Jesse Barker

Because there is no identity to tie it to. She wasn't even going by Sarah Kim at that time. She was under the alias her fake husband has created for her. Without DNA it would be hard to prove. Plus they ran out of time to keep her and try to dig deeper. She offered them a way to close the case with her as the murderer, just not as Sarah Kim. They took it.

Also for the police it was a much easier case to close if it isn't Sarah Kim. Kim Mi Jeon had no public persona, there is no public pressure and social media attention on their investigation, she is basically just a missing person who was pretending to be Sarah Kim. The narrative Sarah offered them was easy. Which goes back to the theme of the show about the justice system being largely narrative as well. Everyone got what they wanted. The police got an easy case to close and she got to protect the one identity she wanted to protect.

As others have pointed out. Neither of them had identities that could be verified so there was no way to say either of them is person x. Sarah gave the Detective an ultimatum, she would either agree to the murder as one identity or deny it as the other. He could have said no, but it fit his own narrative best to agree to it. There was extreme pressure on him to close the case and also to prove the person they arrested really was the culprit to avoid backlash. He took the narrative that allowed him to solve the case and get praise. Which reinforces the theme that narrative is what drives how we see most things. Luxury was a narrative, legal process was a narrative, Sarah made identity one too. That was her art.

I thought the ending was kind of perfect. The detective asks one last time who she “really” is — and the show refuses to answer. Instead, we get that final look. She walks back as Kim Mi-Jeong, literally imprisoned to protect the identity she created. But he sees her as Sarah Kim — the version she chose to preserve.

That felt like the entire theme landing visually. We see both the power of narrative to build an identity and the weight required to sustain it.

I am a huge fan of Stranger, such an awesome show. They are very different types of series for sure. Personally, I enjoy thought provoking character studies very much. But yes, Shin Hye-sun is a legend. Have loved her in every role. She was so good as Sarah,

You are welcome! I loved the ending in that context, like we see her walking away as Kim Mi-Jeong, but then she turns and it shows her as Sarah Kim🥲. The idea of creating Sarah Kim and Bourdois basically saved her. She lived under built in narratives that made her so unhappy but the idea of creating her own identity and brand gave her a reason to continue. Thematically such a cool series. Loved how it explored identity and luxury as narratives that can be controlled, her art so to say haha

Not answered directly but kind of fun in a more thematic way. The show really drives home the power of narrative in shaping identity.

She created the identities she needed to survive — except Sarah Kim. That was the one she created for herself.

Born identity → purposely erased, passive.

Mok Ga-hui → escape.

Kim Eun-jae → coerced survival.

Sarah Kim → controlled authorship.

Kim Mi-Jeong → ultimate narrative inversion to protect the Sarah Kim identity.

It felt less like a missing answer and more like the show saying: Sarah Kim is the identity she chose to defend.

I personally didn’t see her as just a simple con artist. What I liked most was how the show handled the idea that identity and luxury can largely be narratives we create. She had given up hope on the person she was born as — the version of herself she believed she was — and instead chose to live a second life by writing her own narrative. Creating her own identity and her own version of luxury. I found that really thought-provoking. It felt less like “who is she really?” and more like “she is who she decides to be.”

With the loan shark, it didn’t feel like it was just about money. He represented the people who forced her into debt and nearly destroyed her. There was revenge there, but it’s telling that in the end she saved him and didn’t take the money. It felt symbolic.

The young man who tried to steal from her saw her as something material to possess, and she used him in return. She was wrong, but it didn’t feel one-dimensional to me.

And with Kim Mi Jeong, I saw something even more complicated. She was her mirror. Sarah saw her old self in her. I didn’t feel she was simply exploiting her — I think she genuinely wanted to build something with her and help her, even if that dynamic was flawed.

For me, it was less about a con and more about a character trying to rewrite the meaning of worth, luxury, and identity.

Was she trying to appeal to high society or expose it? I thought it was more of the latter. She wanted to prove she could manufacture it. She’s not chasing entry into the elite circle. She’s demonstrating that the circle itself is constructed.