Vânătorii de Demoni (2020)

Noodle Restaurant By Day ~✳~ Evil Spirit Fight Club By Night. Uncanny. °S1-8.4 S2-4 °

High schooler, Mun, has a new job at the noodle restaurant where that searing hot chick works. It's not so much about serving 🍜 as it is training to go out and 86 some evil👻spirits. He'd been left with a leg twisted up worse than spaghetti in a strainer from the accident in which his parents died. Left dependent on a brace for mobility, he'll need oodles of training.

UC is a free-range, quality action⚡packed thriller about "counters" who work the restaurant counter by day & counter evil👻spirits by night. The new recruit they're scouting to replace a fallen (KIA) counter is Mun. During the 1st shift his new coworkers drop the orders on him. The usual recruitment base is hospitalized & comatose patients. As counters, they'll sample life once more, so most opt to devour this on-the-house treat. Completely-conscious Mun is an exception; they see potential in him. The show creators do a nice job with the house rules in this expanded world. Too many Kdramas (and other shows) fail to do so, thus creating customer confusion. Even worse, it fosters the appearance that they're cheating, ie., cooking without a recipe & casting whatever in the 🥗.

Counters are typically 3✖ as strong as any of their regular diners. How can Mun hunt evil spirits, or even work a table with a griseled limb? Counter magic. Once he's cleared orientation, his leg untwists as if it never happened. Their strength is a pinch confusing, tho. For the older Mrs. Chu, is she 3✖ as strong as the average man, or the average noodle shop matron? Their spirited 🅱ad🅰$$ jumps are high enough to clear 4 stacked up noodle houses. Their patrons wouldn't be able to clear a noodle house table, let alone the counters' higher-than-soju-spirits poleless vaults, thrice divided.

The team members have strengths and skills to match their respective specials🍲. Oh my… I meant to say specialties. Writing this is making me hungry! There are other rules that Mun has sworn to uphold, and rules are enforced by a governing body in the Heavenly realm. Be that as it may, no matter how earnest & thankful Mun is, temptation is the biggest monster we must all overcome. Powers and other counter services are for supernatural battles only. Serving up counter-power at a human skirmish is as pr🚫hibited as health dept violations or stealing from the restaurant's pantry. With his newly found 🏋+🥊+🕺Mun begins sweeping up his onetime tormentors - the school's vicious bullies. This will eventually affect his review: He's put on progressive probation.

The team happy-meal is 4 active fighters and a retired one who manages the register and team funding🏧. Dropped trays can drop lives! They must choreograph their moves to function as one, so as to handle tense battles. (They're more stressful than dinner-rush at a joint Guy visited in the most recent episode of Diners Drive-Ins & Dives.) Clear communication, combined with organic trust, are essential to maximize potency. They all become as close as the 🦃-scarfing family at Sunday dinner, in the Norman Rockwell🖼. Mun crushes like 🍅🍅🍅 on the pretty, but prickly-🍐 Ha-na from the first moment she brusquely takes his order. Sadly, Ha-na ain't asking for any of *that. She's one critic that's difficult to impress. The blended mother-son relationship between Mrs. Chu and Mun is as healing as hangover soup. He had lost his parents; she, her son. It draws her to him, and he's perfectly happy sharing her warmth🍵. The whole team is family; a functional-while-functioning one.

Why does the team wage this dangerous war? For evil👻s, killing customers and passerbys is a generator; an energy bank that compensates during a power loss. A dark👻's most nutritious snacks are rotten humans, along with the occasional vicious bully-blogger. Spoiled ingredients are perfect for evil👻 digestion. "Well-done" decomposition, like a special sauce, strengthens & freshens these carrion, hyenas & Tasmanian devils. Early on, the team (en)counters an extraordinarily pungent "level 3" evil👻. L3's are as rare as Beluga caviar. (We'll learn that this Beluga's host was a hitman. They'll go together like ramen & broth). Evil👻s take-out the victim's soul, consume, and never pay the tab. Counters, via Chase & master charges, apprehendi & deliver Evil👻s to the counting machines of the justice system. Souls are like pearls extracted from poisoned oysters; they can be saved. There are no shortcuts for whipping up the house special. Evil👻s must be caught alive in the wild, like lobsters, or the team will burn the order & forever lose the more-precious-than-pearls souls to obscurity.

Mun learns the accident that killed his parents may have been no accident. In fact, the #1 suspect for the dash-&-dine style hit-&-run, is their current competition, the L3. If so, Mun's parents' souls will be lost if the L3 escapes or dies, but in the meantime, M&D can be salvaged. Mun and the team urgently dash to win this wild game; it's more intense than any Iron Chef showdown. The prize: trapped souls boiling over inside this specter, Mun's parents being the Blue Ribbon.

Hitmen don't order for themselves. The backdrop is a rancid political system from porridge-police to nuts-mayor. Around the same time as Mun's tragic accident, fellow counter and former detective, Mo-Tak, was left in a coma from a still unsolved attempt on his life. These incidents could be connected like crab & claw. Meanwhile, the L3 evil poacher recruits his own 👻👻👻 team, making the Counters' jobs more challenging than waitressing in slippery souled, er - soled shoes. Unexpectedly, Mun brews skills that are far from everyday junk food. It's as unexpected as harvesting shrimp and finding a gold bar in the net. Looks like Mun is no small🍟plate.

UC is altogether worthy of an enthusiastic 👍🏾 yelp review. Kdramas serve up excellence morning, noon, and night; UC is no exception. Every element tickles the palate: The 🎭, 🎬 & 🖋〰 are incorporated more smoothly than soju & 🍺. Special effects add BAM! while complimenting the plot, instead of becoming a centerpiece. The villain is creepier than roaches in the teapot. The writer🖋〰 baked in savory setup lines. Here's some free samples: When Mrs. Chu announces: "We won't lose anyone in this photo." Soon after that... Well, 👀 and see. 7 yrs back, Mo-Tak tells Ofr. Jeong, who insists on going to a dangerous mtg: "Take your 🌂. I think a 🌩 is coming.".

The action is fun. In Ep7 there's a crazy fight that's more exciting than murder mystery dinners. Ha-na has entered Mun's mind to warm-up his memory. The evil L3 materializes inside Mun's consciousness like a sidedish of dogfood. Before Mun can scrape the scraps of shock away, they're fighting ~> inside his memory! They spring around like yeasty dough. They slip into places, including the evil👻's hideout, and then back to into Mun's memory. O.H.😍M.Y. They could have built a franchise around that! This succulent treat is a test recipe that management, inexplicably, failed to add to the menu. That sauce is too awesome to be left hanging out there as a one-off.

It's common for omelets of sci-fi fantasy to contain some logical eggshells. This show has some. One biggie is: Why don't the evil spirits just bring a 🔫 to the 🗡fight and toss the counters like salad? Did they mention it while quickly running down the list of spirits on tap? Maybe. Think of it as a delicious meal😀 but without the extra pickles you ordered😔.

Nevertheless, the bloggers got this one right. UC serves up a 🏅winner-winner-🐔-dinner. You can count on it!

QUOTE🗣

"Not taking action when you witness an evil deed is another form of wickedness." (The wickedness of enabling evil)

〰🖍 IMHO

🎬8 🖋〰 7.3 🎭8 💓6 🦋5 🌞7 🎨8⚡8 😅 😭 😱 🤢 🤔7 💤🔚8

Age 14+ (3✖ creepy & sinister)

Re-📺? 👍🏽

Final add-on
S2 is 12 addt’l eps. It opens hot & contains PG-13 language. They have a bigger budget, but that is not the key to a good show. Right away it's clear that this is a lazy-rest-on-our-laurels-in-we-had no-inspiration-or-good-ideas‐just-cash-in S2. The dialogue is stupid. The plot is stupid. The new characters are stupid. It makes me really sad. They think they're in the Mun-ee, but S2 is poor. It's Mun-dane.

It's not worth watching once you've gotten a good look at the evil spirit team. They're well done. Nothing else is. Kang Ki Young (Extraordinary Attorney Woo, Oh My Ghost-10) played buffoons early in his career. He is convincing as a bad guy in While You Were Sleeping-7.2. He has the perfect look, but the director portrayed him as too measured and it doesn't feel quite right. They should have gone more thuggish and guttural. Together with Kim Hieora and Kim Hyun-Wook, the evil spirit team is stylish, creepy, & catchy.

Mo-Tak is back on the police force but he's still a counter, so he's working 2 jobs. He explains his amazing intuition about crime by saying that he gets inspiration while pooping. Pitifully, that's a metaphor for the whole season. It's akin to a long smelly f@rt.

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A Kick-Ass start !

I appreciate So Mun's character development in the series. From a high school kid who is unable to control his emotions, he learned so much from being a Counter. From the very start, he's more powerful from the others. I didn't expect the ending though! He was possessed by another partner spirit. It never crossed my mind that it would be possible. What a twist! So he's like the most powerful counter now?

I also appreciate Se-jeong here! I love her ever since I watched her from School 2017 and seeing her act in this series makes me appreciate her more. This is far from the roles she portrayed before (from cutesy to edgy). Her character is badass here and she is perfect for it. 🖤

I would like to see more of her and her story in the second season! Especially Mo-tak. They did him dirty by making the love of his life dead. I hated that scene! I was rooting for them! I also prayed that Ms. Chu won't die on this season and please don't let her die even on the next season. Protect her at all cost. 🥺 I also want her to end up with Jang-mul. SHIP! 💑

I'm glad that aside from his Counter family and his loving grandparents, So Mun has his loyal friends. They are a big part of his journey as a Counter especially during this early training days. They never left him even he's MIA most of the time .

The first writer left her job after 12 episodes and was replaced in the last 4 episodes. You can easily tell because of the sudden twists. So Mun was the center again and the other Counter's stories are left hanging. I like how the Counters and their Yung partners unite at the mid and ending. Even though they had conflicts in the past.

Son Ho-jun's cameo. This is unexpected but I had the feels that it might not end well and I was right. It still hurts even though we only got to see him in a short period. I really hope they won't lose another member even on the next season. 😢

So Mun got the happy ending he deserves. He finally met his parents and this is where we all cried.😭 Haha! The new writer really knows how to play with our feelings. I almost believed that his parents won't recognize him.

The ending is satisfying as it gave us a proper closure. It also gave us a hint of what can we expect in season two. So why is this a top tier kdrama this year? Watch it so you will know! Haha. It will make you hooked on the first episode and the ending will make you anticipate for the second season. It gathered high ratings as it reaches the ending. The casts are perfect and the story is unique. The fighting scenes are also smooth and badass.

And you read it right! They announced that there will be a second season. Can't wait for it! I will miss watching this series. How about you? Have you watched this series? If not, add it on your list! 😉

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Masterpiece!

WOW I don’t even know where to start. Action/thriller/mystery fans must watch!

Firstly the cast - so much depth to each character, the actors suited their given roles perfectly and came together like one little family!
The plot - never a dull moment, the fast pace of this drama will leave you wanting to watch more by the end of each episode.
Although romance is not the main genre of this drama, there were many emotional scenes which were portrayed beautifully by the cast, sure to make you tear up :’)

Personally this is one of the best dramas I’ve watched, going to dearly miss Eonni’s noodles and the counter family!

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OVERALL DON'T HAVE SECOND THOUGHT ABOUT WATCHING THIS DRAM. JUST GO WATCH IT.

100% WORTH WATCHING.. MUST WATCH TOO..
This drama is REALLY I mean REALLY OUTSTANDING there is not even a single episode that makes you bored. Right up from Episode 1 to til Episode 16 it will make you stick to it without skipping for a single minute. The rating given here is really awful 8.8? Really that's bad, this drama should have been rated more than 9.5 because it's THAT GOOD. also this the second drama that i have reviewed from my entire drama-watching years(10 years).
WHEN GETTING INTO THE DRAMA:
All four main characters were fantastic in playing their role but The male lead(Mun) was adorable, awww fell in love with him. his expression, smile, acting, anger expression whole I mean everything about him in this drama was cuteeee.
Even the female lead was admirable and the other two characters that's Ga Mo Tak and Chu Mae Ok were also my favorite characters with Ahn Suk Hwan where he only comes in a few episodes when compared to other main characters.
I would really appreciate the friend's character of the male lead even their cute and also appreciate the other main characters but they are main (other world partners of each character).

EVERYTHING LIKE OST, ACTING, VFX, ARE TOO GOOD

OVERALL DON'T HAVE SECOND THOUGHT ABOUT WATCHING THIS DRAM. JUST JUST GO WATCH IT.

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Well executed, thoughtful drama.

This drama, like many others, explores the idea of the afterlife and what happens to people when they pass away. Although a popular concept, I think this drama gives a different perspective and feeling from other dramas - instead of a 'Grimm Reaper' like figure collecting souls, the idea is instead that it is ordinary people.

The 'Counters' referred to in the drama are ordinary people, and they all have different experiences of life, not to mention that they are of different ages. This brings an effective and engaging dynamic as it is not simply a 'school' drama, although the main character is of a school age.

The writers and actors have done a good job of maintaining chemistry throughout the drama, which makes it a nice easy watch, although there are some darker areas of the drama which help to give it a bit more depth.

One thing I would say about the drama is it brings in the concept of one main character who is the 'hero' and essentially more special/gifted/important than other characters, which I think is potentially an idea that has been overused in modern media.

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Not a 10/10 but must watch

the story overall is what I would call great it has the flow and it has the grip but I guess in the end it becomes that avg movie with op hero and op villain. The reason I did not like it was the end was sloppy like the hero all powered up with the value of team work just suddenly wins a fight he had been loosing all along.

I mean just to puff up the hero all side characters were undermined and there was no other character development. Till mid it was great I guess in the last 4 or 5 episodes was the story messed up and I am happily deducting the marks for it.

In the end it is a good watch and a must watch but like always the end got messed up but it's okay the characters, the acting and the VFX make up for it so do watch it.

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Coolest fantasy drama I've ever watched!!

The first time I saw episode one, I fell in love with this drama. I happened to be looking for a bullying drama and someone recommended this. At first I laughed out loud, but the continuity was balanced. like comedy, sad, excited to get the evil spirit, and about bullying that I'm looking for, it's all there. and maybe if you watch this, episodes 9 and 11 will definitely be your favorites. because I think that's where the peak is. The acting of the actors is really really cool, if they are happy I'm happy too, if they are sad I'm sad too, so it's like entering the drama

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Blaming myself for not watching it earlier

All I have to say, it's great and I do hate myself for not watching it in 2020 (I seriously stole a top-level kdrama from myself while watching too many Asian dramas that don't even stand close to this one. Oh, the days of life that I will not get back, back to the point), I do have some reflections/questions:
- wouldn't it be great if all the people in coma (please wake up soon!!!) are being super /heroines/heroes?
- if heaven exists (I believe we have all religions loving kdrama, as we should) your first love dies and you find another one, are you double-timimg in heaven or is it a kdrama once again? #askingforafriend

Anyhow, let's go for season 2!!

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