Breaking Down the Devastating Ending of The Scandal, tell me about this news in (https://time.com/article/2026/09/18/breaking-down-the-ending-of-the-scandal/)
18-09-2026
The article from TIME, titled “Breaking Down the Devastating Ending of The Scandal” and written by Kayti Burt, provides an analysis of the finale of the Netflix historical drama series The Scandal.
Key details covered in the article include:
Background and Premise: Directed by Jung Ji-woo, the series adapts Pierre Choderlos de Laclos’s classic 1782 French novel Les Liaisons dangereuses (previously adapted into films like Dangerous Liaisons, Cruel Intentions, and the 2003 Korean film Untold Scandal), transposing the story into 18th-century Joseon. It stars Son Ye-jin as Lady Cho Yun, Ji Chang-wook as her libertine cousin Cho-won, and Nana as the virtuous widow An Hui-yeon. The drama begins when Lady Cho challenges Cho-won to seduce Hui-yeon in a manipulative wager.
How the Plot Unravels: To seduce Hui-yeon, Cho-won convinces her to flee in the night. Society presumes she committed suicide out of loyalty to her late husband, prompting the King to consider awarding her a memorial gate. However, Hui-yeon survives, converts toward Catholic beliefs that reject suicide, falls in love with Cho-won, and decides she wants to live. Cho-won develops genuine feelings for her and plans an escape to Yanjing (Beijing).
The Climax and Confrontation: Hui-yeon inadvertently seeks shelter with Lady Cho, unaware of her role in the plot. When Cho-won arrives, Lady Cho forces him to choose between them. Cho-won cannot let go of Lady Cho, leaving Hui-yeon devastated. Later, when Cho-won presents Lady Cho’s fabricated report of Hui-yeon’s death to the King, the King exposes it as false due to conflicting weather details and banishes Cho-won from his presence forever.
Cho-won’s Fate: Rather than facing a future defined by betrayal and loss, Cho-won boards a ferry toward China but jumps overboard into the dark water, meeting his death.
The Aftermath for the Characters:
Lady Cho preserves her noble lifestyle and status, but remains utterly isolated at her writing desk, left with longing and having permanently lost Cho-won.
Hui-yeon survives in secrecy through underground Catholic networks, bearing the emotional scars of the betrayal.
Concubine So-ok remains comfortable for the moment, pregnant with the child of her lover In-ho rather than her husband Lord Yoo, though her future remains precarious.
The only characters shown finding genuine peace and happiness are Cho-won’s and Hui-yeon’s former servants, Chil-seong and Eun-sil, whose freedom Cho-won purchased before his death.
Themes and Critique: The article notes that the drama uses traditional pansori narration to mirror the “roman à clef” nature of the source material. Ultimately, the story critiques the Joseon aristocracy, showing how the arrogance, emotional games, and self-serving nature of the ruling class caused ruin for themselves and those around them.