"Eenie, meenie, miney, mo — who’s the vessel for Park Il-do?" - Dramabeans (Recap Ep 12)
The above line perfectly captures what the drama quickly descends into after the first episode. I'll admit that the first episode was scary, and I almost wanted to stop watching because I was spooked, but by episode two's end I could tell there was going to be a pattern to this. Hwa Pyung will reunite with Kang Gil Young and Mateo, and go from case to case trying to find where Park Il Do is. The funny thing is that he has no plan whatsoever for vanquishing the stubborn, superior demon, and is aware that previous attempt of exorcising the spirit failed. His shaman friend continues to dissuade him from his mission, reminding him that no one can deal with the demon as it is extremely strong. However, Hwa Pyung refuses to heed the numerous advices given to him by various secondary and main characters over the course of the series.

I was bothered by the lack of character development in all three of the main characters. We are not told what Hwa Pyung has been up to during the time gap between his childhood and his adulthood. His bosses in the taxi service apparently allow him to wander wherever, shirk his duties, damage the taxi he drives, spend large bouts of time not doing his job, and still pay him. He remains stubborn, emotional and reckless throughout the series, at least up until where I watched. Honestly I got sick and tired of the name Park Il Do coming out of his lips every five seconds in every episode. There are no obvious traumatic signs from his childhood incidents, and he doesn't really display any guilt or internal torture after having killed his mother and grandmother while being possessed. He doesn't seem afraid that he might get possessed again and might end up killing the remainder of his family (there's no immunity against being possessed you know!).

As for Kang Gil Young, initially I disliked her character because she is equally stubborn and remarkably slow-witted in the first few episodes. Her interactions with her partner became so repetitive and cringeworthy after a while. He keeps jumping when Hwa Pyung shows up, keeps asking why Gil Young hangs out with him, and she continues to keep him in the dark. Lather, rinse and repeat. A similar pattern is seen with Hwa Pyung and the shaman, with the latter being meek and reluctant, trying to dissuade Hwa Pyung from his reckless endeavors, and essentially being used and discarded as per Hwa Pyung's needs. Shockingly I was fine with Mateo's character, perhaps because his hard-to-read physiognomy suited his job as an exorcist and his background. He displays emotion when the possessed people remind him of the horrors his big brother committed, and he starts to care for Hwa Pyung and Gil Young, while the latter two don't seem to have much attachment toward him.

The CGI was a little disappointing as well. The multiple eye stabbings and people gulping down water like crazy became overused and redundant. The background of the Park Il Do spirit was lackluster and vague. A guy goes to Japan and comes back evil, kills his wife and kid and gives himself over to the devil. That's it?

I found that clicking the next episode was becoming very difficult, and I was watching the drama at nearly 2x speed till I quit and wondered why I should continue to waste my time. The drama was not scary at all after episode 1, and I find it really odd that so many people seem to have enjoyed it.