Mouse · Season 1 · Episode 20 · 19 May 2021
S1E20 Ba-reum's Final Call
THE MOMENT Ba-reum's final act of confession becomes the show's clearest statement on whether psychopathy is fate or choice.
The finale resolves the series' nature-vs-nurture argument with a gesture that refuses the comfort of either a clean villain or a redemptive arc. The tone stays consistent with the show's provocations, even as the emotional landing feels less pointed for some after twenty episodes of investment.
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Mouse Season 1 Episode 20 'Ba-reum's Final Call' aired May 19, 2021 on tvN as the series finale of the thriller that averaged the highest Wednesday-Thursday ratings on the network in two years. IMDb audiences scored the series 8.6. Lee Seung-gi won the Grand Prix at the 2021 Asia Artist Awards for the performance culminating in this episode. The finale resolves the show's core nature-versus-nurture argument through Ba-reum's final act of confession rather than through violent catharsis - a choice the South China Morning Post's critical framing, which flagged the show's disorienting plot proliferation, anticipated would be divisive. The ending refuses both a clean villain and a full redemption arc, placing it in the category of K-drama finales that require the full preceding investment to land.