just finished watching it... really have the same feeling with you (@kaedejun) : "ARE YOU FREAKIN’ KIDDING ME?"
..at first...
but then i rethink again and read the comments... especially comment by rambutan.. u're right it should have been considered very logic the end of this drama for Hyung Jun to be killed... however like most comment-ers i am also disappointed in how they brought up the story at the end episodes (18-20) that just feels dull and weird... just lose its senses and what the real message that is trying to be delivered to the audience...
anyway... it sure is quite exciting and enjoy watching the episodes even though it wasn't wrapped up nicely...

thanks for the recaps kaedejun!

just finished watching it... really have the same feeling with you (@kaedejun) : "ARE YOU FREAKIN’ KIDDING ME?"..at first...

but then i think again and read the comments... especially comment by rambutan.. u're right it should have been considered very logic the end of this drama for Hyung Jun to be killed... however like most comment-ers i am also disappointed in how they brought up the story at the end episodes (18-20) that just feels dull and weird... just lose its senses and what the real message that is trying to be delivered to the audience...
anyway... it sure is quite exciting and enjoy watching the episodes even though it wasn't wrapped up nicely...

thanks for the recaps kaedejun!

Im So Dissapointed To The Ending !
Im So Curious Who AsSaSinate Hyun Jun ?
Huh ?It Has So Many Mystery Scene That Happen !
:))But Hopefully Our Question Answer In IRIS 2 !

Im So Excited To Watch The IRIS 2 !

When ?

Thank you for a WONDERFUL recap. After staying up two straight nights watching all 20 episodes, I have to admit that it was a very compelling series. I have never watched Korean drama before, so it was pretty good.

I have to admit, the only reason I started to watch the series from the first episode was the MUSIC. Pure and simple, the music track was the best I've seen for a TV show, ever. I'm 50, and to be honest, the music was the key.

In addition, I understand that this is first and foremost a DRAMA. One should never inject reality in such shows, so all the gun battles, nuclear bombs, nerve gas, and other whatnot are all incidental devices, rather than the fact that any discharge of any weapon for any reason would always entail investigations. OK, the deaths were all suppressed from the public (secret agent stuff, y'know), and the autopsy of EVERY bad guy went through Pigpen's...er, Hyun Kyu's... forensics lab. All three or four hundred of them. I chalk it up to creative license.

OK, back to the drama: I admit I'm a sucker for good Romeo / Juliet plots, which many K-Dramas seem to spawn. Saying nothing about acting abilities, but rather responding to the actual moments that effected me, I have to admit that the Uranium room love scene was the one that affected me the most, and brought tears to me. (yes, I'm 50 male, so sue me). That was really a surprise.

But that's really the only memorable love point (other than the monster talk by the statue in Akita). Now, as I said before, this was my first foray into Korean fare, and I suspect the plots have more to do with Korean expectations in plots, what they view as macho/feminine, etc, which is markedly different than American expectation.

Having said that, I have to admit...the writing really was awful for much of the series. "Continuity of Plausibility" is probably the best term I can come up with. Yes, I can understand the concept of extraordinary crimes happening on a routine basis, this is fiction after all. My term, though, is my attempt at OBJECTIFYING my interpretation of a series, based on the SUBJECTIVE level of the actual plot sequence, ie terrorism and North/South Korean unification.

It appears that the Korean writing staff had an incredible vehicle, but wasted much of it on mundane matters. I never did have a sense that IRIS had any sense of real "control." I sense that IRIS went way beyond the "minor" issue of Korean unification, though I admit that KU is probably the major political situation on the peninsula to most of the show's primary viewers.

But some of the technical issues seemed to be a bit juvenile. Lots of great forensic devices, such as GPS tracking of radiation, the enhanced "Enemy of the State" real-time satellite tracking of suspects, etc.

Finally, I wanted to commend you for pointing out my own pet technical peeve of the show: the peculiar scene where Americans were talking English in a meeting with Koreans. I really thought that their dialog was irrelevant. But seriously, they are actors; couldn't they have at least learned one or two lines of script in Korean? Frankly, I understand that the Korean agents are fully fluent in both English and Korean, after all the computer was nearly 100% English itself. But the translation must be PLAUSIBLE. In other words, during the meeting, only two scenarios pass the plausibility test:

1. Everyone speaks English. This doesn't work, because this is, after all, a Korean drama.
2. The main actors all speak Korean, and if something must be reported from the Americans, throw in a translator character.

Now, having said that, I'm unfamiliar with Korean drama so I don't know if seamless English/Korean dialog is common enough. All I do know is that the American dialog seemed pointless, and if they needed to establish the presence of Americans, I'm sure we have an accent that can verify this fact to the audience. Hope you don't mind me expanding on this.

Back to the storyline: I have a feeling that the writers were writing for 17 episodes, or 18 maximum, and seemed to think, "Oh, we culminated the nuclear bomb arc; now how do we fill 2-3 more hours of extra storyline?" I mean, seriously: Did the production staff know for sure they were going to do 20 episodes? The Nuclear Bomb should have been the ultimate scene, while the department store terrorism scene should have been much earlier, say around Episode 14. That would have also added more complexity to the storyline by allowing simultaneous developement of the two threats, which in turn would allow for more Continuity of Plausibility interactions by the characters.

And finally, really... HOW the HELL could professionals NOT know the difference between hostages and hostage takers? THAT was one plot device that must have come out of desperation. Seriously, this has all the earmarks of trying to do an encore to something that really had no business trying to be improved upon.

BUT...

Having said that, I have to admit, if one can suspend reality, and instead enjoy the ride, I can certainly say that Iris was entertaining. But I will say this: the music is by far and away the BEST music I've heard for this type of show. I'm not as nuanced as to true acting abilities as you are, so everyone acted with the same intensity to me (well, other than those stupid ass American contractor dolts).

Finally, the ending: I think they could have done a lot better on the ending. These people are superhuman of their own right, I know. Sa Woo can take 10 bullets, but be damned if he dies before having one more threesome with his two best buds, good ol' Hyung and Seung. Yeppers, have a nice cry before ya die, Sa Woo old sport.

And of course, killed in a car to end the series: Frankly, I thought if they were going to kill off Hyung, they would have done it either a bit more spectacularly, or a bit more mysteriously. While I believe the writers were killing off Hyung, I thought it would have been a bit more dramatic if Seung were in the scene, rather than on the lighthouse. American drama would not stand for this scene, this "Who Shot JR" type of ending would at LEAST have some plausibility factor involved. To me, that is the most troublesome of endings that could occur. I thought maybe he wasn't dead, but seriously injured, however it seems that there is a consensus that he really IS dead.

OK, long enough rant. Thanks for letting me vent.

I know this is a bump of my post, but it's the next day. I really wanted to let you know I appreciate your attention to detail on your official recap. I was going to take the time to review the entire series again over the course of a couple of weeks, but your recap made it real easy for me.

Using the basic construct of the entire plot, I'm going to retro-edit the script that would have made this series a top-notch run. Again, although I realize that K-drama is culturally different than American drama with quirks in personality traits that are markedly different, I am going to attempt to address the inconsistencies (what I defined as "Continuity of Plausibility") that occurred in the script, while maintaining the flashback sequence proportions (I'm guessing 15-20% of the script are direct flashbacks of prior scenes). I'll touch up on this later.

There are five major points of character development I want to address:

1. Jin Sa Woo's (JSW) FULL life background, namely: How involved was he with IRIS, or at least the influence of IRIS, before he met Hyun Joon? Through CoP, I believe that his character should have been set up BEFORE meeting Hyun Joon. Now, this is tricky, and I will have to look at the existing script to see how I work it, but my thinking is that Sa Woo will think he's doing this in the name of national security. A lengthy indocrination process in this regard will meet CoP in a satisfactory manner. In short, the entire friendship will be based on Sa Woo's manipulation of the sequence.

2. In a similar manner, Choi Seung Hee's character could be more nuanced than just a simple profiler for the department. This was based upon the fact that she never displayed ANY emotion that belied her true feelings or her true involvement with Baek San, the man who was her surrogate father. Though ultimately her character was "pure," I believe that she could have displayed more complexity in her scenes. For instance, when she is first "seduced" by Hyan Joon, she could be seen as smitten with him, but when her face is turned away from his, her expression could have been far more conflicted. Of course, the audience would note this conflict of expression, but not understand it fully. This would allow her to show a potential evil trait that would have been far more plausible in the end.

Interim 1 and 2: Possible romance between Seung Hee and Sa Woo before she first "meets" Hyung in the college classroom? We would never have found this out of course until much later in the arc; I'll keep this in mind, but something like that would DEFINITELY add to the triangle that was somewhat missing at a complex level.

3. Hyan Joon: He would, of course, maintain his innate morality, and in essence, he would maintain the same facade that he maintained in the original, though I believe his background story could have been expanded on a bit more, perhaps with flashbacks and lincremental discovery of his past. I was especially enamored of his ability to move between cool, calculated agent and boorish, exasperating male, which is unique.

4. Kim Sun-hwa's character background needs to have a lot more detail. For instance, though she was jailed, there should have been more background on her family, perhaps even the reason she became an agent in the first place. In addition, she could have had tangential involvement with Iris SOMETIMES in her past, perhaps even being instrumental in getting her the current assignment. (In fact, I was actually going to wonder if Hyan and Sun-hwa would have somehow been related, perhaps not by family involvement (Luke and Leia still leave a "weird" feeling with me in Star Wars, incestual happenstance is one fictional device I think should stay relatively taboo) so that romance is not taboo, but their ultimate relationship will be based upon the fact that, maybe, they were childhood friends but she got whisked to the north after Hyan Joon's parents' death by Iris agents. Now THAT would have been intriguing! I think I'll work that aspect into the fantasy alteration. In addition, her "family" would not have been "killed" but actually removed by Iris and taken somewhere else. THAT would add more opportunities for plot devices in the future, and perhaps in Athena (if she does that show) or Iris 2.

5. Park Chul Yung is probably the most complex character to develop a background for. Obviously, his feelings for Sun-hwa is apparent, and frankly should have been expanded a lot more. In addition, his character should have started with repercussions similar to Sun-hwa. Now, I do understand the reason he was reinstated (or never demoted, not sure the sequence) from his post was that Iris (through is superior) needed him there. Finally, I don't believe that he should never have been involved with Iris until his rise with the North Government. After all, Iris can't predestine EVERYONE... ;)

Basically, the five main characters above would have significant background traits, but the level of acting they would have to perform would have been minor. Significant, but minor. AS I said, I'm using current material and doing a rewrite of a few scenes, with a shuffle or two of plot devices.

As far as additional character development: I would have liked to see Baek San's character have more significant background scenes. While production costs may have prohibited certain luxuries such as additional actors, scenes, and perhaps set construction, I believe that scenes from how NSS were transformed, perhaps with Iris as part of the apparatus following the '92 election would have been fantastic. The flashbacks could have been released incrementally to maintain CoP standards.

Anyway, I just wanted to throw a few ideas in my thinking process. So, onward: I'm going to work on an ALTERNATE Iris recap, with your permission!

OK, I believe I have the overview for a plot that involves all the of the major physical elements of the original series, while adding complex character background and development that would comply far more with Continuity of Plausibility protocols. This series provided me with interesting challenges.

Having said that, I have not read any novelizations or conceptual characterizations by anyone associated with the production, so I am only going with what I saw in the 20 episodes, and my own gut impressions on the characters in that sense. The need to maintain a Korea-centric theme, particularly of reunification, is also Job One, but I feel to really make this more plausible, I have to introduce a world-wide conspiracy to make all the subelements work.

Therefore, let me start by first describing MY interpretation of the agencies. I am working on the assumption that eveyrone reading this has read through your recap or watched the series.

1. IRIS: There was no acronym given for the agency, but I will create my own for it, and of course, maintain the consistency of naming it in English: Institute for Reactive International Security. This is not a big issue, so if anyone can come up with a better one, or more importantly, if I missed it originally, then a correction would be appreciated.

Basically, IRIS is a very secretive, very hush-hush, quasi-legal WORLD-WIDE organization that is run by a select, unknown cadre of individuals who ostensibly are trying to coordinate security around the world with regard to internal and external security organizations. (In the US, the equivalent would be CIA: Foreign security, and FBI: Internal security). However, in reality, IRIS's REAL mission is to render governments around the world useless through chaos. It works first by trying to simultaneously discredit/destroy totalitarian governments (such as China and North Korea), while undermining the will of the people in democratic countries (such as Japan, US, and South Korea). "Mr. Black" is one of the higher ups, and for this series is the unknown antagonist.

IRIS was started in the late fifties, coincidentally in Korea, originally as an organization to facilitate Korean unification following the truce that ended military hostilities, but was subverted (first with Chinese and Russian, then with American) agents who took the organization in a horrific direction. It's most notable attempts included the manipulation of the US Presidential Election of 1960 (by compromising the ballots in Chicago, Illinois), allowing them to place the preferred candidate, John F. Kennedy. This allowed a relative neophyte to encourage the Soviet Union to facilitate the Cuban Missile Crisis, in which the US was to capitulate. But Kennedy called the bluff, Bay of Pigs happened, and the crisis was subverted. That successful end led IRIS to have Kennedy killed so the Gulf of Tonkin incident (remember Choi Seung-hee's dissertation in the college classroom in Episode 1?), and allowed IRIS to maintain instability around the world, including Cold War operations.

Throughout the next few decades, IRIS was the primary backer of all major grouops such as the Red Brigade in Italy, the IRA in Ireland, and the Weathermen in the United States, along with backing most of the governments in Latin America. It's finances are controlled by the Drug Cartels around the world, primarily in China and Mexico.

That's the overview. NOTE: Not all this information will be relevent in the original IRIS 1 series, because there has to be much left for subsequent series. But in order for Continuity of Plausibility to be sustained, the framework has to be established.

In Korea, uncertainty with regard to reunification is the easiest hot button that IRIS can manipulate a coup to allow them a foothold into the East Asian sector, and this will be the prevelent theme for the series; however, several references to the International component will add complexity that will increase the Continuity of Plausibility for the series itself.

I am leaning toward making the true leader of ISIS American, as well as basing it in America, but that's speculative for now. Since IRIS 1 doesn't matter where IRIS originates, I'll leave it in the air, but will work with the framework that ISIS is global with Korean genesis.

2. NSS: National Security Service. I am going to maintain as much canon with the original storyline, but I believe I will make two changes:

a. The NSS was started to assist the current Security agency with regard to absorbing N. Korea (Democratic People's Republic of Korea) with S. Korea. I'll still make the year 1976, and Baek San will be involved from the beginning. The start of the organization will have an eerie similarity to how IRIS was ostensibly started; indeed: IRIS elements would be instrumental in facilitating the creation of IRIS behind the scenes.

b. I am going to concentrate less on administration and policy changes that account for the change in NSS's policy, but rather focus its efforts on migrating from its original, single purpose of reunification into that of a straight out Black Ops department, and work in a flashback sequence in Back San's own migration from patriot to international conspirationalist, to terrorist backer.

3. I'm going to divide the Iris control of NSS (and, in extension, the equivalent services of other countries) into two different factions: Covert, and Nationalist. The Covert faction is actually the faction controlled by IRIS itself. Any individuals involved in Covert are inherent to the actual IRIS organization itself, including knowing the true motive behind IRIS. The Nationalist faction, on the other hand, is probably the most complex of organizations to write around, as this faction will include Choi Seung-hee, Jin Sa-woo, and, in parallel, N. Korea's Kim Seon-hwa. Baek San will remain as the only member of the Covert faction of IRIS associated with the NSS. Briefly, the Nationalist factions (of both S. Korea and N. Korea) are based upon being manipulated by the Covert faction through device of "National Pride." This will allow the progenitors to show a "dark side" that is not really dark, but ignorant of the true evil, and allow for more complex realizations and alliances. This division will allow me to satisy Continuity of Plausibility protocols, and add to the sophistication and ultimate enjoyment of the series. This will also enhance the various love triangles that were a bit lacking in dimension, but maintaining the emotions of the primary love matchups that Korean drama demands.

4. Maintaining the two main climactic scenes: I am going to put the department store hostage scene around Episode 14, move the conference assassination attempt to Episode 18 cliffhanger, and redo the Nuclear Scene to the Episode 19 cliffhanger. I'm going to make some changes on the Nuclear Bomb climax to make it a bit more dramatic as well. I'm going to remove the "switch hostages for hostage-takers" nonsense; even for Korean Drama that's a bit much. Finally, while I understand the reason that Kim Seon-hwa took the bullet for Hyan Joon (love triangle implications), I'm going to resolve that love triangle earlier, and instead have N. Korean Seon-hwa take the bullet intended for the S. Korean President. That would be more symbolic to her sacrifice, especially with her history that I will have entailed upon her.

As far as additional characters: I am not going to introduce any more "regular" characters than already exist. In addition, I will differentiate between "flashback" scenes from previously dramatized episodes from flashback scenes from time periods not covered by the episode arcs. I would suggest imaging those type of flashbacks in Black and White (ala Leverage). In addition, I will try to cut down on the overwhelming amount of flashback scenes in the existing episodes. Really, do we need to see a flashback of Hyan Joon and Seon-hwa 6 times at the Statue by the Lake every time they think of each other?? NOTE: If this is part of K-drama protocol, someone enlighten me.

The bottom line is that the vast majority of the series locations and scenes will still be used, but frankly, this is one series I would LOVE to see improved in IRIS 2. OK, now that I have the overview and general character development, on with IRIS 1, Version 2.0. Like it so far?

The story so far...

I have decided upon a framework that essentially takes in all the major scenes. I've changed a significant amount of background for many of the characters, as well as moved the plot around to justify those character changes. I knew this would be a relatively daunting task, but instinctively I believe this is a damn good property, and I hope the production company looks into incorporating more changes into Iris 2.

I have a term that I came up with to describe the events of a teleplay or screenplay, called "continuity of plausibility." Insomuch as fiction generally does not portray events as they would normally be handled in real life, the term is actually more correctly known as "continuity of RELATIVE plausibility." This allows the fictionalized story to be judged on its "relative" rules.

Let me give an example: In real life, when there is any activity that involves the discharge of a weapon, most westernized have a very strict, arduous, and comprehensive review of the incident. Virtually every shot fired has to be accounted for. In addition, in a country such as Korea there is very little likelihood that normal citizens would be able to acquire the technology or armanents to engage in multiple gun battles. In the case of nuclear threats, far more than just a small rogue CIA-like department would be investigating the entire sequence.

But in the fictionalized storyline, bad guys can have access to weapons like marathon runners to bottled water, rogue agencies can run with no administrative red tape, and lovers can occur on both sides of the iron curtain. This is were the story can now be tapestried into a cohesive, intelligent tale of intrigue.

So for the most part, the suspension of normal procedures are allowed. To that end, there STILL has to be some amount of plausibility within the story. Such plausibility, for instance, would explain actions of characters inherent to their character's past development. For instance, Seung Hee would not suddenly, by Episode 19 or 20, have knowledge of IRIS personnel like Baek San, when in Episodes 1 through 18 she was just as ignorant as everyone else. This would be a violation of the "continuity of relative plausibility" rule. In addition, finding out the hostages were actually exchanged for the real kidnappers, and the agency not even finding out about this until several hours later strains ANY relative level of plausibility. Such a situation doesn't even merit a response.

But the general character development is, in fact, doable with the existing script. I have decided to go with what my original instinct told me. I've made Seung Hee the daughter of Baek San and the female presidential aide turned traitor, Advisor Hong, though she was brought up by another entity. In addition, I've made Sun-hwa the twin of Hyan Joon, separated at birth and taken to the north. (I've not decided if such realization will be made in the first Iris season or not).

In addition, I created a tie between two relatively low-key characters, but instrumental in character development and continuity of relative plausibility. Those two characters are Na Yoon, Mi jung's hacker partner (the fat, jovial guy who stupidly brandished a gun during the attack), as well as the female hacker for the terrorist gang. This was key in setting certain disclosures to be released with plausible results.

Finally, if this were the script from the get go, there would have been no change in production costs (as far as paying additional talent or scenes), yet increased the robustness of the property oodles and oodles. Anyway, I"m off to the races :D

I watched IRIS only now...yeah I know ...a total latecomer, in anticipation of Athena. I keep putting off watching it because I didn't really like KTH( I only saw her in the nine tailed fox legend some ten years ago...and it was pure torture..watching her and Jun Jin brood half the series...urgggh). But I liked LBY (Beautiful days...he was totally mesmerizing) and KSY(All about eve...wow) and cop-spy stories so I was gonna watch this sooner or later anyway. Of course my love for Cha Seong Won totally made this "sooner", cos I don;t wanna be left out in case they made cross references between the two series...

I thought that HyunJun dying is logical...just maybe he should die more heroically...because now it would seem that Seung Hee might need to avenge him in Athena...but since KTH hasn't sign up for Athena...I guess its gonna be totally unrelated...

Okay.
First of all, the ending was lame. I was a little disappointed. I mean, I was hoping for a happy ending! And they just kill him off, and Seung Hee didn't even know a thing? I mean, he was about to propose to her and out of the blue THAT happened?!

What I mean is, the least the authors could do was to let Seung Hee know that he was dead...I guess.

~CH

fuck.
I've been meaning to finish Iris.. i'm up to episode 12 now. but then, Hyun Joon died. dammit. and T.O.P too! ftw!

I gave up on Iris after watching ep 11 today - it just got to be a bit much, too predictable and too drawn out. I read through the recaps and honestly the ending didn't surprise me. I expected that HJ would get truly killed off in the end (not because I knew that he didn't re-up for season 2) because you just knew this guy wasn't going to have a happy ending since throughout the first half of the series you kept getting all these "monster" references being thrown his way.

Honestly, this series reminded me a lot of Bad Guy in terms of writing - the first half was relatively well crafted - although there were a number of holes, and then it's like the writers lost track of timing and their ability to evenly space the action and plot over the course of allotted number of episodes for the series. Somehow, both series managed to have characters who were supposed to be professionals but couldn't find their butts from a hole in the wall! IRIS has these elite special agents (SeungHee who never seems to catch on to what's happening around her until after the fact) and Bad Guy had the cops who were the world's worst detectives.

Either way, IRIS didn't really go beyond my expectations in the K-Drama department. It was definitely flashy and did have a 24 vibe to it. I thought the casting was good. I know many people had issues with the lady who played SeungHee, but to me she was ok...there were some scenes where she was a little flat, but it was no less believable than LHB's character HyunJun running around in a daze yearning after SH at really bad times (in front of the N.Korean agents when they're interrogating her/in front of the N. Korean agents when they infiltrate NSS).

Now I'm moving on to either Coffee Prince or Dr. Champ - probably Coffee Prince, I need something light after IRIS! ^_^

It would have been a very good drama but there are certain things I am not happy about. How come no one suspected Advisor Hong of being a spy except Secretary Jung who was assassinated before he could blow the whistle on her? The way Vic/T.O.P. died was unbelievable. If he is an assassin, he would have known that Hyun Joon was following him and in his house before he sat down to relax ! It is as if he wants to die since he didn't really put up a fight at all. If the members of IRIS don't cooperate with Sa Woo, then the mission is half lost already. I don't like the ending either not because of Hyun Joon's death but rather it is lame to make him die when he is no longer a NSS agent. I hope Athena will tell us more about his death.

I was about to watch this drama, but I hate sad endings so I will just pass...I dont see any reason for sad dramas.

Commenting like 2 years after this drama aired, but whatever.

Vic's death was, to me, one of the most upsetting aspects of the finale. This character was perpetually underdeveloped and the fight scene appallingly anti-climactic. It's like the writers phoned in that scene. All TV writers should take into account that a certain percentage of their viewers watch for one character... In the case of those of us who watched for Vic, his poor death scene and its treatment was a disservice to those of us who were avidly following his story. Sad.

Just finished watching it and was reading your recap, You did a very good job. YES! what kind of ending was that?!?!?!?!?! When everything couldn't be better Hyun Joon is killed... o.O. He better comes back in IRIS2 that's all I have to say.

Thanks for the awesome recap! :D

Iris is such a great series and since it is a modern action series, i was kinda expecting that either of the lovers will die.
(while watching the last part) i was hoping that it'll be a happy ending though i cautioned myself to see a sad one (since i had such a long time to get over from the sad ending of another Korean drama, "Money War")...
and yea... it is TT-TT

i hope if there's part 2 it'll be a happy ending XD

Maybe TOP killed him? I know he apparently died, but I don't think it was that simple. I fnid it hard to believe that one of Iris's top assasins was just downed. So I believe that in Iris 2, TOP will be my main baddie, gone rogue from IRIS, and Seung Hee will be the world's best AVENGER! HURRAH for IRIS, best show ever! Now hurry up and make Iris 2.

korean films end sucks...y always kill of all d characters

I hate d last episode.it's heart breaking after such fatal,pathetic risk,why must he die??? He had to spend time with the love of his life and the so called 'IRIS' being the villian has to be comprehended.u better produce a 3rd season to end it melodically cos if am T.O.P,i won't chose such tragedic character

I hate d last episode.it's heart breaking after such fatal,pathetic risk,why must he die??? He had to spend time with the love of his life and the so called 'IRIS' being the villian has to be comprehended.u better produce a 3rd season to end it melodically cos if am T.O.P,i won't chose such tragedic character and i mean it.Bt,u guys did a really gud job although there was not a scene of CHS and KHJ making love{sex} u knw what i mean?

I dont know wt to say or do am just angry with all south korean movie they never end happly same with jumong,iron empress,queen of shilla,conqureor,a man called god.i think i will have to stop watching ur movie dat is all south korean film

Just finished the series. The ending was horrible. HORRIBLE. This is only the 7th K-drama I've watched and the last 2 episodes were indeed muddled.

I'm so disappointed in how this show ended overall. It had so much potential to be the best drama, Korean or not.

Well it's off to finish Faith and continue watching The Seer.

Great site by the way.

k-drama's SUCKS

i just couldn't androstand why they killed hyun joon, they shouldn't do that, i hated it

i love u kim hyung joong & jinsaw i love themmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm

another sick ending by KDrama....i remember watching joumong with long freaking series still with no good ending....or the baker who i think the writer force to everyone happy ( how can they happy if their true love being cut off forever)

thx for this recaps...so i dont have to watch till the end....or maybe can u made directory such like..."happy ending movie list" and "not happy ending movie list" LOL!!

Korean movie is the worst ever, they never have a happy ending e.g Iris, The man call God and Fashion king. They should improve more on how to end their movies.

Cnt diz korean people jes mak a filmwich ends hapilllyyyy?????

Buh fnkz bro u've saved me d stress/money of buyin d next season nd probably korean films

It is really an intresting movie bt ending wth tragedy.So we are anxiously expecting the next season.

I was personally satisfied with Hyun Joon's death. But what pisses me off is that they just ended right then and there. They (the creators) should've at least showed the funeral and how everyone else that was close to him handle it.
Something like: After the funeral, the rest of the NSS group goes on with their daily lives knowing that it'll never be the same. While Seung Hee, who is depressed with HJ's death, is in the room that both she and her love shared, loading her pistol and putting it in her pocket, then, before leaving the room, she looks back at the room for the final time before setting out to take vengeance on the person who killed HJ. *I know my grammar is crappy*
But nooo. they just had to end it with HJ dying, leaving us unsatisfied and depressed at the same time. Personally I think that many other fans would've been more satisfied with what I thought of; the ending where there is no actual end, where fighting will still go on no matter what.
I haven't start watching Iris 2 but from what I've heard, it's just as good but doesn't have the same casts which really disappoints me.
Right now, I also would've been happy with a happy cliche ending. Something like: Both hand in hand looks into each others eyes, knowing that they'll be together forever, grasps each other's hands and walks into the plane that'll take them to America where they'll have a happy family.
I just hope that Iris 2 would be good enough to replace this feeling that I got from the ending of Iris 1.

Mtseew. I dislik the ending. Why should he die jst like that?

Oh oh oh!?is this the real end or let us wait for for the other episodes .why kim hyun joon? Why him?i was about to have a heart attack.anyway this movie was more interesting.thx.

My view:
One of the main theme or storyline in Iris is for Hyun Joon to avenge his parent's death and to eliminated the group Iris that was responsible. This was clearly pointed out in one episode where Hyun Joon met up with an old friend of his parent (the injured bed ridden guy that was later killed by Baek San). So how can Hyun Joon die at the end when Iris still exist? Hyun Joon was still twitching at the end so I'm hoping the shot was not fatal and that he comes back in Iris 3

Also, in the series Athena, it mentioned Sun Hwa (the short hair girl fighting along side Hyun Joon in Iris) and the death of her husband and daughter. She vowed vengeance on Park Chul Young (her former lieutenant) and North Korea.

I hope to see a Hyun Joon and Sun Hwa comeback in Iris 3.

The film should not be ended like that.hyun joon suppose not to die.and also the person who shot him was not reveal the same as mr black.

I am in complete agreement ith you. This is one of the most badly written ending I have seen in a long tine, especially since that Lee byun Hun never got a chance to completely anialate the roots of IRIS. Very bad ending. Very annoyed. Yes, why couldn't they just send them away in a far away land and create a sequal plot on that??? Uggghhh

In the Great queen seon duk Bidam, ma luvly actor died!!! Again in Iris, dat starring guy dies at the end?!!! Annoyng!!!

Sad ending and a surprise to me. However, throughout the series you have to suspend belief because of odd implausible parts. For example where do these people keep all their ammunition as they fire hundreds of rounds from their pistols; we are fed that NSS are technically great but there was no tracking of mobile phone calls/messages, and during periods when satellite and cellphone blocking had been put in place the characters were still able to use their cellphones. Also when CSH disappeared and Baek San asked her to join IRIS the video shows the back of the Head of IRIS/Mr Black in the same room but KHJ does not ask who he is and CSH does not offer such information. I don't want to be too picky because it is after all fiction and overall it was entertaining escapism.

And another thing .... After KHJ completed his assassination in Hungary and becomes a very wanted man there are no attempts by him at disguise(eg dark glasses, or change of clothes) - he carries on evading and running around wearing the same black clothes and baseball cap. They all walk the streets (and art galleries) as if no-one is looking for them and no-one will ever recognise them. I thought the ending would twist and reveal that the head of IRIS was CSH's father (not dead after all) and such a scenario would give more "credibility" to KHJ's demise and reveal the smile on her face at the lighthouse as one of smug satisfaction rather than happy anticipation, and tie in with her confessed acting when she first met KHJ at NSS.

Finally got around to watching this drama - loved the beginning eps! Only~ Vic's death was sooooo disappointing! I mean, he was portrayed as this really impressive assassin and then..THAT's how it ends for him?? How the hell was he so easy to take down; how the hell did he last this long then?? Mi Jung's death was disappointing too, like, that's it?? And also, how the hell is Hyun Jun always soo unscathed? - Like in that scene where he enters the golf place where IRIS is, he shoots everyone successfully 100% of the time and they hit him never?? IRIS can't take down ONE man?? I lost some interest in this drama about half way through but still managed to finish it. I also liked the ending + the extended ending though so it was a good drama overall haha

IRIS started off really great, with a solid storyline, a direction, and all that. Unfortunately, that started unraveling pretty quickly - the show reached its peak in ep. 17-18, with the nuclear bomb story, and it seems that the writers just didn't know what to do with it after that.
Some stuff:

1. Sa Woo - I really don't understand why he went that far off into the dark side. I never got an answer to this question, and I never got to see the process of his moving there. What is the drive behind his actions? What drove him to side with Baek San, try to kill Hyun-joon, join IRIS, and sacrifice so much? I have no idea. And this is a major flaw.

2. The Seung Hee love story thing - I agree with someone else here who said it was the weakest part of the series. I felt zero chemistry between her and Hyun-joon. It was as if they were in love because they said so - and that's it. No feeling at all. On the other hand, Hyun-joon had definite chemistry with Seon Hwa. I would have been extremely happy if something had happened between them.

3. So many nonsensical events - The hilarious bilingual thing. The fact that IRIS is supposed to be super-secret but they're taking hostages and making noise like that right out in the open. The president's insistence on making that summit happen. A whole bunch of stuff that would have never happened in a competent military/intel organization.

4. The ending. WTF? What was the point here, exactly?... it was anti-climactic, contrived, and came out of nowhere. I could have accepted this ending if it was presented properly, but this...

I'm really disappointed in IRIS. :(

And one more thing that I can't believe I forgot in my above comment: VICK!
He was presented as this super-professional assassin, but he was so extremely easy to kill. He didn't even put up a proper fight. Nothing about that scene made sense, nothing. It contradicted everything we were told about his character and it sucked.

iris its good film any way but where is the end of all iris members? and meeting of both presidents it stoped or not

I watched till episode 18 and now that I read the ending, I don't wanna watch it anymore. Dafuq!

Fantastic series's, but I like so many others want more with main heros intact.
Please come back with more.

Am totally unhappy about the ending, Why should Hyuun joon die when he suffered and been betrayed by his best friend with all the struggles he made with seung hee to get back together. At least they should have been married, and go to far place and never return kids and happy life. Then a new one be open with other people. It still breaks my heart that they aren't married.

This movie is actually my favorite Korean drama but I'm not contented to watch this movie cause there's the ending of this drama make me not satisfied.however two of them fall in love but they didn't meet each other at the end that made me not satisfied.its somehow like end up on half way n there is episode 21 not continuing with the same character.

so it iris 2? do they tell us who killed hyun joon?
i saw a video clip of a song and it showed that the girl from north korea shoot him from a boat?
and im with you? why couldnt they make the couple live happy ever after, why had to kill the guy off?

Me too After all what happened to them why he must be killed at the end With this end I will never recommend this serie Sorry

I was extremely disappointed in the ending. Why couldn't Lee Byeong Hoon return for the sequel. To kill him off made me wish I had not watched the episodes at all. They gave all only to lose all. Give me a break as they say in America. I would not recommend anyone to watch IRIS because, yes, because of the ending. Waste of so much time. The acting was superb! That is all I can say about IRIS.