betun

Something so shocking and fantastic is a great plot twist precisely because it feels great when the improbable is explained. Here, no explanation or direction towards explanation was provided. Finished it but felt like a lot of time was just wasted.

Even if not happy, there has to be a reason to put up with an unhappy ending. here, there was no reason.

I agree completely. The writers bit on more than they could chew in terms of a plot. They had no logical explanation and so chose to avoid it. In the end we realized we were just watching a drama and should not have high expectations.

Yeah, i felt the same about Se Joo. Was gonna give it 10 or 9.5 before the last 3 made it an 8 for me. Just lazy writing. A programmer cannot blame AI. He created it. It has to be explained.

I haven't heard that expression either. Will have to google it.

Yep, I so agree. They just wrote much lesser than they should have. For such an exciting concept, 16 episodes were short and yet they employed fillers. So few things happened and so much was left to the imagination. The viewer has to write half of the story in the end.

Would have been logical if there were a reason for Jin Woo to sacrifice himself. A game is just code. it could have been rewritten or carefully copied with the original servers shut down. Him not even meeting PSH before the end subjecting her to even more unnecessary pain; mass disappearing into thin air inexplicably. I feel like the show has not really ended as if the writing was never completed.

Not just you. Nothing really happened.

Exactly. If AI can move between dimensions due to some code that code has to be isolated and eliminated first before release,

You are right in these observations but the problem is that since how the game does these things is unexplained and the game is not pure fantasy in which we just roll with everything, having things unexplained is more dissatisfying. Emma would have to provide food and water for Se Ju to survive in that dungeon.
The disappointment stems from the fact that there could have been much more going on both in the game universe and the real life events but instead the gripping initial concept was not developed adequately. The reason for the open ending may equally be simply the inability to write one that explains anything: killing or making characters disappear is more convenient. The one or three year leap forward is so cliched. Why would JW wait one year before being visible to others?
If the drama weren't so brilliant in the beginning, I would not have been so let down.

Certainly the worst ending among K dramas I have seen so far.

I just left a detailed spoiler-free review with a point docked off each for Eps 15 and 16. I almost feel like rewriting the drama myself. So much could have been done with the same characters.
In the discussion and comments, I and others left a far more detailed explanation on the possible science. The writers just skirted it. Well, I will still listen to the OST.

It was like someone deciding suddenly, wait we should not have a happy ending and then proceeding to burn everything down deliberately just to prevent any positive feelings. Sad endings happen but creating it just for the heck of it is sadistic. Apart from that, there was almost no story in Episodes 15 and 16. Huge percentages were fillers and so little happened chronologically. As for the connection with logic and technology that had been maintained during the rest of the series and made us watchers eagerly anticipate resolution, writers decided to close craters with chewing gum and discarded cardboard. Based on the apathy of over 100 minutes of writing and the sheer lack of creativity shown on such a brilliant premise, i will not watch another drama of these writers. The show was so interesting and so good at times. I so wanted to leave a 10/10 review.

I needed some brandy and other OSTs to feel less annoyed. Among all dramas I have watched thus far, these were the worst last couple of episodes withe the least happening. It felt like the writers suddenly became afraid of writing something too good and so made AI write the ending based on cliched K drama concepts. It had so much potential to be 10/10. Sigh.

Based on what the writer said recently as said in another comment, the manipulation of the brain is what the writers were targeting. so we are right. Cheers! Anything unexplained like the US server after 16, we will attribute to plot holes, one or two are ok in such an ambitious project, but I wish there aren't any. Based on Nine by the same writers, I have good expectations but do not expect a full explanation either.
Frankly I wish the scientific possibility were farther into the future. It is chilling indeed.

I agree with your analysis. I never pictured a vampire as Asian, the word and the concept seems inherently Western. Asia has no shortage of supernatural beings. I liked the book Dracula and I like vampires more as comedy. I find it hard to care about vampires and would need it to be connected to some Asian myth or history to give it a basis.

I get ya that it might be tough but with some hesitation, I do share with friends my liking for dramas and I don't care that much about their reaction as my masculinity is adequately demonstrated by my way of living life. As a guy, let me tell tell you that it can be a very satisfying and cathartic experience to watch dramas. I like the ones with an action component best but silly ones have their own charm. We can vicariously experience life through the drama characters. My favourite drama is actually an ultra sentimental love story; the quality of the acting and the honesty of the feelings made scenes like paintings or poetry. Western shows rarely get the feels right and sacrifice character development for too much on the screen.
What's wrong with sobbing? It is an honest expression.
My favourites to watch have always been war movies or movies with lots of meaningful action and action historical dramas and I still like romance.
I think it is hypocritical for it to be fine to declare watching Lost, Prison Break, House of Cards or Dexter but not K-Dramas. Suspense is one genre, it is not THE genre.

My take is that the brother on reaching Nepal somehow got to know about the incense and got tempted. Either Sun Woo reaches his brother and saves him.
Or, he doesn't and collects the incense. Noting exact time and location of death, he waits till December 2032 and time travels back to save his brother on the mountain. The Sun woo in ending scene seems older.
Now, I can add another layer of complexity making it "incenseption" connecting Sun Woo to the man who saved his family and thus left the 9 sticks behind. Sun Woo in Jan 2032 breaks incense into four unequal parts. He lights one to return to Jan 2012 and then there collects the 9 sticks and lights another part to return to Jan 1992 where the lodge was. He leaves the sticks because he has "saved his family" (remember that line?). As sticks burn out, he returns to 2012 and then to 2032. The third stick he keeps for December 2012 to save his brother from dying on the mountain. As for stick 4, he never uses it as he is not sure whether he would be able to return after using the last stick. As for his life from 2012-32, it is great as everything but his brother's death was sorted out.
I also feel that the parallel universe in which Sun Woo couldn't return to his wedding ends once the repercussions of his interference in the timeline play out to every character, friend, brother, villain, betrothed and then it just terminates just like the writers ceased showing that universe after that moment. A reality created by Sun woo has no reason to exist without him once all consequences are in place. That also gives me the best closure.

It gets more exciting from the 8th and 9th episode

Agree. Based on the excellent Episode 13, the peacekeeper Emma AI has made it such that even Se Joo can't free himself except through sonebody's help in the game as he programmed it that way initially and gave Emma too much power. Physically he is certainly somewhere in Granada.