Hwayugi

A wonderful story based on the monkey goes west legends with a beautiful twist and a totally ok ending. Actors exceptional in my opinion. As this is the third kdrama i have seen, starting late in life (76 years old) watching netflix, as i'm an old woman living in a country in europe, where people are getting too cynical, this drama really made me laugh and cry at the same time. Thank you all so much especial the monkey king.

The story is really interesting, from horror to love to adventure, :) It had the right amount of everything <3 For a person like me, who wants to watch stories like this, I'm full and very satisfied. The characters are great. The portrayal of the roles in the story were outstanding.. Everyone of them had amazing characters.. :) The story brought me to a different world.. and I love where it brought me.. I created IMDb account for Hwayugi :)

I think there are certain problems tied to the contemporary social reality that the series inform about implicitly. Such as how it is a mass consumption society and these values (about opulence, vanity, ostentation, disposibility, materialism, etc.) are now predominating and renegotiating more traditional values. I think it is sad that in K-drama the lead male characters are usually pumped with opulence, as if it is an element that adds to their real value. This series both deconstructs and at the same time reproduces it. Anyway, it could have been done more elegantly, for instance by being more careful about the costumes of the lead male character. At the beginning he had a style, which was cool, to be completely destroyed later on. White turtleneck sweaters, florescent red jackets or kitsch suits that make him look silly. Also his character should have been developed further. Obsessing him with alcohol is evidently not enough, he should have other interests/preoccupations. Fortunately, the actor brightly builds a persona in spite of these flaws. The other issue is the special effects. They could have been more creative and come up with metaphorical representations rather than trying to show off with really badly done ridiculous digital effects. It is not a problem of budget or technique, but of laziness and pretension. Seriously, there are million ways to represent a dragon. The action/fight scenes should have been better worked as well, they could have add more value to the series. Another problem is the soundtrack. I understand they wanted to use popular Korean music, but it could be so much better with a little bit more attention. There were some good ones, such as the song of the punished goddess. But overall it makes me think they just didn't want to pay a professional for a more intentional and fitting soundtrack. Also it could have focus more on the main characters and their story. Sometimes side stories were boring and characters were annoying instead of being "funny". While with a little bit more reflexivity it was possible to improve it to a great extent, overall, it was good enough to leavs you with emotions, difficult to forget.

Pleasant to watch and a fairly decent storyline but by no means the best of K-Drama. There wasn't really a whole bunch of chemistry; even as the series went on, it felt more like people playing a role than a story coming to life. The first - oh, maybe 9 episodes were rather more entertaining because they involved ghost chasing and had some pretty funny scenes. After that, there was a pivot away from the show's early premise, toward much deeper, philosophical themes that, sadly, were only shallowly explored. It could have been better - there was a lot to work with but, like trinkets haphazardly laid out on a bazaar table, there wasn't much to invest in.

The TV show doesn't really remind me of anything - it's unique; the acting is decent. There's a lot of characters to build upon and it seems that the show isn't limited (there's no end game) - could easily become a few seasons if it pulls in good numbers.

The story is vast and interesting, it seems to have a lot of genres built within itself - comedy, horror, romance. That being said - the show is most likely for the younger audience.

The only obvious flaw(s) that I can think of is music - they've recycled the same song 5 times in the first 2 episodes which was disappointing. The special effects are quite poor, although if you can overlook them - and you're just looking to relax/chill and watch something simple - this wouldn't be a bad choice.