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

Coffee Prince

Coffee Prince

9/10

Coffee Prince

Genre: Episodes: 17 Year: 2007

Romance

Comedy

Melodrama

Synopsis:

Han Gyul is the son of a wealthy family who only likes to play around and hates work. He is ordered by his Grandmother to operate a cafe for three months, and if the cafe is a success he can return to his carefree lifestyle. One of the employees at the cafe is Go Eun Chan, a girl who has had to become the primary money-earner of her household after the death of her father. As Eun Chan needs money and the pay at the cafe is good, she continues to work there disguised as a boy as the cafe only hires males to match its ‘prince’ theme.

Cast:

Gong Yoo (Choi Han Gyul)

Yoon Eun Hye (Go Eun Chan)

Lee Sun Kyun (Choi Han Sung)

Chae Jung Ahn (Han Yoo Joo)

Lee Eon (Hwan Min Yeop)

Kim Jae Wook (No Seon Ki)

Kim Dong Wook (Jin Ha Rim)

Kim Chan Wan (Hong Gae Shik)

General Thoughts:

This is a rather special review, as it’s the first drama I’m reviewing after watching it for a second time. ‘Coffee Prince’ is one of the first K-Dramas I ever watched, and so my reviews hadn’t even begun at that time. I’m glad to say that not a lot changed watching it the second time around- it was still immensely enjoyable, and still remains one of my favourite dramas.

It's hilarious

While I wouldn’t go as far as to say that this drama has aged well (it’s pretty dated), it’s a feat in itself that the drama can feel a little old and yet still be so highly entertaining. The characters are all so delightful- particularly Han Gyul, and they’re all acted so well. Gong Yoo never puts in a half-hearted performance so there was no surprise there, but this is really the only time I’ve seen Yoon Eun Hye put in a decent performance.

The start of a weird, but interesting relationship 

Sure, she still overacts the banoonoos out of everything, but it sort of matched Eun Chan’s personality. Lee Sun Kyun was an excellent second male lead, and was the perfect choice for Han Sung. Lee Sun Kyun really expressed Han Sung’s feelings well, despite how convoluted and confusing they were. As an audience we never became too confused with how he was feeling, because Han Sung didn’t really know himself, so it was easy to take his actions at face value- he did what he did because he wanted to and it made him feel good, not because he was a sneaky, manipulative character. I didn’t love the relationship between Han Sung and Yoo Joo the first time, and I didn’t like it any more the second time, but it was a satisfactory direction for the two second leads to take. Han Sung has always loved Yoo Joo, and it’s always been obvious that he has, but Yoo Joo herself was less convincing. It also didn’t help that Yoo Joo just didn’t seem like a nice person. She’s already cheated on and dumped Han Sung once, and has been continually flirting with his cousin for 10 years- and it’s so not just the two of them being close as Yoo Joo does some really obviously flirtatious things that she is obviously aware of, despite already knowing how deep Han Gyul’s feelings for her were.

What a total player

And if that’s not enough to make you dislike her, she also gets furious with Han Sung for liking Eun Chan for a short period of time. And while I know that how Han Sung acted wasn’t great either, and two wrongs don’t make a right, it was a little hypocritical of her to get so angry at him for it when she actually cheated on him for a whole year. But moving on, the rest of the boys in the coffee shop were super cute. Manager Hong still grosses me out, but his underlying personality is rather sweet. The three young boys are just so fun to watch and are a large part of the reason why the show is able to stay so interesting despite not a lot actually happening.

The show had just the right amount of boy bonding

A large bulk of the drama definitely focused on Eun Chan and Han Gyul and their relationships with the second leads, but these scenes were often padded out with side stories of the other coffee boys. While the side stories weren’t insanely interesting, they were enough to keep your interest so that the main conflicts had time to breathe.

Han Gyul had zero idea what was going on

Each story was well written and gave the characters room to grow and develop, and all of them were tied up in satisfactory ways. When it comes to the main plot, there’s not actually a lot going on. Girl dressed as boy is the main hook of the show, but the series is really more about the male lead’s confusion as a result of the set up. Yes, there’s an abundance of comedy to stem from our heroine pretending to be a man, but ‘Coffee Prince’ is actually quite a melodrama, with Han Gyul’s resistance, shock, and then acceptance to him developing feelings for someone he believes is male. The first time watching I didn’t really appreciate how long the misunderstanding went for. Now that I’ve seen a few more (a looooot more) dramas, and more crossdressing dramas, I now know that this is a rarity. Other dramas tend to let the male lead know that the heroine is a girl pretty early on, even if the heroine isn’t aware of his knowledge. ‘Coffee Prince’ is truly unique for letting its hero go so far down the ‘gay’ path, particularly as it’s an older drama and really one of the first of the crossdressing kind. There were many good things to mine out of Han Gyul’s predicament, both comedic and heartfelt, and I’m confident that the reason this show has remained so popular through the years is that it’s really the only show (that I’ve seen or heard of) that let its male lead struggle that much with his sexuality.

So cute, so confused

It made Han Gyul a truly sympathetic character. We could understand why he was having such a difficult time accepting his feelings- he’s always liked girls, not to mention Korea isn’t the most gay-friendly country, and although he’s struggling he never really denies his feelings to himself.

She really just didn't think anything through

Which just makes him so unbelievably endearing. On the other hand, Han Gyul’s struggle did serve to make Eun Chan come off as a little dumb and non empathetic. She seemed to have no comprehension that Han Gyul was confused about his feelings (despite his pulling her close then pushing her away), and it didn’t even cross her mind that SHE was the source of Han Gyul’s turmoil. It might just be because as viewers we were privy to scenes of Han Gyul breaking down and thus understood him, meanwhile Eun Chan didn’t have that experience, but it still felt like she should be picking up something. Overall, Eun Chan as a character felt highly immature. While most of the time she came across as quite funny and cute, there were also times that she just seemed to be acting far too young for her age. It wasn’t a huge downer, but I did often find myself thinking that Eun Chan was acting more like a child than an adult. However, despite the immaturity of Eun Chan, the romance was still highly believable. Eun Chan’s affections moving from Han Sung to Han Gyul was done in a gradual, believable way, and Han Gyul’s growing affection for Eun Chan was the highlight of the show. 

What Was Great:

Believable Crossdress:

Of all the gender-bender dramas I’ve seen ‘Coffee Prince’ is the only one where it’s honestly believable that people would mistake the heroine for a boy. Yoon Eun Hye’s face with short hair and no makeup does look remarkably like a young boy, especially when she's dressed like one.

She looked like a dude and she acted like a dude

Despite her tendency to overact, I will say that Yoon Eun Hye really nailed the male mannerisms. The way she walked, slouched, sat and interacted with those around her was very masculine and really helped sell the idea that people could mistake the character for a boy. Having such a successful crossdress made it that much easier to relate and understand Han Gyul, because quite often it was easy to forget that Eun Chan was a girl. It prevented Han Gyul from coming across as stupid, and increased viewer sympathy for him.

Selling the Hurt:

In every drama where the main plot centres around a deception, there’s always the fallout after the lie comes to light.

Poor sad Gong Yoo

Quite often the fallout can seem too extreme for the level of the lie, or the deceived party carries on their hurt for far too long. This wasn’t the case in ‘Coffee Prince’ at all. Han Gyul’s hurt is completely understandable as we see him struggle with his feelings for Eun Chan, and understand that being gay is a much bigger deal in Korea than in western countries. So it’s understandable that Han Gyul is angry when he realises that all he went through and was willing to go through for Eun Chan didn’t really matter because she was a girl and not a boy. Han Gyul’s pain and anger are easy to understand, but the drama also doesn’t drag it out for too long. Han Gyul is appropriately upset at Eun Chan for a time, but then forgives her before the fight becomes annoying to everyone watching. I only wish that the reason Eun Chan lied about being a boy was a little more solid- because frankly, wanting to work in a boy-only coffee shop is a pretty weak excuse. 

What Wasn’t:

Second Party Reveal:

The biggest bummer in this drama by far is that Eun Chan didn’t tell Han Gyul that she was a girl herself. Instead Han Gyul gets this information from Ha Rim, which only adds to the deception. Eun Chan never came clean- she was discovered.

You should have just told him yourself 

It’s not like there weren’t plenty of opportunities to tell Han Gyul the truth, and once Eun Chan became aware of Han Gyul’s feelings for her, she really should have come clean. Because continuing the lie past that point just became cruel. I mean, it’s not like you can be ignorant of his feelings after he says he’ll love you whether you’re a man or an alien. That makes it pretty obvious. And it was really at that point that Eun Chan should have revealed herself.

It's a super cute show

There was really no excuse to continue the lie, and was only setting up for a bigger fallout. Eun Chan’s choice to continue to lie to Han Gyul made her seem manipulative, and made her hard to relate to.

It’s A Tad Draggy:

The first time I watched the show I was so onboard with all the emotions that the show never felt slow. However, after watching it for a second time I will admit that the show tended to drag its feet a little. Most of the time the drama moved at a nice, steady momentum, but there were times were not a lot was happening, and because I knew where we were going I just couldn’t wait to get there, and found the buildup a tad too slow.

Recommend?

100%. This drama has remained so popular for such a long period of time, and there’s good reason for it. The characters are mostly fun and charming, and Han Gyul’s emotional journey is really one of a kind in K-Dramaland.

The time skip annoyed me significantly less the second time around