GOBLIN

(by Justine Ann Marie De Lara)

Guardian: The Lonely and Great God is a fantasy romance Korean drama about a modern-day goblin who seeks to end his cursed immortal life and needs a human bride to do so. His life then becomes intertwined with a grim reaper who is unable to remember his past. But when the goblin finally finds his bride, he suddenly realizes he wants to live and be with her. Goblin is an epic tale with a story that spans centuries. It was quite an interesting ride filled with some amazing characters, talented actors, and a fresh and unique story woven beautifully throughout each episode. The series was written by Kim Eun-sook, who also wrote the popular series Secret Garden (2010), The Heirs (2013) and Descendants of the Sun(2016). It aired on cable network tvN starting December 2, 2016 until January 21, 2017. Directed by Lee Eung-bok, Kwon Hyuk-chan, and Yoon Jong-ho.

As a K-Drama fanatic, I have discovered this drama long time ago before it even began to air. With its powerful cast, especially Gong Yoo who became known for his drama, Coffee Prince, it already made an uproar to the anticipating audience. With the cast aside, the plot itself of the drama is very well-written which also made the drama popular. After a week since the first and second episodes were aired, I immediately began to watch the series.

Watching this drama gave me a roller coaster ride of emotions. For me, it contains the perfect recipe for the perfect drama, with the right amount of sweetness, comedy, drama, and romance, this drama surely won the hearts of the viewers. For my favorite character, it’s really hard to choose since all of the characters in this drama has his/her own unique characteristic and personality, but among them all I can say that my favorite character is Ji Eun-Tak because since the very first episode, I already liked her willful and jolly personality despite of the bitter situation she faced in her life. I also loved her character development as the series went through.

This drama has taught me many many life lessons. First, life isn’t fair, but it’s up to you on how you should adapt to it to make it fair. As the deity says in the drama, “Fate is the question I throw, you can find the answer.” Second, know and trust yourself first before getting someone’s advice, if you will always depend on someone for the reason that you think you are weak, then it might not be really ‘of help’ to you, instead it will just put you into a more dangerous situation. Third, forget the past and live guided by it in the present. Just like in the drama, when Kim Shin knew that his housemate-slash-frenemy, Woo Bin, was his long-ago nemesis, he still chose to forgive him and value the friendship in which he has with him in the present.

My rating for this drama would be definitely a 10/10 and would probably recommend it to a fellow K-Drama fanatic, or someone who’s a beginner in watching Korean dramas, or someone who doesn’t have interest in dramas at all (for he/she may change his opinion once he/she watches this drama lol).