Warning: This article contains SPOILERS for The Frog.
Summary
The Frogends with Jeon Young-ha finding some comfort after having struggled for over a year with his decision of not reporting Seong-a to the police, with the finale also wrapping up the Lake View storyline in the present day. One of the most anticipated Netflix K-dramas of 2024,The Frog’s castincludes Go Min-si, Kim Yoon-seok, Yoon Kye-sang, and more. It tellstwo separate stories of incidents at local motels that continued to affect those involved years later, with these two stories eventually converging at the end. Detective Bo-min, the Hunter, ended up solving both cases.
Sweet HomestarGo Min-si played Seong-a, a mysterious woman who was later revealed to be a psychopath who killed her husband’s son and returned to the pension house around a year later because she enjoyed painting there. While the Lake View serial killer was killed by Gi-ho earlier in the season,Seong-a’s fate was only decided in the finale. Hoping that her father would send a lawyer to help her escape, Seong-a was shocked to see Jae-sik, her husband. He was told by her father where she was and went there to kill her.
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What Happens To Go Min-si’s Seong-a At The End Of The Frog
Jae-sik Was The One To Stop Seong-a Once And For All
The Frogepisode 8 sees Jae-sik pointing a gun at Seong-a, having decided to avenge his son and stop her once and for all. When Young-ha arrived in the room,Seong-a told Jae-sik she was only going to tell him where Si-hyeon’s body was if he killed Young-ha first.Although Jae-sik shot Young-ha, it was not a lethal shot. Detective Bo-min arrived just as Jae-sik was about to shoot Seong-a, and the situation only escalated. Seong-a took advantage of the confusion to escape, after which the episode cut away.
Park Chan-yeol
Gu Gi-ho
It’s later revealed that Jae-sik, despite being hurt, managed to run after Seong-a and shoot her in the back. Seong-a tried to continue running, but Jae-sik shot her a second time.Young-ha got inside the pool where her body fell and found a tragic yet understandable sense of closure. It is unclear whether the police ever found Si-hyeon’s body, whose location was only known by Seong-a. Aware of what his daughter had done and hoping to avoid an even bigger scandal, Seong-a’s father helped get Jae-sik out of prison and silenced everyone involved.
Why Seong-a Killed Si-hyeon In The Frog
Seong-a killed Si-hyeon in the first episode ofThe Frog. While the murder is never shown, Young-ha’s suspicions over what happened to the child are what set the events of the show in motion. The pension house owner noticed thatSeong-a checked out alone and was carrying a very heavy suitcase when she left.He then found blood at the house, but instead of calling the police, he cleaned it and never told anyone anything.The Frogexplores Young-ha’s guilt, but why Seong-a killed Si-hyeon is only revealed in the second half of theNetflix K-drama.
Seong-a had no problem killing and assaulting other people to cover her actions or get what she wanted.
While Young-ha assumed that Si-hyeon was Seong-a’s son, the boy was actually her stepson. Seong-ha had recently got married to Jae-sik, whom she believed was only with her so that his son could have a mother.Go Min-si’s character inThe Frogis a psychopath who doesn’t like the childand is bored by him. This is why she kills Si-hyeon. There was no secret reason or twist, although Jae-sik believed she did that so he would have to kill her. Seong-a had no problem killing and assaulting other people to cover her actions or get what she wanted.
Why Seong-a Was So Obsessed With Young-ha’s Vacation Home
Seong-a Believed Her Best Paintings Came From Her Time There
Another mystery surrounding Seong-a inThe Frogis why she wanted to own the motel. Firstly, she was fascinated by the fact that Young-ha, despite knowing what she did, never called the police. Once she returned to the motel, she continued to test Young-ha to see how far she could go before breaking his spirit completely. Secondly,Seong-a, who’s an artist, seemed to be inspired by the location of the vacation home.She became obsessed with living there so that she could continue working on her paintings. According to her, her best paintings happened when she was staying there.
How The Lake View Incident Ties Into The Frog’s Main Story
The Frog Followed Two Separate Stories That Eventually Converged
Netflix’sThe Frogtakes place in two timelines, the early 2000s and the present day. The Lake View murder, which happened in 2001 at Sang-joo’s motel, was as important to the show as everything that was happening withGo Min-si’s characterin 2024. WhileThe Frogplayed with the parallels between Young-ha and Sang-joo, their stories originally had nothing to do with each other apart from the fact that Detective Bo-min worked on both cases. Before she was The Hunter, Bo-min’s first case was the brutal murder committed by a serious killer at the Lake View motel.
Gi-ho was raised by his aunt, and after reading the serial killer’s confession, decided to kill him himself to avenge his family.
Sang-joo’s family was destroyed by what happened at their motel. Their business failed, and their only option was to look for a buyer. However, after fighting the parents of the kids who were bullying his son, Sang-joo could no longer find someone to buy the hotel. His wife took her own life, and Sang-joo was later admitted to a mental hospital. Gi-ho was raised by his aunt, and after reading the serial killer’s confession, decided to kill him himself to avenge his family. This is whenGi-ho met Young-ha, who had learned about the Lake View case at Detective Bo-min’s office.
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Why Detective Bo-min Let Gu Gi-ho Walk Away (Despite Knowing What He Did)
Bo-min Told Gi-ho He Was “The Frog”
Gi-ho killed the serial killer at the hospital with the help of his uncle. He was able to escape and was ready to take his own life when Young-ha stopped him. Young-ha did not turn Gi-ho in, most likely because he could relate to what the boy was going through. While the Lake View storyline did not play a major role inThe Frog’s finale, thethriller K-dramarevisited Gi-ho toward the end of the episode.Bo-min deduced Gi-ho was the hospital killerand knew he had help from his uncle to execute the serial killer.
The Frog’s original title,아무도 없는 숲속에서, means In the Woods With No One in a free translation.
However, the detective chose not to arrest Gi-ho. She mentioned that some things are better off not being known, which ties into the Korean name of the show –In the Woods With No One. Apart from his uncle, no one saw what Gi-ho did, and Bo-min believed that justice had been served for his family. She also told him she would never blame “the frog,” an expression she first heard while working at the Lake View case in 2001.“The frog” is the person who’s being thrown rocks at– a victim.
What The Frog’s Ending Really Means
Young-ha No Longer Has To Keep A Secret
Every episode ofThe Frogstarts with the same question:“If a large tree falls in the forest when no one is looking, does it make a sound?“The metaphor ties into Young-ha’s ultimate dilemma throughout the show. He chose not to call the police despite his suspicions over what happened to the child, almost as if he was trying to convince himself that, if no one saw or heard what happened, then there was no murder. Now that everything had finally been exposed, Young-ha found peace. A similar thing happened to Gi-ho, who can now finally move on.
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The Frog
Cast
A mysterious woman arrives at a rental home and turns the owner’s life upside-down.
