My Roommate Is a Gumiho

I was happy when it ended.

I watched a few episodes weekly with friends for about a month or so and it eventually turned into a hate watching drinking game for us. We celebrated when it was over. If I had watched this show alone I would have dropped it entirely. The main couple is boring and annoying. The male lead is the worst. He has no personality, he is selfish and never has character development. He only thinks about being humane when his life is about to end because he decided to wait til his 1000 years was up to try and become human. He apparently loves Dam, but the whole show he never communicates with her about anything, even when he's disappearing and she had just clearly stated she would be extremely hurt by an ubrupt ending to their relationship. She spends the whole show thinking he either used her or she's doing something wrong and everything is her fault. His big moment I guess is when he saves her from being hit by the infamous white truck and he gets hit instead and just disappears. Its still bothersome because she finds his letter and then blames herself for him getting hit by the truck. She never would have been in that situation if he'd have just communicated with her. She was rushing there because she knew he was secretly saying goodbye. Then we find out he asked Hyesun to use HER Bead to erase Dam's memories when the mountain spirit let her have one wish. So now you're asking someone to use THEIR ONE WISH to erase the trauma you've put your girlfriend through. Lovely man indeed. Lets not forget HE PUSHED HER BEST FRIEND DOWN THE STAIRS CAUSING AN INJURY! That's really where I checked out of their relationship. I was over it before that, but that solidified that this male lead had no redeeming qualities for me. There was nothing cute or romantic about their relationship and it was painful and uncomfortable to watch. The side characters and second couple were the only good thing about this show and the only reason I give it 3 stars. I will end this by saying that someone in our watch party said their favorite part was when he got hit by a truck and didn't show up anothing 25 mins in the finale. So really don't bother wasting your time on this drama.

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Some thing to pass the time...

I originally stopped watching this show midway and I wasn't sure why...I think I just got bored and it was at the part the ML almost ate up the FL. You would think I would want to watch more....but I didn't. Funny enough...I kinda wanted the FL with the SML. That dream she had look more lovely and natural than she had with the ML.

I'm not sure what to make of this drama....even the reunion in the last episode was so lacklustre. I finished it because I like to finish dramas. On a side note, I like the secondary couple...they were cute and so much more interesting than the leads.

The OST was okay and the acting was just alright. The obstacles they faced were so minuscule or were made to feel that way after a couple of episodes. I am not actually sure why or how they fell in love which makes their romance not believable.

You can watch it if just for the laughs here and there, surface-level romance and sneak peeks of Go Kyung Pro...Also, with that said, Hye Ri's performance does remind me a bit of Reply 1988.

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Don't bother. Horrible pacing and script.

Other people made this up to be some kind of a rare gem. Its not. I'll go even further and say its not even mid-tier. This k-drama is for the simple people who can be entertained with cheap tricks.
Here it goes. The script. The idea for the story might be interesting, but thats all there is to it. We got something full of plotholes and plot devices. Especially in the later half. It is almost too cringe to watch, every stuff happening: because "fate". I'm not joking. Red string and all that bulls**t. And apparently that thing can mind-control people. Again, I'm not joking. Inner monologue: "I must be strong, I can't do that, I don't wanna do that". Glowing string, chimes stock sound-effect. "Why is my heart fluttering?" ..... Yeah, that bad. Filler episodes with stuff happening only because that string, because misunderstandings, because fked up "friends" and family keep interfering and the FL can't set it up straight. Yes, that bad. The dialogue is not completely broken but also not that good either. The directing is meh, nothing really bad, nothing really great. I guess here comes the first positive, the cinematography. That person did a great job. Moving on, the chemistry is not there. I mean they might make it work, but if you don't know what this story is all about and you'd watch 5 minutes of it, you'd think there's only a normal scene with 2 people in a room. And that is because of the casting. FL is supposed to be a firecracker and they got someone who could do that. She did all the heavy-lifting. Every scene with her was in fact ok, pretty decent acting, might even go and say "good". As long as you don't have a sad scene where you need her to cry. Cause she can't do it. And there are a couple of those scenes..... Next, ML. Well, I'll just say that we already got a great fox-like character in some other k-drama and this is not it. The actor is not great, the script is not helping him, the directing is lacking... And I'll stop here. The supporting cast did what they could, but again, failed script. They are more for the comical relief, or more like cringe moments, but whatever. The pacing is horrible. I'm not even go about the character arc. The soundtrack is headache-inducing. Its supposed to be quirky, I know, but when coupled with the horrible scenes unfolding on screen, it becomes too much. Because the main selling point of this drama is based on how the FL reacts to stuff happening around her. And it must be full of "funny" stuff + sound effects + quirky music + her facial expressions etc. At least for the first episodes, when they needed to make people keep coming back watching it. Sure, it has its nice moments, but too few. And then, halfway, the quality dropped heavily. For the last 2 episodes I was more than ready for all of this to end. Really, really bad drama. I guessed some of the endings, pure by luck, aka guessing. "Let me guess, this will go like this, those two will become a couple, and those, and those, and that will go like this etc".
Now, to sum it up: a not so great drama, with meh moments, but mostly filler episodes, cringe stuff and horrible pacing. Do you have a favorite actor? Watch some of their other works, this one is a fail.
Have a nice evening.

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Half-assed

The best word to describe this drama is "half-assed" - a half-assed plot, half-assed characters, a half-assed attempt to tackle a genre. The drama starts off as a slap-stick comedy with poop humor. Lee Dam clogs up a toilet after a very cathartic #2, then proceeds to seal it with duct tape. The writers work very hard to create the lolz that would only be appealing to middle-schoolers. Then the drama decides to play a game of musical chairs with different genres going back and forth between romance, melodrama, murder mystery, melodrama, and romance again.

After the first two episodes, the drama becomes somewhat tolerable with a lot less poop humor. However, the writers still fail to make Lee Dam compelling enough for an 1000 year old entity to be romantically interested in her. She is nothing more than a sloppy college girl with a tendency to get sh*t-faced. But, apparently, her almost passing interest in history is totally enough for a demi-god to fall in love with her. And, Shin Woo Yeo is completely bland as supposedly a beautiful and seductive fox demon. He has no game or a personality and is extremely uninteresting as a male lead.

The bead is returned to its original owner somewhere in the middle of the drama. At that point, the writers have no idea what to do next. The love triangle is interesting for about five minutes, yet that plotline is milked until the very last episode with Gye Sun Woo making sad faces at Lee Dam for no reason other than her not falling all over herself for him. The murder mystery is somewhat compelling, but it survives for about one-two episodes until the story devolves into a tropey dramatic angst where Woo Yeo isn't sure whether he wants to bang or eat his beloved.

That about sums it up.

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It's decent, but perhaps somewhat overrated!

Obviously this is a very decent romcom, but it fell a bit short of my expectations already early on. Took me a while to figure out what is the biggest factor limiting my enjoyment and that is the ML, Jang Ki Yong. I've seen him before performing great in Seach: WwW, but in My Roommate Is a Gumiho he just doesn't work for me all that well. It's not even a chemistry problem really, it's just that the aloof gumiho character is something that he kind of failed to pull off in believable way. It might not even be entirely his fault, his character supposed to have A LOT of character progression and probably nobody on the production team cared to tell him to adjust his character a little.

At first I did not like Hyeri in this show either, but after a few episodes I got used to her character & it did not take very long for me to realize that she is carrying the drama, alongside the second couple. Hanna is always a pleasure to watch & she had great chemistry with her partner & their characters were also written pretty well, they had some great lines and admittedly quite a few cliche misunderstandings.

Most kdramas have annoying things that I can barely force myself to watch. This one is better in the sense that the writers did not milk every single conflict and misunderstanding to the max. There are two tropes in this drama that I have always liked, namely forced cohabitation and pretend amnesia. The amnesia thing with the indignant FL was especially fun to watch, the cohabitation could've been done better though, but it was still enjoyable and fluff filled.
I especially loved how nicely they resolved the "student dating the professor" scandal. I really thought that would get blown out of proportion..

The biggest problem I had with the writing is the flea-like second ML, it felt like he is a manhwa character from Extraordinary You, his need to keep confessing, confessing and confessing when they are "on the stage" would have been more funny if they played that certain soundtrack from that show during those scenes. As far as love triangles go this one is on the weaker side of average, since the FL never hesitated, but it could not have been more unnecessary and it only ended at around episode 14. Also the whole red string of fate storyline annoyed me to no end.

There were more minor annoyances than I'd like. Like how the leads separated for a short while THREE times in the drama. I mean sure it was at most for 30-40 minutes each time, potentially not even reaching weeks in the drama's timeline, but if only they could've forgone just one of them, I would be that much more content right now.

I'm not entirely happy with the ending. I love happy endings, but this one is WAY TOO SHORT with a lot of wasted potential. The writers could have explored how he is adjusting to being human at length. I would have preferred if they spent the last 2 episodes doing just that, rather than sticking to the foreshadowed melodramatic things that ended up happening, or almost happening. Just imagine how nice it could've been, when ML was about to announce that he is turning human, he could have just turned human, like there was really no reason to really push for that dramatic ending in this one. (the whole explanation why that needed to happen & the criteria for him specifically to become human were just ridiculous)

This show is obviously very similar to Goblin & Angel's Last Mission in many ways, but Goblin is like a hundred times better. ALM:L should be worse objectively, but I enjoyed that one much more for some inexplicable reason. I rated Goblin as a 10, ALM:L at 9, so with that in mind I can only give My Roommate Is a Gumiho a 7.5.

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SO DISAPPOINTING :( I WANTED to like it but...

It looked promising at first but then... the story was just so lacking?
It felt like the climax never hit? Just some sorts of problems here and there, and the couple (note, I love the actors separately) but the CHARACTERS they had to play just didn't FIT.

The dude seemed so mature and the girl seemed SOOO childish - like - it would have been a cute college love but just didn't fit together.

I just think as a couple they didn't really match well or mesh well - parts seemed awkward and almost too cringey. Uncle + Niece vibes were WAY more accurate.

I also loved the side loves/stories so much more - humor was there though. I truly did laugh a lot but I was NOT interested in the PLOT at all. I literally whizzed/skimmed through it to just find out the ending results etc.

The antagonists of the stories were also just meh and were solved so quickly - like no effort put in.

Overall, wouldn't watch again but still glad I did bc I know now. Wouldn't really recommend if you find your time precious but the main actor + 2nd leads were such eye candies.

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A fantastic story with a superb cast that fell flat in the end but is kind of watchable

This drama had so much going for it:
a. A great cast that really fit the roles they were given
b. A fantastic story with a potential to be great
c. Healthy budget for effects and costume

BUT

Story:
I loved the initial episodes where Dam meets Mr. Gumiho and they start living together. Their interactions were full of humor. You could clearly see that Mr. Gumiho was supremely fascinated with Dam. Their love story was a mere progression of time.

Everything was going hunky-dory and I don't know when but I got second lead syndrome and slowly started shipping Gye Sun‑woo with Dam. I am not sure why but I think it has to do with the growth in the second lead's story/character as opposed to our lead couple.

And that's just it! While Sun Woo grew as a character with each episode I felt like Dam and Mr. Gumiho became stagnant as a couple. Yes, the story progresses and transitions into a mystery then a obstacle is placed in our couple's way which they have to overcome and so on and so forth. But while the story progresses, I see no progress between our lead couple and I think this is entirely the fault of the writers. I lost interest after episode 10-12 and the story just fell flat after it.

When you convert a webtoon into a Drama there are somethings you need to edit and I don't feel the script writers did enough of it.

Acting:
The acting was splendid! Hyeri is amazing with humour and I am ecstatic to see Jang Ki Yong in a romantic drama where he isn't the evil character. 😊

Bae In-Hyuk was just superb and Kang Ha-Na also did an equally superb job as a Gumiho turned human.

The naivety that is Do Wan-Kim was great to watch. I am sure all of us have that friend who succumbs to stupidity in every relationship that he undertakes!

Music:
I don't remember the music at all. So I'm sure it wasn't anything like DAYS.

Overall:
If you are into a light fluffy romance with an element of fantasy this drama is right up your alley. There is no deep story or insight that you will get from watching it. It's okay for one time watch as a break between intense dramas that you just can't get over and have a weekend to spare.

Pet Peeve:
I know its in the webtoon but the honorifics used by the lead couple to address each other annoyed the hell out of me!!😑

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Pretty average rom-com with no hook or unique premise

I thought this drama was pretty average overall. There wasn't anything truly special about it, it had some cute couples, funny scenes, but the chemistry wasn't electric and the comedy wasn't laugh out loud. For reference, Strong Woman Do Bong Soon would be a 10 in my books so this drama falters.

I also feel like the chemistry issue with the main couple falls on Jang Ki Young and how he plays a pretty similar character and demeanor in most of his dramas. He's only had electric chemistry with Jin Ki Joo in Come and Hug Me. Unfortunatley I couldn't see that or something else here. Kang Hana was pretty funny though and the highlight of the drama for me

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I liked the humor of the series

I liked the humor of the series, some scenes really made me laugh, I liked Hae San the most, maybe because it was the first time I saw Kang Hana in a completely positive role, she was really lovely. They could only finish it in 8 or 10 episodes by stretching it a lot because nothing special happens in the story. One thing that really stood out to me was the girl's falling down, which means you have to count how many times she fell down in the series! Hey, she falls , the boy would take her, oh, now, there is nothing more feminine than this cliché, my God!!!
The series is good to watch once, that is when you were starving and it was not a series

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Hilarious POX story :D

My Roommate is a Gumiho has been so far one of the best romantic comedies of 2021 and can easily be compared to True Beauty because of the hilarious and iconic scenes.


The story:
Lee Dam (Lee Hye Ri) is out drinking with her friends and has to drag one of them, Do Jae Jin (Kim Do Wan) home. On their way, Jae Jin vomits on Shin Woo Yeo (Jang Ki Yong) car. He is a 999-year-old gumiho who wants to turn into a human being. While apologizing, Lee Dam trips and Shin Woo Yeo prevents her from falling. But somehow the marble of the gumiho gets into her body, and now he absorbs energy from Lee Dam. They end up living together for her protection (and the protection of the marble) and Lee Dam has to follow certain rules, now that she is bonded to a fox. This means she is not allowed to drink, eat chicken nor hang out with guys which were born in the year of the tiger, which is hard for a university student. All these events make up room for insanely funny happenings.


The cast:
In my opinion, the cast did a great job. I had no issues with Lee Hye Ri at all, like others in the comment section. The supporting cast was amazing as well, so there is not quite much to talk about.


The music:
Was nothing special. I finished the show yesterday and could not hum any of the songs on the spot.


The side character:
The story would have been only half as great if it was not for the side characters. I was so thrilled to see Kang Han Na and Kim Do Wan acting together after Start-Up. Their story was entertaining, too. And let's be honest... where do I get my own Do Jae Jin. What a cute, understanding and caring guy. In addition, Kang Han Na role was funny as hell and I loved her support for her friends, too. Lee Dam's friends are such amazing and supporting people. I would have been definitely more curious than them :D. The other university students and the siblings added a nice touch to the story and may ships arised.


My recommendation:
So if you like a little fantasy, a lot of comedy as well as watching people eat a lot of food 24/7 this is a drama for you. It is light-hearted with some twists and turns and great stories surrounding the main thread.








A little side not (INCLUDES SPOILER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!), I hope everyone saw that :)
The Second Lead : I first did not like him, but in episode 9 or something I really felt for him. That is probably because he made his feelings so obvious and talked about it a lot. I think he would have been a very good choice, too, and I hope he will get the girl in another drama.

Things that did not add: I do not understand why they did not keep up with the serial killer thing. I mean, they found out who it was, but the entire section was kind of weird to me. I feel like they did not use the full potential and did not close all the open questions properly here, as if they forgot the story line existed.

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Ruined my entire mood

This drama made my day bad. I skipped a lot from episodes 1-3 and I started watching with enjoyment in episodes 4-10 then when there was a plot that could be said to be very stupid from the Korean director who thought that this plot would create hype and make the story more interesting even though it was just rubbish and nonsense. After what ML did to FL, the plot made FL love 2ML with a string of destiny to be together, that's really bad, the Korean director's thinking is very strange. I think I can give a rating of 8 when I start to enjoy it in episodes 4-10, but after that you will be angry with the story which is too forced and too strange. Overall I give a rating of 1, if you want to make your mood bad you can try watching this drama.

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