Snowdrop - Ending Explained

"Snowdrop"'s plot is built on a series of major twists that reframe the entire narrative. The central reveal is that Lim Soo-ho is not a student activist but a North Korean spy, and the hostage situation at the Hosu Women's University is a staged event. This crisis is part of a clandestine deal between the ruling party of South Korea and North Korea to create a national security threat, thereby swinging the 1987 presidential election in the incumbent party's favor in exchange for a massive sum of money.

Several characters are not who they seem. Dr. Kang Cheong-ya, initially appearing as a government-sent surgeon, is revealed to be a legendary North Korean spy known as "Haedanghwa 1," who holds a higher rank than Soo-ho. Furthermore, the unassuming dorm manager, Kim Man-dong, is unmasked as another sleeper agent from the North, tasked with eliminating Soo-ho's team for failing their mission. He succeeds in killing Soo-ho's two comrades, Gyeok-chan and Eung-cheol, before being killed himself.

The finale culminates in a tragic climax. Betrayed by both North and South, Soo-ho chooses to go back to the dorm to save the students from a planned massacre by the ANSP. He orchestrates their escape but stays behind to hold off the attacking forces. He ultimately dies in Yeong-ro's arms, shielding her from bullets. In the aftermath, the conspiracy is exposed, and the corrupt officials, including Yeong-ro's father Eun Chang-su, are imprisoned. Yeong-ro is left alone to grieve, finding solace only in a cassette tape Soo-ho recorded, in which he confesses his love for her. The tragic ending underscores the core theme that in the brutal game of politics, individuals and their love are ultimately disposable.

One of the main alternative readings of "Snowdrop" posits it as a political satire and black comedy, as the network itself suggested. From this perspective, the exaggerated incompetence and greed of the South Korean politicians and their wives, and the absurd premises of their conspiracy with the North, are meant to ridicule the corrupt nature of power itself, rather than make a specific historical claim. The tragic romance, in this view, serves as the humanizing element that grounds the satire, showing the real-life consequences of the leaders' farcical and dangerous games.

Another interpretation focuses on the series as a pure character drama about radicalization and deprogramming. Soo-ho's journey can be seen as a process of breaking free from decades of ideological brainwashing through the power of human connection and love. His ultimate defiance of his country is not just a romantic gesture but the final step in reclaiming his own humanity. Conversely, Yeong-ro's arc is seen as a process of forced radicalization, where her political apathy is stripped away by trauma, forcing her to take a stand against the systems of power, including her own family.