The Scandal Ending Explained: Directed by Jung Ji-woo, the Netflix Korean drama 스캔들 is a Joseon-era romance inspired by Pierre Choderlos de Laclos’ French novel Les Liaisons dangereuses and stars Son Ye-jin as Lady Cho Yun, Ji Chang-wook as Cho Won, Nana as An Hui-yeon, Shin Youn-ha as Lee So-ok, Chani as Kwon-In-ho, Han Sun-hwa as Bun-hee and others. The drama has eight episodes, each with a runtime of 45 to 60 minutes.
The Scandal Ending Explained
Does Cho Won Win the Bet With Lady Cho?
Indeed, Cho Won does win the bet, since he manages to persuade Hui-yeon to violate her vows of chastity after her husband’s death. What at first seemed like a simple game between Cho Won and Lady Cho involves him seducing the virtuous widow and sleeping with her; if he succeeds, then Lady Cho will grant him what she has been denying him for years.
If not, then Cho Won will have to impregnate So-ok. Cho Won thinks the task is going to be an easy one for him, since he has devoted many years to wooing women and is sure that he will be able to persuade Hui-yeon. But Hui-yeon cannot be seen as just another victim for Cho Won to conquer. She is mourning a husband whom she never had the chance to know, but whom she now longs for amidst her feelings of attraction toward Cho Won and her religious values that make suicide unacceptable to her.
At the end of The Scandal, Cho Won manages to get himself close to Hui-yeon and even has sexual intercourse with her, which means that he meets the true requirements of the bet. However, by that time, the victory is meaningless to him. Indeed, his relationship with Hui-yeon is no longer a game, since he developed some feelings for her, although this was not love but care rather than anything else. Thus, instead of just showing that he managed to seduce Hui-yeon, Cho Won ends up becoming emotionally involved with the very woman he was supposed to manipulate.
Did Cho Won Really Fall in Love With Hui-yeon?
Cho Won does come to develop feelings for Hui-yeon, but it is difficult to say whether he falls in love with her in the same way he loves Lady Cho. The only difference is that once Cho Won spends some time with Hui-yeon, he comes to realise the trouble she is going through because of his lies and becomes concerned about her well-being. He is touched by the fact that she would give up her life to fulfil all the requirements put on her. His efforts to save her from committing suicide and help her run away are proof that he no longer considers her just a woman he should seduce in order to win the bet.
However, this also brings him a lot of pain since he realizes that he is unable to provide the woman with the kind of love she seeks from him. He has been emotionally involved with Lady Cho for years, and despite all the realisation he has gained as far as Hui-yeon’s dependence on him is concerned, he is unable to swap the feelings in another way.
The whole reason for the Cho Won’s behaviour lies here, since he would like Hui-yeon to survive and avoid being affected by the game he created, yet he cannot sincerely be the person Hui-yeon thinks he is. The main thing the man understands is not the fact that he fell in love with the young woman, but that he started caring for her so deeply that his deceit has brought serious complications into her life.
What Happens to Hui-yeon in the End?
Hui-yeon lives on. Although her death is part of the fiction surrounding her, she finally decides that she does not want to die in any manner. The significance of her decision is increased by the fact that she has been meeting in secret with Catholics and now understands her beliefs in a way that does not allow for suicide. In addition to this, after the sexual encounter between Cho Won and Hui-yeon, she understands that she has fallen in love with him and wishes to live rather than die as the good widow that people expect of her.
Cho Won shatters her heart by telling her that his initial intention to woo her was nothing but a gamble, and in turn, Hui-yeon chooses to walk out on him in resentment rather than taking her life. At the end of the story, she loses the status and prestige she once had in her name; however, at the same time, she achieves independence. At the end of The Scandal, she joins a clandestine Christian society and earns her living by crafting and selling paper. Although she hides herself from society, which believes that she has died, she has begun to live her life on her own terms.
Why Does Cho Won Kill Himself?
The suicide of Cho Won is due to the collapse of all things around him. After many years of being dominated by Lady Cho in his feelings, he realises that she is never going to relinquish the comfortable lifestyle that she preferred over him. On the other hand, the way he treated Hui-yeon also gave him a sense of guilt, but his refusal to take Hui-yeon along with him in escaping from his problems, despite her request, makes Hui-yeon suffer greatly.
This means that Cho Won has to cope with the outcomes of both of his relationships, having lied to and betrayed Hui-yeon and having realised that the girl he has been in love with since his youth will never make a choice for him the way he had anticipated. Korean drama The Scandal ending purposefully avoids providing any explicit proof of Cho Won being dead. Cho Won falls into the water and disappears; all that the ferryman sees is his gat. No corpse is retrieved.
Then, strange letters start coming to Cho Won’s previous address, and the old servant informs Lady Cho of the matter. All of this raises the question of Cho Won’s possible survival and his disappearance under a different name. Both Hui-yeon and Lady Cho have every reason to think of Cho Won’s potential existence, but those who are close to him consider him dead. It was meant to be this way because the issue of Cho Won’s survival is not as important as the fact that he cannot be reached by Lady Cho anymore.
What Happens to Lady Cho in the End of The Scandal?
Lady Cho manages to secure herself a place in society, but at the cost of losing the one close to her heart. As the threat posed by Hui-yeon’s predicament becomes clear, Lady Cho invents an untrue account of a woman who looks like Hui-yeon falling into the river from a cliff in a storm. Cho Won presents the story to the King who accepts it at first and awards Hui-yeon’s family the memorial gate they desired.
The King quickly finds out that this story is not possible since the weather conditions mentioned do not correspond to those stated in his documents. He understands that Cho Won has deceived him and orders him to never approach him again, although he spares his life. Lady Cho assumes that she has won because Cho Won seems to have followed through with her plan and been faithful to her.
She does not understand the reason why he disappeared right away but soon gets to understand the magnitude of her loss. This becomes quite ironic since the last life she lives becomes one that she had previously rejected in order to live a life with Cho Won. She has the status that she had to defend at all costs, but she no longer has the support of Cho Won to help her live the life she wanted for herself.
Does Lee So-ok Get Pregnant?
Yes, in The Scandal episode 8, we see that So-ok becomes pregnant with the child of In-ho. The affair between So-ok and In-ho happens during her time as a concubine of Lord Yoo, giving rise to another forbidden love affair which takes place beneath the strict laws of the aristocratic world. At last, the fact of her pregnancy makes it hard for the reality to be concealed. All those who surround them know that it is almost certain that the child belongs to In-ho, although Lord Yoo seems not to realise or admit this fact.
Their scandal also becomes part of entertainment in the form of pansori, in which the affair becomes a joke, ridiculing the hypocrisy of those who pretend not to see what is right in front of them. So-ok herself is relatively happy in the end since she is still with the one she loves and is going to be bearing his child, but the film does not paint the picture of her life as entirely safe and promising.
She is still caught up in the structure of the household that will not allow In-ho to recognise their relationship. Her ending is thus marked by happiness as well as doubt, especially taking into account the fact that things will become even more difficult when they lose their innocence.
What Does the Ending of The Scandal Really Signify?
The main theme of The Scandal kdrama lies in how the characters perceive emotions as things that can be played out as one plays chess on a chessboard. Cho Won and Lady Cho start off the novel thinking that they are smart enough to exploit other people’s passions but remain detached from emotions. This is because their deal is based on that concept itself – the passion of Hui-yeon would be created by Cho Won, and Lady Cho would be the one in charge of the results. However, Hui-yeon ends up affecting Cho Won in return.
Moreover, through this story, the drama highlights the limitations of the Joseon upper class and the privileges that the ruling class possesses. Lady Cho is an intelligent and talented woman, but since she is a woman in Joseon society, she cannot enjoy some of the privileges that men can enjoy. Cho Won enjoys the liberty to indulge in any activity that women cannot.
Nevertheless, the drama clearly illustrates that despite their privileges, these individuals are not free. The obsession with reputation, status, and societal expectations makes their choices more destructive. While Hui-yeon ends up losing her noble status and gaining honesty, Lady Cho keeps her status but ends up lonely in an empty house. This title also has dual meanings. First, it is about scandal caused by secretive affairs, deceit, and forbidden love. The second aspect of scandal, however, is about the people who wanted things which their society did not allow them to desire.
This is emphasised by the pansori acts, where the private affairs of the characters become public knowledge while providing an opportunity for the performance to point out the hypocrisy of the noble class. By the ending of The Scandal kdrama, it teaches us that what makes this tragic is not just the fact that these people violated social laws. What made this a tragedy was the failure of the powerful to realise the consequences of their actions.
