Kiss Goblin

Welcome back to *Hallyu Reviews*! We hope you enjoyed Sabrina’s review of **"See You In My 19th Life."** If you missed it, be sure to go back and have a read!
This week, we take a look at “Kiss Goblin.”

**SPOILERS AHEAD!!**

Review by: Sabrina

Synopsis

“Kiss Goblin” is a Korean mini-series about Ban Sook (Bae In Hyuk), a 160-year-old goblin who wishes to become human, and Oh Yeon Ah (Jeon Hye Won), the human who aids him on his journey. To become a human, Ban Sook must kiss 10 women, acquiring a new human emotion with each kiss. The women kiss Ban Sook of their own free will, and their memories of Ban Sook are erased after their kiss. Ban Sook and Yeon Ah’s paths first cross when Yeon Ah witnesses Ban Sook kiss multiple women over a short timeframe, including her best friend. When Yeon Ah confronts him, Ban Sook reveals his true identity and his pursuant of humanity. Initially, Yeon Ah does not believe Ban Sook’s story, but she believes him after an exorcist attempts to kill him in front of her. Grateful when he stands by her side during a difficult situation, Yeon Ah agrees to help Ban Sook achieve his goal of becoming human. Along their journey together, Ban Sook and Yeon Ah fall in love. When Yeon Ah is named by the goblin queen as the 10th and final woman for Ban Sook to kiss, they hesitate, for in so doing, their memories of each other would be erased. Ban Sook decides to remain a goblin and leave the human world rather than forget his love for Yeon Ah. To punish her for interfering with his pursuit of Ban Sook, the exorcist confronts Yeon Ah and threatens to torture her. Unable to let Yeon Ah suffer, Ban Sook appears and saves her. Finally, the two agree to share a kiss and put their faith in each other – that they will once again fall in love, if ever they shall meet. The two are reunited when Ban Sook, now a student at the same university Yeon Ah attends, is paired with Yeon Ah for a class project.

The Lead Couple

Ban Sook is a goblin who wishes to become human. He has lived a lonely existence for 160 years and he no longer wishes to be alone. In order to become a human, he has to kiss 10 women, learning a new emotion with every kiss. But while Ban Sook desires to be human, Yeon Ah is a human who finds most humans suffocating. She works hard as a student at Seorin University and at her part-time job, and she has a couple of good friends, but after her boyfriend cheated on her, she began to believe that most people do not care how their actions affect others.

Ban Sook and Yeon Ah first meet after Yeon Ah witnesses Ban Sook kissing her best friend, Yoon Sul Hee (Lee Se Hee), after seeing him kiss another woman beforehand. When Yeon Ah questions her, Sul Hee has no memory of Ban Sook or the kiss. They meet again when Ban Sook begins working at Yeon Ah’s part-time job. When Yeon Ah confronts Ban Sook about kissing her best friend, he confesses his supernatural identity and tells her that he must kiss 10 women to become human. Yeon Ah does not believe his crazy tale, at first, but she is with him when an exorcist appears and attempts to kill him. Shocked, Yeon Ah grabs the exorcist’s arm and begs him to stop. Both Ban Sook and the exorcist are taken aback by her actions, but Ban Sook quickly recovers and uses his goblin powers to transport them both to safety.

After their first encounter with the exorcist, Ban Sook and Yeon Ah begin to protect one another. When Yeon Ah’s ex-boyfriend and friend disrespect her, Ban Sook confronts them and stands by Yeon Ah’s side. When the exorcist appears before them again, Ban Sook pushes Yeon Ah out of harm’s way. In turn, Yeon Ah, jumps in front of the exorcist to save Ban Sook from being stabbed. When the exorcist reveals that he cannot kill a human, Ban Sook and Yeon Ah decide to team up. In exchange for paying rent and doing all of the household chores – which allows Yeon Ah more time to focus on her studies – Yeon Ah provides Ban Sook with a place to live and agrees to accompany him on the rest of his missions, protecting him from the exorcist.

Exorcist

The exorcist (Jang Eui Soo), is a human whose mission is to kill goblins before they can become human. When a goblin kisses someone, their goblin energy spreads and the exorcist is able to sense it. He then comes to the goblin to try and kill them. To prevent him from being killed by the exorcist, the goblin queen (Lee Jung Min) instructs Ban Sook to immediately leave the area after kissing a human. After his 5th kiss, however, Ban Sook encounters Yeon Ah crying in a stairwell, and he stops to help her. Because he helps Yeon Ah, Ban Sook fails to leave the area in time and is discovered by the exorcist. But before the exorcist can slay Ban Sook, Yeon Ah interferes yet again, saving Ban Sook’s life for a second time. During this encounter, the exorcist frustratingly reveals that he is unable to kill humans, the beings he is sworn to protect. Yeon Ah’s presence at Ban Sook’s side keeps him alive. Taken aback by her actions, Ban Sook asks her to stay by his side and protect him until he can complete his mission. The two form an agreement, Ban Sook will pay Yeon Ah’s rent and act as her house maid, allowing her to focus on her studies. In exchange, Yeon Ah will provide Ban Sook with a place to live and help him on his journey to become human, protecting him from the exorcist.

Goblin Queen

The goblin queen is the leader of the goblins. She is the one who meticulously selects the women that Ban Sook must kiss. She reveals that no goblin has ever managed to become human. We learn throughout “Kiss Goblin” that the goblin queen was also once in pursuit of becoming human, but she failed to kiss her 10th human. The 10th kiss must come from a human who truly loves the goblin. Like Ban Sook, the goblin queen was in love with her 10th kiss, but while a goblin’s live is eternal, a human’s life is limited. Therefore, she chose to remain a goblin. Through Ban Sook’s journey, however, she comes to regret her decision. Her story arc takes an interesting turn when we learn that the 10th human whom she was supposed to kiss is none other the exorcist who is hunting Ban Sook. “Kiss Goblin” ends with their story unresolved, but with the possibility of love, should the goblin queen choose to follow Ban Sook’s path and finally become human.

운명 Fate/Destiny

“Kiss Goblin” addresses the question of fate. It asks the question, if you are fated to be together with the one you love, will you find one another no matter what? Will your destiny draw you to one another? Ban Sook believes that their fate will bring them back together. Yeon Ah does not believe in fate. She does, however, believe in love. And she believes that since they like each other as they are, they will like each other again, even without their memories. After Ban Sook completes his mission and their memories of their time together are erased, the two are reunited when Ban Sook becomes a fellow student at the university which Yeon Ah attends. The two are classmates and – thanks to a little help from the goblin queen – are paired up as partners on a class project.

Emotions 1-9

The first 5 emotions Ban Sook learns by kissing humans are emptiness, compassion, sadness, anger, and joy. With emptiness, Ban Sook feels alone and seeks to change that. We see his compassion when he offers Yeon Ah a chocolate milk to comfort her. With sadness, Ban Sook shares a beer with Yeon Ah and they determine there is no real solution to sadness.

Anger and joy serve as turning points in the storyline. It is after experiencing anger that Ban Sook comes across Yeon Ah crying in the stairwell and it spurs him into action. He helps her to confront two men who are objectifying and demeaning her. And like anger, joy impacts the story because Yeon Ah notes that Ban Sook is smiling for the first time when he comes to walk her home one evening, keeping her safe.

The next 4 emotions are desire, infatuation, fear, and happiness, and they really serve to drive the story. After his 6th kiss, Ban Sook, for the first time, feels desire for Yeon Ah. He and Yeon Ah go grocery shopping together like an ordinary couple. But it is not just Bon Sook who has learned to smile - Yeon Ah is also smiling more, as she enjoys the way Bon Soon cares for her and looks at her. “You cannot lie when you like someone,” she says in a voiceover. “It is there in the way you look at them.” Bon Sook continues to grow emotionally, vowing to be the kind of man that Yeon Ah likes - one that is kind and compassionate and thinks about the needs of others. Yeon Ah is also changing, as she begins to realize that she cannot just be Ban Sook’s friend.

The 7th kiss brings infatuation and both of their hearts begin to really flutter. Up to this point in “Kiss Goblin,” Ban Sook’s friendship with Yeon Ah is the highest form of love that he has experienced, but he begins to crave more. For her part, Yeon Ah begins to find Ban Sook sexy. The funniest emotion is fear, in which Ban Sook runs to Yeon Ah for protection when he sees the curtain moves on its own. She kindly explains that it is the wind. After fear, however, Yeon Ah’s frustration begins to build because they are both overwhelmed and confused by their new emotions. For just like, Ban Sook, some of these emotions are also new to Yeon Ah. Unfortunately, Yeon Ah’s self-defense mechanism is to give up on her feelings for Ban Sook before her feelings become too deep, and she leaves him to have a drink with a friend. While Yeon Ah is gone, Ban Sook receives his assignment for his 9th kiss and he is left to tackle it on his own. Though confused in her feelings, Yeon Ah realizes that her anger left Ban Sook unprotected, and she leaves her friend to run to him. Unfortunately, she arrives too late and discovers that he has been stabbed by the exorcist. It is only from the fear of losing him that she is finally able to admit her feelings. Yeon Ah vows that she would do anything to save Ban Sook, and the goblin queen appears. She heals Ban Sook’s wound and helps Yeon Ah take him home.

The 10th Emotion

The 10th and final human emotion that Ban Sook learns is love. For the 10th kiss, the goblin must kiss someone who truly loves them, and for Ban Sook, that person is Yeon Ah, assigned by the goblin queen as his 10th and final kiss. The two admit their feelings for one another and decide they will begin dating after the 10th kiss. But what they are unaware of is, that once the goblin and human share their kiss of true love, both of their memories are wiped clean and their time together is forgotten. For this reason, no goblin has ever been able to become human, as no goblin has ever been willing to sacrifice their memories of their one and only experience with true love. Ban Sook fears that, if they both forget each other, he will once again be alone. But what he fears even more is forgetting the precious memories that he has made with Yeon Ah. Giving up on the final mission means that Bon Sook must leave the human world, separating them forever, arguably, a punishment arguably worse than forgetting their time together. But when the exorcist appears and prepares to torture Yeon Ah in order to summon Ban Sook back, Ban Sook appears and saves her life. The two talk about their fears and ultimately decide to put their faith in each other, sharing a kiss, and completing Ban Sook’s journey to become human.

The Color Yellow

While color psychology and symbolism can be a subjective field, yellow is often a color associated with positive feelings – happiness and hope. The color yellow appears multiple times throughout “Kiss Goblin,” most notably in the scene following Ban Sook’s 5th kiss, which represents the human emotion of joy. As stated above, this emotion serves as a turning point in the storyline. Up to this point in the K-drama, both Yeon Ah and Ban Sook have felt alone in the world. Upon experiencing joy, they realize that they now have each other. When Ban Sook comes to walk Yeon Ah home, the color yellow is on display throughout the scene, from Yeon Ah’s yellow phone case and shoes, to Ban Sook’s yellow sweater. The color yellow continues to appear throughout “Kiss Goblin” – the yellow pillow on the sofa, the yellow wall hanging behind the sofa, the yellow leaves on the trees, to name a few. But most notably, the color yellow appears as the color of the jacket that Ban Sook wears after he and Yeon Ah admit their feelings for one another. The vibrant yellow stands in stark contrast to the mostly monochromatic scenes of “Kiss Goblin,” a visual indication of the positive emotions that are growing within their hearts.

Judging Others

“Kiss Goblin” conveys the message that people should be judged by their own merits, not by the actions of others. After Ban Sook’s 5th kiss, the exorcist tells Yeon Ah that Ban Sook deserves to die because he is a goblin and goblins hurt humans. But Yeon Ah bravely replies that while she has not met any other goblins and cannot speak for them, she has met this goblin and he does not deserve to die. This message resonates in today’s world, urging people not to judge someone based solely on the members of a group to which they belong.

Flaw

The only noticeable flaw in the storyline of “Kiss Goblin” is the goblin queen’s backstory. Her argument for why she chose not to kiss her 10th human and to remain a goblin is that human life is finite, but goblins live forever. This argument is illogical, however, because should she have kissed her 10th human, she would have become human herself, thus, possessing a finite life.

Final verdict: MUST WATCH

“Kiss Goblin” is a MUST WATCH! While it may lack the sheer awesomeness of full-length supernatural K-dramas, “Kiss Goblin” is a fun mini-series with a lot of heart. The characters are fun, the kissing scenes are great, and the short length of the mini-series has the added advantage of being able to binge-watch in one day. This is a mini-series that could – and SHOULD – easily be extrapolated to an entire season of full-length episodes, which would allow the storyline to be fleshed out, including diving into the stories of the goblin queen and the exorcist. While I have used endings like this in the past to prevent a K-drama from making our MUST WATCH list, the ending worked for “Kiss Goblin.” While the ending does not offer the closure that I need for my full-length K-dramas, the ending of “Kiss Goblin” left no question that Ban Sook and Yeon Ah would, in fact, be together again. “Kiss Goblin” is a supernatural MUST WATCH for Halloween!

So there it is, our review of “Kiss Goblin.” What did you think?! Thank you for joining us on this journey.

Have a favorite K-drama you think we should review, comment down below!! We look forward to seeing you back again soon!

Up next, “The Matchmakers”

The Matchmakers

See You in My 19th Life

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