The Killing Vote (2023) Episode 12

The Killing Vote Plot

The crime drama series follows a mysterious man who doles out punishment to the most heinous criminals in the country who fall through the cracks of the justice system. His M.O. includes sending a text message when a criminal doesn’t face justice and citizens over the age of 18 can vote on whether or not they should die. If the results in favour of punishment receive 50% or more votes, then this mysterious figure, who operates through the internet, shows the said criminal a taste of the consequences of their actions. With such a dangerous precedent being set, Kim Moo-chan, Kwon Seok-joo and Joo Hyeon get embroiled in a wild chase to figure out who the punisher is.

– The Review Contains Major Spoilers –

The Killing Vote Episode 12 Recap

The episode starts 10 years ago at Hyun and Min’s parents’ funeral, wherein the person who caused the accident of their car comes to pay her respect, only not to acknowledge her wrongdoing. Although Hyun continues to plead for her to accept that she was driving drunk, she refuses to do so, and this results in Hyun protesting and trying to the bottom of it, but nothing ever comes out of her efforts. In the end, she decides to have a happy and long life.

Back to the present, Mu-chan starts to negotiate with Seok-joo to give up and not take his own life. Elsewhere, people decide whether or not to vote against Seok-joo and, surprisingly, Ji-hoon’s confession works its magic on some. As Mu-chan makes his way up Seok-joo’s hideout, Ji-young seems to be losing her mind as the people vote for him not to end his life. However, a loud explosion at the hideout surprises everyone. Although it turns out to be nothing, Ji-hoon learns that the cops have surrounded Seok-joo and asks him to turn himself in and move on with their lives.

Just as Ji-hoon breathes a sigh of relief, however, a gang of boys surrounds the two of them and kidnaps them as Hyun and Jo-dan follow them to the Mirim bus stop. At Ji-young’s place, they are about to stab Do-hee when they hear sirens in the distance; at the hideout, Seok-joo calls Mu-chan one last time as the cops go up the house while Chul-min makes his escape. As Seok-joo gets ready to end his life, Mu-chan rushes up the stairs and tries to save his life. Meanwhile, the police break into Ji-young’s house after finding the CCTV footage of Do-hee’s abduction but find her and the politician having a “calm conversation”. The situation takes everyone by surprise, but at least Do-hee is able to get out.

Ji-hoon, meanwhile, is beaten up badly and ends up with a horrible head wound. Although Hyun tries her best to save him, he dies in her arms. Elsewhere, Mu-chan is able to save Seok-joo, but the news of Ji-hoon’s death breaks everyone’s hearts. After getting over the initial shock, Seok-joo decides to say goodbye to Na-rae one last time, and Mu-chan takes the opportunity to apologise to him for fabricating the evidence and not nabbing Min-soo in the first place. As they chat, Chul-min, after having lost his mind knowing that Seok-joo isn’t dead, decides to run over a few policemen and abduct Hyun.

He takes her to Mu-chan and Seok-joo and asks for a hostage exchange. However, Seok-joo tries to lure him in with a pendrive, promising to make him his only successor. Finding him distracted, Hyun pushes the gun off his hands, and Mu-chan shoots him, but not before Chul-min topples over the edge with Seok-joo and into the sea. Mu-chan jumps in after him, but it’s clear that Seok-joo is nowhere to be found.

Later on, after a rather unsatisfying press release, we find Mu-chan still digging into the case. However, this time it’s different – he finally finds the clue he has been looking for for so long, and it was hidden in Ji-young’s basement under a fake pillar! The latter finally accepts her fate after realising that her husband or the commissioner won’t save her this time and goes with the police without any fight. Later on, Hyun declines Mu-chan’s offer to join the RIU and decides to go back to HQ.

One year later, Hyun is back at HQ with a better reputation and giving lectures about cyber security while Jo-dan and Yoon-ji are surprisingly dating. Interestingly, Hyun finds a brilliant hacker’s crumbs in the original Gaetal video that started it all while Min receives a text from him as she has her first drink that they had promised to share together. Later on, Ji-young, putting up a front in front of everyone, tries to hire a new recruit (played by Hong Jong-hyun) who is able to make the Killing Vote functional once more and decides to go after Assemblyman Kang Ji-seok in order to wreak havoc once more.

Later, Mu-chan suddenly receives Seok-joo’s pendrive from a mysterious biker and meets Hyun on his way to get it to forensics. Hyun later reads a report about a man in his 40s being rescued by a ship in Japan from an email sent by someone called Watchdog, while Mu-chan has apparently taken up the duty of imparting vigilante justice. The last scene showcases that the Killing Vote has begun once more.

The Killing Vote Episode 12 Review

Well, Kim Ji-hoon’s death might come as expected for many, but man, does it still hurt! Watching everyone break down over his death, coupled with Park Sung-woong heartbreakingly expressing Seok-joo’s sorrow at losing his second child, was rough.

Either way, The Killing Vote leaves many fates unanswered in the end, which is a bit odd considering that the drama has been ongoing since August! You’d expect that it would give us concrete answers, but no – does Seok-joo live? Does Ji-young continue to be insane? What was the point of Do-hee’s character? Many questions which have no answers.

I think The Killing Vote finale was quite emotional and enjoyable, although it fails to deliver that punch of an ending. And, sure. Sometimes ambiguous endings feel great, but I think this one deserved some form of closure. We literally get no answers to the main questions and are back to where we started, albeit now a kid is dead. In the end, this has been a fun ride, but I am annoyed at the sheer lack of any and all answers. Ji-young continuing on the insanity streak feels very on character, and the fact that justice wasn’t served in the end is also on the theme, so there’s that. Maybe the point is that Mu-chan’s vigilante justice will one day catch up to her; who knows?

The Killing Vote aired every week on SBS in Korea, and the complete season is available to stream on Amazon Prime Video in select regions.