I remember watching the first two seasons long long time ago but the story was unfinished. And now I already forgot the entire plot. Time for a rewatch to catch up!
This is definitely worth more than an 8.0 score. I would rate this 8.3 by MDL standards. The plot actually holds together very well, the writers know what they are doing, there aren't any noticeable plot holes or illogical parts contrary to many low budget C-dramas out there. I don't have much to complain about this drama. It has parts that made me laugh, swoon, feel sad... leads have chemistry, side characters are likeable, even villains have understandable rationales. I know a lot of people stayed away from this drama or rated it low because of the cliche genre or the reverse harem thing, but trust me, this drama is the best one in the genre. So if you were to try one drama of this genre, it should be this one.
Since 2021FL and 2022ML had to change the past to save people, the original timeline of 2022ML was bound to disappear.…
That would be a philosophical question. Depends on whether you define a person with their memories or their body. Past ML does remember everything, but he regards himself a different person, because he never experienced those things in first person. FL also does not treat them as the same person, so it takes them both some time to eventually accept and be together.
This was the second K-drama I'd ever watched!! The good old days... I wonder if it would age well if I rewatched it now, but it was on fire back in the day! Amazing action, gripping plot, Lee Min Ho rocking his look... He was as cool as Ji Chang Wook in Healer, the second most iconic action drama featuring a handsome ML after this one.
When I watched this for the first time, I didn't like how slow it was and dropped it at ep.12, which was when the real stuff started happening, but by that time I'd already lost interest. My main complaint was the large amount of slice-of-life episodes in the middle of the series, where people just hung out at home, did funny things, had bromance, etc. with nothing much happening.
Years later, after becoming a more regular watcher of actual slice-of-life, slow burn dramas, I got more used to this format of storytelling, which made me able to enjoy Goblin the second time around. I think the reason why I didn't like it the first time was because I had been used to watching K-dramas from 2009-2015, and during that era, dramas used to be over-the-top, dramatic, more plot-driven but with non-fleshed out characters. By 2016, K-dramaland started switching to more character-driven storytelling. Certain scenes would not be pulling the plot forward, but to make characters more likeable and have 3-dimensional personalities. They would also make the interactions between characters more endearing, as if you were living with them. And I didn't understand how nice that was until later.
Goblin was one of the first movers of the new age of storytelling, so it was understandable that many people couldn't get used to it. It was too ahead of its time. But the good thing is it ages well - watching it now, it feels much more like current day dramas, but with many iconic moments that make it a true classic that deserves its first place in popularity. Great work once again from Kim Eun Sook.
It's been over 10 years since I watched this drama, but it's still one of my favorites of all time. I know it's full of cliches and it doesn't age well, but it was a pioneer at the time. It also has very well-written, witty dialogue, skillful foreshadowing, and a great deal of iconic moments. Like you could already see how good of a screenwriter Kim Eun Sook is. The romance is still one of the best even till now, it's just magical. And the female lead is a strong one, more interesting than a lot of female leads we see in this day of age.
The script was very sloppy. The FL kept calling her sister the wrong name in several scenes. If it was real life, her identity would have already been exposed due to the mistakes she made. Can't believe the filming crew didn't notice.
The ending threw up more questions than answers. It makes the motivations of face card game creators make dubious…
You have a fair point there. What I understood was that some people chose to stay in Borderline despite knowing what it is, because they found more meaning there than the original world. During the whole drama, characters kept pondering about whether to go back or stay (and even FL dealt with this question at some point), so I took it as "THE question" they were trying to tackle with the series. We were also shown examples of people who wanted to stay and build their own empire (e.g. the two players from the jack of hearts game). So all this was the writers trying to convince us that there are in fact people who can find their own motivations to stay. Whether they made a convincing point is entirely up to you though.
Reviews are unanimously good here so I hate to be the one, but I didn't enjoy the show until the last episode. Although I appreciated that it tried to deal with some deeper themes like meaning of life, dialogues were cheesy, over-the-top and unnaturally inserted which made the messages sound inconvincing. I've watched enough Japanese anime and movies to know being preachy is a common thing in Japanese content and usually I have no issue with it, but this drama took it to the next level. At some point I started wondering if it was a parody of some sort, but they were actually serious. I think the drama would have been way better if they cut back a little on the talking and introduce some more interesting games. I noticed several games played by the female side characters were fastforwarded over, would've loved to see the full version of those.
That said, the ending was BOMB!!! Not only were the plot twists and revelations mind-boggling, they also perfectly aligned and summed up the core message of the story. Everything that didn't seem to make sense at first, made sense by the end. Perfect way to end the series. I think the ending saved it for me and made this into a decent drama that I would recommend to friends.
I love the intent of this article, but tbh..mbti isn't about four letters, and therefore there's probably a lot…
I was looking for this comment!!! Many of the actors and actresses listed here did the 16personalities.com test, which is not MBTI. Most people in Korea still do not know that they are entirely different systems, which is not their fault because 16personalities did a bad job at clarifying themselves.
For those who want to know more: The real MBTI uses cognitive functions and not four letter dichotomies. It's a very intricate system that requires a lot of knowledge on the theory to be able to type people correctly. I'm sure at least half of the people listed in the article have been mistyped by 16P.
I feel in general.....watching these fantasy....the brain always needs to be turned off hahaha
I've watched fantasy dramas that have well-constructed logic before, but that's usually not the case in these low budget dramas so I will just lower my expectations XD
The logic is inconsistent and there's a lot of deus ex machina going on, but if you turn off your brain when watching this, it's actually pretty entertaining. The leads are cute, and the side characters have a wide range of personalities. It's the type of drama to watch to pass the time.
Guys... I don't think it's going to come out this year. Part 2 has not gotten its airing license yet. If they are going to air part 1 and 2 back to back (like all the other dramas that have two parts), they will have to wait till part 2 also gets the license. Special effects team also said that the special effects are not ready yet and an outsourced vendor is rushing to finish them. They say the special effects of this drama are very difficult to make.
Btw, whatever is happening in China now [[does not]] affect broadcasting schedules. All other dramas are airing as usual, and new dramas are still coming out this month (Youku is going to air Back From The Brink next). The reason why TTEOTM is not airing yet is because it's not ready.
1
The plot actually holds together very well, the writers know what they are doing, there aren't any noticeable plot holes or illogical parts contrary to many low budget C-dramas out there. I don't have much to complain about this drama. It has parts that made me laugh, swoon, feel sad... leads have chemistry, side characters are likeable, even villains have understandable rationales. I know a lot of people stayed away from this drama or rated it low because of the cliche genre or the reverse harem thing, but trust me, this drama is the best one in the genre. So if you were to try one drama of this genre, it should be this one.
He was as cool as Ji Chang Wook in Healer, the second most iconic action drama featuring a handsome ML after this one.
Years later, after becoming a more regular watcher of actual slice-of-life, slow burn dramas, I got more used to this format of storytelling, which made me able to enjoy Goblin the second time around. I think the reason why I didn't like it the first time was because I had been used to watching K-dramas from 2009-2015, and during that era, dramas used to be over-the-top, dramatic, more plot-driven but with non-fleshed out characters. By 2016, K-dramaland started switching to more character-driven storytelling. Certain scenes would not be pulling the plot forward, but to make characters more likeable and have 3-dimensional personalities. They would also make the interactions between characters more endearing, as if you were living with them. And I didn't understand how nice that was until later.
Goblin was one of the first movers of the new age of storytelling, so it was understandable that many people couldn't get used to it. It was too ahead of its time. But the good thing is it ages well - watching it now, it feels much more like current day dramas, but with many iconic moments that make it a true classic that deserves its first place in popularity. Great work once again from Kim Eun Sook.
Plot spoilers ahead:
Future ML dies and his memories are transferred to past ML. Past ML ends up with FL.
That said, the ending was BOMB!!! Not only were the plot twists and revelations mind-boggling, they also perfectly aligned and summed up the core message of the story. Everything that didn't seem to make sense at first, made sense by the end. Perfect way to end the series. I think the ending saved it for me and made this into a decent drama that I would recommend to friends.
For those who want to know more: The real MBTI uses cognitive functions and not four letter dichotomies. It's a very intricate system that requires a lot of knowledge on the theory to be able to type people correctly. I'm sure at least half of the people listed in the article have been mistyped by 16P.
Btw, whatever is happening in China now [[does not]] affect broadcasting schedules. All other dramas are airing as usual, and new dramas are still coming out this month (Youku is going to air Back From The Brink next). The reason why TTEOTM is not airing yet is because it's not ready.