My Roommate Is a Gumiho: Dropped Drama Diaries
Updated: Sep 24
Title: | My Roommate Is a Gumiho (2021) |
Platform: | TVING, iQIYI, Viki, Prime Video |
MDL & IMBD Rating: | |
Genre: | Contemporary Fantasy/ Romance |
Episode Count: | 16 |
Last Episode Watched: | 11 |
Parental Guidance Rating: | TV-14 (but TV-16 on Prime Video?): Violence, Language For More Info: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt13777028/parentalguide/ I'd say TV-14 is accurate |
Starring: | Jang Ki Yong (Kill It!) Lee Hye Ri (Reply 1988) Kang Han Na (Bon Apetit, Your Majesty) Kim Do Wan (Wedding Impossible) Bae In Hyuk (Our Universe) |
Cast From Left to Right: #JangKiYong, #LeeHyeRi, #KangHanNa, #KimDoWan, #BaeInHyuk
Synopsis: Shin Woo Yeo is a handsome and smart writer, who is actually a 999-year-old nine-tailed fox. To become a human, he collects human energy in a bead. One day, the drunk friend of Lee Dam, a university student, falls asleep on top of an expensive car whose owner is Woo Yeo. While Lee Dam struggles to take her friend away and Woo Yeo trying to help her, Woo Yeo's bead accidentally falls out of his mouth, and Lee Dam unintentionally swallows it. The bead can exist inside of a human for no more than 1 year and, afterward, the bead will break inside of that person causing the person to die. Not wanting to lose his chance in becoming a human, Woo Yeo explains to Lee Dam their predicament and suggests living together until they figure out a solution. Lee Dam, who has never had a boyfriend in her life, now lives with Shin Woo Yeo. @MDL
Non-Spoiler Thoughts:
Okay, so these actors are only 2 years apart, but why does she look so much younger!!!! Lee Hye Ri has been gifted eternal youth and it just threw me off. I think it was made worse by the fact that Shin Woo Yeo (ML) is a professor at her University, and serves up "Edward Cullen" energy by being 1000 years old. The romance felt wrong. It seemed like the creators were trying to recreate a Goblin moment, but kept the one thing that detracted from the 2016 drama: the visual age difference. Fairytales and popular literature, for hundreds of years, have had pairings of a mortal and a ye old immortal being tying the know, so that's nothing new. And I know it sounds silly because the ML is a mythical creature, but I think the Twilight films are the template for how to do this mythical age gap correctly. I know, "right" and "Twilight films" are not words I ever thought I'd pair together, but hear me out: Kristen Stewart and Robert Patterson both looked same age (and were the same age), and that is what made Twilight socially acceptable to watch. He was not her teacher, but her classmate. (There are other moral issues with that story, but that's a whole other thing lol). In Goblin, the the leads look like they are from different generations because the actors are, and that's what stopped many from loving that romance. Luckily, Lee Dam is not in highschool, but that is still her teacher. Ick.
This unsavory pairing resulted in the most non-existent amount of chemistry my eyes have ever been burned with. I had hoped the story would develop the romance out in a way that would equal the playing field for the two, but alas. It's a bummer because I actully really liked Lee Hye Ri and Kim Do Wan's acting and thought they fit the college roles well. Jang Ki Yong was giving nothing but old man energy. I'm still baffled that they are only 2 years apart. It's a Legend of Shen Li situation all over again lol.
I really liked the fantasy element, just not enough to have me push through a story that lost its intrigue.
Story=2, Acting=1.5, Production Quality=3, Rewatch Value=1, Ending=2, Enjoyability= 2
What is a Gumiho?
"A gumiho or kumiho is a creature that appears in the folktales of East Asia and legends of Korea. It is similar to the Chinese jiuweihu, the Japanese kitsune and the Vietnamese hồ ly tinh. Gumiho is a term that originally referred to a magical fox appearing in Korean novels of the Joseon dynasty, or was used pejoratively in historical records of the same period to denounce treacherous officials. In modern Korea, the designation gumiho has been broadened to encompass all fox spirits described in traditional Korean sources." @Wikipedia
The Gumiho are often the subject of fantasy K-Dramas and you can see them make an appearance in the following dramas: Tale of the Nine-Tailed (2020), My Girlfriend is a Gumiho (2010), Kangchi, the Beginning (2013), and No Tail to Tell (2026).
Why I dropped:
No Chemistry between leads
The ML was not giving much
Story lost its intrigue
Trailer:
Director: #NamSungWoo (Kill It, Weightlifting Fairy Kim Bok Joo, Because This is My First Life, 100 Days My Prince, My Lovely Liar)
Screenwriter: #BaekSunWoo (Dr. Slump, What's Wrong with Secretary Kim)
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#MyRoommateisaGumiho #MiniReview #SpoilerFree #ParkKyungHye #ChoiWooSung #KimDoYeon #KimKangMin #BangEunJung #KangMinJi #ParkWonHo #KimHyunChi #LeePungWoon
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