Raine: So much happened this week. Reveals we expected, but that were done so cleverly. There was a little bit of cinemagraphic indulgence I could’ve done without, but, man oh man, does this show punch you in the gut.
Zombie: I was too busy trying to keep up with everything that was going on to care about any cinemagraphic indulgence. I spent these last two episodes going, “I knew it… I Knew It… I KNEW IT!” Man, I love that feeling! *snickers*
Raine: When I watched, I totally thought, “Zombie was right!” It was so satisfying to see it on screen though and watch how the young king was manipulated and fell for it despite his love for Goblin’s sister. I loved the slow realizations in the present that Death had and how he investigated with Goblin.
Zombie: Death certainly had a lot to deal with and I rather enjoyed his method of investigation. He did everything so carefully, or at least tried to. But in the end, everything kinda came out all at once. I do kinda have to wonder just how much the young king loved his queen, if he was willing to let the venomous words of his advisor convince him that killing her and Shin was for the best. I would like to think that true love would give him the strength to stand up to such evil but maybe that’s just my secret desire to believe in fairy tales talking.
Raine: I’m seeing serious victim mentality in a young man who was raised by a viper. We never do get to see the aftermath of the king’s decision. Perhaps that is in next episode, the reaction to losing his young wife and Shin. But the fear of losing power had been instilled in him by that horrid advisor since he was a tot. That’s nothing to laugh at. I do think that kid made the wrong decision and there are many others who would have chosen differently. And it does smash my dream of their true love. Their love has transcended centuries so…take 2? Make up for it? Something? I want to see more of him after that decision.
Zombie: I’m sure we’ll get a whole lot more moreness in the next two episodes and we’ll have even more to talk about. But first, can we say something about that cuss word-inducing kiss? Or was it just me that went… You know what, I probably shouldn’t recount that exact moment, for the sake of any innocents out there. Let’s just say I rather enjoyed Goblin’s first real kiss.
Raine: OMG that was so precious, especially with him freezing time around them and she’s like “Goblin, that stuff dun work on me. Get kissin’!” and she just revels in it and kisses him again. It’s so natural and beautiful and guh!
Zombie: I’m sighing all over again, just thinking about it. It was such a perfect kiss! *siiigggghhhh* Oh! While we’re talking about favorite moments, I have to say, that whole walking through the tunnel with the leeks scene was absolutely brilliant! I laughed so hard I cried!
Raine: I couldn’t stop laughing and re-watched. You parodied yourself, show? BRILLIANT. So cool, that beautiful opening song, hot men, shadows…and the outline of groceries. Then…interrupted in the most awkward manner! They they laugh like old men and wish everyone Happy New Year? I just can’t…omg!
Zombie: I died! I love the way this show can throw in some of the most hilarious moments ever written and then just keep going like it was nothing. I laughed almost as hard during this scene as I did during the Goblin and the “Train to Busan” scene and the scene with the old chairman and the BTS references.
Raine: BTS and EXO! Besides “Train to Busan,” there was that Gong Yoo reference during the shaman reading with Sunny! A show that can make fun of itself is good! And also one that can tie in happenings from early on. The ring Sunny wears. The necklace Eun Tak wears in Gong Yoo’s vision of her. The ghost that guarded Eun Tak’s insurance money. Just beautifully done stuff and not only logical, but emotionally powerful.
Zombie: It’s the way everything is tied together that makes this drama so enjoyable to watch. Everything is written into the story for a reason. Even the most minor characters and most seemingly insignificant moments all tie in somewhere and usually they end up being a much more important thing that we could have ever imagined. It’s been so much fun, watching all of these pieces come together. I honestly can’t remember the last time I watched a drama that fit so well together.
Raine: It’s been a long time. 2016 was bereft of good material. Goblin, you saved it! One part had me confused. When she called him by blowing out that match he didn’t come. Does the match drag him there? I mean he was waiting for her anyway, but shouldn’t he have gotten onto the ski gondola?
Zombie: Maybe he has a choice of where he wants to land (for lack of a better word) when she summons him? It could be that he’s simply appeared next to her because he’s wanted to and not necessarily because he had to? That wouldn’t really explain his first appearance but maybe he’s found a way to bend the rules, now that it’s been confirmed that she’s really his bride? I really don’t know. All I know is that I want a Goblin of my own to wait for me at the top of a mountain and wrap me up in his arms like that. Again, I’m sighing like the hopeless romantic I am. *sigh*
Raine: He really is quite the immortal charmer. Like when he melts when she calls him “Uri ajeossi/my ajeossi?” So, so cute!
Zombie: Oh! My heart went all kinds of warm and squishy at that moment. He was so darn adorable! He feels the same way about hearing himself called “uri ajeossi” as I do about being called “unni/noona.” It’s one of those things that just makes you happy.
Raine: It’s watching this wise man who has lived many, many years go through such a youthful experience that makes it magical. It’s an unusual circumstance. I love television and stories for this reason. The imagination can make up these beautiful, very human, situations.
Zombie: It doesn’t hurt to have a cast that’s pretty magical in and of themselves. It’s a very special actor who can take such a fantastical character and turn it into one you can easily relate to. To have an entire cast with that ability is pretty darn awesome.
Raine: It’s essentially a human story set out on a grand scale. You have a man in love who uses the weather and beating death to call out to his woman who has run away, or who saves her from death chasing after her, or who decides to overcome the odds of their fate because of (insert humor) a human who found a magical place cause he had to pee. Or who feels a strange connection to a woman (Sunny), and playfully bickers with her before he realizes that she is the incarnation of his sister.
Zombie: I think the fact that these immortal beings were once human, has a lot to do with our ability to relate to them. Even after hundreds of years living as immortals, there’s still quite a bit of them that’s human. They feel the same things we feel, they suffer as we suffer, even if sometimes what they’re experiencing is on a much grander scale, the fact that there’s still something about them that we can relate to makes it easy for us to love them. It somehow makes life better, knowing that these seemingly perfect immortals still struggle in their daily life.
Raine: And that they take those struggles to each other and to their makeshift family. Eun Tak did mention in the beginning that she felt like she’d lost a “home” or that Goblin’s crib wasn’t really her home. But then she returns, and it really is. Goblin and Death watch her goof off with Duk Hwa. They take selfies together. They cook together. They talk about girls (and their very complicated incarnation pasts) together. They celebrate Eun Tak’s step into adulthood and her getting into school. It’s so…normal…but so very not.
Zombie: But all of that works because really, what is normal? They’ve created their own version of “normal” just like we do in real life. My “normal” may not be full of immortal beings but it’s just as mixed up and crazy as anyone else’s. And that’s why we love these characters. Because they’re able to create a beautiful life together despite living in a world full of messed up crazy. The question is, will this beautiful life they’ve created really last or is it just a fleeting moment of happy that will eventually end in us bawling our eyes out? You know what? Don’t answer that. I just wanna live in my delusional world of happy for a little bit longer.
Raine: We still have some time yet before those final drama moments! For now we get to watch Death be super awkward with Sunny, mess up with Sunny, remember his past with Sunny, and buddy up with Goblin to talk about Sunny. And then we get to watch Goblin go on dates, visit Eun Tak in beautiful places (have you noticed how this show picks GORGEOUS natural scenery?), and save her from the lady in red’s words of doom.
Zombie: We’ve certainly got a lot to digest at the moment and I have a feeling we have a whole lot more to get through before the end. I’m having a really hard time believing we only have a couple of weeks left! And yes, the natural scenery used in this drama is absolutely breathtaking. Much like Gong Yoo… *swoon*
Raine: Why isn’t it 20 episodes? I’m so so sad. But I do suppose Goblin and Death literally took out a death warrant on Eun Tak to find her so the clock’s a-tickin’…details…
Zombie: I’m pretty sure the clock’s a-tickin’ for everyone. After all, Goblin can’t live with that sword in his chest forever and Eun Tak can’t live if Goblin hangs around. I have a feeling Death’s gonna have problems if he gets any of his memories back and surely Sunny won’t escape this story unscathed. Everyone’s fate is tied together, in one way or another, which means no one is going to get by without suffering in one way or another. It’s only a matter of time before things start to fall apart.
Raine: We’re gonna need a drink when this this is over…
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