The One Thing That Gets On My Nerves In Hwayugi

Note: Perhaps don't read this post if you're not caught up on the sixteen episodes of Hwayugi that are currently out.

If you keep up with my twitter, then you know that for the past few weeks, the highlight of my kdrama watching has been binging Hwayugi episodes and temporarily messing up my eight hour sleep schedule. As soon as I watched the first episode, I was blown away; I absolutely could not stop myself from needing the next episode, and needing it then and there. I still feel that way, but at the same time, I think it's definitely time to publicly address the elephant in the room: Son Oh-gong is too smart for the drama's own good.

One of the things we learn in our screenwriting class is that if the stakes in your story aren't high enough, then nobody is going to be glued to the screen. That's what's happening with Hwayugi. I mean, I'm definitely sticking around, but my frustration grows as every single character continually fails to get the best of Son Oh-gong.

There's the evil priestess with her plans to marry Son Oh-gong and/or switch bodies with Sam Jang, i.e. Jin Seon-mi. She's got him under her spell - but oh wait, that's not the real Son Oh-gong, but one of the replicas. Oh dang, she took the geumganggo off him -- just kidding, same problem. The evil fairytale librarian trapped Sam Jang's child soul in a book and theoretically, she's the new owner of Son Oh-gong's love; but then right after, it's revealed that no, Oh-gong definitely does not love her, and Sam Jang is still the owner of the geumganggo. This happens over and over again, and just when it seems like things are going to get interesting, the beginning of the next episode reveals that nope, Son Oh-gong has figured out what's wrong. He doesn't fall for anything or anyone that tries to get the best of him, and thanks to that, the plot of Hwayugi is rather repetitive.

And while I'm on a roll complaining about the drama - I love it, but hey, it has its flaws - when is Son Oh-gong going to be free from the dang geumganggo? I've been as patient as the next person, but that thing went on in like episode three or something, and it's episode sixteen and it's still stuck on Son Oh-gong's wrist! We get it, he loves her because of the bracelet. Now can we please get it off of him so that we can see the dynamic between him and Sam Jang change to something other than "I love you and you're beautiful because you stuck this bracelet on me"?

Despite all of that, would I still recommend that you watch Hwayugi? Yes, of course, without a doubt. It has a super fun cast of characters, the beginning is reminiscent of Goblin, and I love the whole feel of the drama. There's a hilarious bromance, and this show is just a ton of fun to tune into each week. Granted, the lead female doesn't do much, but I guess I'm watching more for the demons, and of course, to keep my fingers crossed in favor of a positive fate for everyone's favorite zombie. The gorgeous soundtrack doesn't hurt either.