The Fiery Priest (2019)

A MUST WATCH DRAMA

I could rave on and on about this drama but I’ll keep it short!

Such an underrated drama!! This drama is by far the greatest and best action comedy in KDrama history. It has a fantastic storyline, an engaging and intense plot, nerve-wracking twists and turns, superb acting skills, and valuable life lessons. A thrilling ride full of excitement and laughter!

Powerhouse Ensemble Cast! Each of them provided unforgettable fun, and they took on roles that were perfect for the actors. No matter how big or small the role was, each of them did a phenomenal job. Best squad ever!!! No romance but I didn't care. The main aces of this drama are the excellent storyline and character development. Along with an addictive OST that you’ll remember till the end.

The Fiery Priest made me laugh hysterically and I kept on cheering for our priest and his friends. One of my favorite dramas! I’ll be rewatching this drama again. Hoping season 2 happens.

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When you feel that the cast had so much fun shooting this drama :-)

I can hardly call another drama that was so much fun to watch. You could sense that the cast was enjoying shooting this a lot. I kinda hear them laughing after doing some scene's or when they got take a second shot I guess they were laughing so hard and couldn't continue filming the movie ;-) The cast in total, even the side characters are so well chosen and had enough airing time to be covered decently, even the villains.

The chemistry especially between Kim Nam Gil and Kim Sung Kyun was perfect. Also newbie police officer raping girl Seo Seung Ah appeard so cool. Besides the slapstick comedy there were some serious parts of the story covered in a good way...and while a bit repetitive the constant beat em up contest between the good and the bad turned out like crazy.

The plot might be nothing too new (corrupt politicians and police) and sometimes a little dragging, but overall enough story to keep you going. Music was well chosen, lots of scenes to be watched again...but in the end this drama shows some of the best cast of Korea and how good it worked out with and for all of them. Everybody watching this one I guess is eagerly waiting for a second season...which is quite rare in k-drama-history.

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it's got everything BUT romance!

This one is really entertaining... hardly a dull moment now and then! It has everything viewers could wish for - handsome actors and actresses, action, twists, comedy, melodrama... The balance between comedy and tragedy is unbeatable! The pace is good, fighting scenes got excellent choreography, actors are flawless! The ML and the FL are both gorgeous... BUT everyone in this drama is single and lonely! I admire the fact that the priest was all along true to his calling and never ever swayed, BUT how can no one in this drama have a family or at least some slight romantic interest??
As most watchers previously noticed, the funniest thing is Father Kim getting angry: he throws a fit, breaks things and beats people left and right! The female prosecutor is also good (on my new favourites list)! And the villains are totally charismatic!
This being said, it's still one of the best dramas out there, period.

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Am I missing something?

Looking at all the other reviews, I felt compelled to say something. Not because I agree, but quite the opposite. I feel like everyone saying they lost their minds laughing at this show is in on a secret that I've not been told. Or, they watched another version of this show than I have.

I went into this drama so desperately wanting to like it. I'm on episode 11, and I still feel that way, although less so, because I'm mentally giving up hopes. The humor falls so flat 99% of the time. For a show that is marked as a comedy, I sure haven't laughed much at all since I started this. It's not even the poop humor that bothers me; I watched (and loved) the first season of Sound of Your Heart that was filled with jokes like that. It just feels like the writers set the cast up with a great lead-up and then gave them a terrible punchline that misses the mark, every single time.

The acting is done well, no complaints on that front. I know it's cliche with the priest being someone that can do every single thing perfectly, but I don't really mind that as much, just wish the execution was better. The juxtaposition of a high-tempered priest working with a timid and subservient detective sounds very interesting on paper, but it takes like half the show for anything interesting to actually happen with that dynamic. The slow burn is real.

The story feels unnecessarily long, with the underdogs vs. the villains going in circles non-stop. At this point, if the villains winning makes it a shorter story, I'm ready to accept that. I don't hate this show and I'll see it through (mostly because of Kim Nam-gil), but I so badly wish the writers tried more instead of trying to cash in on a priest whose comedy 90% of the time is screaming loudly (which was funny at first but is now getting old).

Oh, but props to the music director. The priest's theme is catchy, and who can forget "HONEY HONEY"

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An All Time Classic with the perfect mix of Action, Fun, and Drama!

Where do I even start with this amazing K-Drama? I may be slightly biased with this K-Drama because of the obviously heavy focus on Catholicism but this k-drama instantly hooked me in the very first minutes of it. The character introduction of Father Kim was instantly iconic, the presentation of how he moves and his fiery personality made him larger than life. Kim Nam Gil does a perfect and flawless job in his portrayal of Father Kim, nobody else in Korea could have done what he did with the role. Right from the start The Fiery Priest does a wonderful job in establishing the tone of the entire K-Drama showing both a comedic side and a more serious side while adding in some actually pretty amazing action scenes with some fantastic choreography which is always a crucial thing for me when it comes to watching a K-Drama. It never strays away from the set tone once throughout the entire series. It expertly mixes it all together allowing for the viewer to laugh and enjoy the really fun and happy moments while feeling the emotion of the serious scenes.

One of the biggest motifs of the Fiery Priest is redemption focusing around Father Kim redeeming his two main partners in taking on the corrupt council that runs Gudam. It handles redemption in a perfect pace allowing for a proper pay off of Father Kim's two main partners. His first partner, Goo Dae Young, starts off as a foolish unlikeable corrupt goofball and turns into a brave passionate police officer who wants to protect the innocence at all costs while still being a goofball. Kim Sung Kyun does a great job in showing the duality of both forms of his character and acts as a great counterpart to Father Kim. Father Kim's second partner, Prosecutor Park Kyung Sun starts off as a crazy dirty backstabber who wants to get promoted at all costs and becomes a cunning brave, smart, and bold upholder of the law even if it makes her lose her job. Lee Ha Nee does such a perfect job with the role, really owning the craziness of the character. All of this is done through Father Kim's influence over them. Another person Father Kim influences in a good direction is Goo Dae Young's rookie partner, Seo Seung Ah, while she starts off already good and wanting to take on the corrupt Gudam gang, Father Kim makes he really brave and even stronger in her pursuit of doing good, I loved how Geum Sae Rok made her such a loveable character right from the start.

One of my favorite things the Fiery Priest did was it gave every main character a proper backstory on why they do the things they do which allows for a more in-depth look into the psyche of the character giving even more life and a feeling of natural connection to the characters. It's truly amazing how many character's got a proper backstory. The Fiery Priest held consistent to this all throughout the series which showed the screenwriter and director really knew their characters.

The supporting cast was fantastic with Father Kim's fellow clergy to his friends around Gudam especially Ssongsak, his growth as a character was amazing throughout the series, becoming a character I couldn't wait for the next scene he was in. Hwang Cheol Bum and his gang especially Jang Ryong were great fodder to Father Kim's fiery path of justice. Everything about this cast from the top to the very bottom was pure perfection, I wouldn't even change a single casting nor remove or add any single character.

The pacing of the Fiery Priest was perfect, it never once dragged on for even a single second. Every single scene had quality and entertainment which kept my eyes glued to my tv at all times watching this perfect K-Drama. The one slight disappointment I had was the quality of the filming which isn't the fault of anyone really, it's what SBS had given to the director but he did a wonderful job as is with it. The soundtrack from the OST to the background music is amazing, especially Hero by Norazo, it's such an energetic track that matches the fire and passion that Father Kim has.

This is my second K-Drama I have watched that was directed by Lee Myung Woo, the first I watched of his was Backstreet Rookie which was my first ever perfectly scored K-Drama, this man really knows how to put together a perfect cohesive and consistent K-Drama. Seeing Eum Moon Suk and Ahn Chang Hwan who both appeared and interacted with each other in Backstreet Rookie again in the Fiery Priest made me so happy, especially how they both developed a friendship toward the very end.

One final thing, I really loved how The Fiery Priest respected and treated Catholicism with honor and due diligence. Never once did I find anything disrespectful or offensive to my faith. Father Kim has become one of my all time favorite Catholic non-fiction heroes, he might even be in my Top 3 now next to Daredevil and Robocop!

I really really really love The Fiery Priest, I can't wait for the rumored second season! I'd recommend this K-Drama to absolutely everyone!

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There is a lot of poop in this drama.

This drama is good for a light fun time...with some dark corruption themes mixed in because Kdrama....and occasional ass explosions peppered here and there to keep things real. I especially enjoyed the comedy and character development. Hands down, the best part about Kdramas like this is that every minor character gets their moment in the sun, everyone gets their turn to be a hero. You go into it hating certain bad guys (or sometimes good guys if they're too pompous) and you come out of it liking almost everyone in the end. The bobbed haircut dude was so funny, the little Thai dude was hilarious, even the bread eating space enthusiast was super fun to watch. But hands down the best performance was from the female lead. She's so so so pretty but man can she do weird things with her face. She's over the top dramatic and I loved the scenes at the beginning when she's amping up the macho to fit in with the gross old dudes. The ML was great as well, he had a lot of emotional range... but the FL really outshines just about everyone in this drama.

The action scenes were pretty well done, I really liked the female cop flying through the air to swat a bad guy, though I was annoyed she always got knocked down eventually. Like ok, I get it, she's the rookie apprentice level fighter and she had to get knocked down for the priest dude to save the day...but still, I'd have liked to see her to get to kick some solid ass more frequently. The priest dude action scenes were well done, the humorous ones were especially fun to watch. The only times I was not impressed by the action scenes is when they clearly filmed the shots in much slower motion and then very obviously sped them up to the point where they looked unrealistic. This mostly happened at the end.

The only minor complaint I have is that some smaller plot points had a lot of screen time initially but never went anywhere. I won't give too many examples, because I don't want to spoil anything for anyone who reads this, but the main dropped plot point imo was the impetus for the sidekick cop dude to look the other way. Like it's a thing for many many episodes, and then suddenly it's just not a thing. I get that was part of his redemption arc, but the threat of specific people being harmed that kept him off the straight and narrow just vanished as well. Like clearly the bad guys used the threat effectively for years, so why do they just drop the issue when little cop dude starts popping a doggo mask to take them all down?

Overall it was a really solid drama and good for a comedy watch (with a few tears sprinkled in for dramatic effect). I might watch this again in a few years, there wasn't a lot of mystery or puzzles to figure out, so there's nothing that would really be spoiled for me in rewatching it. While I tend to not rewatch dramas ever, the really fun comedies can be exceptions. For anyone thinking I rated this drama low, for me scores of 7 and higher are pretty decent dramas. To get a 10 you'd have to be epic. This drama was good and well done, but not epic. Which is ok, not every drama has to be a 10 right!

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Loved this show so much my husband and I watched it TWICE.

I can't see anyone else besides drop-dead gorgeous, tough, elegant and ruthless (and occasionally goofy) Kim Nam-Gil as the lead. And Lee Hanee as Prosecutor Park is every bit his match for wit, tenacity and fiery temperament. She's a comedic genius who can also act seriously. Their chemistry was EPIC. Unlike an American show, the writer made sure that their propriety (and his sacred vows) was maintained. The supporting cast was great too. Jeon Sung Woo as Father Han and Baek Ji-Won as Sister Kim particularly stood out for me. Jung Dong Hwan as Monsignor Lee, Fr. Kim's savior and mentor was fantastic and felt genuine. Loved the up-and-down, warm father-son relationship they had, their arguments and Lee's touching kindnesses to Michael that thawed his frozen, wounded heart. I cried pretty hard when he got murdered early on. His tragic arc gave the show the DRAMATIC dark heft the story needed. And I liked how Kim Sung Kyun's Detective Koo went from being the idiot butt of his squad's jokes to being an effective, empathetic and moral officer who got his respect and mojo back. The OST is classic, catchy and effective with so many different moods and flavors. As a lapsed Catholic, watching the show made me miss attending church and gave me the impetus to return! But I must admit that I wish someone looking just like The-hand-of-divine-justice, HOT Father Michael Kim would visit my parish!!! I can't wait for Fiery Priest II to become reality and I hope that most of the cast, especially Lee Hanee, will be able to reprise their roles. 10+++

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I'm falling in love with Kim Nam Gils character Priest Kim Hae Il so much so I can't stop rewatching the 4 episodes. I mean it's so delicious but I know it's only gonna get tastier. The fight sequences are so well choreographed I get heart eyes from watching them with a boost of adrenaline, so far it seems to be written very well the writer/writers really put their heart and soul in this drama.
Now... That police department is a joke but I think that sad excuse for a detective Goo Dae Young and the kick a** detectivePark Kyung Sun are gonna start helping the priest. Since at the end of episode 4 it said he quit, so I think the real fun is about to start. The first couple of episodes were just a taste of the hell that about to rain down on those that killed Priest Lee Young Joon. Ooh... I feel so bad for them... Not!!!

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Leve e Diverido

Se você gosta de comédia e ação temos aqui um prato cheio para você. Este drama tem um enredo interessante com boas atuações e bastante humor porém também tem suas partes sérias . Os personagens são cativantes e você consegue acompanhar o crescimento de cada um dentro da serie.

O drama é bem executado e suas cenas de ação são empolgantes. Porém para mim teve dois defeitos, o primeiro foi a comédia achei ela bem exagerada , sabe é quele tipo de comédia pastelão e particulamente não é minha praia e o segundo erro foi que os episódios se arrastaram muito, 12 a 16 episódios seria mais que suficientes. Não me arrependo de ter visto porém com certeza não assistiria novamente.

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If you like comedy and action, we have a full plate for you. drama has an interesting plot with good performances and a lot of humor but it also has its very interesting parts. The characters are captivating and you can follow the growth of each one within the series.
The drama is well executed and its action scenes are exciting. But for that it had two great efforts, the first was the comedy she was very exaggerated, you know what kind of slapstick comedy and particularly it wasn't the beach and the second mistake was that they worried too much 12 to 16 would probably be more than enough. I don't regret having seen it but I certainly wouldn't watch it again.

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Una maravilla divinaaaaa!

Me ha encantado esta original historia de este "fiero" sacerdote católico y su team de compañeros que a lo largo de 20 capítulos nos hacen reir a carcajadas y también emocionarnos! Tienen razón algunos comentaristas de la serie, durante los primeros capítulos sientes al heroe muy "solo ante el peligro" y a veces las situaciones se vuelven un poco angustiosas y enervantes, ¿no habrá manera de cambiar las cosas? ¿ Cuándo se podrá hacer justicia? Uno se pregunta esto muchas veces cuando los problemas parecen no tener solución pero si uno aguanta estos tres o cuatro primeros capítulos (sin agobiarse e intentando disfrutar de los grandes momentos cómicos de la trama) tendrá su recompensa con creces. Risas aseguradas, emociones intensas, escenas de lucha muy bien logradas y emocionantes, un team de compañeros fantástico y un protagonista con mayúsculas: Un heroe fiero pero de buen corazón, que ama profundamente su vocación y su fe, que lucha con todas sus fuerzas por el bién y la justicia, aunque a veces tienda a utilizar demasiado la fuerza bruta. Es un ser de luz aunque con muchas cicatrices, pero quizá por esas mismas cicatrrices le amamos cada vez más. La recomiendo encarecidamente!!!!!!

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El combo perfecto de comedia y acción, flawless.

En medio del capítulo 5 y con el reloj marcando las 4 de la mañana decidí que era de suma importancia levantarme a escribir mi opinión sobre The feiry preist, un drama que en cuanto leí el sumario quedé enamorada. El primer capítulo fue perfecto, te atrapa en el mismísimo instante en que el sacerdote más guapo que se pueda imaginar entra a escena como digno personaje de film noir, con ese saco/capa flotando detrás de él mientras se prepara para la pelea definitiva; desde los primeros momentos te muestra el dramatismo cómico tan bien ejecutado que será parte de todas las veinte horas restantes. Es que aunque la trama no sea única (hay un misterio, villanos detrás del misterio y héroes que quieren sacar a la luz los secretos) sus personajes sí lo son, la bondad y la maldad están en constante lucha dentro de ellos; pero así mismo, es ahí donde me falla algo, en cómo representan esa lucha. Dejemos algo claro, un policía que esconde y manipula las pruebas de un asesinato no es inocente, una fiscal que se deja comprar, decidiendo culpar inocentes y liberar culpables no es inocente, pero a veces en el uso de la comedia siento que me quieren hacer sentir lo contrario. Tal vez sea mi culpa porque cuando leí la trama del drama me imagine algo más oscuro, divertido sí, pero más oscuro y me terminé estrellando con la pared de SBS, una pared comercial. Pero en general, excluyendo los momentos donde el uso de la comedia busca permear mi mente con la idea que todos son buenos mientras nos reímos, es un policial que te absorbe y no te suelta hasta el último segundo, que aunque su trama sea seria y tenga muchos momentos dramáticos te deja respirar con momentos divertidos en los cuales no podrás evitar reír para después volverte a sumergir en la historia.
Update: Ya finalizado puedo decir que estaba equivocada en muchas cosas, porque sí es un drama más comercial que los thriller policiales de OCN por ejemplo pero ahí está su fuerte, en ser más ligero sin perder la profundidad de la historia. Lo complicado de la moralidad y la posibilidad de cambio comprendiendo otras perspectivas y puntos de vista es el corazón del drama, las relaciones que se entablan evolucionan hacia un mejor entendimiento de esto y te enamoras aún más de ellas; así que, lo que al inicio me pareció un problema terminó siendo una de las mejores cosas que tiene este drama para dar. Y esos grises dentro de la maldad y bondad se ven mejor en la creación de los villanos, hay una gran cantidad de villanos pero nunca se sienten demasiado porque cada uno tiene su propia personalidad, ninguno se parece, ninguno es igual de malo ni tiene las mismas razones para hacerlo; esta variedad exquisita permite que puedas amar a algunos, detestar a otros y querer asesinar con tus propias manos a alguno que otro.
Pero para mí, el punto más que tiene el drama se encuentra en la mezcla de la comedia y la acción, logra compenetrarlas como pocos lo han logrado en el mundo del kdrama; es increíblemente chistosa sin dejar de ser profunda, no hay un solo momento en que te aburra y quieres seguir viéndola, es una de esas pocas veces en que 20 capítulos son muy poco. En fin, sin nada más que decir, es un drama fuerte y en su género uno de los mejores, con personajes que son y serán amados por siempre, actuaciones sin un solo defecto y escenas de acción que todavía me tienen con la boca abierta. Definitivamente vale la pena volver a verla muchas veces más y esperar que Kim Nam Gil le dé por ampliar su filmografía porque nunca voy a tener suficiente de su hermoso rostro y la actuación estelar que siempre me saca diez mil sonrisas.

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