Goblin (2016)

Background:

Broadcast Period: December 2016 to January 2017 (Korea)
Episodes:  16 + 1 Recap Special that aired after episode 13

Status: Complete

Executive Summary:

Eun Tak and the Goblin fall in love.  Fate needed only one of them to die, either Eun Tak fufill her fate to remove the sword or she dies.  In order to save her and  kill Park Joon-heon the adviser to the King that cause many death who became an evil ghost he uses Eun Tak's hand to remove the sword in his body.  The Goblin turns to ashes but instead of dying he wanders for 10 years between life an death with everyone's memories of him gone.  He returns 10 year later when Eun Tak blows her 29th birthday candle.  She falls in love again and regains her memories.  They get married but it is short when she saves some kids from a deadly truck accident.  At death she doesn't drink the tea to forget and tells the Goblin that she will come looking for him this time.  More than 30 years pass and she reappears as a student again claiming she found her and asks him who she is.  He replies she is the first and last Goblin bride.

The Grim Reaper and Sunny in their previous lives was the King, Wang Seo and Queen, Kim Sun.  As the sister of Kim Shin she was killed because she was the sister of a traitor (a false claim) and she did not want to be the weakness of the King.  In this lifetime she meets the Grim Reaper who forgets who he was.  They fall in love but can not be together.  The Grim Reaper eventually regains his memories.  He becomes best friends with the Goblin.  He realizes that the Grim Reapers are sinners who really killed themselves and this is their punishment.  He and Sunny are apart as but love each other but know they can not be together.  He sees Sunny 30 years later when she is to die at 68 and she is his last soul to guild and after this his punishment is over.  They know they love each other as they go to be reincarnated and they go together hand in hand.  In their next life time she is an actress and he is a detective and the also too fall in love but in this lifetime they get their happy ending.

The Humans and Supernaturals:

• Kim Shin:  The goblin who was a general that keep winning wars and gaining popularity.  He returns from battle to only be accused of treason and killed by the king.  Thru the prays of the people he becomes the Goblin remembering all the death of friends and family around him.  He seeks to end his life which can be only done by the Goblin Bride Eun Tak whom he really falls in love with.  She is his first and last love.
• Eun Tak:  She is a missing soul who should have never been born when her mother gets into a hit and run.  Since the Goblin saves the mom she becomes the Goblin bride that will be the only one to be able to remove the sword in his body returning to ashes to finally end his immortality.  She ends up really falling in love with the Goblin.  In the end in order to save some little kids she block a truck with her car which causes her death.  Later she is reincarnated and finds the Goblin as promise.
• Grim Reaper:  In the beginning he does not remember who he is since to be a Grim Reaper one must have greatly sinned.  He is really Wang Seo the King that cause Kim Shin to die.  He loved his wife which was Kim Shin's sister but she had to die because she was marked as the traitor's sister.  She did her best to protect him even in her death because she loved him.  As the King he missed her dearly and seek death in the end versus facing reality.  He meets his wife in his lifetime as a Grim Reaper to fall in love with her again
• Sunny:  The boss of Eun Tak who owns the chicken shop.  She is the reincarnation of the Queen Kim Sun, Kim Shin's sister.  She falls in love with the Grim Reaper.
• Deok-hwa:  The grandson of the Chairman and the nephew of Kim Shin to cover his identity.  He is a playful guy and always wants to spend money.  The Almighty actually possesses him to watch over Kim Shin and the Grim Reaper.  He tells them that fate is the question he gives them.
• Granny Samshin:  She is the grandma that told Eun Tak's mom to pray earnestly and someone will listen. This is how the mom was saved by the Goblin.  When the mom dies when Eun Tak turned 9 she help Eun Tak from getting taken by the Grim Reaper.  She turns to the young lady in red during Eun Tak's time as a high school student. Her real identity is the deity Samshin who is the one that created all of them.
• Mr. Kim:  He is the assistant of Deok-hwa's grandfather the Chairman.  He later becomes the CEO of the company that the grandfather left him since he felt his grandson was not ready and in his will he tells Kim to return all the money to Kim Shin should he appear one day asking for it.  He is really married with 3 kids.

The Ghosts:

• Girl with glasses ghost:  She request that Eun Tak fill her empty fridge with food so her mother will see that she lived well before she died.  Eun Tak does that and cleans the place up.  When the ghost's mom goes to her room she cries when she sees her daughter's room.  The ghost cries in the back also and she moves on. (5)
• The ajumma ghost:  Wanted to give her son the lotto winning numbers from the goblin ghost since her struggling farmer son had a bad year.  For some reason she fails at it since the goblin say no one will win that lotto.  However, the goblin assures her that he will have a good dream indicating he will have good luck.  After hearing this the ajumma is relieved and moves on. (6)
• The high school ghost from library:  She died in a car accident on day of graduation.  She was Eun Tak's mom's best friend and has been around watching over Eun Tak and the insurance money her mom left her.  Eun Tak finds out that she is her mom's best friend and after knowing the truth and passing the bank books to Eun Tak the ghost passes to the other side. (8)
• The bitter ghost in the leather burgundy jacket:  She wanted to ask and show anger to her husband who killed her for the insurance money.  The Goblin makes him turn himself in for the murder after he almost killed Eun Tak when she was relaying the ghost's message (11)
• Park Joong-heon:  He was the king's advisor that killed everyone so he can ultimately control the king.  He mainly caused the death of Kim Shin by making the king kill him.  After Kim Shin dies and returns as a Goblin he kills Park Joong-Heon.  However he does not go the the afterlife but instead his spirit roams in hiding for the same 900+ years that the Goblin is around and plots to make the Goblin miserable.  He later really dies when Kim Shin using Eun Tak hands pulls out his sword and kills him before turning to ashes.
• Long hair ghost in gray sweater dress:  She is one of Eun Tak ghost friends that Eun Tak doesn't see when the Goblin is about to die since she is losing her powers.  Eun Tak later is able to see her 10 years later after she hears her being happy for her getting engaged to the Goblin.  She passes to the other side but takes Eun Tak's aunt the ghost with her so she doesn't bother Eun Tak again.  They never really explain how she was able to resolve her desires maybe because Eun Tak was about to marry the Goblin and she was happy for her.

The Objects/Rules:

• The Sword:  The object stabbed in Kim Shin's body.  When it is pulled out by the Goblin bride he will die and return to ashes.
• Red Scarf:  The was the scarf Eun Tak's mom left her.  She is almost always wearing it as it symbolizes the last thing her mom's ghost told her
• The Maple leaf:  This was what Kim Shin caught when he and Eun Tak was in Canada.  Per Eun Tak the first person that catches the maple leaf they love will last forever
• The Necklace:  The necklace that Kim Shin got for Eun Tak that he had specially made in Canada.  The meaning of it is "the match made in Heaven" in French. :Destiny made outside of man's boundary. 
• The Jade Ring:  The ring that the King forces onto the Queen to say she is his right before she is shoot by the arrow as being the traitor's sister.  They meet again because of this ring when he is a grim reaper and Sunny is a chicken shop owner.  He shredded tears for some unknown reason when seeing her at that time but it was really because of his great regret from his previous life he can not recall.  When Sunny dies at 68 and enters the tea room, he puts this ring on her finger saying he really wanted to put it on her properly and being mean when he did it when he was King.
• The painting of Kim Shin's sister:  This painting also brings tears to the Grim Reaper when he saw it.  He was the one that actually painted it when he was King.  It was his longing for his wife
• Butterfly:   This is suppose to represent the Almighty's presence
• Reincarnated Lives:   Everyone has 4.
• Grim Reapers:  They have the ability to erase memories.
• Missing Souls:  Are souls that escape death.  But by destiny/fate they will meet the Grim Reaper every 10 years on the 9th, 19th, 29th etc year of their life so that a correction may be made even if they are good at hiding.

My Thoughts:

I really like the feel of this show.  It had a little movie quality to it.  The story line was not bad at least everyone kind of got their happy ending.  It seem that all of them no matter what had to follow the rules somehow or at least the end result was always what it should be (Eun Tak dying, the grim reaper getting his punishment by not being able to see his love etc).  I am glad that death did not mean the end but another beginning.  The questions that left me wondering was what ever happen to Deok hwa and if he ever really did mature in the end (maybe not since we still see Mr. Kim in the end very old)  I'm glad that Eun Tak found the goblin and they can be together this lifetime but if he is not going to age and die then eventually he will have to face the unbearable sadness.  But he has 3 chances to be with her consider the show claims that everyone has 4 lives and if Eun Tak is on her 2nd at the end of the series he will only have 3 last times to spend with her provided they meet again at life 3 and 4.  What are your thoughts on the show?