‘Mantis’ Ending Explained – A Three-Way Fight Settles Some Difference
WARNING: THIS ARTICLE CONTAINS MAJOR SPOILERS
And of course, it all comes down to a fight. This seems fitting for the ending of Mantis, which is about the battle for leadership of the complex assassin underworld introduced in Kill Boksoon. Through a healthy dose of manipulation and conflicting allegiances, the stage is set for a final three-way showdown between Mantis, Jae-yi, and Dok-go. But who will emerge on top, and what will the consequences be?
Well, that’s what we’re here for. So, without further ado, let’s break it all down, with some additional context from Kill Boksoon, since that’s also important and the movie presumes you’ve seen it. If you haven’t, you probably should anyway, since it’s better overall.
Power Vacuum
In Kill Boksoon, the titular character killed her boss, Min-kyu, and his sister, Min-hee, which is important since they were in charge of MK ENT, the foremost assassin agency in a flourishing criminal underworld bound by a very stringent set of rules. The result was chaos, with anarchy ensuing as various rival companies and assassins sought to capitalise on the power vacuum left by MK ENT’s ruin.
Into this vacuum steps Mantis, who wants to set up his own company along with MK trainee Jae-yi, using old contacts to get a foothold and pushing for the support of his old mentor, Dok-go, who was forced to quit MK during its heyday and now has designs on resurrecting it in his image. He’d like Mantis to join him and back his claim, but Mantis and co. go to Benjamin instead for the sponsorship of JB Entertainment.
With all this in place, a falling out between Mantis and Jae-yi leads the former back to Dok-go and the latter to Benjamin, who tries to force her to take Dok-gu off the table entirely. If he can trick these three into killing each other, he can corner the contract killing industry for himself.
Knife to Meet You
When Benjamin pushes Jae-yi to kill Dok-go, she refuses, so he takes matters into his own hands by sending Dok-go a knife bloodied with the claret of his assistant. In this world, the bloody knife delivery is shorthand for challenging someone to a one-on-one fight, so Dok-go naturally assumed that Jae-yi was calling him out.
Mantis is essentially doing damage control around all this. Instead of killing his latest target, an associate named Bae-soo, he instead sends him into hiding, and he also advises Jae-yi to take back the knife and avoid fighting with Dok-go over what is essentially a misunderstanding. Naturally, this doesn’t work. A cameoing Boksoon advises Mantis to send a knife to Jae-yi to challenge her to a fight at the same location as Dok-go, getting everyone in the same place just in time for the finale.
Since Mantis is sort of naively smitten with Jae-yi, he assumes she’ll side with him over Dok-go. But she’s driven by her own personal ambition thanks to a longstanding personal beef after having been overlooked in favour of Mantis when they were both MK trainees. Bok-go himself said she’d never be as good with a blade as Mantis, so keeping her on the books was a waste of time. She would always be second best. Now is her opportunity to prove that she’s the top dog, so far from being a romantic moment, the fight becomes every man for himself.
Dok-go’s Demise
Speaking of longstanding hang-ups, Dok-go has his fair share. This is perhaps why he doesn’t seek a more amicable solution to the dispute between himself, Mantis, and Jae-yi. If he’s going to be in charge, he might as well kill them both, as per the old rules, of which he’s in many ways an old relic.
This gives an interesting dynamic to the fight, since Mantis isn’t trying to kill either of his assailants, and the other two are trying to kill both. It’s pretty inevitable from the beginning, though, that it’ll be Dok-go who meets his end, and after a while, he does. It’s Jae-yi who delivers the killing blow, though, after Mantis stayed his hand. She gets her wish of becoming the best assassin, but only on a technicality. And, emotionally, at what cost?
Needless to say, this prevents Mantis and Jae-yi from getting their happy ending together, which is perhaps just as well. But they do at least remain on amicable terms, since at the end of the movie, Jae-yi, now head of MK, outsources the assassination of Benjamin to Mantis. Maybe that working relationship will yield some romantic fruit down the line, but I wouldn’t hold your breath.