The Ending.

important news on the ending ;

apparently the director went ahead and added the last 5+ minutes on the show himself (starting with elder haram and leo i think). the original script was a sad ending, black chose not existing and -- the end. but the director wanted to switch the bad ending to an happy one and changed the ending against the writer's wishes. to me the script was 9.5/10 until they ruined it with the hilarious makeup and ridiculous reunion. so this explained a lot.  the director kind of apologized for ruining the drama's ending with the low quality make up and out of nowhere happy ending.

source: http://entertain.naver.com/ranking/read?oid=076&aid=0003191451

ps: i posted the same thing on comments section  but reposting it as a discussion for more people to see since the comment is bound to be buried under some others with time. and i think as the drama was a really good one minus the ending and a lot of people are likely to pass on it as the ending sucks, this information staying here might help clear up a few misunderstandings and encourage potential new viewers to give it a shot.

since a discussion is already opened on the ending we might as well discuss here plot holes and possible explanations.

update from the writer's side;

https://www.soompi.com/2017/12/13/writer-black-shares-thoughts-dramas-depiction-scripts/

i also think that black/joon deserved a happy ending but from the first moment on it was obvious that he would not really get it. as he is a grim reaper and already dead it's not like he can come back alive. (because really why would joon be any special, a lot of people died unfairly during the whole series, if you give a chance to return to the living world to one human/grim reaper all others should be given the same chance. and honestly that doesn't work. ) 

the writer said in a recent interview she wished to empathize on the unfair deaths of the children in the mall and the sacrifice coming with true love (meaning black choosing to erase himself from existence so that ha ram can go on with her life without the guilt of killing joon). the current ending is done by totally ignoring her intentions. giving an absurd happy ending in the last minute and absolutely not mentioning anything else in the ending kind of nullifies the whole series. 

and my personal opinion is that really, ha ram and the loveline between black and ha ram was all really weak and it was never the main plot, the drama in all through did not belong to a romance, melodrama genre but the ending was a total meaningless romance ending. the ending done by going behind the writer changed her drama from thriller, mystery with a little bit romance to solely romance. i wouldn't want to condemn the director as it's not like i was actually working there with these people and knowing them in real life but a writer watching the ending of her own drama on broadcast and being disappointed and heartbroken sounds really harsh. 

edit: the writer recently wrote on her blog her side of the story and said that the whole script (which was originally 20 episodes cut down to 16 then lengthened to 18) was quite different from the drama we watched so a lot was chanced through the series not just the ending. probably from there the plot holes arose. she said she would put her own script online so that people could read it and it would help answer the questions in the viewers' minds.

well to be fair even if he did not chose it himself black would be punished as he killed. (remember the baddies after rescuing ha ram from the pool) and just like ha ram's father he would have vanished so i guess heaven was out of the question. for once he went into a human's body. that's a no-no in a grim reaper's book. 

and for ha ram i believe black did not just wanted her to forget it all as having killed someone (and moreover someone you love) is not something one can forget just because the dead himself told you it's not your fault. that would be with ha ram all her life even if he stopped her from jumping from the cliff and told her to live.

having pointed those out i do believe the ending would be too unfortunate too. but i would have preferred an ending that was thought through and answer some questions and satisfy the viewers. not just a scene filmed last minute with the only available actors you found. ( ie. we were thrown a bone as ha ram told leo : you are better than that friend of yours and my husband who is already dead. this probably means she married man soo in the new timeline. but we were shown nothing not even anything in the quick scenes showing ha ram's 2nd chance at life)

She didn't see shadows anymore because Black made it so her mother's husband didn't die. She was half reaper because a reaper took over the body of her mother's husband in the car accident (her mother was the bride in the scene with the car accident.) The show stated that he made it so the accident never happened. Therefore, she was just a normal girl with a normal life.

 Mary:

if he told her the truth about who he is, he could have just told her he forgives her for shooting him. I am sure if she knew that Joon forgives her and that he is in heaven she would be able to move pass her guilt eventually without Black having to sacrifice his whole existence.

i believe so myself, he really should have told her about everything and helped her understand who she is, what she can do and how to forgive herself. this could've went so much better for both of them. it just could've been handled in a smarter mature way to help both of them. i think if she understood who she is and what she can do can make a huge difference 

 tendele:

well to be fair even if he did not chose it himself black would be punished as he killed. (remember the baddies after rescuing ha ram from the pool)

i think he only killed after he made that choice. he only knew about the punishment and then choose to kill to try and get the ultimate punishment as a sacrifice for her. so if he really didn't plan on that punishment he could've avoided the whole killing people and punishment thing.

 tendele:

and for ha ram i believe black did not just wanted her to forget it all as having killed someone (and moreover someone you love) is not something one can forget just because the dead himself told you it's not your fault. that would be with ha ram all her life even if he stopped her from jumping from the cliff and told her to live.

it's not about forgetting, it's about forgiving. him being there for her and helping her also asking her to help other people can make her do better and be a better person. she's a person who has to deal with death and can help saving people from it so if he helped her she can even deal with it in a more productive way.

 kingsqueen:

The show stated that he made it so the accident never happened. Therefore, she was just a normal girl with a normal life.

i really don't get that. the accident had nothing to do with him was it as a grim reaper or was it as joon. and the punishment has no power due to the fact that it is a punishment, so he had no power to change the history as he may please.

 Maya:

And I don't understand why at the end Black was here, if he erased his existence he's not supposed to be dead, so he can't be a gream reaper ? If someone can explain because I'm confused

exactly what i was thinking. was his soul "deleted" or the history changed so he wouldn't exist. him being a grim reaper or moving to heaven makes no sense  

 kingsqueen:

Ha Ram's dad was a grim reaper only because of the car accident. The bride (Ha Ram's mom) survived and her groom was killed. The grim reaper for her groom looked into her eyes ("something terrible happens when you look into the eyes of someone in love") and then he took over her groom's body and became Ha Ram's dad. She was half reaper because of that. Because Black made it so the accident didn't happen, the groom lived and was Ha Ram's father instead. Therefore, not half reaper any longer....followed by a normal life where she didn't see shadows.

Hope that helps clear it up. 

i get how what originally happened in the accident and you what you said really didn't clear it up you just repeated that he stooped the accident, while my question was HOW COULD HE DO THAT. he wasn't even the designated grim reaper for the accident. and the punishment states that his existence will be wiped and so does everything related to him and AGAIN the accident had nothing to do with him 

Honestly I have a love hate relationship with the tacked on ending, I hate it because it was so rushed and just poorly done but I loved it because without it I would have been so incredibly angry