100 Days My Prince

100 Days My Prince

6.5/10

100 Days My Prince

Genre:                                                  Episodes: 16                                 Year: 2018

Romance

Historical

Synopsis:

In order to try and restore balance and bring rain during a long drought, Crown Prince Lee Yul orders all single men and women in Joseon to be married. After an assassination attempt, the Crown Prince loses his memory and lives as a peasant. A peasant girl, Yeon Hong Shim, is forced to marry the amnesic prince due to the new law that all singles must be wed.

Cast:

D.O (Lee Yul/Won Deuk)

Nam Ji Hyun (Yeon Hong Shim/Yoon Yi Seo)

Kim Sun Ho (Jung Je Yoon)

Jo Sung Ha (Kim Cha Eun)

Kim Jae Young (Moo Yeon)

Jo Han Chul (King Neungseon)

Han So Hee (Kim So Hye)

Jung Hae Kyun (Yoon)

General Thoughts:

Overall this show is a cute and sweet love story set in the Joseon era. It came pretty close to being a truly amazing drama, but just had a few too many slip ups along the way. The main issue this drama faced was that it couldn’t really decide what it wanted to be.

Are we a rom-com or are we a dramatic sageuk?

All the promo materiel sold the show as a light and fluffy rom-com dressed in Joseon setting. But as the drama kicked off, it started to seem as though the writer wanted to tell a more dramatic, sageuk story. Which wouldn’t have been that bad, but the balance was just never right- either tilting too far towards completely comedic or too far towards dry historical.

He's just too adorable

This drama could have been absolutely amazing had it been able to interweave the humour and the drama together, but as we only got one or the other, and not a nice bled of the two, we were all left with a bit of tonal whiplash. It’s not that the show did one part better than the other- I really enjoyed the lighter, funnier atmosphere when the show was in its rom-com stage, and the palace politics weren’t as boring and confusing as your usual sageuk- it’s just that they felt like to separate stories that had been crammed together into one drama. What really held this show together were the characters- and I think a large part of what made the characters so enjoyable were the actors behind them. D.O completely smashed his role of the amnesic Crown Prince, and I loved watching him show of his comedic timing. I’ve watched him in more serious roles, so it was a nice change to see him take on something a little lighter and a little sillier. And seeing him succeed so tremendously has got me all excited for the time he (hopefully) takes on a straight rom-com leading role. Considering what an amazing actor D.O is (seriously, I don’t even think the biggest idol-actor anti fans are able to criticise his acting), it’s almost a surprise that this is his first lead role in a drama.

Sad D.O makes my heart bleed

Nam Ji Hyun has a long list of credits to her name, and while I find her enjoyable, she has yet to completely amaze me. I much prefer her in lighter, more comedic roles, so I thought she suited this drama really well in it’s fluffier stage, where she played the grounded realist to D.O’s naive fool. While their chemistry wasn’t exactly off the charts, they had a sweet, innocent vibe to their relationship,

Not someone you wanna mess with

and my favourite part of the drama was definitely watching the two characters warm up to each other and start to care for one another. Also, I will never not want to see jealous D.O. Jo Sung Ha did a brilliant job as our manipulative antagonist. He has such deep charisma that he’s so good at portraying characters with power, whether they be on the side of good or evil. He always gives a layered performance that makes you believe there’s more to his characters than meets the eye- even if that depth isn’t explicitly written into the script. Jo Sung Ha gave Vice Minister Kim a calm duality that made him appear much more sinister than if he had simply been outwardly shady. One of the things I’m starting to realise I like about Jo Sung Ha’s performances is that you can almost see his characters’ minds working. Rather than having Vice Minister Kim appear like a character who had everyone under his thumb comfortably, Jo Sung Ha truly made you believe that there was a great deal of thought and process behind keeping everyone under his thumb- which not only makes his character seem smarter, but also makes it less of a long-shot that our heroes will be able to eventually topple him off his seat of power. Kim Jae Young isn’t exactly a high profile actor at this point, but I think he did a pretty great job as the heartbroken brother of our heroine.

Ah, my sageuk weakness- tall, silent guards/assassins

I wish that Moo Yeon and his story got a bit more screen time, because as it is, there wasn’t quite enough for me to get a grasp on Kim Jae Young’s acting ability. The same could be said for Han So Hee, who is a fairly new actress. She had to appear cold and calculating for most of the drama’s run, so it was difficult to really get a grasp on how well she was doing. The point that made me sit up and notice her was Moo Yeon’s death scene. For the most part So Hye had been a pretty stoic character, so I was impressed that Han So Hee was able to deliver such raw emotion in that scene without making it seem out of character for the Princess.

Is there anyone who didn't see this coming?

One of the show’s more charming points turned out to be the side characters. Which totally caught me by surprise. Usually the support characters that are only there for the humour tend to annoy me as they end up being stupid and over the top, but the villagers that populated ‘100 Days’ were funny and endearing.The peasant background was probably a helpful tool in making them so charming, as their naivety was appropriate. The contrast of book-smart Won Deuk and the street-smart villagers was a great combination,

Who knew the simple villagers would be so endearing?

and provided a nice dose of comedy that was neither ridiculous nor insulting. The editing of this show actually turned out to be one of its biggest downfalls, which is a bit disappointing when you remember that this is a pre-produced drama, so there’s really no excuse for not having the show looking sleek and smooth. The scene transitions could be totally random at times- just instantly jumping from one scene to the next. It was also hard to tell when we were entering or exiting a flashback sequence, as there was absolutely no hints to guide you in or out of the flashback. There were several times in this show where I was confused as to what was happening only to realise that the flashback scene had actually ended a few minutes earlier and we were know back in the present. The writing was fairly sloppy overall, with the character construction and development being the only real good point. The plot itself felt a bit random and all over the place, and it was fairly confusing as to what story this drama was trying to tell. For the first 12 or so episodes it seemed to want to tell a sweet love story between two kids separated in their childhood. But then it suddenly switched to being a story on how Yul learned to become an understanding and just King from is time spent amongst the people.

No, no, don't ditch the romance- that's literally why we're here

And the romance got shoved to the side- which honestly wasn’t a smart move when it’s the sugar-sweet romance that your viewers are tuning in for. While I was fairly interested in the palace plot and who was trying to get rid of the Prince and why, as soon as that plot started coming at the expense of the romance, I found it a tad exasperating. 

What Was Great:

Boys, Boys, Boys:

There were basically three things in this drama that I absolutely loved to pieces- D.O and his spot-on portrayal of the grouchy, yet loveable Crown Prince, Kim Sun Ho as the charming concubine’s son just trying to make it in the world, and Moo Yeon and his tragic romance.

May this reluctant bromance never die

D.O carried a lot of this show on his own, providing gravitas during the palace politics and adorable chemistry during the show’s rom-com stage. D.O brought the two separate plots together and delivered a completely loveable hero that was impossible not to fall for. Yul’s playful, bickering relationship with Je Yoon was nothing short of delightful, and his petty jealousy over Je Yoon and Hong Shim was always hilarious.

If D.O hadn't been the hero I might've had some hefty Second Lead Syndrome to deal with

Je Yoon was an interesting character on his own, and I liked that while we were all preeeeeetty sure he was on the Crown Prince’s side, the drama toyed with the idea that he could flip and join the Vice Minister’s team- but not enough that the show had to sacrifice Je Yoon’s likability. His dilemma between choosing love or loyalty was interesting to watch play out, even if we were all fairly certain that he would remain loyal to the Crown Prince. And what can I say- I always end up being a sucker for the tragic bodyguard characters. It was Kwak Dong Yeon in ‘Moonlight Drawn by Clouds’, it was Song Jae Rim in ‘Moon That Embraces the Sun’, and it was Kim Jae Young here. I hate mindless angst, but I love a good tragic love story. And Moo Yeon falling for the daughter of the man who killed his father and destroyed his family is a great recipe for a deliciously tragic love story. I enjoyed how appropriately angsty Moo Yeon’s dilemma was- does he run away with his sister who has been waiting for him for years, or stick by the woman he loves?

Well this won't end well

I really wish that this storyline had managed to grab a bit more screen time, as I felt it wasn’t quite done as well as it could have been. So Hye remained pretty much a non-entity for the whole show, and I would have loved to see how she and Moo Yeon fell in love.

What Wasn’t:

Timing:

This show’s biggest issue is that it had no idea how to time things properly. We were given just enough time in the childhood section of the drama (though I’d also argue that I wanted to see more of what happened to Moo Yeon rather than just having to assume it all), but after that the timing got really rocky.

At least we had a cute romance to distract us from the fact that no one really knew what was going on

This writer had a weird habit of withholding information that didn’t add to any mystery, but would have instead cleared things up for viewers. I have absolutely no idea why the drama thought it was a good plan to wait so long to tell us that Hong Shim actually believed there was a Won Deuk out there somewhere that she was supposed to marry.

Who even is Won Deuk?

I was endlessly confused when Hong Shim seemingly didn’t know that Yul wasn’t a stranger who had lost his memory and that she and her father where lying to him about his identity. Because even if she did believe Yul was the Won Deuk from the next village over (which we weren’t even told about), then why was she making up a love story using scenes from her childhood love? While I figured that she didn’t actually know the identity of ‘dummy’, it was pretty obvious that he wasn’t Won Deuk, as Dummy was a noble. So filling Yul’s head with those stories had zero chance of jogging his memory (except that they were his memories- which Hong Shim had no way of knowing). And while I totally adored watching Yul and Hong Shim fall in love with each other and start to develop their relationship, there was a big lag in the middle where that was all that was happening. And if that’s all there was to this drama it wouldn’t have been that bad, but knowing that we had to go back and resolve the palace plot made me nervous that the show was running out of time. Which, spoiler alert, it did.

Can't you guys be charming and adorable and solve the whodunnit mystery?

I fail to see why Yul and Hong Shim couldn’t have been developing their relationship at the same time that Yul and Je Yoon were working on finding who tried to kill Yul. Because once the attention shifted to Yul and Je Yoon doing their detective work, Hong Shim was hardly even in the drama. And as an excuse for her minimal screen time the writer used- you guessed it- noble idiocy!

Well, well, well- if it isn't the consequences of your own actions

At first I was on board with their angst- because Yul is the Crown Prince and he’s already married. But when Yul was so ready to risk everything in order to somehow stay with Hong Shim, it was more than a little irritating when she wasn’t onboard. It felt like Yul was the one who was going out of his way to chase Hong Shim down and prove his love to her, while Hong Shim never gave anything back. This became 100 times worse in the final episode where Yul had found and gotten rid of his threat in the palace, was happily single, and Hong Shim still wasn’t in the picture. After her noble status had been restored and Yul had made it completely clear that he wanted to marry her, I fail to understand why Hong Shim wouldn’t agree. And then she has the nerve to act all sad that she’s not together with the man she loves. Like, who’s bloody fault is that if not yours! While we should have been spending some quality time with our couple being cute and happy, instead I was questioning whether Hong Shim really loved Yul at all. Because if she did, why was she letting him pine for her alone for a whole year when there’s no good reason for them to be apart?

Least dramatic victory ever

The conclusion of the whole palace plot seemed remarkably easy, and if it were so simple to take down the Vice Minister I fail to see why Yul and his father couldn’t have done it way sooner. The war was more or less irrelevant (except that it paved the way for that darned time skip), and if all the Vice Minister’s followers fell apart and became non-threatening without him, why didn’t someone just knock him off sooner?

If he wasn't here as a responsible, plausible King option- why was he here?

Yul’s idea that death is too light a punishment was kinda okay- but it also seemed like he was making things way more complicated than it needed to be. It felt a lot like there drama tried to set up all these reasons why simply killing the Vice Minister wouldn’t solve all Yul’s problems only to find that, whoopsie, we’ve run out of time and our only option is to quickly kill the Vice Minister and pretend that the palace is full or rainbows and unicorns and people who are 100% okay with the Vice Minister getting shot and the Crown Princess being dethroned. To be honest, I’m kind of annoyed that the drama turned into a drama about Yul being King when it seemed like it was setting out to be about Yul finding love. He never wanted to be Crown Prince or King, and Prince Seowon seemed like he had a pretty steady moral compass and would have made a good King with the right guidance. I was kind of hoping the show would take the route where Yul would give up the throne to live as a nobleman (or I dunno, Magistrate) in the village where he found friendship, family and love.

Can...can I have a sageuk that isn't about a dude learning to be the best King ever?

Admittedly, I did like seeing the light tone in the palace (and this cruddy wrap up is almost with it for the joke that people thought Yul had a thing for Je Yoon), but it felt foreign after spending all our time in Hong Shim’s village. We didn’t even have the familiar face of Hong Shim to ease us into happy palace life as she was off being busy not wanting to marry Yul. 

Recommend?

If you liked ‘Moonlight Drawn by Clouds’ this is likely to be your kind of drama.

A large part of this drama was honestly delightful

The Guest

The Guest

8.5/10

The Guest

Genre:                                                   Episodes: 16                                 Year: 2018

Mystery

Thriller

Synopsis:

A psychic, Catholic priest and police detective work together to solve crimes committed by evil spirits.

Cast:

Kim Dong Wook (Yoon Hwa Pyung)

Kim Jae Wook (Choi Yoon)

Jung Eun Chae (Kang Gil Young)

Lee Won Jong (Yook Kwang)

Park Ho San (Ko Bong Sang)

Ahn Nae Sang (Priest Yang)

Yun Jong Seok (Choi Sang Hyun)

Jeon Moo Song (Kim Young Soo)

General Thoughts:

Considering that Asian Cinema is well know for it’s terrifying horror films, there aren’t a lot of truly terrifying K-Dramas around. The most we get are some creepy serial killers. Even when we get ghosts they are either pretty harmless (‘Oh My Ghostess’) or secondary plot points in a rom-com (‘Master’s Sun’, ‘Let’s Fight, Ghost’).

The ghosts in this drama were as far from harmless and romantic as you could get

Honestly, I’m a little surprised that it’s taken this long for OCN to deliver a fast-paced, scary ghost drama, considering that they are the network that provides us with the best mystery-thrillers in K-Dramaland. However, if this was so that they could really come out of the gates at full speed then that’s definitely what they’ve done with ‘The Guest’.

Kim Jae Wook and blood are an alarmingly good combination

This is one of those rare dramas were the writing, acting and directing all pull their own weight, and end up delivering an even greater show. Dramas can be (and often are) held up by just one of those three things being really, really good, so it’s a total treat to come across a drama that does all three well. The acting was an obvious standout in this drama, with the three main roles being excellently cast. I will never say no to Kim Jae Wook, and putting him in a priest outfit pretty much guarantees that I will watch your drama- no matter how scary it is. Superficiality aside, Kim Jae Wook is a total acting powerhouse, and can do pretty much any role. He really brought the character of Yoon to life, and traits that I might find annoying in another character in another drama (eg. not telling his exorcism mates about his death curse), I actually found endearing in Yoon as Kim Jae Wook was able to so clearly express his characters thoughts, motivations and fears, and made him sympathetic and understandable. I’ve seen Kim Dong Wook in a couple of things here and there, but I’ve really started to notice him in the last couple of months. Most likely due to the fact that while I was watching this drama I also watched the two ‘Along With the Gods’ films that he starred in, and he’s fabulous in all of them.

Gotta love discovering new oppas

His snarky, sassy charm is a part of his acting that I’ve really fallen for, and I love that it’s a unique charm that he can bring into any character without making it feel like he’s playing the same character over and over and over again. His overconfidence and headstrong characteristics made Hwa Pyung an interesting character. As I continued watching the drama, I was kind of aware that I shouldn’t really like Hwa Pyung- he was arrogant, stubborn and reckless, but he was also dripping with sincerity and compassion.

Yeah, he was kinda stupid- but he was also super sweet

And when a character is just that determined to try and save everyone, no matter the cost to himself, you just can’t hate him. Jung Eun Chae is a completely new face to me, and while she didn’t blow me away to the same extent as her male costars, I really enjoyed her performance. When reading the promo material, I was extremely interested to see that the female in our trio would be the detective- not the psychic/shaman.

Girl's got moves

Strong female leads are rare, but strong female leads in occupations that are typically held by men are even rarer. While we’ve recently had a crime solving ajumma in ‘Mystery Queen’, I don’t think I actually recall having a female detective as a main character when there wasn’t another male detective in the picture. What I really liked about Jung Eun Chae playing Detective Kang is that she really threw herself into the role. She didn’t try to make herself look pretty- she simply became the rugged detective who devoted her life to solving crimes. Many times when I’ve seen actresses take on roles that require a bit of physical action, I find it totally unbelievable as they either look like they can’t lift 5kg, or can only run for about 5 minutes. With Jung Eun Chae I believed that she could fight the bad guys and come out as the winner. I believed she could sprint after a possessed man who was running away at full speed. This may seem like something small, but those smaller action scenes can really wrench you out of a drama if they’re not done well, so I was happy that Jung Eun Chae was able to handle those type of scenes and do them well, so that us viewers could remain completely immersed in the story.

Cuz those crazy demons sure needed someone badass to catch them

The side characters all did a fantastic job. When you think about it, without the suspense, scary music and creepy voice manipulation, it’s probably not all that easy to convincingly act out a possessed person. I imagine it’s probably highly embarrassing to scream and thrash around in front of a hundred cameras and the crew, and yet not once in the drama did I think that one of the possessed characters seemed silly.

Yeaaahh, I would not be going anywhere near that

They were all scary. All of them. Which brings us to the PD. This is the same PD that was behind ‘Voice’, and while I do think that the directing was probably one of the better aspects of that drama, there were some things that annoyed me. I’m happy to say that this director seems to be someone that takes criticism and learns from it. Things that annoyed me in ‘Voice’ didn’t seem to occur as much, if at all, in 'Guest'. My biggest gripe during ‘Voice’ was that the PD didn’t seem to know what would get censored, and much of what should have been creepy and chilling ended up getting blurred out. While censorship was still in play here, the PD seemed much more aware of what would and wouldn’t get covered up on TV. So yes, while the rope around the neck was blurred, it was still obvious (and scary) when Hwa Pyung’s Dad hung himself from the bridge. And while every time a demon stabbed out it’s hosts’ eye the wound was blurred, there was often enough blood poring down the hosts’ face that we knew what was going on. The sharp implements that did the impaling were also usually disposed of pretty quick, so we didn’t end up with a giant blurred blob coming out of someone’s head.

Am I distracted by the censorship? Nope- I'm too focused on the GREAT BLOODY DEMON ON THE CAR

While this PD does still love to shoot scenes in the dark, I never felt like I was missing something in a scene simply because it was too dark to see it (the way I sometimes felt in 'Voice'). Even with my crappy night vision, I could see what was going on in those dark scenes and didn’t miss anything important. This PD is absolutely amazing at building suspense. When I think back on it, there wasn’t actually a lot that was downright scary- no super gruesome murders (beyond the beginning where Yoon’s family were killed), no crazy special effects that made people seem completely inhuman, and thankfully no jump scares.

So moody, so suspenseful

Much of what made this drama scary came from the buildup and the atmosphere. Clever lighting, music choices, and camera angles were used to create a spooky feeling without relying heavily on CGI. The drama was very good at leaving things up to the viewers imaginations- if we haven’t been shown that there isn’t a creepy, dangerous demon sitting in that dark corner, I’m gonna go right ahead an assume there is.

Me trying to tall myself ghosts don't exist after watching this drama at  night

This atmosphere building can often be much more intense than cheap jump scares when done right, and there was not one moment in this drama where I thought the chilling atmosphere needed to be more chilling. The writing of this drama was excellent throughout, and even for someone as picky as me there isn’t really anything I would have liked done differently in the story. I liked how Park Il Do was introduced as our main source of evil early on, and thought the transition from the child storyline to adult story was done smoothly. While the three adults all remained similar to who they were as children, I appreciate that the writer didn’t stick childhood mentality into the bodies of adults. While we didn’t see all those years that passed, we still got a sense that our our characters grew and changed in those years into the adults they were when we met them again. Despite being completely driven by their desire to rid the world of the evil that destroyed their families, Hwa Pyung, Yoon and Gil Young never felt like just victims. They all had personalities and traits that went beyond the trauma of their childhood, and made them interesting and engaging characters.

Scooby Gang off to catch the ghostie boys

Watching these three strangers pull together to protect each other as they worked towards getting rid of the monster that terrorised them as children was definitely one of the most enjoyable parts of the show. While I usually enjoy a bit of romance, I was glad that the writer kept things nice and platonic for this drama. The dynamics of our trio would have been very different (and probably not as good) had there been some romantic feelings involved.

If you're not a main character and you get closeups, I'm gonna assume you're evil

I much preferred the idea of these three kids who had lost their families to the same demon bonding together to make a family of their own. Park Il Do as a villain (that word kind of feels a bit weak here doesn’t it?) was pretty incredible. The uncertainty of where/who he was upped the intensity of the drama, and I’m sure everyone had different ideas on who Park Il Do was possessing. I was on the Priest Yang witch-hunt from pretty early on (probably earlier than the show wanted), so I fell less for the clues that tried to paint someone else as Park Il Do. That being said, this writer was so very good at making you question what you thought you knew. I was so sure that Priest Yang was Park Il Do, and yet whenever the show brought in another character that they questioned as Park Il Do (Park Hong Joo, Dad, Grandad etc.), I always found myself thinking that maybe I was wrong and someone else was Park Il Do. Which aside from being interesting also prevents the main trio from looking like idiots. Nothing is worse than when the true villain is so obvious to the audience and yet all the main characters remain completely oblivious to it until the end.

He basically possessed a dude to stab himself just to dodge suspicion

By having our trio be so suspicious of so many people, it actually cleared the way for Park Il Do’s identity to be hidden. Because the trio had already suspected Grandad of being Park Il Do, and then moved on thinking they had successfully ruled him out as an option, I also ruled Grandad out despite being suspicious of him only an episode or two ago.

Every step taken is a step closer to Park Il Do

This of course made the final reveal much more surprising than if Grandad had been brought in as a Park Il Do candidate right at the end. The momentum and pacing of the show was done really well too. The episodic, case by case format worked well at the start when we were getting to know our characters and figuring out the supernatural rules of this drama. However it never felt like the big conflict was put on the back-burner. Rather than feeling like we were waiting around for the characters to be ready to finally face Park Il Do, with each case it felt like we were getting closer and closer to finding out where Park Il Do was. Which is much more satisfying in my opinion. We first started with strangers being possessed, but as we neared the finale we started getting possessions a little closer to home, such as Gil Young’s partner, that helped up the intensity while the drama built momentum for the final showdown. There was never a moment in this drama where I was bored or thought that the characters were taking a detour from the main story in order fill out more episodes- and that’s something I find really impressive. 

What Was Great:

Unpredictable:

Like I’ve mentioned above, I really enjoyed the writing of this drama. A story doesn’t have to be full of twists and turns to be engaging- sometimes the most common, predictable dramas end up being the best, but in this case I really enjoyed that I didn’t know how things were going to play out.

Eenie, meenie, miney, mo, where the hell is Park Il Do?

I had absolutely no idea who would actually end up being Park Il Do, and I think I suspected all the characters at least once (except maybe Gil Young) before the final reveal was made. In other reviews I’ve mentioned how I’m usually pretty good at cottoning onto things quickly, so dramas that think they’re being mysterious actually aren’t, but ‘The Guest’ was honestly a great mystery.

Yoon was pretty high on the characters-likely-to-die list

Even though I was fairly certain the writers weren’t going to let Park Il Do win completely, I still didn’t know the exact level of success our trio were going to have getting rid of him. Usually K-Dramas pretty much guarantee a happy ending, but I wouldn’t have put it past this writer to take us down a darker path. I was pretty sure that by the end of the drama our trio would be down to a duo. Hwa Pyung could die because he’s been possessed by Park Il Do and the only way to kill Park Il Do is to kill the host. Yoon could die because of the demon curse put on him that meant exorcising Park Il Do would kill him. Gil Young could die because to Hwa Pyung and Yoon, Gil Young and her mother were innocent in their involvement with Park Il Do (Gil Young’s Mum only trying to help both the boys and ending up getting murdered), and her death would probably make for the most bitter-sweet victory of all these scenarios. I was ultimately glad when all three ended up living, and because they came so close to death, it didn’t really feel like a cop-out. They all lost so much on their journey that while it was a victory, it didn’t feel like a suger-sweet, rainbow filled happily ever after, but a solemn, quiet end to a long battle.

What Wasn’t:

Mild Confusion:

That being said, I kind of don’t understand the mechanics of how all three of our heroes got to live.

Don't get me wrong though- I'm super glad they all made it out alive

The drama was so clever in the way that it concluded that I felt like there was a solid, logical reason as to why both Hwa Pyung and Yoon lived, and that I had just missed it or wasn’t smart enough to understand it. I got that Park Il Do hadn’t been completely destroyed and that he had just gone back into the sea until humanity was dark and greedy enough to call on him again

At least the finale wasn't at risk of being dull

(which I thought was a clever and alarmingly accurate depiction of evil and human desire), but I’m still a little confused as to how we got there. Hwa Pyung had bound Park Il Do to his body so that the demon couldn’t escape when Hwa Pyung tried to commit suicide (which would have theoretically killed them both). Yoon can’t exorcise Hwa Pyung because that would be his third exorcism since his curse and should (theoretically) kill him. Logically speaking, Yoon couldn’t have exorcised Hwa Pyung else Yoon would have died. Hwa Pyung didn’t actually drown, so that rules out the double suicide method. Park Il Do could have sensed his impending loss and fled into the ocean, only Hwa Pyung had bound him, so I can’t see how that was an option. I kind of figure that as Yoon had started the exorcism, it somehow loosened Hwa Pyung’s binding enough for Park Il Do to slip away. Then of course there’s the much more frightening option that Park Il Do is actually still inside Hwa Pyung- after all, he lived happily and peacefully inside Grandad for all those years and no one knew.

In my mind they live happily, Park Il Do-less ever after

The rest of the show was so brilliant and so tightly woven that I didn’t mind overlooking my small confusion about the ending. Perhaps the writer’s intention was to keep us all guessing at the end and draw our own conclusions. 

Recommend?

This show is pretty creepy and isn’t really for the faint hearted. While I strongly recommend this show for it’s excellent characters and storytelling, if you get scared easily this show probably isn’t the one for you.

I do get scared easily, and I still liked this show