Guardian: The Lonely and Great God

쓸쓸하고 찬란하神 - 도깨비 ‧ Drama ‧ 2016 - 2017
Completed
Evangeline
7 people found this review helpful
Dec 1, 2024
16 of 16 episodes seen
Completed 0
Overall 8.5
Story 8.0
Acting/Cast 9.0
Music 7.0
Rewatch Value 8.5

It has funny petty fights, ghosts and romance.

I enjoyed this drama! The nuanced portrayal of relationships, especially the distinct dynamics between the two female leads and their love interests, felt authentic and both relationships have different dynamics.

The friendship between the Goblin and the Grim Reaper was a standout, their petty fights being my favorite. Their playful “vegan vs. meat lover” banter and flying-fork duels that one time were funny. The side stories involving ghosts added emotional depth and the main story was good and slow throughout the episodes.

(P.S. The only reason I didn't like the music all that much is because I'm picky.)

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Completed
YSUAREZ22
7 people found this review helpful
Sep 1, 2022
16 of 16 episodes seen
Completed 0
Overall 10
Story 10
Acting/Cast 10
Music 10
Rewatch Value 10

Great performance

Even though this drama came out some time ago I just recently watched it. I am new to Kdramas and when I saw Gong Yoo in Coffee Prince he became one of my favorites to watch. I loved Goblin and I am so glad that Gong Yoo decided to perform in this drama. I loved the storyline and the main actors were all great. I am also a fan of Kim Go Eun and in this drama she and Gong Yoo illustrated great chemistry. The kdrama had me laughing and I cried like a baby when Kim Go Eun's character was killed. As a viewer I am thankful for the positive ending. Thank you to all of the actors for their hard work, this drama was delightful and I will definitely watch again. Thank you for the "behind the scenes" clips provided. Seeing this allows viewers like me to view the actors as a real person. Enamored by Kdramas! I will keep watching.

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Completed
EmmaHasan
7 people found this review helpful
Apr 19, 2024
16 of 16 episodes seen
Completed 0
Overall 10
Story 10
Acting/Cast 10
Music 10
Rewatch Value 10

Worth It

Loved it. From Acting to OST loved everything.

Goblin is lonely, depressed, blunt, ill-tempered. Loved Gong Yoo as Goblin. Nobody would've done it better than him. His acting was phenomenal.

Ji Eun Tak is a bubbly, straightforward, strong, positive person. Despite her past, she turns out to be a happy-going girl, which is rare, because in most cases, girls who are bullied by their family always turn out to be a crybaby or timid. Kim Go Eun's acting was awesome. She played a bubby, fun-loving girl very easily.

Grim Reaper is competitive, funny, poor at communication. I thought he would be a serious, no-nonsense kind of GR because most are like that, but his personality is totally opposite. Lee Dong Wook played Grim Riper mind-blowingly.

Sunny is cool, sarcastic, beautiful, blunt. Liked Yoo In Na as Sunny.

My favorites CP is hands down Goblin & Grim Reaper. Loved their bromance, silly fights.

Things I liked :

Goblin & Grim Reaper first meet & the way Goblin said a vulgar hat to Grim Reaper.

Laughed when Yoo Deok Hwa said that Goblin isn’t that dashing.

Love Goblin & Grim Reaper silly fight, their back & forth arguments.

Goblin & Ji Eun Tak chemistry, the way she talks to him & straightforwardly asks if he is Goblin & she also wants to marry him.

I laughed so much at the scene where the Grim Reaper was going to sleep & suddenly Goblin barged into his room to ask if the outfit was better. Because he wanted to look smart & perfect when Ji Eun Tak summoned him. He keeps on cat walking, disturbing him. Goblin changing Grim Reaper bedsheet into a flower print one.

Grim Reaper sings Goblin’s underwear song to make him irritated. Their table fight, throwing stuff at each other.

Loved the shot where Goblin & Grim Reaper both walked to save Ji Eun Tak & the song playing in the background.

Goblin & Grim Reaper were talking telepathically & Goblin yelled at him to shut up, but Ji Eun Tak thought he yelled at her. Poor Goblin tried hard to explain to her.

Goblin was jealous because Ji Eun Tak called Grim Reaper handsome & him ordinary.

It is funny to watch Goblin doing magic to two strangers, a girl's hair tied with a man’s button, then she falls into his arms, things we see in K & C dramas.

Ji Eun Tak bluntly saying 'I Love You' to Goblin & proposing to have children quickly.

It’s funny when everyone in the restaurant, even Grim Reaper & Yoo Deok Hwa watches that drama with a lot of interest & Goblin being totally annoyed.

I laughed so hard when Goblin's expression changed after he realized whom he was with last night.

Grim Reaper expression when he starts seeing Sunny everywhere

It’s sweet when ghosts help Ji Eun Tak with bullies.

Goblin & Grim Reaper for the first time using a phone.

Goblin is anticipating what Ji Eun Tak will do next & is happy because he is right.

Love how, in between their argument, Goblin declares himself as Ji Eun Tak's boyfriend.

Loved the emotional talk between Goblin & Ji Eun Tak Ep 6..

Laughed when both Ji Eun Tak & Grim Reaper say 'I Love You' to Goblin so that he doesn’t take their stuff back.

It’s hilarious the way Goblin reacted in the movie theater after warning Ji Eun Tak not to embarrass him.

Goblin getting jealous is so cute.

I laughed my ass off when Ji Eun Tak friend thought Grim Reaper was her father.

Sweet moment Goblin sleeping on the floor & Ji Eun Tak keeping him company.

Loved scenery where Goblin back hug Ji Eun Tak. The background wasn’t anything awestrucking but the sky & sun shining on them. I loved the shot

Sweet & cute when Grim Reaper started to laugh wholeheartedly when Sunny started to sing.

Ji Eun Tak calls Goblin her man & he repeated it. Poor Grim Reaper hearing everything.

I find Grim Reaper & Sunny cute. Now I can't wait to watch Touch Your Heart.

Goblin way of starting conversations with white egg & egg yolk.

The Samshin Lady helps Ji Eun Tak every way possible.

That brother-sister reunion between Kim Shin & Kim Sun.

Goblin acts as a protective brother.

Love how Ji Eun Tak was jealous of herself.

I find Park Joong Hun's character irritating.

I thought Ji Eun Tak would see the thing on Goblin at the end of the drama. In the end, they'll be confirmed that she is his bride, but it's good that she can see it within a few episodes. The ending Goblin & Park Joong Hun was fated. She was supposed to die but was saved by him. Became his bride to fulfill her destiny, to bring peace to his life. But he chose her over everything & fought his way back to her.

Loved it. Lovedddddddddddddd the OST. Best OST. After Till the End of the Moon OST I finally found another OST which I'll be listening to on loop.

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Completed
Sirencall
7 people found this review helpful
Jan 19, 2020
16 of 16 episodes seen
Completed 0
Overall 10
Story 10
Acting/Cast 10
Music 10
Rewatch Value 10
This review may contain spoilers
If you're hesitating to watch this, don't. I didn't think I'd cry this much, but the first episode I was.
I read a comment recently about a drama that left you emotional hungover and it said Goblin. I've heard it was one of the saddest dramas out there and they weren't lying.
It's sad when you watch a character die, but it's worse when you're expecting them to die. The entire time watching this, I was like, "I know, Kim Shin is going to have to die." But the way he did made it the most painful. This drama is one of my favorites now, of all time. The quote, "I heard we have four lives..." Ugh. That gets me every time. To me there was some predictability to this, but I loved being able to guess what was gonna happen to both of them. And the ending. I thought it was going to end with him dying, but what happened just made my life so much better. I loved this entire show and will rewatch this in the future.
I need to go cry some more. I don't know who I am after this.

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Completed
Mick Psyphon
7 people found this review helpful
Feb 3, 2020
16 of 16 episodes seen
Completed 0
Overall 10
Story 10
Acting/Cast 10
Music 10
Rewatch Value 10
If you've never seen a K-Drama, Goblin would be paradoxically the best and worst one to begin with, depending on your perspective.

Since it's definitely one of the best K-Dramas to have ever been produced, if it turns out to be your first experience with them, you'll invariably enjoy it; and likely look for more that are equally as good. Unfortunately, if you're exposed to a K-Drama of this high quality, you may feel let-down by some of the other K-Dramas that you come across, despite how good they may actually be.

Let's be clear! While everyone has their favourite K-Dramas, that doesn't mean that you won't find others to be just as good, or very close, thereafter. Some K-Dramas just leap out from the screen and SCREAM high quality at your face. Some examples are:

- Goblin: The Lonely and Beautiful God
- Hotel Del Luna
- The Scholar Who Walks The Night

Yes! These are head and shoulders above anything that came before them; however, even K-Dramas that rank 10th, or 20th behind them (in their respective years) are still far superior than the crap that gets churned out in Hollywood.

With Goblin, you'll be enchanted by the actors (both lead and secondary); lulled in by the beauty of the musical scores (original music for most non-Koreans, for sure); and blown away at the originality of the stories. Keep in mind that Hollywood is struggling to find any original ideas; and even their television shows are essentially a remake, re-imagining, or blatant rip-off of something that has come before it. With K-Dramas, you might find that some were loosely based on Chinese, Japanese, or even Korean mythology, or historical fiction, it's done with a completely fresh mentality.

I've watched Goblin a few times; and each time, I've discovered something new. It's so beautiful to watch the story unfold. You'll find yourself falling in love with the characters; and wishing that you would dive in and intervene. It's so easy to be drawn into the story by the quality of acting, as well as the production values, that you'll be hard-pressed not to be emotionally invested in every scene.

Personally, I found myself falling in love with one character; wishing that I could help other characters; lusting for another character; loathing another character; pitying many characters; and generally feeling like so many other characters were my own personal friends and acquaintances. (That last is difficult for me to explain, further)

If you don't come away from Goblin without first being taken on an emotional roller coaster, then you're either not human, or you K-Dramas just might not be your thing. If that's the case, don't give up right away. Maybe the other two series that I've mentioned above, will blow smoke up your skirt. Then again, maybe you just need to consider a different genre of K-Drama. Keep in mind that they truly run the gambit of genres: Romance; Supernatural; Comedy; Thriller; Mystery; etc... you're literally guaranteed to find something that you like.

I'd like to add that regardless of the K-Drama genre, Korean directors/producers have discovered the formula for making average, or less than average looking actors/actresses look absolutely stunning... beautiful... cute... etc... Whatever it is, I like it. In fact, in retrospect, I've learned through K-Dramas that many of the girls from my past were more appealing to me than I realized at the time. (No! I'm not going to expound upon that. LOL! Suffice to say, as you get older, you get wiser... and hopefully, more realistic about life.)

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Completed
WonByungHoon
7 people found this review helpful
Nov 15, 2017
16 of 16 episodes seen
Completed 0
Overall 10
Story 10
Acting/Cast 10
Music 10
Rewatch Value 10
This show had so may feels happy sad scared emotional. Either way it was a great  show. The whole cast did great from beginning to end. Gong yoo and lee dong wook oppa tog in one show was daebak. I love them individually. New girl kim go eun captured me from her drama cheese in the trap. She has a very natural innocent believable acting one cant say that shes actually in character. Yoo in na on the other hand is a beauty and her character was very important for the show. Yook sungjae who played duk hwa did a tremendous job with his innocence and weirdness which added laughter to the show. Goblin and grim reaper were perfect and their bromance was ship worthy.  Must see. I would probably watch again. I'm having goblin withdrawals.  I think I'll visit canada to the filming locations. Here is a summary.  ***Overseas Filming] Quebec, Canada. Petit-Champlain District. Chateau Frontenac Hotel. Parc du Bastion-de-la-Reine (Green pastures with the Tombstones (Props)) Fontaine de Tourny. Rue Sainte-Ursule. Parc Samuel-Hollande (Gong Yoo catching the falling maple leaf) Porte Prescott (Bridge that Eun Tak walked)*****

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Completed
VonnyLaunchbury
7 people found this review helpful
May 30, 2024
16 of 16 episodes seen
Completed 0
Overall 10
Story 10
Acting/Cast 10
Music 10
Rewatch Value 10

Story

This has been one of the most beautiful series I have watched. I fell in love with gong yoo. There was just something about him. I was mesmerised by him. Lee dong wook was amazing also and I have followed all his series and films but dong yoo was someone I hadn't seen before but I will look to see what he has starred in. Kim
Go Eun just fitted this part so well and jelled with the two male leads. All who took part in this series were brill.
Plenty of eye candy. The story was beautiful from start to finish and to the director and scriptwriter this deserved all the praise it received in 2016..I will watch it again.
Sending love from the UK.. ❤️ X

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Completed
Orlanoracle
7 people found this review helpful
Oct 16, 2024
16 of 16 episodes seen
Completed 0
Overall 10
Story 10
Acting/Cast 10
Music 10
Rewatch Value 10

Wow ?

This was one of the best dramas I have ever seen. The depth and dynamics of it are incredible and I’m shocked a person can take a show with such severe supernatural elements and make it come together so well. The cast was perfect and the actresses were so beautiful and endearing. I loved their personalities, the reminded me of my sisters and I. I would rate this series 15 out of ten if I could. I’m shocked by what the naysayers are stating, nothing about it is overrated, it came to a beautiful conclusion.
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Completed
quirkstine
17 people found this review helpful
Mar 18, 2017
16 of 16 episodes seen
Completed 0
Overall 7.0
Story 6.5
Acting/Cast 9.0
Music 8.0
Rewatch Value 5.0
TLDR: I'm giving this a 7/10 for the fabulous cinematography and the excellent bromance.

Why I liked it:
1. The cinematography is LOVE LOVE LOVE. I want to go visit Canada now.
2. The bromance.
3. Grim Reaper's deadpan sense of humor. So my thing.
4. Gong Yoo has never looked hotter. (Okay, that's not quite true. He's ALWAYS hot.)
5. Goblin's pettiness.
6. Sunny's character. I like her lots.

What I disliked about it:
1. TOO. DAMN. LONG. Too many scenes linger on unnecessary beats and they stretch scenes that aren't at all integral to the plot. The premise had so much promise but it wasn't used to its full potential.
2. Kim Go-eun's cutesy act. I like her as an actress and she's fab in the dramatic scenes but she tends to overdo the aegyo. It doesn't help that her character is...confusing. She's supposed to be intelligent and quite mature, and the next she does absolutely imbecilic things. SMH.
3. I didn't quite buy the romance between the millenia-old dokkaebi and his high schooler bride.
4. That ending. I'm ambivalent about it.

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Completed
Natsu714
16 people found this review helpful
Aug 11, 2022
16 of 16 episodes seen
Completed 3
Overall 4.0
Story 4.5
Acting/Cast 7.5
Music 7.0
Rewatch Value 1.5

Great premise - disappointing execution

For the sake of reaching (and saving) as many people as possible - this review will be spoiler-free, and shouldn't contain anything that isn't already in the above summary of this drama.

I was told this drama was very good. I was under the impression it could easily be a "staple" drama that you need to watch if you wanna be "in the know" about all the good K-dramas out there. Sadly, this is far from the truth.

Starting with the good (because the amount of 'bad' is far greater) - the PREMISE of the story is very, very good. The set-up had a lot of potential, and you can see pieces of a good storyline scattered throughout the badly-executed series. I found myself wanting to know more about how life and death worked in this universe, about the mysteries of the world and the mysteries of the characters' pasts. The framework is there, very solidly - it's just a shame they didn't put it to good use.
I will also say, the character dynamics (save for the negatives which I will mention in a moment) can be very heartwarming and funny, and the casting certainly wasn't bad.

But now we move to the bad.

To begin - I know most people mention the age gap, but if I am to be honest, the ages themselves would've been somewhat forgivable if it weren't for the writing making that gap seem even larger. She addresses him as "mister" (or "ahjussi") throughout the series, she never stands up to him no matter how he treats her (feeling similar to a daughter respecting her father), and while she's giggling and wrinkling her nose and running around like an innocent child, he's either standing by like an obligatory parental guardian who's watching over an excited kid - or he's admiring her innocence, which on its own isn't bad, but when compounded with everything else becomes creepy. Their relationship feels much more father-daughter than romantic.

And something I'm not hearing many people talk about - for a good while, their relationship begins as something very unhealthy. He's selfish, he treats her with disrespect, and she lets him do so. At first it felt like something that would go away - but instead, they just eventually get cuter out of the blue. It's like the writer wanted to write some kind of "slowly developing relationship" thing - but it didn't work out, and instead it's just hard to watch and a little confusing. I wasn't able to root for them for a majority of the series.

On the other hand, the supporting roles have a MUCH better, deeper relationship, and they themselves are deeper characters. In fact, the side characters themselves are more interesting in general. They undergo more character development throughout the series and have a lot more depth than the main characters do - and one character who should have played a more important role, certainly never did.

The list of "negatives" does keep going: The pacing becomes extremely slow after the first five-or-so episodes, there are many inconsistencies (some very blatant especially toward the end), important plot points end up feeling unimportant, there are unanswered questions that probably should've been answered, there's a point where a character makes such an obviously bad choice that it's practically unbelievable, and in spite of being 900, the Goblin tends to feel more dense than a 20-year-old. (Seriously, at the age of 900 can't he at LEAST be given the intelligence of an 80-year-old?)... and I can go on. In detail.

I wanted this to be good. It has SUCH an interesting setup, but it just isn't. Even if half of these flaws didn't exist - with slow pacing and a semi-repetitive nature, it still gets very bland. When you root for the side characters and stop caring about the main characters, I'd say that's when a drama has ultimately failed.

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Completed
jini
5 people found this review helpful
Jun 29, 2024
16 of 16 episodes seen
Completed 0
Overall 9.0
Story 8.0
Acting/Cast 10
Music 10
Rewatch Value 9.0
This review may contain spoilers

vale muito o hype que tem

magnífico! esse é realmente um dos maiores doramas já feitos e que toda dorameira PRECISA assistir e ter a experiência completa pelo menos 1 vez na vida. alguns furos no final em relação ao retorno dele me deixaram bastante revoltada (como assim ela passou esse tempo todo sem assoprar uma vela, apagar um fósforo? 😁), mas já teve o meu replay mais de 3x. acho a morte dela dps de todo o sofrimento que eles passaram quando ela tira a espada muito desnecessária, mas mt lindo que eles vão ser fechamento p toda a eternidade ♡
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Completed
hannaaa__
5 people found this review helpful
Apr 19, 2024
16 of 16 episodes seen
Completed 0
Overall 9.0
Story 6.0
Acting/Cast 10
Music 10
Rewatch Value 4.5
This review may contain spoilers

HEAVY SPOILERS, srry, but i have a LOT of questions

I honestly don't know what to think about this series. The cast... maan, was amaziiing. The acting and the soundtrack were completely wonderful, however the plot literally didn't exist. The story overall was cute, but most of the time nothing really happenned and was boring sometimes, this is why it took me about 4 months to finish.

The Goblin's and Ji Eun Tak's death were almost completely pointless, or more of like tiring in my opinion. By that time I already could figure it out what is going to happen and how would the series end. Don't get me wrong, what I mean is, that i get why they had to die, but by the last two or three eps, I was literally just hoping that the series will end soon and I can close it down.
The relationship between the Grim Reaper and Sunny, and how all the caracters had been connected to each other were amazing and gripping, but maaan. So much suffering and crying from my part, and all without any use.

What I really did not like, is this open ending. And under open, I mean that it's great, that the Reaper and Sunny got a happy ending, but we've never got to know how many lives the Reaper has got left, and how is that that they didn't have their memories back.
AND, I would just like to mention, that although it's really cute, that Special Case was reborn, but she's still a human, and will die eventually. AND, how is that, that the Goblin managed to get back to life, and got back his powers and everything, but somehow nobody mentioned how will he die. Like... Will he just live till eternity, after Eun Tak dies the forth time??? Broo.. And ALSO, I really, really wanted all three(four mby) of them to meet again, but since the Reaper and Sunny has serious memory loss, although netiher of them drank that fcking tea, I think I must just let it go and leave it be.

In the end, just to sum up, I would definetely recommend this kdrama, but let me just warn y'all, that it's not for the weak ones. xd

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Guardian: The Lonely and Great God poster

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  • Ranked: #178
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