Possessed (2019)

this might be one of those rare "dark" dramas... like psychological dark, and not scary dark? ^^;
I kinda got attached to this and the characters... the plot was badly executed, mainly eps 7-11 were useless... and the last 3 eps still had their draggy parts, but I liked that dark twist?
and it had a fitting ending, almost perfect for the story.. though I'd have done some things differently, but I liked that ending scene, it pulled at my heartstrings.. mostly the "evil" soul should've been a dark characterless thing? because non of the possessed people acted like the originals ;)

ps, I don't usually rewatch dramas, so my rewatch values are either 1 or 10 ;)

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A Supernatural Drama that Loses Sight of its Strengths

I went into "Possessed" thinking it would be a buddy-cop comedy about and odd couple solving mysteries and helping (or fighting) ghosts. Something in the vein of USA's "Psych", or even TheCW's short-lived "Reaper". Despite its particularly violent and bloody opening, the show lived up to that comedic premise. Sort've.

The jumpy, ghost-seeing cop, and the trendy shaman-in-training, worked great as a comedic dynamic. It was pretty easy to forget how the show started when so much of it was invested in the relationship between the show's leads. (As a friendship. Their dynamic just felt completely devoid of romantic chemistry.)

Additional humor, provided by the truly eccentric and exaggerated personalities of the supporting cast only worked to the show's advantage. "Possessed" had a solid grasp on its humor and angst at first. You never had too much of one or the other. But, this is a cop drama, and if "Voice 2" taught me anything, the show was only going to get progressively darker and violent (even if it wasn't warranted).

Somewhere between the fifth and sixth episode, the persisting story of the vengeful serial killer ghost began to drag the show down. As more focus was afforded to the cast's familial or romantic relationships, his mechanical plans and Doctor Tomoe cackling was altogether unwelcome. If "Possessed" was a Monster/Crook of the Week kind of show, I could see it striking the right balance with its cop and relationship story elements.

But the the overarching plot of "Possessed" overshadows everything that's good about it. It afforded the ghostly antagonist so much plot armor, the show stopped being entertaining and became a chore. The final stretch of the show feels like it was lifted from the 1998 supernatural thriller, "Fallen" (starring Denzel Washington and John Goodman), right down to who makes the big sacrifice to stop the bad guy.

Like others have said, "Possessed" went off the rails when it decided to kill the entire cast within the span its last of five or six episodes. It was melodrama for the sake of melodrama. How hard can our cast cry, how loud can they scream in dire situations? None of it was earned, none of it made sense (but I'm noticing a lot of procedural, terminal-illness, or horror dramas follow this pattern a lot!). The show wrote itself into a corner with the constant power boosts of the antagonist and the general ineffectiveness of its heroes.

Overall, when it wasn't focusing on the murderer spreed ghost, the show was pretty fun. "Possessed" has its moments and it's sure to hit right with others, but it just crumbled toward the end for me.

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cried through the whole ending part as a little baby...

There has never been a drama in which I wished for the main male and female lead to get together so bad. I usually tend to avoid romantic dramas and i prefer the story without romantical aspects whatsoever. This drama turned my preferences upside down for the time being. The story is very entertaining and it just feels different. It is based on police work but turned into some supernatural horror drama and I found that so amusing. We get some jumpscares, some funny and heartwarming scenes, it will make you think about your action and whether you are taking on things the right way. I love the diversity of the cop and ''shaman'' world. The main actors are so good together that i can't even begin to describe their chemistry. And as much as I loved every single moment of it, the ending got me so bad. It was the saddest and most upsetting ending I have seen in a while and i still loved it to the core of my heart. The male lead was so funny and just loveable, the female lead just 'slay' - is all I can say. Would highly recommend to watch it, it's well worth it and you won't regret if you like dramas with horror and detective aspects.

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There are five main problems,

1. Overpowered enemy
The enemy was almost impossible to defeat. It spent so many episodes, hours and hours of just bullshit all for that last scene of throwing himself off into the ocean. Why didn't the girl know this already?

2. Romance
I didn't watch this for the romance, but if you're into romance, this drama will ruin your day. Actually, there aren't many scenes with them talking, most of it is murder. If you don't like blood and murder, don't watch this.

3. Last enemy
I don't know if it was just me, but the previous enemy Hwang Dae-Du was inside of didn't seem scary like the other two, mainly because he spent a long time being just a side character, like a slave, to the other body he was possessing. He didn't fit the part.

4. Repentance
I know it was meant to happen, but it became annoying after a while, it was no longer exciting or enjoyable.

5. Explaining background
Most of the context of the characters wasn't disclosed or described vaguely, given the basic "My mom/dad passed away when I was little" or "My mom left me when I was little" so they wouldn't have to bother with explaining the parents.

The story is interesting, it had much potential, but the show could've been cut down into like 8-12 episodes. Even though a lot of little details ruined the show, I still liked it for the plot.

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Not inspiring

Not escapism for me. Synopsis: The cost of overcoming evil outweighs the benefits, even if you succeed, you still lose so don't bother. There will always be evil in the world. At some point it appeared the writer was just killing off well built characters for the fun off it, until the murders had no effect or purpose. Did not communicate hope and the value of life not even in the kid that survived because by the philosophy of the series even they cannot risk looking to a hopeful future. No one can. This did not fit into the "the-triumph-of-good-over-evil" archetype it sought to deliver as the ending was too basic, weak, did not deliver the relief that the series was built up to deliver and left viewers with nothing to hold on to. After episode 10 it was like the series just wanted to show us how many main and support characters they could kill off before wrapping up. Even the humanity and empathy for the villain which they sought to elicit from viewers using the villain's backstory was lost on me as they seemed not to connect that into the story properly and we never could really find out what created the evil we spent 15 episodes cheering.

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IF YOU'RE THINKING OF WATCHING THIS, DO.

This drama hits hard. It doesn't pull any punches. It is true to human nature and it is true to the nature of evil. People want certain endings to evil, but evil is irrespective of our expectations. Evil must be overcome and that is all there is to it. This drama is well worth your time. There will be some moments when you can't believe that the characters are behaving so stupidly, but that, again, is life. People make stupid decisions and when they could turn the tide by making a wise decision, they don't and evil wins another battle. All in all, this is one of the best dramas I've watched. I cared about the characters, I was invested in the plot, it tugged at my heart. This drama is not formulaic, so prepare to be shocked. But if you want something fresh, this is it.

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Confusing genre but enjoyable

The advertising and the first 2 episodes scream romantic comedy but that it certainly is not. Its a very gory and intense thriller with unepected plot twists.
I note that many are unhappy with the violence and i can understand the disappointment for some although the opening scenes certainly gave a clue this was no rom com. I give it high marks for the guts of the writers in putting romance and comedy into what is essent8ally a horror story. The two leads were really convincing and the other cast plated their roles well. Come to this with a n open mind you will laugh at some scenes and hide your eyes at others.

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What the f*ck?

What the f*ck.?
That's the only thing that comes to mind after finishing this series just minutes ago.

I had really high hopes for this series since I seemed to enjoy the first half of it a lot but towards the end, it just got worse and worse. The story was doing good but then it just made a gigantic 360. I have so many questions like why did they kill literally every single main and side character?? why was Hwang Daedu so overpowered?? Just what?? I usually don't leave bad reviews but I was so disappointed, it feels like they just replaced all of the writers near the end.
The end makes me feel like I wasted my time watching this. Now I look back at some scenes and they feel really useless. It makes me sad because I really liked the characters and story but they ruined it, aaah it had so much potential T.T

I'm still giving the acting an 8.5 because they were really good actors in this series but overall I do not recommend watching this. Even if you like darker themes, it just feels like a waste of time.

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Not worth the time

"Kang Pil Sung works as a detective. His instincts as a detective are excellent and he is foul-mouthed. He is both lazy and rough, but he is also soft hearted.
Hong Seo Jung has excellent psychic mediumship, but she tries to hide her ability. This causes her to keep a distance from other people and she lives a lonely life.
While Kang Pil Sung investigates a case, he happens to meet Hong Seo Jung. He thinks that she is different from others and takes an interest in her. They begin to solve cases together using their special abilities".

The summary gives off good vibes but the detailed story line especially the ending is a waste .... the ending totally ruined what could have been a good drama... created an account because of how much i needed to share this. Bad bad just the worst ending ever... still wondering like what was the point... i get that sad endings happen but to me that ending seemed pathethic like something bad happened with the editing crew and an amateur had to do the ending.
N why are we forced to put a 1 on the rewatch ending... i would never rewatch this...

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Dissapointment

Where to start...
It's incredible how some titles make us feel. I really wanted this to be good.
This has been a disappointment from almost the beginning to the end. I am so gutted for this series, to have such incredible actors and incredible characters just to kill all of them all, for a story that doesn't even make sense. If this was just a slice of life, detective drama it would've been so good. The villain played his part so well, unfortunately the story didn't help him one bit. In one episode something is established, just for the next episode that to be broken without the established consequences.
A waste of time, watch it only for the actors and their interactions, otherwise the story is bullshit

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