Editor’s Note: The following contains spoilers for Episode 12 of the Netflix series All of Us Are Dead.Season 1 of the Netflix Korean zombie seriesAll of Us Are Deadwas quite a thrilling ride from start to finish. Though the final episode left a lot of unanswered questions, the ultimate message seemed to be one of hope. Hope for the future, but still tinged with a little dread. Throughout its 12 episodes, this series remained unpredictable and surprising. There were certain characters who seemed invincible (Gwi-nam may hold a television record for coming back to life), and those we couldn’t believe went out like that (Cheong-san, tears). Are either of them really dead? And what will happen to the students and other survivors going forward? Let’s dig in and analyze!
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What became of the Lees?
One of the most tragic storylines was about the creator of the Jonas virus, which caused the zombie outbreak. Lee Byeong-Chan (Kim Byung-chul) was looking for a way to help his son fight back against bullies, so he injected him with a serum that he thought would make him stronger. It did, but it also turned him into the first zombie of the series. In Episode 12, what we assume to be government officials find Lee’s son and wife, still in a zombie state and still chained to the boy’s bed. They’re two of the only zombies that aren’t killed on sight. Instead, the top agent on the scene tells his colleague that they are not to be harmed under any circumstances. He adds that they should be “preserved” and transported to another facility. What becomes of them is a mystery, but this scene would seem to allude to authorities still working to cure the virus. The two could become a vital part of a second season.
They’re not the only zombies to survive the finale, however. We’ve also got Nam-ra (Cho Yi-hyun), even though she never completely turned. One of the most emotional parts of this finale is when the students finally escape into town and get away from the school. After a showdown with a few remaining zombies, Nam-ra separates herself from the group, purposely lagging behind. A creepy voice inside her head keeps telling her that she’s hungry and needs to kill her friends. She’s perhaps the strongest character in this series because rather than give in to that animalistic urge, she bites her own arm. When that’s not enough, she feeds on a person who’s already dead.
That’s when On-jo (Park Ji-hu) and Su-hyeok (Lomon) come back and discover her. She begs them to go on without her before she loses her will, but they refuse. As a result, Nam-ra attacks On-jo but still somehow refrains from biting her. Because of his feelings for her, Su-hyeok also can’t bring himself to hurt Nam-ra, even to save his friend. This pivotal scene is when they decide to let Nam-ra go. Besides, it’s likely that if the authorities found out she’d been bitten, she would be killed. And so she runs away, and they head toward rescue.
The Weight of Loss
When the surviving students reach the quarantine camp, they’re all weighed down by the losses they’ve suffered — their friends, siblings, parents, and their way of life. In an especially poignant line, On-jo says, “I already knew the sorrow of being a survivor, but I didn’t know just how heavy that sorrow would be.”
This really hits home, considering that she’d lost her mother before the events of this series, and then loses her best friend, I-sak (Kim Joo-ah), her lifelong friend, Cheong-san (Yoon Chan-young), her father, and most recently, Nam-ra, who’s become a friend despite their initial dislike of each other.
A Flicker of Hope
But this is where the hope comes in. After months at the camp, On-jo regularly sneaks out to a makeshift memorial for those lost in the outbreak. It’s there that she notices a light in the distance — it appears to be a fire lit on the roof of Hyosan High School. Flashback to Episode 8 when the group sat around a campfire on the roof, sharing long-held secrets and bonding like only those thrown together in a disaster can do. Nam-ra said at the time that she’d like to sit around a fire with friends again someday. So, On-jo instantly feels that it’s her, trying to send a message to them.
When the group makes a secret trip back to their old school under the cover of darkness, we discover that it was, indeed, Nam-ra who set the fire in hopes of seeing them again. Rather than the haggard appearance she had when they last saw her, she looks refreshed and almost happy. She reveals that she’s found others like her — those who were bitten and infected but have not turned. She explains it like how they are not yet adults but also not kids anymore. She’s not completely human, but not a monster either.
Naturally, On-jo and Su-hyeok want her to come back with them, but she refuses, saying, “I still have things to do.” Once she jumps off the roof and disappears into the darkness like a half-ninja/half-zombie, the group stares after her with expressions that mingle shock, hope, and trepidation.
Since foreboding music begins to play at the end of this scene, you can’t help but wonder if Nam-ra and the others like her will be good for the survivors, or if they’ll eventually attack and completely turn. It’s clear that they have heightened strength and abilities, so it’s highly likely it would be a very one-sided battle. Here’s hoping there is a Season 2, so we can find out what exactly that powerful moment meant for the future.
Lost Love — And Hate
While there might have been some speculation that Cheong-san somehow survived the explosion in the penultimate episode, it was pretty clear that he was engulfed in flames, and fell down an elevator shaft to boot. However, since he and Gwi-nam (Yoo In-soo) fell together, fighting until literally the bitter end, maybe there’s hope that he somehow survived since Gwi-nam came back from certain death multiple times. Who didn’t half-expect him to emerge from the elevator shaft like some kind of reborn ash monster? Since Cheong-san is a fan favorite and Gwi-nam is a favorite villain, maybe it’s not outside the realm of possibility that the two could reappear in Season 2, however unlikely that may seem.
Cheong-san did tug at the heartstrings when some of his last words were, “I’m the happiest guy in this school!” We know that was because he and On-jo finally kissed, and he got to help ensure that she and the others all survived. It was a heroic end, but since this is a show about the dead rising, maybe he could return somehow. And with Gwi-nam now (supposedly) dead, the surviving students can rest easier without worrying that he’s coming to get them. Or can they?
