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ENA's K-Drama thriller series The Defects, starring Yum Jung-ah and Won Jin-ah, wrapped up with its finale episode on August 12, 2025. The finale was brutal and tragic, yet it delivered a fitting justice for the abandoned children.
The plot unfolds in South Korea, where a low birth rate sparks a sinister industry- designer babies genetically engineered from elite donors, sold to wealthy families hoping for perfect children. But when these children failed to meet the expectations, they were labelled "defective" and returned like any faulty device.
At the heart of the series is Ah-hyun, one such returned child who survived alongside other children under the protection of Tae-Sik, a former enforcer of the baby-selling syndicate. Across eight episodes, Ah-hyun uncovers the truth behind her biological mother, Kim Se-hee, the mastermind behind the SH Medical Foundation, the institution behind selling such illegal and inhuman activities.
The finale throws the defectives into Se-hee's cruelest game yet, pitting them against their own parents in a fight for survival, as Ah-hyun makes her final move to bring the empire down.
The Defects Ending Explained: Parents turned executioners
The finale's centrepiece was Se-hee's last cruel experiment. Gathering the returned children and their parents in an open space, she staged a deadly game where the guardians were given an option to kill their children in exchange for a refund. As the announcement started:
"The survival game begins now. The rules are simple. Don't die. Just survive. If you get shot, you die. As you run and hide from the bullets, lift your gun, you'll realize that surviving isn't easy at all. Right and one more rule. No matter what you must never call Mom or Dad. If you have a gun but don't shoot you die."
The scene was heartwrenching and exposed the brutalities of Se-hee's nasty business. The children pleaded to their parents, but many pulled the trigger. In between the chaos, Eun-Jo's mother was shot by Se-hee when she tried to save her daughter.
Ah-hyun, the central figure in the rebellion, was dragged into the chaos after nearly killing Se-hee earlier. When Se-hee was about to pull the trigger on Ah-hyun, the police-tipped off by an unlikely ally-arrived.
Se-hee tried calling the police commissioner, but he was in no mood to assist her. Neither did the President's wife help her. In between the crossfire, Jung-hyeon was gunned down while trying to protect Se-hee. The younger Ah-hyun breaks down after seeing Jung-hyeon's body as she repeatedly utters:
"Uncle, Uncle, Uncle, no. No, please no"
We also get a glimpse of Se-hee's childhood in bits of flashback: How her mother abandoned her, and she never received her mother's love.
The Defects Ending Explained: The President's wife takes a U-turn after Ah-hyun blackmails her
The key to Se-hee's undoing came from a surprising alliance. Ah-hyun confronted the president's wife, expecting to receive Ah-hyun's unborn child, and revealed she had never been pregnant. The truth was even more shocking: Se-hee had been using her own eggs to produce perfect children, making the buyer's genetic claims a farce.
Ah-hyun recorded the conversation, threatening to release it unless the president's wife helped her bring Se-hee down. With her political future on the line, she caved, using her influence to mobilise forces for the raid.
The Defects Episode 8 recap: Se-hee's last stand and death
In the aftermath of the raid, Se-hee retreated to her lab, desperate to salvage her frozen genetic material. Ah-hyun followed, destroying the samples and confronting her mother with the truth: Perfection wasn't genetic-it was emotional resilience and love:
"The perfect being you talk about is someone who isn't even you. Born to proper parents raised differently from you, given nothing but love, and growing up to shine brightly, unlike you. You reek. The stench is overwhelming. You thought I didn't know? The rotting stench comes from your festering inferiority complex."
"You lost completely."
She pointed the gun right at her mother and said:
"I love you. Mom"
In the epilogue of The Defects Episode 8, it was shown that she deliberately missed the target and left the room. Alone, disgraced, and stripped of her legacy, Se-hee took her own life with her daughter's discarded gun.
Tae-sik's choice: From killer to witness
In the finale episode of The Defects, Tae-sik, the morally grey guardian of the defectives, took justice into his own hands. After the raid, he abducted the murderous parents, locking them into barrels to prevent them from escaping justice. Yet he ultimately surrendered to the authorities, trading his freedom for the certainty that the children would be safe and the truth would reach the courts.
The Defects ending explained: Life after the defects
The surviving children were scarred but free from the shackles of abuse. So-mi reunited with her mother and began chasing her K-pop idol dreams. Ju-an returned to school, visiting Tae-sik in prison and tending to Seok-su's memory. Si-woo also found his comfort. They all visit Seok-su's grave, and it felt like he was there, smiling at them.
A rooftop barbecue in the closing moments offered a bittersweet reunion. They laughed, ate, and existed without the looming threat of being killed. The memories couldn't be erased because the shadow of Se-hee's empire was gone.
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All episodes of The Defects are available to watch on Amazon Prime Video with a Channel K subscription.
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