Genie, Make a Wish

Lots of Mystery, Fantasy and Fun

A messy start, a heartfelt middle, and a slightly flat ending but overall, Genie, Make a Wish is an oddly addictive, emotionally layered fantasy drama worth giving a chance.




It felt like a colossal misfire in the first two episodes mostly because of how much information they tried to pack in right away. But once the pacing settled, I started to warm up to the characters, and that’s when the show became genuinely enjoyable. The humor shines through more subtly than expected, so some viewers might miss it and dismiss the drama as “bloated,” but it actually balances lighthearted and dark moments quite well.

Personally, I could really relate to the female lead her emotional depth and inner conflicts felt authentic. The side characters were all adorable, adding warmth and personality to the story. The side romance between the second female lead and the grandma did feel forced (and a bit odd because of the age gap), but I appreciated how the show explored the many facets of psychopathy rather than reducing it to a lack of empathy.

There was mystery & comedy and both in a more than enough manner.

There was some unnecessary repetition the female lead constantly hitting the male lead got old after a while but overall, it was binge-worthy. Despite the uneven acting and a slightly unsatisfying ending, the storyline remained surprisingly solid throughout.

Pros:
- Strong character development once pacing improves
- Thoughtful psychological elements
- Subtle comedy and emotional balance
- Relatable female lead

Cons:
- Overloaded first episodes
- Uneven acting
- Forced side romance
- Repetitive slapstick moments

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GREAT CAST AND SURPRISINGLY FUN

It tells the story of a mysterious genie who grants people’s wishes, but each wish slowly reveals how human desire can lead to greed and corruption. At the center is Ki Ga Yeong, a psychopath who plays a big part in the story’s darker side. The drama mixes fantasy and moral lessons in a way that’s easy to follow, so it doesn’t feel too heavy to watch.

What makes it interesting is how it deals with people’s wishes and how far they’re willing to go once they get what they want. It’s not exactly a new idea, but the way the story is presented makes it entertaining.

I was honestly surprised to see Daniel Henney appear here since the last time I saw him was in The Wheel of Time. His scenes with the chauffeur, Kim, are some of my favorites. Their chemistry is really fun, and they made me laugh a lot. Though, the cgi and vfx are a bit inconsistent, sometimes it’s clearly looks off.

I was expecting more from Steven Noh’s character, but he ended up feeling a bit flat. His role seemed like it could’ve been more important, but it didn’t really go anywhere. Aside from that, I also noticed how the story has a lot of similarities to Goblin.

Genie feels like Goblin himself, Death/Ejlael plays the Grim Reaper type role, and Genie’s sword. Even the plot of Genie trying to save Ki Ga Young from death is very similar to Goblin’s story. Because of that, it doesn’t really feel original, more like it borrowed a lot of ideas from something that already worked before.

Still, the cast really carried the show. Bae Suzy and Kim Woo Bin have great chemistry, and Suzy’s acting as a psychopath is amazing, she completely owned her role. The grandmother and her younger self also stood out and added a lot of heart to the drama.

Plot 6.5/10
Acting and Characters 9/10
Cinematography 8.5/10
Writing 7/10
Pacing 8/10
OST/Score 8/10

Overall 8/10

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chaotic, funny, sad, sweet and exciting!!! omgg

I wasn't really interested in the drama before, although I like the actors. I recently watched the first episode out of boredom and found it somewhat interesting. I think the drama has gotten better and better. Lately I've had to force myself to watch K-dramas, but I binged this one immediately because I love it.

I love the chaotic, funny, and sweet couple, and the way she often beats him up is hilarious. With those two, it's never boring. I also cried often while watching.

I have no words we can write to express how much I love this K-drama.

"Habibti" 🥹

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Lost magic in the final episode

"Genie, Make Your Wish" had incredible potential; suspense, beautiful storytelling, and emotional depth that kept me hooked. Up until the end, it held a magical quality that made it stand out.

Unfortunately, the final episode felt unnecessary and diminished the impact of the series. Instead of preserving mystery, it wrapped everything up too neatly, removing the emotional weight and supernatural beauty that had been built throughout the show. That choice left the ending feeling flat, rather than haunting and memorable.

Still, this kdrama remains one of the most beautiful fantasy romances I’ve watched, and I recommend it for anyone who enjoys emotionally rich storytelling with a touch of mystery.

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Entertaining Mess

Having just finished the 13th episode a few minutes ago I am still reeling from how the writer decided to end this story. Realizing that the entire premise was fictional / nonsensical helps explain why the FL could come back as a genie herself...because once reality is tossed aside and pigs fly, then sure, bring her back. Anything goes. I'm reminded a bit of Hotel Del Luna, where at times it seemed that the show was merely dress-up time for IU. Oh, she's so pretty! (I happen to agree, but that's beside the point.) This Genie show might basically be a chance to watch the leads do anything because they are good looking. Go ahead build a story around them because their fans will watch it regardless of how strange the story is. The cast has plenty of experience to draw on and for the most part it was a fun watch. I wouldn't recommend it to anyone who hadn't already watched 50 or more Kdramas as there are plenty of better shows than this one. I would have rated it higher had the writer come up with a different ending. Amid all the commotion and deaths, rebirths, the leads' eternal bliss, I felt bad for Min-ji. Sure, they grayed her hair and gave her a nod as she stood on the sand at the end, but her best friend left her without a word and goes and dies. Her sorrow seemed to be the most deserved in the show.

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Fantasy Rom Com with twists and turns

This Kdrama twisted everything up. In some ways it seemed like it was going to be a typical Rom Com, but it turned out to be nothing like the usual Kdrama. It was a fantasy story about a genie in a lamp granting people their three wishes. But it got deep and dark the further you went into the story. Here are some of the twists.

The genie is actually Satan proving to the supreme one that humans are inferior and deserve to go to hell. He uses their three wishes to prove this.
There is an angel who is jealous of Satan who is also his brother, and he is also the grim reaper. Somehow he started a 300-year war....I think.
The girl who rubs the lamp at the beginning of the story is a psychopath who feels nothing, wants to kill someone, and lives her days in a boring routine so she doesn't harm anyone. Her grandmother loves her dearly.
Both Satan and his brother the angel, have sidekicks. One is a panther, and one is an owl who also morph into people and they both like each other.
There is an ancient story of a brother and sister whose demise starts a curse put on Satan, a half-spirit half-human child trying to have a last wish and kill many who stand in the way, a magic thread that weighs someone down from moving, a sword caught in a rock, and somewhere in all of this is the love story of our two main leads. This was terribly confusing and I had a hard tome keeping things straight.

It has not been my favorite drama this year. But it was different and had many good qualities.

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Genie, make a wish

EDIT: So many people find it useful and I decided that in the end it deserves 8/10 (Kim Woo Bin and last episodes made me reconsidered). The rating is the only change in my review.
Warning - SPOILERS!
If you love human-non human love story then you will love this one too. At the beginning it felt like mix of My demon with The judge from hell - if you like this two then one more reason to watch. Mines were simply Bae Suzy and a genre.
Bae Suzy - she was really great in this role, I did not expected that, I am also very happy that in the end she still was a psychopath, chemistry was cute - I really liked when she hacked and saved kiss video. Also I really love some of her outifit (not all, something new cause usually all are great) - her pink outfit in ep 3, black one in ep 6, jeans dress or her pink tweed one. Also her almost crying in some episodes were so well played
Kim Woo Bin - my first drama with him and I really liked him, In longer hair he looked like Michael Jackson XD, his acting or rather his character reminded me of Kang Ha Neul in Tastefully yours.
Ahn Eun Jin - she was so sweet
Lee Joo Young - her homosexuality was so well added, it was not hmm how to say it, it did not feel force, it was natural and smooth - and it was clear she would for young grandma
Ko Kyu Pil - he was so adorable, I really liked his character
Woo Hyun Jin - she was also a great character, wished she did not followed all orders but well she had to, I am happy that in the end she bring BS's memories
What more I had to mention - first kiss scene was great!! I loved the child which who BS's youngself wished to rescue. Ppoppi!! There was some fun cameos and I really like Stray kids's (Han, Felix, I.N.) OST song.
To sum up - if you like fantasy romcom with some sad scenes then let's go and watch this!

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My only wish: take me away from this messy ride.

***Full disclaimer: I will not be mentioning anything religious in my review. There's plenty of those opinions in the comments. I also did not watch this on 2x speed, nor did a skip any scenes, episodes, or fast forward***

The Goblin crew is back for what I think we all hoped would be the next big thing in fantasy storytelling, but unfortunately this wasn't the magic carpet ride we were all waiting for.

Plot/Story: We start with our FL, who everyone calls a "psychopath" because she can't decipher feelings nor feel anything herself. She takes her annual trip to Dubai to meet her birth mother and basically cut ties with her. After taking a tour of the desert she stumbles upon the magic lamp which then begins the wild ride... I think.
Without getting into the weeds, this story is divvied up into many subplots - *deep breath*
the ML and FL's main story, including their past;
the 5 (all separate stories) of people (and 1 dog) that were involved in the FL's first wish;
the story between ML and the angel of death;
the "immortal child";
and the 2FL and grandmother.
.... to name a few.
Whew, that was a lot, right? You feel it while watching this show. It's a mixture of the main story between the leads, and then all this other...stuff. It's hard to keep up, it feels disjointed, and when you take a step back and look at it all you wonder why they decided to go down the story telling path of darkness.

Main Characters: The FL's lack of emotion felt fine throughout the series until the end, when we find out what this drama could have been like had they allowed her to act with emotions and feel - when that happened I felt a heap of disappointment on what could have been. They never shied away from her relentlessness towards the ML and being mean to him all the time which took me out of the romance element by a long shot.

The ML did a decent job with his role while we learned about his past and how he was probably misunderstood. However, they gave him a role that needed to be god-like and ruthless in one scene which he played well, but then the next scene he becomes silly and over the top at times, and I mean really goofy. Was it to play off of the FL's sternness/bluntless? I honestly don't know. One minute he's murdering everyone, the next he's being goofy. It was odd.

While the main leads acting was done well, the direction was too over the top, not allowing for basically any character development. When we think the ML will go from ruthless to understanding, kind, humane - that didn't really happen. He was kind of just always that way. When we think the FL will grow to understand those around her that love her and not feel burdened, well...that doesn't really happen either. She's very one note.

Music: There was very little music played throughout the series. What I heard was fine, but forgettable. I wish they could have incorporated more to add to the emotional elements.

Visuals: I saw a lot of people saying the CGI was poor. I don't feel that way. For a Netflix kdrama the CGI was done well. It was entertaining - it didn't take me out of the experience, and the visuals were quite captivating most of the time.

Final wish: I was hoping this drama could have been more magically captivating romance by really diving into the fact that the ML thought all mortals are corrupt until he meets FL. Their past together could have been the key to them uniting without all the BS of the other characters. I wish the FL wasn't emotionless. I really felt for her in the final episodes, and when I saw that I thought they did us and her a disservice by not having that be a part of this show.

Why 7.5/10? While this show is disjointed in many aspects, it was still entertaining. It had it's really great moments that weren't always overshadowed by the bad direction. The 5 "mini" stories surrounding the 4 people and 1 dog that started out the show felt strong, and I liked where it was going, but it turned dark quickly, and it just reminded me of "the first night with the Duke" and I just got bad joojoo vibes all over again.

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Pure Fantasy Chaos

I thoroughly enjoyed this drama because it brought a refreshing twist to the fantasy genre by making the ML a genie. Paired with an FL who is delightfully unhinged, their dynamic created plenty of hilarious and memorable moments. Their contrasting personalities complemented each other well, making their interactions one of the biggest highlights of the series.

The supporting cast was equally entertaining. The halmonis, the mythical sidekick, the FL's best friend, and the ML's angel brother all had their own charm and contributed to the comedy without feeling like unnecessary additions. Everyone had a role to play, and their interactions made the world feel connected and alive.

One detail that genuinely made me laugh was casting Jinniya (SHK) as the ML's ex, knowing she is his ex-girlfriend in real life. It added an extra layer of amusement whenever they shared the screen. I also appreciated the references to the ML's previous dramas and movies, which were a fun treat for longtime fans.

Overall, this drama knew exactly what it wanted to be. It was creative, lighthearted, funny, and consistently entertaining from beginning to end. It never tried to be overly serious, and that was precisely what made it such an enjoyable watch.

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