Trigger’s ending is another one that fits into the “humans are the real monsters” school of thought. While the 10-episode show started off on an interesting note, as it progressed, it started looking more and more familiar. A villain with an emotionally devastating backstory and the hero who suffered through a similar fate, but only one ever emerges as good. Why is that? The show does a good job of expanding on its main subject, the Trigger. To put it plainly, it’s a moment in someone’s life that leads them to make that bad decision. We see this through many characters, and I can’t help but find similarities between this show and S Line, which also has a similar way of storytelling. While in S Line, the social commentary is about privacy, for Trigger, it’s ill-treatment. And we’ve seen this ever so often in Korean entertainment. The bullied become the bullies. But why is that? What pushes their “Trigger?” That is the question Moon Baek, our antagonist, wants to answer for us. Moon Baek claims that a world where guns are available to anybody, no matter their age, gender, occupation, or social status, will be utopia. But in truth, he wants to avenge his childhood, which was butchered by his own countrymen, a revenge plot against the country that failed him deeply.
Spoiler Alert
Why Are The Guns So Shocking In This Story?
The first thing we need to keep in mind while watching Trigger is that, while gun violence exists in South Korea, private gun ownership is almost impossible. Moreover, a large part of the population knows how to operate guns because they’ve completed their mandatory military service. So you could say the show is set in a dystopian future where guns are freely available in Korea. While gun rules are very strict, a lot of other laws might not be up to the mark. The show mentions how drugs are now easily accessible in a country that was drug-free for a really long time. Since the country is so small and community-based, if one person gets access to something like a gun, it’s a matter of time before it becomes a countrywide issue.
Why Does Baek Introduce The IRU To South Korea?
As I touched upon earlier, Baek is certain that the guns will be a huge hit in Korea, because it’s a small country where many people already know how to use them. Additionally, we have to keep in mind the number of people who kill themselves each year in the country. Then there’s the part where most people are unhappy at work, as we’ve seen in drama after drama. But Baek introduces the IRU to Korea specifically because he wants to see the country destroyed for giving him the life he has. After learning he had cancer, there was only one thing left on his mind. Baek’s history is terribly sad. After being abandoned by his mother (who was probably unable to look after him), he was kidnapped by some traffickers. Because they removed one of his eyes, he was never adopted by anybody, which is why he was sent abroad to be harvested for his organs. Fortunately, before the operations could be completed, he was saved on the table.
But this is a classic case of nature vs. nurture. If Baek had grown up in an orphanage (or convent) and been treated like a decent human being, he might never have become a violent person. But there’s a little bit of contradiction in this. All his “clients” were good people. They were victims of ill-treatment, but because they had no other choice, they decided to pick up a gun instead of being more patient. But in the meantime, Lee Do’s case is also quite similar. He became a police officer to push down the violence inside of him and stop himself from taking revenge on the man who killed his parents. This is because his adoptive father, Sergeant Hyun-Sik, taught him right from wrong and held him back from ruining his life. If you put the two stories parallel to each other, it becomes clear that it’s the moment when the Trigger goes off that truly makes a world of a difference.
Later on in the show, Baek starts working with a man named Jake of the IRU. He gives him the blue eye, making him the infamous “Blue Brown.” Jake offers Baek a lot of money for his services, but Baek’s motivation has never been money. He’s never seen the power of money, nor does he truly care about it like Jake. Baek’s sole motivation is the ruin of a nation. This is why he suggested the country to Baek in the first place. Now, Jake essentially plays the same role in Baek’s life that Hyun-Sik plays in Lee Do’s life, but while Hyun-Sik is like a paternal figure to Do, Jake is more like a boss, almost god-like, just looming over Baek. So when the latter goes to South Korea, he becomes free to do what he likes and watch the fire burn.
How Does Lee Do Save His Country?
In Trigger’s ending, Lee Do and Moon Baek are face-to-face in chaos, where everybody now has guns thanks to Baek’s “Free Guns” rally. In this moment, Baek proves to Do that one gunshot can turn a peaceful land into a war zone. But the show’s ending is a bit too optimistic in my opinion. Do proves that the same is applicable in reverse, i.e., that one moment of caring and kind-heartedness can turn the whole thing around too. Baek has the journalist record the whole thing and show the world how one pull of a trigger can change entire societies, but the one positive act of protecting a child and putting his own life in danger turns Do into a hero and also turns the whole situation around. While many innocents have already been lost, this is a moment of respite and reflection. Just as a “trigger” can push someone to do the worst thing they can imagine, witnessing an act of pure heroism can ease the pain just as quickly.
It’s interesting to see Baek in an all-white outfit, giving him the strange look of an angel, with his longish hair. He does believe that he’s creating a utopia, so this could make him look angelic to those watching him, a marketing gimmick in today’s terms. But he’s basically acting as a cult leader here, telling people that guns are okay, and “corrupting” them slowly. This contrasting appearance certainly makes him feel like a grey character, who you want to trust but know at the end of the day is evil. Also in comparison, Lee Do does come across as slightly hypocritical because he chose to kill a 100 people for his country as a part of the military. Quite the duo these two are. So seeing Do in black here really makes for an interesting scenario.
The show goes in a cycle, where in the beginning, Lee Do was that small child with a gun in his hand, ready to shoot the guy who killed his parents. When Hyun-Sik embraced him, Lee Do’s pain was eased, and a new light was born inside of him. This light stayed alive right through to the end of the show, when he embraced the young boy and then adopted him just like the Sergeant. “If you save one person, you can save them all, eh?” But this doesn’t mean all is well and good. Sure, a lot of the people who saw the suffering decided to give their guns away, a woman kills the journalist, and the business is still running despite Baek being down and out. The team decides to keep going with their plan, which means something bigger is yet to come. While Hyun-Sik’s death could’ve turned Lee Do into a man hungry for revenge, he showed us how virtuous he was and saved the day, at least for the moment.
Is Baek Dead or Alive?
We don’t know who shot Baek; it could’ve been someone from his team, whom he asked to shoot him to prove his point, or it could’ve been a random gunshot that got him. Either way, it puts him in critical condition. So the question is, will he live to see another day or not? We already know the dude has cancer, and the doctor specifically says it will be impossible to keep him alive, but why do I feel like if the show has to go in the typical Korean drama route and there is a second season, they might just weaponize him? Isn’t that what ultimately happens in all of these shows? They will give him special powers and make him the ultimate weapon; he’ll realize this was never his purpose and that he should’ve just given up and will eventually be killed by Lee Do because he’s the protagonist. This is a far-fetched possibility, of course, especially since this show is quite rooted in reality. Still, if there is a sequel, it tends to be very over the top.
Will There Be A Second Season?
While Trigger ends on a positive note, the IRU wants to “continue” with their plan, and a woman (presumably wearing a blonde wig, I don’t think it was her real hair) sporting bright red lipstick stops by Baek’s room. Either she’s there as an assassin to kill him, or she’s there to carry out my previous theory. Both possibilities mean only one thing: the country is still in danger of gun violence, and more stuff is definitely coming their way. Meanwhile, we could also see a second season set in a future where the young boy that Lee Do saved has now become an officer himself. A passing down of the “righteousness” that he got from his adoptive father. This could also be set in a world torn between those who believe guns are good and those who think the country should go back to the old ways. We also see a lot of the characters from the whole show turn over a new leaf, so they could end up with cameos as reformed anti-gun characters. The big thing here is that half of the people who took the guns did it to protect themselves, even Baek’s clients were all victims of some sort of violence/mental harm, which forced them to resort to dirty means. So the second season could just end up being a political run down (think military involvement, more gangsters, etc).
Meanwhile, Jake wants to proceed with his big plans of making more money. He tells his fellow investors that they should make 5 dollars for every one they spend (a bit less, no?) if they want to be called businessmen. He claims they have an opening and should proceed with the plan as is. I suppose another theory could be that the blonde-haired woman is Baek’s replacement now that he’s bedridden. It’s the blonde-haired woman who truly has me intrigued, and her big smile, followed by a bullet, indicates to me that the show might have a chance to be brought back for a second season. But if it doesn’t, we can say it ended on a positive note, and eventually things will go back to the way they were.
