Saagar Kote
Netflix’s South Korean action thriller series ‘Trigger’ follows the journey of Lee Do, a police officer in Seoul, who gets trapped in the dark world of increasing gun violence in the otherwise peaceful country. The Korean society gets plunged into a scenario where guns are secretly couriered to vulnerable people, increasing the scope of violence throughout the land. As the new threat goes beyond the control of the government and police, a strange man named Moon Baek forms an unlikely bond with Lee Do, driving him deeper into the world of emotional triggers.
The series deals with morally complex themes such as killing, gun legalization, law and order, crime, mental health, bullying, national values, and sociopolitical morality. As the tense narrative reaches its final point, Lee Do and Moon Baek find themselves challenged, not only by guns but also by their deeply flawed souls. SPOILERS AHEAD.
Trigger Plot Synopsis
The narrative begins with reports of escalating mental health issues in South Korea, leading many people towards suicide. Lee Do, a police officer in Seoul, helps people by being friendly and empathetic. A mysterious person is found hanging by suicide in his apartment, with a load of bullets around him. Jeong-tae, a socially anxious and rule-following student, finds it difficult to maintain his civility around others who refuse to follow rules in Yeongseong Gosiwon, an apartment complex. He kills many people in the building using a gun he received as a courier from a mysterious source.
A sex offender named Jeon Won-seong is tracked by the police using his ankle device, and later mysteriously receives a gun package as well. Lee Do manages to apprehend and neutralize Jeong-tae before he kills more people, after which he concludes that the bullets from the suicide case are related to the Yeongseong Gosiwon Killings. Elsewhere, a shady businessman named Seok-ho tries to take over the business of a man named Kim by ordering his henchman Jeong-man to kill him. Unbeknownst to Seok-ho, Kim is involved in the distribution of guns in the country.
Upon investigation, Lee Do suspects that a mysterious red and white “N” like symbol on courier packages connects them to a greater threat of gun distribution. The protagonist breaks into Jeon Won-seong’s apartment, but is unexpectedly attacked by a man named Moon Baek, who says he was just looking for a gun, based on the address mentioned on the package of only bullets that he received. Moon Baek helps Lee Do chase down Jeon Won-seong before he kills policemen in a demented state of mind, empowered by his newfound gun. Lee Do shoots the criminal before he kills the police chief, but earns a temporary suspension for his extrajudicial act. Kim, who is left alive by Jeong-man, tries to help him by revealing the locations of other gun packages.
Mrs. Oh, a grieving mother, takes revenge on her dead son’s arrogant corporate boss; meanwhile, Moon Baek and Lee Do form a closer bond, with the former helping the officer out in a mission to save Mrs. Oh from U-tae’s attack. Moon Baek narrates his tragic past to Lee Do, of him being trafficked as a child and sold to people. It is shockingly revealed that Moon Baek is the mastermind behind the gun distribution in the country, and that he has been fooling Lee Do all along. Yeong-dong, a bullied student, is secretly given guns by Moon Baek, which he uses to shoot several students at a school, making the situation more chaotic. After the incident, the protagonist deduces that Moon Baek is the person behind the spree of murders.
Jeong-man makes moves to eliminate Seok-ho using Kim and gains more weapons, becoming a more powerful gangster. Sergeant Cho, a good cop who is like a father figure to Lee Do, ends up killing the man who scammed his daughter and caused her death, by using the gun he was secretly given. This live-recorded incident is followed by many other vulnerable people in the country receiving guns, spreading violence throughout, bringing the once peaceful country to the edge of destruction. As Lee Do and Moon Baek race to finish their missions, their own lives and the future of South Korea hang in the balance.
Trigger Ending: Is Moon Baek Dead or Alive?
Moon Baek (also known by his gangster name Blue Brown) is the mastermind behind the spree of killings and gun distribution in the country. He goes through an arduous journey of torture as a child, making him a believer in chaos. He remains loyal to the American gangster and gun lobbyist, Jake, who raised him since he was abandoned as a teenager. At the end of the storyline, he tries to complete his mission by ordering a truck full of guns to reach the venue of protests by pro and anti-gun rallies at the Gyeongin Stadium, announcing that the guns can be taken by people for free.
As many of the scared protesters try to desperately secure guns, the smuggler walks into the crowd and then notices that Lee Do is still following him. He has an ideological battle with the policeman and then takes out a smoke bomb and throws it on the ground. As smoke engulfs, Moon Baek points a gun towards the sky and says that one single gunshot would make the whole place a war zone. Lee Do points his gun at Moon Baek and remembers their conversation about violence and revenge, where he says that guns take control away from people and make them insecure and violent, leading to social destruction.
Lee Do points the gun at Moon Baek amidst the smoke, but hears a gunshot, and sees that Moon Baek has been shot by someone else. The gun lobbyist falls to the ground, being shot by an unknown protester. However, whether or not he survived is left slightly ambiguous in the narrative, leading to distinct possibilities. It is a known fact by the end that Moon Baek is a cancer survivor, and is expected to only live for a few months, according to his own words to Lee Do. He finds himself at a hospital, with the doctors trying to save his life, and Lee Do looking on.
The doctor tells the protagonist that, given his significant blood loss and cancer, it will be difficult for him to recover from the wounds sustained at the rally. In a moment of great ambiguity, a mysterious woman with a gun in her hand, sent by Jake, approaches the hospital bed of Moon Baek, possibly to kill him or save him. It can be presumed that Jake no longer sees his loyal soldier as an asset and probably wants to kill him. There’s also a chance that Jake somehow wishes to break Moon Baek out of the hospital and try to revive him. However, this possibility is less likely, as it is not possible for the blue-eyed smuggler to live for more than a few months. Given the biological reality and the circumstances, it is more likely that Moon Baek will be killed by the woman, bringing his complex life to an end.
Why Did Park So-Hyeon Hand Over Her Gun to the Police?
Park So-Hyeon is constantly bullied by her fellow nurses at the hospital, leading her to a desperate situation. She is verbally abused by the head nurse, along with other nurses laughing and ridiculing her. Despite all the bullying, she is able to maintain her calm. However, around the end of the narrative, she reaches a breaking point, being tired of night shifts, harassment, and a total lack of respect for her service to the people. Earlier in the series, she receives a gun, couriered to her by Moon Baek’s group, and has it hidden in her locker at the hospital. As she exceeds her limits of tolerance, the bullied nurse is drawn towards violence, and the gun tempts her to use it against the other nurses who treat her like an inferior person.
On the day of the opposing gun rallies, Park So-Hyeon grabs a gun and tucks it inside her jacket, intending to use it to shoot her bullies. However, before she can execute her actions, she stops to view the TV channels covering the chaos of the rally at the Gyeongin stadium. She sees that people are being mercilessly killed for no reason, and starts doubting herself. Despite a strong desire to use her gun, she starts to hesitate. As the chaos unfolds, she watches the heroic act of Lee Do on TV, where he shields a young boy from the gunfire, putting his own life in danger.
This act of courage helps her realize that violence isn’t the answer, and she tucks the gun in, not using it to kill others. She is able to make a rational decision due to the circumstances of the day. A few days later, she proceeds to voluntarily surrender her gun to the police, just like many others in the country. It’s a part of an anti-gun movement that helps to bring in social stability and safety again. Park So-Hyeon is able to make a meaningful decision and end her connection to guns, making her life more peaceful. However, despite her handing over the gun to the police, there is no guarantee that she won’t be bullied by people again, in which case she will have to learn to speak up and stand for her own dignity.
How Did Lee Do Reduce Gun Violence?
Lee Do has a complicated history with guns. Before joining the police force, he used to be a military mercenary serving in the Middle East. He is known to have a record of killing many people. At the end of the storyline, he finds himself being tested on a philosophical level by Moon Baek, who tries to convince him that guns are the answer to society’s problems. Lee Do reaches the rally spot and gets a call from Moon Baek, and goes to meet him at his hideout without any concern for his own life. Lee Do’s military past and his work as a mercenary impressed Moon Baek to befriend him and then test his character at the opportune moment.
In a way, the whole arc of the protagonist comes down to his actions in that moment. Lee Do says Moon Baek is just a pimp peddling guns for money and fear-mongering, and that guns only lead to destruction. Moon Baek challenges Lee Do to see which one of them is right, and he orders a truck full of guns to the rally. As the smuggler moves out, the police officer is surrounded by his goons. Lee Do kills all the goons and heads to stop Moon Baek, who asks Wang to keep rolling the cameras no matter what happens. People start to chaotically pick up guns, leading to clashes, leaving law enforcement clueless as well.
People all over the country look at their TV screens, stunned by what’s happening in their country. Lee Do comes down to the rally area and sees Moon Baek walking amidst the crowd. The smuggler takes out a smoke bomb, as Lee Do hears Moon Baek’s voice in his head saying how all he did was hand people guns, but never told them to fire, that was the people’s choice. As smoke engulfs, Lee Do points his gun at Moon Baek and remembers their conversation about killing and vengeance, where he had said that guns take control away from people and make them insecure and violent, leading to social destruction.
Lee Do points the gun at Moon Baek amidst the smoke, but hears a gunshot, and sees that Moon Baek has been shot by someone else. The protesters begin to fire at each other, leading to large-scale violence. In what is the most pivotal and emotional moment of the entire series, Lee Do rushes to save a scared child stuck between gunfire. The protagonist shields him from the gunshots without caring for his own life, as Wang captures the footage of the act of bravery. People across the country see that 70 people died in a shootout at the stadium. Footage of Lee Do saving the child becomes popular on news channels, and he becomes a symbol of hope against gun violence. The images of him saving the helpless child are shared across the country, and candles are lit for the victims of the gun violence in the coming days.
Anti-gun petitions are signed by many people in voting-like systems, and many people voluntarily hand over their guns to the police. Due to his heroic and selfless acts and his fighting skills, Lee Do single-handedly becomes the face of the anti-gun movement, which manages to reach the souls of many people in the country, making it safer again. Despite the guns still being used by some people, a majority of the population is shown to be convinced by the views of Lee Do. This is how he makes a significant contribution to the reduction of gun violence in his country. At the end of the series, he drives to an area full of kids and waves to the child he saved during the shootout. He takes the child’s hand and walks with him, like a friend.
Why is Jake Spreading Gun Violence? What Will be His Next Target?
Jake is Moon Baek’s boss, who is the man behind the gun distribution. He represents the gun lobby in America through his association with the International Rifle Union and intends to spread the use of guns all over the world. He takes in Moon Baek as a teenager and introduces him to the world of guns, and inspires him to work for the gun lobby as a high-level smuggler. The main reason behind the spread of gun violence by Jake is the motive of profit, and his arrangements with the Rifle Union. He is a businessman who doesn’t have any strong moral convictions, other than the desire for profit and violence.
In the ending part of the series, he tells other rich men in America that businessmen should always aim for fivefold profit, and there’s an opening in the market for them to supply weapons. It can be presumed that Jake is trying to target another vulnerable market to distribute guns again, and also has the support of other businessmen. He would probably choose a country or region that’s overwhelmed by sociopolitical instability and has a vulnerable population that’s insecure due to state excess or absence. His desire for profit would make him take extreme steps to ensure that guns are distributed in dangerous territories, so that the International Rifle Union and his business partners can enjoy greater luxuries and gain more influence.
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