Genie, Make a Wish

kim woobin and suzy being back together is the best part <3

this is my first review and before i start, let me say that i'm actually a muslim myself.
now, i know a lot of people are upset with the fact that the genie is literally portrayed as a shaytan and iblis and mocks islam which i get because i had the same opinion when i watched the trailer but then i decided to tune in because i loved woobin and suzy in uncontrollably fond and i was so happy that they were back together. and after watching it, yes many things are adapted from iblis from islam but also they just used it as a name? because they refer to him as a genie, as shaytan and as iblis which i wish they had not because not everything is same, they could really have avoided that by naming him iblis but it makes sense for him to be named that considering the plot. this is more like the western show lucifer yk? and lucifer was literally romanticised in it. they aren't really romanticising iblis but rather the genie if you give it a watch. but i understand if you're mad, but still i would suggest that you see it as fiction and tune in once yourself and then judge it instead of hearing it from others.
now coming to the plot, i actually really enjoyed this though it got messy at times because i feel like they tried to fit in way too many storylines in just 13 episodes. considering the amt of storylines they should have gone for the usual 16 episodes length. not to mention that i was kinda :/ abt the screentime that woobin and suzy had. i wish we had more of their scenes together and their relationship developing instead of adding a bunch of subplots which turn out flat at the end. i really loved minji and the grandma and even irem and sade, they were some of my favourite characters and storylines and i think that was enough, the rest should have been given to the main characters instead of showing us five more side stories which had three wishes each.
i absolutely adore minji's character and her friendship with kayoung. i love how we finally have a side character who's not really just a plot device for the main character and has her own story and her being a butch lesbian isn't treated as something weird or a big deal and just normalised.
the grandma stole my heart and her story was so so heartwarming though i wish we had more of the old grandma because we saw her for a very short time, i wish we got more scenes with that actress though i loved the young grandma ver, eunjin did a great job portraying her!
i absolutely love suzy i can't stress enough just how great of an actress she is, she deserves sm more recognition because the way she acts as a psycopath who can't show emotions and does full justice to it? oh bae suzy the actress that you are!
not to mention kim woobin omg i'm so happy he's recovered, hale and hearty and back because he's a gem. his character might act really silly and goofy in the beginning but in the second half, esp ep 4-ep5 onwards you really get to see him getting serious and woobin's range as an actor. he was genuinely so so good i enjoyed every second of him on screen.
woobin and suzy reuniting was the best part tho and i'm so very happy that we got them in a drama together esp after uncontrollably fond which broke my heart into a million pieces. their chemistry is off the charts and so insane omg they are adorable on screen together and i adore them so so much i need them to be in like another drama together RIGHT NOW.
i wish there were more osts because i loved the ost by suzy but we barely had any music in this show which was a little bit of a letdown.
the cgi was actually pretty decent too i think netflix did a pretty good job and i didn't find the cgi ruining my experience in any way.
my only complain would be that i wish i had more of kayoung and the genie scenes because they weren't enough considering they were the main characters and the entire story was about them. if you look back you realise that the side characters and the subplots actually take A LOT of time which was really not necessary. and if they really did plan to do that then they should have atleast increased the length of the show.
overall i had fun and i would give it a solid 7.5/10 and i think you should watch it yourself before really forming an opinion on it just listening to others. it is a fun cute decent watch esp if you loved woobin and suzy, you can atleast tune in once.

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Peak Guilty Pleasure!

Satan who's a Genie, and a Psychopath falling in love?

Put aside your agenda, this is a BRAINLESS FUN!

Asking this from people is pretty much impossible, like eating sand, and thinking you're not thirsty anymore.

Anyway, the story doesn't really offer much, it's your average fantasy drama, but it's a LOT OF FUN! Isn't that most Kdrama fans want? The plot couldn't be more basic, you know what's gonna happen even before you start watching it. That doesn't mean you can't enjoy the ride, tho, because not only the two main lead, Suzy and Woobin are great, but every other actors as well. They deserve the praise.

To be honest, I expected some lazy writing, and a typical ending, and we can say the finale was kind of similar to many fantasy drama, I still think they did a good job. I have to admit, they surprised me with that one twist in the end with our lovely grandma. For me, SHE IS THE MVP! Both Kim Mi Kyung and Ahn Eun Jin, not to mention, Lee Joo Young (as Minji) were amazing! Almost everyone deserve a friend like her!

My biggest complaint is the writer missed a good opportunity with the wishes, they could've delved into that part deeper, because the so called villains of the story were bland at best. The love story was good, but it's not something you can't see in any other drama. The one thing that actually made it more interesting is that the male lead is Satan, and a female lead is a psychopath. The duo was insanely good together in every possible way, and even tho it might be not obvious for many, but Kayeong's last wish was also surprising, and it was obvious she didn't realize what her wish actually meant.

The way they broke the 4th wall was unnecessary, but in some cases it was funny, especially that one cameo.

So, in general, this is a pretty good drama if you only need a fun ride, but don't expect too much seriousness. It had its moments with some deeper meaning, but that was mostly about family.

Don't believe everything you read online, this show doesn't deserve the ridiculous hate, because it's not about the story, and everyone knows that.

If you want a good guilty pleasure drama, this is for you!

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choppy in the storyline

As a Bae Suzy and Kim Woo Bin fan, this movie can only be described as a comical watch and a redemption to “Uncontrollably Fond” ending. it is what it is - not a deep drama that’s got too much in it but a comical relief. this is my opinion. I’ve seen them both in much better roles but felt the whole production crew needed to bring a redeeming storyline for the pairing after killing off KWB in “Uncontrollably Fond”
would I rewatch it? can’t say I’d be too drawn to do that but if my daughter asked me to, I most definitely would.
to all the KWB fans - he is still an amazingly good looking actor whomhams the role up so very well.
To all the Suzy fans - she portrayed her part extremely well and deserves an award for the part she played…….

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Confusing, Aviation comercial meets Aladdin meets Korea

I honestly do not really know how to rate this or how to review it... I find the religious/cultural/Psycopath parts confusing, very confusing and not in a good way but more of a is this okay, should I be watching this with a clear conscious, should this have been made at all? Then again I loved Aladdin as a kid.

I do like the leads and their characters. I like several of the side characters.

Kim Woo Bins smile and charm is worth at least 2 extra stars, and so is the look of death on Bae Suzys face. And yes I may bit a bit bias to the two.

As far as plot and drama its not really bad or anything it does have its good moments of sweet and adorable. It does have some low humour but also some decent humour here and there but it gets to be a bit draggy and is just not enough to keep me on my toes or very interested as I find the most interesting part of the plot to be how many flights between Korea and Dubai can one fit in the course of 13 episodes? As well as long for the dessert, not so much for finding a Genie but more sun and sand is so pretty. So I guess the Emirates PPL did make its way in to my mind.

If you are a fan of the leads and the makers of this show you may find yourself questioning your choices of fandom both if you choose to watch or not watch it.

As for those who are not really fans of any of the leads Id say nee, you can find better dramas in the stream...

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Every moment it cringed

The only reason I gave 5 instead of 1 is out of respect of the actors.

I really was looking forward to this and had high expectations, I loved Goblin, Mr. Sunshine, Secret Garden, The Glory, A Gentleman's Dignity and I was expecting another masterpiece despite not liking Suzy.

Oh was I wrong. Disappointment wa great from episode 1.

While a good drama makes me eager to watch one more episode, for this one all I thought was : Please, no more.

The story was so badly written and boring, and many times the viewer is left wondering where exactly this wants to go .

I'm in shock the same writer of my favorite drama has written literally the worse drama I ever saw. And I saw many.

The comedy was utterly bad and cringe, one would think it was made to make toddler laugh. As result, the actors performance during comedy moments was extremely awkward and forced.

It would have been a lot better if the show had a dark, serious tone. I don't know what they were trying to create, maybe a Korean Odyssey style, but it clearly did not work.

The story was poor, the characters not developed, and you could hardly feel for them, let alone they way they fell in love in the past life ( did they? Not really much happened ) was completely rashed and anticlimactic .

The side stories felt superficial and not necessary, same as the side character, they had little to no relevance to the story and they were not developed as we are used to.

I loved every single character in Goblin and Mr. Sunshine for example here was not the case .

The "inclusive" best friend was totally awkward and out of contest, clearly put there just to please Netflix standards, and the interaction with the grand mother were uncomfortable and awkward. Seriously Wtf.

The actress of the Grandmother was a waste of talent here, same Steve Noh and Woon Bin .

I'm really sorry to say, but Suzy disappointed yet again.

No, it's not her character with no emotions, she's always like that, a robot.

More than a psychopath she seemed on sedatives and taking poses for a photoshot.

It was really hard to watch, to me she did not deliver even when she was supposed to have emotions.

The Ost was practically absent.

I really don't know what they were thinking when they wrote this drama but it certainly was a big disappointment.

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Chaos in Couture

This drama feels like watching four shows at once—fascinating, baffling, and chaotic. Entertaining, but embrace the unpredictability and let it surprise you.

GENRE JUGGLING GONE WILD

The show's biggest challenge is its genre identity crisis. One moment, you’re chuckling at some dark comedy, the next you’re on the edge of your seat during a thriller sequence. Before you can settle in, it morphs into a mythical fantasy, then swerves hard into melodrama. It’s a wild mix that doesn't always transition smoothly. A huge shout-out to the actors, especially Kim Woo Bin, who navigate these abrupt tonal shifts with impressive skill, switching personas as fast as the show switches genres.

FASHION STATEMENTS OR COSTUME CONFUSION?

This sense of unpredictability extends beyond just the genre. The wardrobe department, for example, seems to have given the characters their own identity crises. Our female lead, played by Suzy and looking fabulous as ever, is a proclaimed psychopath running a repair shop in the countryside. One day she’s in a dreamy floral dress, the next a power suit, and then quiet luxury. Her incohesive styling feels more like a reflection of a multi-personality disorder than a psychopath’s quirk. The same goes for our Genie. He might appear in a preppy, Hamptons-ready Ralph Lauren look in one scene and a 90s club manager outfit in the next. The clothes are nice, but they don't help define who these people are.

HEAVENLY ROLES, EARTHLY QUESTIONS

The show's bold choices aren't limited to costumes. Casting Korean actors as characters with biblical and Arabic origins is a notable move, reminiscent of Hollywood’s ongoing debates about representation. The show gives a quick explanation, but it still raises questions about authenticity and intent. Honestly, it kind of mirrors the drama’s own identity crisis—bouncing between silly comedy and serious themes. These shifts are creative, sure, but they can feel a bit all over the place, leaving you to wonder if it all comes together or just adds to the chaos.

A VISUAL GRAB BAG

The same lack of cohesion crops up in its visual world. The settings feel like they were picked from a hat. We jump from comic book-style animations to a cheesy studio set of a desert that looks like it was borrowed from a daytime soap opera. Then, we’re thrown into a scene heavy with CGI, only to be pulled back to what looks like a slick tourism commercial. It’s visually jarring and makes it hard to feel grounded in the story.

SUBPLOTS PLAYING HIDE AND SEEK

This patchwork quality continues with the plot, which is a tangle of subplots. Some feel completely disjointed, while others disappear for several episodes only to reappear with a dramatic "ta-da, it was all connected!" It feels less like clever storytelling and more like a narrative scramble.

GRANDMA’S GREAT DISCONNECT

Even the heart of the story isn’t immune to this disconnect. Ga Yeong’s grandmother begins as a powerful presence in the story—her strength and warmth shine through evocative flashbacks, where she lovingly raises a child with a social disorder. But in the second half, everything changes: after the female lead wishes for her grandmother to become her own age, the character’s appearance and personality shift so drastically that it becomes hard to bridge the emotional gap. The two versions feel worlds apart, and this disconnect ultimately weakens the story’s emotional core.

THE IKEA EFFECT OF STORYTELLING

Overall, 'Genie, Make a Wish' is a tough show to connect with on a deeper level. It’s a beautiful, chaotic mess. But if you’re looking for pure entertainment and can switch off your brain, it’s a fun, unpredictable ride. Just don't ask too many questions and go with the flow. Watching this show is like assembling IKEA furniture without the manual—confusing, occasionally frustrating, and far from perfect, but not a bad experience overall.

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A very mediorce Korean Drama.

I unfortunately finished this drama, and I am pretty upset of whoever wrote this story. Is this the best story you can come up?

Psychopath character can make a very compelling character for drama. The writers has so many references by watching performance from some of famous cinema psychopaths like Hannibal Lector, Joker, Villanella ( Killing Eves TV series), etc... But they chose to based Anton Chigurh blueprint (No Country for Old Man): cold, calculating, incapable of emotions ruthless killers. And it is probably their biggest fumble because Anton Chigurh blueprint does not work based on the kind of story they try to deliver. Ka-young (Female Lead) would not care if the genie tried to wipe out the human. She would not care if she needs to save the bleach blonde girl. Do they even have a proofreaders the scripts and no one yelled out this is dumb?

Ka young can be a very good character if they based it on Alice Morgan ( Luther TV series), an absolute psychopath with no moral compass but have an obsession disorder. Or perhaps, Villanelle (Killing Eve Series) is a psychopath just doing stuff so life is a bit less boring. Both of these characters allowed Bea Suzy to act instead stone face acting through the whole series. And by the way, Bea Suzy did not nail Anton Chigurh character.

And I am not done. I still have to talk about the characterization of the Male Lead, Genie. The character is very inconsistent. At one point, he is so serious and then next thing you know, he is goofy. The one thing that bugged me the most is his motivation. In the beginning of the series, the series repeatedly repeatedly reminding you that the genie is arrogantly despised the weaker creation, human, and absolutely enjoyed their downfall. Then a few episode later, he saved the kids from abusing father, and the girl that got killed by a serial killer. While it made a few good moments, but it made no god damn sense for the character.

The whole series is a mess. The writing is so bad. The acting is a mess. The music is forgettable. I would only recommend this to my worst enemy so they won't be able to get back 16 hours of their time.

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Be careful what you wish for...

Seeing Suzy and Won Bin together in a drama already felt like a wish granted, the visuals, the chemistry, the acting? Pure perfection. Both of them carried their roles so well that I found myself smiling through most of it. But as much as I loved the casting and concept, the story itself didn’t quite live up to its potential.

The fantasy and psychopath mix was really interesting on paper, but as the episodes went on, some parts started feeling a bit half-baked. There were sub-stories that could’ve been deeper, and moments where I wished they’d slow down and explore more. Still, I love that the characters live in the grey area, not entirely good or bad, just people reacting to their circumstances. It gave the series a layer of realism amidst the fantasy.

It definitely gave me tons of laughs and a few heart squeezes, especially with the ending, finally, a happy one! I needed that healing after Uncontrollably Fond. Overall, it’s a solid watch for the chemistry and fun moments, though probably not one I’d rewatch anytime soon.

📌 Watch this if you’re into fantasy with a dash of dark humor, morally grey characters, and a cast that looks way too good to be real.

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A completely Devilish and evil Genie falls for a lump of clay he thought he hated!

Well, I must say I absolutely, thoroughly enjoyed watching ep 11 which is the best episode out of all episodes if this drama!
I especially was very mych carried away and moved by the way the Genie , Iblis cries bloods of river while holding the dead heroine in his arms, and taking out the entire city at the same time! I always rewatch that scene! That moment is so intense! I never thought such devastating despair and sadness could mesmerize me like this!
Overall, it's just ok, but watch out for episode 11. It's the best! The setting and wra is exotically ancient too! And I live genie Iblis' entire look and hairstyle in that episode too!
It's their second meeting which feels like their first and the best if all their interactions and encounters so far! 😍The entire episode is like an epic poem!
Everyone must watch episode 11! Don't miss it for anything!

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THE GENIE, THE PSYCHOPATH, AND A THOUSAND YEARS OF UNFINISHED BUSINESS

SYNOPSIS:

Genie, Make a Wish is a supernatural romantic comedy about a genie named Iblis who was cast from heaven for refusing to bow before humans, and Ka-young, a young Korean woman diagnosed as a psychopath who was raised by her devoted grandmother Pan-geum to function in the world through rules and learned behaviour. Iblis needs Ka-young to make three corrupt wishes so he can corrupt her soul and win his eternal bet against righteous humanity. Ka-young, who remembers none of their shared past, has no interest in playing along. What unfolds is a chaotic, layered, emotionally surprising story of two people from completely different worlds who have apparently been orbiting each other across lifetimes without either of them fully knowing why.

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COMMENTARY:

I will be honest, the premise sounds absolutely unhinged on paper. A genie released in the Arabian desert by a Korean mechanic with no emotions who then follows her back to her small village and starts getting arrested and losing money at arcade machines. It should not work. But it does, and it does almost immediately.

The show earns its chaos by grounding it in something real. Ka-young is not your typical FL. She was abandoned by her mother specifically because of her diagnosis, was raised entirely by Pan-geum, and has spent her entire adult life following a structured set of rules her grandmother built for her just so she can function. She is not broken. She is not sad about it. She has simply accepted the shape of herself and built a life inside it. That is a genuinely fresh character choice, and the show does not spend its time asking you to feel sorry for her or waiting for her to become softer. Her growth is not about becoming more emotional in a conventional sense. It is about expanding.

Meanwhile Iblis, who has spent nearly a millennium plotting revenge against the one righteous human who got him imprisoned, is completely unprepared for the version of her he actually meets. She threatens him with a hairpin on day one. She runs him over with her car. She beats him senseless when he sets her shop on fire. He is a supernatural being of immense power and she is genuinely unfazed by him, and that dynamic is endlessly entertaining.

I want to spend real time on Ka-young because I think she is one of the more brilliant FL characterisations in recent times. The show never once tries to cure her or frame her psychopathy as something to be overcome. What it does instead is show how a person can be deeply moral without being emotionally accessible in the traditional sense. Ka-young keeps choosing good not because she understands it on a feeling level but because Pan-geum built it into her architecture. The rules her grandmother gave her are not a cage. They are a love language.

Her first wish to test whether humans are corrupt by having Iblis grant five strangers their wishes is so perfectly Ka-young. She is not naive about human nature. She just has her own framework for evaluating it and she wants proof before she concedes. Every wish she makes after that, including her final one, is for someone else. A psychopath who keeps choosing self-sacrifice. There is something deeply moving about that contradiction once the show fully develops it.

Suzy absolutely killed this role. Ka-young's exterior is so controlled and flat and Suzy never made that feel like emptiness. There was always something underneath. The deadpan comedy, the small moments of competitive satisfaction, the jealousy she cannot name but clearly feels when Iblis mentions Jinniya, all of it was there without ever being announced. And when the finale finally gives her the emotional breakdown in the desert, it hits like a freight train because you have been watching her hold everything at arm's length for thirteen episodes. That scene was devastating in the best way.

Woo-bin has range we do not always get to see and this drama lets him use it. Iblis is funny. He is petty and jealous and embarrassingly bad at adjusting to modern life. The scene of him discovering carbonated drinks, the moment he gets motion sick after being released from the lamp, the absolute disaster of him attending a village festival. All of it lands because Woo-bin plays the absurdity with complete sincerity.

But the drama earns the right to break your heart with him because it spends time building the tragedy underneath the comedy. Iblis did not start his existence as a villain. He was a being who refused to bow out of pride and has spent a millennium convinced that his hatred for Ka-young is what drives him. What the past life reveals is that somewhere in a 20-year gap he cannot remember, he fell completely and irreversibly in love with her. He wrote her name on the walls of his lamp in a dead language over and over. He used his last divine wish to beg for a chance to see her again in another life. He wiped out an entire city in his grief after she died.

The episode that reconstructs that past is genuinely one of the most emotionally affecting things I have watched in a while. Woo-bin channelled Iblis's devastation so completely that it physically hurt. The arrogant immortal, brought completely undone by one human woman, weeping blood in the desert over a body turning to ash. The show earns every moment of it because it builds to it with patience.

I could talk about the supernatural mythology all day but the truth is the emotional engine of this drama is Pan-geum and Ka-young's relationship. Ahn Eun-jin played young Pan-geum with such warmth and specificity that every scene she was in felt lived-in. Her love for Ka-young is not performative or sentimental. It is practical and total. She built her granddaughter a whole functioning life out of rules and routines and never once treated her diagnosis as a tragedy to be mourned. That is an extraordinary kind of love and the drama understands it.

The second wish, Ka-young asking Iblis to restore Pan-geum's youth, is impulsive and not fully thought through in a very Ka-young way. But the reason behind it, overhearing Pan-geum worry about being a burden, is so telling. Ka-young cannot process grief. She cannot express love the way most people do. But she will upend the laws of reality for her grandmother without blinking. That is the show at its best.

Pan-geum's death hit hard even though it was telegraphed. The fact that Ka-young could not cry at the funeral and her mom would not let her join the procession is one of the most brutal moments in the drama. And then the desert breakdown comes later and you understand that all of that grief was just waiting for somewhere to go.

Min-ji is a gem of a supporting character. Fiercely loyal, quietly perceptive, the kind of friend who figures out the truth and responds by helping Ka-young hide it rather than making it about herself. Her final wishes, all three of them selfless, are a perfect reflection of who she is. The moment she can no longer recognise Ka-young after her third wish is the kind of small tragedy the show handles better than its big ones.

Every human master who gets wishes in this story reflects something specific about human nature and I think the drama handles this with more intelligence than it gets credit for. Im-seon wastes her wishes chasing workplace status she is not equipped for, ends up estranged from her daughter, and never even sees what she actually needed. Sang-tae is genuinely unsettling. A serial killer who uses his second wish to revisit the memory of a murder with visible satisfaction is a darker character than this genre usually attempts and Cho-joon plays him with a menace that works.

Yeong-hyeon is the most embarrassing kind of selfish, the kind that cannot recognise itself as selfishness until it has already caused damage. Bu-gyeong is driven purely by resentment. Kim Gae the dog asking to become human and then spending his human existence searching for the family that threw him away is the saddest arc in the whole drama and it lasts maybe four scenes total. The fact that he uses his last wish to return to dog form so he can say goodbye is genuinely heartbreaking.

The bet Ka-young sets up early on, asking Iblis to grant strangers' wishes to prove whether humans are corrupt, is one of my favourite structural choices in the drama. It makes the supporting characters' storylines feel purposeful rather than filler. Each one feeds back into the central theme. Greed hollows people out. Selflessness costs something real. Ka-young keeps proving her own point even when she does not intend to.

I want to be honest about the middle stretch because it is genuinely a problem. The Khalid arc, which takes up a significant portion of the drama's runtime, drags. Jung-hoon as an immortal being obsessed with obtaining more supernatural power is interesting in concept but repetitive in execution. His schemes loop back on themselves. His men show up. Ka-young gets cornered. Iblis shows up to save her. The mythology stacks up, Shadi, Zahara, soul flowers, immortality threads, but the emotional stakes do not rise proportionally.

The show is at its best when it is intimate. Ka-young and Iblis bickering over carbonated drinks, stargazing from the highest point in the village, redecorating the inside of his lamp together. Every time the supernatural politics pull focus away from that intimacy the drama loses something. There were stretches in the middle where I could feel myself losing investment and having to trust that the payoff was coming.

Ejllael is also a frustrating character. He is framed as antagonistic for most of the run but his motivations are inconsistent. An angel of death who tells Pan-geum the exact date she will die seemingly just to torment her, withholds crucial information from Iblis out of petty war-era grievances, and actively schemes to get Ka-young to make a corrupt wish so he can kill his brother. For an angel the moral logic is completely absent. Ka-young hitting him with a spade every other scene is extremely funny but it also underlines how thin his characterisation is. The show knows it cannot defend him so it just makes him a comedic punching bag instead.

The wish logic also had real inconsistencies. What counts as righteous versus corrupt shifted depending on what the narrative needed. Who can enter the lamp, what Iblis can and cannot alter in the past, how the bet actually works. The rules bent when the plot needed them to, which made it harder to fully invest in the stakes.

Despite the middle stretch issues the past life reconstruction is so good that it almost makes up for everything. Learning that Iblis spent twenty years in Dubai unknowingly falling in love with Ka-young a second time, this time a version of her who sold dates in the street and saved her money to buy a camel so she could go home, is devastating. She was discriminated against, cheated, beaten, and she still gave her last dates to homeless people. She was still exactly herself.

The cruelty of how she dies is almost unbearable. Iblis's master at the time makes a wish for a woman who refuses to submit to him and Iblis fulfils it without knowing the woman is Ka-young. By the time he realises it is too late. He fights, he begs, he tries to get anyone to take his lamp and use their first wish to save her. Nobody does. One man takes the lamp and wishes for gold. Ka-young dies with Iblis's hands on her face, and he destroys the entire city in his grief.

And then you find out that his last divine wish, the one the Supreme Being granted him, was simply to see her again in another life. He did not wish for revenge. He did not wish for her to remember him. He just wanted to see her. That recontextualises everything. His so-called hatred for her was grief wearing a costume. He has been mourning her for a thousand years and he could not even remember why.

The last few episodes are where the drama finally delivers on everything it has been building. Ka-young's final wish being framed as selfish on the surface but functioning as a last act of protection for Iblis is perfectly in character. She asks for one day of feeling everything. Every emotion she has been numb to her whole life. And then she spends that day weeping in the desert, finally understanding her grandmother, finally understanding what people have felt for her. It is raw and gutting and Suzy carries it entirely.

The reincarnation ending is exactly right. Ka-young returning as a genie, Iblis returning on the day the cherry blossoms fall, the two of them working together as a bickering duo for eternity. It fits them. Pan-geum raising chaos in the afterlife until Ejllael petitions for Iblis's return is the most Pan-geum thing imaginable and I loved it completely. Min-ji's wishes being entirely for other people, including her last one for Ka-young, is a beautiful sendoff for a character who spent the whole drama quietly being the best person in every room.


This one is for fans of supernatural romance, enemies-to-lovers, and slow burn payoffs that actually deliver. If you love dramas that blend genuine comedy with emotional gut punches, this is worth your time. Patience is required for the midsection but the back half rewards it.

This drama is not for everyone and I will not pretend otherwise. The lore can feel exhausting, the pacing has real issues, and if you need your romance to be front and centre at all times you will likely get frustrated. But if you trust the build, the landing is worth it.

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FINAL THOUGHTS:

I give Genie, Make a Wish an 8/10. It is an uneven drama that peaks incredibly high and dips frustratingly low and somehow ends up being one of the more emotionally memorable watches of the year regardless. The core relationship between Ka-young and Iblis, two people who have been circling each other across lifetimes without knowing it, is exactly the kind of soulmatism story I live for when it is done with this much specificity.

Ka-young is not fixed by love. She is not cured or completed. She is expanded by it, and that is a much more honest and interesting story. Iblis does not become a good person. He becomes a person who chooses one human over his thousand-year-old resentment, which for him is the same thing. That distinction matters and the drama understands it.

The middle stretch will test you. The mythology will occasionally exhaust you. But Ka-young breaking down in the desert, finally feeling everything all at once, and Iblis returning on the day the cherry blossoms fall to find her already waiting. That is the drama at its best, and at its best this show is genuinely something.

Ty for reading! ♡

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i dont know how to react for this serial

I’ve watched every episode of this series, especially since there are characters I like, but

The screenwriter (Kim Eun-sook) seems to have taken too many liberties mixing Islamic theology, Middle Eastern mythology, and K-drama fantasy logic, resulting in the following problematic points:

1. The Romanticization of the “Devil” (The Ultimate Evil)

This series uses “Devil” as the main character’s name (played by Kim Woo-bin) and frames it within a love arc, where viewers are led to sympathize, get emotionally invested, and support his love story with a human.

2. The Depiction of the Angel of Death (Izrail) as Evil

In its fantasy plot, the character Izrail is positioned as the antagonist or the “evil side,” serving as the enemy and fighting against the Devil. This reversal of theological logic is deemed highly inappropriate and disrespectful to religious beliefs.

3. The Concept of Humans Becoming Jinn and the Interplay of Two Realms

This drama crosses that line by creating a two-realm romance plot, even introducing concepts of reincarnation and destiny where humans can transform into jinn (or vice versa) for the sake of love. This logic borrows from Korean mythological tropes (such as the fox spirit/Gumiho) but forces them onto Islamic theological beings.

4. The Misuse of the Historical Name “Muthalib” for an Antagonist

The name “Muthalib” (which is highly revered as it refers to Abdul Muthalib, the grandfather of the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him), known for his wisdom and generosity) is also misused in this series.

This sacred/historical name is carelessly used to name a fictional character with a villainous nature (even associated with a villain). This demonstrates the production team’s extremely superficial cultural research.

5. Repetition of Negative Stereotypes Against Arab Society

In the early episodes set in Dubai, local characters are portrayed with outdated stereotypes (as aggressive figures or criminals) solely to serve as plot devices so the main character appears as a “hero” who defeats them.


This is why the international Muslim community has been voicing criticism en masse as the series airs; not to spoil the viewing experience, but to provide education and “guidelines” so that the general audience does not blindly accept that what is depicted on screen is part of actual Islamic culture or beliefs.


For viewers who are “naive”—meaning they are unfamiliar with Islamic history, do not understand the religion’s theology, or are simply non-Muslim viewers consuming this series purely for entertainment—the impact can be quite concerning from the perspective of information distortion and cultural bias.

1. Trapped in “Normalization” and Sympathy for the Devil

Uninformed viewers will see the character played by Kim Woo-bin as a handsome, humorous, tragic man willing to sacrifice everything for love (a hopeless romantic). Because it’s packaged with a polished Korean rom-com formula, viewers will begin to sympathize, feel sorry for, and even get emotionally invested in this character named Iblis. As a result, the original meaning of the word “Devil”—a symbol of absolute evil—shifts in their minds to merely an “endearing anti-hero.”

2. Distortion of Historical and Theological Information (Misinformation)

Since this drama uses real names like Muthalib or Izrail, unsuspecting viewers will assume these names belong to mere fictional fairy-tale or mythological figures, on par with Zeus, Thor, or Goblin. They will never realize that for billions of people, these names hold real, revered, and sacred historical significance. If they ever hear the name “Muthalib” in the real world, their first association will be the fictional character from that K-drama.

3. Assuming Islam/Middle Eastern Culture Is the Same as Korean Mythology

The general audience will uncritically absorb the idea that the concept of Jinn in Islam is exactly the same as Gumiho (the nine-tailed fox) or Dokkaebi (the Korean goblin)—capable of falling in love with humans, capable of shape-shifting, and whose fate can be manipulated through romance. This creates massive cultural distortion, where the theology of a religion is equated with local Korean folklore.

4. Swallowing Negative Stereotypes About Arabs/Middle Easterners

In the early episodes set in Dubai, if the local population is portrayed with negative stereotypes (aggressive, rude, or criminal), unsuspecting viewers will take this as a true representation of the people there. This reinforces existing biases and prejudices (xenophobia) in Western media, which are now being reproduced by Korean media.

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