WTF Did I Just Watch?

Wow! I have been watching K-dramas since 2010 and NEVER have I seen one like this. I went into this drama completely blind and what a find! I love dramas that flow from episode to episode (as they should) and this one was seamless. There are only eight episodes which was the perfect number to tell the well-written, cohesive story with great characters while maintaining INTENSITY throughout. I gave it 9.5/10 only because of the violence. This is the most violent K-drama that I have ever seen bar none and those scenes are quite graphic so be forewarned. Squid Game has NOTHING on this. I had to look away several times. It's not a criticism per se, but I had never seen a K-drama get down like that, so it was shocking. Excellent acting all around. Loved it!

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Started So Strong But Lost Its Way

I have an autistic nephew and let me assure you that Park Eun-Bin gives the performance of a lifetime. Imagine what it took to not only remember all those lines of legal jargon, but to deliver them so concisely and quickly. Woo Young-Woo was so brilliant, sweet, innocent, awkward, and endearing. You couldn't help but like her; however her romance with Lee Jun-Ho (Kang Tae Oh) was kind of blah. NOT because her character had autism and his didn't, but because I found their chemistry a bit lacking.

In Alchemy of Souls, Lee Jae-Wook and Jung So-Min were so hot they damn near melted the screen. Woo Young-Woo and Lee Jun-Ho were cute together, but I was never fully invested in them as a couple. I was rooting for her, not necessarily for them. Unfortunately, the drama fell off after episode 12. I do not understand why they shifted gears when her backstory was beginning to unfold. The drama ended on a high note, but they really dropped the ball by bailing on an intriguing storyline. The redirection of the plot in episodes 13-15 made absolutely no sense.

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Not Great, But Still Very Good

I did enjoy this drama. The cast was flawless! Its not often that a drama's lead and second lead couples are equally strong and with the added bonus of a bromance that was every bit as compelling as the romances. The story is beautiful and well told, yet something about it just misses the mark for me.

I guess I didn't quite understand why the Goblin was being punished so severely. And is it me, but was there A LOT of crying? I felt like I cried A LOT. I don't mind "the feels", but by episode 9 it started to feel almost gratuitous. Goblin had many funny scenes as well. The casting was superb! But was there one episode where at least one character did not cry?

I must mention that the OST is AMAZING and definitely contributed to "the feels". I looked forward to hearing Never Far Away each and every episode. 16 episodes was perfect and Gobllin is definitely worth a watch, but this is not a drama I would rewatch, not even for certain scenes. Solid drama, but it's one and done for me.

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