If Wishes Could Kill Ending Explained: What’s the Truth Behind Girigo’s Curse? Does It End?

If Wishes Could Kill Ending Explained: This Netflix horror thriller limited series ends on a bittersweet note, showcasing the downsides of greed and desires. Although viewers are meant to believe that the curse is broken, some indications say otherwise. With emotions mixed in the tragedy, this is a story of haves and have-nots, as it showcases close friendships being destroyed thanks to resentment and insecurities.

The YA horror series has 8 episodes, each with a runtime of around 45 minutes.

If Wishes Could Kill Ending Explained

What Girigo really is

Girigo isn’t just an app; it’s a doorway for a curse to exist that plays with the desires of those who make the wish. In episode 6, we see how Kwon Si-won and Do Hye-ryung’s relationship started to transform from innocence to something more terrifying, steeped in jealousy, resentment and revenge. As a result, a dangerous fight merges an unfinished curse into technology, resulting in lives being destroyed.

That’s why deleting the app or destroying the app, as Ha-joon tried with Geon-woo, didn’t work. It has nothing to do with the physical phone itself, but rather what lives within it. It attacks those who have strong desires and uses traumatic life circumstances, people’s vulnerabilities and insecurities and twists them so that the target becomes weak and alone.

The cause behind the chaos

Viewers slowly learn what gave birth to the curse as a whole episode is dedicated to understanding the vulnerable and fragile friendship between Si-won and Hye-ryung. Si-won’s contentious relationship with her mother, a shaman, slowly turned toxic when her best friend Hye-ryung started to have a special connection with her. Her interest in shamanism drew her to Si-won’s mother, which Si-won was extremely unhappy about.

Si-won herself, although with an outward appearance of confidence, was extremely uncomfortable with her mother’s profession. Plus, the fact that she holds her responsible for her father’s death and her alcoholism made her disassociate with her mother. Thus, when Hye-ryung started to visit her mother behind her back, she took it as a personal slight.

Thus, one day, Si-won, filled with rage, destroyed her mother’s ritual room, resulting in a curse being put on her. Desperate to save her daughter, she took the brunt of the consequences on herself and told Hye-ryung to put an amulet in Si-won’s bag. When she found out, she outed Hye-ryung’s secret crush on a fellow student. Humiliated, Hye-ryung used the app to end her life and wished for her tormentors to d*e, resulting in a curse being born. When the curse takes Si-won’s life, she, too, puts out a curse that the ritual be continued from here on out.

It’s a heartbreaking turn of events that stems from teenage insecurity, vulnerability and hurt. However, unable to control her feelings well, Si-won made a terrible mistake, the consequences of which were paid by everyone.

Does the curse end?

The curse seemingly ends after Se-ah and Hatsal dive into the spirit realm to rid her of the curse once and for all. Hatsal uses herself as the target to get Si-won after they both realise that Hye-ryung wasn’t after the curse’s spread. After much fighting between Se-ah and Na-ri, at the end of which the former had to take the latter’s life, she destroys Si-won’s phone and ends the curse.

However, in the mid-credit scene, we see Hyeon-wook’s Discord buddy finding Na-ri’s phone from the school compound and opening it with the help of a mysterious person. Although the curse was supposed to have been destroyed, we see the app still working as he opens it on Na-ri’s phone, indicating that there’s still much fighting left for everyone involved.

The deeper meaning

The ending reiterates that human desires, greed and anger are not easy feelings to get rid of. In fact, the app still functioning in Na-ri’s phone indicates that the curse is still alive thanks to her, as she had a lot of built-in resentment against Se-ah. It distorted her views and feelings for her friends, and her desire to get Geon-woo, who was clearly uninterested in her, made her blind to her actions. It’s a cycle of torment that can only be stopped if the user wishes so. Until then, the app will continue to come back.

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