Linus
US/Poland
Let me just say that I really enjoyed this drama, but It's not easy to rate it. Firstly, it is ridiculously over the top. The humor is over the top, the special effects are ridiculous, and the characters are caricatures of themselves. There are zombies, fairies, humans that have paranormal properties, messengers from heaven, spirits and other things that sometimes just show out of nowhere. It is overacted, overplayed, overdramatic and cheesy at the same time. That being said, if you understand the genre that you are watching and take it for what it is, it is actually really enjoyable.
The story is somewhat new if you don't know the "Journey to the West" or the mythology behind it. It seems to me that some of the themes are based on folk tales and old stories, but it was all fairly new to me. I really enjoyed the fast pace of the show. While I absolutely loved the first 15 episodes, the last 5 were completely unnecessary to me. I understand what the writers were going for, I just would personally prefer if everything surrounding the priestess and the events leading to the end of the show were cut out. I think that 20 episodes were probably a bit too much.
I liked the acting, but one needs to keep in mind that the characters were supposed to overact. Lee See Young was amazing and her role was not an easy one. She made it possible for the people to love and hate her at the same time. Cha Seung Won was probably my favorite character, though. He was just the perfect amount of crazy, charming and mischievous. I liked the main couple, but the chemistry between them could be a bit better. I didn't mind the FL, but sometimes she seemed to be a bit stiff.
Some people drew parallels between the Goblin and The Korean Odyssey and there certainly were some. The bromance was kind of similar and the stories had similar elements such as the main girl having a way to call her guardian when she needed him. The major difference that I see between those two is that The Korean Odyssey did not try to take itself too seriously with it execution whereas Goblin intended to have a very serious, even solemn, feel to the story.
I was hesitating between 8.0 and 9.0 for this drama and I can't quite decide. I think the first 10 episodes would be a solid 9.0, even 9.5 for me, but since I ended up fast forwarding many scenes in the second half of the show, I settled on 8.5
The story is somewhat new if you don't know the "Journey to the West" or the mythology behind it. It seems to me that some of the themes are based on folk tales and old stories, but it was all fairly new to me. I really enjoyed the fast pace of the show. While I absolutely loved the first 15 episodes, the last 5 were completely unnecessary to me. I understand what the writers were going for, I just would personally prefer if everything surrounding the priestess and the events leading to the end of the show were cut out. I think that 20 episodes were probably a bit too much.
I liked the acting, but one needs to keep in mind that the characters were supposed to overact. Lee See Young was amazing and her role was not an easy one. She made it possible for the people to love and hate her at the same time. Cha Seung Won was probably my favorite character, though. He was just the perfect amount of crazy, charming and mischievous. I liked the main couple, but the chemistry between them could be a bit better. I didn't mind the FL, but sometimes she seemed to be a bit stiff.
Some people drew parallels between the Goblin and The Korean Odyssey and there certainly were some. The bromance was kind of similar and the stories had similar elements such as the main girl having a way to call her guardian when she needed him. The major difference that I see between those two is that The Korean Odyssey did not try to take itself too seriously with it execution whereas Goblin intended to have a very serious, even solemn, feel to the story.
I was hesitating between 8.0 and 9.0 for this drama and I can't quite decide. I think the first 10 episodes would be a solid 9.0, even 9.5 for me, but since I ended up fast forwarding many scenes in the second half of the show, I settled on 8.5
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