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Dramabeans Top 10: Korean dramas whose endings are better left unwatched (trust us)

javabeans: Sooooo, we’ve been wanting to bring back the “If You Like…” series of reviews, where we take a theme or motif and recommend other shows like it. We really liked the idea when we first brought it out…

girlfriday: But then we got tired. Mostly, it was just daunting because we wanted so much to be all-encompassing, and never leave out a drama.

javabeans: And as many shows as we’ve seen, there’s just no way we would be able to write about every single workplace romance drama, or makjang tearfest drama, or drama about heroes with good eyeliner.

girlfriday: Wait, I might still want to do the one about eyeliner.

javabeans: But then it occurred to us that we could cap our lists, instead of trying to name every single applicable title ever made.

girlfriday: Hence, the birth of Dramabeans Top 10. Because ten is a number we can handle.

javabeans: Plus, it sparked a wave of fun future list ideas to tackle, so we’ll roll those out in due course. We promise! I’m pretty sure we said that about If You Like, but we mean it this time! I feel good about this. Because Top 10 means Not Top 100.

girlfriday: For our first Top 10, we decided to start at the end—or more specifically, with endings.

javabeans: And for better or for worse (mostly just worse), drama endings have lacked a little something recently. I still haven’t seen the finale of Yong-pal, for instance. I know all about it, and I just can’t bring myself to sit through that.

girlfriday: I think you’re better off skipping it.

javabeans: But I have to finish it! I invested 17 whole hours already, and even loved 6 of them! I can’t NOT see the last one!

girlfriday: … And therein lies the perpetual problem that we face, time and again. To finish, or not to finish… that is the question.

javabeans: Would you rather preserve a pleasant memory despite harboring a gaping hole about the ending, or would you rather tarnish the whole experience so as to save your curiosity from expiring?

girlfriday: We’re here to help out! If you choose the gaping hole, feel free to stop reading here.

javabeans: However, if you choose the red pill, we’ve got a whole list for you below, so you can read up on the ending but not waste your hour.

girlfriday: Oh, and SPOILER ALERT, because of the obvious.

javabeans: These are in no particular order, if only because how do you measure the weight of one heartbreak against another? *sob*

 

1. 49 Days (2011)

javabeans: The ending for 49 Days may be more polarizing than universally decried. But it gets added to this list because for those to whom the ending felt wrong, it felt really, really wrong. The crux was this: You gave your heroine a second chance at life, she earned it, and then you killed her anyway! What in the WHAT.

Dying wasn’t the problem, since this whole drama was built around finding new meaning in life via death. After the heroine was killed before her fated time, she was given the chance to win back her life if she could find three people who truly loved her. If she were to fail, we all knew she was taking that big elevator up to the sky, so we were always aware of the threat hanging over her head. The problem was in giving her all these narrative plot hoops to jump through, awarding her the victory, and then declaring that she had been fated to die soon afterward anyway, claiming her life for a wholly unrelated reason. That’s not just withholding a cookie from you; that’s giving you a piping hot cookie, describing all the ways in which it is delicious and gooey and mouthwatering, then snatching it away before you can eat it. And throwing it on the ground. And crushing it under a dirty, heartless boot. Stomp, stomp.

 

2. Who Are You—School 2015 (2015)

girlfriday: I swear, my resentment for this show’s ending isn’t all about being on the other romance ship—it’s also about not giving our twin heroines a proper resolution as sisters. On the one hand, this show’s ending isn’t actually offensive premise-destroying anti-matter like some of the others on this list. But the ending still took all the wind out of my sails when I really enjoyed the ride up until the finale.

Who Are You—School 2015 put a fantastically tense twist on the usual high school drama, with Kim So-hyun playing two diametrically opposed twin sisters who swap fates. It repurposed melodrama tropes—amnesia, hidden identities—to intensify high school drama, which made for some crack viewing through its run. But in the end one sister basically took over the other’s life, becoming her stand-in rather than gaining a relationship with a sister. Where was the sisterly bonding, the character growth for unni? And don’t even get me started on the romance, where we watched the hero pine over one sister all series long and then suddenly love the other one, reinforcing that whole replacement motif (which I find worse in principle because they’re identical twins). Or set up the second lead to pull all of our heartstrings to the bitter end, only to kick his heart to the curb. Ugh, I take it back. I’M STILL MAD AT YOU.

 

3. God’s Gift—14 Days (2014)

girlfriday: This one actually pains me. Because this show was so good. SO GOOD. I actually wish I could tell people to watch only 15 episodes and imagine the rest, because the ending you picture in your head will invariably be better than the one the show delivers. But the problem is, you can’t not find out what happens at the end of a mystery thriller where lives are at stake… so then you’ll just have to watch and join the rest of us who carry the rage in our hearts.

God’s Gift was a brilliant show that wove together two mysteries—a dead girl and a killer on death row—and put a heart-stopping, sweat-inducing ticking clock on the story by sending its two lead characters back in time 14 days so they could stop their loved ones from dying. It unfurled in tense, gripping action and suspense as a mother stopped at nothing to save her daughter. The problem, of course, came in the final episode when our hero discovered the role he played in the girl’s death the first time. He could have just not killed her the second time, but no, he decided he had to sacrifice himself to Fate (that bitch) to save the girl who was already saved. Sadly, Captain Awesome was not also Captain Smartypants. Worst. Gift. Ever.

 

4. Surplus Princess (2014)

javabeans: I can almost excuse Surplus Princess for its off-the-rails ending in light of the meta knowledge that the show was being suddenly cut down by two episodes, with barely any time to adjust for the new timetable. But knowing why a show flipped everyone the narrative middle finger doesn’t magically make sense of the narrative chaos, so the show earns its spot on this list.

Surplus Princess had a quirky and zany charm that may not have resulted in a ratings bonanza, but entertained its cult audience with its wacky comedy and silly plot about a mermaid princess who became human to win the man she’s crushing on, which required her to score a job at his company. Thus the show entwined the familiar Little Mermaid premise with the topical theme of the younger generation struggling to find gainful employment in today’s fiercely competitive market.

Did she win her man? Yes. Did she win the right to keep her legs and remain on land? Ish. She disappeared into tears and mist, only to make a literally last-minute reappearance after the obligatory finale time-jump, marked by the deliberately provoking caption “I’ll be back.” The show dropped a tantalizing plot twist, and then dropped the curtain, as though to punish us for the cable station’s misdeeds. What did we ever do to you, Show, but love you and watch you faithfully?

 

5. Vampire Idol (2011-12)

girlfriday: I can’t be entirely mad at Vampire Idol for not delivering a satisfying conclusion when the network cut its episode count down from 120 to 79. And in some ways, I admire the ballsy approach to write a big F—you ending for being robbed of a third of its intended run. I could imagine doing the same in the heat of the moment, with a bottle of bourbon at my side. But it still sucks to be on the other end as a viewer who invested time in these characters over 79 episodes, to be left wondering, basically, WTF.

Vampire Idol was a wacky show to begin with—a sitcom that brought alien vampires down to Earth and found comedy in acclimating them to human life. It was low-rent, low-tech, and filled with acting newbies (many of whom would go on to superstardom). But it was also hilarious and witty and totally out there, and found ways to embrace its own limitations with inventive jokes and storylines. We even started to care about this crazy family of vampires, idol trainees, and assorted guardians. So imagine what a punch to the face it was to get to the last episode where instead of a resolution, we got a series of cryptic glimpses into the future that left a zillion more questions and everyone hanging in the balance. I mean, it literally closed on: And then that happened… *surprise face* THE END.

I can’t imagine a single person who watched that ending and didn’t throw something at their screen. And if you didn’t, you are a better person than I am.

 

6. Hong Gil Dong (2008)

javabeans: Admittedly, I did write in defense of the ending in the finale recap, and I still think there’s some merit that can be mined out of the ending. Or maybe that was my heartache talking at the time, trying to glean purpose from a finale that yanked the rug out from under our collective feet. Sure, the drama had been growing increasingly dark, and yes, war is a harsh mistress… but for the type of show Hong Gil Dong was—a rambunctious romp that portrayed a legendary fictional hero in a slapstick rom-com light—it was rather a slap in the face to kill off all our good guys in the final hour in a futile burst of bravery. It wasn’t the death itself that hurt, but the clash between our expectations of a boisterous happy-ever-after and the bitterness of the closing massacre (however beautifully filmed) giving us a sacrifice that amounted to nothing. If Hong Gil Dong had been presented in a more nuanced, complex, or dark light from the get-go, perhaps the ending wouldn’t have felt such a betrayal of rom-com trust. Instead it left us like the drama—the ground razed and barren, smoking in the aftermath, just like our spirits.

 

7. Rooftop Prince (2012)

javabeans: Structurally, Rooftop Prince was a bit of an oddity, sandwiching an uproarious fish-out-of-water comedy in between a romantic mystery-melodrama. For most of the drama, we focused on the Joseon prince and his three sidekicks who time-jumped into present-day Seoul, where one plucky everygirl took them under her wing like very adorable, color-coded ducklings who relied on her to acclimate them to modern marvels like toilets, public transportation, and evil chaebols. Hilarity, much of it side-splitting, ensued. On either end, we were given a heartfelt romance and mystery set in Joseon times, where the prince struggled to uncover how his beloved wife came to die.

That made for a finale episode that felt, tonally, jarring compared to the wackiness that preceded it. But tone shift aside, what gave Rooftop Prince its disappointing ending was the conclusion of the romance, inasmuch as the lovers were split apart by 300 years: The heroine got a second chance with a reincarnated version of her prince, while the prince… died alone, forever devoted to the sweetheart he left behind in modern Seoul. Sure, future Yoochun may have gotten his girl, but past Yoochun had to live out his life without her. Well, at least he had his Power Ranger sidekicks with him to soothe the pain.

 

8. Gu Family Book (2013)

girlfriday: Loving your girl’s 422-years-later doppelganger is totally the same as loving her… right? WRONG. I seriously felt like Gu Family Book got dropped on its head just before the finale, because whatever possessed it to kill off our heroine and propel our hero four centuries into the future as an ending resembles no earthly logic.

I know, it was a supernatural drama to begin with, about a half-gumiho hero who learns to tame his inner beast and save Joseon. No one ever said it was realistic. Gu Family Book was certainly flawed, but it also had a fun, comic-book style and I enjoyed the hapless beginnings of a young hero-to-be. But the show had a bizarre idea of narrative payoff if it thought that killing his one true love and making him wait generations for her reincarnated doppelganger was some kind of cosmic reward for being a hero. There are some dramas where this kind of ending could work [javabeans: NO THERE AREN’T], but this one didn’t support that kind of epic scope, in story, scale, or execution.

 

9. Mi-rae’s Choice (2013)

javabeans: Here’s a simple, clear-cut fail for you: You designed a drama all around a character making a choice, and then? WE GOT NO CHOICE.

Okay, sure. The character did make a choice in the final episode, which we’d been building up to all series long: Which man would she pick? The one she’d initially fallen in love with but grown to bitterly resent later, or the one her future self was convinced would lead to a happier life, prompting her to time-travel back to her youth to convince herself to pick Door Number 2? (The dilemma was a tad bit more nuanced than a mere love triangle, but since the key premise was withheld from us, the drama forfeits its right to claim nuance.) And so, we’re shown that she chose… but not shown the choice. Who does that?

When you refuse to deliver on the most basic, fundamental element of your story, you’ve basically copped out of telling a proper narrative with a beginning, middle, and an end, inasmuch as we never got out of the beginning territory. You’ve essentially reneged on telling a story at all, which means this drama barely gets to be called a drama. Go away, dram.

 

10. Big (2012)

girlfriday: You know what’s funny—Big got its romantic happy ending, and yet it still angers me more than any of the other dramas on this list where characters met untimely deaths, ambiguous fates, or were forced into second romances with reincarnated doppelgangers. Because, go figure, this happy ending was supposed to be between the heroine and the hero of our story—aka Coma Boy—not the heroine and the body he was borrowing while she fell in love with him.

Big is really simple in premise—it’s a body-swap drama that asks us to spend an entire series believing that there’s a teenage boy inside a grown man’s body. Which is a head-twister in the romance department, because you’re not quite sure she’s falling in love with the true person on the inside and not the hot man on the outside (because, um, Gong Yoo), but you still put faith in what the story is telling you. Because you believe in such a thing as blind love. And call me crazy, but in exchange for going along with that, I wanted to see those two characters, in their own bodies, getting their happily-ever-after to prove that she really did love only Coma Boy. Is that asking for too much? Is it really? To get a happy ending with your two leading characters in their true corporeal form? I think not, Show. I think not.

 
+7 Honorable Mentions:

11. Oohlala Spouses: On paper, saving a troubled marriage via body-swapping hijinks sounds heartwarming and hilarious. In practice, the marriage should never have happened and wasn’t worth saving.

12. High School King of Savvy: We were with you until you married a high-schooler. Is “He’s eighteen—it’s legal!” really the message you want to be sending?

13. The King 2 Hearts: You killed the only thing that was good and true in this world when you killed off the king’s bodyguard. RIP, Earnest Bot.

14. Secret Door: You were supposed to give us a secret door into the untold truth of the infamously grisly, captivating true story of a king who forced his son to kill himself. What we got was a blander, tamer ending that told us nothing new. I could have gotten a more riveting story reading my history textbooks.

15. Prime Minister and I: It’s a romantic comedy that ends on a handshake.

16. Bad Guy: In a word: nihilistic. In more words: Our “hero” ends up destroying the thing he wanted all along (family), lets his sister shoot him, and dies alone and friendless. Nobody ever finds out he’s dead. The murdering sister blithely relaxes to a massage after killing the brother she never knew she had. Fin.

17. Nice Guy: Maru may or may not have lost his memory, and may have started a new romance or rekindled an old one. We may never know. Maru is mysterious. No one will ever know Maru.

 
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Ditto to all the above mentioned!

Thought I'd throw another one into the mix: Empress Ki! It went all crazy on me towards the end...literally.

More recently was Yong Pal, which I watched till episode 8, then gave up. Thankfully, I've now learnt to drop dramas before they scar me for life.

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although empress ki did give us the most tragic love confession ever made. Talk about in the nick of time.

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Yes, the ending to Empress Ki was disappointing.

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Once you've accidentally read or seen a spoiler and still decide to watch the drama, are the feelings and reactions to how events unfold and/or play out anymore or less intense & frustrating?
? ? ? ?
? ? ? ? ? ?

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No, I don't think so. You'd just kick yourself for not listening to all the warnings.

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This is sooooo true!

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Hahaha. Sooo true. I already read about High Kick 2's ending and how everyone felt cheated afterthat. But I still watched it anyway and feel like kick myself for not listening to them and just skip the last episode.

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August ~

I read a spoiler about High Kick 2, so I've never watched it. I loved the first series.

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I knew all about 49 Days and how it ends but after 20 hours of constant watching I was still devastated. The universe of the writer grabbed me for good and couldn't let me go. I find its ending fitting no matter what, however, that doesn't mean I dodged a bullet; I was miserable for a week or so...

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I really can't understand why high school king of savvy is on the list.
If you're 18 you're an adult, and what's wrong with two consulting adults marrying!???

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Yes, don't get it either. People were totally fine with the woman who had an affair with a guy who acted like a child because he was legally an adult in SLA but angry at the girl who married a high schooller who acted like an adult.

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She had to become his legal guardian in order to marry him. I don't remember what his exact age in the drama was, but whatever it was, I doubt he was considered an "adult" if she had to do that in order for the two of them to wed.

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I think for once we wouldn't have minded a time jump of at least a year or two.

Also, because it's South Korea, most networks seem to prefer 'couples' to wait for marriage before doing more than kissing, or so it seems to go occasionally. It's not on my personal list, but some just couldn't understand the inability to wait till he was older or the age gap. (Just my opinion)

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Idk but I think it because it happen too fast and I don't think waiting is bad idea,
it's like they suddenly get married when he is still in school and need parental consent to marriage,

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yes
I was thinking maybe it was an american thing actually to be uncomfortable with this set up
In the UK (where I am from), nobody would bat an eyelid at such a marriage. (18 is ample enough an age to be left alone even if you are still in school). They would probably even applaud it due to the commitment it signified. Pretty sure it would be unremarkable in the rest of Europe too.

as for the actual case of this drama where she becomes his legal guardian- I didn't know about that as I confess to missing the very last ep due to rl and just not getting around to it. I did read the recap though and thought the ending fit the rest of the drama

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I am with you @Spibby @Lixie.. About King of High School being on the list, I most passionately disagree. To answer your question Javabeans - The message of the drama wasn’t “He’s 18 - It’s legal” at all! I am sorry that's all you got out of that show. :( The drama was about two unique people finding each other, having each other’s backs. The drama was about friendship, loyalty, sincerity and about the importance of open communication in relationships.

The ending made sense in the alternate drama universe they had created - if that’s what the well-written, lovable characters wanted to do, so be it. I was rooting for them anyway and marriage or no marriage the ending didn’t spoil anything for me. (Isn’t that what we all expect from dramas anyway - for the story to make sense in the unique drama world that has been created by the storytellers. If we want everything to work EXACTLY like in real life, how are we ever going to enjoy any form of creative arts?)

And talking about marriageable age, didn’t one of the most popular Korean movies ever have a 17 yr old high school girl being married off against her wish to a 20+ guy (Don’t get me wrong. I LOVE My Little Bride). What I am saying is the girl in that movie was clearly not emotionally mature/ ready for a marriage and people loved it and thought it was Ok, but the opposite happens (Though Min Suk here IS a legal adult and the brilliant writing many times alludes to the fact that he was wise beyond his years and Min Suk ponders about it and still decides he wants to marry her) and suddenly some people are worried about the age gap and absurdity of the ending.

I mean if somebody tried to watch the drama and didn’t like the premise/ the direction/ the actors - I get it. To each their own. But the ending definitely is not a reason to skip the drama. I feel including such a well-rounded show in a bad ending list is a tad unfair and might keep people from watching a wonderful drama.

Do I sound a bit bitter? Ha ha.. That’s coz I really think King of High School is a heart-warming, funny, adorkable, sincerely-written, geniously directed, great-chemistry-between-cast drama that doesn’t deserve the hate of a ‘bad ending’ just because it took the road less travelled.

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I think tht most of korean drama got early hyped with the plot, the characters and so on .. But at the end there's something wrong with the ending somehow.
I got so mad watching yongpal.. The writer did a great job at the early which focus more on yongpal , but then when they're rushing on developing the love interest , they messed up everything. The moments when tae hee's character ( which i forgot her name) wake up... It's fucked up millions time. Then the ending was totally unforgiven , you made me watching 18 eps then the ending got both of leads face on together. Gosh, and the writer actually won an award . You got to be kidding ??

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Blame it on anyone else but the writer! SBS, tons of PPLs, ratings and a story, which is (obviously!) revised a million times before and during the airing period, butchered the original idea. If you watch the dark Reset on OCN you'll have a pretty good idea of what his original script might have been.

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Oh no! I loved "Rooftop prince" end so much! I didn't know I was an exception.
She couldn't go live in Joseon period and the prince had to go back. The prince had a happy ending too! He got his second chance with the heroine 300 years later.

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I liked 49 Days' ending. I also liked King2Hearts. The other ones on the list I might've watched in the beginning but didn't finish.

I would just like to add Hyde, Jekyll, & Me (even if I only followed the recaps). Wasn't that one of the worst endings ever? It was like a combination of Big, Gu Family, and Rooftop Prince.

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I was expecting What Happened in Bali...

How is Bad Guy only an honorable mention LOL

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Right!? Bad guys ending was... I can't..

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honestly in that list the only drama that i watch till the end is bad guy n i love it, the ending is frustrating n shocking but i still love it. when i see your list i didn't regret never watch that drama or never finish it like hong gil dong, nice guy, rooftop prince, ohlala spouse n mirae choice

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bully in school 2015 got away free with a half felt sorry and tears bhwahahahahaha that scene was funny as hell!

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OMG, you just made me remember how mad I was for Bad Guy. Still am.

Btw I'm choosing to completely disregard THAT ending for Rooftop Prince. Lee Gak totally came back to Park Ha from Joseon somehow, swapped bodies with Tae-yong again for good and nobody can persuade me otherwise.

As for Prime Minister and I? I finished watching it like 3 days ago (yes, I'm super late). I feel cheated of all the shippy moments I didn't get to see. I admit the ending fits the theme of the drama, but STILL *sad face*

Let's not even talk about Big pls. I'm a big fan of Gong Yoo and yet I couldn't bring myself to finish that drama. ://///

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I conveniently forgot some of these endings...but School 2015... nope. I remember. and I still hate it.

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I'd like to mention "Queen IN HYUN's man"!
I loved this drama! Really!
But I really believe people should only watch 14 episodes for it to be perfect because nothing screams more bad script, bad preparations and 'I-don't-give-a-shit-anymore' than a Deus Ex Machina ending!!

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What happened in the end?! I have fond memories of Queen Inhyun...

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The ending made such perfect sense to me, using the phone, but I do remember some people didn't like it. It's kinda like My Girlfriend is a Gumiho though, I didn't really care HOW they got them back together, but I'm just happy that they did. Even if it didn't make much sense. So it didn't bother me.

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Yeah. The ending made sense to me. A talisman is not just a paper, it could be anything. It's the thought that counts. The first talisman he got because someone who loved him, prayed for his safety and the purity of that request, created the first talisman. The second one he got because someone else also loved him, and prayed for nothing but that he be returned to her in the 21st century. It was also a pure request and got granted. What's wrong with that?

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Nothing to me! I thought it made sense and was very lovely. People just get stuck on a normal cell phone being something magic, but to HIM it was magical! It was given to him by the woman who loves him to protect him/keep in contact with him. No different from the talisman. To us, it's nothing, but in the past it would be something amazing.

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Same here. I thought it was setup perfectly fine by the talisman.

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Thank you, @Yue-lie! The "Deus-ex-machina" endings are by far the worse in K-dramaland. I might try to swallow some of my reasonable doubts for a fairytale-like drama like QIHM (not very easily, though) but there are others that have left me absolutely speechless.
PS While I see others who were very convinced and sure of that finale, I was crying while watching and not for joy! Maybe it's because I'm not a teenager anymore...

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I'm not a teenage myself either (far from it) and I thought the ending of QIHM was just fine (although I prefer the alternate ending that I saw online, that had lots and lots of hot kissing). Like people before have said, if you expect the phone to work according to the normal rules by which electronic items operate, then it fundamentally makes no sense. But if you suspend that expectation and thinking of the phone as a kind of magic talisman, then it works fine. It didn't occur to me that there was any fault in the ending until I came online and saw people asking about how the phone could possible still have any charge after so long. Not every show can be happily resolved by "And then magic happens!" but in the case of QIHM the magic that happened was consistent (in my opinion) with the show's world-building, so it worked. It's actually one of my fave drama endings, because it's so perfectly magical.

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Wow, how many times did I use the word "magic" or variations thereof in one comment?

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That's why I converted into QIHM's cult, because it was a beautifully written fairy-tale to begin with. But if I had to be an annoying nitpicker (like many, many fellow Beanies on alamost every thread), I should have thought about the talisman and our hero's perpetual dying (as obligatory plot devices) more objectively. In the end, was the letter really for her? The surreal phone ringing while he was inside a Joseon era prison is consistent with the "magic", -and magic is my favorite thing as a person with a bit cruel everyday life ,- but certainly not with reason. Nevertheless, my crying was real and, till this very day, I choose the "magical ringtone" over any deduction because the alternative is so sad... (BTW, don't give up on writting "magic", it's charming, @Because of Reasons!)

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If you pour love in a plant for months and it's starts talking, I'll accept but even if a phone is an "exotic, magical" thingy for him, he never showed it.
So yeah, a phone is not ordinary for him...and he kept it because of his love for her...but so did he with lots of modern items (necktie..etc).
So why the phone?
Because "deus ex machina"...
and the talisman worked because of 3 elements...the love of the gisaeng, the sacrifice of his life AND the power of the monk.
So how come the phone worked without the monk's power?
Because "deus ex machina"...
And how can he time travel by answering the phone?
Because...you get my point...

I'm not saying I didn't like this drama...I'm saying that if you establish rules in a mythology in a drama, changing those rules, without explanations just so you can have the "happily ever after" bugs me...especially in a well written drama like QIHM.

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It will be great if you can do top 10 Korean dramas with the best bromance. I already have a few in my mind. Hehe

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Four months later and I'm still devastated with how WAY2015 chose to go in the latter half of the show. SIGH.

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I'm actually fine with the Nice Guy ending (I'm assuming the guy remembered. lol.), as well as High School King of Savvy because I don't really see a problem with them marrying (them being who the two are specifically), and because I personally wanted to give the higher-ups a middle finger too so I felt like they did it by proxy, and they kept the ending happy.

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The higher-ups comment was about Surplus Princess (lol. You can tell I was really angered at the episode cuts, I'm still worked up enough today to rush my writing to middle finger.)

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ah, gu family book. i actually wasn't pissed about the ending at all, because it was so random towards the end, i'd disconnected from the plot, i just loved the leads so much i was perfectly happy just watching them. i mean, the villain was so villanious and lee soon shin and the good guys spent SO long being all plotty to put him away for good, and then in the end, all lee soon shin had to do was call in his dudes to arrest him. WHY COULD'T HE HAVE DONE THAT TWENTY EPISODES AGO. to me, that was more egregious than the reincarnation weirdness.

i loved hong gil dong's ending! that beauuutiful song! it was so beautifully filmed it made it forgiveable.

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Prime Minister and I : It’s a romantic comedy that
ends on a handshake.

I cracked up for this.

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Bwahahahahahah... I laugh so hard i almost cry at maru's comment.

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oh, and i'd still watch vampire idol some day, lmao. the charms of low-rent, gleefully-dumbass shit are many.

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I still get upset about king 2 hearts. lol.

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Tooootally agree, at least re: all the ones on this list that I watched.

My mom and I followed School 2015 this year all the way to the end, even though I had already read the finale recap here. When "Thanks for watching" flashed on the screen, there was a moment of silence and all my mom could say after that was "Well...."

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I haven't seen any of these yet...and now with this list, it is mostly likely that i won't.

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I liked Hong Gil Dong's ending. Kang Ji-hwan played up the darker tone enough. Thought it was fitting.

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This list is on the mark.

The only 2 on the list that managed to trick me to watch their 360 were 49 days and Roof top prince.

Roof Top prince : why wasn't she transported????

49 days: 49 days wasn't so bad. She did get to feel real love even if it was just a short while. Nobody cheats death, but still they led us on you know!!!

The rest of the list. I had my suspicions. So thanks Dramabeans, secret door is leaving my desperate drama withdrawal last resort basket.

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"Roof Top prince : why wasn’t she transported????"
@AB, because she had a life in the present days. And it's romantic to imagine you can live anywhere with your loved one, but the reality is different!
Imagine to live in a place (or time) without all technology after you're used to it. Imagine you have to live without internet, kdramas and dramabeans...

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I don't see your point in RP. If she had been transported back to a time-line she doesn't belong to (in which she had already lived once), how would that have made any sense at all? It's obvious that, from the very beginning, only the prince and his team were to go back. Besides, in terms of kdramas tropes, she had already met the modern version of the prince in the US and we all know what that stands for.

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We should put Yongpal on the list as well... The ending was just so so disappointing ? I get that that they wanted to give credits to its title.. But most people want their happy endings (that includes me) with weddings, proposals, happy family.. Haaist ?

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"Nhaven't watch nowill ever know Maru."

Hahahahahaha XD

That ending also left me making face like this... -_-"

I haven't watched most of these, but the ones I did watch I agree. 49 days ending made me want to stab myself 49 times in my poor heart. Stupid ending T.T

And of course, School 2015. That show UGH. Only things I took home from that is Eunbyul and her rocking eye liner, Taekwang and his adorkability, and Soyoung actress just downright goosebumps believable. Everything else...needs to be thrown out of my memory...but I can't delete it from said memory. FHSJSIJEIDKAOSKJDUSJDJDLODIDJWIAJSHDJXNDIDJIEJDJSISKDIDKKDIDDJKDKSKDIDMD!

But among the list, I'd say the worst is Mirae's Choice. I mean, we don't know until now, as the title itself, what Mirae's fudging choice was. IT'S IN THE #++$/%+$#/$-@+#?+%/%/%-%+#(@ TITLE!

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LOL!"

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Sorry that was supposed to say

"No one will ever know Maru."

My phone keyboard is as stupid as some of these drama endings -_- Mian.

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When I watched Tree With Deep Roots with my friends (after having already seen it myself), I made them stop at episode 20 (which has my favorite kdrama episode ending of All Time), because it all goes downhill from there. And really, the end of ep. 20 is such a fantastic series ending, with Han Suk Kyu looking right at the camera and saying that final line about the letters spreading like a plague. Ack - so great!

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I actually thought it was a perfect ending to Tree. I seriously wouldn't want it otherwise. Moo Hyul is still my forever ahjusshi crush.

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That's where I stopped too. I was so busy when the show was airing that I had fallen behind and was only reading the HeadsNo2's brilliant recaps. When I had time, I went back and watched until episode 20, but no futher. While I think the official ending was a strong one and even fitting... I just can't bring myself to ever watch it. It hurts my heart just thinking about it. And yes, the King looking right at the camera knowing that his grassroots approach will ensure that his alphabet will be established better than any official decree does serve as an amazing and satisfying ending.

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49 days was the very first k drama that i watched. I cried a lot at the end. I had mixed feelings about the end.
Rooftop prince for me was very frustrating. I felt so bad for the Joseon Yoochun. It felt so unfair!!!!!!
School 2015 has the worst ending ever. No sisters bonding and the wrong guy!!!
The King 2 Hearts the bodyguard (Eun Shi-kyung) death was terrible. I was actually waiting for him to comeback until the very end!

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I was also thinking of adding Yongpal to the list...but my mind erased the ending from my memory even though it was recent. Not sure if that means it was so horrible or so mediocre. Hhmm.

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I admit I remember it not and that's fine with me. :)

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The worst thing about Yongpal is that the end covers TWO whole episodes. That extension should never have happened, it was just a loose end that made very little sense.

I realise this topic has unleashed a lot of frustrations in Kdrama addicts. What did you do, Dramabeans!

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I don't quite agree about King2 hearts. Yes they killed our Earnest Bot, but the ending was sound n good. Could have been much better with the Princess having a happily ever after with him.

The drama that reminds me of Earnest Bot dying in the penultimate ep is City Hunter. When I found out that the Prosecutor was gg to die, I was totally heart broken. Both he and Earnest Bot are cut from the same cloth...both so intense n sincere in what they are doing. Up till today, i still have not watched that part of City Hunter's ep 19. And and I was frustrated with the ending too. Did Yoon Sung decide to go with Kim Nana or not? Maybe I'm missing something...

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I quite accept King 2 Hearts ending per se. The 'North and South are working towards unification' thing sounds hopeful. I felt that killing off our Earnest Bot was meant to make us hate bad guy even more, if that were possible.

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I was much more sad about the Precustor dying. That was a really well done death that was upsetting, but also very meaningful. I just found the TK2H death pointless. It bothered me not because I was so upset he was dead, but because it didn't really do much to advance the plot and had no real meaning. Oh so we should hate the evil guy who done so much bad stuff? Well, we already did. You didn't have to kill someone on the good side. It was also just poorly done in general. A weak spot in an otherwise good drama.

It was just a scene put in to upset the audience, well it worked. Though not so much for me.

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Yup. I agree with you that Eun Shi-kyung's death was not necessary...

But in comparison, the ending of City Hunter was incomprehensible, at least to me. After saving Kim Nana and his 'father's' dramatic end...he decides not go with Kim Nana! It was so not satisfying and I wanted more hot kisses...
This and the prosecutor's death makes me feel that City Hunter has a 'worse' ending. It was very frustrating for me.

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I'm pretty sure Gu Family Book's ending was that Kang Chi found the reincarnation of his lover, which means it WAS the same person.

And King 2 Hearts had a great ending. Yes, it sucked so much that Eun Shi Kyung died (for which I think was an unnecessary reasons), but the ending was great (except for the princess of course) Besides, Eun Shi Kyung died waay before the finale.

The only other show I watched here was Hong Gil Dong. I really hate "Everyone dies" endings. Gaksital almost ended up there.

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Oh, I forgot Prime Minister and I. Yeah, such a lazy unsatisfying ending.

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I liked the endings of 49 Days and Hong Gil Dong, I agree with the rest though.

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I was OK with 49 Days too. I felt it was realistic in that she was meant to die and it would have been the 'not letting her die' part that would have been the cop out.

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Glad you brought up the ending of Highschool king of Savvy.... who in the world could think that was a good ending? It didn't help that Seo in Guk actually looked and acted all high-schooler-like ... It freaked me out how they all acted like it was OK for him to sacrifice a potential future in another country to stay next to the woman he loved... if she truly loved him she should have pushed him to live his life to the fullest before settling down... there was absolutely no need to marry him off... other than put me off Noona romances for a long long while....

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High School King was the one time I found myself wishing and praying for a time-skip finale. I would have been fine with them ending up together (they did have great chemistry) AFTER he had finished high school and grown into an adult. But rushing into it because they were just sooo in love? What, were they going to be less in love after waiting a couple of years? I was really grateful Angry Mom didn't go down this same route.

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Lovers in Paris :(((
all those grand gestures, fantastic lines, romantic moments, superb acting by Park Shin Yang and Kim Jeung Eun....they could have done it without the writer thingy and straight to the ending just like Attic Cat or Kim Sam Soon - sweet and simple.

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Your comment reminds me that in its day the Kim Sam Soon ending was controversial, too! People were reaallllly ticked that it didn't wrap up with a nice big wedding.

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I watched most of it but nothing can top my #1 worst ending that is Fashion King. I wanted to know how & why they decided on that ending. Sure, FK itself as bad but that ending.... I punished enough show! 15 hours of crazy & bad and you gave me that ending??? wtf is wrong with you??
*As you can see, I still mad about it. *

Now, I use that drama as my go-to base to rate whether to continue or drop. Ending is rate using 'not as bad as FK' or 'at least we didn't get another FK'.

Another one on my list is Iris. They shot LBH's character at end.. why? So weird.

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God's Gift Special Ep.... it's when someone (maybe Saet Byul and her mom???) fight back to save our Ki Dong Chan...

Aaaaaarggghhhh.............#scream aoutloud# Oh, Please Drama God, bring him to live

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I might be alone here but I think Lovers in Paris should be on the list. It was one of the first dramas I ever watched when I started 4 years ago and I loved until the end. Then the end happened and I got my first taste of disappointing drama endings.

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I was kind of okay with Surplus Princess' ending, considering. I wish they hadn't cut down those episodes though! The romance felt pretty rushed by the end and the actual ending was... confusing, to say the least lol. Okay, maybe I'm more alright with the ending I created in my head than the actual ending....

I'm also grateful I didn't watch a lot of these dramas and just read the awesome recaps on dramabeans lol. ;)

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*crying about Surplus Princess*

It wouldn't save my shippy applebutt AND it wouldn't give me a good ending about Hani's character. I think Show hated me personally.

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Yes! WHiB was o_0

And this is showing my age but Lovers in Paris' "maybe it happened maybe it didn't" ending was really annoying too. Did you just tell me I watched fiction within fiction?!

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I am still bitter over the ending to Prime Minister and I. It was everything that I had ever wanted in a romcom... until the last 4 episodes. WTF WAS THAT? When the show was airing, I watched the live feed of the eps, then watched them on Viki without subs a couple hours later, then watched it again once it was subbed. I watched the heck out of that drama, cooing over all of my favorite scenes like a loonie, and then the damn dead wife got undead and completely ruined the whole point of the main heroine's story. Not only that, but the heroine decided that she had to leave even after every single character told her to stay (including the undead wife! Never have I been so angry at the stupidity of a character). I mostly resent the ending because I can't even bring myself to rewatch what had once been my favorite drama of all time.

The only other drama that has made me that angry was Sign. Oh, Sign. I can't even talk about it.

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I thought the ending to Sign was fitting. Of course I was upset that he died, but I felt it was pretty much in line with his character. Stubborn till the end.

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Well, I don't deny that it was fitting, but it still ruined the drama for me. That was one that I obsessively watched over and over up until the ep where he died. They gave us so much cuteness just before that, so much so that I actually thought that the OTP was going to get their happy ending, but... they didn't. Not that Sign was really focused on the OTP, but the show had a very rom-com feel to it to offset the harshness of some of the cases of the week, so I stupidly believed that maybe, juuuuust maybe they'd get to be together in the end. I was also sort of expecting a dark ending, but not the main character dying in the first few minutes of the last episode. Maybe the last few minutes, but a whole episode of Sign without Park Shin Yang was just not something I wanted to see. But yeah, it was very fitting for that character. Frustratingly so.

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dont forget IRIS and IRIS 2...

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What about oh my ghostess. Our herion ends up mimicking the ghost and our male lead ends up not acknowledging their love. Omg left a bad taste in the end

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So true!

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I hate the name eun bi forever! Thank you ways2015

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My honorable mention dramas: POTATO STAR & VAMPIRE PROSECUTOR 2...those are not endings - it's like you stopped in the middle of the drama and didn't finish it! Really - I invested so much time in you and wait endlessly for subs...how could you leave me hanging like that!

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No one talked abt doctor stranger? I think its ending is seriously much worse than many of the top 10 shows' ending.. Never felt like giving the middle finger so much..

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LOL! when it comes to Dr Stranger, we will not just rant over the ending but most of the show from the time the first person fell bleeding into the sea... or first competition surgery .... not to mention the unnecessary love triangle and 'shipping' wars.

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Doctor Stranger is in a category all on it's own! This is just about bad endings.

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Maybe they should have a category on shows with identity crisis, the time I don't know what I want to be... already have come contenders...

Doctor Stranger
Yong Pal
Time I've Loved You

=_="

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Or a category on shows written by writers who had too much booze and lost their heads

Doctor Stranger (this show can seriously get Rotten Tomato award)
Warm and Cozy

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LOL! JB and GF ... please note for the next time we have another Dramabeans Top 10! :)

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Oh, don't remind me of The Time I had My Heart Broken Over A Drama. THAT was the first time I really traumatised over a drama that started so well and lost it's way. It's not a case of ending badly...it's like a rocket that took off splendidly and then before it could hit outer space, it exploded disastrously right before our eyes. It hurt me soooo bad, cos I went to watch it take off with so much anticipation, satisfaction and enjoyment only to see it blow up. I was devastated. Couldn't look at it any more. Had to cover my eyes and walk away.

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Oh I totally forgot cause I'm still traumatized and recovering about Chilbongie not being the husband in Reply - won't ever watch another in that series again!

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omiword i am skimming the comments and has no one mentioned "what happened in bali"? ugh i still get triggered by that one.

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Covered in comment #39

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woot! going there now . . . thx

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Thanks you two! What a hoot...

"When you refuse to deliver on the most basic, fundamental element of your story, you’ve basically copped out of telling a proper narrative with a beginning, middle, and an end, inasmuch as we never got out of the beginning territory. You’ve essentially reneged on telling a story at all, which means this drama barely gets to be called a drama. Go away, dram." LOLOL!

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