This will not be a review. It will not discuss the quality of the acting or the filmography or the writing or the inventiveness of the story concept, and it will Definitely not help you decide to watch this drama. But it will probably help you decide NOT to watch it.

This...will be a Rant.

I hate this drama. It's been years since I watched it, and I still feel the same fiery passion of hatred for it as I did then. I was a new drama viewer in those days, and I didn't believe in quitting dramas. Every drama I started, I had to finish, even if I didn't like it. What if it got better? What if I missed something important? What if, what if, what if?! That is truthfully the only reason I finished Goong. I kept thinking it would get better.

The drama does get off to a good start, with tropes at their most enjoyable and crackling character chemistry and great story antics and so much potential. There is very much a reason why it was hugely popular when it came out, and why it still has a following today. But it quickly turned into hours of literal torture (this drama would make a supremely effective torture device) with a mean, selfish, practically impossible to like male lead, a conniving, malicious second female lead, Royalty rules designed to break the female leads spirit, the female lead losing all of her spark and determination, and angst so heavy you could cut it with a piece of paper. And I'll say it again, there is a reason it was so popular when it aired and why it still has a following today. Some people just enjoyed being tortured, apparently.

In my estimation, Goong is 100% the thing an inexperienced and naive teen girl would think is romantic. Which is why I'm glad I watched this after I was already an adult, because I could already see through all the nonsense. Totally upfront here, I am an unabashed fan of female characters who are feisty and spunky and upbeat and give the male lead a big ol' kick in the tooshy and are adorable while doing it. These kinds of female leads are considered passe now, offensive, relegated to the dark ages, but I love them and always will. So I loved the female lead at the start of this drama. She's got all of that plus that naive awkwardness that comes with being a teenager. And while the male lead is absolutely a turd, the purpose of these sorts of stories is for him to grow and change as a consequence of meeting the female lead. And I'm equally as big of a fan of that sort of story as I am this sort of female lead. Call me deluded if you want, but I believe in the power of redemption, especially as a consequence of love, and I enjoy watching it play out on my screen.

But (a massive turd-sized BUT), we never see this change in the male lead. We never see him grow, never see him acknowledge his behavior, never see him attempt to change. It's not even until the final hour that he actually admits to having feelings for the female lead, by which time, she wants to start having her own life. Which, of course, the drama conveniently finds a way to keep from happening because we can't have That. Clearly, the writers didn't know how to convey the scared, distrustful aspects of the male lead. He's supposed to be this closed off, insecure young man who doesn't know how to express himself and is afraid of being close to anyone but also desperately wants to be loved, hence why he's constantly pushing the female lead away and then pulling her back. If the writers had more of an attempt to convey that to the audience, I might not have such intensely negative feelings about this drama.

Ironically enough, I have been attempting to track down the original manwha this drama is based on, as despite how much I can't stand this drama...the overall story still pulls me in, and I want to see if it's improved in book form or not. Books are able to do something film can't, and that's let the reader in to the characters inner worlds so that we can understand them better, and something tells me this story would Greatly benefit from a peak into the male lead's inner world. I'm also just all in for characters who struggle in their relationships and with overcoming their own hang-ups. Fingers crossed reading the manwha is a better experience.

To anyone who loves this drama, more power to you. I'll just be over here sending Goong death glares.

Original Review:
No.

(I hate this drama so much I would rate it a zero if I could.)