Alice - How it should have ended!

met my90seoul, februari 26, 2021

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Warning: This article may contain spoilers!

Alice was definitely one of the K-dramas that I bonded the most with (excluding the ending). The acting was top-notch and the cast was amazingly professional. The first two episodes still remain two of my favorites in k-drama history and the story itself is very astonishing despite the way the rest of the episodes were executed.

As I watched Alice I started caring a lot about the main cast Kim Hee Sun, Joo Won, Kwak Shi Yang, Lee Da In, as their professionalism was of a high level. All the other supportive characters, the OST, the visuals made me follow the episodes of this drama binging through every second without skipping.

On the other handing, the ending was very disappointing, and thus, to try to give this k-drama the ending that, we, fans think it needed I made an alternate final episode hoping to give Alice a fitting and decent ending. The alternate version is made in two versions:

1. a written version- for a more detailed story

2. a short video- to visualize the ending while rearranging scenes from all 16 episodes

The ending was made so in order to fit with the way episodes 1 to 15 were executed. I tried to re-arrange the scenes in order to make an ending that can be satisfying while matching with the previous events.

And if you spot any plot-hole here and there please ignore it as the series had many. Enjoy and let me know what you think!

Enjoy!

Recap

After having previously discovered that Yoon Tae Yi is the past-self of Jin Gyeom's mother, Do Yeon asks her where do her feelings about Jin Gyeom stand. Yoon Tae Yi says how she just has realized that it has never been anything else other than a mother's genuine care. She has always cared about Jin Gyeom as a mother, even though she wasn't his mother, yet, in this timeline and that she is happy to see that Jin Gyem has someone like Do Yeon by his side.

ALICE

Jin Gyeom’s love and anger take over Alexithymia and everything starts collapsing. Unable to handle his time-controlling powers he unconsciously stops time, faints, and teleports himself back to the past, in the year 2010.
He wakes up in a tunnel, confused and shocked. He realizes that he unconsciously left himself teleport him here hope to desperately prevent older Park Jin Gyeon from killing his mother. The prophecy stated that the child born through the radiating portals will gain control over time and the ritual is coming alive. Do Yeon, Go Hyun Seok, Kim Dong Ho, Min Hyuk, Tae Yi. All these people are far away from Jin Gyeom right now. He has to fix time. He wants it. He wants all his people back. Even alexithymia wouldn’t stop him from saving them.
He starts running to reach the exit so that he can go as fast as he can to his house. As soon as he arrives he sees 2010-Park Jin Gyeom stepping out and meeting 2010-Kim Do Yeon as they go to school. He enters his house in search of his mother but she doesn’t seem to be there. His mother has sensed the tragedy that the prophecy upholds and meets 2010-Professor Seok Hon telling him that they must discard their research and instead they should stop time travel so that the door of time can be permanently closed. The scene moves forward to Park Jin Gyeom going to the police station he works on his current timeline and as soon as he steps there he gets astonished. His old chief, the man he always considered as his father, was standing right there, alive. Go Hyun Seok senses that he is a time traveler and takes him to a room and starts questioning whether or not he is sent from “The Teacher”. Park Jin Gyeom says that he is here to save his mother and that he needs his help since they were close on a different timeline.

Park Jin Gyeom then tells him that he always considered the chief like his father and asks to hug him. As he hugs the chief, his pure love takes over Alexithymia and tears fall from Park Jin Gyeom's eyes. Then he realizes that it’s time to go and change the future. A future where everyone can be happy. A future where his mother is Alive.
Having experienced this misfortune more than once, Jin Gyeom has knowledge of every event happening. He encounters his 2010-mother in the local shop in their neighborhood and quietly follows her home where he would stand guard and keep an eye at the entrance. It is the birthday of Yoon Tae Yi. Tied on this day is the lunar eclipse. Tonight the moon would turn a bloody red color, an event that happens once in 100 years, yet Jin Gyeom has witnessed it more the once, every time in a bloodshed battle. Just like in the past, 2010-Jin Gyeom arrives with the birthday cake from Do Yeon and emotionlessly celebrates with his mother, as she gets ready to go out and experience the eclipse.
As soon as Yoon Tae Yi steps out she witnesses two drones flying around trying to scan her. She knows they are from Alice and that this was bound to happen. She starts running in search of a way to escape them, with Jin Gyeom following to save her. At that moment, professor Seok Hon grabs him and tells him that this is a sacrifice that should happen for the sake of time travel. Yoon Tae Yi is sacrificing herself so that Jin Gyeom can live.
At that moment, out of nowhere, Hyun Seok directs a gun at the professor and tells him to let Jin Gyeom go. Jin Gyeom thanks his foster father and starts running in the hope to save his mother. 2010-Yoon Tae Yi escapes the drones by trying to hide in her house. As soon as she enters, the lights start going on and off, and shocked, she sees a shadow. A shadow of a man in a black suit covering his face. As he reveals his face, it is none other than the future Park Jin Gyeom, his older self, trying to fulfill the prophecy. Right at that moment, Jin Gyeom also arrives and sees his mother being threatened by his future self. Past, present, and future are at the same place but is it the right time? Will it bring fortune or bloodshed?
Future-Jin Gyeom explains how he met Yoon Tae Yi even before he was born and how she shot him at his shoulder after hearing about the prophecy. He tries to brainwash Jin Gyeom’s psychology by telling him that Yoon Tae Yi’s sacrifices have always been in worship to time travel, so that time travel can continue.
Jin Gyeom refuses to believe that and points his gun towards him, ready to shoot.
Yoon Tae Yi manages to steal the gun and shoots herself. Desperate for witnessing this for the fourth time, Jin Gyeom takes his mother in the arms crying. Once again, pure love has managed to conquest Alexithymia. She tells him that she had to do this so that Jin Gyeom can live. She had to do this because if Jin Gyeom kills his future self, they will both disappear. Future-Jin Gyeom gets shocked and says that this wasn’t what he planned. Before trying to say another word, depressed Jin Gyeom stands up, steals the gun, and shoots him. As tears shed from their eyes, both their bodies start vanishing into nowhere.
Everything vanishes.
Jin Gyeom disappears.
Alice is disappeared.
The time is reset.
It's the year 2010. Yoon Tae Yi wakes up after sleeping in her room. She looks confused and anxious. She goes out of the room and meets her sister, who is cooking, and asks her about the recent events. She claims that Tae Yi was sleeping as she was tired after coming home late from her conference in Germany. She then starts asking about Jin Gyeom but her sister replies in confusion, saying she never met him. She goes to the police station and asks the detectives about Jin Gyeom only to hear them say that someone with that name never existed.
Convincing herself that Jin Gyeom has not disappeared she tries everything she can to find him but to no result. She goes to her office and as soon as she enters she sees her friend Moon Seo Jin, who was shot by the time traveler earlier on. But there she was, standing in front of her, smiling, alive. She hugs her and then it hits her. She starts realizing that the reason her friend may be back is because of the time resetting, thus leaving only one option as to how this could have occurred. Park Jin Gyeom might have sacrificed himself. She goes to her parents’ restaurant and there she sees the detectives having a team meeting. The chief and his two detectives are eating jjajangmyeon while Kim Dong Ho and Yoon Tae Yeon keep exchanging smiles. Tae Yi asks them all about Park Yin Gyeom, only to realize more that he did in fact sacrifice himself so that everyone else could be revived and happy. She then remembers how Min Hyuk protected her and goes searching for both him and Do Yeon but doesn’t find them.
Time passes and the year it’s 2025. While joggling out in the park suddenly Tae Yi runs into a familiar face. He stops and smiles. It’s Min Hyuk and apparently, he remembers everything. They both died in Alice, a futuristic building surrounded by radiation, and thus their memory might have been affected by radiation.
They start remembering the events and having flashbacks. She starts crying and thanks to him for protecting her. He proceeds to hug her and she hugs him back. She says that she is happy to someone from the past again, as she lost a son without even being a mother yet. He says he feels guilty for not protecting Jin Gyeom and that they should live happily as that is what Jin Gyem wanted since he sacrificed himself for them.
The year it’s 2027. Min Hyuk and Tae Yi are eating out together. They are sitting inside a car while genuinely smiling at each other.
Seasons pass and so does time. The year it’s 2031 and a car is driving in the streets of Seoul. Min Hyuk can be seen driving while on the front seat Tae Yi can be seen holding one hand on her belly, her pregnant belly. A baby is coming. Can it be?
The year it’s 2032 and Tae Yi can be seen in labor. She is at the hospital giving birth to a baby boy. She takes her baby in her arms with Min Hyuk entering the room with balloons and flowers while getting emotional. They hug the baby together and they unconsciously call out his name at the same time. They call out none other than Jin Gyeom. Yoo Jin Gyeom is born. This time Yoo Min Hyuk would do everything to stay by the side of Yoo Tae Yi and the newly born Jin Gyeom.
More years pass and time moves into the year 2050. Right outside of a café, now as a high school student, Jin Gyeom is seen along with Do Yeon. She tells him that she likes him. At first, Jin Gyeom seems serious but then he hints at a smile saying that Do Yeon is important to him as well. She blushes and they hug each other.
It’s almost 10 pm and everyone is gathered to celebrate the birthday of Tae Yi. Jin Gyeom and Do Yeon gratefully wish Tae Yi and sit at the table, where Min Hyuk comes in with the cake with lighted candles. They all start singing happy birthday but the candles blow off.
Right outside the moon is shining bright in its natural form. Some thrilling vibes can be slightly heard and some sparkles fly around. Something starts to materialize. The sparkles are materializing into what can be seen to be a human form. They start to take form and it is seeming that time is back. Time is being controlled. It’s none other than the controller of time. The boy born through the radiation of time.
IT’S PARK JIN GYEOM.
He’s back.
He materializes and takes out of his pocket something. It’s the time-travel card that Tae Yi had developed and Do Yeon had secretly put in his pocket. It seems that his time-controlling powers radiated through the time travel card and helped him find the direction of the origin of the card.
He starts to slowly walk through the stairs and the garden, to reach the door. He then approaches the window. A small light can be seen. They have lighted the candles back and are singing the birthday song again:
“Happy Birthday to you.
Happy Birthday to you.
Happy Birthday our dear Yoon Tae Yi”
...
At that phrase Park Jin Gyeom, after seeing the people he loves in happiness, sheds some tears and with a shaken and homesick voice quietly sings:
“Happy birthday to you, Mom.”