This review may contain spoilers
a lot of good ingredients but the predatory romance ruins everything
God what an aggravating experience. But let's start w the positives bc the positives are really really strong. There are a lot of really poignant moments relating to death — the entire sequence of 9 year old Euntak arriving at home and slowly realizing she's talking w her mom's ghost and then immediately running into Reaper... goosebumps! Reaper as a character is just so well-crafted and intricately written and Lee Dong Wook's performance is breathtaking. I love the lore/worldbuilding for Goblin and the Reapers. Goblin's backstory is fascinating and the way it is entangled with the present is so so so cool — I cannot count how many times the editing had me gasping w the way it showed the past paralleling the present. Reaper/Sunny was so beautiful and heartbreaking and I love their dynamic so much.
There are some really, *really* excellent impactful scenes... but it's so hard to enjoy this show for more than 5 minutes at a time before remembering the revolting predatory romance that is at the center of this whole thing. And I think I get what the writers were going for bc in order for Goblin to reevaluate his life and want to continue living, Euntak had to be Goblin's complete opposite — bright personality/optimist, in need of a protector, naive due to her lack of experience and youth. But, like… she can be these things and an adult. Yet the writers chose to have her be a 19 year old — a girl who is still in high school! — while he's 900+ years old. Why the hell is he falling for her? We can't use the excuse that she's mature and he(/the narrative) forgets that she's only 19 bc she truly acts like a teenager — the inciting incident of the whole show (Goblin and Euntak meeting) happens because she makes a birthday wish for a job, to get away from her abusive family, and to get her first boyfriend. When he helps grant those first two wishes, she becomes fixated on him granting the third. She becomes infatuated with Goblin within moments of meeting him — when she follows him through his magic door and finds herself in Canada she's telling him she loves him and asking him to marry her????? GRIL WHAT????????? YOU'VE KNOWN HIM FOR 10 MINUTES!!!! Later she reunites with a childhood friend — who I guess she had a crush on when they were growing up? — and then starts obsessing over him because she feels rejected by Goblin. She constantly makes stupid, impulsive decisions with no thought to her safety. Practically everything about her behavior screams teenager. So, again, why the f*ck is Goblin falling for her??????? At 900+ years old, he's falling in love with a girl who has no solid sense of who she is (because she has barely had the chance to live her life!) and the show is trying to gaslight me into finding this cute???????? And for the first half of the show he honestly treats Euntak like shit bc he's trying to keep emotional distance since he wants the Goblin bride to pull the sword out and if he lets himself get attached to her, then he will want to live and hesitate. Like he is so petty and immature, it's insane to me that this man has been around 900 years and still acts like this. As I already mentioned, Euntak reunites with a childhood friend and Goblin straight up threatens this teenager to stay away from her. When he's upset with Euntak, he will do passive aggressive bullshit — there's one sequence where he forces her to do all of the household chores (under the implied threat that she will become homeless if she doesn't) and it's just like..... Wow, you're really telling me that this man is treating her exactly like her abusive aunt but now I'm supposed to find it funny and cute bc he's jealous and wants her attention? These writers can go to hell.
And honestly the show is confused about their dynamic too! Goblin and Reaper regularly refer to Euntak as a child. Like Goblin will quite literally be referring to her as a child and then the next scene he's talking about his romantic feelings for her or he's smiling and blushing about her expressing her feelings for him or they're kissing. Also as someone who LOVESSSSSS a pairing w a size difference, I have gotta say that this is the first time size difference has made me want to vomit from discomfort. Bc he truly acts like a paternal figure half the time. There's a scene where it's her birthday (so she just turned 20) and she wants to celebrate so she pleads for Goblin to buy her alcohol and this somehow leads to their first mutual kiss 😵💫😵💫 There's another scene where she graduates from high school and everyone's parents come to celebrate their kids and I was sitting here like "please don't blur the line anymore, please don't have him show up." But then he does 🤢🤢🤢🤢🤢 He thankfully doesn't claim to be a parental figure but still... It's just so f*cking weird and awful and I can't believe how many people are either seemingly shipping this or are unbothered by it.
And the romance is just so enraging bc there are two really simple ways this could be fixed!
1. Just make Euntak an adult! Her characterization would have to be majorly tweaked but literally nothing else would have to change
2. Make Goblin/Reaper the romance! This would require a lot more alterations (removing the Reaper/Sunny romance for one) but I honestly think this would have been stronger narratively bc the angst of falling for the person who betrayed you and doomed you to this horrible existence in his past life and then choosing to forgive and still loving that person just..... whew! It would hit so hard!!!
And lastly... let's talk about the ending, bc IMO the ending should've been ep13 with the time jump showing that Euntak and Sunny are okay and happy. To get more into this let me talk spoilers. Typically I do not do talk spoilers for the last ~third of a show in my reviews, but the finale pissed me the f*ck off and made me rage cry for 30 minutes, so... yeah. Do not read beyond this if you don't want the entire show spoiled lol.
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Okay, so I get it. I get that a major theme of the show is that certain things are fated to happen and cannot be stopped. I GET IT!!!! Euntak was never supposed to be born, she was supposed to die when her mother was in the hit and run while pregnant, so it narratively makes sense that she would die at the end of this since she only exists bc Goblin meddled in human affairs. BUT! The entire premise of the first 13 episodes is that Euntak is the only person who can pull Goblin's sword out so he can finally die and be at peace and yet the writers found a way to work around that ending and bring him back after his "death." So why the f*ck does the 900+ year old predator get to live and mourn her, while Euntak — she's only 29 at this point btw — is forced to sacrifice herself??????? And then in an attempt to soothe the viewers with the final scene, we see a reincarnated Euntak — WHO IS A TEENAGER AGAIN!!!!!! Goblin is told that students are on a trip before he leaves his residence and then we see Euntak wearing a school uniform while Goblin is now nearing 1000 years old! Oh my god I'm going to hurl!!!! — stumble upon Goblin and they recognize each other. Just.... what the hell is wrong with these writers GOOD GOD.
Anyway where's my Goblin x Reaper remake I want it so bad 😭😭
There are some really, *really* excellent impactful scenes... but it's so hard to enjoy this show for more than 5 minutes at a time before remembering the revolting predatory romance that is at the center of this whole thing. And I think I get what the writers were going for bc in order for Goblin to reevaluate his life and want to continue living, Euntak had to be Goblin's complete opposite — bright personality/optimist, in need of a protector, naive due to her lack of experience and youth. But, like… she can be these things and an adult. Yet the writers chose to have her be a 19 year old — a girl who is still in high school! — while he's 900+ years old. Why the hell is he falling for her? We can't use the excuse that she's mature and he(/the narrative) forgets that she's only 19 bc she truly acts like a teenager — the inciting incident of the whole show (Goblin and Euntak meeting) happens because she makes a birthday wish for a job, to get away from her abusive family, and to get her first boyfriend. When he helps grant those first two wishes, she becomes fixated on him granting the third. She becomes infatuated with Goblin within moments of meeting him — when she follows him through his magic door and finds herself in Canada she's telling him she loves him and asking him to marry her????? GRIL WHAT????????? YOU'VE KNOWN HIM FOR 10 MINUTES!!!! Later she reunites with a childhood friend — who I guess she had a crush on when they were growing up? — and then starts obsessing over him because she feels rejected by Goblin. She constantly makes stupid, impulsive decisions with no thought to her safety. Practically everything about her behavior screams teenager. So, again, why the f*ck is Goblin falling for her??????? At 900+ years old, he's falling in love with a girl who has no solid sense of who she is (because she has barely had the chance to live her life!) and the show is trying to gaslight me into finding this cute???????? And for the first half of the show he honestly treats Euntak like shit bc he's trying to keep emotional distance since he wants the Goblin bride to pull the sword out and if he lets himself get attached to her, then he will want to live and hesitate. Like he is so petty and immature, it's insane to me that this man has been around 900 years and still acts like this. As I already mentioned, Euntak reunites with a childhood friend and Goblin straight up threatens this teenager to stay away from her. When he's upset with Euntak, he will do passive aggressive bullshit — there's one sequence where he forces her to do all of the household chores (under the implied threat that she will become homeless if she doesn't) and it's just like..... Wow, you're really telling me that this man is treating her exactly like her abusive aunt but now I'm supposed to find it funny and cute bc he's jealous and wants her attention? These writers can go to hell.
And honestly the show is confused about their dynamic too! Goblin and Reaper regularly refer to Euntak as a child. Like Goblin will quite literally be referring to her as a child and then the next scene he's talking about his romantic feelings for her or he's smiling and blushing about her expressing her feelings for him or they're kissing. Also as someone who LOVESSSSSS a pairing w a size difference, I have gotta say that this is the first time size difference has made me want to vomit from discomfort. Bc he truly acts like a paternal figure half the time. There's a scene where it's her birthday (so she just turned 20) and she wants to celebrate so she pleads for Goblin to buy her alcohol and this somehow leads to their first mutual kiss 😵💫😵💫 There's another scene where she graduates from high school and everyone's parents come to celebrate their kids and I was sitting here like "please don't blur the line anymore, please don't have him show up." But then he does 🤢🤢🤢🤢🤢 He thankfully doesn't claim to be a parental figure but still... It's just so f*cking weird and awful and I can't believe how many people are either seemingly shipping this or are unbothered by it.
And the romance is just so enraging bc there are two really simple ways this could be fixed!
1. Just make Euntak an adult! Her characterization would have to be majorly tweaked but literally nothing else would have to change
2. Make Goblin/Reaper the romance! This would require a lot more alterations (removing the Reaper/Sunny romance for one) but I honestly think this would have been stronger narratively bc the angst of falling for the person who betrayed you and doomed you to this horrible existence in his past life and then choosing to forgive and still loving that person just..... whew! It would hit so hard!!!
And lastly... let's talk about the ending, bc IMO the ending should've been ep13 with the time jump showing that Euntak and Sunny are okay and happy. To get more into this let me talk spoilers. Typically I do not do talk spoilers for the last ~third of a show in my reviews, but the finale pissed me the f*ck off and made me rage cry for 30 minutes, so... yeah. Do not read beyond this if you don't want the entire show spoiled lol.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
Okay, so I get it. I get that a major theme of the show is that certain things are fated to happen and cannot be stopped. I GET IT!!!! Euntak was never supposed to be born, she was supposed to die when her mother was in the hit and run while pregnant, so it narratively makes sense that she would die at the end of this since she only exists bc Goblin meddled in human affairs. BUT! The entire premise of the first 13 episodes is that Euntak is the only person who can pull Goblin's sword out so he can finally die and be at peace and yet the writers found a way to work around that ending and bring him back after his "death." So why the f*ck does the 900+ year old predator get to live and mourn her, while Euntak — she's only 29 at this point btw — is forced to sacrifice herself??????? And then in an attempt to soothe the viewers with the final scene, we see a reincarnated Euntak — WHO IS A TEENAGER AGAIN!!!!!! Goblin is told that students are on a trip before he leaves his residence and then we see Euntak wearing a school uniform while Goblin is now nearing 1000 years old! Oh my god I'm going to hurl!!!! — stumble upon Goblin and they recognize each other. Just.... what the hell is wrong with these writers GOOD GOD.
Anyway where's my Goblin x Reaper remake I want it so bad 😭😭
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