A Korean Odyssey


 I have a Sentimental Feeling about this series. It was one of the first k-dram watched and was the first to deal with more Supernatural aspects. It also got me through a rough time in my life. So to do it justice, I rewatched the entire series with a more critical eye. Let's talk about the things that are not good. It is one of the longest k-dram dramas - watching it takes about a day of your life. The special effects are incredibly cheesy, so much so that it almost makes me want the production to go back and do it again with great special effects. The story is about these demigods who have magical and mystical powers, and yet there isn't that much action in it. The stakes in this series are higher than in other Supernatural dramas from Korea. Whereas in those it's usually about the Redemption of one person, in this one it's about the fate of the entire world. Often shows like this will have an overarching plot and each episode will have a subplot that shows you how the person or group of people deal with their Supernatural power. There are a few episodes like that to be sure, but they are very quickly abandoned for the main plot of the story, so it would be nice to see a little bit more of those episodes connected to hunting spirits and banishing them. What's great about this series? I think the best thing about it is the great acting from the main cast and The supporting cast. The show was basically about two brothers, although they're not biological Brothers with mystical powers, and one of them falls in love with a human who is destined for great things. The three actors playing those characters are great, especially the male leads, especially the devil King. The Great Sage equal to Heaven is played by the same actor who was the main lead in my girlfriend is a Kumiko, so it was great to see him again. Miss Ma is excellent, the summer and winter ferry are excellent. Piggy and the octopus King are excellent. But by far my favorite character is Richie the zombie. The way she says thank you is awesome. There's also all of these unintentionally funny or maybe intentionally funny things that happen. The gods meet in this weird room that looks like it's from a sort of indoor garden. A character repeatedly breaks a table whenever he is angry and exactly the same way. And there are little moments where the world that they build is just great. A minor criticism is that the subtitles in English are kind of bad. The translation between Korean and English of some of what these characters actually are doesn't make a lot of sense. They keep calling the two main characters monsters and that needs monsters want to become gods, but I think in English probably they are more like demigods, so they're a rank below Gods, but they're not quite gods and the monsters are actually the evil spirits. Plus, there's a few minor grammar mistakes in the subtitles. I would recommend this for someone who really likes k-dramas. This is not for your casual viewer, even though it's awesome.

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