Goblin (2016)

It's hard not being able to talk about what happened in this drama because it's all I really want to do. And of course, I know I'm not allowed to spoil anything, as I understand that there are still some people who haven't watched this yet. But what could be more important than this?! Actually, don't answer that. I'm well aware of the fact that there are far more important things to take care of.

But anyway, I think this drama definitely deserves all of the attention it's been garnering. With a storyline as unique as this one, it's no wonder people find it so refreshing.  Plus, the cinematography is just beyond amazing, making me especially envious of the fact that I don't get to live in their so-called reality. The villain, however, was introduced a little too late in my opinion. I would've loved to see him earlier on in the series.

On the other hand, the chemistry on this set was absolutely incredible. I'm super thankful because it was for this reason that these actors were able to grace us with so many fantastic ad-libs to look back on in the first place. All of the actors/actresses had their fair share of memorable moments but ultimately, I don't think anything will ever compare to the bromance between the Goblin and the Grim Reaper.

Even though the original soundtracks did a fine job at capturing its overall theme, there are only a few that I could actually see myself listening to outside of this drama. That isn't to say that the music was bad. It just didn't fall under my preferences. The soft ballads, however, felt like whispers of the heart: soft yet powerful. And for those, I loved every second of it.

Overall, I had an interesting time being taken on this emotional rollercoaster. Unfortunately, I wasn't nearly as satisfied with the ending as I was with the rest of this drama. At first, it seemed like a happy ending but the more I seemed to think about it, the sadder it truly was. It's sort of like the feeling you get when you receive a delicious-looking cookie, but the taste just doesn't turn out as good as it looks. As far as recommendations go, I would still encourage people to give this drama a try. And although I wish I was given a better ending, it's not bad enough to the point where I wouldn't rewatch it. 

With that said,
Llama out.

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One day I wanted to watch a romance but this isn't just a romance you don't just watch it you feel it. It steals your heart. In the beginning you watch their feelings grow normally like in any normal show but this isn't a normal show which you can see during the first scene, the whole sword thing, and flash backs. This show has more. You'll laugh, You'll smile, You'll feel your heartbeat, but most of all you'll cry. It's not a sad show it's just everything. The cast was great. The Story was great. The production was great. I can't bash a single moment. Just as I was getting bored with it It spun me around and stole all my focus again. No this isn't just a show it's a art piece for ages to come. I highly highly recommend it.

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I don't write many reviews, but I cut and pasted this from my own comments on a YouTube video of the Ailee song. I started writing just a brief comment but got a little emotional as my love for this drama came pouring out.

When watching K dramas without knowing their year of release, you can often sense if a drama comes before/after Goblin. This masterpiece ushered in new standards of storytelling scope, production values and cinematography to Korean dramas and everyone else scrambled to keep up. From the first frame to last it feels like you're watching a top-drawer movie with every scene perfectly composed, framed and lit. The Goblin's house itself (a character all in it's own right) is a masterpiece of endlessly interesting set-design and dressing, but the exteriors also, whether they be the many fantasy/historical sequences or more mundane Seoul streets are all realised with loving care and attention to detail. And don't get me started on the Canadian scenes...
The casting too is utterly perfect; Kim Go Eun is the ultimate girl-next-door type (옆집 소녀 ha!), Gong Yoo with his masterful ability to go from hard-as-nails-hero to tender suitor, right down to Yook Sung Jae's fragile naivety. And that's before we get to Lee Dong Wook and Yoo In Na's perfect "second couple" - so successful they spawned a spin-off industry that's been going ever since.
The OSTs are easily a match for the high standard of the visuals. I own the double-CD pack of this and still play it nearly every day 2 years after first watching. Everyone has their favourite OST song from Goblin, but the Ailee classic remains one of the absolute high water marks of Korean drama OSTs.

Goblin remains an utter game changer in K-drama and the first few seconds of this video (Kim Go Eun's crying scene) are part of the reason why. I stumbled upon this video in a bored moment and the emotions instantly came flooding back and I welled up with tears, not just from the raw moment shown here (a Kim Go Eun acting masterclass), but from the lifelong memories given to me by this wonderful wonderful drama.

I know it will sound ridiculously over the top, but for me at least, television was never the same again.

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First of all, I would like to say thank you for making this Korean Drama.

Let me say the good things first:
1. I love their acting on the sad scenes, I mean, they made me moved and cry.
2. The music is PERFECT because it really fits in specific scenes. The background music adds that tension, depressed and happy feelings. If the scenes made me cry, the added background music made me cry more.
3. I think the plot is good :) The bromance is good too.

Now the not-so-good things:
1. There are some parts that I don't feel the romantic connection between the Goblin and the High School Girl. I don't know why, but I just don't feel it (I even love the connection between the Grim Reaper and the Chicken Restaurant Owner than the 2 leads), but during the middle till the end (especially when the lead girl character is 29 y/o), I am feeling their connection and I liked it.
2. I don't like the thing where they add something (like a recap) on some episodes that makes it damn long, I even have to skip it, sorry but I'm an impatient person.
3. I love the sad scenes more than some scenes, because in some scenes, I got bored a little bit (I used my phone during the boring scenes, which means that I really got bored). I was not interested (a bit) on the flashbacks (idk why, sorry D: )

My rewatch value is 7 because I could watch it again, but I'm that type of person who doesn't want to watch depressing scenes again because I don't want to cry a lot.

Overall, I think the drama is great! I cannot count how many times I cried in just this drama.. Probably 30 or 40 LOL. Because most of the scenes really made me cry.

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My only reason for not putting a 10/10 rating is that no show is perfect, though as far as kdramas go, this one is very well-conceived and well-executed. I agree with criticisms regarding the slow pacing of the plot (particularly from episodes 5-7) and excessive product placements, but besides all of that, "Goblin" was able to deliver a refreshing plot backed up by A+ acting, masterful directing and cinematography, and wonderful OSTs, that these shortcomings barely became bothersome at all. Congratulations to Kim Eun Sook for finally writing something that deserves all the hype (contrary to popular opinion, I didn't find her previous hits as compelling and deserving, but that's just me). The plot needed some more polishing but overall is cohesive, profound and compelling. A show that you will definitely watch more than once, just to catch the subtle clues and foreshadowing that you missed when you saw it for the first time.

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If you're wondering whether you should watch it or not, you definitely SHOULD. The Plot is all over the place and could've been much better. I still don't quite get why Gong Yoo should be a Goblin. The main Antagonist feels very weak and kind of unnecessary the show could've done without him altogether. They seem to complicate things far more than they should for no reason. The age gap between the two main couple annoyed me at first since both of them are great actors but they do much better when they have a partner with sizzling chemistry but I chose to ignore it and just enjoy it. The acting and the comedy makes up for some of the plot holes. I sometimes wished they would've gotten the fantasy genre out of the drama altogether because they seemed like they couldn't commit much to it. They wanted the Goblin and the Grim reaper's powers without all the complicated background.However, despite all this I finished it yesterday and I felt so sad I couldn't sleep. The soundtrack is really beautiful and all the character's acting is top notch. It felt like I've been watching this for a lot longer than just 16 episodes, which makes sense, since one episode is an hour and a half basically. I think the best way to enjoy this kind of Drama is to not get too worked up about what's going to happen at the end but to fully enjoy the scenes in every episode and treat it as a single movie. The two main male characters are my favorite thing in the drama. They even have more friendly/brotherly chemistry than the main couple. Gong Yoo is amazing as usual, I can't get over how well he can really portray every single emotion with just his eyes. Lee Dong Wook was adorable here. I love the two female leads as well they did a great job. I loved every character presented here Mr. Kim the secratary, Yu Chairman and Deok Hwa were so adorable and such scene stealers. This is probably my favorite ensemble cast for 2017.

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Finally it was the finale! I have been waiting for the finale just for me to see what will really happen although at the back of my mind I knew it already! I would say I have a mixed impressions on the finale and the total drama itself. One thing for sure this drama has captured the hearts of many kdrama viewers. It has the perfect production value, cinematography, writing and character development! The acting of everybody are just excellent! I salute especially Kim Go Eun as Ji-Eun Tak the bride of the Goblin. Her acting is fantastic, controlled and natural. She has matured dramatically from the last time I watched her in Cheese in the Trap. And she is just young and yet she can act incredibly good! Gong Yoo, Lee Dong Wook and Yoo In-ha also did a remarkable acting performance.

Let us go to the story. It has one of the most uniquely written story! Every plot made sense! The writer successfully made an attempt to inject many light hearted scenes to balance off the very serious theme of the drama. And this is what that mixed impressions that I am saying. This is very sad story, bittersweet and depressing! Even tough we get a happy ending ( opps possible spoiler here) it is still not a happy ending at all! Because we know that Goblin is an immortal being and after the life of the bride, Goblin stays behind and still feel sad and lonely! He will still be a wanderer alone and it hurts me to think that until when will he be living? But the central theme is the selling point of this drama, that love will see you through beyond the borders of eternity! I just want to say this, and perhaps I belong to the minorities, I cant really see the connections between the lead! I dont see any romance maybe because i see them as siblings perhaps or just an uncle-niece relationship! Blame the age gap of the leads! I just cant seem to connect with them as well.

The music is incredibly amazing! I love how they were put in the drama! It gives the fantasy feel! I like most of them.

Because of its depressing tone I will only do selective rewatching like the bromance scenes of the 2 lead actors!

Overall, this is highly recommended drama. Good acting, story and script! Worth my 16 hours of viewing.

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Well what can I say that hasn't already been said by many people before me. I was blown away by this drama. I didn't want this show to end and wish it could've carried on and on because I loved the story.

Every episode in some way or another brought me to tears (maybe I am just an overly emotional person though). The music, acting/cast, cinematography and writing was so on point and beautifully portrayed. This has now become one of my all time favourite dramas. I look forward to rewatching this with my mum as I know she will love it.

I liked everything about this drama. The cast really fit and blended well together and the emotional scenes were so believable . I've not seen any of their previous work and I am now excited to watch their other dramas.

I would recommend this to anyone who (like me) enjoys a mix of romance, fantasy & supernatural elements. I apologise if this review is all over the place. It's my first time writing one on here and I didn't quite know what to say other than this drama was simply beautiful!

Enjoy!

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I started watching this drama because of the talented writer and Lee Dong Wook, and not because it was a "hit", and I've liked it ever since the first episode. The story felt "new" in terms of K-Drama, because not all fantasy projects are crafted well, but it is a classic plot re-imagined in a different way, so nothing really new. It is a simple story twisted in different ways all over again. Yes, this is how a writer works, but what I once thought would turn out to be something unpredictable, has turned to be a plot I had already seen in the drama itself. Let me explain: the story is simple and ever since the beginning the audience knows what's to come, the problem is how to "solve" the main issue without ending the show how you expect it. In a way, the writer managed to do that, but on another side, she didn't, because even as I followed the show while it was on-air, I predicted long ago what would happen. Perhaps having read so many fantasy books influenced me, that is what I want to think. In my mind I kept saying "please don't go to that route and surprise me" but I was disappointed in the last episodes because some plots and characters were introduced too late or not given the space they deserved, as if the writer thought about their fate too late and there wasn't time to fix that. While the mix between historical drama flashbacks and present time filled with the cute moments between the main couple and the other characters and the bromance between Goblin and Grim Reaper was comic, I felt as if the writer spent more time on the banter than on the actual plot, and some episodes felt like a filler, especially the last 3. But overall, it's an enjoyable story.

Have both my favorite actor Lee Dong Wook and Gong Yoo (this is the 1st drama I watch with him in it) as the male leads - because as Kim Eun Sook proved in her other dramas, she can give enough screentime to more than one actor - was a pleasant experience. They have great chemistry, their bromance was awesome and it sometimes overshadowed the main couple. I lived for their bickering, they brought me to tears and this doesn't happen much. Needless to say their acting was great. I loved LDW as the Grim Reaper and he moved me a lot, he was really fit to play a serious and a bit depressed immortal angel of death. Gong Yoo was also a surprise, since this is my first drama with him. I felt like he brought peace o the set, I don't know. He gives me the aura of a heartwarming person. I'm a bit torn about Kim Go Eun. She is believable as a 19 year old even though sometimes she used too much aegyo. OK that she's still a teen, but tone it down a bit, gurl. Like I said, her chemistry with Gong Yoo was there but there were times I didn't feel as much for Goblin/Eun Tak couple as I did for Goblin/Grim Reaper. Perhaps it was the age gap that made them give the feel of dad-daughter or oppa-dongsaeng, because it depended on the moment. Eun Tak could go to 19 year old to wise girl in a heartbeat and the Goblin could act like a small child one moment and like a mature guy the next. Overall, though, they are balanced in my opinion. And I liked that in many moments in the second half of the drama where they had to film kisses or couple-y scenes, they seemed very comfortable acting as a couple. Yoo In Na was perfect as a beautiful BBQ shop owner. She was witty and funny and I loved her sense of fashion. I also liked Yook Sung Jae as Deok Hwa.

The music was great, you can tell they spent a nice deal of money and time to make it good.

In general, I would say that this drama is for fantasy lovers the most with a side of romantic comedy. If you're looking for something mysterious, there are few questions you're gonna ask yourself indeed, but is not complicated like a melo. Let's just say, the story is simple and the message the author wants to convey is too.

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This is my second Kdrama review and I try to keep it short. Goblin is a must watch K-drama, but taken slow. Not in once, because of the complicated stories of the characters.
My facts are here:

Positive:

- Great storyline - one of a kind in K-dramas till now. I learned a lot about Korean people's beliefs.
- Great friendship between Gong Yoo and Lee Dong Wook. I loved every moment of their communication. It seemed they're friends in real life
- Great chemistry between Lee Dong Wook and Yoo In Na. The love between their characters was very well acted as if they're couple in real life. I loved every moment of their relationship.
- The Goblin character is really complicated and I liked it very much.. It's well played. But I fell for Grim Reaper Character - it;s also very complicted and I loved it in every single moment even more.
- The emotions that Gong Yoo and Yoo In Na were like they're real brother and sister. They are great actors and so is Lee Dong Wook.
- No loopholes and more realistic ending..


Negative:

- Lack of Chemistry between the goblin and his bride. Mostly of her part, the actress Kim Go Eun just didn't do well in my opinon. She didn't put her heart in the role and it seemed out of place. This is way I don't give 10 to this Drama. When Gong Yoo showed passion and deep emotions, she didn't respond and it seemed forced. I don't think I will watch another drama with Kim Go Eun.
- Time loops withous some kind of explaination what happened those years
- Yoo in Na parting with Grim reaper. I couldn't understand if she died after she "left"". If she didn;t die why nobody looked for her?

I liked Goblin I watched it slow to understand better the things. So, if you wonder to watch it, do it, but take 1 or 2 episode per day for example. The producer and writer of this Drama are great, but they shouldn't concentrate too much on the tears. Characters moved on with their lives, that should be shown. I will rewatch this drama some time in the future.

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