Ji Chang is great and I became his fan after the worst of evil but for me Lee Do hyun is the best actor as of…
Huh I cannot agree with you here. To say this I think you really haven’t watch or witness all JCE works. I respect the fact you like LDH better. A lot might. Self preferences are ok.
But you cannot say he only do romance… also once again versatility isn’t about the genre you choose but how you play a character.
Ji Chang is great and I became his fan after the worst of evil but for me Lee Do hyun is the best actor as of…
did you also watch is theater performances and musicals theatre musicals ? And I am very sorry but versatility is not about the genre you choose but how you act the role you play. For instance, Lee min Ho is not versatile despite all kind of genres he did. That being said, I don’t think LDH isn’t but I think he hasn’t show full potential yet :)
I gave a high not even tho it doesn’t deserve it. But I am closed oyster, I never cry, ever. And I did, multiple times here. This is actually just a very sad drama.
I cannot say the lessons but the quotes the series gives are meaningful to a lot of people.
But in the end, it is a bit too long and I was looking for much more development around the girls which I didn’t. On the third act, it is not totally focused on the girls and this bothers me.
Finally I think it could have been shorter.
But I am giving a high note for the tears but otherwise a good 7.5 or maybe 8 for the crying performances.
I have very little to say. I think everyone said everything already. And it is not overrated.
The last korean drama before this that was so impactful and as good as this one was Extraordinary Attorney Woo. And we are always grateful for great dramas.
Just a little note to say that to me, Ra Mi Ran’s performance is not praised enough and never will. People have no idea how hard it is to play her character. To me she was more a main character than Lee Do Hyun in a way (even if we are not here to compare) I think she deserves so much !
I am truly in love with this drama. And for people who are used to my comments, I never say this.
The thing is, everything about this drama is so poetic and gives you a nostalgic feeling even if you never lived in Korea at that time period or even if you were too young (or not born) to remember how the end of ghe 90’s and beginning of the 20’s were. In that, the drama is very strong.
I won’t say much about the performances, everyone is on point, they don’t over do it and don’t lack in any way. You get attached to all of them. And again this is how strong the drama is.
The cinematography, the music everything is very poetic to me.
What I like the most is how every details matters. Who knew there was an old korean song holding all the meaning of this drama and its ending before you reach it ? And the directing is giving it to you.
If I had to point out one drawback it would not be the end. As I said, if you are ok with the meaning of the song (same name as the drama for thos who don’t know) and the fact that the drama is a time traveling to a forgotten time, the ending is good.
So the only drawback I have is the Na Hee do as a mom and the teenager Na hee do are too far apart to me. Of course we all grow up, get wiser blah blah blah but to me there is absolutely nothing similar to old versus young Na Hee do… and it should be important.
As we are opening and ending with the old Na hee Do (sorry spoiler), we want the young one to make that bridge that will connect each other and it is missing. I think it was a cast problem.. (maybe).
I agree on everything except for Shin Hye Sun. She is excellent in this drama but her best performance for me…
I save a maybe for her cause her role here has still a lot to develop here. Even tho based on first episodes I still like her better here (for now). But this is a veryyy personal choice !
Ji Chang is great and I became his fan after the worst of evil but for me Lee Do hyun is the best actor as of…
I cannot agree, but I see where you are coming from and I won’t try to persuade you otherwise. But we are definitely not talking about the same generation of actors.
I mean… Ji chang wook work is way larger and diverse than most actors from Korea. Theatre, musical, drama… and then you count what he has done well. Lee Do Hyun is very small compared to him. What I mean is… he has still a lot to show before comparing himself to Ji chang wook according to me. Nevertheless prolly the most promising actor out there.
It is crazy how such charismatic people and relaxing vibes (music, scenery…) can make you watch a whole series like this which is actually pretty empty in a way.
But in a way the whole series sounds like a poem or a piece of art because it is beautiful but the meaning is unclear and not everyone can understand it (if there is anything to understand). Yet our eyes like what they see.
Overrated for people looking for something new in kdramas nowadays
I cannot say anything about cgi, music or performances. Even tho, no music was good enough for me to remember over the time. And some performances could have been way better but the directing allow them to act « not that well ».
But what I regret is that drama starts off with a very interesting plot and cool special effect we rarely see in dramas. The cinematography is beautiful too.
And then, little by little, we fall in the trap of a standard k-drama plot, which, nowadays especially, is only for fan services for idols and nice looking actors rather than a real plot, complexity, suspense, or without being complexe, something opposed to what we are used to. I mean if you look at it, it has nothing surprising to offer. Nor great plot or message to tell.
But I guess we call kdramas for a reason and kdrama fans for a reason too as I see the ratings.
I already said something about the acting. If you remove the cool stuffs and beauty… it looks very much like an amateur series in terms of performances.
People are going to say that of course the performances are not perfect since we have rookies. But this is the point… if you can clearly see it, how can you give 10/10 to performances ? Also I am not giving a bad rating because the director knew what he was doing and what kind of public he was aiming at. In that sense, performances are very okay.
Should you give it a go ? In order to support CGI yes but other than that, you can live very well without seeing it.
If the story plot as advertised seems interesting and the cast with Bae Suzy seem to have a lot of potential, it is not worth it.
First of all, scenes are long. Short spoiler, the main characters encounter each other very fast, but you wait about more than 15 mns to have them interact. So far it seems ok but when nothing interesting happens in 15 mns it’s long. 15 mns where sequences aren’t that beautiful, song is not engaging or silence not necessary or things characters do have nothing interesting for the overall story… it’s a waste of time. and this happens again and again.
Also the plot is jumping from one thing to another soo rashly… as a viewer you don’t have time to either grasp the situation or have compassion for the character.
About the acting…. it’s far from being Bae Suzy best performance. and for Yang Se Jong I first thought it was bad acting but I think the overall is just bad directing. When interacting with the female lead he acts like a extremely dumb person. If that was his personality… alright. but it is only when interacting with her. and it’s not about “shy” type or weird type but truly like you would talk to an autistic person.
I watched it twice and the first time was a long time ago. But it was hard for me to make a review.
Cause if you think about it… the plot is amazing, the performances are amazing, soundtrack is amazing, filming direction is amazing, special effects are amazing and it is rewatchable. So you cannot possibly give a bad grade. Like I can’t give less than 8.5 and a strong 9/10 is also understandable.
In a way when we talk about the real K drama with comedy, romance and all, we want this. An interesting and original plot AND great performances which is often lacking and often judged nowadays in a way I don’t like… Like Alchemy’s of souls or My demon or A good day to be a dog or King the land (to name a few recents) are strongly lacking in good performances. And Goblin doesn’t.
But in a way there is something a bit bothering which I have a hard time to explain. The age gap between the characters (characters not actors) is one of them but not only and that is why it was hard for me to give a review. Like… if it’s perfecr why does it feel imperfect ?
still worth watching at least once in your lifetime
I had a hard time to get a grip onto that series. I mean, I started to watch it several times and dropped out of boredom but finally came to the end. It is a great plot. Honestly a great plot. the start is a bit slow… first episodes are supposed to introduce things, set, characters etc. But I am more into a direct or original approach like teachers tell you to do when you do an essay introduction “pick the interest of the reader” here it’s the viewers but same thing. And so this is why it was hard for me to start.
It apparently is based on some true stories even if most of them compiled together don’t really add up to the point where it is comparable to the series.
Anyway I liked the plot very much even if it was not flawless. The plot is original enough to get people’s attentions and the cases are indeed interesting even tho you might have found some similar cases in other series. It is still interesting to keep watching it.
The main drawback to me are the performances. We can all say that Kim Hye Su is a great actress. And I am convinced by all vilain characters in a performance point of view.
Unfortunately, Lee Je Hoon is lacking so much. Sorry for the fans but there is something wrong. In his favor I wonder if the filming direction was good in this way… There are a lot of long scenes where he just… thinks ? wonders ? tries to show emotions ? those scenes are seconds but feel like minutes and he never conveys it right.
As for Jo Jin Woong, I was convinced by his performance but the too much crying (sorry spoiler) didn’t work at some point.
That is actually my point that the performances of the 2 main characters don’t feel natural.
This is a early comment which I never do and I will update it later with my final review but I want to say… Ji Chang Wook is not overrated. I was always satisfied with his performance but here he shows how great of an actor he is. Prolly the best in the industry so far (in korea).
You all must have watched The worst of evil in which his performance is mainly based on expressions rather than talks. Here it is the opposite, the most talktative and loud character is here. From the very first episode, his monologues are amazing ! terrific ! People think this is easy, it is not, and he pulls that off so easily. It gives you an idea of the acting and filming genres range he has which nobody has in the industry as of today ! (for main characters)
Shin Hye Sun is amazing. To me it is so far her best performance. The role she plays is harder than Ji Chang Wook for a lot of reasons.
Wherever this show is going if you are someone who enjoys great performances you have to give it a try.
I want to update my review. I previously said how much I enjoyed the series and gave an overall 8/10 but there is something I want to point out.
It won’t change my grade but I need to say this, I thinm Choi Hyun Wook is prolly the best actor of this young generation in the comic genres. He’s always terrific. Besides him, Choi Won Young and Seo Young Hee are amazing.
But let’s be totally honest in the cinema point of view (and not a actor beauty or idol bias point of view), Ryeoun is not great in this role. Quite a very bad performance honestly. It is very hard to feel him. Very hard to actually say “Oh I am sad too cause he’s cryong”. And this is not a good thing for that kind of k drama that looks for this kind of emotion from the audience. The only way I think you get attached to him and his story is thanks to the other performances I mentioned above. Seol In ah is not great either. I mean even from her previous works I am not totally convinced.
And it is to me a problem since they are the main characters with the most number of scenes.
My review is indeed subjective but if you have been analyzing and watching a lot of series and korean contents you hardly can say otherwise. I know people are gonna support rookies but there are amazing actors as rookies too. It doesn’t mean they cannot envolve but I am not sure all the flattery is helping.
I didn’t like Home Sweet Home season 1. It was too slow (too unnecesary scenes to the development of the story and unnecessary to sustain mystery), cgi and special effects were not on point considering the series budget, it was hard to follow the direction of the series, performances especially from Song Kang were not great and it was hard to develop any attachments to any of the characters and some characters’ development are still confusing.
BUT everyone could agree in a way that there was potential somewhere. And this is why I watched season 2.
Season 2 fixed almost all the issues we found in season 1. There was such an improvement on special effects, it played well with out emotions and personal beliefs and principles. There were a lot of twists in the series, directing intentions were cleared, Lee Jin Wook is teriffic in his role (maybe his best performance), Go Min si as well and I think it is Song Kang’s best performance.
What I like the most is how they painted the vilain in the series. I won’t give any spoilers but it is not just one vilain, the border between good and evil is very thin too, very confusing (in a good way) and very much familiar with our everyday lives. And their development is always very unexpected.
I have to say you cannot properly understand season 2 without watching season 1. And this is where the series didn’t do great. Cause there are some characters I wish I knew more about how they changed from season 1 to season 2. Some details are needed to fully understand their motivations or change of heart or whatever. And I am eager to see season 3 because there are also new characters that I do wonder if they are truly needed here while we already have such a large cast and a lot of important characters.
A lot of people said over the time how bad the drama was. It is not. The plot isn’t bad and the acting is amazing. It is refreshing to see Lee Min Oh on a different kind of role which until this series, remaines mostly the same.
The scenery is beautiful. I mean the drama is indeed gorgeous. It took us so many of us to visit the filming locations. Not just because it is a drama but because it’s beautifully filmed.
The only regret might be the ending. Some regret that it ended well (which is a spoiler tho). The problem to me is that they tried to make a complex ending and I understand it. The directing process is complex and also a reason why so many people didn’t approve. And I say it again it’s a complexity in the directing approach, not in the ploting or storytelling approach. But towards the end that complexity wasn’t necessary or at least not necessary once you finished the whole drama. Not necessary to a point that instead of finishing on a good note it gives you a “unfulfilled feeling”.
But you cannot say he only do romance… also once again versatility isn’t about the genre you choose but how you play a character.
I cannot say the lessons but the quotes the series gives are meaningful to a lot of people.
But in the end, it is a bit too long and I was looking for much more development around the girls which I didn’t. On the third act, it is not totally focused on the girls and this bothers me.
Finally I think it could have been shorter.
But I am giving a high note for the tears but otherwise a good 7.5 or maybe 8 for the crying performances.
The last korean drama before this that was so impactful and as good as this one was Extraordinary Attorney Woo. And we are always grateful for great dramas.
Just a little note to say that to me, Ra Mi Ran’s performance is not praised enough and never will. People have no idea how hard it is to play her character. To me she was more a main character than Lee Do Hyun in a way (even if we are not here to compare) I think she deserves so much !
이따 만나 !
The thing is, everything about this drama is so poetic and gives you a nostalgic feeling even if you never lived in Korea at that time period or even if you were too young (or not born) to remember how the end of ghe 90’s and beginning of the 20’s were. In that, the drama is very strong.
I won’t say much about the performances, everyone is on point, they don’t over do it and don’t lack in any way. You get attached to all of them. And again this is how strong the drama is.
The cinematography, the music everything is very poetic to me.
What I like the most is how every details matters. Who knew there was an old korean song holding all the meaning of this drama and its ending before you reach it ? And the directing is giving it to you.
If I had to point out one drawback it would not be the end. As I said, if you are ok with the meaning of the song (same name as the drama for thos who don’t know) and the fact that the drama is a time traveling to a forgotten time, the ending is good.
So the only drawback I have is the Na Hee do as a mom and the teenager Na hee do are too far apart to me. Of course we all grow up, get wiser blah blah blah but to me there is absolutely nothing similar to old versus young Na Hee do… and it should be important.
As we are opening and ending with the old Na hee Do (sorry spoiler), we want the young one to make that bridge that will connect each other and it is missing. I think it was a cast problem.. (maybe).
otherwise, great !
I mean… Ji chang wook work is way larger and diverse than most actors from Korea. Theatre, musical, drama… and then you count what he has done well. Lee Do Hyun is very small compared to him. What I mean is… he has still a lot to show before comparing himself to Ji chang wook according to me. Nevertheless prolly the most promising actor out there.
This is my own opinion
But in a way the whole series sounds like a poem or a piece of art because it is beautiful but the meaning is unclear and not everyone can understand it (if there is anything to understand). Yet our eyes like what they see.
I cannot say anything about cgi, music or performances. Even tho, no music was good enough for me to remember over the time. And some performances could have been way better but the directing allow them to act « not that well ».
But what I regret is that drama starts off with a very interesting plot and cool special effect we rarely see in dramas. The cinematography is beautiful too.
And then, little by little, we fall in the trap of a standard k-drama plot, which, nowadays especially, is only for fan services for idols and nice looking actors rather than a real plot, complexity, suspense, or without being complexe, something opposed to what we are used to. I mean if you look at it, it has nothing surprising to offer. Nor great plot or message to tell.
But I guess we call kdramas for a reason and kdrama fans for a reason too as I see the ratings.
I already said something about the acting. If you remove the cool stuffs and beauty… it looks very much like an amateur series in terms of performances.
People are going to say that of course the performances are not perfect since we have rookies. But this is the point… if you can clearly see it, how can you give 10/10 to performances ? Also I am not giving a bad rating because the director knew what he was doing and what kind of public he was aiming at. In that sense, performances are very okay.
Should you give it a go ? In order to support CGI yes but other than that, you can live very well without seeing it.
If the story plot as advertised seems interesting and the cast with Bae Suzy seem to have a lot of potential, it is not worth it.
First of all, scenes are long. Short spoiler, the main characters encounter each other very fast, but you wait about more than 15 mns to have them interact. So far it seems ok but when nothing interesting happens in 15 mns it’s long. 15 mns where sequences aren’t that beautiful, song is not engaging or silence not necessary or things characters do have nothing interesting for the overall story… it’s a waste of time. and this happens again and again.
Also the plot is jumping from one thing to another soo rashly… as a viewer you don’t have time to either grasp the situation or have compassion for the character.
About the acting…. it’s far from being Bae Suzy best performance. and for Yang Se Jong I first thought it was bad acting but I think the overall is just bad directing. When interacting with the female lead he acts like a extremely dumb person. If that was his personality… alright. but it is only when interacting with her. and it’s not about “shy” type or weird type but truly like you would talk to an autistic person.
Cause if you think about it… the plot is amazing, the performances are amazing, soundtrack is amazing, filming direction is amazing, special effects are amazing and it is rewatchable. So you cannot possibly give a bad grade. Like I can’t give less than 8.5 and a strong 9/10 is also understandable.
In a way when we talk about the real K drama with comedy, romance and all, we want this. An interesting and original plot AND great performances which is often lacking and often judged nowadays in a way I don’t like… Like Alchemy’s of souls or My demon or A good day to be a dog or King the land (to name a few recents) are strongly lacking in good performances. And Goblin doesn’t.
But in a way there is something a bit bothering which I have a hard time to explain. The age gap between the characters (characters not actors) is one of them but not only and that is why it was hard for me to give a review. Like… if it’s perfecr why does it feel imperfect ?
still worth watching at least once in your lifetime
It apparently is based on some true stories even if most of them compiled together don’t really add up to the point where it is comparable to the series.
Anyway I liked the plot very much even if it was not flawless. The plot is original enough to get people’s attentions and the cases are indeed interesting even tho you might have found some similar cases in other series. It is still interesting to keep watching it.
The main drawback to me are the performances. We can all say that Kim Hye Su is a great actress. And I am convinced by all vilain characters in a performance point of view.
Unfortunately, Lee Je Hoon is lacking so much. Sorry for the fans but there is something wrong. In his favor I wonder if the filming direction was good in this way… There are a lot of long scenes where he just… thinks ? wonders ? tries to show emotions ? those scenes are seconds but feel like minutes and he never conveys it right.
As for Jo Jin Woong, I was convinced by his performance but the too much crying (sorry spoiler) didn’t work at some point.
That is actually my point that the performances
of the 2 main characters don’t feel natural.
But the story is indeed great !
You all must have watched The worst of evil in which his performance is mainly based on expressions rather than talks. Here it is the opposite, the most talktative and loud character is here. From the very first episode, his monologues are amazing ! terrific ! People think this is easy, it is not, and he pulls that off so easily. It gives you an idea of the acting and filming genres range he has which nobody has in the industry as of today ! (for main characters)
Shin Hye Sun is amazing. To me it is so far her best performance. The role she plays is harder than Ji Chang Wook for a lot of reasons.
Wherever this show is going if you are someone who enjoys great performances you have to give it a try.
It won’t change my grade but I need to say this, I thinm Choi Hyun Wook is prolly the best actor of this young generation in the comic genres. He’s always terrific. Besides him, Choi Won Young and Seo Young Hee are amazing.
But let’s be totally honest in the cinema point of view (and not a actor beauty or idol bias point of view), Ryeoun is not great in this role. Quite a very bad performance honestly. It is very hard to feel him. Very hard to actually say “Oh I am sad too cause he’s cryong”. And this is not a good thing for that kind of k drama that looks for this kind of emotion from the audience. The only way I think you get attached to him and his story is thanks to the other performances I mentioned above. Seol In ah is not great either. I mean even from her previous works I am not totally convinced.
And it is to me a problem since they are the main characters with the most number of scenes.
My review is indeed subjective but if you have been analyzing and watching a lot of series and korean contents you hardly can say otherwise. I know people are gonna support rookies but there are amazing actors as rookies too. It doesn’t mean they cannot envolve but I am not sure all the flattery is helping.
BUT everyone could agree in a way that there was potential somewhere. And this is why I watched season 2.
Season 2 fixed almost all the issues we found in season 1. There was such an improvement on special effects, it played well with out emotions and personal beliefs and principles. There were a lot of twists in the series, directing intentions were cleared, Lee Jin Wook is teriffic in his role (maybe his best performance), Go Min si as well and I think it is Song Kang’s best performance.
What I like the most is how they painted the vilain in the series. I won’t give any spoilers but it is not just one vilain, the border between good and evil is very thin too, very confusing (in a good way) and very much familiar with our everyday lives. And their development is always very unexpected.
I have to say you cannot properly understand season 2 without watching season 1. And this is where the series didn’t do great. Cause there are some characters I wish I knew more about how they changed from season 1 to season 2. Some details are needed to fully understand their motivations or change of heart or whatever. And I am
eager to see season 3 because there are also new characters that I do wonder if they are truly needed here while we already have such a large cast and a lot of important characters.
Besides this, great show.
The scenery is beautiful. I mean the drama is indeed gorgeous. It took us so many of us to visit the filming locations. Not just because it is a drama but because it’s beautifully filmed.
The only regret might be the ending. Some regret that it ended well (which is a spoiler tho). The problem to me is that they tried to make a complex ending and I understand it. The directing process is complex and also a reason why so many people didn’t approve. And I say it again it’s a complexity in the directing approach, not in the ploting or storytelling approach. But towards the end that complexity wasn’t necessary or at least not necessary once you finished the whole drama. Not necessary to a point that instead of finishing on a good note it gives you a “unfulfilled feeling”.