O Ídolo Celestial (2023)

Surprisingly Divine...

The Heavenly Idol ( alternatively known as The High Priest Rembrary, Holy Idol) has gained a lot of mixed reception from watchers due to its over-the-top plot and narrative. A mixture of personal responsibilities over the past year and drama titles which have yet to appeal has made me slightly disengaged from watching Korean dramas. However, though certainly not without considerable flaws, My Heavenly Idol was a surprisingly engaging and sweet drama at its heart.


The tvN drama was written by Lee Chun Geum and directed by Lee So Yoon ( otherwise known for his involvement with the drama special tvN O'PENing: XX+XY). My Heavenly Idol focuses on Pontifex Rembrary ( Kim Min Gue), a divine worshipper in another land. To protect his people, Pontifex has been caught up in fighting The Evil One, who is determined to create havoc and unrest. However, when Pontifex is caught up in conflict, he is transmigrated into the body of an idol singer Woo Yeon Woo. Yeon Woo is a member of an unpopular idol group called Wild Animal. As Pontifex attempts to navigate his newfound situation, he soon finds himself coming face to face with his archenemy ( Lee Jang Woo). With the help of his bandmates and Yeon Woo's long-term fan Kim Dal ( Go Bo Gyeol ), Pontifex is determined to finally bring down The Evil One, once and for all.


The Heavenly Idol has a surprisingly exciting setup for a twelve-episode drama; a fantasy world and lore of magical powers, demonic entities and effectively multiverses where viewers learn different deities exist. One of the biggest problems with the series was how myth and worldbuilding were explored. While there were some fascinating ideas, there were a lot of moments and concepts which could have been more fleshed out further or investigated further. ( Without significant spoilers, two central characters are introduced halfway through the show. While interesting, their existence raises many questions about their relevance in the storyline and what that truly means for other multiverses. In addition, the show takes a lazy approach, with the main lead being able to understand and speak Korean already. Although not out of the question, this would have been interesting to have explored a little more.) Additionally, it became apparent in later episodes that the show was influenced heavily by some well-known fantasy dramas. While not out of the question nor particularly odd considering the show's genre, it did seem a little disappointing because some of the plot's more exciting and original fantasy elements were left unexplored.



The drama series mediates between fantasy, comedy and melodrama. For the most part, the series could interweave these genres reasonably well in the first- half of the series. The final part struggled a little to maintain this balance and often shifted heavily between melodrama and fantasy with little respite or middle ground in later episodes. Surprisingly, the comic relief worked quite well in this series. It was slapstick and reasonably mundane for the most part, but it will likely generate a few genuine chuckles here and there. ( These moments would often consist of the male lead struggling to understand social etiquette or being honest and direct to the point of being perceived as false by others.)


The acting was decent, if not a little wooden in parts. Kim Min Gue is known for his roles in Perfume, Backstreet Rookie and A Business Proposal and for offering one of the series's best performances. He played the role of Pontifex with a reasonably innocent edge, adding to some golden opportunities for comic relief. Another surprisingly fun performance came through Ye Ji Won's ( Thirty But Seventeen, Never Twice and Brain Works)'s performance as Im Sun-ja. It could have been easy for Ye Ji Won's performance to have become grating as the CEO of LLL Entertainment, but her humorous edge and her character's romance added to her charm.


As a character, Pontifex is odd to describe. He is sincere, honest and kindhearted, though his stubbornness and obtuseness can often lead him into trouble. One major weakness of Pontifex's character came from his backstory and beliefs. We learn a few elements of this backstory through passing references. Still, considering one of the significant and most earth-shattering revelations for his character, it seemed odd we ( as viewers) did not get to see this being explored further.



Another major part of Pontifex's character is his relationships with his newfound bandmates and his potential love interest, Kim Dal. For the most part, both connections are lighthearted and sweet. There are moments of tribulation and trouble in both, though where weaknesses lie occurs mainly as a result of writing decisions.



Adding to this, several characters in the show could have been explored a lot more onscreen, Kim Dal being one of the most apparent. Kim Dal has a fascinating backstory, teased in early episodes, though rarely questioned or extended further. It would have been interesting for Kim Dal's past to have been used more to indicate her parallel relationship with Pontifex, which was rarely explored in the series beyond its initial usage. Many of Wild Animal's bandmates were left as background characters rather than building further on the relationship between the main lead and his fellow members. Youngest member Cha Hae-Gyeol ( Shin Kyu Hyun-Cramped Love) and lead vocalist Kasy ( Choi Jae Hyun- Love with Flaws, Dalgona and Peach of Time) had lots of potential to be explored further in parts of the series. The show hinted at both characters having their fair share of character depth and backstory, but this was rarely carried out or delved into further. Fellow bandmates Choi Jeong-seo (Hong Seung-Bum- Show Me the Ghost, Judge vs Judge and My Strange Hero) and Hwang Tae-In (Shin Myung Sung- Extracurricular and Duty After School) as well as antagonist Shin Jo Woon had a lot of potential but were rarely well developed.



The execution of the series varied greatly. The first part of the series introduced an intriguing premise and an array of characters. The plot premise was established early on in the series, and it was apparent from the outset when the plot narrative would be. The second half of the series admittedly struggled to carry the storyline further. Although the series had a reasonably sweet conclusion, it was apparent the drama was rushed in this final part. Significant parts of this storyline in these last episodes were left rushed and somewhat anti-climatic, including how some of the relationships between characters and their fates played out further.




The cinematography of The Heavenly Idol was pretty decent. It was glossy and well-defined for the most part, and the CGI was decent, though the palettes and styling were lacking. The OST of the drama was pretty decent. Some of the songs were admittedly a little forgettable, but there were a few catchy songs, such as "Suddenly (문득 내게 와)" and "Suddenly You Come to Me (문득 넌 내게와)" to name just a few.




The Heavenly Idol was a reasonably engaging show. The writing could have been handled better, especially regarding characters and direction, but the comic relief and fantasy elements were pretty fun. Overall, the series was worth it during a binge-watching session.

Leia Mais

The worst drama can be made in 2023

I still can't believe this drama was made in 2023. I can definitely say its story was not written in a sane mind. But the worst is its visual effects. Such a low budget CG has not been seen in a decade.

Story - Written on expired Marijuana.
Acting - Terrible.
The production looks like it's a fan fiction. Someone made it as a hobby to pass the time.
The VFX looks like some under 20's made it on a low budget PC to learn real work.

There is no character development in the entire drama. I have never seen such a frustrating male lead in my life. There is no spark between the main leads.

This drama is the biggest joke of 2023.
I have never wasted my time so badly in my entire life as I did watching this.

Leia Mais

an underrated kdrama this 2023 <33

i think about this drama as a fantasy rom-com kdrama that every episodes are a worth to binge watch because from the genre itself, it entertaining. But the fact that what brings this drama into fame is Kim Min Kyu's role. Has plot twists a bit and sometimes you could feel the tension and the chemistry between each casts. And it was a fun roller coaster ride full of emotions. To viewers only tip, I guess it needs lots of patience and understand the duration of the series most especially the story, I think it would give it a worth a watch + most scenes actually gives shape to the story.

STORY/PLOT
It all started to a Pontifex Rembrary, who was known for his divine powers to save and heal people. He was in a kingdom to serve and follow Redrin's orders to do as a follower. Until an evil spirit (a devil) fights with him, until both of them entered to the realm world. Until he realized that he entered to the world, got possessed by an idol's body, which is Woo Yeon-woo from a member of an unpopular idol group Wild Animals, as he need to go back and remain his role as a healer entering the world, helping the struggles and group's fortunes after a disastrously live performance. Using his charisma, visual and divine powers, he became popular, and discovering the reality behind his religious group and the devil. Helping him was a former employee in ML Entertainment, Kim Dal who was a long time fan of Woo Yeon-woo ever since her past traumatic experience from her previous job as a worker in an entertainment company. As both Rembrary and Kim Dal met each other, they discovered the path of Rembrary as Kim Dal helped him from all his problems, until they fall in love and bringing back the justice that Rembrary wants for everyone getting involved.

From the beginning, the drama really tells me that it has tons of potentials. From the plot of where it starts till how it ends. I get interested in watching this drama because of it's plot and Kim Min Kyu was involved from this project. The atmosphere with the overall story makes it funnier and cute, especially the characters has development from the begging till the end. The 1st episodes and the last episodes were the most entertaining, But the middle part of the story makes no sense. Since it has only 12 episodes, I think it was better than the usual16 episodes every series since it would make the story more boring and the story might possibly get dragged. But overall, the ending was a satisfying one, I don't even know why this series does not reached 8 and above ratings. Well it was a good one actually.

CAST & CHARACTERS
I get so much attracted to Kim Min Gue's role from this drama. Ever since his high anticipated drama from a Business Proposal, his recognition was way higher than before. The fact where he also improved a lot, and he discovered a new role for me ever since I saw him and recognize from Backstreeet Rookie. From school 2015, he improved a lot tbh. ngl, his visuals and charisma never get sick for looking at him and stare like a long time hahaha for real he was so attractive every time he shows from any drama series. For his character, Rembrary was a softie and innocent one. Especially his existence was to save and heal people who were struggling. And Woo Yeon-woo was a dumbfounded for real haha. I like his role as Rembrary since it has more the matured mindset and knowing the path that he goes, and really love the chemistry between him and Kim Dal :')) Also, with the comedy scenes, he was too perfect to be part of another comedy series like his previous role in ABP and this drama, THI. Go Bo Gyeol, the first time I saw her in this drama, well I can't say a lot about her since I never get to discover yet some of her roles, but she has potentials since the way she brings up her role as Kim Dal. She is also pretty haha. Well for her character, it seems that I love the way she acts, the way her emotions gives tension and chemistry as well with Rembrary and the other casts. Lee Jang Woo as the devil, well he was very interesting. that the fact where he was the same as Go Bo Gyeol, the first time seeing him in this drama. His character has a development in the ending, pretty bad he decided to gave up because of his bad doings in the real world. Park Sang Nam as well from the last drama I saw from him, was TWENTY-TWENTY. Well he improved a lot that the fact where this is the first time I saw him in this drama where he fits from this role of being the bad vibe type of grim reaper haha. He and Kim Min Gue was a perfect match to fight for their lives for real. To the other casts, I love them so much, that the fact they made this underrated kdrama series that satisfies my kdrama fan heart <33

Overall, this drama was pretty good one. a masterpiece i guess, and underrated too! on social media, i don't see some articles related to this drama, or posts related to this drama, but I would definitely say this would be part of the underrated kdramas of 2023. Good for binge watch (since it is a 12 epsiode kdrama good to watch for 2-3 days), great for time kill as well, great for beginners and a rewatch for me.

Kudos to the team and casts, looking forward for their next drama roles!! deserve even more recognitions to come <33

Leia Mais

What happened?

This drama had so much potential given that this is Kim Min Gue and Ko Bo-Gyeol's first leading role and the two of them are known for their amazing acting chops.
The plot was very promising, The idea of a high priest that got his body switched to a K-Pop Idol was interesting and fun, and Kim Min Gue really delivered on his performance as Yeon Woo / Rembrary. But the story became stale quickly and it got to a point where it became too dark and unbearable to watch.
I understand that this is a fantasy drama however Idol storyline of the male lead becomes too unrealistic, In Korea, once an Idol becomes involved with a lot of controversies they will be viewed as problematic and it will basically lead them to stardoom. So with the main character suffering from controversies left and right it's impossible that he always manages to make a comeback every time. It's also annoying that the male lead had to suffer multiple times only to get what ??? get betrayed by his people ??? The story doesn't make sense.
I also had high hopes for the female lead as I have seen her performance in Hi Bye! Mama. She really had great potential but I don't know what happened to her in this drama ??? There were moments where the acting was so stale that it almost seem like she is an amateur actress. Did she get too pressured because this is her first lead role??? I mean what happened?

All in all, I would say that this is a case of a drama that has a good premise but weak execution.

Leia Mais

BORING !!

Honestly at first i was really excited to start this because of Kim Minkyu but this show was such a drag. Episodes were so hard to get through because they never seemed to have a clear goal or whatever the goal was it was poorly executed. I admit there were many rookie actors in there and they did well but this whole storyline could’ve been done a lot better. It was just boring and really hard to get through. If you have bad attention span then I don’t recommend watching this— or if in general you’re looking for a good kdrama…just don’t choose this one. Could’ve been a lot better!

Leia Mais

Unwatchable

Not really having heard of the webtoon, I was mainly looking forward to this drama because of the ML. But I find this series practically unwatchable.
Low production quality - Not sure why no one is talking about how bad the production quality is. I was not expecting Under queen's umbrella quality, but this seems like shoddily put together
Not very interesting plot line - Even though the initial outline of the plot line seemed interesting, how the story progresses makes the whole plot line too dull.
Lame attempt at comedy - The comedy fell very short of my expectations. It was very unfunny and at time cringe inducing.
Romance that was not needed - This story would have been a lot better without the romance plot line. Nothing about this romance is convincing either.
FL (even though cute) absolutely bland
Bad guy - A laughable bad guy. His antics are equivalent to Dr. Evil from Austin Powers, but in a very not funny way.

Even though I hate to drop series in the middle of it, I found myself stopping in the middle of 8th episode. Dropping this like a hot pile of poo that it is...

Leia Mais

you need to decide for yourself if you really want to watch this

This was not perfect, but it was a good one. If you didn't enjoy it, then it was clearly not for you, but there might be people who will enjoy it. So we can't say that it was overall bad. I really can't say that for this drama. I don't think it was boring too, it has an interesting theme so this makes it easier to watch but it definetly has some shortcomings.

If this was made in 2015-2017 people might really love it but the screenwriting and story development lacking in some ways compared to the year we are in.
So it is normal that people will except more from this, and I am agreeing with that. This had more potential to be a really good rom-com fantasy.

If you are someone who expects the series you watch to be perfect in every aspect, this series is not for you. but if you are looking to enjoy watching the relationship between the main characters without worrying about the small details, you can watch it without worrying.

Leia Mais

Regrettably time spent that's not coming back.

I didn't get the feeling of a good chemistry between the characters in the story, time and time again tried to make sense of some of the points in the plot, just one that was clearly written and that was the fight between good and evil. They did not get to sing even one full song, they made them like TOO MUCH of a failure as an idol group and what a pity, and it was one of the points that showed no development or progress of the people involved. The funny moments can be count on one hand.The soundtrack for the 12 episodes was so so. I wouldn't rewatch it even if somebody paid me too. I'm sad it went like this.

Leia Mais

fanfiction turned to drama

the start was very good. I knew what to expect : A light cheesy comedy in fantasy genre to fill up my time. it as around episode 6-7 when it started to get boring. what I liked to see was to see him struggle in his new found idol status. The idea of
'idol" or "celebrity" is not in line with his personal beliefs ( he's a priest after all ) but he must play into it because 1. its his only way to get back to his own realm 2.other people depend on his work like group mates and company workers.

For some reason the script writers decided to focus on this power struggle of good/ evil which kinda ruined it for me. Remberary/ yeon woo cant catch a break. he is constantly fighting against devil's schemes and there isn't much time left for singing, dancing, practicing and other idol problems which made the comedy part in the first place. I couldn't care less about the antagonist or his minions. After episode 8 I skipped it to ep 11 and watched last two episodes in fast speed.

I know that I shouldn't nitpick on it for it not being realistic ( I mean the genre is fantasy , hello?) but still the idea of them winning any major awards despite having so many scandals and not being from a big company is so stupid and yet the most unrealistic part of the story is Yeon woo and Dal love plot. first of all she was a weirdo. Not any normal fan but a complete stalker. why an idol should fall in love with their deranged fan ? Second of all their love bloomed 😒 when remberary was in that body. It was gone the minute Yeon woo came back. They're 2 different people. So what was that ending? You're telling me Yeon woo / Dal are a thing now just because he remembers Rembrary memories?

I normally dont pay attention to OSTs much so I made the score up 😁😬

Leia Mais

Lembrary? Like Blueberry?

I’m surprised people rated this so low in their reviews. I honestly really enjoyed this drama. It was such a spectacularly weird story line in all the best ways and captivated my attention in every episode. I loved the ML and his refreshing weirdness. The whole world building was just really cool. The villain was nothing special, but the twist was unexpected and really added to the overall story. However, I do wish we got to see more of Lembrary’s world, and some of the plot points didn’t make complete sense at the end. Another drawback for me was how many scandals and controversies the ML got in and was able to resolve. Those didn’t really make sense and I felt like they didn’t add a ton to the overall plot. The romance between the FL and ML was not the greatest chemistry I’ve ever seen, and I actually wish the drama had shown us more romance-y moments between them. But - when we did get to see them, they were so cute. Other than those cons, I think this drama was really well done. It has a super nice blend of romance, action, fantasy, mystery, and comedy.

Leia Mais

It’s cute

But coming from a person who read (some of ) the webtoon (not the novel) the changes made are absolutely unnecessary. As other people said, the romance is forced—that is because it is added unnecessary plot line—the webtoon had no FL (at least at for most of the story, if not all)

The show has its funny moments, but the romance plot line was not a decision that should have gone through. Maybe it was for the sake of making it a TV series to have more plot that is easier to wrap up, but the charm of ML has been lowered as of such. The story should be of ML mainly, not a budding romance.
The choice of FL was also a bit uncomfortable, as it felt like a sasaeng fan (as another review stated)

Other changes I would like to nitpick are just minor changes due to it being liveaction and not a webtoon, however in my heart I am just a little sad about it.

Leia Mais

Better than expected

Had a bad feeling when I read that this drama would be in the K-pop idol industry, as I've watched a few in the past - always super cringy (overly fantasized and poor quality).

THIS drama however has such an amazing cast (so many amazing actors in this) and story that it's just so worth watching. Yes, it's still very fantasized, but you have to expect it since it's about a magical realm. Some of these actors played very relatable characters that made it funny in a cute way (kim dam for example in the first episode - a true k-pop fan).

I think what made this drama different from the other "idol" dramas I've watched is that it focuses on mental health issues and relationship issues that are always happening around us. The screenwriter added a lot of elements that made it more serious than cringy. Production quality was also not bad (not chefs kisses quality - like hotel del luna or little woman)...doesn't feel like a low-budget project that was rushed (such as Top Management - sorry not sorry).

Leia Mais