Re-Watch: Goblin; The Lonely and Great God Ep. 1
The best drama ever! It’s still my favorite after 4 years. I cried loads and laughed a lot at this heartwarming tale of love and friendship.
The drama had a high budget production, from the set, props and CGI and along with the great casting, made this drama into the favorite it was. It became the highest rating drama for tvN with the last episode reaching 20% viewership.
I will review only episode 1, but will add additional information for context (I binged the whole series and watched the 2 episode special again XD).
Kim Shin (Gong Yoo) is a General, betrayed by his king and killed by his own sword, became a Goblin as a punishment from God, left to wander the earth, immortal and lonely. Only the Goblin’s bride can take out the sword and return him to nothingness. He saw his sister being killed in front of him and all his men slain by the King, the King whom he considered his friend and whom he protected on many battlefields.
Jin Eun Tak’s mother visits an old lady (Lee El) everyday on a bridge. The old lady tells her the story of the Goblin and that she’s the Goblin’s bride, she laughs it off and the old lady tells her, when she finds herself on the brink of dead, to pray and plead with all her might, that a kind God might be listening to her plea. She leaves the crazy old lady and gets hit by a car and left for dead (when you find out who’s responsible, it’s just heartbreaking). She pleads with all her might and the Goblin, a drunk Goblin hears her plea and goes to her. She begs for him to save her baby and he saves her life and the baby’s. The Goblin’s Bride was born and named, Jin Eun Tak. Jin Eun Tak (Kim Go Eun) lived with her mother until the age of 9 and she could see ghosts and grim reapers. It was her 9th birthday and she arrived home to her mother with a birthday cake, but her mother was a ghost. This scene was so heartbreaking. The old lady appears to save her from the grim reaper and tells her to go live with her aunt.
The Grimp Reaper (Lee Dong Wook) was assigned to collect the mother and baby’s soul, but since the Goblin saved her, they became special cases and when Jin Eun Tak turned 9, he saw her again when he went to collect her mother’s soul, but since she was a baby, had no name and therefore he could not collect her soul that day. The old lady told him to bring a name card with her name, if not, he needed to leave. They consider these cases as Special Cases. Also, after re-watching this drama and special again, I still did not catch on to the subtle hint at his wardrobe and I feel stupid.
Jin Euk Tak did not have a good childhood. Her aunt abused her and tormented her for her mother’s bank books (she doesn’t know about this, but she will find them later in the drama and the how is so heartbreaking, but also pure) and at school she was an outcast, but a good student, but instead of having a good teacher, the teacher was also mean to her (she gets scolded later on, don’t worry). Since she can see ghosts, they surround her all the time and she can’t have peace. One ghosts stays with her until she’s 29 and every chance she gets, tries to get Jin Eun Tak to leave with her, it’s funny, but she was a good ghost, but all the ghosts feared Kim Shin and would apologize whenever he would show up or hide in fear, super funny.
On her 19th birthday she goes to the beach with a birthday cake and starts wishing hard for a job, to leave her aunt and find a boyfriend. The Goblin who is in the field of buckwheat (The place where he was laid to rest and cursed, he visits there regularly), hears her wish and when she blows out the candles, he sees smoke around him and he appears behind her. She summoned him and he wants to know how. They have locked eyes before when she was going home from school and she thinks he’s a ghost and then asks him for the flowers he’s holding, since it’s her birthday (the meaning is “lovers”). She wants him to grant her wishes and he tells her to find a job at a chicken place and leaves her. She tries to find a job, but they all reject her and she’s angry, she figures that when she blows out a fire (candle and a lighter is most used in the drama), he appears and professes his love to him (super cute), he dismisses her, but she is persistent. She knows now how to summon him.
The Grimp Reaper moves into the Goblin’s house, since the nephew (Yook Sung Jae) did this behind his grandpa’s back and Kim Shin’s back. The family has taken care of the Kim Shin after he became a Goblin for generations now. The grandpa still overseas things, but the nephew takes care of Kim Shin’s house and whatever he may need. He calls them Uncle and Uncle Reaper, so cute. Kim Shin recently came back to Korea and finds a Grim Reaper in his house. They fight like cats and dogs, but they also have the best bromance ever and each episode they had so many funny scenes. I recommend to watch The Goblin Special, they have so many behind the scenes of them and even dedicate a montage with a romantic song (super cute), Lee Dong Wook who was the narrator for the special even mentioned why it’s a romantic song (super cute!). The 3 of them had the best scenes and improvised a lot of scenes. Lee Dong Wook is the best at ad libs and his smile and laugh makes me feel so happy. I think I’ve professed my love for him every time I can <3 Hahahaha. In the end their friendship was the most special.
The Grim Reaper is happy that Ji Eun Tak appeared, since that means the Goblin can leave and give him peace. He has a peculiar sleeping habit (but it’s cute) and Kim Shin always disturbs him. Ji Eun Tak summoned him again and tells him she knows he’s a Goblin and that she’s his bride and shows him the Goblin’s Bride birthmark, but he says some harsh words to her, since he doesn’t believer her and leaves through a door (one of his powers is, he can travel through doors to places he wants to go to) into Canada and Jin Eun Tak follows him through the door and finds herself with him in Canada and he’s surprised and caught off guard that she managed to follow him.
I can not stress enough how beautifully told this drama is. It’s from the same writer that wrote Secret Garden, Heirs, Descendants of the Sun and Mr. Sunshine (these are all her drama’s I’ve watched). I see a pattern in her writings. Heirs, who was sad and did not have a happy ending for the older brother, she then wrote Descendants of the Sun who had the lead nearly die and at the end nearly killed him off for good, in Goblin killed off the Goblin first and when he comes back and he and Jin Euk Tak marry each other, he kills Jin Euk Tak (sorry for this spoiler, but she’s fine) and in Mr. Sunshine, kills off Mr. Sunshine after everything they went through together! She’s good at writing a sad love story, but for me Goblin is the best written one. All the souls The Grim Reaper had to lead to the afterlife, the love story between the Goblin and his bride, the grim reaper and Sunny. I’ve had many battles with tvN, but they also had some of my favorite dramas and this is my Number 1 drama.
I can keep on going on and on, but I will only recap episode 1.
