shortly after. Ah-jin doesn’t even attend his funeral. Once someone is no longer of use to her, she moves on.
Dear X‘s ending, explained
Dear X’s third act is the least successful of the show’s run. While the story maintains some of its emotional tension and complex moral landscape, it gets bogged down by half-baked villain Moon Do-hyeok (Hong Jong-hyun), a rich psychopath who decides he wants Ah-jin as his next plaything. When In-gang’s suicide leads to Ah-jin’s expulsion from entertainment agency Longstar, Do-hyeok steps in as Ah-jin’s self-appointed savior. He offers her a place at his company, and his hand in marriage.
In what feels like an uncharacteristically unconsidered move for Ah-jin, she marries Do-hyeok. This leaves Jun-seo, who is still reeling from his grandfather’s death and the discovery that he has a different birth father, abandoned once again by Ah-jin. He’s also down one kidney, having donated his other to his thankless upstart mother. Jun-seo, who has been by Ah-jin’s side since they trauma-bonded as stepsiblings, begins to accept that Ah-jin will never choose him over her own goals.
“Dear X began with a simple yet striking question: ‘Why do we fall in love with someone who is bad for us?’” said Lee. “There is a line in Jun-seo’s narration—’Why do I love someone so cruel?’—and that line resonated deeply with me. While the main storyline and character arcs follow the original webtoon, we added greater psychological depth and expanded narratives for the surrounding characters.”
At first, Ah-jin is satisfied with the life of extreme privilege she has married into. She feels like she deserves it for all of the suffering she has endured. In addition to the mansions and staff, her husband buys Ah-jin’s way into the movie role she wanted. However, the relative peace doesn’t last for long. Ah-jin is under constant surveillance by her husband, and starts to lose parts of her memory. When she learns that Do-hyeok’s previous wife now lives at a mental health facility, Ah-jin begins to suspect her husband is masochistically orchestrating her psychotic break.
Jae-oh, who has emerged as Ah-jin’s most loyal enabler, decides to give his life for Ah-jin. When they were teenagers, Ah-jin was the first person to tell Jae-oh that he was useful. Years later, he will do anything to remain useful to her. Knowing that it will be nearly impossible to take down the powerful Do-hyeok, Jae-oh provokes Ah-jin’s husband and waits for him to send his goons to kill him. In the meantime, he sets up cameras to record his own murder. Ah-jin knows this is happening and allows it, accepting Jae-oh’s sacrifice.
With Jae-oh’s death, Jun-seo realizes that Ah-jin will never change. He agrees to work with the TV producer who previously approached him about acting as a source for an expose on Ah-jin’s path of manipulation. Seeing it as the only way to save Ah-jin from herself, and others from Ah-jin, Jun-seo does it. It airs on the same night Ah-jin wins the Blue Dragon award for her latest movie role.
Ah-jin loses everything, and Jun-seo is still there to pick up the pieces. He drives her out of town, telling her he is with her to the end. Jun-seo grasps Ah-jin’s hand, tells her he loves her, and then drives their car off of a cliff. Ah-jin survives the crash, and leaves a still conscious Jun-seo in the car. She sees him not as someone to love or care for, but as the shackle keeping her tied to her abusive past. Ah-jin leaves Jun-seo to die, instead choosing to start the climb back out of the latest ditch.
Does Ah-jin get a happy ending?
I don’t think a happy ending is possible for Ah-jin. She longs for the sense of stability she was robbed of as a child, but is stuck in a cycle of trauma-driven self-destruction, unable to form or nurture the bonds that are necessary for true emotional security. Though the possibility is offered to her through many different relationships, she never takes it, instead holding onto the lessons she developed for survival as a neglected child. It’s a true tragedy.
How is Dear X’s ending different from the webtoon?
Dear X followed the webtoon plot, until the final act. In the source material, Ah-jin sleeps with Jun-seo in order to get pregnant. She uses the child to convince Do-hyeok, whose first marriage fell apart due to infertility issues, to marry her. This is the final straw for Jun-seo, who then agrees to help with the expose.
When the expose about her past comes out, Ah-jin decides to kill herself. Jae-oh, who does not die in the webtoon, stops her and they run away to Hong Kong together. They open a bar and raise the baby together. Then, one day, a rich man proposes to Ah-jin and she runs off with him, leaving her child with Jae-oh. Her new husband has a child who doesn’t like Ah-jin. One day, she pushes Ah-jin down the stairs, and Ah-jin injures her face severely enough that she is unrecognizable. Once she recovers, she returns to Hong Kong to get her child, wanting to be reminded of what her face used to look like.
Meanwhile, Jun-seo has mostly been able to move on with his life. He continues to write. When Ah-jin returns to Korea with her child, it is her revenge on Jun-seo for his betrayal. She vows to Jun-seo that she will never tell their child the truth about her father. Though it is a notably different ending, the adaptation, like its source material, ends with Ah-jin unchanged in her priorities. She will do anything, and climb over anyone, to make it to the top.
The post Breaking Down the Twisted Ending of Dear X appeared first on TIME.
