‘Black Knight’ Ending Explained: Does 5-8 and His Group Manage to Take Down the Cheonmyeong Group?
Welcome to the Ending Explained for Black Knight, a new South Korean TV show coming to Netflix this weekend. The series is set in a post-apocalyptic world where a meteorite strikes Earth and transforms it into a living hell, with only %1 of humanity surviving the event. The series is based on a webtoon of the same name by Lee Yun-kyun. This Netflix TV adaptation brings a lot of webtoon elements into the live-action setting, which makes the show feel unique. The series consists of only six episodes, making a perfect binge-watch for this weekend.
Black Knight takes a lot of inspiration from Mad Max, as we are presented with a setting that looks very much like desolate wastelands, and we get a story that deals very much with the location and use of resources and the people who control these resources. Many Korean stories tend to talk about the gap between social classes, between the haves and the have-nots, and Black Knight is just one more of those shows. Those who played Hideo Kojima’s Death Stranding will also find a lot of similarities with this TV series.
The following paragraphs contain spoilers for Black Knight. Read at your own risk.
What Is Like To Be a Delivery Man In Black Knight?
If something is really a strength of Black Knight, it is its world-building. The setting isn’t particularly original, but it is very effective in delivering the message it wants to deliver. In this case, the central theme of the entire show is the gap between social classes. The show opens with a sequence that explains why the world is the way it is. This might be a science fiction story set after the end of the world, but many of the things that happen in the story have a lot to do with things that happen every day in the present.
We are told that a meteorite crashed into Earth, which basically changed the world’s climate for the worse. The air has become so polluted to the point that no one can actually breathe by themselves. Humans have to carry oxygen masks wherever they go, meaning oxygen has become the most valuable currency on Earth. People don’t work for money anymore. They work for oxygen to keep themselves alive. It is a very sad existence, as most of the population doesn’t seem to have a respectable standard of living.
To maintain control, humanity, or at least the people of this post-apocalyptic Korea, have divided themselves into social classes. Three, to be precise. The general population, the specialized population, and, of course, the ruling population. The general population works and tries to live in the best way they can. The specialized population works in specialized jobs and has more benefits. But it is the ruling class, the one that has dominion over all resources. In this case, a corporation named, Cheonmyeong seems to have control over the oxygen distribution.
In this world, we meet our character, a mysterious man named 5-8. This name is his number as a deliveryman. The world has become so hard to traverse that deliverymen have become one of the most important jobs in the world. This is where the Death Stranding similarities kick in. Deliverymen need to be brave, effective, and capable. 5-8 is all of that, and more and little by little; we embark with him on a journey that will change his life forever. It all begins with him meeting a young man named, Sa-wol.
Does 5-8 And His Group Manage To Take Down The Cheonmyeong Group?
The series establishes very early on that the Cheonmyeong Group is the antagonistic force in the story. They are a corporation that rules the known world by controlling oxygen distribution. Ryu Seok is the story’s main villain, the heir apparent to the corporation, and a man without morals. Ryu is dying, and he has been searching for a cure. It is here that Sa-wol comes into play. At the show’s start, he is shot in the head point-blank, but he survives. It is not a miracle, though, Sa-wol is a sort of mutant, and he can regenerate.
Ryu learns about Sa-wol’s existence and spends most of the show trying to capture him. He also puts into execution a terrifying plan for killing all the people who have refugee status. These are people who are not citizens and thus receive no benefits from living in the city. 5-8 meets many refugees, including Sa-wol, and decides that they are his people. Together, they uncover that Ryu and his corporation are actually populating the air on purpose, so they can keep controlling the masses with their monopoly on oxygen.
When Ryu’s father, the president of the company, learns about his son’s crimes, he disowns him and gives the CEO status to another person. Ryu kills his father for this. He also manages to capture Sa-wol, and on top of that, starts a vaccination effort to infect all refugees with a deadly virus. Ryu really knows no limits. He starts transfusing Sa-wol’s blood into his own, hoping that Sa-wol’s healing factor can cure him. However, Ryu is blind to 5-8’s efforts. 5-8 has managed to gather a team of deliverymen and a military agent named Seol-ah, and together they plan to stop Ryu’s plans once and for all.
5-8 and his team stopped the vaccination efforts by attacking the Cheonmyeong Group’s headquarters. The battle is brutal, with many deliverymen and military personnel dying against those loyal to Ryu and the establishment. 5-8 corners Ryu and they face each other. 5-8 saves Sa-wol and all the other kids that Ryu has been experimenting on. 5-8 kills Ryu before he can commit suicide, and 5-8 leaves with Sa-wol as the entire HQ comes down in a big explosion. However, before everything explodes, we see Ryu’s corpse moving a bit, which means that Sa-wol’s blood might have given him a healing factor.
The series ends three months later, with 5-8 and Sa-wol working as deliverymen in a world that could be improving as the Cheonmyeong Group’s new management has decided to spread the resources to all citizens in search of a Korea where everyone can live as a human being.