This is one of the best dramas I've seen so far and I thoroughly recommend it.
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STORY:
Hmmm. In a nutshell it’s a story about Jin Seon Mi who is a human who can see ghosts and her escapades with a cadre of fabulous monsters of the very best kind. I know it sounds simplistic but truly, it’s the characters that drive this story (which is indicative of Hong Sisters shows). If you are looking for a standard drama with a love triangle (ok this has one) and a second male lead that you love (ok this show has one) and childhood flash backs (ok there is that as well) and amnesia (oh alright, there is that) but all of that aside, whatever might be a trope……just doesn’t feel the same in Korean Odyssey.
CHARACTERS:
This is where my mind is blown. There is not a character in the entire show that isn’t crazy fun. From Son Oh Gong, the Great Sage and monkey monster to Ma Wang the devil king and their litany of side kicks like P.K. the pig monster who is adorable, Secretary Ma the loyal and blood thirsty dog monster, or the incredible Zombie girl so nicely done by Lee Se Young, this show is chocked full of incredible characters or more. At one point, there is a billionaire chaebol doing house work and cooking to an octopus monster possessing the body of a ditsy actress and the lone non-supernatural person, Lee Han Joo, alternating between being horrified at the strange things around him and star struck with all the celebrities visiting his boss.
I especially loved the two male leads and frankly I think the Hong Sisters wrote this for these two men. Lee Seung Gi plays Son Oh Gong and Cha Seung Won plays the devil king and the two play off each other from the first episode. Lee Seung Gi creates a compelling character on the screen and frankly I couldn’t not stop watching him every moment he was on the screen. Same went for Cha Seung Won. He played a completely different type of character than Lee Seung Gi but the two just worked together. Truth be told, I still like the Goblin bromance better, but this one was one for the books, especially the fighting.
In the end, there is not a bad character in the bunch. Love or hate how the simplistic story plays out, each character is incredible, even Jin Seon Mi who is quite bland next to the liks of Son Oh Gong and Wa Wang, she is what is called the straight man in the comedy team. While all the monsters act and react around her, she remains calm, cool, and collected……there had to be at least one calm person in this show of crazy monsters.
MUSIC:
The music was incredibly good (again my opinion). My favorite song was Let Me Out by Nu’est W. I’m pondering downloading that one. The rest was good and not too cliché or repetitive. It worked well with the storyline.
REWATCH VALUE:
Heck yeah! Whether its fun scenes or just watching this again for a deeper dive into the characters…..its worth another go ‘round.
OVERALL:
Korean Odyssey is worth your time just for the characters alone. The rest is not as important but a nice addition. Its not perfect….Jin Seon Mi wasn’t written as well as the 2 male leads (kinda sad). Plus I’m not sure many actresses outside Gong Hyo Jin, Yoo In Na, or Kim Go Eun could go toe to toe with such strong male leads like Lee Seung Gi and Cha Seung Won. Now wouldn't that be a fun show to watch?
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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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A good start but...
Listen, this drama has a really good incipit.The story is inspired by "Journey to the west" they had the "romance" element and others details.
The first half(10 episodes) are really good. the direct has made some pretty good choices.
after the episode 11 the story loose sense.
The ending is probalby one of the worst in kdrama history.
First of all is an "open ending" so the watcher has to drawn conclusion in a really complex world building.
Secondo of is "the journey of hero" in every story we have a character that grows.
Son oh gong is a villan in the begining, so he has to learn to be a better person through love.
The problem is nothing really change at all.
In the begining he was a bad guy and in the end we have a bad guy with a love interest.
He didn't grows, he remain the same, this is really big problem, he didn't learn anything from his "journey".
So if you want a drama to watch when you are bored, this can be a good piece of entertainment.
But if you're looking for something with a good plot and a story with sense, this drama isn't for you.
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But the best thing about this drama was the ost. The ost should definitely win the best ost of the year. Even a bad drama could turn better if it has a good ost, and this drama is one of them. Overall, I liked this drama, but not enough to watch it again. I would recommend this drama to anyone who have watched every other drama and would like a drama different to typical kdramas.
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I dropped this drama at ep 16 and realized I did the same with Seung Gi's last drama. I don't remember if the Hong sisters were involved but, the Donkey Kong ball setup in the Gu Book was too much for me.
Back to this drama though, I dropped this drama after I realized I wasn't enjoying the episodes as much as I thought I was. This usually happens for me after I finish a series a month or so after, not while watching.
watch this as filler while waiting for you main drama to come on.
I wouldn't recommend it.
*Edit* I came back to see how it ended.....I wish I hadn't. All this talk of prophecy and a big bad to do nothing but piss you off in disbelief. Don't watch this!!
A bunch of charming magical characters surrounding another boring heroine isn't worth it, especially with such a poorly executed story. Hong sisters, ya wrong for this.
Watch this mess and you'll see I'm right but, remember, I warned you. Dropping this from a 6 to a 4.5 because you should only watch it if you are a fan of the actors and want to watch all of that person's work.
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Hwayugi was my first introduction to the Hong Sisters and I am happy that I didnt allow it to taint my view of them because imo, the Hong Sisters are very good storyteller but the execution doesnt always live up to it.
If Hwayugi was watchable all the way till the end, its because it had an extremely compelling cast of characters as well as actors who had charm flowing out of their butt.
For 75 percent of the drama, you really get what you signed up for. Drama, flair, action, romance and the like. Its the last 25 percent that makes you want to throw your slippers at the screen.
On one hand, I do want to recommend it to people because on it's own merits, its a decent drama. But if things like plotting, pacing and neat endings get you going, it's best to stay away from this one. Or alternatively, watching all the episodes except the final one and plot your own happy ending.
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Excellent story, could have better execution
I just finished binging so the feelings are raw. Wow, I'm going to think about this drama for a long while.Where do I start? Firstly, I was hooked right from the beginning. Based very loosely on the Chinese legend 'Journey to the West', a story I grew up with due to my Chinese heritage, I was immediately intrigued. Also, the romance was a huge plus point.
The plot. It had many things going, don't get me wrong. From the start where it followed many parts of the legend while adding romance to the mix, I was very excited for this drama. However the plot gradually dragged on, for I think 20 episodes were too long. 15-16 would be perfect. The cast was huge, so that means that there were many sub-stories for our secondary characters, which were all interesting, but they diluted the storyline for our main leads. Seriously, the chemistry and romance had so much wasted potential, I felt like I didn't see enough. Also, as the drama progressed, we got to see less and less of our female lead. Like seriously? I was mildly infuriated, if you ask me. However, when we got to see our main couple, the romance was so cute (and sometimes heartbreaking, prepare yourselves), I learned to treasure those moments. The CGI- seriously, what the heck was that? Not the worst, but could have been so much better, sometimes I feel sorry for our actors, if they knew they acted their hearts out only for lousy CGI.
The ending. Too unsatisfactory. After all our leads been through, we only get that ending? Seriously. And our secondary characters were not given justice too. However all in all this drama was great, the romance, the plot, the fantasy aspect, the ending- unsatisfactory, but I'll live.
Now the actors. Lee Seung Gi as Son Oh Gong- fantastic acting- he really brought the character to life- and it followed the Chinese legend closely too: he was cheeky, mischievous, arrogant, and had his strong morals. The chemistry with our female lead was strong too- so overall, his acting was one of the best in the show.
Cha Seung Won as Ma Wang- acting was also superb by our actor- but the character seemed at times to only provide comedic relief for our male lead, which means: wasted potential. His backstory could have been given more attention too- I didn't feel as much for him as I wanted to. However, CSW was great, and his acting was fantastic.
Oh Yeon Seo as Samjang. I've read many complaints, however, if you guys knew about the original character she was based on (Tang San Zang)- it would explain a lot more: the original character was passive, powerless, and meant to guide Son Oh Gong (Sun Wu Kong). He was Ohgong's mentor or shifu in fact. However, this could make her character seem very one-dimensional, which I agree, but she also had many points going for her- she was strong-headed and stood her ground, and very independent and mature. OYS's eyes are beautiful and I wished she used them more to her advantage- her acting definitely falls from LSG's or CSW's. But not horrible to that extent, for I still enjoyed her character and her romance with LSG was fantastic.
Lee Se Young as Bu Ja/ Ah Sa Nyeo. Loved her- my favourite character in fact. When she was Bu Ja, she brought out the lifeless zombie character, when she was Ah Sa Nyeo, she was bolder and more charismatic, and I could see the difference. Of course she fell to our more seasoned male actors, however she was impressive for someone building experience. My favourite character because she had so many layers- when she was Bu Ja, she was finding her place and identity, when she was Ah San Nyeo, a supposed antagonist, she displayed many signs of humanity, that made me feel for her. Sometimes she was confused too because she didn't know if it was Ah Sa Nyeo or Bu Ja that made her act/feel this way. Ahhh, the layers. Seriously, just watch the drama to see what I'm talking about.
I'm only going to talk about my favourite characters/actors haha. As I mentioned above, the cast is huge, so i'm not going to bore you guys any further.
The OSTs: 'Let me Out' by Nu'est has been stuck in my head ever since. Music was definitely done well in this drama.
Lastly, the rewatch value: Maybe if the feels get too great I would open this drama again. However I would skip some of the secondary leads' stories because all I want is our main lead's haha. Their moments were simply not enough.
Overall: watch if you have the time, for you are bound to get drawn into this mystical world and and the feels that our main leads are going to bring to you. Great show that left me thinking and wishing that there'll be a season 2.
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Great cast, great soundtrack, weird plot... cute moments, scary moments... love, all the elements were there.
Special credit to the actor who played the character of the "bull". I loved it.
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****This contains MASSIVE SPOILERS!!! It is a completed series rant. Do NOT read if you haven't seen the entire drama yet.********Can I also point out that the main couple did not have their proper and official third wedding where she wears a proper and nice wedding fress !!!!!!!!!!?????
and about the ring or bracelet , I thought that it will shine and save the day, or do something but NOOOOO.
AND FINALLY , why , just why most of the important female characters DIED, I'm not sure if anyone noticed but out of the main cast that were important, women dies while men remained ??????
First the summar fairy died (i know she died before but still she went and her brother remained), then ma haon's wife/lover also died in the end while he remained and thank you for the fact that he finally found out his son (I think that is the ONLY good part here), Bu Ja also died and her "brother" piggy remained and lastly the couple star femaled lead died too !!!!!! while He went to search after her.
OK from what I saw, I strongly feel that this drama needs desperatly a second season, if not then the writers, directors and everyone that worked for this drama FAILED !!!!!!! (maybe not the actors since it was agreat cast that just acted acording to the writers/directors etc.) So yeah, dear writers/Directors this needs a second season ASAP , I do not care just please bring it Back nicely and sort out every female character's death since it is not fair. Believe me even if Bu Ja was burned and dissapear, in a story they can do something, BUT if they want to be mean and leave it to be realistic lets talk about the quality of the dragon, that was not realistic/real or scary, not even in 1,000 million years. So Yeah, I don't care HOW, or WHY just please do a season two with a lot of adventures or twists to somehow bring back the main females characteres please.
Thank you.
This is all I had to say, Also, sorry for the super long comment, I just had to say those stuff.
P.S.- Seriously the most failed part was the "dragon" XD come on, you can't tell me that was scarry or real.
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Rewatch value... definitely imo
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