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Story: I actually really enjoyed a lot of elements of this story. I thought it was a clever re-imagining of Journey to the West with the geumganggo being a hold over his heart rather than a crown over his head. Many of the throw away lines about his position in heaven prior to throwing a fit were great references. There are elements of this story that I found wonderful and interesting. The back and forth of whether his love for her was real or not could have been fleshed out so much more and made more interesting. There could have been a lot more sturm und drang on the both character's feelings toward whether his feelings were completely manipulated or only gently coaxed. It feels like it pops up a few times for her, but she never really reckons with it and continues to abuse the relationship. It's odd. Also, the entire last episode bothered me. I'd rather the last episode be about what they suggest the open ending to be (him breaking into the afterlife).
The characters, however, were extremely uneven. Ma Wang, in particular, is a mess of writing. They use him for physical, ridiculous comedy over and over, but honestly his strongest scenes were those with emotional gravitas and his misery over Princess Iron Fan and feeling used. I also struggled with how he treated Son Oh Gong. They seem to not know whether Ma Wang is supposed to be a villain or hero. That works for me a little, but it just KEPT going back and forth to a ridiculous degree. He kept making broad statements about how Son Oh Gong deserved all this misery, but the show only gives us Son Oh Gong doing innocuous and non-hateful things to Ma Wang. So, it felt misplaced. (7/10)
Acting/Cast: Honestly, this cast (for the most part) was the strong point of the drama for me and completely wasted.
Lee Seung-Gi was wonderful. I've seen him in a LOT of mediocre dramas, but his performance is never the weakness for me. It was interesting seeing him play a character that on paper is relatively similar to Choi Kang Chi from Gu Family Book (literally - a 'demon' who is controlled by a bracelet who falls in love with a woman, and one of them is prophesied to die by virtue of their relationship with the other) but vastly different on the screen. I liked seeing him take similar subject matter and spin it. He plays the emotional heart strings well, and I buy his comedy a lot more than the others. He did a good job of playing mixed and confused emotions, and I enjoyed the slow change to how he said "because I love you". To me, he clearly commands the screen.
Cha Seung Won - I already addressed this a bit above, but the character was a mess which made the performance suffer for me. He committed to the humor, but I didn't find the joke itself funny which isn't his fault. The extended physical comedy bits (like the bit about his body odor) just fell flat. I almost always preferred him playing drama.
Oh Yeon Seo - The character and performance were just so flat to me. There was almost no change to character whatsoever across the course of the show. I know we're supposed to feel this subtle change of her letting people into her life and building a found family of people who care about her after shielding herself for so long, but I never saw her emotionally open up for it to happen. It was more like... it just happened. There was no emotional catalyst for it. I found her pretty expressionless throughout, and it was made all the more obvious by how much gravitas Lee Seung-Gi had as a scene partner.
Others - special mention to Lee Se Young who had to play like 5 different characters in this show and was legitimately outstanding. She did creepy horror physical zombie comedy at the start, young hopeful idol trainee in flashbacks, broad comedy zombie, "Bu Ja" the bright and innocent, sweet zombie, and then the Priestess - conflicted and heartbroken but dark. And then all the shades in between. Priestess as Bu Ja. Priestess feeling Bu Ja seeping through, etc. I found her wonderful, and I hope she gets more leading work in other dramas soon.
My other special mention is to Lee El who always seems wasted. Secretary Ma was such a great minor character, and Lee El was just great. I always felt drawn to her in scenes. (8/10)
Music: I actually really liked this OST. A lot of the songs stuck with me, and the lyrics were pretty appropriately on the nose. The only thing that drove me nuts was the lyric "Always behind of you." I know that English inserted into Korean songs isn't always perfect, but "of" isn't necessary there, and it was used so prominently in the drama. (8.5/10)
Rewatchability: Some episodes are pretty good, and I could see myself rewatching. But honestly, this wouldn't be high on my list of dramas to watch again. (5/10)
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Great set up and horrible pay off
I don't know that I have ever been more frustrated by the trajectory of a show in my life. I want to be clear, I am a Nam Joo Hyuk fan. I've watched mediocre dramas for that man, and I think he's a great actor. That being said, this writer absolutely failed him and the plot in every way imaginable.Story - 4/10 - the first 8 episodes of this show deserve a 9/10, but the back half a 2/10.
This is a tale of two halves. The writer does beautiful work in the early episodes setting up plot points and themes and then refuses to pay them off or actually pays them off in reverse. It's BIZARRE. To avoid being too spoilery, I'll address some of my story concerns via the characters:
Nam Do San is supposed to be our male lead. In the beginning, I found him interesting and pitiable. He was quiet and awkward and leapt at the opportunity to feel important/successful - and then as that fed into his imposter syndrome, he decided to seek out that success on his own. This could have been a really interesting journey. However, as the show goes along, these goals just fade away as he becomes singularly focused on winning Seo Dal Mi. His decisions are about her almost entirely, and he acts petulant toward HJP. My issue is that he's not compelling as the male lead at all. Everything happens for him like magic without him necessarily working for it. He barely struggles, and when he does, those 'struggles' are short lived. Additionally, the writer gives him a series of negative character traits. He is violent and shown to have a temper that flares to actual violence multiple times, but he never is punished for it. Seo Dal Mi doesn't chastise him, and he is saved from legal ramifications. He also stalks Seo Dal Mi and ignores her requests. It's borderline abusive boyfriend behavior, and the story never comments on it. Are we supposed to take this as romantic? It's not.
Han Ji Pyeong is the "second male lead", but the writer wrote herself into a corner by opening the show with him. He's absolutely the most fleshed out, interesting, and empathetic character in the show. He's an orphan who worked relentlessly to achieve success. And even though his negative character trait is supposed to be that he's a little short/direct/rude with people, his actual actions bely a really kind soul. He'll tell the Sam Sam guys that their company sucks while quietly keeping it afloat in the background. How is he treated by the story for this? He is punished over and over and over again for his selfless actions, and the other characters (who are almost uniformly selfish) treat him like garbage. It's... unbelievable that I'm supposed to care for anyone other than him.
Seo Dal Mi started the show so charming and as it went became such a non-entity to me. She was so forward and driven and then as the romance with NDS kicks into high gear, she spends the whole show basically just reacting to him and forgiving him. The show completely loses who she's supposed to be. I will never understand how she went from turning down ANY man for 15 years because of the "Nam Do San" who wrote her beautiful letters to having absolutely zero interest in the actual man who wrote them. She has no curiosity about him. This COULD make sense if the writer made an effort to explain it, but she just doesn't. SDM just stops really caring about the letters and never really looks at HJP or goes into detail about the connection they had. The only way they sever it is by having HJP himself just give her an excuse like "I should have come calling for you". Maybe, but that doesn't explain why she just stopped caring about the boy who wrote her years ago when it defined her life for so long. It's so inconsistent.
I started out absolutely in love with this drama, and I just cannot understand what the writer was thinking. It could have been so much better if they actually focused on the business aspect of the show and made the characters grow in that way - NDS learning how to grow up (and not like.. punch people bc he's ~angwy~) and have his OWN dreams; SDM becoming a great businesswoman not just because she wants to beat her sister; the Sam Sam guys also maturing - and HJP slowly opening his heart to discover a found family. Instead almost none of the characters had any discernible growth (other than HJP kinda with the sweet ending scene with Halmeoni), and they drew out the love triangle in absolutely bonkers ways. In reality, the true romance and interesting story of this show is Han Ji Pyeong, the orphan, finding a family with the kindly grandmother in the neighborhood and how they find their way back to each other - to home. The leads just feel like a distraction to THAT story which - it shouldn't feel that way!
Acting - I will say I found all the actors did perfectly serviceable to outstanding (Kim Seon Ho was outstanding. I look forward to seeing him get lead work after how much he popped off from this). That coupled with the high production values and good music are why I've rated it as high as I have because if it was based on the story alone, this wouldn't pass the 5 barrier for me.
I'm just at a loss. This show could have been great. I COULD have been invested in the lead couple, but I wasn't. The vast majority of the characters were just selfish, and the plot never punished them for it. And then the one character who is written to be selfless is punished over and over. It just made me mad. What did the writer want us to take away from this drama? There is no growth. No message. It's enraging.
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