The new Netflix K-drama Genie Make a Wish blends fantasy, romance, and cosmic drama into a story that surprised viewers with its emotional ending. The series, which reunites stars Kim Woo-bin and Bae Suzy, follows a genie determined to prove all humans are selfish and the emotionless woman who proves him wrong. What begins as a comedic battle of wits transforms into a tragic love story spanning a thousand years.
The Final Wishes and a Grandmother’s Sacrifice
The story’s final act introduces a dangerous enemy named Khalid. He is the son of Iblis’s genie brother, and his soul has been living for centuries in an immortal body that once belonged to Ka-young’s brother from a past life. Khalid wants the genie’s lamp for himself and will stop at nothing to get it. In his quest, he kills Pan-geum, Ka-young’s grandmother, who dies while protecting Ka-young’s best friend, Min-ji. Iblis’s loyal servant, Sade, also dies in the fight.
This loss shatters Ka-young. Despite being a psychopath who has never felt deep emotions, she is devastated by her grandmother’s death. This grief leads her to make her third and final wish. She asks Iblis to let her feel regular human emotions for a single day before she dies. On the surface, this is a selfish wish, which would mean Iblis finally wins his bet and can be free. However, when the time comes, Iblis cannot bring himself to kill the woman he loves. He bows to her, choosing love over his freedom. This act breaks his ancient deal with God.
As a result, Iblis is killed by his brother, the angel of death Ejllael, who had always been jealous of him. Meanwhile, Ka-young, now overwhelmed by the intense feelings of grief and love she has just experienced for the first time, wanders into the desert and dies from exposure. It seems their story has ended in total tragedy.
A Love Story Written Across Time
To understand the ending, you need to look at the past. Iblis is a genie who was banished after refusing to bow to humanity. He made a deal with God: if he could find a human who made three truly selfless wishes, he would vanish forever. For centuries, he was right—every human was corrupted by greed. Then, he met an enslaved girl from the Goryeo dynasty, who is Ka-young in a past life. She used all three of her wishes to help others, damning Iblis to imprisonment in his lamp for 983 years.
When Iblis meets the modern Ka-young, he believes she is a new chance for revenge. However, he discovers his memory has been erased. The Goryeo girl did not die as a child; she grew up, and he fell in love with her. She was later murdered by one of Iblis’s greedy masters. Before her death, she had made a final wish to share Iblis’s burden of suffering. God granted this in a cruel way, making them fall in love across different lifetimes only to lose each other repeatedly.
An Unexpected Happy Ending
Despite their deaths, the story does not end in sadness. Through the efforts of other characters, Ka-young and Iblis get a second chance. Irem, an owl spirit who served Ejllael, restores Ka-young’s memories of Iblis as an apology for meddling in their relationship. More importantly, Ka-young’s grandmother, Pan-geum, refuses to move on to heaven until she is sure her granddaughter will be happy. She successfully bargains with God for their souls.
Because of their enduring love and Ka-young’s selfless nature across a thousand years, both she and Iblis are reborn—not as humans, but as immortal genies. In the final scenes, a now emotional Ka-young visits her grieving best friend, Min-ji, and grants her three wishes. Then, during a fireworks display, she is reunited with Iblis. They are finally free to be together as equals, no longer bound by a cruel cosmic wager, able to travel the world for eternity.
Suzy told fans that acting as the past incarnation was a different experience. “Since usually I acted with no expression [playing Ka-young], when I acted the past life scenes it was fun. Because then I could move my face, really move my expressions,” she said.
The Test of Humanity
A major part of the series revolves around a bet between Ka-young and Iblis. To prove that humans are inherently good, Ka-young uses her first wish to force Iblis to grant wishes to the next five people he meets. If most of them are selfish, she loses. If most are selfless, Iblis loses. The results become the core of the show’s theme.
The five wishers are a mixed group, showing both the good and bad in people. A supermarket cashier uses her wishes for promotions and loses everything. A stray dog wished to become a human but chose to return to his original form to say goodbye to the boy who loved him. A bitter bank teller ultimately used her last wish to save Ka-young’s life, and a struggling YouTuber chose to save his father-in-law instead of gaining fame. A local restaurant’s son used his wishes to hide his crimes. In the end, three of the five acts were selfless, proving Ka-young’s point that people are flawed but capable of great goodness.
Also Read: From Backlash to Breakout: Genie Make a Wish Draws 4 Million Viewers on Netflix
Credits: Netflix Tudum, Time
