Goblin

Korean title : 쓸쓸하고 찬란하神-도깨비

Other title : Goblin: The Lonely and Great God / Guardian: The Lonely and Great God

16 episodes

Aired on tvN from 2016 Dec to 2017 Jan

Main cast :

• Gong Yoo as Kim Shin
• Kim Go Eun as Ji Eun Tak
• Lee Dong Wook as Wang Yeo
• Yoo In Na as Kim Sun / Sunny
• Yook Sung Jae as Yoo Duk Hwa
• Lee El as Samshin Granny
• Kim Sung Kyum as President Yoo Shin Woo
  
• Jo Woo Jin as Secretary Kim Soo Bok
  

 Production credits :

• Production company: Hwa and Dam Pictures
• Director: Lee Eung Bok; Yoon Jong Ho (ep 3-16)
• Screenwriter: Kim Eun Sook

Notes : 

• I mentioned that I would watch this drama in my review of Touch your heart, in which Yoo In Na and Lee Dong Wook were reunited as the romantic leads. Park Kyung Hye who is a ghost here would become one of their coworkers in Touch your heart.
• This drama was huge, from what I gathered, so I had high expectations.
  
• The screenwriter also wrote Secret garden (and A Millionaire's first love, which is a real blast from the past!). I don't see many similarities except for the fantasy aspects. She also wrote The Heirs!
  
• I have watched episode 8 weeks ago and I don't feel like picking it up so it's a DNF but I may resume watching at some point. It's the first time I felt that way. Usually when I DNF, it's definitive. OK, when I came back to this draft, I had tried to pick it up again and still didn't feel like going through it all so after episode 9, I jumped straight to the final episode. 

 

 Review : DNF 

Title : Straightforward. Maybe too much? I make fun of titles but I wish this drama had a more poetic name that would better reflect the feel of the drama. But it's ok and recognizable enough.

Boy : He's a goblin. I tried to look up what it means in Korean folkore but didn't find much. Anyway, here is what I got from the drama. He was once a mortal but was resurrected after his violent death as an immortal being with powers such as teleportation. When we met him, he's hundreds years-old and waiting for the one person who can put an end to his life. I actually don't remember much about him or his personality.

Girl : Spunky high schooler with a terrible homelife. Oh, and she sees ghosts. And she should have died. And she is the one who is supposed to end Boy's life. I like her, she acts cute and she is also really fierce, determined in adversity.

Other boy : He's a grim reaper. He's resigned but when there is a perspective of something more, he doesn't quite know what to do and how to act. There are hints of a backstory which could develop his character but I didn't get it in the episodes I've watched.

Other girl : She runs a coffee place. Of all 4 main characters, she's the one I understood the least. She is human with no supernatural powers... I think? But I think she acts weird? Again, there are hints of a backstory but when I stopped watching, it had not been explored.

Plot / relationships : Here is my main gripe with the drama. I didn't get the plot. It's at the same time simple and convoluted. There was not enough momentum for me. As for the relationships, the most interesting one was the "friendship" between Boy and Other Boy. As for the romance, there were many moments that were very romantic, and the actors sell it for the most part... but "destined love" is not my favourite trope.

Theme : death. I don't have a "theme" bullet point so I've added it just for this drama. I don't agree with how death is presented but it's an interesting theme to explore.

Clichés :  Hundreds years-old and teenager in love. Star-crossed lovers.

Funny? Surprisingly yes. I am impressed by how they managed to get the tone right and how successful they are at both the tragic/poignant and the funny/light-hearted.

Music : Do I really need to talk about the OST? I feel like it's iconic. Stay with me and Round and round are so so good and go so well with the atmosphere of the drama.

Bonus : Goblin has the best cinematography I've ever seen in a drama. The production value and the special effects are amazing.

Bottom line : I feel bad DNF-ing this drama because I'm a completist, because it has a lot of impressively well-done things going for it (tone, music, atmosphere), and because it is so well-liked. But as objectively good Goblin may be, it is not the drama for me. It also felt to me a bit too self-conscious, too enamoured of itself, like a collection of striking scenes that don't add up to a satisfying whole. Anyway, I applaud the ambition but it's a DNF.

Touch your heart

 Korean title: 진심이 닿다

• 16 episodes
• 
  Aired on tvN
• From 2019 Feb to March

Main cast:

• Yoo In Na as Oh Jin Shim / Oh Yoon Seo
• Lee Dong Wook as Kwon Jung Rok
• Lee Sang Woo as Kim Se Won
• Son Sung Yoon as Yoo Yeo Reum
• Oh Jung Se as Yun Joon Kyu
• Shim Hyung Tak as Choi Yoon Hyuk
• Park Kyung Hye as Dan Moon Hee
• Park Ji Hwan as Lee Doo Sub
• Jang So Yun as Yang Eun Ji
• Kim Hee Jung as Kim Hae Young
• Lee Joon Hyuk as Yun Joon Suk
• Oh Ui Shik as Kong Hyuk Joon 

Production credits:

• Executive Producers: Lee Joon Ho, Han Suk Won ; Chief Producer: Jang Jung Do ; Producer: Jung Da Hyung
• Director: Park Joon Hwa
• Screenwriters: Lee Myung Sook, Choi Bo Rim

Notes:

• Based on a web novel by Yegeo (예거).
• Full disclosure: I started to watch this drama because of Shim Hyun Tak. I liked him a lot in Good Witch. Side note: why does his DramaWiki profile pic is this, on the left, when my screenshots of him looks like this? (sorry for the bad formatting, it hurts me too but Blogger is what it is.)
  

Anyway, this drama and my foray into K-pop made me realise that I tend to find men more attractive when their forehead is exposed. I'm sure you're happy to know this.

• I was well into the first episode when I realised that the lead actress was Girl's best friend from Secret garden. I was pleased since I liked her and she brings the same qualities to her character in this drama (while Shim Hyun Tak plays a character so different that I got whiplash. But it shows his versatility.)
• Yoo In Na and Lee Dong Wook were previously in the popular drama Goblin, which I intend to watch at some point.
  
• So, like with Dating agency: Cyrano, I stopped to rewatch an old favourite (this time, My lucky star, which I binged in a few days) and didn't really want to go back to this drama so...
  

 

Review : DNF after the 6th episode

 

Title: I'm not sure what the title refers to. Google translate tells me that the Korean title is "Be sincere" and it may be a play on words since Girl's birth name means "sincerely" and Boy is the only one who insists on calling her by that name. There are also some talks about people being able to see Girl's sincerity.

Girl: She's a famous actress who had her career ruined because of a scandal. In order to win a role, she takes a job as a secretary of a lawyer. She's nice, cute, bubbly and quite smart.

Boy: I didn't connect with him at all. As I said, stoic types are hard to make engaging and Boy comes off as blank. He's smart, clueless about feelings, not the worst person and that's about it.

Other girl and other boy: They're supposed to be the second leads but they have very little screen time and characterisation, at least to this point. They were friends with Boy. They are ambitious. They were in a relationship but broke up but are still in love though they don't admit it.

Relationship/plot: The plot is the progress of the relationship, with some legal cases thrown in the mix. Problem is, there is not enough drama. People are nice, Girl and Boy like each other but don't say anything for whatever reason. And the legal cases aren't interesting enough.

Funny? Side characters are comic reliefs. It's funny at first, but then, the same notes are played again and again and I gave up on actual fleshing up of these characters.

Music: Fine. It goes well with the light tone of the drama.

What ? I complained before about the inconsistency with famous characters who are sometimes recognised and sometimes not at all. At least, this drama is consistent about Girl's need to conceal herself.

Bottom line: This drama and its characters had potential. I really like the first episodes. But it didn't develop fast enough to keep me interesting. There are so many characters that could have been spotlighted and threads that could have been explored, but these 6 episodes didn't show me that they would do it. I could have been invested in the second main couple, in the coworkers and in Girl's scandal if only I'd been shown more. I seriously have no idea how they're going to fill 10 more episodes. It was too chill for me. Maybe it works better with a week-to-week watching experience instead of binge-watching. Anyway, finishing the 6th episode was a chore for me. DNF.

 

Interestingly, even someone who has enjoyed this drama recognises it. Belinda C, in her review of the final episodes, writes: "Now let’s be honest. While the writing does have its moments, there’s barely any real content. The cases in the earlier episodes were always wrapped too conveniently and within 20 minutes of their introduction. Characters like Yeo Reum and Gang Joon (the stalker) were obviously set up to be significant players, but lost steam before they even kicked into gear."

Link to her review and my thoughts on what she says happen in the last episodes after the jump, due to SPOILERS of the ending.