Gyeongseong Creature is the latest in the long list of Korean thrillers with monstrous creatures that all look somewhat alike with recycled plotlines that all end with the same philosophical question: “Who is the real monster?” Gyeongseong Creature in many ways feels like South Korea’s answer to Stranger Things. They’re both Netflix shows, so I suppose everyone wins. The show is set in 1945 Gyeongseong, present-day Seoul, and follows Jang Tae-Sang, a rich and popular man, who goes on a dangerous journey when Commissioner Ishikawa demands he find a missing woman for him. Tae-Sang soon gets involved with a young woman named Chae-Ok, who is an expert at searching for missing people, dead or alive. He entrusts her and her father with helping him find Myeong-Ja in order to save his business and livelihood.
Spoilers Ahead
Why Does Tae-Sang Stay Back In The Hospital?
With only 10 minutes to spare, Tae-Sang has to get the whole crowd of civilians out of the hospital. From the second floor, they set up a room for their escape. The plan is to have a soiree in the streets of Gyeongseong with free alcohol and food, so a huge crowd blocks the streets. At the same time, Ishikawa has entered the building too, at the request of Tae-Sang, in order to have a police bus come in to collect all the civilians for their escape. One of the Japanese military men finds the room, but the Korean soldier Yeong-Gwon kills him in an instant. The sound of the gunshot alerts Sergeant Haneda, and he brings all his soldiers to the second floor. He plans on killing all the prisoners. Tae-Sang, Chae-Ok, and Yeong-Gwon barricade the floor and stand guard until the prisoners escape. Tae-Sang is, of course, desperate for Chae-Ok to escape, but she refuses to listen to him. Unfortunately, Yeong-Gwon gets shot, and Chae-Ok, who takes her promises very seriously, tries to bring him to safety, but in vain. He hands her a piece of wood with his name written on it so she can tell his mother that he missed her dearly and tried hard to meet her again.
Tae-Sang helps Chae-Ok out of the window and stays back with In-Hyeok, the rebel. Despite In-Hyeok showing his distrust of Tae-Sang, he trusts him, telling his friends that he won’t be returning. Tae-Sang shows how patriotic he is at this moment, making In-Hyeok feel guilty. In-Hyeok is the last to escape, and Tae-Sang stays back to distract the soldiers so that the rest can escape peacefully. This had been his plan all along. Tae-Sang made one promise to his mother before she was taken away by Japanese soldiers, and that was to stay alive. Despite this, he chooses to help the prisoners and sacrifice his own life. Possibly his pride and meeting Chae-Ok have made a real change in him.
What Is Ishikawa’s Plan?
It’s made clear in episode 7 of Gyeongseong Creature that Ishikawa’s wife is Director Ichiro’s big sponsor. She’s the one who built the hospital for him, and he’s lost everything he was meant to be taking care of in there just like that, making her very angry. Ishikawa is simply distracting Ichiro while Myeong-Ja can escape. Ishikawa’s big plan is that when Myeong-Ja is released, he’ll have the police kill off the rest of the prisoners. On the other hand, Haneda’s ego is bruised, so he plans on killing anyone in his way, even if Ichiro wants the prisoners alive, since they’re his experiments.
Does Tae-Sang Escape?
Tae-Sang finds himself out of bullets quickly and climbs into a vent. Many soldiers follow him, and rushing, he falls through a chute and lands on a mountain of human bones. This shows us how many people Ichiro has really worked on, and it could be 100, just killed off without any defense. Elsewhere, Mrs. Nawol sells an expensive piece of fine china from Tae-Sang’s shop in exchange for Jun-Taek’s freedom. Jun-Taek is dropped off in front of his house as he shakes in fear and begs for mercy. His father was disappointed but relieved. Jun-Taek has given up all the names of the rebels and Tae-Sang’s crew, so he’s probably going to be left feeling very ashamed of himself. Ichiro learns of Myeong-Ja’s escape. He and Kato both learn that somebody has drunk the glass of water that had another one of the Najins in it. The identity of the person is unknown. Haneda finds Tae-Sang near the bone mountain and points a gun at the back of his head. We hear gunshots and realize Tae-Sang has managed to kill Haneda and save himself.
Do The Prisoners Escape?
With the street party in full swing, Mr. Gu takes the truck through the dancing crowd. The truck that’s following is blocked by the party, but they realize they can take a small side street and get to the prisoners right in time. When the police stop Mr. Gu, he reminds them that Myeong-Ja has already been dropped off to Ishikawa, and their end of the bargain is done. The police know he’s hiding somebody in the back of the truck, but when they check it, there’s nobody there. It turns out everyone was made to change clothes in the tailor shop and escape in different directions via rickshaw. Mr. Gu gets arrested and may be tortured for information about Tae-Sang at some point. The entire crowd gets beaten up as the police search for the prisoners, but in vain. Ultimately, everyone gets taken away to different places, Chae-Ok and her father included. She wonders if Tae-Sang would’ve escaped as the cherry blossom flowers start to fall.
How Does Ichiro Save Himself?
Maeda tells Ichiro that he needs to return to Tokyo after resigning as the director of the hospital since he’s failed at all of his tasks, specifically keeping Myeong-Ja in the hospital until she gives birth. Ichiro shows Maeda sketches of the creature, telling her that this is how he took care of the woman she had asked him to a long time ago (what does Maeda have to do with Chae-Ok’s mother?).
Who Is The Next Creature?
At the end of Episode 7 of Gyeongseong Creature, Myeong-Ja and Ishikawa are seen embracing each other in bed before the Najin crawls up the inside of her head and enters her brain. Back in the hospital, the creature is kept under nitrogen, but with so many soldiers’ deaths, we don’t know how Kato is going to keep her in check. Now, Chae-Ok must return to save Tae-Sang and end her mother’s misery for good. Will she be able to do it? We’ll see in Part 2 of Gyeongseong Creature.
