Guardian: The Lonely and Great God

Magnificent Korean Drama but Problematic Age Gap

This is truly a wondrous, unique show. It hits the right blend of Korean-style mythology and modern Kdrama production. The story is excellent, although the latter half of the drama suffers a little bit from lack of time. For better or worse, this show is "very Kim Eun Sook" (the writer), meaning that it has a unique concept that relies heavily on your emotional feeling over worldbuilding, which definitely works for a romance-focused series. The OST is spectacular, and of note, Ailee's "I Will Come to You Like the First Snow" is still an emotional power ballad compared to other music in 2021.

However, I have to agree with others who have commented that the main couple feels problematic -- their relationship feels like father-daughter a lot of the time, so it has an unfortunate feeling. This story doesn't work without being a romance, but I feel like it might have been better if the main couple relationship was an actual foster father-foster daughter relationship.

But even if you have reservations about the main couple, it is worth it to overlook it and give this Kdrama a watch!

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If you are like me and postponed this Kdrama for 3 years then this Review is for you.

As I said in the title, I postponed Goblin for so long after my friend recommended it to me dozens of times. I just couldn't bring myself to watch it for two reasons:-

1) Is it really as good as everyone is saying or will I be very disappointed?

2)Heard it will make you cry a lot which I wanted to avoid at all costs because I absolutely don't like Tragic or Sad stories. Life is complex enough. Why should we watch dramas which are sad too?

For the above questions the answers I found are:-

1) Yes it really is as good as everyone is saying. I can truly see the magic of this Kdrama and why it so beloved by so many. This is one of those few Kdramas which is truly an experience to be felt and seen by all and I will highly recommend anyone who hasn't watch it yet to watch when it feels right or when you find the time. You will love it for the friendships all the people in this world share, the trials they faced and overcame, the beauty of their love, the tragedy in lives which will make us weep for them, the characters and the actors who played them, the music and even the end. IT IS ALL WORTH IT!

2)This is not just a sad drama for the sake of being sad. It truly is an experience and though I cried, I am also happy I got to experience the beauty of this drama. Also, it's not completely sad. Life is beautiful and it is shown in this drama. Also love the mini stories of the people the Grim Reaper sends to the afterlife. Don't be intimidated by the sad ending like I was when I heard of it.

All in all just give this Kdrama a chance like I did and Trust me you won't regret it. It has the perfect blend of happiness, comedy, heartfelt emotional scenes and sadness just like our lives but in a more fantasy setting.
Goblin truly is One of a Kind

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Overrated

I feel compelled to write a review for Goblin because I'm finding all the perfect 10s to be misleading and, if I can be honest, completely confounding. Let me first say the best thing about Goblin is the acting. The cast is fantastic. The worst is the age gap. I know most people talk about the age of the actors; however, the issue to those of us that have a problem with the age isn't the actors, it's the characters. The lead female character is a 19 year old girl. The lead male (taking out the fantasy of his living 938 years) is a grown man who appears almost 40. Personally, I find that the Korean's have been dancing too close to the line in the young girls with adult men in dramas for at least a year now and I'm not a fan. They're more daddy issue characters.

There are many times when the relationship between the 2 leads are most like Father & daughter. She speaks to him like a father figure. And he speaks to her as a child. It's off putting when it becomes clear that he has fallen for this high school girl. Part of me believes the part of Kim Shin (the Goblin) was written for a younger man. Considering the life expectancy of the period and his postion, in his late 30s he should have had a wife (and concubines I would guess) and children. I think the character should have been at least 10 years younger (again the 900 years undead aside). The romance of the leads just did not work for me on any level. Conversely, the romance between the supports is a completely different story. It was endearing and very moving. I rooted for them.

The writing was inconsistent. It was great in some parts and just passable in others. Toward the end it almost turned into melodramatic schlock. Goblin works best as a bromance. The scenes between Goblin, Reaper(s), and the male humans were precious golden nuggets to hold onto until the next time 2 or 3 of them were in a scene together. Had the writers held on to that chemistry and nourished it, Goblin would have been much better.

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One of my favorite dramas of all time

I don't have a lot of talent in writing reviews, and English is not my mother language, so ill try not to be confusing.
I was hesitant to start watching this drama, but I'm so glad I gave it a go!
I'm not one to cry when watching dramas, or anything really, but I cried like a baby in this one. The actors are great, and you really get tangled up in the feelings the story is portraying. It's a heartbreaking, beautiful story and I felt every second of it.
The only downside for me was the way they wrapped up the last minutes of the drama. I hoped we would see at least some development, and that the friendship between the goblin and the grim reaper would get through the forgetting past aspect, just like the bride. Another aspect was how they ended the nephew role, it just kind of ended, and we never got any update on him, as he doesn't remember anything from the past. Little bummers, but not major.
It is still a great drama and I definitely recommend it! Every second is worth it.

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Engrossing (and sometimes gross) -- worth a view!

Obviously, a review a few years than useful to anybody, but here it is!
I searched far and wide for the show since there are so many references to it in various reviews for other shows, and it seemed like a worthwhile effort. I ended up binge watching it (which I really try not to do) -- it sucked me in.
But, to start with, the negatives:
* The age gap thing. It was physically gross. As others have pointed out, the female lead acts very much like a teenager, a young and immature teenager, and the scenes in which the two leads are pushed together for romantic reasons were truly gross. Which is actually a credit to the acting, since in later part, when the female lead is supposedly 10 years older, the feeling disappeared. Still -- it really did make me feel gross to have the romantic scenes between a teenager and an adult.
* I may be the only one, but I did not like the secondary romance -- it made next to no sense. The two actors were wonderful -- but the internal logic of their history was nonsensical.
* The ending. There are a couple of components to my dissatisfaction with it, and they all involve lack of any actual resolution. For one -- the goblin "dies" or whatever it is he does, but then is called back -- and is still a goblin. Wasn't he supposed to die? Does this mean he never dies? And the whole thing repeats three more times?
* The "reveal" of who the grim reaper is was telegraphed so early that it was not a reveal at all.
The positives are what others have pointed out: Engaging story that, overall, holds together logically; good acting; excellent chemistry among all of the actors (not just the romantic leads) -- the wonderful bromance!; the beautiful music.
So, in the end, I am glad that I got to watch it, despite the occasional grossness.

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Should you watch it?

Yes, I highly recommend it. There are a lot of emotions put into their storyline which made me cry, over all it's good however I believe the idea they chose is hard to develop and maybe they should have made it more simple and less complicated. It's similar to "tales of the nine tailed" (HIGHLY RECOMMEND THIS) --> you'll notice the same second main lead actor is there too. All they needed was to make the life for all the main leads less complicated, because I wanted an ending where they all-- something, since I don't wanna spoil this you'll find out while watching the ending...

anyways, I won't spoil this any further, anyone who decides to watch it, all I'll say is that the ending isn't as expected due to their idea and theme of how the male lead would become.

-Still recommended tho :))

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Sometimes slow but always sweet

Fantasy romance/melodrama: A classic since its release in 2016, and it remains one of the most popular K-dramas of recent years. A 900-year-old immortal goblin meets his “bride,” who is the poor, unlucky, abused-by-her-family young woman—a high school senior—fated to end his painful existence. (You have to just NOT think about the age difference.) While the idea of finally dying delights the goblin, things get complicated when the two leads...maybe don't want to be separated? This is essentially “Cinderella” in a more tragic and complicated form.

The scenes filmed in Canada are gorgeous. Fantastic second lead couple and fun supporting characters all around. The goblin’s developing bromance with a Grim Reaper who is accidentally house-sharing with him is worth watching this alone—if handsomeness were currency, the two male leads could buy a country with their collective looks.

Lovely quote: “When you’re coming home on a rainy night, what is it that becomes your umbrella? A voice that answers when you call. A memory of seeing the same thing at the same time. The first time you matched someone’s pace. Does someone come to mind? Yes, it’s that person. First love.”

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Many plot twists.

Like this is one of the best drama's I've seen but I wouldn't say that it meets up to my expectations. it is pretty good and as a person who hates sad endings I would recommend you guys to watch this. but I wouldn't say that this is a highly recommended drama. it is kinda hard to explain but no hate. it is 😬. yeah. but I would say I like the acting and the song in this. the story is good but I would suggest that if some changes would have been there, I would love it. this is just a viewer's opinion. it is quite funny like when Lee dong wook shii and gong yoo shii being funny and it feels like if they're in love. I actually like it but not love it. just my opinion. no hate. this drama is actually pretty good but I wouldn't recommend it for newbies to kdrama.

~no hate. a goblin lover

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High re-watch value

I think this is my all-time favorite Kdrama. First off, the story is phenomenal. I always give dramas 10 minutes to see if it'll hook me. If it doesn't, for the most part, I'll have a hard time finishing it for some reason. Within minutes, I already knew I would love this Kdrama.

The casting is spot-on. I can't think of another person who could play the Grim Reaper as well as Lee Dong Wook or Gong Yoo as the Goblin. The dry humor and bromance between the two are what I enjoyed the most. None of the characters "bugged" me. Not a one. In almost every drama, one character will rub me the wrong way. Instead, in this drama, every character became important to me.

The two separate love stories complemented each other so well. You rooted for both and there was no jealousy or games that you usually see in other dramas. The emotional feelings aren't forced like in a lot of other dramas, where you feel like they set it up just to make you cry. In this drama, there are heartbreaks, but many feel-good moments. A great balance.

The music was great and I felt the choice of the songs was spot-on. Great production as well. It doesn't matter who I recommend this show to, whether it is male or female, old or young, they have all enjoyed it. I highly recommend this if you've never seen it. I wish I saw this sooner.

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It must be said that Goblin is very much a somewhat cliché rom-com disguising itself as something else, but ultimately, what appears to be an interesting premise is cast aside for a romantic plot that I'm going to be honest is a little creepy and at times feels very fatherly to me. This makes it very hard to love the romance especially when the female lead is a bubble of cutesy energy and also she borderline looks twelve. There were moments I wanted to run into the scene and tell Gong Yoo, you get the hell away from her and date someone your own age. Yes, that, 782 age gap was at times hard to swallow.

What makes Goblin good is it's featuring. It stars longing looks, teary-eyed longing looks, bromance, ignoring that he is 800 years old, trying to pretend you are not watching this because of the bromance and good looking leads and KES's obligatory three good episodes towards the end that makes you think this is so good. It also stars a very good performance by Lee Dong Wook. I'd like to say the rest of the cast were just as good, but I'd be lying. Gong Yoo is someone, I watch because he is in good movies (The Crucible/Silenced, etc) but not because he gives an actual good performance. He's like a Brad Pitt type in that regard. I was quite surprised by LDW as I find him heavily attractive and have for a long time but I've admitted he's a terrible actor. Suddenly he is Matthew McConaughaying me. The female lead is literally a copy paste of all rom-coms. Especially from this writer.

The intro of this drama is unique and creates what has the potential to be a very good plot, but ultimately this is a meandering slow stream of a journey that I heavily recommend you skip some episodes. Yes, skip from ep 5 to 13 and you'll miss very little. The juicy parts of the plot are thrown aside for a slew of teary-eyed longing looks and cliché romantic scenes that at ep 4, I started to wonder when they were actually going to focus on the juicy premise.

Character wise, the bromance sells this stale plot as personally, the romance between the male and female lead just looks awkward. I should be gushing at romantic scenes but they look as uncomfortable as I do and when Gong Yoo pats her head, he at times feels like her father. The drama has a lot of potential but the writer didn't seem to know what to do with it and I feel like a traitor who deserves to be hanged for saying this, but as a huge lover of bromance, dare I say it, I actually got bored of the bromance. I started tuning in to cast longing looks at Lee Dong Wook. My obsession made me run out into the street and jump in front of a car, but I heavily recommend you don't do that as the Grim Reaper never appeared and now I'm writing this in the afterlife.

The writer here also inserts her I suckered you into thinking this was good by having her obligatory three good episodes that make me think, Oh this has potential. It's always towards the end too. Melancholic episodes with good editing that make me wonder where was this for the previous ten episodes? I feel the drama is a seven at best as in, I would be very generous to give it a 7. It has its good melancholic and humorous scenes but it ultimately never quite gets its pacing right and never seems to know what to focus on making this really not as good as it could be.

PS. I also urge you to cast aside any logical questions you might have especially towards the end. They will not be answered.

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