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This review may contain spoilers
What a mess!!!
Note: The initial review covered my opinion from episode 1 to 10. This review was then edited once the series was completed. Additional comments after "FINAL EDIT".
I had such high hopes for this show... and yet another 2025 K drama disappointment。Not bad, not good just mid.
It's YET another K-drama slop that puts lots of familiar ingredients in, but fails to put some soul into their main characters. Both ML and FL are devoid of any personality and the main antagonist is cartoonishly evil but everybody gives her a pass because she "used to be kind" even if she's been offering living people to a ghost and literally tortured a kid for over 10 years for her selfish evil purposes.
Both ML and FL have some complicated family history that would have been interesting to explore, at least to make us feel something for them or understand their personalities ( or lack thereof) BUT this K drama makes the weird choice of giving LOTS of screentime to Yeom Hwa, the reason why everybody's in misery. Of course she has a backstory for her behavior (poorly explained might I add) but the drama fails to make us care about her. Instead it makes a very good job of making the good guys letting her get away with literally everything, putting everybody is jeopardy because of their laxity to the point of making viewers just fed up her and mourning the screen time wasted on her concocting plan A, B, C, D, E, F... etc.
Yeah, lots of episodes going round and round in circle, not moving forward except dragging the number of episodes for nothing.
The only characters that are bringing some fun and energy to this whole mess is Bong Su "the not so evil ghost" and all the side characters on the side. Bong Su who is a whole lot of fun and who everybody loves more than Gyeon U the ML... BUT is it surprising given Gyeon U has NO personality except loving Seong Ah and being depressed?
This being said since Seong Ah is as devoid of personality as he is... they do go well together.
Also Seong Ah apparently used to be bullied and managed to get a good looking guy-friend who is playing third-wheel in this whole mess. But I'm not pitying him too much... There's a "bully" girl who actually loves him and she's got more spunk than Seong Ah, so he's gonna end up on or off-screen with the best girl out of the two.
Anyway typical case of having a drama with lots of meandering nonsense that go nowhere but which lengthen the duration of it... and truly 12 episodes could have been the right length if more attention had been given to what we were really interested it instead of going round and round in circles: More details about Yeom Hwa's backstory instead of most of the time given to her planning evil stuffs, More details about Seong Ah, her family, her past, her life as a shaman etc. , MORE DETAILS about Gyeon U:
Why was he targeted by Yeom Hwa? Why is he rejected by his whole family when the drama hints that the family paid Yeom Hwa so that HE would carry all his family's misfortune on his back? If so WHY don't they treat him better? WHY doesn't he revolt? etc...
More high school shenanigans and MORE ROMANCE.
I hope we get a good backstory for Bong Su... but I'm not holding my breath given this drama's track record.
WHAT A LET DOWN.
Tropes have always been a staple in K dramas but the magic had always worked before because they knew how to make things feel fresh but now?
We're past the middle of the year and once again I regret investing time in a rince and repeat story. Not bad, not good just mid.
We'll see if the two final episodes will give me enough positive feelings to rate that one up... but honestly I'm not holding my breath.
FINAL EDIT:
And then the last 2 episodes happened。
I won't talk about episode 11 which was so horrendous I have no words...
Episode 12 throws this show's own logic out the window to wrap up its story with a somewhat satisfying bow that will only satisfy those who liked the show in the first place. The rest of us will just roll out eyes at the complete nonsense. Among the nonsensical elements:
1. Why is Yeom Hwa able to exorcise Bong Su when the show has told us repeatedly that she's turned evil to the point of losing her patron deity and has close to no if not ANY shamanic powers left?
2. Why Bong Su can enter Gyeon U now without taking him over? Any explanation anyone?
3. What happened to the baby on Yeom Hwa's back?
4. Apparently when Bong Su escaped possessing Seong Ah, Yeom Hwa could never catch him because "he would get away committing something evil". Do you care to explain? Because apart from taking lives that YOU brought to him YOU MURDERER, I only saw a kid having the fun he never experienced in his youth. What exactly was evil in Bong Su, I really fail to see.
5. So I guess being an evil deity is no big deal since you can be exorcised just like any spirit? So what was all this fuss about huh? Basically once Yeom Hwa's spirit mother died and Yeom Hwa got back her senses, this drama could have ended (since this drama didn't care about its leads' family or school life)... But nope. We got some last ditch nonsensical separation TYPICAL of aaaaaaaaaaaalllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllll K dramas past, present and certainly future ( PULEAAAAAAAAAAZE STOP IT, this is SO overdone)
6. Why did Yeom Hwa hate Gyeon U's grandmother to the point of cursing her? Hey! You have forgotten that one I'm sure :D
Because ultimately did it matter? Gyeon U was supposed to be this special last sacrifice sure, but ultimately it didn't matter who was killed, what mattered was that we reached 100 so what was so special about the grandma? Btw as far as we know, the Grandma died for nothing, she wasn't even fed to Bong Su so err what the hell?
7. So err that's it? Yeom Hwa is cleared? Seriously. That b*** brought 100 human souls to Bong Su INCLUDING A CHILD we saw she KILLED with whatever ghost she used and she faces NO CONSEQUENCES whatsoever?
F*** this show.
8. Err I guess we're never going to have a proper confrontation or explanation from Gyeon U's family? I guess I should not care?
Well I'm sure the list can go on but I'm gonna stop here.
Every comparison with Lovely Runner I 've read tend to irk me. Sure the initial premise is similar but Lovely Runner is everything this show failed to be for the reasons already mentioned above.
Did Lovely Runner throw in some Deus Ex Machina at the end to wrap things up? Sure. This show was not flawless. But it didn't have THAT many incoherences and the show was charming enough that I could just shrug it off and be happy about its happy ending. Also the main pair had chemistry, this pair DOESN'T and their "kisses" or rather "pecks" sucked so that's another minus.
Suggested Ratings: 4.5
Personal Rating: 3.5
Because I'm pissed and it's the nth disappointing K drama in a row this year for me so its paying for all the others also Mr Third wheel doesn't even get with bully girl at the end who strangely is showing some interest into clown guy, the nerd's best friend and when did this happen? Why? F*** this show.
I had such high hopes for this show... and yet another 2025 K drama disappointment。Not bad, not good just mid.
It's YET another K-drama slop that puts lots of familiar ingredients in, but fails to put some soul into their main characters. Both ML and FL are devoid of any personality and the main antagonist is cartoonishly evil but everybody gives her a pass because she "used to be kind" even if she's been offering living people to a ghost and literally tortured a kid for over 10 years for her selfish evil purposes.
Both ML and FL have some complicated family history that would have been interesting to explore, at least to make us feel something for them or understand their personalities ( or lack thereof) BUT this K drama makes the weird choice of giving LOTS of screentime to Yeom Hwa, the reason why everybody's in misery. Of course she has a backstory for her behavior (poorly explained might I add) but the drama fails to make us care about her. Instead it makes a very good job of making the good guys letting her get away with literally everything, putting everybody is jeopardy because of their laxity to the point of making viewers just fed up her and mourning the screen time wasted on her concocting plan A, B, C, D, E, F... etc.
Yeah, lots of episodes going round and round in circle, not moving forward except dragging the number of episodes for nothing.
The only characters that are bringing some fun and energy to this whole mess is Bong Su "the not so evil ghost" and all the side characters on the side. Bong Su who is a whole lot of fun and who everybody loves more than Gyeon U the ML... BUT is it surprising given Gyeon U has NO personality except loving Seong Ah and being depressed?
This being said since Seong Ah is as devoid of personality as he is... they do go well together.
Also Seong Ah apparently used to be bullied and managed to get a good looking guy-friend who is playing third-wheel in this whole mess. But I'm not pitying him too much... There's a "bully" girl who actually loves him and she's got more spunk than Seong Ah, so he's gonna end up on or off-screen with the best girl out of the two.
Anyway typical case of having a drama with lots of meandering nonsense that go nowhere but which lengthen the duration of it... and truly 12 episodes could have been the right length if more attention had been given to what we were really interested it instead of going round and round in circles: More details about Yeom Hwa's backstory instead of most of the time given to her planning evil stuffs, More details about Seong Ah, her family, her past, her life as a shaman etc. , MORE DETAILS about Gyeon U:
Why was he targeted by Yeom Hwa? Why is he rejected by his whole family when the drama hints that the family paid Yeom Hwa so that HE would carry all his family's misfortune on his back? If so WHY don't they treat him better? WHY doesn't he revolt? etc...
More high school shenanigans and MORE ROMANCE.
I hope we get a good backstory for Bong Su... but I'm not holding my breath given this drama's track record.
WHAT A LET DOWN.
Tropes have always been a staple in K dramas but the magic had always worked before because they knew how to make things feel fresh but now?
We're past the middle of the year and once again I regret investing time in a rince and repeat story. Not bad, not good just mid.
We'll see if the two final episodes will give me enough positive feelings to rate that one up... but honestly I'm not holding my breath.
FINAL EDIT:
And then the last 2 episodes happened。
I won't talk about episode 11 which was so horrendous I have no words...
Episode 12 throws this show's own logic out the window to wrap up its story with a somewhat satisfying bow that will only satisfy those who liked the show in the first place. The rest of us will just roll out eyes at the complete nonsense. Among the nonsensical elements:
1. Why is Yeom Hwa able to exorcise Bong Su when the show has told us repeatedly that she's turned evil to the point of losing her patron deity and has close to no if not ANY shamanic powers left?
2. Why Bong Su can enter Gyeon U now without taking him over? Any explanation anyone?
3. What happened to the baby on Yeom Hwa's back?
4. Apparently when Bong Su escaped possessing Seong Ah, Yeom Hwa could never catch him because "he would get away committing something evil". Do you care to explain? Because apart from taking lives that YOU brought to him YOU MURDERER, I only saw a kid having the fun he never experienced in his youth. What exactly was evil in Bong Su, I really fail to see.
5. So I guess being an evil deity is no big deal since you can be exorcised just like any spirit? So what was all this fuss about huh? Basically once Yeom Hwa's spirit mother died and Yeom Hwa got back her senses, this drama could have ended (since this drama didn't care about its leads' family or school life)... But nope. We got some last ditch nonsensical separation TYPICAL of aaaaaaaaaaaalllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllll K dramas past, present and certainly future ( PULEAAAAAAAAAAZE STOP IT, this is SO overdone)
6. Why did Yeom Hwa hate Gyeon U's grandmother to the point of cursing her? Hey! You have forgotten that one I'm sure :D
Because ultimately did it matter? Gyeon U was supposed to be this special last sacrifice sure, but ultimately it didn't matter who was killed, what mattered was that we reached 100 so what was so special about the grandma? Btw as far as we know, the Grandma died for nothing, she wasn't even fed to Bong Su so err what the hell?
7. So err that's it? Yeom Hwa is cleared? Seriously. That b*** brought 100 human souls to Bong Su INCLUDING A CHILD we saw she KILLED with whatever ghost she used and she faces NO CONSEQUENCES whatsoever?
F*** this show.
8. Err I guess we're never going to have a proper confrontation or explanation from Gyeon U's family? I guess I should not care?
Well I'm sure the list can go on but I'm gonna stop here.
Every comparison with Lovely Runner I 've read tend to irk me. Sure the initial premise is similar but Lovely Runner is everything this show failed to be for the reasons already mentioned above.
Did Lovely Runner throw in some Deus Ex Machina at the end to wrap things up? Sure. This show was not flawless. But it didn't have THAT many incoherences and the show was charming enough that I could just shrug it off and be happy about its happy ending. Also the main pair had chemistry, this pair DOESN'T and their "kisses" or rather "pecks" sucked so that's another minus.
Suggested Ratings: 4.5
Personal Rating: 3.5
Because I'm pissed and it's the nth disappointing K drama in a row this year for me so its paying for all the others also Mr Third wheel doesn't even get with bully girl at the end who strangely is showing some interest into clown guy, the nerd's best friend and when did this happen? Why? F*** this show.
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