'%20x='0'%20y='0'%20height='100%25'%20width='100%25'%20%0A%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20xlink%3Ahref='data:image/jpg;base64,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'%3E%3C/image%3E%3C/svg%3E)
SBS’ mystery-thriller Queen Mantis (사마귀: 살인자의 외출) concluded its 8-episode run on September 27, 2025. Directed by Byun Young-joo and written by Lee Young-jong, Queen Mantis is a Korean take on the 2017 French drama La Mante.
The series stars Go Hyun-jung as former serial killer Jung Yi-shin and Jang Dong-yoon as her estranged detective son, Cha Soo-yeol. They must team up to catch a copycat murderer.
A-ra, formerly Kang Yeon-joong, is revealed as the real copycat killer. By the series’ end, Yi-shin turns herself in after ensuring justice is served. She reconciles with her son Soo-yeol, and the final scene hints at the duo teaming up once more to solve another murder, suggesting their story is far from over.
Trending
Queen Mantis episode 7 & 8 recaps: Soo-yeol races to save Jung-yeon as Yi-shin confronts A-ra and her dark past
Episode 7 of Queen Mantis opens with Park Min-jae’s funeral. Soo-yeol attends with his wife Jung-yeon and her friend A-ra, introducing himself as Min-jae’s elder brother. Afterward, they return home, where Soo-yeol and Jung-yeon finally confront their issues and reconcile.
Since Soo-yeol’s confession about his mother, Jung-yeon has been living with A-ra, but now she agrees to return to him. She is also pregnant, though she hides this from Soo-yeol. When he receives a call from his chief, she tells him she will return later, concealing her pregnancy as well.
Meanwhile, Soo-yeol’s hunch about the man who underwent surgery to become a woman proves correct. This individual becomes the prime suspect as the surgeon of that surgery is found dead. The police attempt to persuade Yi-shin to talk, but she refuses insisting she will only speak to Soo-yeol.
Yi-shin explains to Na-hui that her son Soo-yeol desperately wants to catch the killer to prove he is nothing like his mother. She emphasizes that she will only cooperate through him. Realizing she is right and understanding how hard Soo-yeol’s is working truly, Na-hui agrees to bring him back into the case.
The next day, the copycat killer contacts Yi-shin to discuss their latest murder. Yi-shin taunts them, claiming they are nothing like her. Unlike Yi-shin, who has killed for a cause, the copycat kills for pleasure which is evident in their murder of the surgeon.
Enraged, the killer slips up, hinting that Yi-shin’s son is happy because of them. This unsettles everyone. Once the call ends, Yi-shin asks Soo-yeol how he has he met Jung-yeon. Realizing he met her through A-ra, Soo-yeol bolts from the station with his team. Soo-yeol frantically calls Jung-yeon, but her phone is switched off.
A-ra is then revealed to be Kang Yeon-joong and the real killer. She learns about Jung-yeon’s pregnancy after the call with Yi-shin and switching off Jung-yeon’s phone, abducts her. At a gas station, Jung-yeon turns her phone back on, finding frantic messages from Soo-yeol.
Alarmed, she calls him and after knowing the situation flees the station in search of people. Soon the local police, who arrive after being tipped off by Soo-yeol’s team, finds her. But before they can take her to safety, A-ra crashes into their car, killing the officers and kidnapping Jung-yeon once again.
When Soo-yeol and his team arrive, they find the policemen dead. Searching the car, he discovers Jung-yeon’s positive pregnancy test, leaving him and the team devastated.
A-ra brings Jung-yeon to a hiding place contacts Yi-shin, this time revealing their face and Jung-yeon’s condition. A-ra declares that they intend to kill Jung-yeon to experience what it feels like to anesthetize and kill a pregnant woman.
Yi-shin intervenes, offering herself in exchange. She argues that A-ra’s issue lies with her, not Jung-yeon, who is innocent. A-ra accepts the offer, demanding that Yi-shin must come alone with Soo-yeol, who may take his wife in exchange.
Soo-yeol protests to this, warning Yi-shin that she can geg hurt, but she insists. She believes she must face this reckoning after all the lives she has taken. As they prepare, Soo-yeol discreetly slips the key to her handcuffs into her hand.
Mother and son then walk together toward the exchange site, while the police secretly surround the area, ready to move on Soo-yeol’s signal. This is where the penultimate episode of Queen Mantis ends.
Final episode of Queen Mantis begins with the exchange. A-ra brings Jung-yeon while Yi-shin, accompanied by Soo-yeol, approaches from the other side. As Jung-yeon and Yi-shin pass each other midway, Yi-shin thanks her, calling her “mom,” but Yi-shin urges her to run.
Once Jung-yeon is safely with Soo-yeol, the police attempt to arrest A-ra, but A-ra flees, dragging Yi-shin with them. Na-hui, hidden nearby, manages to shoot A-ra, but despite the injury, A-ra escapes with Yi-shin.
Soo-yeol takes Jung-yeon to the hospital. Doctors reveal she has been injected with a drug meant to induce abortion, but both she and the baby are safe. Jung-yeon begs Soo-yeol to find Yi-shin, reminding him that Yi-shin has saved her life. From her, Soo-yeol learns A-ra’s possible location.
At an abandoned amusement park, A-ra takes Yi-shin and confronts her. They demand Yi-shin to love them, claiming that since their father has never cared for them, Yi-shin who has saved them, should. They insists that both of them are same and that they should die together.
Yi-shin rebuffs this, pointing out the difference between them. While she has killed for reasons, A-ra’s victims that they have found through dating apps and their sloppy murders, leaving evidence that led the police to them are different that her ways. Infuriated, A-ra is about to attack her with a knife, but Yi-shin unlocks her cuffs, and attacks A-ra instead. She stabs them but spares their life by covering them with a blanket before leaving.
Soo-yeol and Na-hui soon arrive. A-ra lunges at Soo-yeol, mocking him and telling him that Yi-shin has fled. They nearly stab him when Na-hui intervenes, taking a knife wound to the shoulder herself. As A-ra prepares to kill her, Soo-yeol shoots A-ra, killing them. He then after being sure Na-hui is fine, rushes off to search for Yi-shin.
Searching A-ra’s home to find a hit about Yi-shin, he finds a hidden room filled with victims’ phones and Yi-shin’s therapy footage. Watching, he learns a horrifying truth. Yi-shin’s father, Hyeon-nam, used to put makeup on her and sexually abuse her as a child. When Yi-shin’s mother threatens him to report him to police, he strangles her to death and burns their house to cover it up. The revelation leaves Soo-yeol shocked and heartbroken.
Meanwhile, Yi-shin confronts Hyeon-nam at his church, tying him to a chair. He begs for mercy, claiming he has repented by praying, becoming a pastor, and raising abandoned children. Yi-shin however suspects he is still abusing the children he is raising but he denies it.
She prepares to kill him when Soo-yeol bursts in, pleading with her not to take another life and prolong her punishment. Hyeon-nam urges Soo-yeol to kill Yi-shin, but Soo-yeol explodes, condemning him for poisoning his mind against his mother. Ultimately, Soo-yeol convinces Yi-shin to spare him, and she discards the knife redying herself to go with him.
As they leave, Soo-yeol notices a young girl he has entrusted to Hyeon-nam to raise, standing outside the church, wearing makeup and lipstick. Realizing with horror that Hyeon-nam is still assaulting children Soo-yeol screams with agony and rage.
Enraged, he points his gun at Hyeon-nam, ready to kill, but Yi-shin stops him, warning he will become like her or Hyeon-nam if he does. She tranquilizes Soo-yeol and carries him out, then sets the church ablaze with Hyeon-nam and her inside.
When Soo-yeol regains consciousness, he rushes back into the burning church, rescuing the senseless Yi-shin and bringing her outside. He tries to resuscitate her, screaming while finally calling her “mother.” Yi-shin awakens and seeing her son who has saved her, looking at her worriedly, breaksdown in tears for the first time. Overwhelmed she screams as the fire consumes the church.
As Yi-shin and Soo-yeol wait for the police to come she insists him to handcuff her. He refuses, promising instead to visit her with his family. Yi-shin dismisses him telling him that “bloodlines are meaningless”. She them praises him saying that she proud that he is nothing like her. As she is being taken away to prison, she thanks Choi for raising Soo-yeol to be a person with compassion, just as she has wished.
The story then jumps ahead 2 years. Yi-shin in prison, is sketching a picture of Soo-yeol's family picture with Jung-yeon, their child, and the rescued girl from the church. Suddenly, the news reports that Superintendent Choi has been brutally murdered and mutilated.
As she hears this Yi-shin is summoned by visitors. In the visiting room, she finds Soo-yeol and Na-hui, both visibly shaken, making er to ask in alarm what has happened. On this note Queen Mantis ends.
Does Queen Mantis have a possibility of season 2?
Queen Mantis leaves the door open for a potential season 2. While the main storyline resolves with the copycat A-ra dead, the final scenes introduce new tension with Superintendent Choi’s brutal murder.
Soo-yeol and Na-hui’s anxious reactions, along with their urgent visit to Yi-shin, hint at an unresolved mystery, setting the stage for the story to continue. Though the production team of Queen Mantis has not officially announced a season 2, the ending clearly leaves room for continuation.
All episodes of Queen Mantis are now streaming on Netflix.
