Lost in Starlight’s ending was all about Joo Nan-young surviving a deadly storm on Mars and then establishing contact with her boyfriend, Jay, to let him know how much she loved him. So, 25 years prior to the events of the movie, Nan-young’s mother, Son Ji-young, had gone to Mars to ascertain if organic life could thrive there and set up shop in an underground facility on the planet. But a marsquake killed Ji-young and the rest of her team. While Nan-young’s father dedicated the rest of his life to establishing contact with his wife, assuming that she was in fact still alive, Nan-young proceeded to become an astronaut in the hopes of reaching Mars and completing her mother’s mission. However, in order to be a member of the crew being assembled for the latest expedition, Nan-young had to prove her worth by inventing a droid that was capable of detecting organic material. Once she achieved that, she was gung-ho about her trip. Jay wasn’t as enthusiastic about it, especially after learning what had happened to Nan-young’s mother. Yet, after some initial hesitation, Jay decided to support Nan-young’s trip to Mars, while he himself focused on his music career on Earth. While their relationship was certainly tested by the distance between them, the environmental condition on Mars was the real danger, as it had the potential to bring their love story to an unceremonious end. Did it, though? Let’s find out.
Spoiler Alert
Nan-young Fell Into A Chasm
Nan-young set out to explore the surface of Mars with her trusty droid on the same day that Jay was set to perform on stage with his old band for the first time in years. Upon detecting organic life, the droid whizzed off, leaving Nan-young to chase after it in her rover. After following it for quite a while, both Nan-young and the droid stopped near an underground lava cave that had supposedly been exposed by a meteor impact. Since the droid dropped into the chasm before Nan-young’s feet as its detector showed a high concentration of organic mass at the bottom, she had no option but to follow it. Right when she had gone past the point of no return, her team noticed that the tornado that was predicted to arrive had, well, arrived. Now, I have to point out something here: the captain of the crew said that they’d had a briefing about this occurrence the previous night. Which meant that Nan-young was a part of that briefing. She knew about the tornado warning, and yet she risked her life. For what? I know that the tornado has been brought into the mix to create some drama and tension. However, if you remove this line that there was a briefing about this specific event, Nan-young doesn’t come off as an idiot. Before leaving for the mission, she had this whole conversation with Jay about how she was being selfish about this expedition, and she promised to look after herself after stepping foot on Mars. Then, what happened? She forgot about it, threw caution to the wind, and went headfirst into a bloody cavern? I don’t know, man; that line just sucks. Anyway, one of the many tornadoes passing through the area that Nan-young was in struck the rover, causing it to fall into the chasm, taking Nan-young down with it.
Nan-young survived
She didn’t die after falling to the bottom of the crevice, but her spacesuit had sustained severe damage. Since her oxygen levels were plummeting, she had a limited amount of time on her hands, which was why the captain canceled a rescue mission, as it’d be impossible to reach her and bring her back to the spot where they’d set up camp. Nan-young knew that. Hence, she tried to prolong her life by patching the cracks in her helmet with duct tape and kept following the droid, which was still searching for organic life. Back on Earth, though, the news had already declared her missing. When Jay saw that, and the realization that his worst fears had come true hit, he rushed to Nan-young’s dad to use his makeshift Earth-to-Mars communication device to reach Nan-young.
In Lost in Starlight’s ending, when all hope was lost, Nan-young finally stumbled upon Ji-young’s working quarters. How did it survive the marsquake or the meteor strike? I don’t know. That said, apparently, that location was conducive for life to grow, proven by the Amur adonis flowers that had been cultivated by Ji-young, and that allowed Nan-young to breathe even after her suit had run out of oxygen. If you’re confused about whether or not Ji-young is alive or dead, she is dead. Nan-young was hallucinating when she thought she saw her mother waking her up. The film never delved into the supernatural, so I am ruling out the possibility of Ji-young’s ghost making contact with Nan-young. As for Nan-young’s dad’s communication device, it was functional. All the video messages that he had transmitted into space had been received by Ji-young’s device. Yes, Ji-young wasn’t alive to see them, but that doesn’t discount the fact that Nan-young’s dad had created an interplanetary communication device all on his own. And thanks to that, Jay got in touch with Nan-young and heaved a sigh of relief that the love of his life was alive.
The Point of the Movie
Eventually, Nan-young returned to Earth and reunited with Jay on the same spot where they had their first run-in with each other. Now, what was the point of this story? What’s the message that this movie is trying to send? Well, I’m not really sure. In Interstellar, Amelia Brand does speak about how love can transcend space and time. So, I guess Nan-young and Jay’s love story is an extension of that sentiment. No, I’m not claiming that Nan-young’s dad didn’t love Ji-young enough, which was why she didn’t make it out of Mars alive. Both Nan-young and Ji-young were victims of unforeseen circumstances, and regardless of the outcome of their respective missions, the adoration in the hearts of their loved ones persevered. I mean, you can even say that the flowers planted by Ji-young increased the oxygen levels of the area that Nan-young found herself in, which makes the mother directly responsible for the survival of her daughter, who was probably destined to find her way to that spot. Also, Nan-young’s ambition positively influenced Jay. He was kind of stuck in this loop of self-pity. He was too afraid to take the leap because his old band member, Di-a, had betrayed him once before. However, maybe seeing Nan-young risk her life to fulfill her mother’s dreams and give her father some closure (about whether or not Ji-young was alive) pushed him to break through his self-imposed shackles and live out his own dreams of being a great musician. The movie is essentially La La Land if Mia aspired to be an astronaut instead of an actor, and Sebastian and Mia actually ended up with each other instead of going their separate ways and achieving success while always wondering, “What if?” In closing, if you fall in love with a person who motivates you to be the best version of yourself, and that goes both ways, cherish that relationship, because it’s rare. Anyway, those are my thoughts on the ending of Lost in Starlight. If you have any opinions on the same, please feel free to share them in the comments section below.
