This review may contain spoilers
Good until the last couple of episodes.
Up until around episode 8 I was really enjoying this drama and it was very entertaining with its mix of supernatural and romcom with certain darker aspects.
The characters were interesting and the banter and relationship between Seong A, Gyeon U and Jiho was fun. I liked the whole shaman idea as a premise and I enjoyed the plot direction until it started to go south. I liked also the plots relating to the classmates and overall it was very entertaining and one of the best kdramas I was watching this year, again, until it started to go south.
First of all I'll go ahead and say that while I've read and understand this might have been planned as a 16 episode series originally, that it was cut short and that, I don't say this very often, this is one of the few occasions that I think the series needed those 16 episodes, I don't understand why they didn't adapt it better to the 12 episode. As a writer, producer and director I would sacrifice the integrity of the original script, even if in sadness, to make a cohesive and coherent story.
Here instead they baked a nice loaf of bread, cut a big slice in the middle and sold the bread to the consumer as if it was a full loaf. But it was so badly chopped that everyone can clearly see where the cut and missing part is.
Things started to go south first and foremost with the way the character of Yeomhwa was tackled, or rather not tackled. Everyone protects her and lets her do as she pleases. While it was ok for part of the drama when you think you're building up the story to a climax, anything she did became a repetitive pattern and quite frustrating to watch when that climax or resolution never came.
The story as planned ended in episode 10. The two last episodes are just a mess of plotholes. We're missing basically 4 episodes that potentially (because we never know) would have closed those plotholes better. The question is why it wasn't adapted to the constraints they had and why it's simply chopped. There might be a reasoning more than simply a problem of the team not wanting to adapt this better given the circumstances, but as a viewer the end result is the same. It was not good.
Episode 11 was a mess, and episode 12 continued on this mess.
How did Gyeon U go on a date with Seong A? Plothole. It's not explained how she managed to make him resurface.
After that Seong A disappears, but it's not explained why exactly, it's not mentioned either how she's surviving wherever she is, apparently she's rich and we didn't know and somehow managed to rent somewhere being under aged, or grass and pine cones are an enough good diet to have for more than two years.
Other things that were introduced earlier in the series simply have a very anti-climatic and weird way of concluding, like the previous classmate of Gyeon U. The girl had basically bullied and tortured him for years only to reveal it was her who started the fire (we don't know why exactly) and for Gyeon U to ignore her from now on, but we're not even told why Gyeon U didn't do this already, apparently he knew she had kind of started the fire anyway and maybe I'm misremembering but I believe he had mentioned to feeling guilty about what happened and why he kept in touch with her, it's contradictory and just left like that.
Flower Master.... what is his deal? it's just the money or what? he just works for whoever and doesn't seem to be that willing to pick sides, but at the same time he's desperate in episode 12 to save Yeomhwa so.... we're missing a lot from his character.
In episode 11 we get Yeomhwa inheriting and living in the General's house, why? why is she there? why is anyone still talking to her? why doesn't she care about her baby and her whole plan after the death of the General at the end of episode 10? why was that death so anti-climatic? not only because of being predictable but also because it's brushed under the rug so quickly. Why was the General so obsessed with saving YeomHwa to the point of willing to put everyone else through the problems she was creating? Motherly love is just not enough of a justification, that's weak.
Yeomhwa could have been an interesting character if she didn't become so repetitive and if they didn't try to redeem her all of a sudden in the last two episodes. All that she caused and in the end she just walks away free with new friends (seriously that moment in episode 12 with Gyeon U trying to connect with her? are you serious? after the bullying since he was a child? NOOOOO).
I guess all her actions are justified because her baby died, even though she was trying to kill underage kids anyway (and she literally let a child die by the beginning of the series in case anyone forgot).
Why is there a two year time jump!!!!!!!?????? WHY??! It adds nothing to anything other than making everything so much more complicated and gives this feeling that during those two years nothing was done or achieved (Gyeon U tried of course but we're only shown a couple of scenes anyway). Why is it so difficult to catch Bong Su? Especially when he finally catches him rather easily in the beach at the end of the episode and even goes willingly with him to Gyeon U's house? all that for nothing? Logic not found!
We never see the consequences, even to an emotional level, of what Jiho did, and I guess their way of closing his crush with Seong A had to be shown somehow but to be honest it should just have happened in that 2 year gap instead of actively having an scene to show he closes it. But this brings me anyway to the fact Jiho was pretty absent/background character especially in episode 11, and if his actions in episode 10 were already out of character "that shaman looks scary, let's go talk to her and do what she demands, doesn't matter my best friend/crush is a shaman and I should ask her first", but that it seems very unrealistic considering his personality from episodes 1 to 9 that he would not look for Seong A as well, that he would be so passive and accepting of the situation. But this brings me anyway to the fact that it was extremely weird how Seong A just disappears and everyone just supposedly accepts it as normal and there isn't much care.
Why did the show decide to kill the old woman shaman an episode before the end? weird. She was a background character anyway, so why making her die?
So, apparently they had to kiss to transfer Bong Su around, what in retrospective makes quite puzzling why Seong A would avoid Gyeon U in her dream, just don't kiss him? Why the clue in the blackboard of where she was going to be at the end of episode 11? At the time of watching I thought maybe Seong A was leaving clues because she was losing herself, and while true, it's never tackled what was the intention there, she didn't want Bong Su taken out from her anyway, so I guess just the script said so.
In episode 12 they waste too much time on things that they seemed to have dropped/forgotten in episode 11 what drags the main issue and resolution to then have a very anti-climatic ending to the whole Bong Su drama.
So... it turns out he can just get out of a body when he wants without having to do anything, and the whole thing of looking for his name was a lie since he already knew it? What in the waste of time is this?
What was his deal then? I mean for starters he's supposed to be soooo evil, but apart from sucking the life of his host I didn't see him doing anything that evil, although they really tried to make him look evil just because he was carefree and giggling when running. His whole story is just a repetition of a few scenes but there is never that much explanation and at the same time the fact they kind of wanted the audience to sympathise with him considering the lives he was consuming and that he liked Seong A but he basically kept her away from who she loves. I feel there was a disconnection between Bong Su's banter and words and his actions, and there were things missing there to make it more cohesive. It was overall also dragged way too much as a plot. It was very funny in the beginning and with Seong A and Gyeon U having to hold hands and whatnot, but they stretched it too much. There are of course also plotholes in his story as it is. For starters why was he an evil spirit and why did Yeomhwa picked him? why did she believe that the evil spirit would do as she pleased once she gave him a vessel? what did she want from the spirit exactly anyway? I thought that since her baby had been punished by the deities that maybe only an evil god could change that, but it's never really explained what was the intention. Was it that? did she want the spirit to bring her baby back to life? did she want to punish/kill the other deities? Who knows.
Seong A really wanted to graduate and go to college, and I thought maybe we would get an epilogue that showed her graduating or something but she dropped what she wanted just because? because in her dream she remembered the General's words and that she's a shaman? It was kind of sad to be honest, I feel so bad for her.
The epilogue we got instead seemed rather pointless.
Overall it's watchable and enjoyable until around episode 8, even 9, but the last three episodes create too many plotholes, character inconsistencies and anticlimactic conclusions to the plot points the series had introduced. At least they're together sure, but at what cost! we don't even really get to see the consequences of Seong A's disappearance for two years (everyone looking older, everyone having a life but not her, etc).
If you want only romantic fluff this might disappoint because the darker elements, while present from the beginning anyway, grow bigger in the plot as the story progresses and especially towards the end. Plenty of fluff and cute moments for two thirds of the drama but mixed with some rather darker bits too.
The characters were interesting and the banter and relationship between Seong A, Gyeon U and Jiho was fun. I liked the whole shaman idea as a premise and I enjoyed the plot direction until it started to go south. I liked also the plots relating to the classmates and overall it was very entertaining and one of the best kdramas I was watching this year, again, until it started to go south.
First of all I'll go ahead and say that while I've read and understand this might have been planned as a 16 episode series originally, that it was cut short and that, I don't say this very often, this is one of the few occasions that I think the series needed those 16 episodes, I don't understand why they didn't adapt it better to the 12 episode. As a writer, producer and director I would sacrifice the integrity of the original script, even if in sadness, to make a cohesive and coherent story.
Here instead they baked a nice loaf of bread, cut a big slice in the middle and sold the bread to the consumer as if it was a full loaf. But it was so badly chopped that everyone can clearly see where the cut and missing part is.
Things started to go south first and foremost with the way the character of Yeomhwa was tackled, or rather not tackled. Everyone protects her and lets her do as she pleases. While it was ok for part of the drama when you think you're building up the story to a climax, anything she did became a repetitive pattern and quite frustrating to watch when that climax or resolution never came.
The story as planned ended in episode 10. The two last episodes are just a mess of plotholes. We're missing basically 4 episodes that potentially (because we never know) would have closed those plotholes better. The question is why it wasn't adapted to the constraints they had and why it's simply chopped. There might be a reasoning more than simply a problem of the team not wanting to adapt this better given the circumstances, but as a viewer the end result is the same. It was not good.
Episode 11 was a mess, and episode 12 continued on this mess.
How did Gyeon U go on a date with Seong A? Plothole. It's not explained how she managed to make him resurface.
After that Seong A disappears, but it's not explained why exactly, it's not mentioned either how she's surviving wherever she is, apparently she's rich and we didn't know and somehow managed to rent somewhere being under aged, or grass and pine cones are an enough good diet to have for more than two years.
Other things that were introduced earlier in the series simply have a very anti-climatic and weird way of concluding, like the previous classmate of Gyeon U. The girl had basically bullied and tortured him for years only to reveal it was her who started the fire (we don't know why exactly) and for Gyeon U to ignore her from now on, but we're not even told why Gyeon U didn't do this already, apparently he knew she had kind of started the fire anyway and maybe I'm misremembering but I believe he had mentioned to feeling guilty about what happened and why he kept in touch with her, it's contradictory and just left like that.
Flower Master.... what is his deal? it's just the money or what? he just works for whoever and doesn't seem to be that willing to pick sides, but at the same time he's desperate in episode 12 to save Yeomhwa so.... we're missing a lot from his character.
In episode 11 we get Yeomhwa inheriting and living in the General's house, why? why is she there? why is anyone still talking to her? why doesn't she care about her baby and her whole plan after the death of the General at the end of episode 10? why was that death so anti-climatic? not only because of being predictable but also because it's brushed under the rug so quickly. Why was the General so obsessed with saving YeomHwa to the point of willing to put everyone else through the problems she was creating? Motherly love is just not enough of a justification, that's weak.
Yeomhwa could have been an interesting character if she didn't become so repetitive and if they didn't try to redeem her all of a sudden in the last two episodes. All that she caused and in the end she just walks away free with new friends (seriously that moment in episode 12 with Gyeon U trying to connect with her? are you serious? after the bullying since he was a child? NOOOOO).
I guess all her actions are justified because her baby died, even though she was trying to kill underage kids anyway (and she literally let a child die by the beginning of the series in case anyone forgot).
Why is there a two year time jump!!!!!!!?????? WHY??! It adds nothing to anything other than making everything so much more complicated and gives this feeling that during those two years nothing was done or achieved (Gyeon U tried of course but we're only shown a couple of scenes anyway). Why is it so difficult to catch Bong Su? Especially when he finally catches him rather easily in the beach at the end of the episode and even goes willingly with him to Gyeon U's house? all that for nothing? Logic not found!
We never see the consequences, even to an emotional level, of what Jiho did, and I guess their way of closing his crush with Seong A had to be shown somehow but to be honest it should just have happened in that 2 year gap instead of actively having an scene to show he closes it. But this brings me anyway to the fact Jiho was pretty absent/background character especially in episode 11, and if his actions in episode 10 were already out of character "that shaman looks scary, let's go talk to her and do what she demands, doesn't matter my best friend/crush is a shaman and I should ask her first", but that it seems very unrealistic considering his personality from episodes 1 to 9 that he would not look for Seong A as well, that he would be so passive and accepting of the situation. But this brings me anyway to the fact that it was extremely weird how Seong A just disappears and everyone just supposedly accepts it as normal and there isn't much care.
Why did the show decide to kill the old woman shaman an episode before the end? weird. She was a background character anyway, so why making her die?
So, apparently they had to kiss to transfer Bong Su around, what in retrospective makes quite puzzling why Seong A would avoid Gyeon U in her dream, just don't kiss him? Why the clue in the blackboard of where she was going to be at the end of episode 11? At the time of watching I thought maybe Seong A was leaving clues because she was losing herself, and while true, it's never tackled what was the intention there, she didn't want Bong Su taken out from her anyway, so I guess just the script said so.
In episode 12 they waste too much time on things that they seemed to have dropped/forgotten in episode 11 what drags the main issue and resolution to then have a very anti-climatic ending to the whole Bong Su drama.
So... it turns out he can just get out of a body when he wants without having to do anything, and the whole thing of looking for his name was a lie since he already knew it? What in the waste of time is this?
What was his deal then? I mean for starters he's supposed to be soooo evil, but apart from sucking the life of his host I didn't see him doing anything that evil, although they really tried to make him look evil just because he was carefree and giggling when running. His whole story is just a repetition of a few scenes but there is never that much explanation and at the same time the fact they kind of wanted the audience to sympathise with him considering the lives he was consuming and that he liked Seong A but he basically kept her away from who she loves. I feel there was a disconnection between Bong Su's banter and words and his actions, and there were things missing there to make it more cohesive. It was overall also dragged way too much as a plot. It was very funny in the beginning and with Seong A and Gyeon U having to hold hands and whatnot, but they stretched it too much. There are of course also plotholes in his story as it is. For starters why was he an evil spirit and why did Yeomhwa picked him? why did she believe that the evil spirit would do as she pleased once she gave him a vessel? what did she want from the spirit exactly anyway? I thought that since her baby had been punished by the deities that maybe only an evil god could change that, but it's never really explained what was the intention. Was it that? did she want the spirit to bring her baby back to life? did she want to punish/kill the other deities? Who knows.
Seong A really wanted to graduate and go to college, and I thought maybe we would get an epilogue that showed her graduating or something but she dropped what she wanted just because? because in her dream she remembered the General's words and that she's a shaman? It was kind of sad to be honest, I feel so bad for her.
The epilogue we got instead seemed rather pointless.
Overall it's watchable and enjoyable until around episode 8, even 9, but the last three episodes create too many plotholes, character inconsistencies and anticlimactic conclusions to the plot points the series had introduced. At least they're together sure, but at what cost! we don't even really get to see the consequences of Seong A's disappearance for two years (everyone looking older, everyone having a life but not her, etc).
If you want only romantic fluff this might disappoint because the darker elements, while present from the beginning anyway, grow bigger in the plot as the story progresses and especially towards the end. Plenty of fluff and cute moments for two thirds of the drama but mixed with some rather darker bits too.
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