Aahana Swrup
‘Parasyte: The Grey,’ the Korean horror show, presents a story about the conflicting co-existence between humanity and a deadly parasitic race with both species out for the others’ blood. Consequently, after Jeong Su-In, a young woman with a troubled past, ends up conjoining with Hyde, a parasite in an unusual takeover that leaves them both mutated, it lands them in trouble against both factions. Thus, with a handful of true allies and a horde of enemies on the hunt for her, Su-in must find a way to work with her parasite and survive.
The series rises in stakes as the plot progresses, shifting the focus from Su-in’s individual survival to a bigger conversation about two hostile races’ co-existence. As such, as the odds remain stacked against Su-in and her companions, the narrative builds toward a potentially menacing end for the protagonists. SPOILERS AHEAD!
Parasyte: The Grey Plot Recap
Namil resident Jeong Su-in, a supermarket worker, runs into a troublesome customer— a schizophrenic man known to skirt the law— who ends up following her on her way back home. In his mania, the man attacks Su-in on an empty road, stabbing her viciously. Nevertheless, as the injured woman attempts to escape, a foreign parasitic species— rained down from the sky— crosses her path.
As such, the parasite takes over Su-in’s body, killing the dangerous man. Later, after Su-in wakes under the authorities’ care, she learns that her body has sustained no wounds from the incident. Yet, long-healed stabbing scars have somehow appeared on her body. The police— including Detective Kim Chul-min, who shares a history with Su-in— shrug the incident off as an error in the woman’s memory, establishing that her attacker inexplicably died before he could fatally wound her.
However, around the same time, unbeknownst to the Namil residents, global instances occur with parasites possessing individuals. Only, in other cases, the parasites eat their host’s brain and completely overtake the body, utilizing it entirely to wreak havoc. One particular incident results in a parasite publicly attacking a crowd at a festival, bringing the species under the authorities’ radar. As a result, a Special Force Grey Team was formed, with Choi Jun-Kyung as the leader.
Therefore, while the parasite population grows and mobilizes to maintain “food pantries” stocked with dead humans, Choi and her Grey Team continue their mission to hunt such organizations down. Eventually, Choi’s mission brings them to Namil, where her team briefs the local police department on the matter, alerting them to be on the lookout for such monsters.
Around the same time, Seol Kang-woo, a gang member, comes to town to hide from a rival gang out for his head. Simultaneously, he attempts to find his missing younger sister. As a result, while following his older sister, Kyung-hee, who has been acting strange for a while, the man watches Kyung-hee and another man corner Su-in one night. Since the parasites can sense each other, Kyung-hee— a parasite— senses Su-in and attempts to get the woman to join their clan.
Nonetheless, Su-in, oblivious to her own predicament, passes out when the parasites attempt to harm her. The same brings out the parasite, Hyde, within her, leading to a showdown. Once Hyde notices Kang-woo bearing witness to the entire ordeal, she compels him to relay the reality of Su-in’s situation to her. As it would turn out, since Hyde took over Su-in’s body as she was nearing death, the parasite didn’t have time to eat her brains as she attempted to fix her physical form.
For the same reason, Su-in and Hyde became mutants, with the latter retaining the ability to take only momentary control over the body. Due to the strange nature of Su-in’s near-death incident, her case remains a topic of interest to the police, especially Kim, who cares about the woman like a guardian. Likewise, the local parasite group— hiding under the Saejin Church banner also grew curious about the woman.
Therfore, Su-in finds herself in a world of complications with the Saejin Church and its Pastor Kwon. Similarly, Kang-woo learns that the Church killed his sister, entangling his life with the parasites as well. However, real trouble emerges when Choi realizes Su-in is a parasite, on the heels of Kim discovering the same. The revelation leads to an altercation that ends with Su-in under the authorities’ control. Although Choi wants to use her to track other parasites— having lost her previous captive parasite for the job— her bosses decide to take a different route.
Given Su-in’s mutant status, the higher-ups want to examine her body to learn more about the parasites as the first step to revealing their existence to the larger public. Yet, once Team Grey attempts to transfer Su-in, Kim teams up with Kang-woo to save the woman. Nevertheless, the operation ends with Kim landing himself in trouble after Won-seok, a secret human agent for the parasites, leads him to his death at Kwon’s hands. As such, the Pastor parasite takes over Kim’s physical form.
The Pastor and Won-seok utilize this new authority to alert Choi about a potential base for the Chaejin Church, pushing for a planned attack at the location. While Su-in and Kang-woo initially believe it to be a trap, Won-seok’s intel ends up checking out, leading to the massacre of the city’s parasite group. As a result, Kyung-hee, the sole survivor, remains confused and betrayed by the Pastor parasite’s decision to turn on his own kin.
Parasyte The Grey Ending: What Is The Pastor Parasite’s Plan?
Throughout the show, the value of kin among the parasites remains essential to the species’ identity. After the Parasites begin banding together, be it under the Church Saejin or otherwise, they create a sense of loyalty that informs their community’s basic function. In fact, once Pastor Parasite and his followers learn that Choi has a parasite held hostage to alert her and her team about his nearby kin after sensing them through their specialized brain waves, the community accuses the bound parasite of betraying his own kind.
The Pastor even doles out orders for the parasite’s assassination at the hands of his human companion, Won-seok. Likewise, the parasites remain hostile toward Hyde simply because of her co-existence alongside Su-in rather than complete control over the human body. For the same reason, once Kyung-hee realizes her leader was implicit in her kind’s recent massacre, it turns her worldview upside down. The incident is also jarring to Su-in and Kang-woo, who can’t begin to decipher the Pastor’s motives.
Nevertheless, an epiphany comes to the duo once Kang-woo realizes that an upcoming festival is bound to bring the Namcheon Mayor to the city. Ever since the discovery of Saejin Church and its parasitic population, the authorities have been in talks about canceling the festival. Therefore, by orchestrating a perfect attack against his kin, the Pastor can ensure the festival remains greenlit, bringing the Mayor closer to him.
As it would turn out, the Pastor parasite has been seeking a more official role within human government since his inception. He’s been fascinated by humans’ ability to control populations and govern them through organized institutions. Consequently, he fostered his own community under a Church. Even so, his ambition grew, and he realized he could achieve his natural instinct to overtake humans on a larger scale by infiltrating their government. Thus, with Won-seok’s help, Pastor Parasite decided to brew a plan to sacrifice his own kin to ensure he could get close to the Namcheon Mayor to overtake the man’s body and seize political power over the region.
Does Detective Choi Help Hyde Stop Kim and Won-seok?
After Su-in and Kang-woo figure out Pastor Parasite’s true motives, they realize they must foil his plan before he becomes too powerful to stop. Earlier, after the parasite overtook Kim’s body following the man’s death, Su-in attempted to reach out to Choi for help. However, the detective’s trauma surrounding the parasites— who killed her husband after the initial breakout— prevents her from trusting Su-in and Hyde.
Furthermore, Pastor Parasite’s betrayal of his kin directly results in affirming Choi’s belief that Detective Kim isn’t a Parasite and hasn’t shifted loyalties as Su-in suggested. Even so, Choi can’t ignore the evidence in front of her eyes. Due to Kim and Su-in’s connection, the former is overly protective of the woman. Nevertheless, after Su-in’s escape from Choi’s hold, which labels her a public fugitive, Kim becomes entirely disinterested in her safety. For the same reason, Choi remains suspicious of him.
Eventually, as the festival rolls around, Hyde contacts Choi and relays information about the parasite’s real plan. Despite knowing Choi is unlikely to believe them, Hyde maintains that a dubious contingency plan is better than none. Therefore, as the festival day arrives, and Choi receives suspicious orders to move to a different city based on Kim’s reports, the woman decides to believe Hyde.
As such, Pastor Parasite’s plan to corner the Mayor as a part of his safety personnel crumbles with Hyde and her team— Kang-woo and Kyung-hee— alongside Choi and the Grey Team’s arrival. Consequently, after the parasite unleashes his attack on the festival, he faces much pushback. Initially, Hyde also has to face off against Choi, who, despite heeding the parasite’s warning, continues to distrust her.
Meanwhile, Kyung-hee helps Kang-woo get the Mayor to safety and faces her traitorous leader on her own. Ultimately, she sacrifices herself in an effort to stop Pastor Parasite, only for the latter to abandon his defected host body and overtake Won-seok. Thus, the final showdown occurs between Hyde and the parasite leader in his new skin suit. The fight remains evenly matched until Choi arrives at the scene and finds herself with a decision to attack Hyde or Won-seok, who attempts to manipulate the cop.
In the end, Choi realizes Won-seok is a parasite and turns her deadly shotgun on him while Hyde protects her from getting infected by another rogue parasite. As such, the pair find their ending beside each other, with Hyde asserting that she chose to trust Choi because Su-in has faith in her. For the same reason, once Hyde loses control over the body, leaving Su-in’s safety in Choi’s hands, the detective chooses not to take the woman into custody, allowing her to live her life as a regular person.
What Happens to Hyde and Su-in?
Hyde and Su-in’s partnership remains a unique dynamic within the show, with the parasite and the human woman finding unlikely trust and co-existence among each other. Due to the nature of their bond, neither can survive without the other. Furthermore, since Hyde chose to mend Su-in’s body rather than consume her brain, the parasite must live without overtaking the woman’s body. Similarly, Su-in must also make her peace with sharing a body with a parasite whom many eagerly label a monster.
Su-in hasn’t had a particularly pleasant life, with her mother abandoning her at a young age and leaving her to the devices of an abusive father. Moreover, after ten-year-old Su-in reported her father for his abuse— which established her relationship with Detective Kim— her neighbors began perceiving her as a monster for reporting her own father. Therefore, Su-in has a hard time making peace with her new existence with Hyde.
Nonetheless, Hyde helps her understand that her actions didn’t make her a monster and instead led her to people who care for her, such as Kim and Kang-woo. Furthermore, she promises a long-lasting companion who will always protect Su-in in a way no one ever has before. Consequently, once the dust settles, Su-in finds herself with the ability to return to her regular life. Even so, she holds onto a standing invitation from Choi to join the Grey Team, which now boasts Kang-woo as an agent.
Read More: Parasyte The Grey: Where is the Netflix Show Filmed?
