On the eve of the new millennium, a group of townie misfits gain superpowers in The Wonderfools, a new Netflix K-drama that reunites Extraordinary Attorney Woo star Park Eun-bin with director Yoo In-sik. Park plays Eun Chae-ni, a 27-year-old woman known as “Lady Trainwreck” around her hometown of Haeseong for her clumsy ways. Chae-ni lives with her wealthy grandmother, Kim Jeon-bok (Kim Hae-sook). Jeon-bok is overprotective of her beloved granddaughter, who lives life with a dangerous heart condition. Chafing against her grandmother’s controlling ways, Chae-ni dreams of seeing the Northern Lights and hiking Mount Kilimanjaro.

Fed up with waiting for her life to start, Chae-ni convinces best friend Kang Ro-bin (Im Seong-jae) and town complainer Son Kyung-hoon (Choi Dae-hoon) to hold her for ransom. Chae-ni plans on splitting the money they coerce from Jeon-bok with Ro-bin and Kyung-hoon, and using her share to finally see the world. But when Chae-ni’s heart condition kills her during the fake-kidnapping, Ro-bin and Kyung-hoon understandably panic. They bring her body to a local dumping ground, unaware that it has been contaminated with a mysterious chemical. 

Chae-ni is miraculously brought back to life, and all three end up with superpowers. Chae-ni gains the ability to teleport. Ro-bin becomes super-strong. And Kyung-hoon can suddenly stick to anything. Chae-ni’s resurrection is witnessed by Lee Un-jeong (True Beauty’s Cha Eun-woo), a new employee at the local city hall who has secrets of his own.

Haeseong’s dark history of secret experimentation

While Haeseong seems like a humdrum, out-of-the-way place, we learn that the town has a dark history. A few decades prior to the events of the series, the Haeseong orphanage acted as a cover for scientist Ha Won-do’s (Son Hyun-joo) immoral efforts to develop a super-serum that grants eternal life. He experimented on the children who lived there, which included Un-jeong, Pal-ho (Bae Na-ra), Ju-ran (Jung Yi-seo), and Ho-ran (Choi Yoon-ji). The orphanage was funded by a group of wealthy benefactors that included Chae-ni’s grandmother.

Many of the children didn’t survive the torturous experimentation, while others developed superpowers. Un-jeong and Pal-ho became telekinetic, able to move objects with their minds. Ju-ran developed the ability to control others with her mind. And Ho-ran developed a power of illusion that allows her to place others in a dream or nightmare of her own making.

There was another test subject, known as the Child of Eternity, who developed the ability to regenerate, even from death. The experimentation on this child was the harshest, as Won-do killed him over and over again to test his limits. In a moment of great distress at seeing his friend tortured, Un-jeong released a wave of telekinetic energy that destroyed the orphanage in a fire. Many of the children escaped in the chaos, and Won-do was imprisoned for his crimes.

In present-day Haeseong, a cult-like organization known as The Church of Eternal Salvation stands where the orphanage once did. With the turn of the millennium soon coming, the church builds a following with the story of a doomsday apocalypse that only the faithful will be saved from. 

It turns out that Won-do is out of prison and behind the church, where he is working on his experiments again, with the help of his former subjects Pal-ho, Ju-ran, and Ho-ran. The traumatized adults have returned to the only home and father figure they have ever known. While Won-do is infecting adults to see what powers they develop, his big goal is to recover his one “successful” subject: the Child of Eternity.

As we learn by the end of The Wonderfools, the Child of Eternity was left braindead by the orphanage fire and did not survive. But his heart did. Jeon-bok made the decision to have his heart given to her granddaughter, Chae-ni, who was in need of a transplant. Years later, when Chae-ni finds out the depth of her grandmother’s crimes, she is appalled at what she has unknowingly been made a part of. Though she eventually forgives Jeon-bok, the revelation temporarily fractures their relationship. 

When Won-do realizes that Chae-ni is in possession of The Child of Eternity’s heart, he sends his children after her. Chae-ni’s body is now capable of producing a serum that may be able to grant eternal life. However, Chae-ni is not going down with a fight. And she has Ro-bin, Kyung-hoon, and Un-jeong to help her. Though Un-jeong was initially reluctant to form relationships with the motley crew, their relentless enthusiasm—and his burgeoning romantic feelings for Chae-ni—eventually wore him down. 

The epic showdown

Frustrated with trying to catch Chae-ni, Won-do makes a plan to contaminate as many people as possible in order to hopefully recreate more people with the Child of Eternity’s regenerative ability. The Wonderfools ends in an epic, two-part finale that sees Chae-ni and her friends trying to stop the Church of Eternal Salvation from exploding a blimp of chemicals over the entire town. By the climactic scene, Won-do, Pal-ho, and Ho-ran are dead. A grief-stricken and furious Ju-ran will do whatever it takes to make the people of Haeseong, who she sees as having abandoned her as a child, suffer. She mind-controls the people of Haeseong into position under the blimp.

In order to stop the blimp, Chae-ni suggests Ro-bin use his super-strength to throw herself and Kyung-hoon up onto the blimp. Kyung-hoon will use his stickiness to land them safely. He will then fall to the ground, where Un-jeong will use his telekinetic powers to slow his fall. Finally, Chae-ni will teleport the blimp, which is loaded with both the chemicals and a bomb, to a safe location. Then, when she teleports back, Un-jeong can slow her fall. 

Everything goes according to plan, save for Chae-ni’s return. Every other time she has teleported, she has had to return to her original location. Un-jeong watches the sky, but she doesn’t return. Weeks later, Jeon-bok holds a funeral for her granddaughter. Tom Sawyer-style, Chae-ni shows up, grubby from the slow journey back from the base of Kilimanjaro, where she had teleported the exploding blimp. Her friends and family cry in relief.

Meanwhile, the entire town has forgotten the events of New Year’s Eve, which means they don’t understand how the town losers saved them. The only exception is Kyung-hoon’s daughter, Cheong, who was wearing headphones during Ju-ran’s mind-control and can remember the whole thing. After years of feeling like her dad only knows how to let her down, she sees him as a hero.

The Wonderfools Season 2

The series ends with Un-jeong back at the city hall, going out with part-timers Chae-ni, Ro-bin, and Kyung-hoon to keep an eye on the town. They are a happy found family.

But not all of The Wonderfools’ problems have been solved. Won-do partially controlled Pal-ho, Ho-ran, and Ju-ran by telling them that capturing the Child of Eternity was integral to their own survival. Pal-ho died because he used his powers too intensely, implying that the superpowers come at great cost. Both Ju-ran and Un-jeong cough up blood during the final fight, implying that their days may be numbered.  

Though there is no news yet on the possibility of a second season for The Wonderfools, the series ends with a mid-credits scene that teases more. Won-do was killed in a lab explosion, but a desperate Ju-ran injected him with one of the two remaining super serums, hoping it would bring him back to life. In the scene following the finale, it’s revealed the serum worked: Won-do regenerates back to life. If The Wonderfools returns for a second season, the big bad will also be back.