‘Father’ comes to meet Ji-hyo and someone brings in a metal box. Ji-hyo opens it to see a small metal casing inside. But when she opens it, she finds it empty. ‘Father’ reveals that there was nothing in Ji-hyo’s head in the first place. They opened her up but didn’t find anything. ‘Father’ tells her that there is no evidence Ji-hyo ever met aliens. He even discredits the memory she found under hypnosis, saying that those thoughts were put there by him. Ji-hyo’s staunch belief begins to crumble down. At the same time, her head gets heavy and she can’t stand straight. She realises ‘Father’ had put something in the tea she drank. ‘Father’ begins to rant about how he looked for the Messiah for years. He gets distraught thinking about how long everybody believed in him and followed his instructions. So he tells Ji-hyo to pretend to be the Messiah anyway, at least so his followers can die happy. He says she has already lied to the people once, they won’t let her go now. Ji-hyo tries to get up and leave but the drugged tea takes its toll on her and she collapses.
Does Bo-ra find the white light?
As Bo-ra runs through the woods looking for the light, Young-gi sees her and follows. She says she is confused about what to believe ever since she saw Ji-hyo lie to the church members. The two girls see the light again and follow it, but it turns out to be a large drone being controlled by some men from the church. They see multiple drones there and Young-gi finally realises it was all a lie. The men controlling the drones see Bo-ra watching and chase her. She is nearly caught by them but Phillip, Captain Price and Dong-hyuk arrive just in time to save her, having driven there with Direct Kim.
Does ‘Father’ carry out his plan for ascension?
When Ji-hyo next wakes up, she is already on stage in front of the hordes of church members, wearing the white dress. Church members chain her to a large structure of the alien’s symbol. ‘Father’ puts a hat made of lights and wires on Ji-hyo’s head and slides the small metal casing in it. Everyone begins to hum and pray as he talks about Father Light responding to the Messiah’s call. Just then, Bo-ra and the boys arrive. Fumes begins to pour in from pipes, making the boys behave oddly. All of a sudden, a set of five lights appear in the sky, convincing the crowd that Father Light has really come. The crowd chants “Sella” and each person begins to take the tablet out from their necklace. Ji-hyo screams out to them to stop. She tells them she is not a Messiah and can’t bring them salvation, it was all a lie. If they take the tablet, they will die. ‘Father’ points to the lights in the sky as proof of her divine power but right at that moment, a shot rings out and one of the drones falls to the ground. It is Young-gi who shot the drone. She exposes it to everyone and then takes a shot at ‘Father’, but misses.
Does Ji-hyo manage to escape?
After Young-gi shoots at ‘Father’, chaos ensues and the crowd runs helter-skelter. Bo-ra rushes to help Ji-hyo out of her chains. Ji-hyo apologises, sobbing, that it was all a lie. Bo-ra says it’s okay and they can look for aliens again together. Hwa-jung and the other church members grow angry at their betrayal and turn against Ji-hyo. They converge on her and don’t even stop when Detective Kim arrives and fires warning shots into the sky. All of a sudden there is a blackout and all the lights in the entire surrounding area go down.
Are the aliens in Glitch real?
A ball of white light is seen in the sky. As it comes closer it expands and turns into a massive UFO that looms over the crowd. A door opens right above Ji-hyo and Bo-ra. Ji-hyo closes her eyes. When she opens them, she and Bo-ra are in a white space with no walls or floor. A large alien with several tentacles swims around them. It points at Ji-hyo and something small and round comes floating right out of her head, something like a chip. The alien takes the chip, folds into itself and then bursts into tiny specks of light. The crowd on the ground gasps as the lights come back on and Ji-hyo and Bo-ra are nowhere to be seen. Bo-ra and Ji-hyo wake up elsewhere, on the ground next to each other, and start laughing as they realise what happened.
What happens to ‘Father’?
Moon Hyung-tae, or ‘Father’, is looking for his wife through the woods when Young-gi finds him. She is about to shoot him but a car suddenly comes through, knocking Hyung-tae down. It is Direct Kim. He gives Young-gi a phone with her mother’s number and tells her to eat well. He takes the gun from her and shoots Hyung-tae himself.
How does Glitch end?
Bo-r and Ji-hyo come back to the site of the memorial and meet detective Kim, Se-hee and Si-guk. The police are now all over the scene. A voiceover from Ji-hyo narrates everything that happened afterwards, as she explains it to Doctor Ma in one of her sessions. She says that she explained everything she saw but only one person believed her — Si-guk. Si-guk plans to move back to his old apartment. He tells Ji-hyo they should break up and jokes that he can’t stay with a crazy person. They laugh and end things on a good note. Ji-hyo and her father look for a new apartment for Ji-hyo to move into. Ji-hyo even calls her stepmother “Mom” now. News reports show that the cult leaders were arrested. The reports claim that toxic fumes made people hallucinate a UFO. Direct Kim was arrested for killing Moon Hyung-tae. Phillip tells a group of new UFO forum members about the incident, along with Captain Price and Dong-hyuk.
What happens with Ji-hyo and Bo-ra?
Ji-hyo arrives at the café and goes upstairs to meet Bo-ra, who is now looking into Bigfoot as her new project. Ji-hyo sees the alien drawing they made in school pinned on one of the walls. She asks Bo-ra if she likes loft apartments and would like to live with her. She offers her a paper with a list of apartments, just as she had offered the paper with the UFO clipping all those years ago when they first met. Bo-ra accepts.
Why did the aliens put a chip in Ji-hyo’s head?
When Doctor Ma asks Ji-hyo about the memory she saw while under hypnosis, Ji-hyo gives him an analogy of a sturgeon. She says that when sturgeons get stuck in nets, humans help rescue them and leave them with an electronic chip. They do so just to see how far the creature would go. Back in the present, as Ji-hyo leaves Bo-ra’s room, she puts her hand near the photonmeter. She smiles when it doesn’t move but just as she leaves, the indicator springs to the other end.
Is there a mid-credits scene?
A short mid-credits scene shows Si-guk walking on a road when he suddenly sees a giant green alien standing in his way.
The Episode Review
While the finale wasn’t particularly mind-blowing, Glitch definitely ends on a satisfying note. Aliens are real! After convincing Ji-hyo that it was all a lie, a last minute plot twist gives us an entire scene inside a UFO. Despite the lack of explanation, it’s gratifying to know that there was truth to Bo-ra and Ji-hyo’s experiences. The implication that they are greater beings watching humans just the way humans watch fish, is an intriguing analogy. For all its focus on cults and blind religion, Glitch fulfils its promise of a captivating sci-fi tale. The finale also ties up loose ends well. The cult’s lies are exposed and ‘Father’ gets his due, although Direct Kim seems to pay an unfair price for it. Hong Ji-hyo seems to have found peace with her life and everything that happened in it. She settles into happier relationships with her parents, Bo-ra and even Si-guk. Overall, the episode was a bit oddly paced and Ji-hyo definitely seemed like a damsel for a lot of it. Her plan to pose as the Messiah was never very convincing. But in the end, the episode brought the promise of aliens to fruition and they did it well, albeit a little abruptly. All in all, a decent finale.
