Guardian: The Lonely and Great God

Can finally check it off my list, Mission Accomplished!

For Goblin fans, no need to read the review below.

I tried watching Goblin back when it was the latest hit, but dropped it midway, and never looked back. But since then the internet world has been raving non-stop and making it out to be the greatest K-drama of all time, but only when my scant memory of the reasons why I dropped it at ep12 faded, was I able to give it another go, more than anything just to check the rite of passage that is this drama off my list. Unfortunately as I expected, completing it felt like a mission, nothing more.

I will start with the positives:
This drama boasts awesome cinematography, Great Production and Overall good performances by all. It can be watched at any time in the future and I believe in terms of production quality it will never feel old. As for Kim Go Eun, having enjoyed her later works and appreciated her great performance, although I was annoyed at the beginning by her over-the-top childish behavior, I cannot be sure if that was her own acting that was to blame. The more the story progressed that more I could feel her acting improve midway through the drama and resemble her performance in later works.

Now moving to the negatives, after having managed to push myself past all the blasphemous storylines, I will try to mention some of the main things that annoyed me with this drama.

1- Drama Length: Whoever decided to produce a drama with 16 episodes each running an average of 1 hour 15~20 minutes made a mistake. Even the writers of an epic Sageuk drama with a complicated saga for a story would still choose to extend the episode count keeping the running time of each episode at a normal length. And honestly speaking, the story here by no means required such a long running time, yes it had its lore and it had two romantic couples with a story each worthy of a separate drama, but I feel the drama could have easily fit into 12 or 14 episodes with normal 1 hour runtime, there were a lot of unnecessary scenes or needlessly long shots of people brooding that could have been edited out of cut short, half way through the drama I was watching with 1.25 or 1.5 playback speed for crying out loud. The ironic thing with such a long-run is that for me their romance somehow felt it was never given enough time to properly mature, because she was so young, overly immature and trusting to cohabitate with two fantastical being, and he was so oddly head-over-heels with a 19 year old just by suspecting she was his destined bride.

2- The Comedy: I generally love mix genre dramas, and the comedic parts I believe were needed in this drama to keep things from feeling too heavy or angsty, but sometimes said comedic parts were so over the top and full of eye-roll and cringe-inducing moments, also the characters were acting so unbelievably immature and childlike for their fantastically long age span. I mean I can understand that he lived for 900+ years and had zero romantic involvement but still that doesn't mean that he acts like a mid-school boy going through his first crush, and the grim reaper would sometimes be acting like a 12 year old and other times be all wise and know-it-all. Sometimes the shift mid scene between heavy angst or thriller to comedy was made nicely, but sometimes the shift was too sudden and extreme it felt like being struck in the face with a bucket of icy cold water.

3- The Romance: I know it is an unpopular opinion, but I thought the romance between the main couple felt off from start to finish.

Even if as a viewer we are able to look past the age gap between a mortal human and a 900+ year-old goblin, it was totally unnecessary to choose to make said human a high-school girl, they could have easily made her an adult since the beginning with the exact same circumstances (he having saved her life as an unborn child thus having created his own bride), so even if she was in her twenties and his physical appearance was mid-40s it would have been less icky to watch. And then we would have been spared from watching a high-schooler acting all clingy blurting out “I love you” to a middle age ajusshi she barely even knew, just cause she sees in him her card-out of a difficult life and having been told my numerous ghosts that she was the goblin-bride.

I always thought watching her act more like a 12 year old all giddy and childlike around him, and him giving her swoony eyes or patting her hair, that it all just felt rather predatory, and I believe the writers opted to tone down their romantic scenes early on in fear of giving off pedophilia-like vibes (there was this scene where they were playing in the arcade and he was all dressed up and she was in her school uniforms and as she was calling him ajusshi as usual, I just thought to myself how on earth any onlooker would not be rightfully thinking that he must be her sugar daddy). I wasn’t blaming her classmate who was spreading rumors that she was dating a middle-aged dude because factually speaking she was.

4- The ending (the most frustrating) ####MAJOR DETAILED SPOILER AHEAD###

So, he chose to perish in order to save her, good……He was finally free of his eternal punishment but still chose to remain in a limbo-like existence to keep a promise he made to her, fine……She has forgotten about him but still suffer from strong feelings of depression and bouts of melancholic emotions which she has no explanation for. Then thanks to her heartfelt wishes and their previous contract, we see that he has been given the opportunity to return to the living world once more, okeeeeeey (reluctantly accept the hard to swallow premise). Also bear in mind, he is still back as an undying Goblin in love with a mortal; in other words the main issue with the story is still unresolved. Then in order to sort out the issue with her being a missing soul who was never meant to be born, the writers chose to make her die an honorable death where she sacrificed herself to save others which I thought was very noble and heartfelt.

Now at this point I would say the writers had the opportunity to choose 1 of two options; make her return as a different un-dying entity such as an angel or whatever (may sound a bit laughable I know but bear with me), and then they both would have had their HEA living a human-like life with just the inconveniency of having to constantly move and change identity to hide their immortality.

If that was too much or too tragic from Ji-Eun-Tak’s perspective, then the second option would have been to have both of their “Lives” end in one way or the another and then to reincarnate in their exact same form and preferably have both of them be in the same age group this time around. If they thought writing a script where he was reborn as a human wouldn’t make sense, did anything else make much sense in this heavy-on-the-fantasy story to begin with? And why was it so simple to write it in that exact same way for the second lead couple and not the main lead couple? Considering the fact that a grim reaper; who is supposed to be a dead soul of a sinner, can get to finish his atonement term and cease to exist, then by the same rule shouldn’t Kim Shin who had been spared of his eternal punishment as a Goblin after having his sword removed be given the same chance?

Honestly just want to rant, but what was the writers insistence to keep him as an undying goblin right till the end, and even worse to have his bride be reincarnated and reunited with him while she is still a highschooler! Is there some reason why the writers were so fixated on keeping the starting point of their star-crossed romance between an almost 1-millennium-old undying being and a 19 year old mortal human?

The Bromance was nice and cute, but many times it was too corny for my taste, and still cannot salvage the show for me.

The OST, had some memorable tracks, but there were annoying instrumental tracks that sounded like old SAGA game BGM, and also a couple of tracks had corny English lyrics that tempted me always to fast forward the scenes they played in.

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I had put off watching Goblin for a long time as I knew it's epic so I needed a devoted time to watch it till the end.
Goblins becomes the highest standard of my reviews on dramas I completed (mostly for Kdramas).
What I learned from this drama: forgiveness (past events of Goblin/Grim Reaper/Sunny) and that there is timing for everything you encounter in life (Goblin waits for 900+ years for a 19 year old bride to show up in her first life)

Tons of previous reviews posted already, so I will just point out what I like about this drama:
Story: No boring scene, no skipping for me who likes skipping scenes. Side stories of dead people and ghosts are also meaningful and touching.
Directing: Just perfect, won't say much, check out other Director Lee Eung Bok's cinematic work
Editing: Details are woven perfectly, and all related. Pieces of flashback are not boring.
Screenwriting: witty, deep, poetic. Follow Writer Kim Eun Sook for other high quality dramas.
CGI: Battle, fight, and snow scenes of Goblin are epic
Location: Quebec Canada, can't have other perfect location than fall season with French touch
Make up: Can transform one actor/actress to different roles. For examplem Kim Byung Chul as Emperor advisor, modern secretary, ghost, and cameo CEO.
Costume: Classy and stylish. For example: 19 year old Eun Tak does not look poor and childish. Personality symbols thru costumes, for example Shamsin Lady's red dress, Sunny's bright colored clothing, and Eun Tak's red scarf
Cast: Perfect selection for every main roles and supporting casts are not bad either. Gong Yoo and Lee Dong Wook supernatural roles don't need to talk much but their facial expression shows deep communications. Kim Go Eun's natural beauty fits for 19 year old girl, Yoo In Na's cheerfulness matches Sunny lively personality.
Acting: Lots of scenes with no dialogues just facial expression and physical movements speak louder than many dialogues
Music: songs are created and picked perfectly support the popularity of the drama and songs themselves
Rewatch: perfect, but I will wait for a while until I can spend a large portion of my time to watch it

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Way overrated

Honestly this was 1/10 for me, the ending was a bit rushed IMO but the last 2eps gave off lots of good feels. I liked the leads relationship so because of that, I will give this 5/10 even though I think it should be less because it was dragging and boring for most of the 16eps. After watching the whole series, I couldn’t see what the hype/rave reviews was all about except the fact that most of the viewers seem unhealthily obsessed with the two MLs especially with Lee Dong-Wook hence the inflated ratings. This is nowhere near a 8.0 rating much less 8.8 rating, IMO.
I swear to God the delusional castle that most K & C Drama fans have built does host a lot of idiotic individuals. People were literally wailing and crying in the VIKI comment section. How the fuck are you wailing and crying in the comment section about Kim Shin putting his hands on the Grim Reaper in Ep13 (let someone kill your whole fucking family and let’s see how well you react when you are face to face with the person, I’m sure you will hug them because OMG *insert sarcasm* they are so handsome and you even got to be friends with them before knowing). This is a fucking tv series you morons. He was not actually trying to kill ya”alls precious Lee Dong-Wook. Like WTF.
K & C Drama fans will be all up in their feelings when their so called popular and handsome actors are MLs. They will stay bashing the FLs of these actors (deluding themselves with the rhetoric that she can’t act, she’s whiny/clingy or because they feel that she’s not good enough to costar with their precious Male actors) but the MLs are always beyond perfect and above reproach and can apparently do no wrong. These male actors don’t even need to do much or have any sort of great personality, they just need to be “handsome & hot” and viola they are all perfect in all their ways. As a lady I love me some handsome actors and I can appreciate the good looking ones but some “fans” I don’t even call them that, I call them delusional people who take it way too far, little wonder the poor actors/actresses and idols in China and Korea can’t publicize their relationships because of the unstable people that claim to be their fans….
FYI to the above delusional obsessive morons, all your revered male actors won’t read your comments, even if they somehow miraculously do, they won’t care for your trifling thoughts and opinions of them and their FLs, especially when most of them are actual friends with said FLs. So keep wasting your useless time bashing all their FLs in the VIKI comment section, VIKI, Youku, IQIYI etc review sections, here on mydramalist and any other tv series review sites, you will end up just being the one dying of anger and frustration while both FL and ML smile to the bank.
People were bashing this shows FL that she was childish and immature, I’m like she’s literally 19yrs old in the show and the MLs were 939yrs and 300yrs and were both acting childish with each other but surprise surprise nobody was bashing them, instead they will praising them, saying how they had such chemistry and people were shipping them (pure insanity). This level of obsessive delusions and inability to have rational/logical thinking because a guy is so “handsome”, lemme tell you, it’s borderline mental. Very unstable behavior.
And what makes it worse is that, It’s mostly females that you see bashing this FLs. It’s really horrible what women do to each other just because they want to praise and idolize a “handsome” guy that doesn’t even know they exist. Very very sad indeed

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Probably one of the best K-Dramas I will ever see.

My Letterboxd review:

"i will love this forever for introducing me to beloved gong yoo

as many problems as one could find with this series, my god do i love it so much. <3"

I want to add on by saying this: this drama is incredible at evoking emotion and it does so in a way that feels wholly natural and fulfilling. It's genuinely beautiful. One moment I'd be in stitches laughing, and the next I'd be tearing up and crying as I felt for one of the characters. It's really amazing and I feel that this characteristic of the show is what really made it for me.

As a side note: yes, the whole thing with Eun-tak being in high school is weird and I agree. But aside from that, I feel the show handles its subject matter with finesse and I don't think there was any harm intended in that choice.

In any case...

The cast is amazing, obviously. They have such great chemistry together regardless of the relationship between the characters. Of course, Yoo Gong and Go-Eun Kim were my favorite - not only are they both excellent performers, but they worked so well together! - but I also deeply appreciated the rest of the cast. All of them gave their performances their all, and because of that, they enhanced the story deeply and significantly contributed to bringing it to life.

Naturally, I adored the characters as well.

The story as a whole is really beautiful and led me to do a lot of thinking outside of the time I spent watching the show. I can safely credit this drama with solidifying my current perception of the afterlife (reincarnation is what I believe it could be) and honestly I thought that the way it discussed life and death was delicate and profound. I keep wanting to say the word "beautiful" as I describe this, but that's because it's true - all of it was beautiful to me. One of my favorite parts was how Dong-wook Lee's role as the Grim Reaper was explained and visualized. Simply marvelous.

The music gets an easy and solid 10. I still listen to it every now and then and find it as timeless as it ever was.

As a whole this drama is fantastic. It's definitely a bit of a time commitment but I found it to be VERY worth it. Do give it a chance because it certainly deserves it.

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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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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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I really enjoyed the storyline portrayed in this drama. Usually, the more a drama can make me react vocally - shouting, screaming, crying, wailing, etc. - the higher I will rate it. It sounds silly, I know, but if a show can provoke that kind of response from me, there's something to be said about it.

This show had me enthralled from the first to the last episode. It was like a really good book; I couldn't stop watching! I laughed and cried a LOT.

Honestly, this is one of a handful of dramas I have seen that is going on my list of 'rewatches'. Yes, I feel it's That. Good.

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My rule of watching a drama is that i have to wait for the drama to air finished then I will start to watch cos I really hate to wait. Especially if the story is nice, the waiting period is a hell for me. Before I started watching Goblin, the 'stir' of this drama was so big that coll, friends and media were all talking about it.

I started watching Goblin with very high expectation but yet, it still surprised me and it just totally blew my mind .. The story is just so beautiful and too beautiful. The heart-aching part was so heart wrenching that I still have tears in my eyes after watching 3 times.

I will skip the review on the acting as the acting is just PERFECT. Each character just fitted on the role perfectly.

The comedy in the drama isn't a lot but the comedy contents are very new. How to say.. the comedy in this drama is more of cute and relax style. The comedy written in this drama wasn't found in other drama before. Everything just very ..... match.

Goblin totally shake the world of drama a big time. I believe this will be a start for 'Goblin' alike story coming soon.

If you are a kdrama fan, this drama is a MUST WATCH.

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