Exceptionally disappointing
May 2025Oh dear. Amazed I didn't drop it, but I like Kim Jung-hyun, and the rest of the cast; plus I wanted to see the outcome.
Pretty awful, sadly, with dreadful dialogue, lots of shouting, plus one of the MOST irritating, unlikeable, STUPID, FL characters ever!
The actress (whom I liked in 'My ID is Gangnam Beauty'), was pretty bad too; very unnatural and poor acting in this part.
I did like the character of Kokdu (which KJH brought to life wonderfully), and his 2 assistants (plus the actors; Cha Chung-hwa as Gak Shin looked great!)
Totally underwhelming, I've forgotten a lot already (reviewing late). Too few characters that I liked, mostly stupid humour and I don't even remember the ending, but think it was poor.
I do not recommend this, sadly. Not even the wonderful Kim Jung-hyun could save it!
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Too long, crappy acting, waste of time
FL acting is the worst part. Her character is insufferable, this is the second drama that I see her on and it’s pretty much the same acting like the dumbest.I should have paid more attention when I read the comments on this drama to avoid wasting my time.
I just ended it because I don’t like to leave dramas in the middle.
This could have had like 10 episodes max. The story was not bad, but at the end the development was not appropriate.
On the other hand, thw only positive thing was the ML, he is great with two different characters, despite the storyline and the little support from his co star.
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There were times I wanted to gouge out my eyes!
Positives:Kim Jung Hyun as Kokdu: I love him as an actor. He's got a somewhat rugged look about him. He's not a "pretty boy", and he's very expressive. He's an actor that is able to do broad comedy with flair and believability and then cut your heart out in his serious scenes, with tears running down his cheeks. It gets me every time.
Cha Chung Hwa as Gak Shin: She's a very interesting actress. She has the ability to look totally different, based on the part she is playing. She can appear older sometimes, younger at others. Her character was funny, quirky, and I loved how she took Gye Jeol under her wing, walking the line between here and the afterlife.
Kim In Kwon as Ok Shin: This might sound strange, but I love his face, it's big and round with lots of surface area for the great expressions he conveys. Ok Shin was a good character, and I really enjoyed his story line with Gak Shin.
Cinematography and locales: Beautiful! The church was lovely, Kokdu's house was awesome, and the lighthouse area was just beautiful. I loved the color palette they used for filming and the soft filtering they did with the camera work.
There was a happy ending, which kept me from throwing something at my tv after wasting my time watching this.
That's pretty much it. Now, on the other side of the coin, the negatives for me were:
Im Soo Hyang: I don't care for her AT ALL. Personally, I don't think she could act her way out of a paper bag. She has a totally flat affect, and her eyes are always open really wide like she's wandering around in a constant state of surprise. I've seen her in other things and haven't cared for her. Remember, just my opinion, but I had to fast forward through a lot of it, especially her, because it was so bad. Add her bad acting to the awful character she was portraying, and it was a train wreck. She was supposedly a doctor, but every time anyone had a medical emergency, she did absolutely nothing. I didn't buy her as a doctor for that reason, as well as the fact that she was whiny, immature, clingy and spent most of the drama sobbing. Was that so it looked like she was displaying some emotion? I don't know, but her character was awful, from beginning to end.
The storylines: Too many! There was so much going on. They could have cut back on the multiplicity of story lines and given us some more depth of character. I fast forwarded, a lot, and I still felt like it would never be over.
Chemistry: The brother and his girlfriend - The brother was so cute, and I enjoyed his story line, and I liked the wedding, but not much chemistry between him and his girlfriend. But you will never go amiss with a man that can cook. Which brings me to the ML and FL - I wasn't feeling ANY chemistry between these two. The kisses were not the typical open-eyed, arms at the sides kisses, which I appreciated, but I just didn't buy them as a couple. Wait, I could buy them as a friend couple, but not as a romantic couple.
So, I would say that I you have a lot of patience/tolerance and are wondering if you should watch this, you could give it a try. These opinions are just mine, but there is no way I would recommend that anyone watch this.
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Death, Romance, and a Whole Lot of Cotton Candy
There’s something incredibly frustrating about a drama that almost works. Kokdu: Season of Deity is one of those shows that flirts with being something bold — a quirky fusion of myth, romance, and moral reckoning — but it never quite commits to anything long enough to hit you where it counts. It's like getting charmed by a magician who forgets the second half of every trick.The setup is promising: a grim reaper cursed to roam the human world, doling out judgment and — bafflingly — also trying to fulfill romantic duties. There's a whiff of Goblin-meets-Dali & Cocky Prince energy here, the kind of supernatural rom-com blend that could have been weird and wonderful. But instead of digging into the weight of its mythos or fully embracing its absurdity, it kind of wobbles in between, unsure of what it wants to be. The result? A story that looks delightful in screenshots but dissolves on contact.
The leads — Kim Jung-hyun and Im Soo-hyang — are game, and that’s important. They’re trying. You can see it in the way they push through the tonal whiplash with expressions that say, “We know this is silly, but maybe we can sell it.” There are flickers of chemistry, moments where something warm tries to break through the script’s clutter — but the writing never stays still long enough to let it grow. Scenes cut away just as the emotions are starting to breathe, replaced by another tonal swerve: now it’s wacky, now it’s tragic, now it’s flirty, now it’s revenge. The pacing doesn’t trust the audience to sit in a feeling.
And the whimsy — oh, there’s so much whimsy. But it’s the kind that feels studio-manufactured. Pretty sets, pastel palettes, feather-light music cues. It’s all sugar and no substance. The comedic side characters overplay their hands, the magical rules shift whenever convenient, and the whole thing starts to feel like a drama made out of marshmallows: cute to look at, occasionally amusing, but completely incapable of leaving any lasting impression.
There are moments, I’ll admit, where the humor actually works. A well-timed line, a visual gag that lands just right — those small, glimmering moments that remind you the premise isn’t the problem. The bones could have supported something great. But by the end, you're left watching actors treading water in a sparkling pool of ideas that never get deep enough to swim in.
Kokdu isn't awful. It’s just insubstantial. It’s a soft breeze of a show, more interested in being quirky than meaningful. And while I appreciate a good fantastical romance as much as anyone, this one felt like a dream I forgot five minutes after waking up. Pretty. Fleeting. Empty.
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The season of terrible writing/acting for one of the two leads
The show is dragged out way too long at 16 episodes, especially with all the interesting plot points that are wasted and goes nowhere and terrible ones that go on for ever. Kim Jung Hyun is doing a herculean job trying his best to act his way through this atrocious writing for Kokdu the character who has grown petty whims and tantrums during his long supernatural punishment after losing his memory or original personality to time. The worst part of his character is still anything to do with the forced romance between him and Gye Joel, both before and after they fall for each other. There's no spark between these two characters, it's just double the annoying scenes. There is no proper communication for most of the series either, with important information force revealed to one or both of them. His curse/promise to do literally anything she asks being used for comedic effect falls extremely flat to say the least and it cuts short the fascinating aspect of the other curse from the deity for him to hear the cries of victims to kill a specific person. He's shown to kill the scum of the earth that evade legal persecution, but he's also shown to hear the calls for the death of someone that's just based on made up hearsay by Gye Joel who he may more may not have killed if it wasn't the body he was currently occupying. He really is a serial killer with voices in his head telling him to kill and the plot where Gye Jeol's brother detective Han Chul tracks him down is way more interesting than romance storyline. There's also the storyline point where Kokdu's power was on the fritz and suddenly that's forgotten about and it was just fine. The part where he found the reincarnation of his younger brother who turns out to be ex-boyfriend Yi Deun who brutally dumped Gye Jeol albeit with a reason, was more exciting than anything with her. I wanted to see their new brotherly relationship explored more. More of Kokdu's original personality is scene in from the past with their reunion. It was actually sad seeing Kokdu's pain at being unable to protect Yi Deun from getting shanked whereas there is no feeling or stakes with anything between Kokdu and Gye Jeol. Unlike her Kokdu actually has his sentient moments and sees through people and makes interesting plans. It was clever of him to use his own end time in the mortal realm to set up his enemy as a murderer. Again it was a frustratingly dumb moment to see Gye Jeol just crying instead of using any of her ER doctor skills to even attempt to help him. She suddenly just wants to kill the guy like she's possessed by her past life instead of sticking to her morals about not killing.Do Jin Woo's character feels like a wasted opportunity. He was trying to expose corruption and the killing of his birth mom before he was surreptitiously murdered and his corpse possessed by a supernatural entity. He's really sharp and immediately figured out the supernatural situation he's in and wants to live. Exploring the dichotomy between doing what's right and playing it safe to live longer while going against both the earthly forces pursuing him as well as Kokdu could have been interesting, but the show dropped it like a hot potato. It's such a relief to see his level headedness shut down and not enable Gye Jeol's ridiculously childish behavior. It would have been fascinating to see his story play out, but instead he just dies again at the end of his 49 days after death.
The biggest weak point is both the writing and acting for the female lead character Gye Joel who pretty unsufferable the entire time. There was a moment of hope when she stood up for herself to block one hit from an unreasonable patient, the first and last point I wanted to root for her, but then it's just a series of her being a clumsy, man obsessed, childish, whiny, immature overreactions to everything, literally tripping over her own feet charicature. She literally trips down the stairs multiple times. The worst part is the drama points this out as a point of pride, she's intentionally made this way because they think it's cute. It's not. The worst is that she can never advocate for herself or for her patients. There is no point to her as a doctor characer. She does use her status as a doctor to threaten her brother to sabotage the witness's testimony if he ever brings witness who saw her boyfriend murder someone to trial. She's always the fool. Again the drama does it on purpose like they are doing something great. The acting doesn't do anything to elevate this kind of grating character. She's comparatively fine as Seol Hui who for the most part is allowed to act like a human being, actively taking agency for herself her entire life , but as the reincarnation of the character she drags down the story every time she appears and she half of the lead pairing. She's a pretty awful doctor too, not questioning how Do Jin Woo who is severely injured by falling off a whole highrise onto a car is just fine with some amnesia, taking advantage of an amnesiac to lie for her in a hearing, telling people she's his accomplished doctor boyfriend, the extremely irresponsible way she treats Do Jin Woo even though she thought Kokdu personality was a result of a disorder, etc. She doesn't notice all the weird powers he has, even when it's shown to her face while she believes things she has no proof for. She doesn't figure it out for TWELVE out of the 16 episodes when he literally had to teleport her and heal in front of her face. She some how managed to become a doctor, but her brother detective Han Chul got the brains of the family even though he supposedly has double digit IQ. Her forcing him to not take bigger cases is pretty selfish too, it's his job to investigate. Ahn Woo Yeon as Han Chul carries all the sibling scenes they have together and Han Chul can be professional at his job, but she can't handle it. Gye Jeol's must be in the negatives. His romance storyline is leagues better and more mature than hers as well, the difference better acting and strangely better writing as well. The writing lampshades her terrible traits, but that's not the same as breaking through them.
The costuming is also very garish for all the characters from lead to supporting. They literally give Han Chul a leather jacket with spikes during the scene he first meets Kokdu as his sister's boyfriend. It would be fine if it looked cool, how did they manage to find the worst cheap looking one. There are so many lower budget productions that do better in dressing the characters both for the story and just aesthetic wise. All of the jewlery looks so fake like toys except for the bog laurel ring and hair stick. The pink jeweled tiara and the matching necklace are the worst after the big ruby ring. It makes no sense because Ok Shin chaebol underling is filthy rich and could afford real jewels for her.
There is one thing the series surprisingly does right and that's actually planting the seeds for a plausible reason for the disappeared forever character to reappear again. Kokdu had his contract with Gye Jeol and also the prayers from her kokdu cult of patients that she makes pray for him in lieu of payment. Kokdu remains a entity with his underworld job and Gye Jeol continues her cycle of death and rebirth without the tragic death in this timeline like she has in every life. They just dropped that nugget last second without having established that info anytime in the 16 episodes. It's also a bummer there's no final reunion between Yi Deun who survived the stabbings but no line about whether he's in remission or not which he hopefully is after five years.
If you skipped to the end here, just skip this whole drama. There's better ones out there.
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Not Good Enough
Korean Drama " Kokdu: Season of Deity " is a fantasy drama about a grim ripper god and the girl he is attracted to.The drama has some nice premises, with Kokdu having to adapt to the modern world and learn how to not be, well, that much selfish and his over-the-top self. The doctor theme was another nice touch, as it, theoretically, would have offered some solid subplots. However, neither was used to its fullest.
Hence, the drama ended up being a dated reincarnation love story that had no pace, with random scenes and events happening and the whole story being the two main leads bickering.
The main characters, moreover, were somehow not enjoyable, and, especially, the girl was annoying and inconsistent with what she wanted.
So, overall, three out of ten.
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Worth the watch for supernatural fans because of the unique deity
6/10 is my rating. This is a 2023 South Korean fantasy romance with 16, 70 minute episodes.First I provide a unique synopsis then review. I provide a synopsis as with some, particularly Japanese and Chinese dramas, the available synopsis are not very good. So, I hope to provide another description of the series that might help someone decide whether they want to watch it.
Synopsis
Dr. Han Gye-jeol (Im Soo-hyang) faces many struggles in life. Though working as a doctor, which is her passion, she didn’t excel in her studies and attended a mediocre college. Whenever issues arise—an inevitability in her field—her lack of elite credentials is often brought to the forefront. She is between jobs when she trips and nearly sustains a serious injury or worse, only to be saved by a mysterious man, Do Jin-Woo (Kim Jung Hyun). What she doesn’t know is that this man is no ordinary person—he is an underworld god, known as Kokdu, who was tasked with guiding the deceased to the afterlife after angering the creator. Kokdu (Kim Jung-hyun) inhabits human bodies to fulfill another part of his responsibility: executing immortals who violate supernatural laws. Kokdu inhabits the body of a doctor whom Gye-jeol was working under and, over time, develops feelings for. Their relationship starts out adversarial, but as Kokdu discovers their connection from a past life, he realizes that this unassuming doctor may be the only person with the power to break the curse he’s been placed under.
Review:
The premise was intriguing. I really liked the unique take on this god figure—not a Grim Reaper, but a God of Death who also acts as an angel of vengeance. That was an interesting twist. However, the romance didn’t resonate with me, largely because of the way the female lead character was written. I ended up not liking her much, so I wasn’t invested in her relationship with Kokdu. Despite giving it a low rating, I think it’s worth a watch for supernatural fans, especially for its unique interpretation of this deity’s role. I wouldn’t recommend it for the romance alone—it’s okay and resolves decently, but it’s not the standout aspect of the story.
Spoilers
I can mildly tolerate the female lead being a somewhat incompetent doctor. However, it made no real sense that they chose to make her a doctor with such limited skills, as it had no relevance to the overall story. I’m not sure if they were trying to make a point about elite schools or something, but that aspect just fell flat.
The female lead’s interactions with Kokdu were very frustrating. I get that it would be hard to believe someone was an actual god, so it was easier for her to think it was some kind of multiple personality situation. But when all the evidence was there that he was a god, she never questioned it. When she found out he was a god, her anger about it made absolutely no sense. I thought she was being petty and ridiculous about him fulfilling his duties as a god and killing the bad guys. Even a very basic understanding of gods suggests there are things a deity has to do—things that a higher god or the ultimate god would command. So judging him and making him feel guilty for fulfilling the duties of a god was unreasonable. She had sympathy for really horrible people, like rapists and other evil criminals, whom you would expect a god to judge, jury, and execute. That’s the way of the gods. She was also angry at him for deceiving her, but he did try to tell her the truth. She just never believed him, which was not his fault. So, she was angry with him basically for being a deity, and she acted hostile toward him.
I did not like any of the female characters in this show. The female lead was an incompetent doctor who quit practicing for a large portion of the series, and the second female character was just unlikable. The female lead’s sweet brother falls in love with her former friend, who has always been extremely toxic to her. It might’ve been somewhat forgivable if the friend had come around, but she continued to be a “mean girl” to the main character, even when she was in a relationship with her brother. The second female’s friend was also not very nice. She would give advice to the lead female character, but it was always in a condescending, mean-spirited way. So, virtually all the female romantic partners in this series were not very likable.
It also annoyed me when the female lead insisted on going along when Kokdu was trying to save her brother after he was kidnapped. I mean, if you’re a skilled martial artist or something, fine. But if you’re just going to be baggage, get in the way, and possibly become a hostage yourself, it always seems incredibly selfish and foolish to insist on going. Then, after the explosion happens, she’s shocked when he transports them, and she learns he is indeed a deity. She completely forgets about her little brother and goes off on a tangent about being upset with what he is, and I guess about him deceiving her. She completely stops trying to figure out what’s going on with her brother. So, she was so upset about her brother that she insisted on coming along, saw his cell phone, and got freaked out, but then when something unexpected happened, she completely forgot why she was even there. Was she really that dumb, or just that selfish? Neither quality was endearing.
#KokeuSeasonofDeity #ImSooHyang. #KimJungHyun
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What caused it?
Many cursed Lim Soo-Hyang's appearance as Han Gye-Jeol, one of them with the sentence: A 30 year old woman who acts like a 12 year old, dresses like an old woman, is very clumsy and a bit stupid - very annoying
I'm so sorry, Lim Soo-Hyang?
Lim Soo-Hyang is not a newcomer. The actor Kang Mi Rae in the Korean drama ID: Gangnam Beauty and Mo Seok-Hee in the Korean drama "Graceful Family" won the Best Actress award at the 2020 MBC Drama Awards and Excellent Actress (daily drama) at the 2017 KBS Drama Awards. Lim Soo-Hyang's proof has had enough of the bitter and sour sweetness of acting.
So both Lim Soo-Hyang's fussing and sulking acting and his old fashioned clothes must have been according to the director's wishes.
I agree more if the bad rating is aimed at the entire production. The storyline is going around and around, the number of shows that should be enough for 10 episodes only stretches to 16 episodes. No wonder many stop watching in the middle of the road.
It seems that the screenwriter wanted to make a drama similar to the Korean drama Goblin/Guardian: The Lonely and Great God, but with additional slapstick scenes, such as the scene where Ok Shin and Gak Shin's lips meet. Not kisseu, because only lips that "accidentally" meet, and that's really annoying!
The plot is bad, the scenes are cliche, and there are many holes in the story, compounded by shooting that isn't really good. Like when Han Gye-Jeol found a magic mirror and was in Cinderella style, the shooting angle reminded me of the 90s.
It's not wrong for a screenwriter to be inspired by another Korean drama, but the results have to be better than their predecessors. If not, no matter how good the main character's acting, the audience's ratings and votes will be punishing.
What about Kim Jung-Hyun's acting?
The acting of King Cheoljong in the Korean drama "Mr Queen" always satisfies his fans. You could even say, Kim Jung-Hyun became the savior of the Korean drama "Kokdu: Season of Deity".
You can imagine how disappointed Kim Jung-Hyun was with the ratings for the Korean drama "Kokdu: Season of Deity". After successfully rocking South Korea with a rating of 18.554% (Mr Queen), now his drama only gets a rating of 1.3%.
The next review can be read here: https://www.maria-g-soemitro.com/2023/03/kokdu-season-of-deity-review-drama-korea.html
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Started to watch as filler...regretted it soooooo much
There was a reason why I never watched "Woori the Virgin" or "Graceful Family" on Viki and this drama confirmed it.Never will I ever watch another drama with this FL!
I started as there were no dramas airing I was watching on the day an episode came out. Based on the synopsis it was the filler drama to something better came along.
This drama would be soooooo much better without the FL. I caught myself watching the NON MOVEMENT! of the FL top lip and area above.
FL should not accept scripts/dramas if it requires her to laugh or cry. These were the most cringe worth scenes in this drama.
The emotion the FL was trying to convey to me in the scene was lost to me as I got the fake feeling.
Like someone offering you a taste of a dish and it is horrible beyond description. However you have to fake a smile of enjoyment with no teeth wondering how can you not swallow.
Personally this drama was a waste of funding with the FL.
FL is so lucky I am not a casting agent as she would only get parts where she does not open her mouth to speak. Ideally living statue parts should be her absolute limit in any drama.
The profession of the FL was inconsistent. FL was suppose to be an emergency doctor, however when situations arose where emergency medical treatment was required, FL lead was hopeless. Emergency doctors have to think quick, the FL character never did for any situation. For this story they should have said FL was an office adminstrator with no medical knowledge, this would have been more believable.
Apart from FL I thought the story was OK, there were a few jokes which made me laugh. Other actors were good I believed they were the characters they portrayed.
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if you watch it for enjoying, you will enjoy it
Kim Jung Hyun is truly agreat actor. I could listen to his voice for years. Every emotion he portrayed was well done.Besides from him, I liked all the cast. All of them did great job imo.
Im soo hyang's character was so new in kdrama land and realistic.
This drama will make you laugh and cry. It's a funny, romcom, tragic and fantasy drama.
When you are watching, you feel like you are watching a fairy tale.
I loved this drama and i think some people are so unfair to it. It had its own charm!
I'm glad the evil character had less screen time. I personally couldn't stand seeing him even a bit more.
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A drama of half-formed ideas
I score dramas based solely on my enjoyment of them, so my rating doesn't reflect the quality of the drama but how good of a time I had watching it. For me, Kokdu was a very long, painful ride.I started the drama as it was airing and I hated it. Right from the first episode, it was obvious that the writing was sloppy and the plot was poorly placed. I was in a bit of a drama drought and tried to stick with it for as long as I could, but 4-5 episodes in I caved and dropped it. It was boring and while I enjoyed the ML for being a very out-there character, the FL was as sturdy as wet cardboard. But, oddly enough, I went back to it all these months later on a whim and, for some reason, found myself genuinely enjoying it. Was the writing better? No. The characters? No. All that changed was my mentality. I laughed at some of the jokes and had a grand time, and when the writing was bad or the pacing was weird, I laughed at that, too. If you don't take it seriously, it can be a pretty entertaining show. (The last 1/3 of the drama really drops off, however, and everything goes about how you expect so there's no need to force yourself to sit through it if you feel it's dragging.)
The biggest issue this drama has is that it doesn't follow through with any of its ideas. It'll throw plot twists and developments at you left and right without fleshing them out and then will forget about them just as soon. For example: the FL is a doctor, but she doesn't actually feel like one. She ends up opening a clinic, but the only time we see her doing her job is when it's convenient for the plot. By the halfway point, she basically isn't seen working at all.
Then we have Kokdu or, more to the point, the person whose body he takes over: Jin Woo. At the beginning of the drama, he dies and Kokdu has to deal with the affairs he left behind - his girlfriend, the plot of the villain, the FL Gye Jeol, etc. But partway through the drama, his soul is returned to his body by Gye Jeol's command. In this sort of show, this is something that often happens and makes up a big chunk of the story. But here? He's around for around 2 episodes, in which he discovers what's happened in his absence and decides to cling to life. This amounts to a whole lot of nothing. He dies again shortly after so Kokdu can take over his body and is never heard from again. There's no closure for him, he doesn't accomplish much of anything while he's around, and after he dies again no one really talks about him, not even the leads or his ex-girlfriend. It's filler.
This isn't the only instance of this, though. At one point, Gye Jeol's brother is kidnapped and the two leads go to save him. This is used as a trigger for Gye Jeol to finally realize that Kokdu's not human (which, how did she not notice this sooner??) and they begin their dramatic angst to waste even more time. And the brother? Well, when they walk off to have their angst, he's freed. Somehow. I guess. We're never shown if Kokdu went back to set him free, if he got out himself, or anything of the sort. Again and again, the story will introduce a plot thread or some side story and drop it just as quickly. Take the ending: Kokdu dies? No, he survives and is asleep in the hospital. No wait, he's actually awake and is staying past his 99 days. No, wait, actually, he's trying to get Gye Jeol to confess to him so that he can die. So what if he said he would stay with her no matter what half an episode ago? Oh, wait, he's dead again, for real this time. Except, of course, there's the mandatory time skip and he's revived for their happy ending. I didn't even mind the very end itself, but the lead-up to it was dreadful. There's also a point at the start of the last third of the drama where Kokdu stops being a fun character to watch and becomes more of the standard, brooding ML you often find in these shows, which killed a lot of my enjoyment.
Characters will say their opinion on one thing and change it at the drop of a pin. Kokdu remembers his little brother from his past life randomly, starts doting on his reincarnation for all of 10 seconds before he's shoved aside with no further development between them for the rest of the series. The second couple will fight over something randomly and then get along again. Actual plot points will happen off-screen and then will be explained to us lazily through exposition - or maybe not explained at all! I could go on and on about how hot-and-cold this drama is, but you get the point. All of these half-formed ideas get thrown in without being properly fleshed out and it really kills the drama.
So why am I still giving this a 7? If I have this much (and more) to complain about, then why not rate it to reflect that? Well, at the end of the day, for 2/3 of the drama I was enjoying it, even if it was a hot mess, and that's what mattered most to me. I laughed at how bad it got and enjoyed some aspects of it. The demi-gods were fun to watch, there were some good jokes sprinkled in, and beneath all the crap there was a sliver of hope that this could have been something. It feels like the rough draft of a story, just thrown together with a bunch of ideas that were never written out properly to be given substance, and if I think of it like that, I can move past some of its bad moments.
TL;DR: It's a badly-written show, yes, and the latter 1/3 is a slog, but if you're the type of person that likes watching bad shows now and then, and you want some turn-your-brain-off garbage to veg out to at the end of the day, give it a shot. And if a good plot with good writing is integral to your enjoyment?
Run the other way. Run as far as you can.
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The Four Seasons of Relationships
It's a story about the four seasons of relationships. From Spring to Summer to Fall to Winter, and back to Spring signifying new beginnings, new hope, and a brighter future.I talked about the Four Seasons of Relationships here: https://kisskh.at/discussions/the-season-of-kokdoo/91869-the-four-seasons-of-relationships
But, to add to that, I love how in Episode 15 and 16, they revealed additional layers into the meaning of the Seasons.
For example, their Korean names have a meaning if you know the Hanja equivalent.
1. FL in the past: Seol Hui
- Hangul: 설희
- Hanja: 雪希 which means snow.
2. FL in 2023: Han Gye Jeol
- Hangul: 한계절
- 계절 in Hanja is: 季節 which means ‘season’
- According to Kokdu, her name means Spring. Or, something that was in Winter (her past self) that reached Spring, the changing of Seasons (her 2023 name).
The FL's past and 2023 names are tied to each other. They were never meant to be together in the past, because that past was the beginning of their winter fate.
However, when she was reborn in the present time, she was given the name Gye Jeol. A sign that the winter __season__ is about to end, and the a new __season__ is going to begin. New beginnings. New hope.
And as Kokdu realised, her names mean exactly that. Winter to Spring seasons. From dark and cold, to bright/light and warm.
3. ML in the past: Oh Hyun
- Hangul: 오현 - means "five strings". -- He came back after 5 years.
- Hanja: 傲泫
There are many possible Hanja to his name, but the Hangul itself already has a meaning.
I tried to find other references to five, but found none. The strings can mean fate.
Other Hanja variations of 오 are "to meet", or "bright"; "crow", "black".
Other Hanja variations of 현 are "wepp", or "swift", or "bow string", or "black".
If we consider the possible Hanja characters and meanings, a picture starts to form why he was named Oh Hyun in the past, and why everything ended up the way it all did.
And let's be reminded, Kokdu is Oh Hyun stuck as a god of the afterlife. It still is his name, so, he's living true as Oh Hyun.
4. ML as a god: Kokdu
- Hangul: 꼭두의
- Hanja: n/a
I think there's no need to speculate on Kokdu.
Another good thing. The ending was not something expected. There were similar supernatural romance before, and usually they have similar endings. This TV series chose a path less shown in K-dramas.
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