Lost count of how many dramas I've watched. I think this year I've definitely watched more dramas than in the past years. I guess there must be more interesting plots this year than before.
This drama review will be on
Oh My Ghost that was aired on TvN. Initially, I didn't plan or want to watch this drama because, I don't like ghosts. Then my friends recommended it and seriously you can't not watch Jo Jeong Suk right? Hehe.
I finished watching this drama rather quickly. Well, I actually watched three episodes before finishing the rest by reading recaps then going back to watch the episodes again. Why did I read the recaps? Simply because watching them alone at night was too scary and yet I wanted to find out what happened. I was checking if anything scary would happen so I could skip those parts when I watched it later on but of course I was too absorbed in the recaps, I ended up reading till the end.
It was hard identifying the themes for this drama. I would think it's romance, mystery, friendship, humans vs ghosts, good vs evil.
Na Bong-sun has an extremely timid personality and low self-esteem, doesn't have any close friends, and is constantly getting reprimanded at her job as an assistant chef at Sun Restaurant. She also occasionally sees ghosts, thanks to a shaman grandmother. One day, Bong-sun gets possessed by a lustful virgin ghost named Shin Soon-ae. To make up for the lack of romance in her short life and believing that only by losing her virginity will she be able to "resolve her grudge" and move on to the afterlife, Soon-ae is determined to seduce as many men as she can by possessing various women, and she finds the perfect vessel in Bong-sun.
Bong-sun's boss is arrogant star chef Kang Sun-woo, whom she secretly has a crush on. Sun-woo hasn't dated anyone since getting his heart broken by his college friend Lee So-hyung, who's now a TV producer. But when Bong-sun seemingly gets rid of her shyness and suddenly changes into a confident, dynamic woman, she finally catches his eye. Meanwhile, the mystery surrounding Soon-ae's death involves Sun-woo's brother-in-law, kindly police officer Choi Sung-jae who may not be what he seems.
This description was taken from wikpedia and it's a pretty detailed description that sums up the drama pretty well. Now let's get a move on and begin this post.
Note: This post will contain spoilers so for those who have not watched the drama, you may not want to continue reading.
The Characters.
Just like the previous drama, this drama has more male characters as well. They probably wanted to show the contrast between male and female chefs. It's also probably a reality that there are more male chefs out there.
The female lead,
Na Bong Sun, played by
Park Bo Young is an shy introverted person. She also has a secret, she's able to see ghosts as her grandmother is a shaman. Due to her special talent, she has many sleepless nights and does not perform well at her job as a kitchen assistant. We also see that she's tight on finances and she lives in a dormitory. She also has a blog where she posts up simple recipes. It is hinted that she somewhat has feelings for the chef.
The chef,
Kang Sun Woo, played by
Jo Jeong Suk, is a celebrity chef and he owns a pretty famous restaurant. His character is, well, quite cliche. He's outspoken and he has a bad temper, he's quite chauvinistic as well. Somehow Korean dramas usually portray chef characters in this manner, strangely. In the beginning we see that he's very strict and harsh with his staff.
And then there's the ghost, Shin Soon Ae played by Kim Seul Gi. This was another reason why I wanted to watch this drama because I like watching Kim Seul Gi act. To me, she's probably going to become an uprising actress. Shin Soon Ae's character is really the opposite of Na Bong Sun. She's loud, cheerful and spunky. She's been going around possessing people in hopes of trying to resolve her grudge so that she can go into the light. She has to do so before her three years as a ghost is up and she'll turn into an evil spirit. It's funny how the whole possession thing started and I'll elaborate more later on.
The comical people of this drama would be the other chefs working in the restaurant. They are Ho Min Soo, Jo Dong Chul and Seo Joon played by Kang Ki Young, Choi Min Chul and Kwak Si Yang respectively. They lighten the mood and make everything funny whenever they appear. I think it's quite the norm to have some comical scenes sandwiched between the hardcore scenes in a drama. Talking like a drama director all of a sudden.
The Plot.
Initially I was quite surprised by the plot. It wasn't expected at all so it could be what made this drama popular. Predictable plot lines are too cliche. I liked how this drama started of as a simple romance drama and then turning into a mystery one. I totally did not see that coming. But I guess if you've read till this part of the post, you would no longer be surprised anymore. Heh.
I liked how the overall feel of the drama was funny rather than serious. Even though the topics they talked about were generally serious in nature, they did well in approaching it lightly and then building it up gradually. The initial part of the drama was mostly comical though they managed to cover all the necessary points.
It was super funny how drastic the change in personality was after the ghost took over Bong Sun's body. I thought it was pretty good on Park Bo Young's part as she was able to play both shy and outgoing personalities well. I think that's the reason why the ghost's personality had to be the opposite of Bong Sun's so it would be clearer for the viewers. I liked the way the writers introduced the ghost Bong Sun to the rest of the staff at the restaurant - by flipping the chef.
Following that she realises that she's unable to expel herself from Bong Sun's body which then leads to her decision of her just exploring the world using Bong Sun's body, in hopes of finding a way to resolve her grudge. By accident she then finds out that the chef has strong enough elements to withstand her ghostly vibes. It then turns him into her target to helping her resolve her grudge.
I felt that the ridiculousness of the whole story is what makes it interesting and funny at the same time. It's not something that would happen in the real world today. This was one of the reasons I found this drama unique. Although the story wasn't really realistic, they made it believable for the viewers. I mean a ghost and a human becoming friends... Isn't that whole idea just ridiculous? But it's believable enough as the reason behind it is quite relatable.
It's a cute friendship though. Like how they made a deal to help each other. The ghost needed to solve her grudge and Bong Sun wanted to make the chef hers. I liked watching how they interacted with each other. It was definitely a special kind of friendship.
The other scene that I liked watching would be the scene below!
It pretty much sums up the friendship between the staff at the restaurant. It's like a love-hate relationship which was super entertaining. The sous chef likes to act like he's in charge but he still is afraid of the chef and wants to be in the chef's good books. Like I mentioned before, I think these scenes are inserted to ease the seriousness with some comedy.
So we've covered the ghosts and friendship part of the drama, moving onto the more serious themes... The romance part of the drama would be slightly more serious than the previously mentioned themes. I would consider it more serious only because of the emotions it evoked.
With the ghost in Bong Sun's body the chef became drawn to her even more. With the flow of events, it's not surprising that the chef would have fallen for her and ended up becoming a couple. So it got pretty upsetting when Bong Sun realised that the chef spent more time with the ghost than with her. She admitted this to the chef and I think that's when he started to reflect on his feelings as well. But on the ghost's part, she has never felt like that for anyone before so it was pretty sweet that she got to experience this even after her death. It probably sounds quite ridiculous again but I thought the writers did a good job in leaving no room for unanswered questions.
The mystery part we only get to know about it towards the second half of the drama when the ghost realises that there's more to her death since she's unable to remember it. Through some investigations they slowly find out more pieces that needed to be pieced together. To cut the long story short, they find out that the ghost's death has something to do with the chef's younger sister, Eun Hee's accident 3 years before. The accident caused her to be paralysed waist down. Apparently, the ghost witnessed the accident and called Officer Choi without knowing that in fact, he was the culprit.
The good and evil theme is also quite prominent. We can see it within the ghost realm (Not sure how do I refer to it). So according to the drama, after dying, one would turn into a ghost if there's some kind of grudge that has not been solved. The ghost then has three years to solve it before turning into the black evil spirit thing that goes around doing evil deeds. Basically, Officer Choi was possessed by one of these wandering black evil spirit thing.
The Ending.
I gotta say for a complicated drama plot like this, I was all ready to be disappointed by the ending. Thankfully, I was not disappointed and everything ended happily!
The ghost was able to solve her grudge and go into the light. Bong Sun and the chef ends up happily together. She even won third place in a cooking competition and goes overseas to study. The ghosts family is happy too. After Bong Sun returns from her studies, she goes to work in the ghost's family restaurant and helps out the ghost's father. The chef opened a new restaurant and Min Soo is now in charge of the Sun Restaurant. I liked how they threw in a cameo of Seo In Guk, it was pretty cute.
Overall, I'm quite pleased with this drama and I can see why it was pretty popular. Totally would recommend this drama to those who haven't watched it yet. What's my rating? Thumbs up!
