The Ghost Detective (2018)

Not perfect but definitely worth it!

So i decided to watch this show despite the countless reviews detailing the plot holes and saying that the latter half was bad. Adding to that, the ratings were bad too but somehow i kept coming back to this page. There was something about the plot that made me want to watch in spite of all the bad reviews and bad ratings. And im so glad i did! I did not regret it for one minute. This is coming from someone who loves shows like Voice, Beyond Evil, Law School, The uncanny Counter, My Mister, Hot stove league, The Guest, Train, Signal, Kingdom, Vagabond, Stranger, Liar Game, Bad Guys, Hello Monster (there are lots more but these are the titles i can recall for the moment). Point is, I'm a huge fan of thrillers with action/mystery. The presence or absence of romance does not matter to me. Now that I've got that out of the way, lets get into the drama itself:
Storyline: the plot starts strong. There are scary bits which are tastefully placed and are not meaningless jumpscares. The whole idea of a ghost who uses the darkest parts of the human mind and turns it against them was interesting to me. This was a ghost who was still mentally a 12 year old child. She wanted to be right as most 12 year olds do and she was angry. She took advantage of people and their darkest thoughts just to prove a point. Except there were two people who did not follow the straight line she had etched. And that is where her obsession with our main leads begins. All of this was skillfully done by the writer. Sunwoo hye's anger and hatred, the rules of the ghost world. And then the tiwst. Dealing with a ghost was bad enough but how do you deal with a reanimated body out for revenge with no means to kill them? I loved that little twist. However i give the plot 7.5/10 because while the plot was engaging, i feel like the writer took on more than they could handle which lead to some plot points not being concluded and leaving much for the viewer to deduce themselves. For example, why was that rich ceo going so far for the agency? I get that he was grateful to them for finding and returning his daughtet but even then you would expect him to be a little skeptical no? And seeing him smile in one or two scenes made me think that maybe he had nefarious purposes but at the end of the show he was just a money bank for the agency. Then there was park eun chong who in my opinion was an unnecessary addition to the show. He did not bring much to the plot and the show would not have changed much without him. Then there's the part about lee da il being back...dont get me wrong i was incredibly happy that the show brought him back, but what is he? Is he a ghost? An in betweener who can travel between this world and the land where ghosts stop before they move on to the next life? I could have really used atleast a hint. In my opinion lee da il is no longer a ghost, the biggest hint being when he changed his clothes without yeo wool having to offer them to him. Then the whole being able to control the evil spirit side. All of this made it seem like (to me atleast) that he was no longer a ghost.
I saw alot of reviews raising questions regarding plot holes, not just on this site but on other sites as well. Having read those reviews beforehand i was prepared to determine whether these were actual plot holes. My verdict? 80% of those plot holes are not actually plot holes. Why was sunwoo hye captured in the dash cam but not in the cctv? Simple, she wanted to be seen in the dash cam. She can choose to be visible to others. Another thing is that when yeo wool sees sunwoo hye for the first time, she is cradling her sister's head and in a close up of that scene you see that her hand also touches the hearing aid yi rang is wearing. That is in my opinion the reason why yeo wool was able to see sunwoo hye back then. Also we learn later in the drama that a ghost causing a startle response can result in them being visible to others. When yeo wool saw sunwoo hye she did not know she was a ghost. Yi rang had already been dealing with her for some time hence none of them were startled by her. While the restaurant manager was definitely startled. Another thing people complained about was the characters going of on their own and creating unnecessary problems just for the sake of 'conflict'. I disagree. Yeo wool goes on her own to kill sunwoo hye because she knows lee da ill will not let her. She believes she has the way to end sunwoo hye's killing spree and decides to act on it. Lee da ill acts on his own yes, but viewers forget that he kept detective park and kim gyeol in the loop so technically he never acted on his own. He was just selective about who he let in on the plan. Some viewers said that sunwoo hye being unkillable was ridiculous. No it wasnt. In the show's universe it made sense. Yeo wool was supposed to stab sunwoo hye that first time because she was willing to sacrifice herself. She knew that she might fail but still decided to go forward with it. But lee da il stabs her instead. Lee da il is a ghost and at that point he was unaware that his body lived. Hence he wasn't thinking about sacrifice. Him stabbing sunwoo hye broke the rules and so created an abomination. Viewers asked why did lee da il suddenly start disappearing and 1 a.m. that is already explained in the show so i wont get into it. A question i saw raised by a review in another site was that why didnt lee da il disappear with sunwoo hye the first time he held on to her the first time she disappeared at 1 a.m but was able to hold on to her in the last episode and take her to his body. The explanation is simple. Lee da il was a pure ghost the first time he touched sunwoo hye. She was evil while at that point he couldn't touch anything. It was painful for him to even touch her. Therr were too many variables as well. The first time it was sunwoo who was disappearing. In the last episode lee da il had been corrupted by the powers he had gained and so was able to touch her and keep hold of her. Also sunwoo was weak. Like gil chae won said, she was AB to ghost meaning a universal donor. When her abilities disappeared, so did her AB blood group meaning that sunwoo faced what we call in medical terms a tranfusion reaction due to mismatched blood. That weakened her beyond belief. Some people were incredulous about the whole poison the drinks to cause a mass murder. But in my opinion when you keep in mind that sunwoo is a 12 year old, it made perfect sense. Her ability to change clothes? She can simply control people and take their clothes. She doesnt even have to kill them for it. She can stay in different houses and the owners wouldn't even remember the next day. I hope i have answered most of the doubts viewers might be having.

Characters: i loved all of them. Yeo wool was a wonderful character. Brave, strong, relentless and willing to sacrifice herself in the end. Lee da il was an amazing hero. His little smile followed by "how dangerous can a ghost be" was when I knew he was going to be a terrific hero. I loved gil chae won too. She was a sassy character. This show proved that it is possible to have more than one strong female character and not necessary to add any conflict between them. I didn't like detective park initially but he grew on me.

Acting: it was perfect except for the guy who played detective park's partner. Everyone else was spot on. There were a few particular moments that stood out for me. When lee da il and yeo wool are sitting in the hopsital next lee da il's living body and talking, that particular moment when choi daniel changed the tone of his voice and you can hear the heaviness, the sorrow, the need to be next to yeo wool, the desperation to live with her, it was a great bit of acting. Then there is the part when gil chae won is telling sunwoo about her being AB blood group to ghosts, sunwoo asks why she is telling her that to which gil chae won responds with "to confuse you" the cherry on top was the smirk and head tilt. It was a nice touch. Park eun bin had several shining moments but one in particular was when she was possessed but sunwoo hye. Her walk, her smile, head tilt everything was spot on. I loved it

Chemistry: it was amaaaaazing. I love shows like these where the love story touches you deeply. It reminded me of the love story in train. It was beautiful and it made me believe that our two leads would overcome everything just to be next to each other. The first time they hugged was one of my favourite moments. You could feel what they feel. I truly want park eun bin and choi daniel to be cast in another show, an ocn show preferably.

The ending: i choose to believe that it was a happy ending. See the thing is, in the realm of fantasy anything is possible. In the realm of fantasy the rules are not so rigid. Being an avid reader, i have read so many books under the fantasy genre where ghosts become human, vampires become humans, people travel to the past, people have super powers. Even in kdramas like goblin and angel's last mission we saw impossible things happen. So why cant Lee Da Il become human again? I choose to believe that because his sacrifice was so noble, he was given a second chance and eventually he'll become human. He came back to the real world after he heard yeo wool's voice but he stayed away from her to give her a chance at a living normal life. But they found each other again. He was the most selfless hero i have seen in a long time and it is my belief that his selflessness was rewarded in the end. He'll become a human eventually and his ability to travel in between worlds will ensure that they won't have to make another sacrifice to get rid of ghosts. So in the end i will rate the drama a 9/10 despite its imperfections because i enjoyed it and it made me smile.

Here's to hoping that someone decides to cast these talented leads in another drama, preferably another mystery thriller. Loved them together.

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