They’re back!!! Growing_Beautifully, Welmaris, Janey, nrllee, Fern, Kuroshio, Cleopatra, FGB4877, and Carolina are back for the rewatch. Is anybody else joining them?
The thread is now open for Episode 9 rewatch.
Usual time: 13:00 UTC
08:00 am EST
05:00 am PST
09:00 pm Singapore, Philippines
08:00 pm Indonesia
03:00 pm Greece
source: akpopworld
That scene is so like the view outside my window a couple of days ago.
You could hardly see the branches since they were covered with snow. @Welmaris, are you okay now now? I read that you had broken branches and fallen trees around you.
Enjoy the rewatch!
We do not have the winter wonderland view but we feel the cold to the bones. And the heater and warm blankets makes me sleepy so I’ve been snoozing while watching dramas hence my JOMO mode.
Thanks for the thread @PM3! Looking forward to the regular weekend mode with this rewatch. I hope I wake up early. 😉
Happy New Year Friends!!!, looking forward to meet you all!!! TvT
Kalimera everyone!
Happy New Year! I do hope you are all okay!
Although, I am not in the mood to comment that much, I will be online tomorrow for our Goblin rewatch party! I will watch Episode 8 tonight to be up to date with you!
See you all tomorrow! <3
Hi Everyone! I hope your New Year has been going great. I’ll be busy tomorrow, but I’ll be here by our usual Party time.
Countdown – 21 hours to go!
@Packmule3, thanks for your concern about our mountain cabin. We finally got up there yesterday to assess damage. We’d waited until electricity was restored. All over the mountain, trees had knocked down power lines. Our neighborhood was without electricity for ten days. It was so cold inside my cabin without power that the ice cubes in my freezer only partially melted.
Despite having several oak branches land on the roof,it held with little damage. Our chimney pipe was knocked over. We had a fireplace company inspect yesterday, and from what they could see from inside, it appears the in-wall section of pipe wasn’t bent, so repairs most likely will be from the roofline up. We’ll know for sure when all the snow has melted off the roof and someone can get up there to take a look.
The worst damage out cabin sustained was from a broken pine landing on our back deck. It damaged two sides of the railing, and crushed several pieces of our outdoor dining set.
Two houses within stone’s throw of my cabin did not fare as well. My friends, both households in full-time residence, had their homes rendered uninhabitable by falling tree trunks. All people and pets escaped unharmed, but it’ll take a lot of time, money, and aggravation before they can move back into their homes.
I have to go back up the mountain today because I’m required to be present when the internet service provider strings a new cable from the street to the cabin. The previous cable was broken during the storm. If my internet isn’t fixed by tomorrow, I won’t be able to join the rewatch unless I’m brave enough to drive down the mountain at night. Black ice has been causing a lot of vehicles to lose control, and I fear becoming a statistic.
My @Welmaris, Thanks for the update. I’m glad your cabin is not too badly damaged. Still it is so inconvenient. I hope your Internet can be restored in time, but if not, I trust that you’ll make the most prudent of decisions and stay safe. 🙂
Happy New Year, Fellow Watchers of Goblin. I have high hopes of joining you later today. I hope that you are all well and safe.
@packmule3, I hope that you had a very enjoyable New Year’s celebration and that the year is kind to you and your family.
Hello there my dear @Fern! I’m glad you popped by. How has your New Year been?
As for me, it’s been nice and quiet, and we’re all well over here 🙂
See you soon!!! 2.5 hours and counting!!! 🥳 🤪 😄
Quiet here as well, @Growing Beautifully. Rain meant that there weren’t many firecrackers around here.
Still raining, so I probably won’t be going out – but with family about I can never say never on an early weekend afternoon. I watched the episode last night. It was very transformational – so many things happened in one hour.
I’ve got internet! I’ll be back in 15 minutes after I get my tea and toast.
Congratulations @Welmaris!!! That’s great. See you soon!!!
13 minutes to go!!!
Hello dear Friends, happy to see you this 2022!, as we informally said, “matriculamos” (we “registered” to this New Year).
@Welmaris, if you can’t watch with us don’t worry, we will still linger for a day or two. Makes me sad your cabin has been damaged but I am glad to know you and your family is OK, also the damage is repairable. Jeez!!!, your dilemma makes me appreciate more the place were I live, where the rainy season is the “winter” and the dry one is “summer”.
@Janey, hope you get a hot chocolate with a little bit of Rhum or whatever makes you warm 😉 .
@Fern, you are welcome whenever you come 😀 .
@Cleopatra, Kalimera dear Friend, how are you?.
@GrowingBeautifully, thanks for making time to watch with us, also happy you had a nice New Year!.
@PackMule3, it has been a while since the last time I saluted you (please excuse my rudeness!!! 🙁 ). I guess you are an omnipresent entity in this channel by now 😉 . Those tree branches seems lovely, how did you receive the Holidays?
Hi @FGB!! Have you had your arepas? Fortunately my outing was a short one and I’m back and ready to do the rewatch!! 🙂
Kalimera Everyone!
I am here too!
@FGB I am okay a bit tired so, I am staying away from the Internet.
How are you?
Okie dokie my dear fellow Goblin lovers! Let’s start the Party!
Let’s GO!!! 😀
Hi there @Cleo, thanks for stopping by although you’re tired. Will you just be here to read us or are you going to watch as well?
@Welmaris,
So sorry to hear that your cabin had some problems… 🙁
@GB,
I discovered that my tablet has no battery, so I will try to type as much as I can from my smartphone…
🙂 Are you ok?
I’m so sad for Eun Tak in the beginning of this episode. The poor child hardly catches a break in her short life. She works so hard, blames no one and keeps up a cheerful demeanour as far as possible, but ‘fate’ keeps throwing her a curve ball.
ET packs her bags in tears and leaves.
“So this place wasn’t my true home, either. Looks like I won’t have a home to call my own in this lifetime.”
(This came to pass, in the end, sadly.)
My heart aches at the amount of loss that ET has to suffer over and over again. She asks for little and accepts less, but even the basic needs like a stable home is denied her.
Finally Eun Tak found out that Dokkaebi is going to die by her hands…
I’m very well, thank you @Cleo. I’m busy on two threads. This one and Just Between Lovers LOL.
Are you getting any rest?
Both tense conversations, Samshin & Kim Shin about the need for him to end his journey and Grim & Eun Tak about the grim (Hur Hur) destiny she must fulfill. It must be devastating to be the one with the responsibility to unplug a loved one.
@FGB I loved how Show juxtaposed those 2 conversation scenes so that while Samshin is warning Goblin how he’s killing ET, ET is finding out from Reaper how she is meant to kill Goblin. The tension, the emotions. KS’s eyes turned red with unshed tears.
So, so good!
Of course dramatically it has to start to rain… but we know it’s also because Goblin is starting to cry inside with desperation.
Reaper’s voice over says that ET walked in someone’s tears for a long time, so that death would go further and further away from goblin.
It’s been a few weeks since I’ve heard this opening music. It puts me in such a special mood!
ET learns from Grim Reaper her true fate as Goblin’s Bride. Grim Reaper makes it clear to ET that he’s on the same side as her, having told her the truth whereas Goblin kept it from her. (As an actress, KGE is one of the best criers.)
It always gets to me how lightly people travel in Kdramas. At least ET has more than one bag.
Fern mentioned this episode is full of transitions. The first is ET leaving to live away from Goblin. (I don’t count ET learning about the Goblin Bride’s role, because that actually happened at the end of Episode 8. We just got a recap at the beginning of Episode 9.)
ET cries even harder when the rain starts, because she knows Goblin is depressed.
@GB,
I took a nap before our Rewatch Party in order to be okay.
I am resting yes. It happens at this time of the year. So it is not something I don’t know.
I got also sad with The Red Sleeve Cuff.
Oraeboni!
@GB, for me it is a metaphor of how lovers construct (and deconstruct) each other. Vulnerability has the perk of being closer than anyone (also opening the door to change), but the other side of the coin is your loved one’s ability to utterly consume (destroy) you.
@Cleo
I’m glad you got some sleep.
I like this conversation with GR and KS. Bromance has blossomed!
KS to GR : “Where’s the place where you always buy chicken? The place where ET works part-time! Even the ghosts don’t know where ET is!”
GR gives KS the card coupon to the Sunny’s place, and reveals that he’s the culprit who told ET everything.
KS : “What?”
The silence is most informative.
GR : “Yeah, I told her that you’ll die if she pulls the sword out. I told her everything.”
KS : “Are you out of your mind? How could you tell her that?”
GR : “You told me to never tell her! I did that, but I’m on ET’s side this time, too.”
KS : “Why are you so nosy? What do you mean you’re on her side?”
GR : “I don’t want you to die.”
KS is speechless.
GR : “There are no special reasons. I just feel like I’ll become a bit bored if you return to nothingness. You can get mad at me if you want to.”
KS : “How could I possibly get mad at you now when the guy who’s been telling me to die is telling me to not die now? And there’s no guarantee what you’ll do next!”
LOL KS can’t even get angry at Reaper, but he is annoyed.
Reaper is a bit too late to tell KS not to use the coupon.
GR : “Drat. So a true friendship has formed between us.”
How good is to know that this is an archaic version of big brother? Oraeboni 🙂
Kim Shin meets his reincarnate sister Kim Sun / Sunny…
@FGB, You’re right! That’s what true love is, actually. The being totally open and risking all, so that one is vulnerable to being destroyed. What a way to understand this situation.
His speech when she was supposed to take out the sword can be interpreted as how her luminous presence deepened the perception of the time spent together.
@Cleo, because of Sunny’s calling KS Orabeoni, even in the present day, it double confirmed for me that she’s the sister and not the king.
LOL she asks if he came to get the part-timer position LOLOL and then accuses him of being the scum who made ET cry and got her to leave her job.
If anyone could put him down, it would be his sister.
Oh @GB!!!, I’d rather have a black eye and a few broken bones than a bruised heart!!! 😉
I like how Gong Yoo is expressing his feelings in so many different ways…
That’s a very romantic take on the words of KS at the first sword pulling attempt, @FGB!!
I’m at the part where KS tells GR to submit the paper work on ET. He admits that there’s a greater force at work, working against both a goblin and a grim reaper, but he’s still confident enough to think he’ll triumph. He’s essentially throwing a gauntlet and challenging the Almighty.
@GB,
True. Also the Grip Reaper couldn’t… When the Nabi in DHwak suggested it in the last episode.
It’s interesting that before KS could find ET but now he cannot. He needs her to desire to see him while her life is in danger, before he can feel her.
He’s going to bait the Almighty to come and see him if possible. Only he does not recognise him when the Almighty really does come.
KS’s upset is reflected in the blood moon that bothers people.
He tells god that if has to die in order for ET to live …”If I am to make that decision, you’d better have an excuse prepared for what you’ve done.” (He’s challenging god to explain his curse?)
He causes more upsets by resurrecting a dead person. The Reaper friend gets socks as an apology.
GR to KS : “You’re the one who caused the trouble, so why should a GRs have to work overtime due to that? How dare you burn up a death announcement card! You think you can get away with anything just because you’re immortal?”
KS : “I was just trying to see someone.” He wanted to summon the Almighty.
Hello, @GB. Hello, FGB4877. Hello, Cleopatra. Anyone else here?
Grim Reaper tells Goblin he’s on ET’s side because he doesn’t want Goblin to die. Grim Reaper realizes he and Goblin have a friendship. It could be the first friendship in GR’s life (even when he was mortal).
The chicken restaurant is closed. Goblin passes Sunny on the street. They have their slo-mo moment of walking. As Goblin passes Sunny, looking at her, we hear her voiceover, “Don’t contact me from now on. Don’t greet me even if we meet.” After they’ve passed by several steps, both turn to look at each other. Sunny says, “Orabeoni?” I’d say that’s a huge hint about her identity in relation to Goblin. Remember, Grim Reaper couldn’t bring himself to call Goblin “Big Brother” even when pretending in the mirror.
We get a little bit of information on Secretary Kim. He was just a boy in an alley whom KS had taken under his wing.
Now Deok Hwa comes into the scene as required (KS had looked for god after all). DH claims to have his ways of finding ET.
We see the butterfly with noisy wings LOL.
Beautiful ski resort. Some commentors said this episode was PPL for the Ski Resort!!
True, @Welmaris, that’s why I’m still convinced that Sunny is Kim Sun of the previous incarnation.
@Welmaris, welcome!!! 😀 .
@GB, our lives are a constant fight against the odds, and in some weird ways by doing so and going against what is expected from us is where growth is 😉 .
This Goblin “almighty” is not a god of my liking, so going against his will seems like a necessary revolt.
Sunny sizes up Goblin on first glance. In comparison, Grim Reaper confuses her, despite their having many meetings.
Goblin knows that Sunny has significance in his life. “I think this complicated fate is not only with me.”
Ha! Goblin has two Monet paintings of the Thames River sitting in his house that he hasn’t even bothered to hang.
DH finds ET, but at the same time, she’s thinking of KS, and their past conversations about the pulling of the sword. She turns away from so much snow and sees him.
Her scarf is the only patch of bright colour in that landscape. Cold vapour is being blown into the air causing a slight fog around them.
She accuses him of being like her family who kept her close only for what she would do for him. I like that she can reject him, even when her circumstances are not ideal.
Hello @Welmaris! 🙂
Goblin knows because of his meeting with Sam Shin that ET is in danger of being killed. Grim Reaper does not know this, as yet, but he gets hints of it during his conversation with Goblin.
Goblin can’t find ET, but he believes he’ll be able to save her life when needed. “If she’s at the brink of life and death, I should be able to feel something. If at that crucial moment the person that she would be looking for is me, that is.” Poor Goblin, he doesn’t realize that ET left him because she loves him so much. He just feels abandoned.
ET has gotten used to KS stalking her at the ski resort. She’s almost disappointed that he disappears from behind her and is a bit taken aback seeing him in front of her instead.
He gives her, her National Exam results.
ET grabs the results slip and stuffs it into her pocket : “You call this an excuse?”
KS : “I was glad that I had any kind of excuse, as pathetic as this one may be. An excuse for me to come and see you.”
“So what now that you’ve come to see me? So what if you had an excuse? Do you want me to live with you, or die with you? … ”
She won’t pull out the sword now.
He watches her cry and realises the suffering she’s been going through.
ET : “You were planning this from way back then. You did that back at the hotel with a hidden agenda. You did that back then so you could do this.”
We get a flashback to ET at Yu’s hotel asking KS ‘Ahjusshi, do you love me?’ KS had replied in a most perfunctory manner, ‘If you really need that, I can do that for you. … I love you.’
ET : “So, did you even love me? (He stares at her.) No? … Not at all?”
KS : “I’m scared. I’m so scared. So I’d like it if you told me that you still need me. I’d like it if you told me to love you. I’d like it if you could give me permission to have an excuse for that. and I’d like it if I could use that as an excuse to continue living on together, with you.”
This is the closest to a confession of his love as she gets.
Still that night she remains in her quarters while KS waits outside in the cold. He returns home without her.
Hearing that ET’s death card had come, KS returns to the ski resort to look for her.
She finally regains consciousness and recalls what he said.
This mirrors how he heard her and said the things that she wished someone would say to her.
This time she says the things he wished she’d say to him.
[Flashback ‘So I’d like it if you told me that you still need me. I’d like it if you told me to love you. I’d like it if you could give me permission to have an excuse for that. aAd I’d like it if I could use that as an excuse’.]
ET speaks to KS in her mind : “I need you. Do what you said you would. I love you.”
As if she’d blown out another candle, the big field lights get extinguished and KS is alerted to where ET is. It took quite a while for him to feel her presence!
We see the depth of Goblin’s feelings toward ET, even though in her presence he’s mostly chosen to be brusque. When talking with Sunny, he keys in on the information that ET cried. When taking ET’s test scores from her class president, despite his frustration in not getting a clue to find ET, he’s proud of her accomplishments. Her college entrance exam scores are good enough to get her into any college in Seoul. (A lot of Kdrama parents would be ecstatic to hear that information about their children!) But what strikes Goblin in the heart is that ET persevered and succeeded under stress. “She did well in the midst of all this…”
After she gets a box of matches from the hospital staff, much to their shock (they thought she might be a smoker!!) ET goes out in a ski lift car to summon KS.
He does not appear in the car with her, at once, and she’s upset. But he’s waiting for her at the car station.
He claims he wanted to help her out of the car. He sees that she’s upset. Outside, he gives her a backhug in the cold windy air. The first embrace he dares to give her.
KS : “Me too.” (A response to her ‘I love you.’)
She says she knows what he means and says she has a confession.
ET : “I can’t see anything in you anymore. You’re tall and have expensive-looking clothes, and cool-looking eyes. That’s all I can see about you. So I can’t pull your sword out for you anymore. I won’t pull it out for you even if you smile. You’re quite pretty to me already, just as you are.”
She’s made her decision, but this is to be tested.
In his frustration and fear, unable to locate ET, Goblin goes back to where it all started with her: him on top of the iLoom sign, high over the city.
This speech by ET above on what she sees when she looks at KS, recalls the first episodes when he kept asking her what she saw. Then he wanted her to say she saw the sword. Now he’s happy that she says she does not see the sword anymore.
The speech above in all that white snow was once again the closest that KS gets to saying ‘I love you.’ All that white snow – a sign of them starting on a fresh slate?
The line about Gong Yoo’s eyes reminds me the line in TKEM about Lee Min Ho that he shines…
Dear Friends, I am around 27 minutes into show and Eun Tak has told Kim Shin to sod off. Will take a break and catch you later! 😉
Sunny is back at the fortune teller’s. She describes Reaper.
FT : “Did you two exchange names, by any chance? That guy is a Grim Reaper. What did I tell you? I told you to be wary of men in black hats!”
Sunny does not believe her.
Sunny then describes KS. “He’s kind of has a handsome dinosaur-like face and his voice makes you feel you’re in the world’s coziest café when you listen to it.”
FT : Gong Yoo?” LOLOL.
FT : “Did you receive any jewelry from someone? … Hurry up and throw it out. You shouldn’t take things when you don’t know who its original owner was. Who knows what it holds? It could be holding the original owner’s grudge, sin, loneliness, and more. And all that could very well end up being passed on to you.” (It’s her own grudge and loneliness that continues with her as symbolised by her ring.)
Back at the store, Sunny looks at the ring.
Reaper invisibly and inaudibly teleports into her store while she tries to text him but he can’t even enter the pattern to start his phone and put it on silent mode. Sunny is frightened by the sound of his phone receiving her message. LOL she sings to offset the fear at the strange things that are happening to her.
“Uri Ahjussi” 😊
Samshin masquerading as a trinkets seller, had gotten Sunny and Reaper to first meet each other over that ring. Did she want them to sort out the resentment or resolve their history? Did the failure of their relationship get confirmed because Sunny did not throw away the ring?
Reaper feels bad about erasing her memories and feels that he’s cheating on her LOL, because he’s consumed by the woman in the painting. He’s such a cute and nice guy as a Reaper. What a pity he was such a kid when he was a king, and too easily led by the evil advisor.
See you later @FGB.
I’m still at the point where GR is laughably speaking to Sunny, in answer to her questions and her text but she can’t see or hear him.
And now ET wants to stay on to work through Christmas, until February… but KS threatens to melt all the snow, if CEO Yu does not get her fired.
@GB Unnie,
I am some minutes in front. Do you want me to wait for you? 🙂
Double Wink…
L M A O!
Finally ET is welcomed back as if to her home by GR. GR says he was worried just a little, KS said he was worried a lot, and the one who actually found her was DH.
ET : “It’s the first time I’ve ever had a place to come back to. So this feels a bit strange. And it really feels like this place is my home now.”
IRONY: ET’s own flesh and blood do not welcome her but the GR who had wanted to take her life away becomes like family to welcome her back.
It strikes me that ET is not aware that all 3 guys are not exactly human/entirely, even Deok Hwa.
GR wants KS to go somewhere with him and ET steps up to protect him again, calling him “Uri ahjusshi.” KS goes all shy about that and loves it. But GR can hear his thoughts and shouts at him.
GR to KS :”I told you that I can hear everything you’re thinking, you cringey goblin!”
Although KS signals GR to keep it a secret, GR embarrasess KS by telling ET : “He liked that you said uri ahjusshi.” LOL
@Cleo It’s OK, just watch at your pace. I’ve deliberately paused now and then so that I’m more in line with those who started later.
I’m now at the Tea Room and Shin stubbornly won’t help out with GR’s work.
A live human is able to enter looking for a rest room. They are stunned. I guess desperation led him to open the door.
GR can’t believe it. KS says “If you can believe in an invisible deity, why can’t you believe in the desperation of humans in front of you? This is what humans call a will.”
(This is a sign that we can determine our own fate and go against the rules of the Almighty).
The sweet reunion of ET and Sunny is lovely to see. Sunny tears up at once to see her fave part-timer and friend.
ET meets the little boy who tries to throw out an attack at big bullies, but nothing happens. ET comes to his aid. He says nothing to ET, but we’ll see this boy again.
Okay @GB.
I like that the siblings are breaking each other nerves…
Kim Shin and Sunny together are awesome!
ET working at the ski resort equipment rental center: no matter what task she undertakes, she gives it top effort. She’s really hustling!
ET hasn’t forgotten Goblin one bit. She misses him, and monitors his mood via the news reports about the odd phenomena visible in Seoul. She also reflects on their past interactions, understanding him better now that she has a different perspective.
Although she loves him deeply, when ET sees Goblin at the ski resort, her anger and hurt bubbles to the surface. She speaks harsh words to Goblin when he asks her to come home: “I don’t have a home. None of the places I thought were my home, was actually my home. People just kept me close. Some because of insurance money and some because they wanted to die.” Ouch!
Goblin explains why he didn’t reveal everything to ET from the beginning: “I missed the opportunity to tell you. Because I missed the opportunity, I was glad. If possible, until the moment of death, I was going to let myself miss every opportunity.”
ET fulfills the wish Goblin made when he was on top of the iLoom building sign. Once he made the choice to have the sword removed, he wanted ET to come up with an excuse. At the ski resort when Goblin asked ET to remove the sword, her response was, “No. I don’t want to. I don’t want to even if I die.” She’s aware of the stakes, and she’s willing to sacrifice herself for Goblin. (Although she doesn’t realize that Goblin would feel doubly cursed, continuing his immortal life without her.)
ET’s refusal to fulfill her role as the Goblin Bride is partly because she doesn’t want to be the tool that ends Goblin’s immortal existance, partly because she loves Goblin, and in large part at this time because she’s angry…very angry.
ET gets into the University of her choice and finds out that KS had paid for her tuition already, but with the 5 million won that he was going to give her.
Still she’s overjoyed to get the bag and the perfume back. Until she finds out that the 5 million won has become a loan instead of a gift LOL. That KS is sneaky … but this time he’s making it such that she’ll have to live a full lifetime in order to pay him back. Sooo romantic.
Loved how she accepts it all and gets a date out of him. She finally gets to eat her ice-cream and his ice-cream. After all he had eaten all her ice-cream gift before.
There’s another indirect confession of love from KS about it being somewhere in the bag. So we’re getting a lot of sweet scenes here. It makes one nervous though… what happens next after all the sweet stuff?
The final scene is with Sunny grabbing the GR’s hand revealing her past life to him…
She is Kim Shin’s sister…
Hi Ladies!!
Happy New Year! I had every intention to join earlier and even brought my laptop to San Diego. Woke up at 2 am but fell asleep and barely woke up now 6:30 am. Boooo
Will read posts once I catch up with the episode. 🙁 although I may have to postpone cause checkout is early today. Boo again.
@welmaris hope your cabin gets a speedy recovery and you are safe.
Excited to read your comments @GB, @Cleo, @FGB, @welmaris
Hugs everyone!!
@GB, you are right that Goblin, in laying bare his fear of dying and his wish to live with ET, never clearly tells ET that he loves her.
@GB Unnie,
From the next episode, we are entering the inner circle of the story.
We get to see what happened in the past…
@Cleo I like how KS and GR sit side by side like proud parents watching ET and DH fight over the camera LOL. Bromance to the core.
KS speaks of the live human being who came into the teashop.
KS “So there is no door that a human’s sincerity can’t open. Couldn’t that opened door serve as a variable in god’s plan, as well?” (KS is looking for loopholes.)
KS tells Reaper that he plans to have the same desperation in opening doors to find a way to save ET.
KS “So I’m going to try and find it with a lot of sincerity/desperation.
I wonder which door I must open to become a variable in god’s plans.”
He wants to make the decision that keeps him by her side. “Who knows what door I’ll end up opening, though? Reaper says he hopes it’s not the door to his room LOL.
Hey @Carolina!
Happy New Year!
I do hope you are ok… 🙂
I wi read you layers!
The episode ended for me.
Hi @Carolina, better late than never! We’ll read you whenever you can join in!!
I loved that photo-taking session. So many broad smiles and clowning around. I also feel afraid of what may happen after all those good times.
GR is so funny, trying to do all the things that ET tells him girls like without touching Sunny LOLOL.
He remembers that her memory is wiped so that she won’t know he has no religion and he informs her officially LOL.
Love that we get a double date in Sunny’s store. But ET gets a revelation that KS had suggested she worked in a chicken shop because he’d never go into one since he was scared of chicken blood LOL. And now she’s upset with him.
Correction: I will read you laters *
KS and Sunny start bickering like real siblings, although they have no clue that they are connected in any way. The girls can’t get the guys to leave LOL.
GR forgets that he is not supposed to know that Sunny is Kim Sun. His calling her ‘Kim Sun’ draws KS’s attention at once, since that is his sister’s name.
She calls GR out, just to be alone with him and he runs out happily like a puppy. Then she grabs his hand to keep him from running back into the store, and he sees her in her past life, and she’s the beautiful woman in the painting.
ET can’t silently call for help from Goblin when she’s knocked down because she’s rendered unconscious. I don’t think head trauma is the potential reason for ET’s death, it’s hypothermia. She’s in an unheated room laying on the cold floor. After awhile she does regain enough consciousness to think of Goblin, but by then her core body temperature is so low that she’s close to losing consciousness again and dying.
Waking in the hospital after being rescued by Goblin, ET is faced with a large group of medical professionals. She’s getting VVVVVIP treatment because Goblin is the CEO of the company that likely owns the hospital, and he himself brought her in for emergency treatment. A comedic situation like this is what keeps this show from completely becoming a melodrama. Serious situations and emotions are lightened, giving us a chance to breathe.
As KS looking out at GR and Sunny, realises that he could be looking at his sister’s reincarnation, while outside the store, GR is looking into the past at KS’s sister. I wonder if he can recognise the young king there as himself at once, since he does not have his own memories.
However he knows that he cried when he saw the painting and he cried when he first met Sunny.
Eun Tak, you just survived yet another life-threatening situation, saved within an hour of death. What are you going to do now? Why yes, why don’t you hop into a metal box that is suspended far above the mountainside by a cable? Sheesh! This girl’s got nerves of steel.
In many scenes in this episode, there’s a softness in Goblin’s eyes as he looks at ET that wasn’t there before. When he meets her at the opening doors of the gondola lift, reaching out his hand to her, you’d think she’d melt. I certainly would! Instead, ET slaps Goblin on the chest and scolds him the moment she exits the gondola lift. Aaaand…they’re back to their old dynamic of squabbling. Because of the many emotions that are running strong in both of them, they’re falling back on what is familiar to them.
Then we get to see what has to be one of the best back hugs in all of Kdrama. Goblin both envelops ET in a warm, protective embrace while nestling his head against hers to receive comfort. So expressive!
Why, oh why, Goblin, are you being shy about declaring your love for ET? Again, he dances around the concept without making himself absolutely clear.
G: Me, too. (Referring to ET’s dying words, “I love you,” which helped him find ET and save her.)
ET: What?
G: If you don’t know, never mind. (He’s done this before.)
ET: I know it though. (As she did before.)
G: Then that’s good.
Those scenes at the top of the slope make me miss skiing so much! Seeing that scenery, I feel the old excitement just before heading downhill. But I shouldn’t ever ski again, because I’ve got two artificial knee joints and I don’t want to risk wrecking one, or both.
They must’ve filmed the ski slope scenes at and shortly after dawn; otherwise, on a sunny day with fresh powder, that place would be swarming with skiers.
There’s several instances in this episode where we tread familiar territory: Goblin on the iLoom sign; feelings not clearly expressed but understood; and the proud acknowledgment of their teamwork by Goblin, Grim Reaper, and Deok Hwa. Whether it is to buy a congratulatory cake or find a runaway Eun Tak, they want her to know they work well together on her behalf. She really does have a family!
The scene in Grim Reaper’s “tea shop” when the mortal man needed to use the toilet leads to important philosophical musing. Just because the scene is funny, we shouldn’t overlook the thoughts presented:
Goblin: There is no door that a human being’s desperation can’t open.
Grim Reaper: I can’t believe it even after witnessing it.
G: You even believe in God that’s not visible. Then, why can’t you believe a human being’s desperation? That’s called the will of a human being. The power that enables them to change their destiny on their own!
This is foreshadowing. Someone’s desperation will change the trajectory of their destiny.
During discussions of The King: Eternal Monarch, we delved into the difference between fate and destiny. Fate is something determined by forces outside a person: the heavens, God, the Creator, etc. Goblin’s fate was set by God when he was reanimated from his sword. Goblin’s fate is to live an immortal life, never forgetting even one person he’s known who dies, and having his life ended when his bride removes the sword. Eun Tak’s fate was set when Goblin saved her from death before she was born: she would be Goblin’s Bride, the one who would pull the sword from his chest and end his immortal life.
Destiny results from the choices people make as they live their lives. Destiny isn’t preestablished, it evolves. Desperation can change a person’s destiny by influencing choice via overwhelming circumstances.
I love how Sunny takes back ET as her part-timer with no fuss, just happy she’s returned. Those two really care for one another. Sunny mothers ET. I find that fitting: Kim Sun, as queen, was mother of the nation. She was trained to that role.
It is my opinion that Sunny is drawn to Eun Tak from the beginning because she senses, deep down, Kim Shin’s hand on ET’s life. Kim Shin was Kim Sun’s beloved brother, and Eun Tak is Kim Shin’s beloved bride. Sunny is subconsciously embracing Eun Tak as family.
More discussion between Goblin and Grim Reaper about free will and destiny. Free will is exercised when a person makes choices. Goblin starts by asking Grim Reaper about ET’s fate when he inquires whether another roster (notification of impending death) has been issued for ET.
Goblin: What about the roster? You didn’t receive anymore, right? [ET’s fate is to die if she doesn’t perform her role in ending Goblin’s life.]
Grim Reaper: I would’ve told you if I did. I was getting curious about that. What you’re going to do now. [What choices has, or will, Goblin make since ET was recently saved from death?]
G: Do you remember that man who barged into your tea room, one time? [That incident sparked the initial discussion about how human desperation can alter destiny.]
GR: How could I forget him? What about him?
G: A human’s desperation can open any door. [It would be nice if that were true, but if it was, then Kim Shin might have been able to avoid being killed during his desperate attempt to communicate with the king.] Maybe once in a while, one of those doors becomes a variable in God’s plan. So I plan to start searching, ardently. About which door I need to open for it to become a variable to the deity. I don’t know whether it’ll take 100 years or 10 months, but for now I have decided to stay by that child’s side. Though, while doing that, I don’t know what kind of door I’ll end up opening.
Destiny, the path a person takes by making choices, is full of variables, or choices. As mentioned before, desperation may force someone’s hand when making a choice. Either, or several, choices are possible, but one may be more expedient while others may lead to dire consequences. But fate, established by an external force, is not a matter of choice. Goblin, however, hopes there’s a way to influence the fate set for him and Eun Tak. He hopes to cheat death, at least for about 80 years. He desperately wants a chance to live happily with his beloved bride, Eun Tak. He will turn his attention and energy to finding a way to make that possible.
What is ironic is that Goblin believes God is invisible, yet God has been near him and with him in visible form–white butterfly and Deok Hwa–and he doesn’t recognize God. Grim Reaper points upward when talking about God, and doesn’t recognize that God comes to hang out with him in his home. God is not invisible, but in a form that isn’t anticipated or expected by either Goblin or Grim Reaper. Goblin gets angry, believing God doesn’t listen to him, yet God, who set Goblin’s and ET’s intertwined fate, helped Goblin locate the runaway ET so Goblin could save her life.
Kim Shin was desperate to get a message to the king, Wang Yeo…so desperate he risked, and lost not only his own life, but the lives of his sister and his loyal troops. The door appears to have firmly closed on Kim Shin, yet as Goblin, he’s been given an opportunity to build a relationship with Grim Reaper, who was Wang Yeo. God has granted a variable, a second chance, to both.
Goblin wants a variable granted in his and ET’s combined fate, and he wants it in their current lifetime. Will he get it? Will it be before he and/or ET die? Or is his post-death second chance with Wang Yeo / Grim Reaper a foreshadowing of what will happen with Eun Tak? [I know, but I’m not saying.]
During the photo-taking session with Goblin and Grim Reaper, Eun Tak repeatedly touches GR without his being bothered by visions of her past life. Is that because this is ET’s first life? And/or is because GR is so familiar with all of ET’s sad story in this lifetime that he’s immune to her touch? Or did the writer, director, and actor all forget that touch aversion is an important part of Grim Reaper’s character?
Perhaps it is skin-on-skin contact that is required for Grim Reaper to see someone’s past. When he’s walking with Sunny and they briefly bump as he’s trying to walk between her and the traffic, he has no reaction. She only had contact with his coat sleeve.
The sequence of scenes leading to a reveal of Sunny’s and Wang Yeo’s past is masterfully done. It starts so innocently, with Grim Reaper ordering two beers. [Ah, it would’ve been nice to see tipsy Goblin again.] He uses Sunny’s real name, Kim Sun, which she hasn’t shared with him. Her name was dragged out of his forgotten past after their previous accidental contact. His calling her by the name Kim Sun was an unconscious slip by Grim Reaper. Perhaps after 900 years having Kim Shin, Wang Yeo, and Kim Sun together in the same place at the same time brought the past into the present. Hearing the name Kim Sun grabbed Goblin’s attention. He had not forgotten his sister: an inability to forget was part of Goblin’s curse.
Sunny had cause for concern. Not only was she suspicious of how GR learned her true name, but when Sunny went to a shaman and described GR, the shaman warned he was a grim reaper and cautioned Sunny against telling him her name. We know that if a grim reaper calls your name in an official capacity, you must go.
It looks from Grim Reaper’s visions from the past that shortly before Kim Shin arrived at the palace, as the king and queen were dressed to await his arrival, Wang Yeo angrily found the jade ring in Kim Sun’s jewelry chest and forced it onto her finger before they took their positions in the courtyard. The questions I have after seeing that vision: How had that ring come into the queen’s possession? Why wasn’t she wearing it? Was the king specifically looking for that ring? What is the significance of the ring? Why was Wang Yeo angry, confronting Kim Sun about the ring? What did it mean, that he compelled her to put it on before meeting her brother, whom the king had already decided to kill as a traitor for coming back to the palace?
Whatever the answers to these questions, we have no doubt that the ring is highly significant, in the past and in the present. As the shaman warned, it may carry the regret, guilt, and longing of the previous owner. Little did either realize while that advice was being given that the ring’s former owner was Sunny, or Kim Sun, herself.
When Goblin, looking for ET, walked past Sunny outside her old chicken restaurant, Goblin saw her future. In it, she said, “Don’t contact me from now on. Don’t greet me even if we meet. Happy New Year.” And Goblin sees that she’s saying those words to a distraught Grim Reaper. That moment is probably coming up soon as Christmas has recently passed. I imagine their breakup stems from the fallout from after GR’s vision of his past with Kim Sun.
We are more than halfway through this drama. Rather than starting to limp, as many Kdramas do in the middle, this one is picking up pace and the plot is tightening. The three major players from 900 years ago have met in the present. They may not realize it, but Eun Tak, the Miscellaneous Omitted, may be the variable the keeps them from repeating their mistakes of the past.
Hello @Carolina !!!, how are you?, Happy 2022!!! *¡matriculamos para el 2022 gracias a Dios!* (we “enrolled” to 2022 thanks God!);D .
I am still at the confrontation in the woods. She asks him if he wanted to use her from the beginning, he has grown fond of her and confesses that he just wanted to have a life with her and die together (her of old age). It is as romantic as discovering that the person you liked so far has become way more than you expected.
About that ending: Truth may set you free, but will not make you necessarily happy…
Hi @FGB, I went back to look at the last scene. What an interesting tableau. Appropriately, Eun Tak is taken out of the scene for that moment, because she had no past life with them.
The modern day version of the time when KS passed his sister to see Wang Yeo reverses the past. This time, KS is the one seated in the warmth of his sister’s place, looking out, instead of being the outsider who was not tolerated. This time, he did not bypass his sister, but took the time to look at her, instead of heading for GR/Wang Yeo.
Once again his sister is connected to Wang Yeo, but this time Kim Sun’s touch attacks Wang Yeo’s heart with unwanted memories, whereas in the previous life it was Wang Yeo’s arrow that had struck her heart. A
In the past, Wang Yeo walked away from his cowardly act of killing without finding out the reasons why brother and sister came to him, but this time he is held in place by Kim Sun, and forcibly receives the information that he should have sought in the past, before he ordered the killings.
Wang Yeo is the one who gets stabbed instead of KS or Kim Sun. In the past we already saw, that his name, Wang Yeo written for the sky lantern, had struck excruciating pain in his heart. This time again it is the name, but that of Kim Sun that is attacking him. It’s as if GR suffered the heart pain in advance, before being pierced by the memories associated with the name ‘Kim Sun’ in the now.
@GB, well put. That said both the Kim brothers are having a good bickering but without closeness. In real life that would be a big no.
Poor GR, suffering from the consequences to the actions of someone that was not him.
@FGB what you say precisely brings up the conundrum of whether a person without the memories is the same person or not. How can he make amends for things he never knew he did?
Only when GR gets back all his memories, will his punishment be complete. Keeping him for several hundred years just doing the grim reaper job, never really hit the mark in the way of punishment.
That’s why it’s kind of imbalanced, isn’t it? The ‘good guy’, KS gets to keep all the memories and suffer endlessly the loss of many friends from 900 years ago til the present, while the ‘bad guy’ remembers nothing. GR had only a few decades or so of remembering and living with the memory, I believe, compared to KS’s 1,000 years and more.
@GB, Goblin’s punishment by their almighty always seemed disproportional. His path as a warrior was always going to be tainted by blood and him cursing the almighty was just a creature in utter desperation as he watched all he vowed to protect turn against him.
Thee was a moment when the Grim Reaper talked to his former maid (the one that served him poison) that their punishment was not a curse per se: they had to find housing, eat food, earn money to do so, enjoy camaraderie between peers… the trivial events yet so important in any human life, the life they so carelessly destroyed by their own hands.
I rewatched Episode 9 last night without interruption, and noticed something. When ET falls after being hit by the shelves in the ski rental office, she ends up laying on the ground in the exact same position as the Queen laid when she was dying after being shot in the chest with an arrow. They both had their right arms extended straight up, their heads resting on their right shoulders, and their left arms bent with their left hands on the ground in front of their faces. History repeating itself, but with different players.
I don’t think this was coincidence. Throughout Episode 9 I noticed it was circling back to a lot of themes, issues, dialogue, sites, etc. that had come before. This is by no means an exhaustive list, or in order of appearance in the episode, but off the top of my head:
— When ET went missing, Goblin looked for her in places that had been pivotal in their relationship.
— Grim Reaper tried to recreate the scene with Sunny that he’d erased from her memory, and Sunny had a strong sense of déjà vu.
— ET was homeless again.
— Goblin walked by Sunny with much the same “choreography” as he’d walked by ET in Episode 1
— Goblin, Grim Reaper, and Deok Hwa worked as a team out of concern for ET’s welfare (first instance, getting her a cake following her college entrance exam; second instance, finding her after she’d run away and before she died).
— Goblin and ET ate ice cream together, except this time rather than Goblin hoarding it all for himself, ET ate some of Goblin’s ice cream despite his protests.
— Kim Shin hears his sister’s name, Kim Sun, come out of Grim Reaper’s mouth. It may be the first time in 900 years that Goblin has heard his sister’s name spoken.
— At the end of the episode, the climax was Sunny grabbing Grim Reaper’s hand, causing Grim Reaper to see visions not only of Kim Sun’s past, but his own as Wang Yeo.
Watching the opening credits montage, where the video clips run backwards, drives home the concept that this drama is about second chances, rewinding relationships to correct mistakes of the past, making different choices and pursuing different action when given another opportunity. Goblin was reanimated and given immortal life with retained memories of all people comes to know because as Kim Shin he’d been a killing machine, giving little thought to the humanity of those whose lives he ended.
I don’t think we are to conflate Sunny with ET: they are two separate characters. But Eun Tak and Kim Sun are the two most important people in Kim Shin’s life, ranking highest in his affection. Yet Kim Sun and Eun Tak were led to death because of Kim Shin’s choices; with both, Kim Shin was faced with a your-life-or-hers choice, and his stubborn refusal to change course placed less value on their lives. Kim Shin could not save his sister, Kim Sun. This time, when Eun Tak was dying of hypothermia at the ski resort, Goblin was able to save her.
Such good observations, @Welmaris. It is that sort of detail that makes this drama stand out above others. I like that the coincidences aren’t made so obvious that it feels patronising. Some dramas will superimpose one image over another or repeat so many scenes to make a point.
I was laughing thinking about Kim Shin trying to communicate with the butterfly in the sun room and failing and wondering what he would think if he saw the butterfly flying up to a ski resort in winter – after DH said he would help to find ET.
Great points @Welmaris! Yes, a Show about doing it over, and this time to right the wrongs committed in the past. Such a well-made Show!!
Kalimera everyone!
@Welmaris, great points! Thank you for sharing them with us!
Yes, this show is so well-made @GB Unnie!
I’m sorry I missed the re-watch discussion on Saturday. I’ve been a bit unwell all week. I fell asleep at mid-day and when I woke, it was all over. I have diligently read everything you have written. Thank you very much for making some points clearer for a first-time watcher.
@Fern, I’m sorry you were not feeling well, but I’m glad resting helped you get better. Good for you for listening to your body and giving it what it needed!
You may not have watched Goblin before, @Fern, but you have watched many other Kdramas. At this point into the show, how do you think it stacks up against other Kdramas in terms of overall quality? And since it was aired in 2016, do you think it has aged well? I’m curious about your perspective. Goblin was among the shows I watched when I first got into Kdramas, and it seemed a revelation to me. I didn’t have experience with others like it for comparison sake. Now that I’m watching it again after having seen many other Kdramas, I’m still impressed, but I know I come into it with a positive bias.
As a drama goes, there are tropes, but I never feel that my time is being wasted. All of the actors seem to realise that they are in a special story and they seem to me to be giving their all.
There don’t seem to be plot holes and the pace is very even, continually interesting and never too slow. Each episode has many events – I can’t imagine cutting anything I have seen to make any episode shorter or more concise. There are comic, happy and sad moments, but it is not melodramatic or cheesy. These are my thoughts at the moment.
The first drama I watched was the epic Moon Lovers: Scarlet Heart Ryeo. It appeared as one of those YouTube suggestions. I really liked the first half but thought the 2nd half became cumbersome imo and could have been trimmed up. I thought the acting was very, very good and it spoiled me for a number of historical dramas I saw afterwards. Lee Joon Gi, IU, Nam Joo Hyuk, Kang Ha-Neul and other now well-known actors I saw for the first time there.
Hi Everyone!!
Loved your comments, still sad I couldn’t do it live.
@Fern hope you are on the mend.
@welmaris how are you? Thanks for all the details. I wanted to rewatch it before posting my comments, but no time. Your summary of the themes helped me remembered some of the episode.
Hello @GB, @Cleo how are you doing?
Hello @FGB yes made it to 2022!!! Hope you are well too.
Biggest take away from this rewatch was realizing that DH is a deity. I seriously missed it the first time around. Back then, I actually thought the deity had transformed to look like him, but never actually thought it was him the whole time. Also, my judeo/christian mind wants to keep only one deity because I still remember thinking that the grandma and DH deity at one point were the same.
This drama was one of the first ones I saw when I first started watching k-dramas so now I see all I missed lol
Correction, you ladies have helped me see all the themes that I missed. =)
Loved all the funny and sad parts of this drama. Kim Go-eun is such a good actress.
Hi @Carolina
I’m very well thank you, and I’m glad to see you here.
It’s great that the comments helped you re-think the Episode. If this was your first foray into East Asian drama, it would have been quite a feat to have figured out what was going on. There is a whole background of socio-religio-mythological thought that underpins the story. I find that absorbing though.
Yes, we have to get away from the idea that god here is anything like the Judeo-Christian God. This god is callous, cold, cruel, a stickler for his own rules. Towards the end, we find that he was not totally without the ability to retract his relentless enforcement of his rules, but that was an action limited in scope.
And there is more than one deity. Some may want to see Samshin as the deity of life, and the almighty ‘butterfly’ god as the deity of punishment. Then there are the lower orders like goblins who are assigned some powers and the less powerful grim reapers. These latter 2 seem to have been once human and to be carrying on their afterlives in service of some kind and to make amends for something wrong that they’d done in current or past lives.
Humans have souls that can go on into the Afterlife, but they can sometimes evade their end journey and stay on earth as ghosts, especially if they have a grudge/revenge or a job to do in the current life. They leave when these are resolved.
All these take place in the system of reincarnations… this show says that there are 4 lives. In other places we may hear of many more.
As for Deok Hwa, you’ll find that he’s only a deity some of the time. Samshin can recognise the deity in him, but no one else, not even the goblin or the grim reaper can do the same. Show makes a spoof of god here by putting the almighty in the one character who is the most dismissed, overlooked and disrespected. So be careful whom we diss!
The most universal theme remains true. One is punished for the evil one does, until one atones sufficiently. One may then start anew in a next life and hopefully not make a hash out of is as well. The problem with this, as @pkml3 pointed out more than once, is that if people don’t retain the memories of their past lives, how will they ever learn to be better than they were before?
This Show gave me a new ‘side’ of LDW. I’ve usually found him adequate in the shows I’d watched him in previously, but he acquitted himself even better in this one. Yoo In Na was cute in the ‘Queen In Hyun’s Man’ and consistent, and GY and KGE are always amazingly good. 🙂