The Haunted Palace

A snake demon joins forces with a girl to destroy evil ?

Finished 9/10 🌟
The Haunted Palace has been one of my favorite Kdramas so far in 2025
I know it's not a genre that everyone likes since it mixes fantasy, history and horror, but I personally loved many aspects of this story 💗
16 chapters that were mostly well-developed

Perhaps some filler moments that could have been avoided, but I'm not complaining.
I loved the protagonists, I warn you from now on that it is not a drama focused on romance but on action and suspense.
Sung Jae and Boah did a great job in terms of chemistry, maybe I would have liked to see more kisses but it's a great balance with everything else the kdrama has.
Sungjae, portraying both the snake demon Gangcheol and scholar Yun Gap, is a 10/10.
I want to highlight Kim Ji Hoon, who also did an incredible job portraying the king and the eight-bodied demon. 👏

He's been my favorite king in a historical kdrama so far. 🤭
I really liked the ending and I was satisfied.
I 100% recommend it.
It's worth giving it a try.

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Imugi and I deserved better.

I went in thinking I’d love it — and honestly, I kind of did. At least in the beginning. But by the end? I don’t even know where to start.

There are five things I really like:
Strawberries.
Climbing walls ( I want to be like Janja Garnbret)
Playing in the sea all day like an overcaffeinated dolphin
Angel Fruity Fair by Mugler (smells like happy)
Ghost stories
This is how little I need to be happy.
I like romance movies. I love stupid and fluffy romance movies that make me have teary eyes or even bawling my eyes (The notebook) out and rom coms are also Okey.
So by all logic, I should’ve adored this series.
But… yeah. About that.

The Short Version:
Overall, it wasn’t bad — there’s definitely an interesting story here — but I’m still a bit disappointed. The pacing dragged. It felt boring — unnecessarily stretched — and could’ve wrapped up in 10 episodes without losing anything important. I sound like a hater but I was really enjoying it at first the premise was nice and I liked the ghost and shamanic aspect but the execution was a bit weak and sadly there was just something missing — maybe the pull that connects you with the world and characters.


The Long Version:
It watching like your typical run-of-the-mill romance, but with fantasy elements as Imugi and ghosts. Reading the summary, I honestly thought this was going to be fantasy adventure with a shaman, magic, dragons etc. And honestly? The series had me in a chokehold during the first half. I was completely captivated by the setting and the characters. It was imaginative, fun, and pulled me in right away. I loved how we got to learn their backstories — it gave the world more depth and made it feel alive. I especially enjoyed the dynamic between the two leads — it had that "reluctant allies to lovers" vibe, which I’m always a sucker for.
But then… the second half happened.
The pacing slowed a lot (like… snail-on-vacation levels of slow), and the events started to feel repetitive.
Unfortunately, encounters with ghosts—one of the story's selling points—didn’t live up to expectations. They lacked tension which made them feel like a chore to get through a trial began, I found myself wishing it would end quickly. It’s a shame because they had so much potential to bring excitement to the story. It wasn't scary, it wasn't exciting, and it wasn't worrying. Worse than that though, the plot took a predictable turn—the exact one I hoped it wouldn’t—which made the final twist feel underwhelming and, honestly, pretty eye roll worthy. Lots of eye rolling.
Okay.
That didn't work out as long as I wanted. Anyways.
I cannot deny that it is beautifully filmed, and this is perhaps why I stayed with it for as long as I did despite feeling a bored by it. I was seduced by the cinematography. I think if the plot had been tightened, and so wasn't quite so long, it could have really worked better for me.

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