Summary

KARMA is the ninth and currently last episode of the Alien Stage series.

After Hyuna's death, Mizi snaps and attacks Luka before interfering with the Rebellion's plan to send a rocket to share humanity's hope. Instead she chooses to end the ALIEN STAGE, changing the rocket's direction so it hits the stage. While everything burns, Mizi notices Till is alive: she pleads with the Rebellion to save him. Seven years later, Luka is back to performing for the Segyein, while Till has become a member of Rebellion.

Commentary^[1]

The original idea for KARMA changed throughout the development of Alien Stage. After becoming heavily attached to the characters, the team decided that a 'song of hope' saving only Mizi and Luka was unfair and sad for the rest of the cast, which lead them to adjusting the planned ending.

Mizi and Hyuna are very different people. Hyuna has always been righteous and strong, who had plenty of time to mature. Meanwhile, Mizi is just an average person who has been through a heavy amount of trauma and abuse in a short time — it wouldn't make sense for Mizi to follow after Hyuna so suddenly.

The team decided to alter the ending to fit Mizi's emotions better, instead. Mizi felt hopeless and could only blame herself after watching everyone she loved die, and even just to keep going becomes something selfish to her, which is why she makes a choice driven by her feelings.

The humans' rebellion was small, expected by the Segyein. It has become a part of the spectacle, and they remain in control. Mizi's inner struggles and conflicting emotions burst, so she drops the rocket. The Segyein die, and the Anakt flowers, which are symbols of the humans' love, represent the rage from all the children from the Anakt Garden. The chaos blossoms instead.

With all their technology, the Segyein underestimated the belief held by humans. Humans are able to create Gods and new worlds altogether to escape from their pain, because humans have the inate desire to believe in something, and this is something the Segyein could never hold back, which is what causes the disaster on the stage.

The true karma is a combination of many factors: Mizi feigning ignorance of Sua's pain, and how the Segyein used, abused, and played with humans through the ALIEN STAGE.

Humans are complex and layered: they can love and hate, they can be selfish yet die for what they believe in. All these 'illogical' aspects could never be the understood by the Segyein, who see the humans as mere forms of entertainment.

Mizi and Hyuna conflict in their core values: Hyuna is too selfless and self-sacrificing, looking to move forward and wanting the greater good. Yet Mizi, traumatized, wants to get her revenge immediately. Mizi felt disgusted at herself at how noble Hyuna's love was because she couldn't be the same as her. Their relationship meant a lot to Mizi, yet at the same time, she wanted to bring Hyuna down. After she dies, Mizi rushes to blame her and point the flaws in Hyuna's ideas, because she didn't want to accept that Hyuna's death was something that 'had to happen'. She doesn't even accept Hyuna's idea of freedom.

In the end, Hyuna had the values more fitting of a 'main character' than Mizi, who ended up being made out into a 'villain' by the end, becoming the 'witch'. She scared the Segyein and gave them their deserved karma, at the cost of injuring many people and being rejected by humanity as well.

Till becomes both of Hyuna and Mizi's values unified. He shares Hyuna's sense of justice at the same time he holds the same compassion as Mizi. Till losing his voice was a way of him becoming free: while Till loved singing ever since he was a child, it also became something that allowed him to escape his reality and was required for him to keep on living. Till no longer has to rely on singing to live anymore, so he can mature and grow no longer as a pet.

Beta

TBA

Trivia

• KARMA is the longest episode in the series.

References

[1] The Story Behind KARMA