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Revenge of Others: Episodes 11-12 (Final)

The end is here, and with it several reveals that we kinda expected, but also were still somehow shocking. After so many twists and turns, our drama goes all in to pack a wallop for its ending. The stakes are high, and our heroine’s target pistol is out again.

 
EPISODES 11-12 WEECAP

It was with much sadness — but also a tiny bit of relief — that I tuned into our final two episodes of this show. How will it end? Will it be satisfying? Will they land their final reveals? And most importantly, will my Jae-bum make it okay? Well, let’s dive in.

With Chan-mi off having her crisis and realization in Busan, Jae-bum and Su-heon have a heart to heart. Jae-bum has saved Su-heon’s neck a bunch of times already, and it was nice to see them confiding in each other. Su-heon complains that Chan-mi is ghosting them, Jae-bum confesses that Oh-seong has been “filling in the blanks of his memory” (red flag alert!), and then Chan-mi herself calls. She’s at the school. And the way they run over to her made me melt into a puddle. Enjoy the cuteness, because it gets rough, and the confiding and planning amongst the three of them is great… while it lasts.

Su-heon is still bent out of shape that Chan-mi went A.W.O.L on him, but they barely have time to flirt when Jung-kyung and his gang tase and capture him. Chan-mi can’t call the useless police (more on this theme later), so she calls Jae-bum. He says he’ll look for him, but then… goes back to sleep? This will make sense later, but in the meantime, we revisit his bedroom later in the night and he’s waking up from a horrible nightmare… of his real-life memories coming back.

He was sitting on the roof with his earbuds in, and sure enough Oh-seong came up behind him and kicked him off. It’s a crazy good (and disturbing!) sequence, and things start to click into place for Jae-bum. Oh do they ever.

Meanwhile, Su-heon is getting beaten to a pulp for the million time, and Oh-seong turns up the next morning with an ax to grind (figuratively, but practically literal too). He wants to know if Su-heon was the one who attacked Jung-kyung. Then, he wants to know if he was the one who killed Won-seok. They’re both convinced the other is the assailant and… this doesn’t bode well because Oh-seong looks like he really didn’t do it.

Just in the nick of time, Su-heon is saved from getting beaten to death by some clever hired thugs who make short work of the entire situation. Ah, grown adults! But what are they doing there and why? We don’t find out until a certain someone pulls up in his jeep, and waltzes in. That’s right, they all bow to Jae-bum. *OMG*

Rather than end the quieted-down situation, Jae-bum grabs Oh-seong by the neck and nearly chokes him out. It troubles Su-heon a bit, but it’s also meant as a clue for us: Detective Jin and her partner are deducing that the murderer at the car garage was left-handed. And even though I don’t want to admit it, the choke hold looks exactly the same as the one Jae-bum gave Oh-seong.

It’s at this point that things get a little uneven — I’m not saying I didn’t enjoy all the permutations, but there was so much push-and-pull and fast plot movement that you can barely react to one reveal when you’re getting another (conveniently timed) reveal from another player.

So, in a quick succession wild scenes, we learn a lot about Oh-seong, first. He plays innocent to his father, but later confesses to him that it’s about to hit the fan… and it’s all because he’s in love with Ji-hyun. His father is horrified, but I’m finding this actually makes a bit of sense for his character?

Thanks to Jae-bum — who’s suddenly taking over the narrative — we learn that Jae-bum saw a video of Oh-seong forcing a kiss on Ji-hyun, and in the past, used it as leverage over Oh-seong. (This whole thing is a giant game of blackmail and leverage, as we’ll find out later, and this is an important layer of it.) Jae-bum also confronts Oh-seong over the fact that he remembers he was the one that kicked him off the roof — not Won-seok. It’s spine-chillingly good.

And then it gets more so. “When did you find out there’s another person inside me?” asks Jae-bum in his next maneuver. Noooo it’s true. What we learn in this scene confirms what we hoped wasn’t true a few scenes back when Jae-bum was paying for his hired thugs and used his left hand to sign “Jae-joon” and his right hand to sign “Jae-bum.”

Jae-bum tells Oh-seong that he only just realized this about himself… meanwhile, Oh-seong has known since his “accident” and used it to gaslight him. The terrible tragedy here is that Jae-bum now sees how he’s been played for months, but can do nothing about it. Oh-seong taunts Jae-bum saying, effectively, that he made him hate Won-seok enough to kick him out the window. Jae-bum thought he was paying back eye for eye and tooth for tooth, but really it was just the evil mind game of this psycho. It’s so upsetting.

Su-heon and Chan-mi get (rightly) suspicious of Jae-bum and come up with a plan to see if he is secretly hiding Won-seok’s phone. And he is. Ugh! And did anyone else notice the photos of Chan-mi and Su-heon in his secret hiding place? My heart.

Oh-seong “saves” Jae-bum and enables him to run off and hide, but really at this point, Jae-bum is a walking disaster. He’s not only recovered all his memories, but we see that when he very innocently followed Su-heon on the “errand” to the car garage that night, he happened across the guy Su-heon had been there to punish. This guy recognized and taunted Jae-bum enough for him to have a psychotic break, and the twin that died years ago came back. It’s here that Jae-bum splintered in two, and navigated both the sweet, heroic, and helpful guy we all fell in love with — and the dark and evil twin that did all the dirty work.

After following Jae-bum for so much of the episode, it’s eerie to have him disappear — and also sad, because this whole thing is just so unsettling. But, as the drama gods would have it, So-yeon is living in hiding (briefly, to protect Su-heon), and she spots the hiding Jae-bum brooding on a yacht.

Next thing we know, Chan-mi shows up. She seemingly hasn’t advanced at all from when she held her gun at Su-heon thinking he was the culprit. She now does the same towards Jae-bum, although it’s a much more layered scene — and dude, I love Seo Ji-hoon here — we watch him switch flawlessly from Jae-bum to Jae-joon. It’s chilling, but Chan-mi plays the heroine (or is that Luke Skywalker?) and insists that there’s still good in him. She practically commands “Jae-joon” to go away and let the Jae-bum they all love live in peace.

It looks like it wants to happen, but Jae-bum is so distraught (so many tears in this scene!) that he tries to shoot himself with her gun. But there was only one bullet, and so he winds up taken in by Detective Jin. He gives Chan-mi a meaningful look from the back of the car as they pull away, and that’s literally the last we see of him.

That scene was definitely the climax of the drama, but along the way a lot of questions were filled in, and the endless tug of leverage and blackmail is fully revealed: Won-seok and Se-jin were dating, and Oh-seong used it as leverage against Won-seok. Won-seok thus became Bully #1 and everyone hated him for it. Except Jae-bum, who defended him, and used aforementioned Ji-hyun video for leverage against Oh-seong, to win some relief for Won-seok. It all went wrong(er) when Oh-seong took out his fury on Jae-bum, kicked him off the roof, and then proceeded to blame it on Won-seok, which eventually led to Won-seok’s own fall from a height. Yipes.

This all mostly works for me, but where I get a little tangled is with the timeline. When Chan-mi first transferred to the school, I thought that was Jae-bum’s first return after waking from his coma — but maybe I misinterpreted that, because ostensibly Oh-seong had already been gaslighting him for months beforehand. Also, those dang polaroids were never fully explained, and based on what we know about those four guys now, there was definitely no smiley hangout times between them.

But anyway, with Jae-bum in custody, what about the true villain? Because I really don’t count the mentally ill, traumatized, and manipulated Jae-bum as our villain. That title is Oh-seong’s alone, and he’s not done yet. He has a box cutter at Ji-hyun’s neck (so much for true love) and calls Su-heon to the roof, forcing him to bow and beg forgiveness. As expected, this soon escalates into beatdown #59, but Su-heon manages to fight back this time. As the two are struggling over the blade, Oh-seong falls from the roof and dies on impact. Everyone is outside, everyone sees Su-heon, and then — in a kind of cheeky punchline — everyone also covers for him.

You see, the students found out not only that Su-heon was the “hero,” but information quickly circulated to everyone about what had happened to Won-seok and Jae-bum. The gossip consensus is fast and furious and it’s also rock-solid and sure of itself: Oh-seong was the true bad guy; Su-heon must be protected. And so, all the students lie and protect Su-heon. Poor Detective Jin, who, for all her efforts, has to admit failure once again and says: “If everyone decided to corroborate a lie then it becomes the truth.”

It’s a curious note to end the drama on, but one that fits its rather subversive take on justice. For all the good intentions of law enforcement, they couldn’t keep up with the underbelly at this high school — nor the ways and means the students were willing to engage in to serve justice according to their liking. It smacks of Lord of the Flies to me, in a way, but with much more forgiveness, because Chan-mi and Su-heon were always treated as heroes.

Speaking of those two, a few adorable handholds in, and we can consider them a couple. Su-heon leaves school to the rallying cheers of his classmates, and Chan-mi graduates and makes it into the Marine academy. But most importantly, they look happy. And don’t get me wrong, I want them to be happy — but if anything, the drama’s biggest misstep was this: somewhere along the way, its secondary characters became more interesting than the heroes.

For all of Su-heon’s suffering and sweetness, and Chan-mi’s fearless investigations, it was Jae-bum — used, abused, and basically destroyed — that captured my heart the most. And while I’m mostly happy with the ending, I wish the drama realized how compelling it made the Jae-bum character, and treated him with as much care as it did the leads.

Similarly, Oh-seong’s end doesn’t seem like quite enough. His psycho-villainy was the crux of everything our heroes had to endure, so his death felt a bit anti-climactic. Then again, the drama was built on the premise that this microcosm of a high school, and all the students in it, comprised their own justice system, so perhaps it’s all quite right in the end. The drama, at least, held tight to its own logic till the end, and I love it for that — as well as all the goosebumps and twists it gave us along the way.

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@missvictrix thank you so much for the weecaps on this one. I couldn't watch it but followed with the weecaps and it sounds like a complex story well executed. The actor playing Jaebum has been killing it this year with Seasons of blossom and this one so he is going to have a great career if he continues to choose the right scripts for his skill set.

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This drama was so disapointing. I wonder why I'm still watching Shin Ye-Eun's dramas.... Her only gift is to pick the worst dramas u_u

The way they portrayed violence in this drama was wrong from the beginning to the end : it's ok to do justice for yourself. So if you're blackmailed, you can push someone from the rooftop, if someone pushed you from the rooftop you can push him from the window, if someone pushed your brother from the window, you can shoot him.

The main heroes never questionned their violence and their way to do justice.

I agree the Police was not really helpful at the beginning, but they tried after it.

Jae-Bum was really the only character that I liked. Seo Ji-Hoon was great!

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I feel like they forgot it was only 12 episodes and had to shove multiple episodes into 1. That last episode is the text book definition of rushed

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I mean the drama premise of someone *actually* being possessed by the vengeful spirit of their dead identical twin resulting in extremely trippy and creepy and murderous things happening IS interesting and I would watch it because I love weird twin shenanigans but... er ... too few of my weird twin premises deliver, especially the ones that should've, apparently, been ghost shows, ... and also completely separate from the 5 additional shows going on here, all with their own issues and potentials. *sigh*
At least the hand holds were cute?

p.s. I told you he was #sus lmfao

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While I'm well aware this show is far from perfect, it was still a fun ride and something I looked forward to each week. The leads had nice chemistry (the hand holds!!), Seo Ji-hoon got to exercise his acting chops in the last two episodes, and the overall mystery was well executed, if a bit too drawn out by the end.
As always, the real idiots in this world are the adults - did no one with a fully developed prefrontal cortex find it suspicious students were dropping like flies in this school? smh man
I can definitely see myself rewatching this in the future; I think knowing the plot twists will add an extra layer when watching a second time. For now though, I'm off to watch Seasons of blossom! Ji-hoon Oppaaa, I'm coming (to cry) <3

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I had the impression that Oh-Seong was critically injured at the end, but not dead...when they carted him away, he had a neckbrace on and no sheet covering his face. Also wish we could have seen Oh-Seong's family's reaction after learning the truth about him.

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This was what I thought all along. If he died on the spot, then it his body will be covered , but it seems that he must have died on the way to hospital maybe. His death by Soo heon gives a bitter taste, though the dude deserved it though, but Soo heon has now become a murderer whatsoever, which I really didnt want to happen

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I don't think Jae-bum's mind fracturing during the garage murder, I think he had an alternate long before that. Oh-seong found out after he woke up and that's when he began gaslighting him. It wasn't Jae-bum that kicked Won-seok out the window, it was the alternate. I don't think Jae-bum wold hurt a fly but his alternate certainly would.
And why did it have to be sweet Jae-bum as the killer?! But Seo Ji-hoon was killing it in that role; he really needs to be the lead.
True, there were some plot holes, but I am just so glad we didn't have to watch Su-heon die and we even got some hand-holds so all in all I am ok. I would have preferred for Oh-seong to suffer a little more but hey, we can't have everything.

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Finally an end to a drama where I waited anxiously every week to catch up with latest episodes!

The last episodes events ,so much to process. I was betting so much on Gi Osong becoming Wonseok's full fledged murderer, even though there was tiny suspect on Seok Jaebum , mostly because of his memories, but really gave me chills when the evil twin personality of Seok Jaebum's pushed Won seok out of the window. OMG! That was truly disturbing to watch.

Gi Osung's gaslighting led to all of this, so Jae Bum's actions somehow didnt make me hate him, i felt pity because he has been used by a person so close to him and took advantage during the vulnerable time. Poor Jaebum . The personality changes from Jaebum to Jae joon is surreal. Seo Ji Hoon stole the show. What an actor! I also loved the way he choked Gi Osung's neck. That was utterly SATISFYING for what he did to Ji Suheon.

I already had the feeling that Jae Bum was having DID, at the basketball court, when he coldly grabbed Gi Osung saying him manipulating him since he doesnt have memories. That swtich of tone from the clueless Jae Bum to the aggressive tone "Jae Bum" really took me by surprise. At that time, we did not know that he had a twin, but really that moment was such a big clue.

I wanted a different ending for Gi Osung, not dying from Suheon's hands, because the last thing I wanted was the lead to become a murderer. Yes, he did played the hero, but "killing" someone accidently or not, it just doesnt sit well with me. This was what feared me the most. Gi Osung should have seen worse days than a fall from the rooftop , afterall what he had done. Such an evil one he was !

On to the lighter part, I loved the whole hand holding in the final episodes. These two make me smile from ear to ear. I love how Su Heon was wearing the braided shoelace made by Chan Mi. He got his mom's shoelace back with Chan Mi's prayer embedded in that. I was also happy to Su Heon being alive in the end , well for now he is okay, but doesnt know the future yet.

I wanted to see the reactions of the police chief, how his son really was the mastermind behind all the bullying and he is partly responsible for Wonseok's murder and also how his step daughter Ji Hyun is also a bully. I wished to see the adult's reaction, but the adult's in this drama are complete useless.

I have enjoyed the drama, found out the real killer, the manipulator, and it was good. I liked how the drama kept the viewers engaged without revealing too many information. Really good job at the writing !
I Will miss this drama and the school gang. The brazen kinda smart-stupid Chan Mi, The hero love Su Heon, The puppy innocent Jae Bum (not the evil twin), The one who can always count on Tae Soo yeon and the sweetest Hong Ahjung.

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I really was sitting there feeling bad for Jaebum when he was the murderer. Hats off to the show and the actor for pulling that off. At the same time though, I was still invested in Chanmi and Sooheon getting their version of a happy ending, and the show did that. It was so sweet when the whole school cheered for Sooheon as he left. This 12 episode dose of high school justice was a pretty good watch for me.

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I laughed so hard in these final episodes, even though I wasn't meant to. The DID trope, the psychotic high schooler who goes to any length for no reason other than being crazy, Chanmi pulling a gun with minimal evidence but a whole heck of conviction, Suheon getting hit a million times in the head even though he's supposed to have the terminal illness, no one other than Jaebum being convicted?? Too much, I tell you. Overall I'm happy Chanmi and Suheon are together and are happy but we basically skipped over their screen time for all of the reveals (and unnecessary violence) which sucks, because the appeal of this drama for me was the bond that these two had. But I love Seo Jihoon so all's well that ends well I suppose...

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I too did miss all of Chan Mi and Su Heon's screentime in the last 2 episodes. Their scenes are what I look forward in each drama, because the drama is so heavy with violence, the only lighter scenes comes up when these two are together.

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Thank you @missvictrix for the weecaps. I enjoyed the drama but it felt like the last episode was rushed toward the end. I felt like some questions were left unanswered like the polaroid photos. Also, I wouldn't say I liked that they made Su-heon drop out of school and didn't give us closure on his medical condition. All in all, it was a great drama that needed a more well-executed ending

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Exactly!! We never find out what happens to Sooheon's medical condition. It would've made sense if the tumor was removable, they could've ended the drama with Sooheon getting surgery and living a good life.

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you are right That was my wish too

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