The Haunted Palace

A Novice Shaman and her Imugi were the leads, but the King Stole the Show

This story begins with a novice shaman determined to save her friend, Gap, from an evil spirit, while trying to manage an imugi, the ML, Gang Cheol, who needs her to ascend to the heavens. All of this leads to the Royal palace where the king and his family are being haunted by the same evil spirit that consumed her friend. Only there’s more to this than a simple haunting. It is tied to a catastrophe that happened a century earlier involving the royal family.

The long and complicated road to the truth behind what caused this haunting is interesting and at times humorous. As are the minor ghosts we meet along the way and Gang Cheol’s brother who was an intriguing character that died too soon.

The writing for the most part was excellent. However, the last couple of episodes did drag. Also there were times when the leads were not terribly bright which contradicted their previously astute actions. Yeo-ri showed potential as a shaman early on but became completely useless for most of the series. Spending much of her time teary eyed and looking on in “horror” and utterly powerless as terrible incidents unfolded. The blind shaman, who was the main antagonist, was around way too dam long . Giving me flashbacks of Jin Mu from Alchemy of Souls. This guy would not die and when he finally did bite it, it was too easy. Though the leads got their HEA, I really didn’t care either way about their love story. They had passable chemistry but I wasn’t invested in their love and found I was most interested in the mystery surrounding the haunting. All that said, the King and the love he and the Queen shared stole the show. Whether he was being the benevolent King, a grieving father/husband, a supportive friend or being possessed by that vengeful spirit, Kim Ji-Hoon truly embodied the complex plight of his character and was fantastic in the role of King Lee Seong. I truly cared about him and his family and when was heartbroken when his Queen was senselessly killed. The other actors were good in their roles as well and overall chemistry between the cast was good. Though the show did struggle a bit at the end, overall it was an enjoyable show.

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Solid drama! good plot + solid acting

i started with no expectation and finished with satisfaction! its a very solid story, both bo na and sung jae potray their character quite well. each episode really made me hooked (but still there were few times when i double the speed)

the chemistry between the king and imugi is better than the main couple tho. i also love the eunuch and king bodyguard


PS. SPOILER STARTING HERE
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i'm writing about the ending, dont continue if u dont want to be spoil!!
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i found it a little dissappointing on the last battle between the eight feet ghost and imugi, i felt that the moment imugi used his white pearl, the ghost was just defeated like that, without any more struggle or anything. oh! the blind man also, how can he just died easily like that after everything he has done!!

however i appreciate the bonus scene in the end showing the happy life of ML and FL + their child and grandma 😃

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We know everything but can't do anything

As my title the last 5 episodes will give you super level of frustration trust me.It really hooked me up till ep 11,i even didn't sleep 1 night out of curiosity dt what happen next?-This is the fundamental criteria for any good drama.But in the last few episodes writter lost his track.He couldn't come up with the strong plot which he succeeded to show in the beginning episodes.No wonder usual weakness of K-drama writter (Recent)

Plot: It was a HE but...........I was not satisfied with the outcome or how villain was punished. it doesn't worth the sacrifices the KING faced.
★ I love the brotherhood between KING & Imugi (Serpent deity)
★Same goes for Head eunuch & Kang chul.
★Male actors literally carried the whole drama...KING was kinging mannn KJH literally emitting Aura as a KING. LSH did very well 2 character simultaneously.
★What a waste of power of dragon Deity (Imugi)..He couldn't do anything literally with his dragon power.They could have used thia majestically. The MONKs--OMG what an bunch of useless character!!! i thought they'll come in handy in the end but their existence just for giving a treeeee??

Our veru Talented FL: Seriously!!!! in the whole show she is frowned and cried..oh yes another thing just watched Evil spirit killing some major character. So frustrating!!!!!! Even her grandmother was more charismatic than her as a Shaman.I liked her in the first few episodes but her character was written so badly.

Queen dowager part was well written.I liked her character. She was not that bad.

Overall i give it a 8 just for Kim Ji Hoon.i cried everytime he cried. the feel was like watching a true joseon king.

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unique story that will drawn you in and won't let you go

I was hooked from the beginning and could not stop watching it. Even though it has 16 episodes, I did not mind as I was not bored for a second.

I loved the beginning; it is so fun to watch Gang Cheol and Yeo Ri interact. The best part is how Sung Jae portrayed Imugi, as it is so refreshing and really brings the character to life. He is my favorite character, and I love his acting. I liked seeing how the male and female leads' romance slowly grew. And I like that the romance is not the center of the story.
Also, the relationship between Imugi and the King was great; I love their dynamic. Ji Hoon's acting is amazing; he portrayed the King perfectly.

It has a great balance of horror/thriller/romance, and I like how they became a great team to fight the spirits and corrupted magistrates. The only negative is that I expected much more from the final battle. Also, I don't know why, but the female lead did not suit the drama; I just could not feel it, and her performance was not as great as Imugi's and the King's. Apart from that, it is a great drama with a unique storyline and great performances, and also it has a satisfying ending even it felt it was rushed.

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Take 1 dragon + 1 shaman's granddaughter + 1 evil spirit = a story worth watching

I always judge on how much I anticipate the next 2 episodes dropping as to whether a drama is good or not. This was. Surprisingly. I really didn't expect it to be as good as it was.

The entire storyline stayed on track. It's about an evil spirit wrecking havoc on the royal family. The previous king, selfish and self-serving, commits a grievous sin that causes enormous suffering to a general in his military and the entire village he called home. This spirit never crossed over to the other side, but rather combined with the other villagers spirits to possess and cause death to the royal family.

Enter the granddaughter of a shaman, and her guardian dragon (who is in the form of a human) who takes on this very powerful spirit attempting to get it to cross over to the other side. Along the way, this granddaughter/shaman helps other wayward spirits cross over. Except for the spirit of the well who just wants to hang out and be BFFs. She absolutely was my favorite ghost of the series. Along the way throughout this adventure, our FL and her guardian dragon fall in love.

It's pure fantasy. It's also thriller, romance, drama, with a tad bit of comedy thrown in. I thought it was done well, with no outrageous exaggerations or unnecessary scenes to carry the storyline. It's why I couldn't wait for the next 2 episodes to drop each week. A good production that carried me the viewer along until everything culminating at the end, and left me satisfied and quite frankly wanting more of these characters. Well done to the writer, actors, and entire production crew!!!

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Not perfect, but not deserving of hate

I was cautious going into the series based on the reviews, but I also can’t resist a good ghost story either! What I wasn’t expecting was to tear up as much as I did, because there were so many sad moments, some of which I had to pause and come back to. Yun Gap’s mom crying over her son she lost twice nearly broke me!

I understand some of the frustration viewers felt when they thought Yun Gap was the ML, but it was fairly obvious early on that wasn’t the case. His story was tragic, to say the least, but it didn’t feel like a throw-away either. Like other similar shows, the SL sometimes makes a sacrifice for the good of those he cares for.

And yes, sometimes the decisions individual characters made were head scratchers, it stayed true to who they were and what they believed in. Granted, I wish the baddies had gotten far harsher punishments than they did. But I guess the series was about forgiveness instead of revenge, so I guess there’s that.

Finally, what’s up with the deity-possessing-a-human-body typecasting that Yook Sung-jae has seemingly fallen into? But he portrays it well, just as he did in Goblin!

All said, I enjoyed the series. I’m not sure about rewatch value since I know what’s going to happen, but maybe one day I’ll come back around to it.

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