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Generational trauma is a b*tch to get rid of, I tell you!
Yeah, okay this wasn't as bad as everyone made it sound! It was actually fun! So there was a lot to love about this show. The depiction and use of shamanism in this plot makes it very fresh and engaging. It's contemporary fantasy but make it VERY Korean and I don't know, it was a breath of fresh air. And the show stays very consistent with its involvement. Now, I'm not familiar with the religion or shamanism at all so I don't know how true the practices were to the actual thing but at least the story stayed consistent with its rules. You had the deity-patronized shamans and you had the deity-less shamans and you had your vengeful ghosts, evil spirits, the faceless ghosts, and the lost souls...it was such a consistent and engaging canon. Then there is the character arcs and the plot.
So the story follows Seong A who is a teen shaman who wishes she was just like other teens and then you have Gyeon U who is a teenage dreamboat cursed with misfortune. When Gyeon U walks into Seong A's temple upside down, she knows he is bound to die in 21 days. But he's so handsome so she instantly falls in love with him and vows to save him no matter what. Then he also walks into her ordinary life as the new boy at school and it's like a blessing and a curse all at once as she tries to hide her shaman status from the gloomy Gyeon U while maneuvering her crush and her fate-defying heroics to save him. But little does she know, there are dark forces at work behind the scenes that are trying to thwart her plans.
So the story has two main characters with their own arcs, right? Well, it also has 3 supporting characters who are also going through their own stuff and by the end, all characters reach the end of their arcs having overcome their problems from the start. In addition to all this, there is a great love story (even though it's based on appearances at first, the show makes a not-at-all subtle point of proving that appearances are not enough to love a person without a nice personality to boot. I love that!) that defies convention as our guy is the damsel in serious distress, great friendships that build through the show with humor and compassion, a whole comedy side show, and a freaking sport plot too! And I kid you not...the show pulls it all off. I know, I know! Some reading this are getting angry because I'm ignoring the blinged elephant in the room....I'll get there! Wait!
The thing is, the show takes some odd detours to reach its conclusion but if you actually try to follow each thread to its bitter end, you'll see that by the end of the show, everything is in its right place. Now as for the elephant...the issue with the plot is that, it seems like a while episode is missing between episode 10 and 11 which makes the start of episode 11 very jarring and completely messes up the pace the show had lain thus far. It's a hiccup and that's why this is not a 10-star show because it skips over two very important questions in-between those two episodes but I think it bounces back by sticking to its guns and standing by the rules of the story for the rest of the remaining episodes and two, the fact that even before then, the show keeps some serious mysterious vibe going by not over-explaining characters and their backgrounds. So omitting vital information is already on-brand for the show and if you pick yourself up and get over the sudden jump between those episodes, the rest makes sense again. But they definitely cut an episode out in the middle there. I wonder if they thought a show about shamans having 13 episodes was just too ominous! lol
But really, despite all that, this is a solid show with A+ humor and immaculate dialogue that really steals the words out of your head, at some points. The show also does something really amazing with the second male lead which makes the show that much more fun to watch and leaves us with a very memorable character to boot. That is of course if we ignore the other...SML...but I don't know if that menace counts as one...can someone be their own love rival?! ANYWAY! That brings me right down to...the acting!
So the acting...boy! Choo Young Woo is seriously one of the best young actors coming out of Kdramaland lately. Possibly the best one, actually. This is my second show with him and in both, he has shown such astounding skills that I genuinely think he has an MO now of picking really difficult roles that no one else can really pull off other than him. Like I really don't know which other actor could have pulled something like this off so well...maybe that guy from Weak Hero Class? He could do this too, probably. Anyway, he did so well here and I got chills because he is so detailed with his choices that it's impossible not to be impressed. Cho Yi Hyun is very cute and she pulled off her character really well as well, even though the cute acting isn't my personal favorite but I think she did well objectively, regardless of personal taste. The ensemble were great too. Some of the older actors are tried and well-known actors but the younger cast didn't let themselves be upstaged either.
I think the production was great too. Set design was gorgeous and beautiful (Seong A's bedroom was legit gorgeous! The most beautiful bedroom of dramaland. And Gyeon U's whole house was so cottagecore goals), the white washing in the show wasn't super severe either so the actors looks natural...good thing too! Otherwise how were we to tell the humans and the ghosts apart?! The music was awful...like ew! But thankfully, the show didn't do the slow-mo music video montages so I could easily skip those awful songs...
Now the negatives: The second half of the show has this fundamental hiccup as it depends on the assumption that viewers will have enough emotional investment in the evil spirit to watch and stay with the plot...and I don't know other but omg I could not give less of a F---...I could not care less about that lil menace. And because I didn't like the character, watching a lot of the events of the last three episodes was painful...but I wouldn't accuse the show of lobotomizing itself or to have fundamentally changed its tone. It's more that the show stays true to itself but it's just that the bitter path they're on isn't particularly likable. The show does make a solid point of saying how the scars of war are still deep in the consciousness of the Korean public and how the trauma is inescapable and will still hurt the people. And that the only way to move forward is to remember those who were lost to the unfair violence. That's a beautiful and melancholic message and if you stand by the show, you get to feel that at the very end. Sure, the show skipped one or two fundamental steps there but at least the end was a proper pay off. At least in my opinion.
Overall: Is it worth a watch? YES! Absolutely! This is one of the most fun shows I have come across this year. 2025 has been an amazing drama year, actually and this show definitely falls into the good side of that. I suggest you watch this if you like high school dramas, contemporary fantasy, star-crossed romances, or just a show with a good balance of angst and fluff. It's a great show to binge for sure.
P.S: I would like to congratulate Korea for finally figuring out a show that has 12 episodes but has fans begging for more! This has literally never happened before. Like the 16-episodes-curse is so real and alive and yet! Here we are! *standing ovation* truly another amazing showing by SK drama writers! How do they always manage to miscalculate the plot to episode ratio is truly amazing!
P.P.S: This show was plenty angsty, right? Like Gyeon U would have been a whole edge-lord if he wasn't so wholesome and sweet all the time but then Yeomhwa was like 5 degrees more angsty than the rest of this whole production! lol! Like, she was WAY too dramatic at some points! I was like, girlie needs to unwind a bit! lol
So the story follows Seong A who is a teen shaman who wishes she was just like other teens and then you have Gyeon U who is a teenage dreamboat cursed with misfortune. When Gyeon U walks into Seong A's temple upside down, she knows he is bound to die in 21 days. But he's so handsome so she instantly falls in love with him and vows to save him no matter what. Then he also walks into her ordinary life as the new boy at school and it's like a blessing and a curse all at once as she tries to hide her shaman status from the gloomy Gyeon U while maneuvering her crush and her fate-defying heroics to save him. But little does she know, there are dark forces at work behind the scenes that are trying to thwart her plans.
So the story has two main characters with their own arcs, right? Well, it also has 3 supporting characters who are also going through their own stuff and by the end, all characters reach the end of their arcs having overcome their problems from the start. In addition to all this, there is a great love story (even though it's based on appearances at first, the show makes a not-at-all subtle point of proving that appearances are not enough to love a person without a nice personality to boot. I love that!) that defies convention as our guy is the damsel in serious distress, great friendships that build through the show with humor and compassion, a whole comedy side show, and a freaking sport plot too! And I kid you not...the show pulls it all off. I know, I know! Some reading this are getting angry because I'm ignoring the blinged elephant in the room....I'll get there! Wait!
The thing is, the show takes some odd detours to reach its conclusion but if you actually try to follow each thread to its bitter end, you'll see that by the end of the show, everything is in its right place. Now as for the elephant...the issue with the plot is that, it seems like a while episode is missing between episode 10 and 11 which makes the start of episode 11 very jarring and completely messes up the pace the show had lain thus far. It's a hiccup and that's why this is not a 10-star show because it skips over two very important questions in-between those two episodes but I think it bounces back by sticking to its guns and standing by the rules of the story for the rest of the remaining episodes and two, the fact that even before then, the show keeps some serious mysterious vibe going by not over-explaining characters and their backgrounds. So omitting vital information is already on-brand for the show and if you pick yourself up and get over the sudden jump between those episodes, the rest makes sense again. But they definitely cut an episode out in the middle there. I wonder if they thought a show about shamans having 13 episodes was just too ominous! lol
But really, despite all that, this is a solid show with A+ humor and immaculate dialogue that really steals the words out of your head, at some points. The show also does something really amazing with the second male lead which makes the show that much more fun to watch and leaves us with a very memorable character to boot. That is of course if we ignore the other...SML...but I don't know if that menace counts as one...can someone be their own love rival?! ANYWAY! That brings me right down to...the acting!
So the acting...boy! Choo Young Woo is seriously one of the best young actors coming out of Kdramaland lately. Possibly the best one, actually. This is my second show with him and in both, he has shown such astounding skills that I genuinely think he has an MO now of picking really difficult roles that no one else can really pull off other than him. Like I really don't know which other actor could have pulled something like this off so well...maybe that guy from Weak Hero Class? He could do this too, probably. Anyway, he did so well here and I got chills because he is so detailed with his choices that it's impossible not to be impressed. Cho Yi Hyun is very cute and she pulled off her character really well as well, even though the cute acting isn't my personal favorite but I think she did well objectively, regardless of personal taste. The ensemble were great too. Some of the older actors are tried and well-known actors but the younger cast didn't let themselves be upstaged either.
I think the production was great too. Set design was gorgeous and beautiful (Seong A's bedroom was legit gorgeous! The most beautiful bedroom of dramaland. And Gyeon U's whole house was so cottagecore goals), the white washing in the show wasn't super severe either so the actors looks natural...good thing too! Otherwise how were we to tell the humans and the ghosts apart?! The music was awful...like ew! But thankfully, the show didn't do the slow-mo music video montages so I could easily skip those awful songs...
Now the negatives: The second half of the show has this fundamental hiccup as it depends on the assumption that viewers will have enough emotional investment in the evil spirit to watch and stay with the plot...and I don't know other but omg I could not give less of a F---...I could not care less about that lil menace. And because I didn't like the character, watching a lot of the events of the last three episodes was painful...but I wouldn't accuse the show of lobotomizing itself or to have fundamentally changed its tone. It's more that the show stays true to itself but it's just that the bitter path they're on isn't particularly likable. The show does make a solid point of saying how the scars of war are still deep in the consciousness of the Korean public and how the trauma is inescapable and will still hurt the people. And that the only way to move forward is to remember those who were lost to the unfair violence. That's a beautiful and melancholic message and if you stand by the show, you get to feel that at the very end. Sure, the show skipped one or two fundamental steps there but at least the end was a proper pay off. At least in my opinion.
Overall: Is it worth a watch? YES! Absolutely! This is one of the most fun shows I have come across this year. 2025 has been an amazing drama year, actually and this show definitely falls into the good side of that. I suggest you watch this if you like high school dramas, contemporary fantasy, star-crossed romances, or just a show with a good balance of angst and fluff. It's a great show to binge for sure.
P.S: I would like to congratulate Korea for finally figuring out a show that has 12 episodes but has fans begging for more! This has literally never happened before. Like the 16-episodes-curse is so real and alive and yet! Here we are! *standing ovation* truly another amazing showing by SK drama writers! How do they always manage to miscalculate the plot to episode ratio is truly amazing!
P.P.S: This show was plenty angsty, right? Like Gyeon U would have been a whole edge-lord if he wasn't so wholesome and sweet all the time but then Yeomhwa was like 5 degrees more angsty than the rest of this whole production! lol! Like, she was WAY too dramatic at some points! I was like, girlie needs to unwind a bit! lol
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