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[HanCinema's Drama Review] "Guardian: The Lonely and Great God" Episode 2

And so Eun-tak's magical journey of being the Guardian: The Lonely and Great God's bride takes her to the mystical far-off country of...Canada. Specifically, Quebec. That's, uh, that's a new one. Which pretty much marks my reaction to every scene transition in "Guardian: The Lonely and Great God"- they all encompass very strange ideas that are neither funny, dramatic, or even especially creative. While watching "Guardian: The Lonely and Great God" I frequently ask questions like, why does this drama exist? Who is the intended audience?

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The continued absence of any kind of plot is not helping. There's just more worldbuilding and set-up. Near the end of this episode it's finally stated explicitly why Eun-tak is in an unusually mystical situation. We also find out about Eun-tak's more mundane real-world problems, which of course inevitably involve debt collecting gangsters because that's a staple Korean drama trope. It's just, really not one I was expecting to see in a story that's dominated by supernatural roommates having telekinetic pissing contests.

The more relevant supporting cast is of equally dubious note. Deok-hwa (played by Yook Sung-jae) is a mild annoyance to the Guardian: The Lonely and Great God and the Grim Reaper...should I be using the definite article to refer to these characters? On the one end it seems pretty well implied that there are other Guardian: The Lonely and Great Gods and Grim Reapers, yet it feels very strange to call main characters by the indefinite article. Well, fourteen episodes left to go, I guess I better just get used to it.

Anyway, Deok-hwa is the Grim Reaper's apprentice (so is he another Grim Reaper?), and this allows for some mild exposition about the worldbuilding. Sorry for the digressions- "Guardian: The Lonely and Great God" puts me in that mood even more than usual because so much of what happens is just so...pointless. I can't even begin to grasp what Eun-tak's joyful frolicking in Canada was all about. Is Eun-tak completely inured to the spectacle of obviously impossible sorcery because she can see ghosts? Or is Quebec really just the most amazing place in the world?

I can't figure out how these first two episodes of "Guardian: The Lonely and Great God" could be so long yet so completely lacking in meaningful substance. It should not be this difficult for a drama to suss out basic questions of conflict, or even genre. Is this story supposed to be romantic? Is it more like a fairy tale? Is it some sort of post-modern update of romantic fairy tales that stages the tropes in such a way that it feels like a Samuel Beckett play? Whatever the production team's intentions are here, I'd really like a clarification soon.

Review by William Schwartz

"Guardian: The Lonely and Great God" is directed by Lee Eung-bok, written by Kim Eun-sook and features Gong Yoo, Lee Dong-wook, Kim Go-eun, Yoo In-na, Yook Sung-jae, Lee El,..

 

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