“Guardian: The Lonely and Great God” (2016-2017) or “Goblin,” which is Dokkaebi in Korean, is a South Korean television series, which consists of sixteen episodes. Most episodes are over one hour, and the longest is almost ninety minutes. Kim Shin (Gong Yoo) is an unstoppable, loyal military general. His envious king betrayed and executed him with his own sword. This sword, stained with the blood of his enemies, renders him immortal, gives him godlike powers such as the ability to see the future, affect the weather and cover huge distances in seconds. The sword is invisible and sticking out from his chest until he meets his true love, the Goblin Bride, who can remove it so he can finally die and rest. Almost a millennia later, Ji Eun-tak (Kim Go-eun), an unique human teenager who can perceive the supernatural world—think Haley Joel Osment in “The Sicth Sense” (1999), tries to evade a grim reaper (Lee Dong-wook), because she was supposed to die before her birth. This grim reaper ends up being the goblin’s roommate because of the goblin’s mortal assistant’s shenanigans. Human beings become grim reapers if they committed a grievous act while alive as a punishment, but they have zero memory of their old life. Grim reapers’ hats render them invisible. When Eun-tak makes a wish on her nineteenth birthday, she unwittingly summons Shin. Is Eun-tak the prophesied and promised Goblin Bride?

“Goblin” is one of the most popular K Dramas ever so anything I write should be viewed through that lens. I am not into romance, which is a huge part of the plot for every character, but I was willing to go into the series despite this essential part of the story for Gong because have you seen him? If you have, it was either in “Train to Busan” (2016) or a small role in “Squid Game” as the slapping gambler. Besides the budding romance between Goblin and Eun-tak, the main grim reaper also has a love interest, a chicken shop entrepreneur named Sunny (Yoo In-na). They meet cute on a bridge while competing to buy a jade ring from a mysterious old woman, Samshin (Lee El). You will have to wait until Episode 10 for the series to get to the meat of the story’s mythology and how all these characters connect, which is exactly when I became very invested in the series. By episode 12, we meet the Big Bad, which gets resolved by episode 13, and everything moves so rapidly, that it can get confusing so I wish that they had expanded those episodes instead of rushing through the resolution. Then we are back to bittersweet, star crossed romance and yearning from Episode 14 through 16. These last three episodes felt very last movie of the Lord of the Rings, we don’t want to end ever energy. I am not saying that you can skip huge swaths of episodes and just watch four episodes if you are like me, but consider it a fair warning. 

I think that I am too old for fictional romance because I saw both relationships as problematic. I have not rooted for an age gap romance since Buffy and Angel, and in retrospect, I should have known better then too. “Goblin” is better because Shin waits a suitable amount of time for Eun-tak to mature before really moving the relationship forward. Intellectually I understand why Eun-tak meets Shin while not fully developed. She is a bit of a Cinderella figure, and he is more of a rescuer than a love interest, which aligns with his character’s history. They have a sibling, teasing dynamic for most of the series on her end with her eager to fill the shoes of the Goblin Bride just to get security. Gong is adorable because he really sells the idea that this general has never had a love interest before and has the maturity of a teenager when it comes to impressing her. He gives us an idea of how a Prince would react to getting the slipper despite having the clear advantage in terms of eligibility. I am not going to spoil how Sunny and the Grim Reaper are connected, but once it is revealed, I was completely against it. The momentum of this story is to fix the past and give Goblin and the grim reaper another chance to live their best lives, but nah, run Sunny. I will concede that when the grim reaper’s past is revealed, Lee becomes a smoke show with facial hair so I get it, Sunny, I do, but no. Bad idea!

I loved the buddy dynamic between Goblin and the grim reaper. I would have happily watched a series based on them being roommates and seeing them live what they consider normal lives. When Goblin is prepping to impress Eun-tak, he uses the exasperated grim reaper as his sounding board. They just mess with each other all the time and get competitive with their powers. They are too cute. Goblin loves beef, and the main reason that you know that he is supernatural: no vegetables. His digestion needed those powers. Because Goblin has been around for almost a thousand years, he has amassed great wealth and resources so he stays at the most gorgeous places, and it is worth watching the series just to gawk at Gong and his wardrobe. Even when the series travels back in time, and Shin is fresh from the battlefield, Gong slays with his stunning looks, messy long hair, and armor.

When going into “Goblin,” do not expect to understand the mythology because it does not quite adhere to Korean mythology as well. You kind of just have to go with it and drop any desire to make analogies at the door. If I had one criticism, it would be more Samshin, another god. The episodes with flashbacks are the best. The fight scenes in the past and present were terrific, and I would have loved more of them. The first episode was very Game of Thrones’ Battle of the Bastards. There is another cool moment when Goblin and grim reaper join forces to stop some loan sharks, and later the series pokes fun at that moment.

Eun-tak is more interesting when she is helping ghosts and not playing the damsel in distress. “Goblin” makes fun of J horror with one of her ghost friends. While it was not the point, I would have enjoyed more scenes with Kim Yoon-ah (Go Bo-gyeol), the class president and one of the few living classmates who liked her. People ridiculed Eun-tak as if she was a sex worker because she was hanging around with so many men, but Yoon-ah defended her from teachers and other contemporaries. It was weird that Eun-tak did not have any friends, particularly other women, until Sunny. Yoon-ah felt like an afterthought, and I thought she was interesting because she did not perceive Eun-tak as a threat, but correctly as an academic equal and cool person.

I enjoyed watching “Goblin,” but I did find it hard to follow or stay focused because romance dominated the narrative. Most people watch K dramas for the genre mashup so if you do, then this series is required viewing.