Goblin (2016)

If you've never seen a K-Drama, Goblin would be paradoxically the best and worst one to begin with, depending on your perspective.

Since it's definitely one of the best K-Dramas to have ever been produced, if it turns out to be your first experience with them, you'll invariably enjoy it; and likely look for more that are equally as good. Unfortunately, if you're exposed to a K-Drama of this high quality, you may feel let-down by some of the other K-Dramas that you come across, despite how good they may actually be.

Let's be clear! While everyone has their favourite K-Dramas, that doesn't mean that you won't find others to be just as good, or very close, thereafter. Some K-Dramas just leap out from the screen and SCREAM high quality at your face. Some examples are:

- Goblin: The Lonely and Beautiful God
- Hotel Del Luna
- The Scholar Who Walks The Night

Yes! These are head and shoulders above anything that came before them; however, even K-Dramas that rank 10th, or 20th behind them (in their respective years) are still far superior than the crap that gets churned out in Hollywood.

With Goblin, you'll be enchanted by the actors (both lead and secondary); lulled in by the beauty of the musical scores (original music for most non-Koreans, for sure); and blown away at the originality of the stories. Keep in mind that Hollywood is struggling to find any original ideas; and even their television shows are essentially a remake, re-imagining, or blatant rip-off of something that has come before it. With K-Dramas, you might find that some were loosely based on Chinese, Japanese, or even Korean mythology, or historical fiction, it's done with a completely fresh mentality.

I've watched Goblin a few times; and each time, I've discovered something new. It's so beautiful to watch the story unfold. You'll find yourself falling in love with the characters; and wishing that you would dive in and intervene. It's so easy to be drawn into the story by the quality of acting, as well as the production values, that you'll be hard-pressed not to be emotionally invested in every scene.

Personally, I found myself falling in love with one character; wishing that I could help other characters; lusting for another character; loathing another character; pitying many characters; and generally feeling like so many other characters were my own personal friends and acquaintances. (That last is difficult for me to explain, further)

If you don't come away from Goblin without first being taken on an emotional roller coaster, then you're either not human, or you K-Dramas just might not be your thing. If that's the case, don't give up right away. Maybe the other two series that I've mentioned above, will blow smoke up your skirt. Then again, maybe you just need to consider a different genre of K-Drama. Keep in mind that they truly run the gambit of genres: Romance; Supernatural; Comedy; Thriller; Mystery; etc... you're literally guaranteed to find something that you like.

I'd like to add that regardless of the K-Drama genre, Korean directors/producers have discovered the formula for making average, or less than average looking actors/actresses look absolutely stunning... beautiful... cute... etc... Whatever it is, I like it. In fact, in retrospect, I've learned through K-Dramas that many of the girls from my past were more appealing to me than I realized at the time. (No! I'm not going to expound upon that. LOL! Suffice to say, as you get older, you get wiser... and hopefully, more realistic about life.)

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This show had so may feels happy sad scared emotional. Either way it was a great  show. The whole cast did great from beginning to end. Gong yoo and lee dong wook oppa tog in one show was daebak. I love them individually. New girl kim go eun captured me from her drama cheese in the trap. She has a very natural innocent believable acting one cant say that shes actually in character. Yoo in na on the other hand is a beauty and her character was very important for the show. Yook sungjae who played duk hwa did a tremendous job with his innocence and weirdness which added laughter to the show. Goblin and grim reaper were perfect and their bromance was ship worthy.  Must see. I would probably watch again. I'm having goblin withdrawals.  I think I'll visit canada to the filming locations. Here is a summary.  ***Overseas Filming] Quebec, Canada. Petit-Champlain District. Chateau Frontenac Hotel. Parc du Bastion-de-la-Reine (Green pastures with the Tombstones (Props)) Fontaine de Tourny. Rue Sainte-Ursule. Parc Samuel-Hollande (Gong Yoo catching the falling maple leaf) Porte Prescott (Bridge that Eun Tak walked)*****

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Back in college, I got addicted in Korean/Taiwanese/Chinese TV series because of Meteor Garden. Then, I just stopped watching altogether because I focused on US TV series.

When I asked my friends for recommendation when I got interested again in watching Korean TV series, this came highly recommended. If you are not fan historical settings/adaptations in a series, the first episode might discourage you which happened to me. After watching the first episode, it took me two days before watching the second episode and I got hooked ever since!

I love the story line. Very refreshing and unique which attracted me most and kept me hooked all throughout. The cast were amazing! Even the supporting ones. Watch out for Sunny ????. She will steal your heart with her wit and charm! There are too many funny scenes which added spice to the show. And when tragedy hits, it really made me cry. It also made me think about afterlife and reincarnation. Although ending is expected, I still love how it turned out. Even the music were on the spot! I’ve downloaded the music/OST related to this show.

Overall, if you want to deviate from the usual romcom plot, I highly recommend this series. It will keep you smiling and laughing. Dramatic part will hit you hard and were done tastefully. I love even the places where they shoot it especially the beach, buckwheat field and the tea house! I wouldn’t hesitate to watch it over and over again!

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STORY: Well, the story itself was really good, I mean there were a few plot holes I didn't understand but what I like with this is drama is the supernatural/fantasy element, I am such a sucker for those type of genre. It also helps that the cinematography was really beautiful, I absolutely loved it!
ACTING/CASTING: well, I think one of the reasons why this show was a success was most def because of Gong Yoo and Lee Dong Wook, their bromance was more romantic than their female leads, and their dynamics was superb, not to mention the acting and the comedic scenes this two makes, hahha!
MUSIC: one of the highlights of this show was their music - it was soooo on point- I have every song on my phone to listen to from time to time. It also shows that the music was effective because whenever I think of Sunny and Grimreaper the song that automatically plays on my mind was I Miss you by Soyou (this song was my favorite) or if the bride and the goblin it always was ( Beautiful Life or I will come to you like the first snow) that's how beautiful the OST of this drama is!
REWATCH VALUE: I would def rewatch this show again just because I love the interaction between Lee Dong Wook and Gong Yoo hahahhaha
OVERALL: this was a great watch indeed, I was just glad I waited weeks for this show to finish before I watched it because damn I would have pulled my hair out waiting for the damn episode every week!!!

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This is one of the best dramas I have watched in my life and I am talking about and I am talking about one of the best American, Korean, Japanese and Chinese dramas.

The scenery are so beautiful in some scenes that I think Korean tourism improves because of this drama. Again, this drama touched one of those challenging taboos in society - a high school poor kid falling in love with a powerful rich man way older than her. In any other circumstances, this point of view is highly controversial, but since this is a Goblin we are talking about, our moral values surrendered and went along with the story line.

I love the lines on Gong Yoo's face. especially when he smiles - weathered line.... so majestically handsome.

The OST is just so so amazing. I would watch this drama over and over again just to listen some of the songs with its matching scene.

Breathtakingly scripted and captured on screen. Must watch!

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I gave this drama another chance, and I still think it's overrated

I originally dropped this drama because the plot started to get slow and repetitive, but I decided to give it another try.

The premise about the curse and immortality was interesting. Unfortunately, up to about episode seven there wasn't much of a plot. The Goblin was an ancient being with centuries of life experience, but he acted pretty silly quite a lot. The Grim Reaper wasn't much better with his obsession about business cards. These characters should've been portrayed as more mysterious and dangerous. Instead, they often acted like dorks.

The pacing was inconsistent. The plot tended to drag with prolonged angsty moments of reminiscing, crying, and filler scenes. Then, the story would suddenly pick up. The show should've been done in 12 episodes if all the filler was taken out. The last few episodes were unnecessary. Since the villain was already defeated and the sword taken out, there was no longer a conflict that needed to be resolved so the story should've ended there.

The romance was also kind of underwhelming. ML and FL acted more like a niece and an uncle. This was probably because the girl was barely an adult and still in high school. Only after the story went forward nine years did we see adult romantic chemistry with kissing, hugging, and acting like a couple.

The villain and the final resolution was a bit anti-climactic. The flashbacks made him look more dangerous than he actually was, even though he looked pretty darn creepy. He appeared in the present timeline for just a few episodes with nefarious intentions to kill everyone, but didn't do much except threaten some people. Then FL pulled the sword out, ML killed the villain and disappeared. The end. I really expected there to either be a plot twist, a battle, tension, more struggle to defeat the final boss.

The one thing the show excelled at was acting. Gong Yoo, Kim Go Eun and everyone else delivered really good performances. No complaints there.

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STORY: Story was BEAUTIFUL. Each scene either had me in fierce rage, crying like a child, giggling like a school girl or in absolute shock & in disbelief. It did not end the way i expected it to, but i still loved the ending even though it seemed like there were a few unanswered questions. At times i was confused (idk if this was due to my slowness), but soon the gaps were slowly filled. Each character had their own time to shine and i loved the short scenes that were given to minor characters to tell their own small stories of their struggles and hardships such as the one in the beginning of that little boy who was adopted into a European family. The first thing that got me hooked onto this drama was not only the concept and theme of it, but also the first episode, which i didn't expect to tear out my heart straight away and leave me with heartbreak. Although i would have liked their age gap to have been a bit smaller at first, i realized in due time that it would not have worked with the story line if it was. Therefore, it was okay for me. The whole plot was neither too rushed nor too slow for me. Everything was timed perfectly and the Goblin and the Goblin's bride's romance progressed well. Overall, i found the story and plot amazing! I took off 0.5 because towards the last couple of episodes, the Grim Reaper kept silently tearing/crying a little too much for my liking lol. (Yes, i know it's because of all the hardships he's struggled through, but still).

ACTING/CAST: Nothing much needs to be said about their acting and cast. Everything about it was PERFECT....FLAWLESS! Each played out their characters extremely well and each of them are able to tug at your heartstrings with each of their crying scenes! Let's just say, i cried with them at a few of these scenes. Each character had beautiful chemistry; especially the chemistry between the Goblin and Ji Euk Tak. Gong Yoo (Goblin) is honestly so damn handsome and ahem...hot, and his smile is so adorable! And Lee Dong Wook (Grim reaper) is so beautiful he catches me off guard sometimes. Kim Go Eun (Ji Eun Tak) is such an adorable girl. I can't believe she's 26 when she looks like an actual high schooler. When she matured in the drama, she became so beautiful when all she did was change her hair and outfits, and a little bit of her makeup. Yoo In-na (Sunny) was beautiful to me from the beginning til the end! She looks so young for a 35yo too. Yook Sungjae (Deok Hwa) was hilarious and i loved how lost he looked half the time. I first knew him as a BTOB member so i know how weird and funny he is in reality. So his acting caught me off guard a few times since this is my first time seeing his acting and i noticed how amazing he really is, especially during those serious moments like the one in ep 12 when they were at a bar.

MUSIC: In my opinion, Goblin had the best music and OST's. MY favorites were probably Crush's Beautiful, Ailee's I Will Go To You Like the First Snow, Sam Kim's Who Are You, and Chanyeol and Punch's Stay With Me. Each song was played at perfect moments which suited the scene. When you thought the scene was heartbreaking enough, the song that plays will make that heartbreak even worse. I didn't get sick of any of the OST's that played as i usually do with a few other dramas. So if you're a sucker for good, beautiful OST's, this drama is for you!

REWATCH VALUE: Okay first off, i gave the rewatch value a 9.5 because i don't fully know if i would be able to go through all that heartbreak again because i honestly almost couldn't take it at a few points. Other than that, i would've given it a 10. I would rewatch it for the funny moments and amazing plot, as well as for the romantic moments between the characters.

OVERALL: I put off finishing the drama when i finished until ep 11, not because it wasn't good but because the story of the characters was going so well and everyone seemed so happy. And i knew it was going to go downhill from there and the past was going to catch up to them sooner or later. This drama was absolutely flawless. It was hilarious and i LOVED the bromance relationship between the Goblin and the Grim Reaper! Loved their little antics. I regret putting this drama off for so long but i did not regret watching it and finishing it off in one day one bit. I knew this drama was an amazing drama because after i finished it, i no longer knew what to do with my life.

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One of the best fantasy Korean dramas I have watched so far!

I actually fell in love with fantasy genre after watching Goblin. This is what I'm looking for.

LIKE

Touched my heart

Bromance between Kim Shin and Grim Reaper
Another side of Yoo Deok Hwa (loved his seriousness unlike the usual goofy self)
Ji Eun Tak's decision that touched my heart (I cried every time I watched that scene)

Gave me goosebumps

Kim Shin realised Ji Eun Tak knew his secret (that moment my heart really stopped)
Park Joong Hun's character (I paused the drama to look around me making sure I'm still sane)

DISLIKE

Nothing, I never even skipped a scene.

MUSIC - my personal fav

Stay With Me - Punch (ft. EXO Chanyeol)
Round and Round - Heize (ft. Han SooJi)

REWATCH VALUE

Definitely as I have re-watched at least twice. Though the first gave me more goosebumps and mini heart attacks, the second and third time were equally awesome.

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I really, really wanted to love this show. The tone in the beginning was intriguing, the comedy/drama was well-balanced and fun, and the story was so engaging. But there was so much wasted potential. Shin's story was tragic and emotional, and I was deeply moved by his character, which is why I'm not rating lower. Yet the focus on the "fated" romance and the fact that it started when she was so young just bothered me. You can't tell me that these people were meant for each other just because they're fated; show me, let me feel their connection. I didn't, and that's where this fell flat for me.

Story: All over the place. Too many interweaving character storylines and relationships fighting for center stage, too many repeating scenes, and truly atrocious pacing. I couldn't stand how slowly this moved, honestly. It felt like it started out strongly, but then characters would spend episodes doing nothing. They would talk, they would be cute, they would be unsure, but nothing really happened for so. Many. Episodes. And then when something finally did happen that brought the characters into conflict, it was too quick to feel at all developed. In particular, an antagonist popped up later in the series and when they dealt with them, I was left thinking, "...that's it? That's how they're gonna do this?"

The characters were okay, but Eun Tak was just... not very well-developed, in my opinion. She's a bubbly, optimistic girl who can see ghosts and wants to help people. Okay, why? Why does she cling to Shin strongly at the beginning, and am I supposed to be charmed by the fact that an immature teenager is flirting with a 1,000 year old man? There wasn't much depth to her or their romance, and I felt disconnected from her character as a whole. Which further made the romance less engaging to me. Furthermore, so many of these characters had the potential to be amazing, with just a little more focus and development, which I think was sacrificed in order to fit so many of the other elements into the show.

Acting: I do like the cast, especially Gong Yoo. I was also incredibly impressed with Lee Dong Wook as I've thought he was a bad actor in the past, yet his work here definitely made me second guess my opinion of him. Kim Go Eun is a really good actress, yet seeing her play an immature teenager for so much of the show really grated on my nerves. But, boy, can she cry. Both she and Gong Yoo can make your heart ache, I'll give them that. Never been a huge fan of Yoo In Na, but she did well here, so I didn't mind her.

Music: Cute, fitting. I don't remember most of it, but I'm going to attribute that to the fact that I was consistently frustrated with the show. I can tell you that this is an OST that will definitely stay with the people who loved the show, though.

TL;DR: I'm glad that this show has brought such joy to so many people, but it disappointed me. I should have known better considering how I've fared with Kim Eun Sook's other dramas, but I was hoping this one was different. However, if you like her other dramas and are a fan of fantasy, fated lovers, a little bit of sadness, a little bit of comedy, and a whole lot of romance, then definitely give this one a shot.

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The best Korean drama I've ever watched

Actually, the first time I watched this drama was when I was 12 years old (now I'm 19 years old), then I forgot the entire contents of the story. But then I watched it again at the age of 16 and after that I always watched this drama over and over again.

I don't know which part I like the most, because all the scenes have been my favorite for a long time. I like how the actors give their best to their dramas so it makes me like this drama even more, everything they want to convey can be accepted by my heart. I like the beautiful places they show, it makes me realize that South Korea has many places like heaven.

I don't know what else to say, but, I really really like this drama. I hope that when I get old I will still be able to re-watch this drama. I really like this.

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