Genie, Make a Wish

Two Wishes, One Destiny — Suzy and Woo Bin’s Magical Comeback

Okay guys, Genie, Make a Wish brings back one of my all-time favorite on-screen couples — Bae Suzy and Kim Woo Bin! If you’ve loved their chemistry here, please go watch Uncontrollably Fond too (just keep tissues nearby 😭).

Now, about this drama — I absolutely loved how they mixed Arabic culture and language with a Korean storyline. It’s such a refreshing touch because genies do come from Middle Eastern tales, and seeing that represented here was honestly so cool.

The show gives you everything — magical vibes, strong acting, heartwarming friendships, unforgettable cameos, and yes… two love stories from the same couple (you’ll get what I mean when you watch). 💫

On the flip side, I wish the ending (especially episode 12) hit a little harder — it felt slightly rushed for such a beautiful buildup. But still, if you’re a fan of supernatural dramas, magical love stories, and Bae Suzy’s charm, this one is definitely worth your time.

P.S. – I truly admire how Suzy picks her roles — she never shies away from experimenting. And if you want to see her range, check out Vagabond (for the action junkies), While You Were Sleeping (for the romantics), and Start-Up (for the dreamers).

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I don't really know how to rate this ...

Well, first of all, the reason I started this was Woo Bin and Eun Jin, also Steve Noh is a bonus but the story itself and Suzy as the FL made me a little reluctant to start it.

Be that as it may I decided to give it a go, the story is full of tangles and complications, there is a lot happening and too many characters, I don't know if I was bored and just want to end it or I was genuinely entertained and want to keep watching to the end, all I felt is "when will this end?" I wanted to reach the final closure so I kept watching.

The religious reference was the main thing that caused backlash, it's heavily influenced by the Islamic view of Shaitan but it's full of Christians hints too, so you don't even know which religion they wanted to reference which IMO is a really smart move, because it's a work of fiction not a religious adaptation of Satan's story so basically no offence done to neither religions, cause they didn't get the correct story from any of them.

The end of the story was too sugar coated, but it's a Fantasy drama after all, they wanted the illogic happy ending so be it ~~

Acting was fine, Woo Bin was fantastic and I was really happy to see him because i haven't seen him in a drama since forever, my beautiful Eun Jin was great, I think her role was smaller than I expected, I wanted to see more of her and I wish her role was bigger, it was a very insignificant till maybe the last few episodes only, I also wanted to see more interaction with Steve Noh, they literally had 2 scenes together and I loved them more than the leads. I wish to see them in another drama together again.
Suzy was ok-ish... She got better I can notice her improvement in acting but I couldn't help but compare her psychopathic character to Seo Yea-ji in It's ok to not be ok, I mean her acting and chemistry with Woo bin were ok, but I couldn't see her as a psychopath at all, she didn't convince me as a psycho, she doesn't have the look of crazy in her eyes, she just act tough and it doesn't suit her at all, I expected that tbh, and that's why I kept my expectations for her character very low, so I can't say I'm that disappointed.

I would not rewatch it again, not even for Woo Bin or Eun Jin, once was enough, and I won't recommend it because I understand the religious reference may be uncomfortable to some people, and you won't miss much it you skip it tbh ~~

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Shallow Plotline with Quick Pace

Yet another rom com plunged into a pit of downfall. Truthfully, the story of this show ain't really deep and promising from the start. But as things go on, the writer seems to do quite a good job for putting together a Genie and a psychopath. Things are looking better until the story about Khalid kicks in. This part of story is unnecessary, unimpactful and really destroys everything that have been built, especially the storyline about two previous wishes from Ka Young. Everything becomes too makjang-ish, even for a fantasy genre show. The war between Iblis and Elljael is questionable, they fought for years but somehow Iblis able to end it quite easily. The pace of the show is really quick, borderline between enjoyable and confusing. It's not easy to understand a psychopath like Ki Ka Young, but for me it's more difficult to understand how can Ka Young fall for Iblis out of nowhere though she mostly has no emotion.

The visual effect of this show gives an eyesore. It's really awful and I think for a 2025 show, they should've tried harder. On the other hand, the soundtrack is quite great.

The performance of the casts is quite alright, nothing bad but nothing too special. The chemistry between Suzy and Woo Bin is also good. In my opinion, the one who does an impressive job here is Ahn Eun Jin.

Watch this show if you're looking for a quick adventure and when you don't really need to explore some "details".

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"Arabic vibes, killer chemistry, and tears—Genie nailed it ?

It’s been a while since I truly enjoyed a K-drama, but Genie, Make a Wish pulled me right back in. After being surrounded by the usual K-culture themes for so long, this one felt refreshingly different with its unique Arabic-inspired vibes.
At first, I wasn’t too sure about the male lead — I honestly thought he wouldn’t fit the role of a genie. But wow, he completely proved me wrong. His performance was captivating, and the chemistry between him and the female lead was unexpectedly beautiful, even though her character was meant to be emotionless. Somehow, it worked perfectly.
The flashback scene absolutely wrecked me — I didn’t expect to cry that much, but I did. Both leads delivered such raw emotion that I can’t imagine anyone else doing justice to these roles. The ending tied everything together so well; it left me with that warm, satisfied feeling that only a good drama can give.
After wandering for a while without finding something binge-worthy, this drama reignited my spark for K-dramas. Truly, a refreshing and emotional watch.

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OMG SPEECHLESS

THIS IS BEST DRAMA I HAVE WATCHED SOO FAR. This was soo funny and towards the end, it was emotional. Loved the chemistry between genie (Iblis) and psychopath and their interaction- how he was afraid of her, her hittingher everytime they met, their romance, their sacrifice. The side characters like grandma (I cried for that part the way she dies), sayyid (the panther) he was so funny and was full of humour, even FL grandma younger version was so pretty and acted well.

The episode 1-9 are hilarious and full of humour. The plot was amazing and not at all boring. This was my first time I didn't skip the parts of the drama. 9-12 episodes of soo emotional and full of sacrifices. The sacrifice of grandma, sayyid and all others. I felt bad for min ju (FL BFF) she had gone through a lot and lost many people in her life- her ex lover, she fell in love with FL grandma younger version without knowing her identity and MOST IMPORTANT her every wish in end were of ka young happiness- she reunited the main lead even tho she knew she will forget everything about her. TRULY BEST FRIEND OF KA YOUNG

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A chaotic mess, a surprising gem

The return of Suzy and Kim Woo Bin. A duo that once made headlines in uncontrollably fond and remains a fan favorite pairing even to this day. While that particular drama may have had it's issues, it evidently crafted a dynamic so popular it warranted a second go at it. Did the pair succeed in recapturing the same allure that justified their renewed pairing?

Well, to start with, the story is an absolute mess, but it's highly entertaining. Which means that according to any self proclaimed critic I've just committed the ultimate sin; subjective scoring.
I'm not just bringing that up in a vain attempt to sound witty but because this is one of those shows where it's very easy to grade it low and call it a day. I've learned over the past decade that a great show is not always one that tells the greatest story. Korean drama's in particular aim to invoke emotions in you. They do not (usually) aim to tell an oscar worthy story.
This doesn't necessarily mean criticism of the writing of any drama is unwarranted, but that I do not find it to be the most important aspect of a good drama.

This drama is elevated to something really quite special by just two things;

- The believable portrayal of a psychopathic main character.
- A charismatic duo that justified it's existence by strong acting chops, chemistry and camera charisma.

Let me get one thing straight; I absolutely have not and will not research psychopathic behavior to ascertain the accuracy of Genie's portrayal of one. We all know what a stereotypical psychopath is. Genie however aims to tell a different kind of story from the stereotypical. One that, in order to criticize or praise, one would need extensive knowledge about.
I only care about the believability of it. If it's managed to sell me on that then it's a good portrayal to me.
I'm sure a psychologist could analyze this show and find faults in the portrayal but that's not my job nor my desire to care about.

I found the idea that a whole village comes together to quote unquote raise a psychopath into a functioning adult to be highly compelling. Unfortunately the show doesn't go into too much detail about this, but we see the results. We see what it takes for Gayoung to live a life resembling normalcy and the struggle. She often remarks that life is boring. She engages in activities that place her in proximity of death as she's pretty much passively suicidal throughout the entire show. On top of that she actively enjoys the idea of getting hurt or dying as this seems to invoke a strong feeling in her.

I have to shout out Suzy's acting here. She really brought this character to life and she was perfectly cast for this role as it requires a specific type of acting. The way she changed the tone of her voice and articulation was a great touch as well.
This is one of those roles that on the surface might seem like anyone could do because of the lack of expressions required but in reality it's the micro expressions that sell the performance, and Suzy nails it.
I really only think someone like Seo Yea Ji could do a comparable, if not better job but Suzy delivers and shows everyone that she's far different from who she was in earlier works such as Uncontrollably Fond and Gu Family Book.

The whole drama is pure entertainment and especially the first two episodes were an incredible entry to the show. I'd give the combination of those two episodes a 10/10. The show didn't quite keep up that level of quality but it awkwardly weaved in scenes of people making wishes, the unraveling of multiple factions and the really fun scenes of Gayoung being herself or interacting with Genie. Not all of it was done all that well and many times I was a bit lost on what we were actually doing as the scene transitions are really awkward sometimes. That being said it all sort of comes together by the end of it and it has a couple fun and clever uses of foreshadowing, which is something I always appreciate.

I'd have to say the romance aspect was a bit off. It's going to be hard to write a believable romance involving a psychopath.
The show opted for a ''don't tell, don't show'' approach with this. No, seriously, we just don't know why Gayoung wants to be with Genie. She doesn't love Genie (she can't), she doesn't say she likes or loves him (she'd be lying) and she's still constantly trying to hurt him physically (it's played up for jokes but still). I figured what was presumably her first kiss was a new and different sensation that she latched on to, which is why she was so adamant about kissing him again but that's really all I have and the show has for us.

Ultimately Genie, make a wish is a technically flawed show that compensates for that with highly skilled acting and one of the more intriguing leads in recent drama history.
It probably doesn't deserve this high of a score, but I believe it warrants it for the experience it gave me, even if it was flawed.

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A delightful mix of homage, humor, and love.

This drama just made me into writing my first ever review on MDL that’s how much I loved this drama. A story filled with laughter and grief for family, friendship, and love. The emotional intensity between the genie and gayoung is utterly captivating. The plot is compact and impactful. The acting is incredible, SUZY and Kim Woobin never fail to impress me and has just won my heart once again. The ending is truly the best one, one of the most beautiful and satisfying one. I have watched hundreds of dramas but had never seen an ending like this before! BRAVO! it’s truly the kdrama of the year for me!

Antisocial personality disorder, often seen as terrifying, played a key role and became a major source of angst in the drama. A psychopath, who had been ostracized wherever she went. Her ultimate wish, born from her unfulfilled humanity, is to feel humanity and her resolve to die for her beloved’s freedom. An evil genie, who never acknowledged the equal value of all lives, unilaterally regains his past memories and realized his own arrogance created the fatal cycle of his past and present lives, his pain intensified a hundredfold and finally bowing to love, trading immortality to honor his beloved as righteous, has deeply moved me.

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Don’t be fooled with the low ratings!

As someone who’s been watching K-dramas since 2010, I truly feel MDL’s ratings for this series are unjustified. The story is engaging and surprisingly thoughtful, and the pacing keeps you hooked without ever feeling dragged out. The casting is absolutely perfect, and the performances were so strong that I genuinely found myself angry at the antagonists. Suzy’s acting is truly best actress worthy (IMO). Every character feels purposeful, and the chemistry between the leads is natural and believable. It’s a solid, well-made drama that deserves more appreciation, and people should definitely give it a chance instead of relying solely on the ratings. ❤️

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FairyTale unfolding Kdrama style

I find this drama a good combination of typical Kdrama with a magical world combined with age old fairytales. We have a Genie and human being involved with wishes with you die or I die Kdrama situation. As here the mystical being is Genie it brings all the beloved things from the Aladin cartoon. The result of this combination is pure entertainment.
We have a decent magical world with satisfying main characters but the strong point is definitely the main leads played to the perfection by the respective actors. Kim woo bin is made for this role who can showcase the different emotions within a minute only with his eyes. I absolutely loved the Ginie character who is actually a devil and wants to corrupt the human beings with the wishes at the same time he is lovable and gullible himself. This Genie wants to beat one human being which is righteous in all her previous lives and he has failed to corrupt her. Enter our main lead , lump of clay , who is in her current life does not feel any feelings and has been referred to as Psychotic. Their love story unfolds with a pretty strong universe and although lots of complicated wish granting and past life baggage is unfolding the writer does seem to have a plan which unfolds in the final showdown.
Overall the strong point with this drama is comedy with stunning cinematography and this will be a good entertaining one time watch
P.S. Kim woo bin and Suzy look amazing with beautiful chemistry in every frame,whether the background is cherry blossoms, a desert, her workshop where she is actually making coffins for herself or last but not the least inside the genie's lamp

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Under deliver potential great fiction-drama

Looking forward to this drama because of Suzy and Woo-bin, equally great individual actors addition to a Promising storyline and concept. Just finished Bon Appetitè Your Majesty and was hoping this would help me move on but it was a disappointment. Sadly. Story was mostly dragging and confusing, i had to change the language just to check where i can more appreciate the lines and delivery. With all of the episodes the only episode that I did not hit the fast forward was when the Genie was taken back to the past and remembered what happened to him and Kayoung. Acting of Woobin as expected delivered but the rest, really a drag. There was also GL included which i appreciated but somehow added more confusion in the mix.

Overall it could have been epic only it has a lot of unnecessary scenes and unrelated subplots that made it lost its supposed original concept. Aw! Hoping for a greater comeback for the actors very soon!

Note: I understand the reactions of using the iblis as a character and its relation to religion but I do hope we can look past it as a form of the production being creative instead of disrespectful.

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