Genie Make a Wish- Episodes 11-12
Love Written in Blood and Sand
Episode 11 of Genie, Make a Wish finally opens the door to the missing twenty years, and honestly, it hurts in the quietest, most devastating way.
We begin with Iblis watching his past self, smug and carefree, boasting that Ka-young’s punishment never came. Sade warns him not to tempt fate, and with that warning still hanging in the air, the drama pulls us straight into the truth Iblis has forgotten.
Back in Old Dubai, Iblis accidentally runs into Ka-young, who is selling dates on the street. She doesn’t recognize him at all. She’s saving money to buy a camel so she can return to Goryeo, and she’s surviving through sheer grit and kindness. When Iblis ruins her dates in his usual chaotic way, he steals money from a merchant to repay her, which already tells us this version of him is softer than he wants to admit.
Ka-young keeps her distance and focuses on her goal. She gives food to the homeless, works honestly, and endures discrimination without losing her dignity. Iblis follows her around, intrigued, slowly realizing that no matter the era, she is still the same person.
When Ka-young finally saves enough money for a camel, she’s brutally robbed and beaten. Iblis arrives just in time and kills one of her attackers. Instead of gratitude, Ka-young is horrified. The violence scares her, and she begins pulling away from him. It’s heartbreaking, because you can see Iblis falling for her right there, even as she tries to protect her moral line.
He eventually tells her he’s a genie. She doesn’t rush to ask for anything. Instead, she prays to the stars, even though she knows he could grant her wishes. That quiet faith seems to undo him more than anything else.
As their bond deepens, Iblis promises to help her return to Goryeo. She sews herself a hanbok for the journey and talks about her hometown with such longing that you can feel how much she wants to live. Afraid he’ll forget her, Iblis steals one of Ejllael’s feathers and writes his love into the walls of the lamp. Even Ejllael begins to notice that something in Iblis has fundamentally changed.
At the same time, young Khalid grows desperate to become a full spirit. Ka-young unknowingly shows him kindness by bringing him dates, but Iblis refuses to help him. That refusal will come back to haunt everyone.
Then comes the cruel twist of fate. Iblis gains a new master: Muttalib, one of the slave traders who once abandoned Ka-young and Hunbish in the desert. Ka-young had shown this man kindness when he was a beggar, never knowing who he truly was. Now rich and powerful, Muttalib becomes drunk on control.
For his final wish, Muttalib asks Iblis to bring him the woman who refuses to bow before him and make her submit for the rest of her life. Iblis grants the wish without realizing that woman is Ka-young.
The moment he understands, it’s too late.
Iblis fights back, but Khalid restrains him with the threads, eager to prove their power. The crowd turns against Ka-young. Muttalib seizes the moment and kills her. Her blood spills onto Khalid’s mat, and everything spirals into horror.
Desperate, Iblis begs anyone to take the lamp and wish for Ka-young’s life. No one does. One man takes the lamp and uses his wishes for greed instead. With her final breath, Ka-young frees Iblis from the threads, choosing him even in death.
What follows is pure devastation.
Iblis kills Muttalib, and his sword remains embedded in the stone where it happened. As gold rains from the sky and the city celebrates, Iblis weeps blood. He picks up Ka-young’s body and destroys the city in his grief and rage. Only Khalid and Shadi escape.
Through this pain, Iblis finally understands: Ka-young’s punishment was never death. It was him. Losing her was the punishment he would carry forever.
He realizes his final wish was to see her again in another life. That wish brought her soul back, even if it meant centuries of suffering first. He mourns her until her body becomes part of the desert, begging the universe for one more chance.
Back in the present, the episode snaps us back to reality just as Seung-rye drags the villagers to Pan-geum’s house, determined to expose her. Chaos erupts, and before anyone can stop it, Ishrun appears and kills Seung-rye with his car.
The Wish That Cost Everything
Episode 12 of Genie, Make a Wish opens on a heavy note, with Iblis returning to a visibly shaken Ka-young. She immediately knows something is wrong. The look on his face tells her he’s remembered everything. Iblis breaks down, blaming himself for her death in the past, but Ka-young gently stops him. Instead of drowning in guilt, she tells him they need to focus on what’s happening now. It’s a quiet, grounding moment that shows just how much she’s grown.
Elsewhere, Yeong-hyeon realizes he completely messed up by wishing for Da-jin to forget everything. She can’t even remember the password she changed herself. With only one wish left, he chooses the least selfish option and saves Da-jin’s father. In a small miracle, Da-jin remembers the password on her own, and their YouTube channel finally takes off, a rare bright spot in an otherwise dark episode.
Back in town, Driver Kim starts rescuing abandoned dogs, even though he no longer remembers Kim Gae. Somehow, his heart remembers what his mind cannot.
Knowing what’s coming, Ka-young hides Pan-geum and Min-ji inside the lamp for safety. Min-ji admits she already knows the truth about everything and does her best to keep everyone calm. It’s understated, but her quiet strength really stands out here.
At Jung-hoon’s house, Shadi is being tortured to force him to sing and lure Iblis. At the same time, Ka-young visits Bu-gyeong and offers her all the cash she withdrew from the bank in exchange for making her final wish. Faced with losing everything or keeping the money, Bu-gyeong chooses greed and agrees to summon Iblis and make the wish on Ka-young’s behalf.
Ejllael then appears before Ka-young, still obsessed with killing Iblis to win favor with the Supreme Being. He tries to convince her that sacrificing Iblis is the “right” choice. Ka-young refuses outright and tells him she’ll make a selfish wish if she has to. When Iblis later tells her that Bu-gyeong made the correct wish, he leaves to prepare for what he knows is coming.
Irem reports Iblis’s movements to Ejllael, clearly conflicted. It becomes painfully obvious that while others moved on after the truce, Ejllael never did. For him, the war never ended.
Shadi finally agrees to sing, luring Iblis to the mansion. Khalid, fearing his father’s power, uses the thread to make himself deaf. We then learn Ejllael’s final order to Irem was to retrieve the lamp and deliver it directly to Khalid.
Everything collapses at once. Khalid captures Iblis and kills Shadi. With his final breath, Shadi begs Iblis to keep his promise. Iblis swears to kill Khalid and avenge his brother.
Khalid’s men move to capture Ka-young and retrieve the lamp, but she refuses to reveal its location or use her last wish for him. That’s when the twist hits: Ka-young used Bu-gyeong’s wish to go to Iblis whenever he’s in danger. She appears, frees him from the threads, and asks him to take the threads and use them to end Khalid for good.
To do that, Iblis returns to Zahara’s garden.
Meanwhile, Irem delivers the lamp to Khalid. Sade is devastated by her betrayal, but she reminds him she warned him long ago. Khalid realizes Ka-young still has one wish left. Sade fights Khalid’s men as Chang-sik, remembering Ka-young’s warning about the day birds fall from the sky, gathers his men and heads to the mansion.
In Zahara’s garden, Ejllael confronts Iblis again. Iblis admits that more than revenge, he hopes Ka-young will make a righteous wish and earn her place in heaven. A brutal fight follows, and Iblis wins. Ejllael finally admits the war never ended for him. Iblis spares his life, promising to finish it later.
Back at the mansion, Khalid pulls Min-ji and Pan-geum out of the lamp. Pan-geum finally understands why Ejllael warned her about her death. She asks Min-ji to pass along one last message of love to Ka-young.
In one of the most devastating moments of the series, Pan-geum takes a bullet meant for Min-ji and dies after swallowing Khalid’s thread. Khalid orders his men to cut her open to retrieve it. Sade sacrifices himself to stop them, dying to protect Pan-geum’s body.
Chang-sik arrives with his men, turning the mansion into a full-scale battlefield. Min-ji manages to get Pan-geum’s body into an ambulance, but Khalid captures Ka-young and threatens to kill her unless she makes her final wish.
Ka-young refuses.
Before Khalid can strike her down, Iblis destroys Khalid’s soul flower. Khalid dissipates into black smoke, and his followers collapse into chaos. With Shadi’s last request fulfilled, Iblis rushes back to save Ka-young from the remaining men.
But some losses can’t be undone.
By the time Ka-young reaches Min-ji and Pan-geum, it’s already too late. They later hold Pan-geum’s funeral, and everyone is unsettled by the fact that Ka-young doesn’t cry. Her aunt refuses to let her join the funeral procession, leaving Ka-young standing apart, silently carrying her grief.
DramaZen's Opinion
Episodes 11 and 12 of Genie, Make a Wish are honestly a rollercoaster, but in that “I’m stressed yet completely hooked” kind of way. Episode 11 finally fills in the missing 20 years, and wow… everything suddenly clicks. Seeing Ka-young in Old Dubai, still kind, still stubborn, still refusing to bow even when life is brutal, just reminded me why she’s such a strong lead. And Iblis falling in love with her all over again without realizing who she is yet? That hurt in the best possible way. The reveal about how her death became his true punishment made the entire story feel painfully earned.
Episode 12 doesn’t slow down at all. It’s chaos, but purposeful chaos. What I loved most is how Ka-young stays calm and clear-headed even when everything around her is collapsing. She’s not just reacting anymore... she’s choosing. Choosing Iblis, choosing love, and choosing not to let fear make her decisions. That shift in her character is so satisfying to watch.
Yes, there’s a lot of heartbreak, but there’s also so much meaning packed into these episodes. The sacrifices feel intentional, the stakes feel real, and the romance finally steps fully into the open. By the end, I wasn’t just sad, I was invested. Like, “I’ve come too far with these characters to back out now” invested.
If you’re watching this drama and these episodes don’t hit you emotionally, I honestly don’t know what will. They’re heavy, yes, but they’re also beautiful in the way only a fantasy romance with real consequences can be.
One more episode to go!!!!!!
