This review may contain spoilers
Just what I needed
After finding out that park bo young and seo in guk were going to be in this drama I just had to watch it. That doesn’t always guarantee a great story but I personally loved this one. It was an interesting mix of melodrama, romance and comedy.Since hearing the storyline I was very worried it would have a sad ending. Call me old fashioned but I love happy endings. Open or sad endings just leave me feeling uneasy and upset.
I loved our two main leads, gotta give major props to their acting because the emotions and nuances they were able to portray in their characters really made me fall I love with them as a couple throughout the drama. The side characters were also well fleshed out and didn’t have me skipping all of their scenes which I do tend to do because most of the time dramas just use them as filler and don’t give them much thought.
The OST’s were perfect and overall I loved the vibe and tone throughout the drama. The ending was beautiful and was one of those dramas that makes me feel like I need a bit before starting a new drama. That’s how I know I truly like a drama when I don’t want to move on. The only thing that would have made it even more perfect is if they would have gotten married lol. But I did love that the last episode highlighted that this isn’t the end for our lovely characters but the beginning of Kim SA Ram’s new life as a human and a new chapter in their lives. They deserve it after putting their lives and destiny on the line for each other .
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Worth the Hype: Slow Burn, Enemies to Lovers, Fantasy-Romance Drama (watch for the 5 leads!!)
Wonderful acting, sizzling chemistry, stunning visuals, great humor, beautiful and innovative cinematography, and a breathtaking soundtrack! This is a unique, slow-burn drama and a gift that keeps on giving. If you liked Goblin, Tale of the Nine-Tailed, or Hotel Del Luna, then this fantasy romance is for you!!Pay attention to the story, dialogue, and characters, and you'll become immersed in this new, enchanting, and thrilling world. Kudos to the director, writer, and crew because the visual effects, storytelling, and production quality are top-notch--the transitions and dream sequences are pure perfection. So aesthetically pleasing and a joy to watch.
STORY: The drama is more dialogue-heavy and character-oriented than action-driven. It depends on metaphors, symbolism, and poetic imagery to explore the love story between a dying human who wants life and an immortal deity who wants death. With such a larger-than-life storyline, the plot can feel slow at first (especially during episodes 1&2) but I think this is intentional. Each episode is better than the last and you lose track of time while watching! By episodes 3&4, the drama picks up the pace (much like Vincenzo) and definitely raises the stakes. Think of each episode as the missing piece of the puzzle, and pay close attention to details. I sense some plot twists and tears in store!
ACTING: Seo In Guk and Park Bo Young are phenomenal in their roles, and oh, the CHEMISTRYYY! The (sexual) tension between the leads, the intense gazes, bickering, and banter, everything is to die for! I'm a sucker for enemies-to-lovers plots!! LSH, KTO, and SDH are also great so far, despite minimal screentime. There's a lot of dialogue between characters in this drama, and it requires skill to keep the audience engaged throughout such long exchanges, so I'm very impressed so far. I am also a long-time fan of our five leads so watching all of them in one drama is a dream come true!
MUSIC: I'm waiting for TVN to release the OST! The background music is mellow, subtle, and unintrusive. I love it so much and can't wait to add the songs and instrumentals to my playlist!
REWATCH VALUE: We are only four episodes in, but I can tell this drama will be on my favorites list. I literally cannot handle two-eps per week, I need more!! I can watch this drama--especially the leads--all day. Can't wait to binge this after it's completed! :))
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This will definitely end up being one of my top kdramas this year!!!
Four episodes into the drama and I am super addicted. A much awaited extremely good fantasy romance drama. Not only the leads are eye candy but the entire main cast. The whole cast is just perfect ( chef's kiss ). And the chemistry between the main leads is off the charts, it's like they were born to play the roles.Things may seem a little bit fast moving to some people but the director was so right to do this because they're not hanging us and not dragging a scene which is very important. Also, love those dialogues especially those profound conversations between Tak Dong and Myul Mang.
When it comes to acting we all know PBG is the queen of expressions. Love, love, love her acting. And we're yet again getting the taste of Seo Inguk's versatile acting. Damn, he is so perfect for the role and I couldn't think of another actor who would have done justice to Myul Mang's the character. The director was so right in casting both of them as the leads. And, did I mention the ost lineup is just crazy?
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I recommend to watch it !
This is my FAVOURITE drama. I'm so in love with it.When i first started this show, i thought it would be like experiencing 'goblin' all over again but i was proven wrong just 10 mins into the first episode. I mean you can never picture a visual and a story line like this.
The acting, the delivery, the cinematography, the background score, everything is top-notch! I watched 10 episodes and i already know that its going to make into the list of my favourite shows of 2021. I knew of Park Bo Young from 'Strong Girl' and thats pretty much why i decided to watch it but I was left pleasantly surprised because of Seo In Guk's acting and conviction. He's absolutely amazing and so is Park Bo Young, they compliment each other really well. The chemistry is amazing too.
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short review :>
I'm really impressed at how the actors and actresses work really well with each other and how fast they completed each scene with full emotions and their acting skills are really good!The storyline is very impressive too and ' Doom at your service ' is not just a typical god and human drama but its very special! The main and 2nd Couple are both very interesting and exciting~
Music wise is very good too, i love all the osts
( Baekhyun- U ) ( Ailee- Breaking Down ) ( TXT- Love Sight ) so far.
I highly recommend this show to you if you're looking for fantasy,romance,sad, a little of comedy here and there and of course, the chance of you dropping this show is low if you love these genres mentioned.
Overall its definitely 10/10, i'm looking forward to the upcoming episodes and i'll update my review when new episodes is uploaded!
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If you like meaningful philosophical discussions, this show is for you
I went in to the show expecting a fantasy with supernatural, good looking beings, and I did get Goblin and Twilight vibes in the first few episodes. However, half way through the show I've realised that's not what the series is about at all! It's a long look at life and death, light and darkness and how destruction is as important as creation. It's a whole philosophical discourse. It's almost ironic that such a dark theme (of death) has been dealt with so positively and leaves us all with happy thoughts at the end of each episode. Hope all of us watch it for the life lessons and learn to live our short lives as best as we can!Thoroughly enjoyable for its slow pace and meaningful discussions (if you are in the right frame of mind for it) and I will come back to review again at the end!
Edit: I've finished the series and the ending didn't disappoint! The story and screenplay have remained true to the theme till the very end. This will certainly be remembered as a classic!
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More like Boredom at Your Service!
The major gripe about the show is the stilted and dry dialogue. You cannot have an interesting storyline, cohesive plot, engaging interaction if the dialogue between characters reads like cryptic codes or flowery proses that does not mean much, or it means too much without any depth.Park Bo Young is a brilliant actress but her tv project roles are a boorish snooze fest. The story has potential, but it is overstuffed with tropes and clichés from Doom & Dong Kyung first encounter to their soon to be romance relationship. The biggest nitpick about the main character Tak Dong Kyung is she falls into the trap of the “pitiful woman” who is bombarded with 100 pitfalls in the first 30 minutes of episode 1. She is diagnosed with terminal illness in which she only lives for 3 months, is ambushed & assaulted by her cheating boyfriend’s wife who is pregnant, gets yelled at by her misogynistic boss with no one to defend her, a pervert films her on a train, and she gets soaked in the rain walking home alone. Not only that, but she is also an orphan who has an annoying money begging brother. The writer wants the audience to sympathize with her plight by having all these mishaps happen to her all at once, but the execution lacks nuance and an emotional core. I am supposed to feel sorry for her, but I am simply underwhelmed by the writing.
Doom, played by Seo In Guk, is a god who lacks interest in human affairs unless it benefits him by bounding himself to humans’ desire/wishes with a contract. All he does is walk around places and enter his lavishing home as he pleases. His face reads like he’s bored stiff & annoyed. Doom & Do Kyung’s ‘romance’ is not believable one bit. They don’t even have a decent interaction or any development between the two. There’s no connection. How does she suddenly plan to love Doom whether it’s sincere or if it’s some sort of loophole to work around the contract that’s placed on her? Weak world building that lacks a cohesive magic system. Even the secondary characters are bored stiff to watch. The story is uneventful and certain characters feels out of place & downright uninteresting onscreen in terms of acting. The tone of the drama is mundane. It lacks energy & direction.
The visual effects are nice along with the set design, specifically Doom's house. It's has a traditional interior that is befitting to Doom's personality. Although pleasant to look at, it’s pretty colorless just like the drama itself.
This drama has the appearance of cotton candy. It looks and taste good but that immense feeling disappears quickly & it is bad for your teeth. If aesthetic is a factor for you to enjoy a drama, you might find this pleasing to watch but if you want a story with more substance and polished, you might have to look somewhere else.
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Doomed to enjoy this one!
If you enjoyed Goblin and Tale of the Nine-Tailed, you'd probably love this one too. This one though seems like it is built with more realistic characters and the plot does not solely focus on the supernatural elements existing. This makes it easier for the viewer to relate and get attached to the drama. I don't think that's something I have experienced with other fantasy dramas.Now, in terms of characters I think it's one of the most charming, out-of-a-book relationship I have come across. You can really feel the strong feelings going on. They both have interesting aspects of personality shown from the very first episodes. You get interested in them, their background and their surroundings. Every trait of them is hinted in every other scene rather than easily served to the viewer.
I'm not quite sure where the second lead roles stand in the plot, but i hope we get to see their part in the story soon.
The scenery, locations and set design in general is really pleasing and the cinematography takes full advantage of it.
Sure its early to judge but there are already some scenes I'd gladly rewatch soon. With that being noted and my expectations set high I genuinely recommend this one.
Hope you enjoy watching!
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This review may contain spoilers
AMAAZZIING and WORTH IT!!
So this drama got a lot of criticism just like EVERY single drama, but it is totally worth it. I think this will be on the top hits of 2021 along with Vincenzo. The drama was just soo beautiful and FUNNY even though it may have some gloomy scenes. The soundtrack was just amazing TXT, AILEE, Gummy and the rest did not fail us they came in strong. Perfectly executed. The ending was SOOO beautiful I loved how they ended the drama very comedical, light, and nothing serious. Give it some time before giving in you won't regret it, but if you started and you find that it is not your taste you can go ahead and drop it.Was this review helpful to you?
Poorly written waste of a fun idea and a good cast
I did not enjoy this. It could so easily been a fun drama, but the writing let it down badly. The storyline and the dialogue were poor, and the whole drama was very heavy handed. That being said, I did find about two thirds of this somewhat watchable (exceptions apply) and that was entirely down to the two leads, who are by far the best thing about the show. It's potentially worth a watch if you really like the leads, and you're not put off by the idea of absurdly illogical plots and lots of serious scenes of people crying. Just set your expectations to low and remember that no matter how it begins, things will get worse.I'll start with the positives. I've seen Seo in Guk in three dramas now and he's seemed like an entirely different people in each. I'm really impressed by his acting and want to see him in something more deserving of his talents. He makes the best of the bad dialogue and puts in a convincing performance as the miserable, cold Doom and as his character develops throughout the show. Park Bo Young puts in her usual good performance, though I found her less convincingly in love here but the writing really wasn't doing her many favours either. Poor girl spends half the show crying. I don't think the leads had good chemistry, but it was hard to tell if that was a casting issue, or just due to the poor writing choices they had to content with, because the chemistry seemed better earlier on before the show drowned under the weight of its own pretensions. I also thought Shin Do Hyun was good as Ji Na, which is impressive because I hated nearly every scene in her storyline so it's a miracle she managed to make that character remotely likable.
Onto the writing, and I do actually have something positive to say here too. It's a decent concept- miserable girl makes a deal to doom the world and then tries desperately to get out of it. You could have some fun with that. The plot also shows signs of potential near the start. The deal has an opt out clause giving the FL the chance to avoid dooming the world, but the catch is that the person she loves the most in the world dies. So the FL decides to try to love Doom, who is having none of it. Again, this is an entertaining idea. A girl trying desperately to love the miserable supernatural being who's trapped her in a contract to end the world. But... that's where the positives end.
The plot makes no sense. It is bafflingly inconsistent with itself. Now this wouldn't be such an issue if the show went for a lighter, comedic route, but it gets so serious so early on that you can't help but ponder the fact that none of it makes any sense. The contract itself is needlessly complicated. I kept trying to figure out exactly what deal they'd made so when the FL sat down to write out the contract terms a few episodes in I heaved a sigh of relief. Finally, I would understand exactly what was going on. And then I read it and went, eh? It matters little anyway, because the writer throws the terms out the window later on. To avoid spoilers I will refrain from pointing out the many ways in which the main storyline was badly handled. Instead, I will act as script doctor and say this drama would have worked much better if it had stuck to the initial storyline of girl trying to love Doom for far longer. This would have been highly amusing, enabling the drama to maintain the lighter tone it so desperately needed, but it would also have allowed their relationship to develop in a more believable way instead of them going from hate to love in the space of 2 episodes. Then they could have saved the weepy, heavy bits for the end and avoided the needless plots that made no sense at all. And they should definitely avoid having a character try to stop loving people by going to a different location. That would just be stupid. And they should get rid of God. Yes, God is a character in the show. No, it doesn't work.
Then there's the sub plot- a love triangle between three supporting characters. I found this part of the show nearly unwatchable. Girl went out with boy briefly a decade ago, boy dumped girl by ghosting her, boy's best friend then kissed girl. Ten years later this bunch of idiots are all apparently still hung up on each other. Why? Who knows. I certainly didn't care. Both the male characters are terrible romantic interests. One is an overgrown man child, and the other began the relationship with a kiss that borders perilously on sexual assault and continued it with rudeness and condescension. This plot would have been vastly improved with the following twist: Ji Na says "you're both awful and I deserve better" and never thinks of either of them again. The end.
Whilst we're on the subject of the worst romance ever, Lee Soo Hyuk's performance did not help me to understand why he's a well regarded actor in Korea. For most of the show I was convinced he couldn't emote at all, but towards the end he demonstrated a wider range of emotions in one scene than he'd shown in the entirety of the rest of the show so who knows. Maybe this performance was an acting choice. Maybe he had no idea how to perform the bafflingly poor storyline he was given. Maybe the Director just wanted him to play another cold rich man who doesn't show any emotions. At no point did I ever understand Ji Na's interest in this man, nor did he convince me that the feeling was mutual.
Finally, religious themes. This show has them. It doesn't do anything interesting with them, but it's confident that you're too stupid to understand so it will explain them to you again and again and again. Just to make sure you get the message. The message is apparently that the God loves us all and that nuance is overrated when it comes to philosophical debates about free will and determinism. Sigh.
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Great drama overall, but anticlimactic, unsatisfactory ending
I loved the premise of this drama, and it was a no brainer I would watch it religiously, considering the amazingly talented cast. As a big Seo In Guk fan, I can say his performance here was perfect (He just excels at playing darker characters!). BUT the star of this show is undoubtedly Park Bo Young. I mean, what a phenomenal, versatile actress! I was blown away by her delivery in many scenes, and this is coming from someone who wasn’t too fond of her most famous drama (Strong Woman Do Bong Soon). Her chemistry with SIG is very palpable and even electric at times! I really enjoyed seeing their characters’ dynamic from start to finish.However, I do think the drama has some shortcomings. First, I was a little disappointed that it didn’t deliver a cohesive narrative. My pet peeve when watching fantasy / supernatural dramas is writers conveniently forgetting elements of the story just to push for a specific ending. Doom’s role in the universe and his relationship with God are treated more as an afterthought (so this part of the story lacks depth, IMO).
Secondly, the ending is slightly anticlimactic, forced, and predictable. It's quite unsatisfactory, mostly because it leaves many questions unanswered. And finally, I thought the story places way too much emphasis on the romantic triangle. Na Ji Na’s back-and-forths with the two SMLs are often given more screen time than ML and FL. I admit fast forwarding through some of their scenes because they were so repetitive.
Dawon's performance as Dong Kyung's little brother was perfection!
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