Hwayugi

Hwayugi

6.5/10

Hwayugi

Genre:                                    Episodes: 20                                         Year: 2018

Romance

Fantasy

Synopsis:

Jin Seon Mi is a girl who can see evil spirits. As a child she released a deity, Son Oh Gong, from his prison. As a reward, Oh Gong offers to come to her aid and fight evil spirits whenever she calls his name, but also removes the memory of his name from her mind. As an adult, Seon Mi meets Oh Gong again, and uses a magical bracelet to trick Oh Gong into loving her so that he will protect her.

Cast:

Lee Seung Gi (Son Oh Gong)

Oh Yeon Seo (Jin Seon Mi)

Cha Seung Won (Woo Ma Wang)

Lee Hong Ki (PK)

Lee El (Ma Ji Young)

Lee Se Young (Bu Ja/Ah Sa Nyeo)

Yoon Bo Ra (Alice)

Jang Gwang (Yoon Dae Shik)

Sung Ji Ru (Soon Bo Ri)

Sung Hyuk (Winter General/Summer Fairy)

Song Jong Ho (Kang Dae Sung)

One (Hong Hae Ah)

General Thoughts:

I feel like this drama should have been better than it was. There were so many elements in it that were really, really good, but then there were also quite a lot of parts that were below standard.

I wish it had been just a smidge more exciting

I missed the Hong Sisters’ last drama ‘Warm and Cozy’ as I just heard so many terrible things about it, but I did catch ‘Big’. I’ve also seen a lot of their better works, and I think ‘Hwayugi’ falls somewhere in the middle. It’s not one of their best, but it’s not one of their worst either.

I don't like fantasy, I LOVE it

I’m not sure how much of the world-building they took from the original Chinese novel, but that was one of the better aspects to the show. The way these deities and demons were so naturally disguised in society was brilliant and I loved all the fantasy elements of the characters’ powers and limitations and all the various rules in place from heaven. The heavenly hierarchy was interesting, though mildly confusing at times, but it made all the interactions between our characters fun. The characters were all extremely unique and interesting, and were really the draw for this drama (because there wasn’t really a lot going on in the plot). The different demons were delightful, and each had a story of their own. Having all these personalities interacting was exciting and fun, however after a time it did get a little stagnant. ‘Hwayugi’ was a drama that needed a big plot to move it, as we had all these big characters with big powers. However, as the drama progressed and we got used to the way the characters interacted with each other (Oh Gong and Seon Mi’s push and pull, Oh Gong and Ma Wang’s bickering bromance etc) there was no big force that really pushed our characters into any sort of action- which led to a huge slow in momentum and my interest starting to fade.

I much prefer the pull over the push

The acting was pretty good all around, with the Hong sisters drawing on a lot of actors from their previous dramas. Of course, these actors were brilliant in their previous roles, and so they did well again. Cha Seung Won was hilarious as the bull demon running an entertainment agency.

He's just so hilarious

While his false bravado was slightly reminiscent of his character in ‘Greatest Love’ he managed to add an air of superiority that made Ma Wang feel like a brand new character. Cha Seung Won has such great comedic timing, and such fabulously humorous chemistry with others that sometimes I find it hard to believe that he was ever a serious actor. But then in the heavy, serious scenes he really switches over and shows you what he’s capable of- raw and rich emotion. PK’s character had quite a few similarities to Jeremy in ‘You’re Beautiful’, but similarly to Cha Seung Won, Lee Hong Ki managed to add a unique flavour in his representation of the character that prevented PK from becoming a Jeremy copy-paste. Lee Hong Ki added a bunch of arrogance and tonnes down his innocence for this role, and I really enjoyed the PK he brought out. I’ve not had good experiences with Lee Se Young in the past, after hating her character in ‘The Best Hit’. I really thought she had little to no acting talent at all after seeing her in that drama, and I was happy to be proven wrong here.

She ended up being one of my favourite characters

Lee Se Young was delightful and extremely likeable as our zombie, Bu Ja. She was cute and funny and did an excellent job at bringing in zombie-ish characteristics- such as her slowed speech. Despite how odd these characteristics might have been, Lee Se Young was very natural and made them feel like an authentic part of her character,

Gross yet funny

and I didn’t feel her acting as much as I did in ‘Best Hit’. Her transition to Sa Nyeo was believable and she played the priestess well. However, I do find that she lacks that appeal that makes me intrigued by her whether I like her character or not (something an actress like Lee El has in spades). While there was nothing wrong with her performance as Sa Nyeo, I wasn’t nearly as interested as I was when she was playing Bu Ja- though I think a large part is simply that the character wasn’t as entertaining. I thought One was a bit of a scene stealer, and the cheeky, rebellious grandson role suit him well. The weakest link in the cast was definitely Oh Yeon Seo. She’s gained a lot of popularity recently, and I remember finding her hilarious in ‘Come Back, Ajusshi’, but I really didn't feel it here. There were so many moments when I could see her acting in the scene, and I found that she very rarely seemed natural. Seon Mi was a horrifically boring character on paper (typical useless heroine who is only there to be loved by the hero), and I feel Oh Yeon Seo really struggled trying to give her some life. Sadly, her chemistry with Lee Seung Gi was pretty flat, so I didn’t really buy the romance. She seemed to only have one sweet smiling expression and it just felt kinda fake.

This is the face you make when you can't slap someone who deserves it because it's not 'mature'. This is not an in love face.

I found myself really wishing that Seon Mi had been given more supernatural powers or given more to do in the plot so that Oh Yeon Seo had something else to do other than struggle to look like she was in love with Lee Seung Gi.

A part of me is still pretty disappointed Ma Wang never got horns

The CGI started out pretty well (ignoring the colossal f*ck-up where they aired a half finished episode because they were so far behind on editing). Son Oh Gong’s fire and disappearing and reappearing were awesome, and I adored the demons’ red eyes. The scent of Seon Mi’s blood was done well too- it can be pretty tricky to put a scent into a visual format, but I thought that ‘Hwayugi’ did a pretty convincing job. Maybe they blew their budget on the earlier stuff because after  a while it just seemed like the CGI went downhill. Fast. Ma Wang’s 100 years of suffering was brought down to a few poorly done lights and the big, bad dragon that was supposed to bring about the end of the world was pretty laughable. After how much talk had been going on about what a monstrosity this black dragon was going to be, the final result was definitely a bit lacklustre. One aspect of the show that was brilliant throughout was the soundtrack. As a non-Korean speaking viewer, OSTs that rely on lyrical ballads all end up sounding a bit the same. The soundtrack to ‘Hwayugi' was filled with interesting and easily recognisable songs.

Cue the badass soundtrack

Not only would I be able recognise these songs outside of the drama, but within the drama they served to heighten the mood and give us a hint about what was to fallow. Say if Track 1 played then I knew Oh Gong was about to unleash his powers and get reckless, or if it was Track 2 it meant his feelings for Seon Mi were growing. While some aspects of the drama were a little less exciting than the blockbuster we were promised, the soundtrack carried more than its weight and was undoubtably epic.

What Was Great:

Monkey King:

Did you think I’d forgotten to take about Son Oh Gong played by the dynamic Lee Seung Gi? No, I was just saving it for now.

♫ I don't want to, why should I? How much will you give me? ♫

While I’ve liked Lee Seung Gi in the past, I’ve never quite understood what it was about him that made people lose their minds. I get it now. This was the perfect casting for him and a brilliant way to mark his return from the army.

I am 100 times more into Lee Seung Gi after this drama

Oh Gong’s childish and arrogant ways suited Lee Seung Gi ridiculously well (in a good way), and he gave the character an amazingly endearing vibe for someone who was so…well…so annoying. By all rights Oh Gong should be unlikeable- he’s selfish, rebellious, self-centred- and yet Lee Seung Gi makes all these totally negative traits seem fun and sexy. It’s the perfect example of the bad-boy. You know he’s no good, but you just can’t help loving him. The geumganggo was a nice plot device to tie Oh Gong to the heroine, but Oh Gong was still well aware that he didn’t really love Seon Mi. Lee Seung Gi was brilliant at portraying these totally conflicting feelings of wanting to be near Seon Mi but also wanting nothing to do with her. Having him whine endlessly while he followed her around was just delightful, and of course it was extra fun to watch him slowly start to fall in love for real. Lee Seung Gi matched every emotion of Oh Gong’s perfectly, and we could easily see all his desires and fears that came about due to the geumganggo. His bickering relationship with Ma Wang was always fun, and the two actors had great chemistry (more so than the actual romance).

May bromance never die

While I wasn’t always on board with the main love-line, I was at least convinced that Oh Gong was in love with Seon Mi. All in all, I think a large part of what made this drama watchable was the mischievous nature of our Monkey King hero, and his perfect portrayal by Lee Seung Gi.

What Wasn’t:

Lame Conflicts:

The biggest issue this drama had is that all its problems were so easy to solve. And often had loopholes. The first time I really felt this was during Ma Wang’s 1000 years of suffering.

It started out legitimately sad

This was Ma Wang’s whole story. He loves this girl, sh*t happens in heaven and she’s getting however many reincarnations of suffering. Ma Wang finally finds her and offers to take her punishment (like why didn’t he just do that to begin with?) and we get a lame light-show,

That...that's it?

a couple of minutes pain for Ma Wang paired with short-lived blindness and…that’s it. For what a big windup the show had to Ma Wang’s big sacrifice, he didn’t actually have to sacrifice all that much. From what I can tell, apart from a brief discomfort Ma Wang’s life really wasn’t altered that much after taking one thousand years of pain. It just didn’t seem all that painful is all I’m sayin’. Then we had this to-ing and fro-ing with taking off the geumganggo and we had so many close calls and spent SO MUCH TIME with Seon Mi and Oh Gong deliberating if they were going to take it off that I really stopped caring if they would or not. If you tease something that many times, you’re going to wear out my patience. And I don’t have a lot of it to begin with. By the time the geumganggo finally came off I really didn’t care. We all knew that Oh Gong loved Seon Mi for real- even Seon Mi knew and she’s pretty bloody dense. The biggest and stupidest and most annoying conflict in this drama was actually the main one. All series long we’ve been told that Oh Gong has to kill Seon Mi, and all drama long I’ve been (sort of) interested to see how/if they’d get around this rather large stumbling block in their relationship.

The bell is a lie

Where the drama really started to lose my interest was after it introduced Sa Nyeo. She came right after some other spirit that tried stealing the geumganggo and thus Oh Gong’s love,

Bring back Bu Ja

so I was super underwhelmed when Sa Nyeo seemed to be going for Oh Gong’s love too. Like, we’ve just seen that- give us something new. Sa Nyeo’s arrival of course meant there was no more Bu Ja, and it turns out that PK and Octopus Prince are kinda boring when Bu Ja’s not around- so not only did we lose Bu Ja, we pretty much lost the others too. Things happen and Sa Nyeo decides to call a dragon for Dae Sung, and turns out it’s going to be this giant black dragon that ends the world. So far I can roll with it. But then the characters all start discussing the end of the world (which we’ve been hearing about for around 7 or 8 episodes now) and it's mentioned that only Sa Nyeo can call the world-destroying dragon. Um, hello? Just kill Sa Nyeo while she’s in the body of a weak zombie then. Problemo solved. But no. No one does this. No one really entertains this notion at all. These super wise godly beings who have lived for thousands of years decide that the best course of action is to wait until the dragon is summoned and then try and fight it. Like what the actual f*ck people.

You should have done this AGES AGO

I just couldn’t take the situation seriously from that point on because all I could think about while the characters were discussing how tragic and awful this situation was was that they could literally just kill the only person capable of summoning the dragon and be done with it.

It doesn't even do anything! Just kinda floats around menacingly.

 Sure the dragon is still technically there, but if you just keep getting rid of the people able to summon it (who are way weaker then the dragon itself) isn’t that the easier option? Anyway after a lot of mumbo jumbo bullsh*t the dragon gets summoned and Seon Min is stabbed by Dae Sung. Like really, if you’re going to kill a main character at least put some effort into it. It was like they forgot they were killing Seon Mi off and just squished it in there in the most random way possible. Maybe I would have felt some emotion over Seon Mi’s demise had Oh Gong somehow been cornered into killing her, but no. Also, Dae Sung killing Seon Mi also means that the whole death bell fate scenario was just blatantly wrong. In my not so humble opinion, this drama could have been way more interesting if a lot less time had been spent on the dragon summoning (which was super underwhelming with terrible CGI).

A journey through the underworld to save her soul sounds way more interesting than what I just sat through

Maybe instead of having Seon Mi die at the end and not even seeing Oh Gong's search to find her the show could have condensed the whole series into the first half or two-thirds and then ended with Oh Gong’s journey to the underworld to rescue the girl he loves. That would have been cool. 

Recommend?

If you want to know what the fuss is with Lee Seung Gi then I totally recommend this drama. Otherwise, no.

At least the cast was good

The Lonely Shining Goblin

The Lonely Shining Goblin

7/10

The Lonely Shining Goblin

Genre:                                     Episodes: 16                          Year: 2017

Romance

Melodrama

Fantasy

Synopsis:

In Goryeo, General Kim Shin is unbeatable in battle. His skill gives rise to vicious rumour, and in a state of jealousy and fear, the young king orders Shin executed as a traitor. At his death, Shin is cursed to become a Goblin- a magical being with immortal life fated to watch his loved ones die. It is said that only the Goblin’s Bride can end his curse. In the present day, the Goblin lives with a Reaper- a soul cursed due to the heavy sins of their life, but with no memory of what those sins were. The two meet Ji Eun Tak, a young girl that escaped death as a child, who claims to be the Goblin’s Bride.

Cast:

Gong Yoo (Kim Shin)

Kim Go Eun (Ji Eun Tak)

Lee Dong Wook (Reaper)

Yoo In Na (Sunny)

Yook Sung Jae (Yoo Deok Hwa)

Kim Byung Chul (Park Joon Hoon)

Kim So Hyun (Kim Sun)

Kim Min Jae (Wang Yeo)

Lee El (Birth Grandmother)

General Thoughts:

This is kind of a weird drama, in that I don’t really want to talk about it that much. Like…I enjoyed it (didn’t love it, but I mostly enjoyed it), but I’m kind of content to let it just slide by without saying much about it. But, you know, I'm going to write a long-ass review anyway.

I don't really want to talk about you right now, mate

Like most dramas there were good parts and not so good parts, and thankfully ‘Goblin’ managed to avoid having any sections that were completely unbearable. It got off to a wicked start where EVERYONE DIED. Which does sound kind of depressing and macabre, but at the same time it set the stage brilliantly.

Between this and that other drama, Goryeo seems like a sh*t time to be alive

We want to see how our Goblin will live now that everyone he loves is dead, but we also want to see what events led up to that opening scene. Things get twister with the introduction of the Goblin’s Bride and the Reaper, and sets us up for what looked like a thick, juicy story. Unfortunately, after Episode 1 the pace of the show slowed right down and we focused a lot more on Eun Tak than the Goblin. As cute as their scenes were, and much as I enjoyed the banter they exchanged, I was never quite on the same wavelength as the romance. With Eun Tak being so determined to be the Goblin’s bride, it was hard to pinpoint the time when she actually started falling for him for real. Suddenly she was just very, very in love with him, and I was a little confused how she got there.

Do you love him because he's the Goblin, or do you not care that he's the Goblin because you love him?

It was an acceptable development cuz they are our main couple, but I did feel a bit disconnected from the love-line. Unlike that other love-line which I totally connected with. Sunny and the Reaper were a really interesting pair, and their story was riveting. I didn’t mind at all when the show took the focus off of the main romance (‘should I pull out the sword or not?’) to focus on the reincarnation story. Not only was the past aspect of their romance intriguing, but their present day romance was just too funny- Reaper’s despair at not being a regular man with a name and a business card was always good value.

So cutely awkward

I liked that Sunny wasn’t exactly like Kim Sun. Sure, she was the reincarnated soul, but she still seemed like a distinct person all on her own, which was nice as Reaper himself had lost his memories of his life and also seemed like a slightly different version of himself- like this is who he was when he didn’t have an evil advisor whispering in his ear from birth.

So majestic, our Reaper of Death

The whole progression of Reaper and Sunny’s story was just brilliant- everything seemed to come at the right time. The humour, heart, and sadness all came in the right dose at the right moment, and made for a really addictive story. Similarly, the smaller side-stories really hit the right note for me as well. The small ghost stories, death stories, and miracle stories around Eun Tak, the Reaper and the Goblin were often just as (if not more) touching than the main story. It was interesting how the show dealt with death- often it was a relief or a reuniting rather than something horrifically sad. It fit in well with the thoughtful, melancholy vibe of the series and gave the show a very unique, distinct feeling. While I’ve seen lots of series and movies that deal with the idea of death and afterlife and reincarnations, I think ‘Goblin’ has been the most thoughtful and well-planned. There were rules for both death and reincarnation, and even when those rules were bent it made total sense and the show was clear and quick to explain why the rules were able to be broken at that time. The show also didn’t overuse rule breaking. Originally I was a bit worried, as some shows that include deities in its set-up tend to use them as a bit of a get-out-of-jail-free card, but ‘Goblin’ didn’t. There was no magical way that prevented Kim Shin from dying, he just got summoned back when Eun Tak blew out a candle and made a sincere wish- something that we’ve already seen is a rule of this fantasy world. There was also no magic way to save Eun Tak. If I could have something magical, I wish that the drama would magic in more screen time for Sungjae.

My love for you knows no limits

What Was Great:

Acting:

The acting really made up for the less riveting aspects of the story. While I might not have been on the same page as the two lead actors romance-wise, I did at least believe there was a romance. I was just confused as to how it came about. Gong Yoo in particular smashed it- there were multiple shots of nothing but Gong Yoo’s face for several minutes, and even in those long, drawn-out passages I never doubted his sincerity.

It was pretty to watch even if real people never actually behave that way

Kim Go Eun delivered a strong performance herself, but it was obvious that she wasn’t as seasoned as those around her. While her happy scenes were very cute, they could come off a tad forced- but I believed her completely in the more dramatic moments, which is more important anyway. In particular, she really sold her grief during the scene of the Goblin’s death. It couldn’t have been an easy scene as it was quite long in comparison to other scenes and all she did was cry really hard- and she performed it brilliantly.

We have a new contender for the saddest sad-face

I’ve always liked Yoo In Na as an actress and she was no disappointment. It was nice to see her turn her energy into a likeable character as I’ve mostly seen her play slightly nasty second leads. Sure, she always adds a layer of humanity to her characters, but it was nice to see her in a role where her confidence was used to make her loveable. She had brilliant chemistry with Lee Dong Wook, and her responses to his hilarious oddball character were just flawless. Lee Dong Wook himself was phenomenal. I’ve never actually seen him in anything else, but he blew me away here. I was so connected to the Reaper as a character, and felt every snippet of emotion he did. And Lee Dong Wook had to do a lot of crying for this role. A lot. But it never became over-used or annoying. Often I find continually weepy characters irritating- but Reaper was just even more endearing due to his tears. He never seemed to be crying simply for the sake of tears, and always seemed to have a different reason to cry. Each new scene brought new conflicts to the character, and Lee Dong Wook brought forth each new emotion with such perfect anguish. He never overplayed his role either in the comedy or the melo, but hit that sweet-spot right in the middle.

The Reaper:

Lee Dong Wook’s acting was indeed superb, but it’s not the only reason Reaper was such a success. He’s just a fantastic character. Out of all the characters we had, Reaper really had the most development by far.

'I love you and I'm totally sorry that I killed you and your entire family in your past life.'

He went from an emotionless robot who was so disconnected from everything around him to a man that so yearned for love that the memories of his past life were tearing him up. His relationship with Sunny was so adorable yet heart-breaking, and he really became a character that was impossible to not love.

I love this magical, immortal bromance. So. Much.

He was earnest and sincere and his relationships with the other characters were just so genuine. Reaper developed a sweet little friendship with Eun Tak, but it was his bromance with Goblin that was the absolute killer. Even though everyone loves a good bromance, this was definitely a cut above the rest. It wasn’t a friendship based solely on proximity and skinship (though who doesn’t love a boy-cuddle?) but on understanding and emotional investment. The two men were both more-or-less immortal, and so the only people they could really confide in about their long lives and mortal girlfriends was each other. It was a sort of begrudging friendship, but that just made it even better as it was obvious that the men had really come to care for one another. They were so opposed to it, but after spending so much time around each other, they couldn’t help but care. Just like us.

CGI:

CGI isn’t something that comes along in your every-day K-Drama, and when it does it tends to be a little bit shoddy. But ‘Goblin’ didn’t hold back. When they went CGI they meant it, and it was awesome. It really helped to hammer in the fact that the Goblin was special when you could see a glowing sword skewering him or he sinks an entire ship solo. It was badass. It was like watching a full-budget Hollywood movie it was that good.

Oooooooo it seems so real

Soundtrack:

I can appreciate a good soundtrack in a drama, but every now and then a soundtrack comes along that makes me think ‘yeah, this is what an A-Grade soundtrack is’. This was one of those dramas. The last soundtrack I loved this much would have to be ‘My Love from the Stars’, and ‘Goblin’ comes at a close second. The music was thoughtful and carried an air of wistfulness that was lovely to listen to. It enhanced every scene and fitted with the director’s style perfectly.

Now imagine the really sweet soundtrack while looking at the picture

The director tended to love these small lingering moments, and the soundtrack really helped to capitalise and beautify these moments. Again, it was something that seemed more like movie quality than drama quality.

What Wasn’t:

Unanswered Mythology Questions:

Hmkay. This was a bit of a bummer. What I look for most in a good fantasy drama is a mythology that holds up from start to end. For the most part the mythology of the show was pretty flawless- it was only right at the end that I was a touch confused. I loved that Eun Tak died at the end.

I was actually totally prepared for a sad ending

It was a weirdly satisfying sort of conclusion for her character with just the right amount of heartache. I loved the whole situation- how it came about, Reaper’s commentary, and of course the way it was filmed. But my favourite thing about Eun Tak’s death is that she chose it herself. She’s spent her whole life dodging death, but then stops right in its path to save a bus of children. On paper it sounds kind of cliche, but in the drama it was poetic and beautiful. The only issue was- what does this mean for our Goblin? I mean, it was all nice to have Eun Tak leave him to go be reincarnated and that she could hold on to all her memories of him, and it was nice to think that the two had three more (hopefully long) lifetimes ahead of them to be happy and in love. But then- what happens when Eun Tak lives her fourth life? There’s no reincarnation after that, so does Goblin just go back to being lonely and immortal forever? If so, that kind of defeats the whole point of the show. Not to mention that it's bloody depressing to think that he has to watch his bride die a total of four times and then spend years and years waiting for her to be reincarnated. 

So, um...what does Goblin do when Eun Tak's four lifetimes are up?

So Slow:

No drama needs episodes that are over an hour long. I’ll allow up to an hour and ten minutes, but beyond that you’re just pushing it. Most of the reason I could keep back-to-backing the episodes was that a whole episode's worth of excitement often came in the last 10 minutes, and I NEEDED to know what happened next (even if it did take 500 years to tell me).

I don't want to be rude, but can you guys get in some real danger or something?

The length of ‘Goblin’s episodes had me thinking back to ‘Answer Me 1994’- it’s all interesting stuff, but my attention span only lasts so long. And you’ve only got so much story to tell. There were times when ‘Goblin’ was starting to feel a bit too drawn out, and I was figuring out the twists before the drama arrived there. The characters and acting kept the series engaging enough, but it could have been truly addictive if everything had happened just a little bit quicker. Sure, the lingering moments were melancholy and sweet- but after 6 or 7 episodes I kind of just wanted the story to get on with it. I kind of wish that the drama had either introduced the ghost villain earlier (because my goodness that was exciting- a BAD GUY!!) or spent more time fleshing out the Goryeo relationships. I won’t lie, a little part of that desire is just wanting to see more of Kim So Hyun and Kim Min Jae- because they are fabulous, and they were fabulous together.

Re-watch?

Unlikely. I loved Gong Yoo and Lee Dong Wook so I might revisit if K-Dramaland seems to be running dry on bromance. But otherwise I’ll probably avoid a re-watch. Yet another drawback of having episodes that go past that hour mark.

Worth a watch but I won't bust my guns to go there again