The High Priest Rembrary (2023)

What happened?

This drama had so much potential given that this is Kim Min Gue and Ko Bo-Gyeol's first leading role and the two of them are known for their amazing acting chops.
The plot was very promising, The idea of a high priest that got his body switched to a K-Pop Idol was interesting and fun, and Kim Min Gue really delivered on his performance as Yeon Woo / Rembrary. But the story became stale quickly and it got to a point where it became too dark and unbearable to watch.
I understand that this is a fantasy drama however Idol storyline of the male lead becomes too unrealistic, In Korea, once an Idol becomes involved with a lot of controversies they will be viewed as problematic and it will basically lead them to stardoom. So with the main character suffering from controversies left and right it's impossible that he always manages to make a comeback every time. It's also annoying that the male lead had to suffer multiple times only to get what ??? get betrayed by his people ??? The story doesn't make sense.
I also had high hopes for the female lead as I have seen her performance in Hi Bye! Mama. She really had great potential but I don't know what happened to her in this drama ??? There were moments where the acting was so stale that it almost seem like she is an amateur actress. Did she get too pressured because this is her first lead role??? I mean what happened?

All in all, I would say that this is a case of a drama that has a good premise but weak execution.

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BORING !!

Honestly at first i was really excited to start this because of Kim Minkyu but this show was such a drag. Episodes were so hard to get through because they never seemed to have a clear goal or whatever the goal was it was poorly executed. I admit there were many rookie actors in there and they did well but this whole storyline could’ve been done a lot better. It was just boring and really hard to get through. If you have bad attention span then I don’t recommend watching this— or if in general you’re looking for a good kdrama…just don’t choose this one. Could’ve been a lot better!

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Unwatchable

Not really having heard of the webtoon, I was mainly looking forward to this drama because of the ML. But I find this series practically unwatchable.
Low production quality - Not sure why no one is talking about how bad the production quality is. I was not expecting Under queen's umbrella quality, but this seems like shoddily put together
Not very interesting plot line - Even though the initial outline of the plot line seemed interesting, how the story progresses makes the whole plot line too dull.
Lame attempt at comedy - The comedy fell very short of my expectations. It was very unfunny and at time cringe inducing.
Romance that was not needed - This story would have been a lot better without the romance plot line. Nothing about this romance is convincing either.
FL (even though cute) absolutely bland
Bad guy - A laughable bad guy. His antics are equivalent to Dr. Evil from Austin Powers, but in a very not funny way.

Even though I hate to drop series in the middle of it, I found myself stopping in the middle of 8th episode. Dropping this like a hot pile of poo that it is...

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you need to decide for yourself if you really want to watch this

This was not perfect, but it was a good one. If you didn't enjoy it, then it was clearly not for you, but there might be people who will enjoy it. So we can't say that it was overall bad. I really can't say that for this drama. I don't think it was boring too, it has an interesting theme so this makes it easier to watch but it definetly has some shortcomings.

If this was made in 2015-2017 people might really love it but the screenwriting and story development lacking in some ways compared to the year we are in.
So it is normal that people will except more from this, and I am agreeing with that. This had more potential to be a really good rom-com fantasy.

If you are someone who expects the series you watch to be perfect in every aspect, this series is not for you. but if you are looking to enjoy watching the relationship between the main characters without worrying about the small details, you can watch it without worrying.

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Regrettably time spent that's not coming back.

I didn't get the feeling of a good chemistry between the characters in the story, time and time again tried to make sense of some of the points in the plot, just one that was clearly written and that was the fight between good and evil. They did not get to sing even one full song, they made them like TOO MUCH of a failure as an idol group and what a pity, and it was one of the points that showed no development or progress of the people involved. The funny moments can be count on one hand.The soundtrack for the 12 episodes was so so. I wouldn't rewatch it even if somebody paid me too. I'm sad it went like this.

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fanfiction turned to drama

the start was very good. I knew what to expect : A light cheesy comedy in fantasy genre to fill up my time. it as around episode 6-7 when it started to get boring. what I liked to see was to see him struggle in his new found idol status. The idea of
'idol" or "celebrity" is not in line with his personal beliefs ( he's a priest after all ) but he must play into it because 1. its his only way to get back to his own realm 2.other people depend on his work like group mates and company workers.

For some reason the script writers decided to focus on this power struggle of good/ evil which kinda ruined it for me. Remberary/ yeon woo cant catch a break. he is constantly fighting against devil's schemes and there isn't much time left for singing, dancing, practicing and other idol problems which made the comedy part in the first place. I couldn't care less about the antagonist or his minions. After episode 8 I skipped it to ep 11 and watched last two episodes in fast speed.

I know that I shouldn't nitpick on it for it not being realistic ( I mean the genre is fantasy , hello?) but still the idea of them winning any major awards despite having so many scandals and not being from a big company is so stupid and yet the most unrealistic part of the story is Yeon woo and Dal love plot. first of all she was a weirdo. Not any normal fan but a complete stalker. why an idol should fall in love with their deranged fan ? Second of all their love bloomed 😒 when remberary was in that body. It was gone the minute Yeon woo came back. They're 2 different people. So what was that ending? You're telling me Yeon woo / Dal are a thing now just because he remembers Rembrary memories?

I normally dont pay attention to OSTs much so I made the score up 😁😬

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Lembrary? Like Blueberry?

I’m surprised people rated this so low in their reviews. I honestly really enjoyed this drama. It was such a spectacularly weird story line in all the best ways and captivated my attention in every episode. I loved the ML and his refreshing weirdness. The whole world building was just really cool. The villain was nothing special, but the twist was unexpected and really added to the overall story. However, I do wish we got to see more of Lembrary’s world, and some of the plot points didn’t make complete sense at the end. Another drawback for me was how many scandals and controversies the ML got in and was able to resolve. Those didn’t really make sense and I felt like they didn’t add a ton to the overall plot. The romance between the FL and ML was not the greatest chemistry I’ve ever seen, and I actually wish the drama had shown us more romance-y moments between them. But - when we did get to see them, they were so cute. Other than those cons, I think this drama was really well done. It has a super nice blend of romance, action, fantasy, mystery, and comedy.

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It’s cute

But coming from a person who read (some of ) the webtoon (not the novel) the changes made are absolutely unnecessary. As other people said, the romance is forced—that is because it is added unnecessary plot line—the webtoon had no FL (at least at for most of the story, if not all)

The show has its funny moments, but the romance plot line was not a decision that should have gone through. Maybe it was for the sake of making it a TV series to have more plot that is easier to wrap up, but the charm of ML has been lowered as of such. The story should be of ML mainly, not a budding romance.
The choice of FL was also a bit uncomfortable, as it felt like a sasaeng fan (as another review stated)

Other changes I would like to nitpick are just minor changes due to it being liveaction and not a webtoon, however in my heart I am just a little sad about it.

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Better than expected

Had a bad feeling when I read that this drama would be in the K-pop idol industry, as I've watched a few in the past - always super cringy (overly fantasized and poor quality).

THIS drama however has such an amazing cast (so many amazing actors in this) and story that it's just so worth watching. Yes, it's still very fantasized, but you have to expect it since it's about a magical realm. Some of these actors played very relatable characters that made it funny in a cute way (kim dam for example in the first episode - a true k-pop fan).

I think what made this drama different from the other "idol" dramas I've watched is that it focuses on mental health issues and relationship issues that are always happening around us. The screenwriter added a lot of elements that made it more serious than cringy. Production quality was also not bad (not chefs kisses quality - like hotel del luna or little woman)...doesn't feel like a low-budget project that was rushed (such as Top Management - sorry not sorry).

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not the best, but mostly enjoyable

I had basically no idea what this drama was about when I started it, and ended up having a fun time with it, even if it's truly not the best. In my opinion, the main problems are that the writers had a hard time balancing the quirky idol plot with the Evil One plot. They underdeveloped both plotlines and ended up not giving the viewers enough of either. If they'd managed to find a better balance with incorporating the Evil One stuff into the idol plot, this would've been better. Also, they should've cut way down on the second hand embarrassment of Rembrary not knowing what he's doing as an idol. It was funny at times, but I started to skip through a lot of that because I can't handle second hand embarrassment very well.
The very best part for me was Rembrary, Dal, and the Grim Reaper trio. They were so much fun all together!

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Sorry, Nothing Personal

Kim Min Gue in 'Business Proposal' as Cha Sung Hoon was pretty spectacular. The script made his role a mature, strong and somewhat cool character which had sizzling chemistry with Jin Young Seo (played by Seol In Ah). With that, I was looking forward to see him in 'Heavenly Idol'. Hmmm..... the idea of a Pontifex with divine power from heaven who accidentally lands into the body of a washed out Pop Idol, Woo Yeon Woo appeared interesting and the nice poster of him with
Go Bo Gyeol as Kim Dal left much to anticipate.

However, sad to say from get go, from the first episode, I could see this drama was heading south for me. The script, the direction and characters were all over the place. The child-like fantasy story was further marred by low budget special effects. Even with seasoned actors in Lee Jang Woo and Ye Ji Won could not save the day. Chemistry between 'Idol' Yeon Woo and 'Manager' Kim Dal...??? Thankfully, it is only 12 episodes.

However, this does not deter me from keeping a look out for Kim Min Gue's future work. Hopefully, he will choose his scripts and drama carefully as he has so much potential.

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Great Expectations, Boring Results: A Review of The Heavenly Idol..

Summary:
I had high hopes for this show, being produced by Studio Dragon and airing on the popular Wed-Thurs slot. However, I found it to be the most boring show I have ever watched. The only positive aspect of the show was the actors, as I thought the male lead and female lead were cute and attractive. The plot was mediocre, and the screenplay was dragged out, making the show feel like a waste of time. The action scenes lacked effort and were uninteresting, and I did not connect with the music. Overall, I rated the show a 7 and I believe that those who gave it a higher rating might regret it now that the show is complete.

Plot:
In my opinion, the plot was lackluster, and the screenplay was stretched out unnecessarily. I felt that the show could have easily been condensed into eight episodes on Netflix, rather than being aired for eight weeks on TV. Unfortunately, the show failed to capture my attention, and I found it to be a waste of time.

Acting:
The only redeeming quality of the show, in my opinion, was the actors. I thought the male lead and female lead were cute and attractive, and the grim reaper was described as hot, while Redlin was described as gorgeous.

Music:
Unfortunately, I did not connect with the music in the show. It was forgettable and did not leave a lasting impact.

VFX:
VFX was mediocre. Nothing extraordinary..

Overall, I rated the show a 7 , and I believed that those who rated it higher might regret their decision now that the show is complete. The plot was lackluster, the acting was the only redeeming quality, the music was forgettable, and the action scenes were dull.

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