Parasite Ending Explained
Parasite follows the Kim family, who live in a tiny, flood-prone basement apartment in Seoul. They are smart but broke, folding pizza boxes at night to scrape by. The story kicks off when son Ki-woo gets a job tutoring the daughter of the wealthy Park family. Soon, the whole Kim clan tricks their way into working for the Parks as tutor, driver, housekeeper, and more. They replace the Parks’ old staff with lies and fake credentials. For a while, it feels like a win. The Kims enjoy the Parks’ luxurious mansion, with its clean air, big windows, and endless space. But tension builds. The fired housekeeper’s husband, Geun-se, hides in a secret bunker under the house. He has lived there for years, forgotten by the rich family upstairs.https://en.namu.wiki/w/%EC%98%A4%EA%B7%BC%EC%84%B8
Everything explodes at a birthday party for the Parks’ young son. Heavy rain floods the Kims’ basement home, wiping out their few belongings. Meanwhile, up at the mansion, Geun-se bursts out of the bunker. He attacks with a knife during the chaos of the party games. Mr. Park’s driver, Kim Ki-taek, gets stabbed in the leg and bleeds on the grass. The Parks’ guests scream and run. Ki-taek’s wife tries to help her husband, but Mr. Park drags his own family away. He calls Ki-taek a “smelly” man, showing his true disgust for the poor even in a crisis. This moment hits hard. To the rich, the poor are invisible until they cause trouble. Then they are just repulsive.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wbr6UY_EcU0
Ki-taek snaps. He stabs Mr. Park to death right there on the lawn. Police arrest him, but in the fight, Geun-se dies too. Daughter Ki-jung gets shot. Only Ki-woo survives, left broken and alone. Months later, he writes a letter from jail to his dad. Ki-woo dreams of making tons of money as a tutor, buying the Park house, and digging his father out of the bunker. He imagines Ki-taek living free upstairs one day. The screen shows this fantasy step by step. Ki-woo gets rich. He rescues his dad. They reunite. But then the film snaps back. We see the new owners of the house. The bunker door stays shut. Ki-taek is still trapped below. Ki-woo’s “plan” is just a delusion. The rich house stands unchanged, its hidden basement waiting for the next desperate soul.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m2FJNcly5G4
The ending drives home the film’s big point about class. The rain pours on the poor but skips the rich hilltop. The Parks sleep through the storm. Space itself keeps people in their place. The Kims were clever, but the system crushes them. No one wins. Even the “scholar’s stone,” a gift symbolizing luck, sinks in the flood. It proves effort alone does not beat built-in barriers. Everyone feeds off someone in this world. The poor invade the rich home like parasites. But the rich live blind to the suffering below, using people up without noticing. The real trap is the unchangeable divide.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pQFCgfXvez0https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wbr6UY_EcU0
The mansion’s design tells the story. Stairs go up to wealth and down to secrets. The bunker hides poverty right under luxury. When violence erupts, it rises from below but changes nothing. A new family moves in. The cycle spins on.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m2FJNcly5G4
Sources
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wbr6UY_EcU0
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m2FJNcly5G4
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pQFCgfXvez0
https://www.oreateai.com/blog/parasite-movie-summary/a2c2032db3456788062e6b6e42ee37c8
https://en.namu.wiki/w/%EC%98%A4%EA%B7%BC%EC%84%B8
