Review of Guardian: The Great and Lonely God / 쓸쓸하고 찬란하神 – 도깨비

For those of you who stumbled upon this website through the mysterious magical powers of the Internet, welcome! My name is Ashley, and I started this website to keep track of and archive all of the kinds of movies, books, and television shows I’ve come across in the years.

I used to work as a professional film and television critic at an online outlet, but because I wasn’t focusing on the kinds of films I wanted to, I eventually left that job behind and went to work on my own thing. That’s how I ended up focusing on this blog a bit more, then I temporarily entered an unemployed blip that was unexpected, so I had even more time to write about the movies I’ve seen while I was job hunting.

This blog post emerges from an ongoing project I’ve been working on with the blog. In the past, I would write little reviews of the movies and shows I was watching, but then I never put them anywhere. As someone who was always interested in tracking my thoughts and progress throughout the years, this was the perfect way to keep all of it together.

So some of the posts that are coming out in the next few months are older reviews that I’m updating to have them somewhere that can’t be lost easily. It’s a fascinating way to watch yourself evolve as a person, see how your thoughts changed in a decade or so, and evaluate how you’ve grown or stayed stagnant.

I first watched Goblin when it came out all of those years ago. I was sixteen when it came out and my review at the time was a scribble of notes, so I decided to return to the show and see where I could fill in the gaps of memory. So this review is going to be a fusion of my thoughts back then and now.

Let’s get into the review! I don’t want to ramble too much, as I know these introductions can get a bit lengthy and they’re not often what you’re here for.

A goblin, or dokkaebi, finds his fated bride after centuries in a high school girl.

We spend a chunk of the first episode of Guardian learning about our male lead. Set in the Goryeo Dynasty, which was quite a bit of time ago, we meet him as Kim Shin the human. He’s a general for the king’s army, but turns out his sister, who was married to the king, is killed and he is branded a traitor by the king (who’s quite young and seems a little unhinged when we first meet him).

We do eventually learn what exactly happened here, but when Kim Shin dies, he is cursed to become a Korean goblin. Kim Shin spends a lot of time grieving for what happened to his sister and soldiers, but now because he is immortal, he dedicates his time to helping others. The only way for him to not be immortal anymore is to find his fated pride.

Centuries pass, and we meet the female lead: Ji Eun-tak. An orphan who lives with her aunt, uncle, and cousin, she’s not really welcome in their home but finds ways to smile anyways. She can also see ghosts as she walks to school each day, but during a downpour, Kim Shin passes by her and realizes that she’s different.

She also has the power to summon him as needed, which frustrates him, especially when she follows him all the way to Montreal, Canada, by accident.

At the same time, we meet the Grim Reaper, who has an eccentric range of interests. The Goblin and Grim Reaper are set up to be enemies of sorts at first, but when Kim Shin’s bubbly nephew Deok-hwa brings in the Grim Reaper as a new tenant in their house, it leads to the two clashing in a variety of ways. It also doesn’t help that the Grim Reaper has his eye on someone too: a chicken shop owner.

As the story progresses, we learn none of the characters meeting is an accident, and there’s more than what meets the eye at first. The first part of the show really sets us up for getting to know the characters, their personalities, and what makes them tick. But because this is a standard sixteen episode drama, we’re getting the plot stretched to the max.

I think it might’ve worked better as a 12 episode in terms of plot, but I’m not mad that it was sixteen episodes. The cinematography is absolutely stunning throughout the show, and it’s still better than some dramas that are coming out in 2025. The soundtrack is also iconic; I find myself listening to it even now.

Overall Thoughts

In hindsight, and I thought about this all of those years ago, I do think the plot point about where a man hundreds of years old find his fated bride in a high schooler to be somewhat problematic. I get that this is a common trope in fanfiction too, but I thought that without the plot point of it moving to her adult years it would’ve been so problematic. Thankfully it did do that.

Guardian is a classic Korean drama at the end of the day. It’s epic in its scope, it has some fantastic actors working as its lead, and it has a charm that not every drama is able to capture so effortlessly. Gong Yoo also became even more of a heartthrob because of this show, and it’s been fascinating to watch his career evolve throughout the years.

I say go watch it if you haven’t already, or rewatch the drama if you haven’t seen it in a while! You might find it worth it to revisit after some time has passed.

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