The thread is open for the final Goblin rewatch.
Growing_Beautifully, Cleopatra, Welmaris, Janey, Fern, Kuroshio, FGB4877, and Carolina, did you all have fun?
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
Enjoy the show!
Thanks @PM3 for hosting us – wow, we are wrapping up Goblin!!! Last episode will be a rollercoaster of emotions…
Thanks @pkml3!
I trust you saw my message in the Grid thread that we’ll be continuing our Rewatch Party after Goblin 1 hour later from 5 March 2022 onwards. ‘W – Two Worlds’ here we come to watch you again!
Hi @Janey
Yup, the finale and what a mixture of emotions we’ll have. We’ll run the gamut from deliriously happy to anguished within 50 minutes. I’d love to read everyone’s take on the ending. 😉
Saw it, @GB. 🙂
Thanks and good night. 💤
Anneyong!
Thank you @Packmule3…See ya all tomorrow!
Thank you, @packmule3. I’m looking forward to this.
Dear @GB, @Janey, @Fern, @Cleo and @PM3, I have been distracted lately. Sorry. Have a happy viewing!!!.
BTW, I missed W the first time, so I am intrigued.
Hi @FGB, glad to know you’re up and about and getting distracted by something or other. By all means join us for ‘W’.
It was a show I sort of gave up when the bad guy got too over powerful, although I did drop by to watch bits and pieces and part of the end. I was fed up at the ‘lack of logic’ (to me). So I want to read others’ impressions, guesses and explanations of what’s going on. 🙂
@GB, although I did previously watch W all the way through to the end, I struggled because the antagonist scared me. I don’t like watching scary things. I’m glad I’m not the only one who felt he was too off-putting.
I’ve just finished a prewatch of Goblin Episode 16 before I climb in bed for a few hours of sleep. My nose is still running from all the crying I did! I hope I got some of it out of my system so I can watch and type tomorrow.
@Packmule3, you asked if we’ve had fun. I, for one, have found this rewatch a rewarding experience. This is an iconic show for good reason: script, acting, direction, cinematography all stand up well to closer scrutiny.
I’ll be back in a few short hours, my friends.
Oh dear, LOL @Welmaris, if I cried just before bed, I’d have a blocked nose!!! I did a rewatch over a week ago, and am not sure how I’ll manage today.
Anticipating it helps, I guess. Less likely to blubber. 😉
See you and everyone in 3 hours time!!
Kalo mesimeri! I am here 🙂
Hi @Cleo, I’m here too!
Hey @GB Unnie!
I thought I was by myself!
Hello, all my dear Goblin rewatch friends. Before we start, a prayer for the people suffering in the Ukranian crisis.
And here we go!
@Cleo, I’ve been having a relaxing day. Needed to catch up on some sleep. I’m going to mainly watch and read what you all type.
Oh, it’s time to start!!! Let’s go! 🙂
Hey @Welmaris!
Yes, I agree…
Hi @Welmaris. Yes, I’ve been praying with a community for the poor people in the midst of the conflict.
@GB I am trying to relax as well…
I think I will do so… 😀
You know it just hit me that the proposal, although surrounded by cherry blossoms has as it’s OST the words “why do we have to be apart”… a foreboding.
ET tells her mum first. Still sitting with her red scarf.
And she can see her ghost friend again. The last ghost friend that she has left, who’s been wanting to take her away forever.
Yes @GB so very true. If we were listening to the words of the song we would get it…
Do you know why we have this scene of driver and master in Reaper’s room? Why the comment about there being no class differentiation in the afterlife?
@Cleo what’s this petty, jealous Goblin, jealous over an unknown blind date who’s younger than him LOL.
I LOL when Deok Hwa seems to think that he’s the only young, handsome chaebol around.
Goblin is hilariously in a rush to get married in case ET meets someone in the meantime.
And ET says the same words that DH said to her before… “Doesn’t everyone know a goblin?” We’ve come full circle to ET’s first meeting DH in the bookstore.
This first part is funny, until the bomb drops…
We get to see that Deok Hwa has been so self centred all these years that he didn’t even know CEO Kim was married with kids. It’s taking him a long time to grow up!!
@GB,
I like this childish part of Kim Shin… He is so petty and jealous…LOL
Yes, but Deok Hwa was the Nabi Shin that time, that’s why he doesn’t remember…
I can’t drive like that with someone shouting instructions at me LOL. What a terrible drive that would be. I trust it would be the opposite situation in their married life… if only…
KS is still so full of himself. He knows he’s handsome everyday LOL.
True, @Cleo. It’s good enough that ET remembers.
*Sob sob*, the letter from ET, expecting many years together with KS. It had to be in another life.
Oh we come to the farewell letter from Sunny on the radio.
Kim Shin’s marriage proposal is so sincere and worded so beautifully, reflecting on many of their most important past moments: “I’m saying this because the day is good enough. I”m saying this because you continue to be blindingly bright. I’m saying this because all those first loves were you. On another good enough day, will you become the bride of this Goryeo man?” I prefer this English translation of “day is good enough” rather than the other translations that speak of the weather. Having a good enough day, in my thinking, acknowledges that there won’t be a perfect day, but in each day there will be moments to be appreciated.
Eun Tak’s response is emotional. She reaches out and caresses Goblin’s face with her hand before she speaks; as before, she may want to verify with touch that this isn’t a dream. “I will. I will be the bride of this lonely man. I will be the first and last bride of this radiant man. I will surely be.
We know Goblin is happy, because the cherry trees overhead are blooming out of season again. After ET’s beautiful positive answer to his proposal, Goblin kisses her forehead. Really? She’s going to be your bride! That seems more like a fatherly move than a lover’s physical expression of enduring passion.
Eun Tak talks to her mother while wearing her mom’s red knit scarf. That scarf is like her mother’s embrace.
@GB Unnie,
Yes, I cannot imagine driving like that…
Sunny’s goodbye is the most difficult one. We should understand that this episode is full with goodbyes…
@Cleo, yes and now ET realises that Sunny never forgot. How lonely it was for Sunny to not reveal what she remembered.
It’s good that Sunny has a final farewell with Wang Yeo.
Wang Yeo starts a new count.
The one and only embrace betweenn lovers who did not allow themselves to put their love in action. So sad.
Is it only in dramas that this kind of forever love takes place?
@Welmaris,
beatiful points on the proposal scene.
@GB Unnie, doesn’t that knowledge make them sad? I think she was sad…
@GB,
I think this kind of love doesn’t exist only on films or kdramas.
It exists endlessly, some are lucky to find it while others don’t…
GR tries to give the portrait back to KS. I like the bromance where KS tries to feed him when he is depressed.
It’s true that they are ‘sinners’ but never have the way to know how much restitution to make ie how much is enough. So unfair.
Now GR meets the girl reaper and enables her to have peace, with a heartfelt apology. When they gave up their lives, they gave up their identities and hence became reapers without names.
He has come to the conclusion that god wants them to forgive themselves, to know the true value of life and to lead others well into the afterlife, which they themselves failed to enter in peace themselves.
The aunt of ET is practically an evil spirit, even in death. I like how the ghost friend comes along and finally does something useful in her death after bothering ET for so many years. She does ET a big favour by taking aunt away but it’s time for her to leave. Another farewell for ET.
Goodbye to the cruel woman who raised her and to her last ghost friend. I’m both sad and relieved.
And now their wedding with that beautiful buckwheat bouquet the Hanza gave to Eun Tak.
GR / Wang Yeo asked to see ET… she actually fears that he received a death announcement for her. How sad that, that stands between them. They were and could have been great friends.
ET’s words are, as usual wise and mature. Because we die, life is precious. She realises the great privilege and blessing of being alive when she was not meant to have survived and wisely has been living each day as if it’s the last. Wisdom for all of us.
@GB Unnie,
Those who are bad will be bad until the end. It’s a choice, theirs…
And now everything will crush down…
Reaper gives such a thoughtful gift that it’s a pity he never had a chance to live a good normal life as Wang Yeo in his first life.
So ET gets the buckwheat flowers that means ‘lover’ for her wedding.
Now the Reaper and Goblin scare poor CEO Kim by showing off their powers.
The singing session… LOL Actually Kim Go Eun can sing quite well. I’ve seen her singing.
I find this wedding party kind of awkward actually, LOL.
Yes @Cleo, it’s so sad that as everything is just starting and there’s so much hope and joy to look forward to… that’s when the end strikes.
Human beings are just the unknown factor, even in god’s plans. The fate of the children changed because a human being can make a sacrifice to save lives. A death that has “no orders” according to GR.
Wang Yeo realized it first…hence his tears.
Lee Dong Wook was pretty worried about Gong Yoo for this scene. Gong Yoo was not feeling well, later LDW said in the special episodes…
Now we get the reminder, strongly worded and repeated by Grim Reaper, that after death everyone gets the same cup of tea, the tea of oblivion. (Although, didn’t a child in an earlier episode get the tea of heaven at the request of her also-deceased mother?) The social ranks and economic disparities between people are erased by death. What people can take with them through death and (potentially) into hell are the consequences of their sins.
Goblin is so funny in his jealousy and pettiness…but in real life, that’d be hard to live with. Goblin is motivated to speed up the day of his and ET’s marriage because he fears the blind dates Class President keeps trying to arrange for ET. Ah, that wink Goblin gives ET when he asks if they can get married that weekend!
Poor Deok Hwa is the only one of the inner group whose memories have not been restored. He feels so left out.
Even though Goblin is rushing the marriage, he still observes tradition. He invites his only family member, Deok Hwa, to a feast in order to introduce his intended bride. Of course, all Deok Hwa can think is that ET is trying to hit on him. Such a player!
The conversation between Deok Hwa and CEO Kim is sweet and funny. Deok Hwa wants to protect his chaebol status by getting married and producing heirs before Goblin. CEO Kim gently points out that Deok Hwa needs a woman–one woman, one special woman–in order to do that. “Was there anyone that your heart beat just by thinking of her? Was there anyone whom you teared up over if you didn’t see her? Can you think of anyone whom you could die on behalf of?”
CEO Kim reveals to Deok Hwa that he’s married and has three children. This is news to Deok Hwa, but CEO Kim didn’t tell him before because he never showed interest in CEO Kim or his life. “…You never asked. You don’t care about the world and people around you yet, right? That’s why I’m waiting for your questions. An adult’s questions. About the world. About the happiness and sadness of the people around you.” Deok Hwa takes the lesson well: “Thank you. Just wait for me a little longer. I’ll work hard to grow up.”
ET realises she’s dead. Finally she meets GR at his job, really to bring her to the afterlife. She’s able to be happy and grateful to be only in her first life.
Because KS is Goblin, he can find his way into Reaper’s tea room to see ET one last time. His grief comes through to ous all the way over here, so many years later.
I don’t think anyone couldn’t have done it better than Gong Yoo in this scene, his synergy with Kim Go Eun was perfect…
I am crying since the beginning of that driving scene…
Again, even though their wedding is hurried because Goblin can’t wait, he wants to marry traditionally. He takes Eun Tak to buy wedding clothes. The dress we see her wearing is perfect for her, in my opinion: unpretentious and youthful. And dandy Goblin is a sight to behold.
Hi dear agapimenes and chingus! I’m here albeit late!!! Will catch up with all of you…
Even in death ET thinks of others, worried for KS. And she won’t drink the forgetfulness tea, so that she’ll retain all her memories of her first life and come back to him as the same ET. What an amazing love.
Hi @Janey, it looks like starting an hour later will definitely work for you!
Hey @Janey!
Good to have you around!
KS sends up the epitaph he writes for ET in flames at the place they first met.
Samshin is sad for ET and KS wears the red scarf now, reminiscing all their walks. A sad love.
Yes definitely!!! We’ve had a cold front again and it’s been freezing cold in the morning so the lure of the bed and snooze button is instinctive. I’m prepared to be teary eyed here…
It is time for GR to leave, and the timing is just right that he accompanies the one person whose presence would give him peace.
And Kim Shin stays again alone…
How lonely he would feel…
Yes, tears, tears … we’re past the point. Grim Reaper’s turn to say goodbye now. The end of the bromance. I feel sad for KS who’s left saying goodbye.
The ring returns at last to the true owner, Sunny. It had such a coming and going between them in 2 lifetimes.
The proposal even though beautiful and heartfelt was actually kinda sad… even the OST. it should have been more exuberant – we get that from the ghost unnie though. lol!
and then Kim Shin sees them together. His sister and his friend…in an new reincarnation… <3
I noticed that Sunny didn’t get any tea, so by rights she should remember more in her next life, but she didn’t seem to.
The proposal although beautiful and heartfelt has a tinge of sadness and melancholy, even the OST. The exuberant response we get was from the ghost unnie. LOL!!!
At least Sunny and Wang Yeo got their happy ending, a life later…
And our Dokkaebi met his Dokkaebi Simbu in Quebec! 😀
What a beautiful conclusion to this amazing story…
@Cleo, yes at least they had a nice handshake in this life time LOL. And Lee Hyuk is a detective stylist LOL.
This time instead of Wang Yeo giving the ring Sunny claims him as her own by couple bracelets.
@GB,
I laughed at that scene the first time around. It was so obvious where they were heading and she was talking nonsense! LMAO!
So show brings us back to the first place where a young ET said that she loved the Goblin and blew the dandelion flower. So many full circle returns.
We end with the words, ‘My first and last Goblin’s Bride’ so in a way I felt that show could also have been called the Goblin and His Bride.
@GB Unnie,
I cannot believe we ended another show…We are one year into these Rewatch Parties and we have finished another one!
Hi @Cleo, how many shows have we done with our Rewatches? Start Up, Healer and this one? Was there another show we watched in between? We covered a whole year?
@GB Unnie,
I just did a search on B.O.D. and we have done:
Start Up
Healer
Goblin
And as some rewatches on Episodes for some tv shows like My roommate is a Gumiho.
We can also do what @Welmaris suggested. Watch all together a movie but we need to break it to part 1 and part 2 if they are big!
What a simple wedding dress ET chose but it suits her. And KS is dashing as always.
The last embrace of Sunny and GR was heartbreaking…. Looking forward to the ending when they can be together in another life. I just realized that these characters have the luxury of knowing there’s another life after. Or Sunny would not have made her decision to go leave, remember and not to forgive…. I would have chosen differently if I have only 1 life to live.
Thanks for checking on our Rewatches @Cleo. Wow, we took some weeks break in between, but we also didn’t watch every episode of Healer. I didn’t realise it’s been so many months of Rewatches already.
With ‘W’ we’re going for another 17 weeks, but I’m proposing a break for Holy Week. What do you think? Shall we break for 16th April and maybe the Saturday after or before? When is your Easter?
@GB Unnie,
We have started our Start Up Rewatch Sessions at 01/15/2021 or 15/01/2021.
So we are doing this for 13 months already!
We have great commitment and staying power @Cleo! LOL.
@GB Unnie,
I just checked our Easter is on 24th of April. So this year our Easters have a week difference. Yes we should make a stop.
I remember how this all started and wow I am happy we are here!
@GB,
As long as we can do that we are okay. I mean I am happy that we are keeping this. We get to know that everyone is okay, in order to be online at this hour and write about the episode we are rewatching.
So, yes I am happy to know that for my chingus.
@Cleo, I’m happy too. The Rewatch Party is something I look forward to. I hope more can join us since we are starting an hour later next week. All the more now we need to be internationally connected and united in the midst of so much upheaval.
I just received a video clip of a priest in Ukraine, asking for prayers. It breaks my heart. I will pray for them.
@GB,
So very true. So many things are happening at this period in our beautiful planet, that there are times that you are feeling sad.
I am sad about this situation. Being in war is not something we should be witnessing. I will pray for everyone, I wish they could stop this madness.
I have to go for now. Be safe everyone…*Hugs*
I will read you laters!
We learn that the letter Sunny was typing on her computer as tears flowed down her cheeks was sent to ET’s radio program. ET recognizes it as having come from Sunny, even though Sunny wrote it while ET was in Canada. Hearing it read on the broadcast, both Goblin and Grim Reaper also recognize that it is Sunny’s goodbye. And the note that Sunny left for ET in their building’s mailbox makes it clear to ET that Sunny has retained her memories. “She remembers everything. She protected those memories alone. She looked after me who had no memories of it. She longed for her Orabeoni who was gone, so lonely like that.”
In past episodes, we see that Sunny’s decision to keep separate from Grim Reaper is as hard on her as it is on him. She stays away from him to punish him for his sins in his former life. Because he killed her previous incarnation, Kim Seon, and her beloved brother, Kim Shin, Sunny cannot forgive and forget. (She even scolded god for messing with her memories and her life, saying that they are hers to control, not his.) She deeply loves Wang Yeo, but Sunny is a first and foremost a woman of principle. As Kim Seon, with the limited opportunity she had she’d tried her best–even giving up her life–to convince Wang Yeo to listen to her, to turn away from the evil influence of his tutor and toward her, but Wang Yeo wasted all those opportunities, her love for him, and her life. All those sacrifices would be devalued if Wang Yeo didn’t fully suffer the consequences of his decisions.
Goblin says to Grim Reaper as he’s trying to comfort him after Sunny’s departure: “I wish someone would tell us…’It’s enough. It’s enough now’.”
In facing his sins, for the nine years Goblin was gone, Grim Reaper lit the candles for the ancestral tablets at the temple, even though they memorialized people he’d killed (including himself). Kim Shin kindly expresses his appreciation for Wang Yeo having done that.
Grim Reaper also faces his sins by asking forgiveness of the palace servant, now also a grim reaper, who brought the poison he drank to kill himself. She must’ve also killed herself after bringing him the poison. Grim Reaper tells her: “I wanted to let you know of a secret…If you commit a huge crime, you would become a grim reaper. What that sin is. The great sin that we committed is the sin of throwing out our own lives. Those who take their own lives are made into grim reapers. Leading the ones to death, living as an existence who is not living, nor dead. What could be the reason? One without a name, one without memories. Needs a house, needs something to eat, what do you think the reason is? As I was looking for answers to those questions and suddenly one day the things that we gave up on, name, the life that we threw away, would we want them back one day? If we want life earnestly, won’t our punishment end?” Wang Yeo apologizes to the court servant for using her hands to end his life. (Wang Yeo had given her a royal command to being him a lethal dose of the poison, instead of the smaller doses he’d been given to sicken him.) He asks her forgiveness for him, and for herself: “The thing that God hopes for us is to forgive ourselves. And realize an ardent life.”
Bye @Cleo!
This hit me hard on losing a loved one and what ET said to KS to remember.
“ The ones left behind must go on living. It’s ok to cry once in a while but you should laugh a lot too. You must be strong too. It’s the right thing to do since you’ve received love. ”
Having seen my sister and close friend become widows fairly recently and how they are trudging the day to day living with grief still fresh, I am moved to tears… my heart goes out to them and to KS in this drama.
I didn’t realize it when she made an appearance last episode (and I think viewers were intentionally kept in the dark), but ET’s aunt is dead and a ghost. She hasn’t changed at all since death: she’s still greedy, judgmental, and quick to blame and punish ET. Aunty gets her just due when Unni ghost chooses her as an afterlife companion. Unni is sunbae to Aunty because she’s been a ghost much longer, and she demands proper respect from Aunty (a new experience for Aunty). “Ahjumma, you need to come with me. Come with me. It’s because I’m lonely. (Throughout the show, Unni has been trying to convince ET to come with her.) I have good chemistry with bad wenches…I think I found my travel buddy. She will be a good sparring opponent on the lonely afterlife road.”
Before Unni takes Aunty into the afterlife, ET says: “Aunt, thank you for raising me. In the next life, let’s meet with good fate.” It’s good ET said that whether or not Aunty accepted it well (which she didn’t). ET is able to say goodbye without grudges or regret.
@Janey, my sympathies to your sister and friend. Grief is one of the hardest experiences.
We see so much rain in the show… KS couldn’t keep that promise to ET, he cried so much when his grief was fresh.
As usual, I’m way behind everyone else in the rewatch. I’m only one-third of the way through after two hours! I’m at the scene where Grim Reaper has asked ET to come see him. She’s afraid he’s gotten her name card, but that’s not the case at this time. ET talks about death: “My birthmark is gone, the sword is pulled out, and so I have lived with no scratches these past 9 years. But…the truth that I am a Miscellaneous Omitted Person hasn’t changed. I was almost not born. I’ve lost someone I love from death. At the very least, the one who is before me is a Grim Reaper. And more than that, a human dies someday. That’s why life is more beautiful. That’s why, after my memories returned, the first thought I had was to live as if this were my last day. If today is the last, then this memory would be the last memory of the one I love. So, I should try hard to live and love every moment.”
This philosophy is why ET is able to graciously thank her aunt for raising her, despite all the wrongs done her by her aunt. Harboring anger toward her aunt only hurts ET, especially since her aunt is now dead.
Thank you @GB. We see KS wearing the red scarf as time rolls on… I also see this with my sister and friend that they wear articles of clothing of their late spouses. Makes them feel closer even though they re gone.
@cleo – you are right, we’ve started in Jan 2021 and still rewatching together in 2022 !!! I’ve enjoy the time shared virtually with everyone here.
@Welmaris – I also like that ET said her thanks to the aunt who is now a ghost. It’s like a closure for her.
Note to self to be wary of perfect days. It may be too perfect you’ll end up in Heaven. That’s not bad thing though.
The wedding of Kim Shin and Eun Tak takes place in Goblin’s buckwheat field retreat. Goblin’s boutonniere is buckwheat flowers, as is the bouquet Eun Tak holds (given her by Grim Reaper) and the wreath on her head. (As we learned early in this show, in the language of flowers, buckwheat flower means ‘lover’. Also, ET’s plushie Mr. Buckwheat is a depiction of a goblin who covered himself with buckwheat jelly so he’d look less scary. Tradition is that buckwheat jelly is a favorite food of dokkaebi. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Memil-muk) Both are beautifully attired in Western wedding clothes: Kim Shin in a black tuxedo, Eun Tak in a white wedding dress. There are no witnesses, and no officiant. They are marrying mysteriously, with sacred water, as Eun Tak wished.
https://bodashiri.tumblr.com/post/156317917591/fresh-water-in-korean-marriage
https://folkency.nfm.go.kr/en/topic/detail/2744
We’ve seen the significance of sacred water in another, later drama by Kim Eun Sook, The King: Eternal Monarch. When Head Court Lady Noh Ok Nam prays for Lee Gon before his final confrontation with Lee Lim, she does so over a bowl of sacred water. We also saw the remnant of a bowl of sacred water in Crash Landing on You, when Se-ri and Captain Ri’s team visited a house abandoned during the creation of the DMZ. That bowl likely once held sacred water over which a mother prayed for the welfare of her son, gone to war.
The only other objects on the table holding the bowl of sacred water are candles. Yes, it is product placement for the candle company. But it also is a nod to how important flame is in this story. Goblin comes in blue flame. After the sword was withdrawn, Goblin dissipated in glowing red embers. ET can summon Goblin, even from the godless in-between land, by blowing out a flame. Goblin, since his earliest days, uses many candles to light his home. Those candles on the wedding table represent this couple’s past, present and future: what draws them together, and the comfort of the home they will share.
The wedding vows
KS: Until death splits us apart. All of your words, whatever they are. Me, too.
ET: Even if death splits us apart. All your words, whatever they are, me, too.
The reception dinner song (sung by both Kim Shin and Eun Tak)
In the middle of these many people
Meeting you is so fortunate
In the middle of this vast world
Meeting you is a joy to me as well.
In the middle of all these people…
(I haven’t been able to locate the full lyrics of this song, or find its source. I imagine it is something familiar to the South Korean audience watching this show.)
If I remember correctly from having watched the Goblin specials a long time ago, the wedding dinner scene is the last one filmed of the show. Because of the shooting schedule, it was filmed late at night after a very long day. The actors were tired, happy that the show was wrapping up well, but sad that this was their last scene. Their emotions ran high.
@Packmule3, my most recent comment in this stream didn’t post. It could be because there were too many links included. It was about the wedding, and I included links about sacred water.
Found it, @Welmaris. 🙂 It was in my spam folder.
How did the grim reaper registration office know even before Eun Tak that she would be changing the fate of the kindergarten children? But Grim Reaper suspected, after seeing Eun Tak drive by, what was happening: “Because of a certain death for which no name card arrives…A death cannot be pre-determined…A sacrifice…A human’s sacrifice is a domain that Go cannot pre-determine and foresee. That is a moment’s instinct and wholly a human’s decision. It’s something only a human can decide on.” The implication of this statement is that Eun Tak is fully exercising free will when she places herself in mortal danger for the sake of others.
I have a little theory that comes from this scene. One of the people shown helping the kindergartners onto the bus is wearing a martial arts uniform. Could it be the bus driver is also a taekwondo instructor? Could it be Jeong Tae Eul’s father from The King: Eternal Monarch? Goblin finished airing in January 2017 and was only partially preproduced. The King: Eternal Monarch, also written by Kim Eun Sook, began filming in October 2019. It could be that KES already was working on the script of TKEM before Goblin wrapped (although Mr. Sunshine came between the two). Wouldn’t that be something if Eun Tak (ET), played by Kim Go Eun, saved the life of kindergarten bus driver Jeong Do In (I couldn’t read the bus driver’s name card because it was in Chinese characters), father of Tae Eul (TE), played by KGE in TKEM.
Being emotionally invested in the main characters, it is difficult to watch the scene when Eun Tak uses her car to block the children from the white truck of doom, but I want to say that the sequence leading to Eun Tak’s death is cinematically beautiful. The truck barreling down the street was an accident due to mechanical failure (although the driver should have made sure before he left the truck that it was in park, that the emergency brake was on, and that the front wheel was chocked into the curb). Evil did not cause Eun Tak’s death. Eun Tak could have driven clear of the oncoming truck, but she stepped on the brake of her car, stopping it directly in the path of the WTOD. Juxtaposing the scene from the previous night, ET’s head on the pillow next to KS, with ET’s bloodied head laying on the dashboard, we see that in both instances ET looks calm, albeit weary. The broken glass of the windshield is juxtaposed with wine glass KS dropped and broke as he heard the accident take place; the blood on ET is juxtaposed with the red wine dripping from the table. The deadly accident is artfully portrayed as catastrophic without being graphic.
During their lives both Goblin and Eun Tak have experienced loss of loved ones, but that doesn’t make their parting easier. When Goblin dissipated after his sword was removed, he was the calm one while ET was distraught. This time, ET is calm while KS is devastated. Both times the person departing held the eyes of the bereaved in an effort to soothe them. The words ET spoke to KS were also comforting: that he shouldn’t grieve too much because she promises to come back to him so they can spend a long life together. In keeping with simple things in life being precious to KS and ET, her last words to him were “See you later.”
How many times in his long life has Goblin had to write the epitaph for a loved one while feeling deep grief? And yet he diligently does it. It is interesting that those who died with him in Goryeo are memorialized at the temple, those who died while in service to Goblin have their cenotaphs erected in Quebec. Eun Tak’s epitaph Goblin burns with his blue flame and releases to the wind from the end of the jetty. Goblin is wind, rain, and flame, and Eun Tak has become one with him.
The scene of the two girls at Sam Shin’s food truck, one of whom is the daughter of Kim Shin’s reincarnated lieutenant, reminds us of the enduring nature of love. “I love my dad whether I see him or not…” Even though the hair clip he bought her isn’t to her taste, she wears it anyway–even when not around him–because it’s a gesture of love.
We see love manifested another way when KS wears ET’s red scarf. As she wrapped herself in it as a reminder of her mother, KS wraps it around him to keep a part of ET close to him. He also strolls in places where he and ET shared special moments. By this point he’s keeping his promise to not grieve too hard, because it isn’t raining as he thinks of ET.
Thirty years pass after ET’s death. Grim Reaper still visits the bridge where he and Sunny shared many special moments. When he gets his last assignment before his punishment is completed, he learns it is the name card for Kim Seon, age 68 years. We see Sunny meet Grim Reaper at his tea shop. Viewers, do we really believe that even after thirty years, Sunny would wear a frumpy old lady sweater?
Eun Tak was born 13 September 1998 and was age 29 when she died. That means she died in the year 2026. This agrees with her having her 19th birthday (by South Korean reckoning being age 1 at birth) in 2016. When Sunny dies thirty years later at age 68, the year must be 2056.
Goblin is alone. His sister, friend, and bride are all gone. We see him sitting at a bench overlooking a body of water. He’s joined on the bench (there are several other empty ones nearby) by someone who sits to eat a meal. He offers Goblin half his sandwich, and won’t take no for an answer. This reminds me of Goblin’s long tenure as a guardian god, handing sandwiches to those he helped. This time he’s receiving help with the sandwich. The man assumes KS is jobless, and speaks words of encouragement. “…Let’s have strength. Won’t there be a late life which shines brightly?” The man’s care brings Goblin back from the brink. “In anyone’s life there is a time when God stops by. When you are drifting apart from the world if someone pushed your back towards the world. That is…the moment that God has stopped by in your life.”
Goblin, grateful for the man’s kindness, sends him to coincidentally meet with CEO Kim, who by this time is an elderly man. CEO Kim recognizes that it must’ve been Goblin who sent him, a car mechanic, just when needed. The car mechanic, in need of work, also will benefit from Goblin changing his fate.
Goblin’s house is prepared to be empty for awhile; the furniture is all shrouded. Bag in hand, Goblin takes one more look around. As he walks along a snowy street, he comes across on-location filming. The star actress is the reincarnation of Sunny. With her is a homicide detective, hired as a film consultant, who is the reincarnation of Wang Yeo. They’re working on a “historical play with the background of 2016.” Both are the ages they were when they had their romance in Sunny’s past life. If Sunny died in 2056 and her reincarnation is now around age 38, the year is around 2094. (So where are the jet packs?) We get the stages of the love story for these two in a succession of quick scenes.
Kim Shin is back at his hotel in Quebec. We aren’t given a clue how long he’s been there in residence. He goes to the hilltop with the cenotaphs of those who have served him over the years. While he’s reading, the reincarnation of Eun Tak, dressed in a South Korean high schooler’s uniform, finds him. Because she chose to leave her memories intact after death, she recognizes Kim Shin. While remembering a conversation they had the during their first time in Quebec during her previous life, she speaks out loud the words, “I give one vote that there is one. Sad love.” Kim Shin turns, because he also remembers that conversation and those words. By my rough reckoning, Goblin has waited at least 68 years to be reunited with his Goblin Bride.
@Packmule3, thanks for the comment recovery.
I’ll say my goodbye, for now, to the rewatch group. Sharing Goblin with you has been a delight.
Thanks for the wrap-up @Welmaris!!! Most noted on the guy giving the sandwich to KS instead of the other way around in past encounters. The gods need some encouragement too, especially this lonely one. 68 years of waiting and the reunion with his bride is fulfilled.
@GB, that Unni ghost friend can be seen in the whispering group of ghosts in the background at the hospital when ET’s mother is cradling her newborn. So Unni was around to hear the prophecies of the Goblin Bride before Eun Tak was born, gathered with other ghosts to mark Eun Tak’s birth, and witnessed Eun Tak grow from infancy to age 29. Thinking about that makes me sad when Eun Tak couldn’t see her for nine years, and sad for Eun Tak when Unni left for the afterlife shortly after ET could see her again. I’d say they were lifelong friends, except one of them wasn’t alive.
@GB, although it seems that the reincarnation of Sunny doesn’t remember the reincarnation of Wang Yeo, I think she does. There’s just that little bit of judgmental hesitation, disbelief, and twinkle in her eye when he tells her his name. I tried to find out if his newest name had an inherently funny meaning, or if her reaction was from recalling his struggle in her past life to come up with a name by which her could introduce himself to her. I typed his name into my translation app using English characters and translating them into Hangul, then translated the Hangul back into English. I ended up with the word “leather.” That somewhat makes sense as a tough name for someone who grows up to become a homicide detective, and it could be a nod to the leather trench coat Grim Reaper often wore as part of his work uniform.
We saw how good Sunny was at hiding from others the fact that her memories were intact. And after the stern talking-to Sunny gave to god about wanting to be in control of her life and memories, god said he understood. I hope her wishes were respected into the next life, especially if she chose not to drink the tea of oblivion.
@Janey, when Sunny made her decision to separate from Grim Reaper, she didn’t know what number life she was in, so didn’t know if she’d have another chance. Goblin did see in Sunny’s eyes that in the future she was together and happy with Wang Yeo, and hinted at that to her, so maybe that gave her courage to remain apart from Grim Reaper. But at their end in his tea shop, Grim Reaper didn’t know what number life he’d completed as Wang Yeo and Grim Reaper.
@Janey, I want to convey my sympathy to you regarding the recent death of two people in your life. Your sister’s loss of her husband impacts your whole family, I imagine: she lost her life partner, you lost a brother-in-law, your children lost an uncle, and on it goes. I hope the memories you share of him bring a measure of comfort.
Thank you @Welmaris for the kind words. The ripple effect of the loss is definitely felt across the whole family. I take comfort too in seeing shows like this on how to cope and live with the loss, and the waiting to be reunited again.
@Welmaris, thanks for responding to my questions. It’s fun to wonder and to guess at the right answer. Sometimes the writers themselves do not know the answer LOL.
I always felt that the unni ghost was a bit of a bother. She kept wanting to take ET away, which I don’t really understand, since it’s only a GR who can take a soul away with them. Unni ghost was lonely, she says, and decided to keep haunting ET for some reason… perhaps as you say, because she’d been there at her birth and wanted to watch the growth of the Goblin Bride.
I’m glad that unnie was helpful at the end, after all the help ET gave her ghost friends. It was mutually beneficial that Aunt’s ghost got removed from ET and could keep company with unnie.
I look forward with hope for another grand supernatural romance with interesting mythological logic to decipher.