As You Stood By ending explained: Hui-Su and Eun-Su confess their crime

As You Stood By tells the story of two best friends, Eun Su and Hui Su, who are dealing with abusive men and marriages.

The initial episodes of the show portray these women and their rage towards how they are cornered by men and a male-dominated system. However, the women then murder to escape the nightmare, which seems like a valid outrage toward all the injustice they are experiencing.

Eventually, Hui Su confesses to killing her abusive husband, and she, along with Eun Su, gets arrested. These moments, though, seem tragic, come as an emotional liberation as the entire show was building towards these women not running but confronting the truth upfront. Hui Su's confession isn't just about the murder, but it's about reclaiming her story and giving her trauma a voice. After the dehumanizing behaviour they have gone through, the act of killing somehow becomes a part of their story, their trauma and valid anger.

Read on to know the complete ending of As You Stood By.

Here is how As You Stood By ends

In As You Stood By, it was Eun Su who decided that history must not repeat itself, and when her best friend Hui-Su suffers the same fate abused by a violent husband, they, out of desperation and rage, decide to murder her husband.

Further in the finale episode, they come up with an elaborate plan of hiring a labourer who looks exactly like Hui-Su's husband, Jin Pyo, and pretending that he has fled the country after committing a financial scam.

Eun Su and Hui Su, who once lived through unbearable domestic violence and guilt, are now shown living quiet, fulfilling lives in Vietnam. Accompanied by Mr Jin, the man who helped them when their lives were falling apart, the women finally find the kind of freedom they’d been searching for since the beginning. Mr Jin's existence is mysterious, as we do not get to know much about his backstory; still, he represents safety in a story where most of the men have been dangerous.

Hui Su and Eun Su are now with shorter hair and simpler clothes to dissociate from their former selves. They aren't seeking any affection or validation from anyone anymore and reclaiming their identity fearlessly.

But things turn upside down when Kang, Jin Pyo's lookalike, returns and demands more money for remaining silent. Meanwhile, Jin Pyo's younger sister Jin-young is connecting the dots together and tracks down the two women by kidnapping Kang. However, even her plan to save her family's image goes haywire when her mother ends up killing Kang.

Eun Su and Hui Su then turn the tables and expose how Jin Pyo's mother and sister manipulate and cover up the abuse done by their family's man. However, to complete their story honestly, the two women also confess to their crime in court. The court sentences them to prison, but this chapter of their lives feels less like punishment and more like redemption. Eun Su leaves her judi belt behind, which symbolizes the end of her rage and fight. This reflects her growth as she has learned to face her reality with courage and honesty.

By the end of As You Stood By, we see the women serving their time in prison, but their relationship remains strong. They write letters to each other and share some hope as they find peace in accountability. This is how the show closes, portraying a bittersweet ending.

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Therefore, we can say that As You Stood By isn't just a story about murder but is also about survival and sisterhood. It questions how valid it is to take law into your hands when society is unable to protect you. Is their act evil or simply human and a result of self-defence?

Watch As You Stood By only on Netflix.

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