Oh My Ghost is a 2015 Korean drama. It’s a mix of fantasy, romance, comedy, and a thriller. If you’re not sure what genre you’re in the mood for. This is a good drama to start with.
Genre: Romance, comedy, thriller
Episodes:16
Summary
Na Bong sun (Park Bo Young) works at Sun Restaurant as a dishwasher under Chef Kang Sun Woo (Jo Jung Suk). Bong Sun lacks the confidence to fulfill her dreams–she has a crush on chef and dreams of being a chef herself. But one day a ghost named Shin Soon Ae (Kim Seul Gi) possesses her and eventually gives her the confidence to be herself and follow her dreams.
Review
I love this drama. It is engaging, exciting, and does a good job of giving just the right amount of information with each episode and doesn’t reveal too much at once. Which of course, evokes curiosity up until the very last episode. Soon Ae (the ghost) spends a lot of time in Bong Sun’s body. While watching, I worried whether chef would actually like the real Bong Sun (will the real Bong Sun please stand up?) But as soon as I started to worry, Soon Ae would leave her body and my worries would fade. Also the writers did a great job at making Soon Ae irritating to Chef Kang, revealing that they aren’t completely compatible. Because it seemed like they got along too well sometimes.
The most thrilling part is finding out how Soon Ae died. Instead hinting at foul play in the beginning. The show shows us little by little. It would have been nice to learn a little more about it though. My personal favorite part is that the drama didn’t have too many of the regular Korean drama cliches (thank goodness). Bong Sun does struggle financially and Chef Kang is very successful (as if any woman could fall for a man otherwise). But I like the slow and natural pace of the romance. It felt like Chef Kang and Bong Sun fit well together. The characters even said that Chef Kang has all 4 yang (light, warm, active, sun) and Bong Sun has all 4 yin (dark, cold, passive, moon)–I’m not entirely sure what that means, but it seems that they balance each other out perfectly. I enjoy the maturity that Chef brings. He’s a real man, unlike many male leads in other dramas–being whiny or tsundere (the guys who are jerks and then become nice after a while). Those leads can be exhausting to watch.
Characters
- Na Bong Sun (Park Bo Young): Our female lead. She gets possessed and eventually gains the courage to be herself. In the beginning, she lacks self-confidence, avoids conflict, and is apologetic.
- Shin Soon Ae (Kim Seul Gi): The ghost who must avenge her death. She posseses Bong Sun and unintentionally uncovers her own past life (she forgets it all and assume her death is that of a virgin grudge). She’s aggressive, loud, and caring.
- Chef Kang Sun Woo (Jo Jung Suk): The successful chef and creator of Sun Restaurant. He’s mature, charismatic, and proud.
- Choi Sung Jae (Lin Ju Hwan): Chef Kang’s brother-in-law that worked on the case of Soon Ae. He’s friendly, helpful, and mysterious.
- Seo Joon aka Cordon (Kwak Si Yang): Not a main character, but I added him because he’s one my favorites. He’s observant and well aware of everything going on. He’s been cheering for Bong Sun since she first arrived. I like him.
Story
The story keeps you watching until the very end. When I first started watching it, I thought it was a fantasy romance, but it eventually becomes a thriller. It caught me off guard and I was totally engaged (I also don’t typically watch thrillers). I love Bong Sun’s character growth. Like Cordon, I was cheering for her the whole series. I honestly felt loyal to her so when Soon Ae was spending all the time with Chef Kang, I was annoyed. Overall, the writers were timely. They were timely when they Bong Sun return to her body. Also when they revealed information. Not only did I enjoy Bong Sun’s story, Soon Ae has a good story as well. Little by little everything is revealed. The pacing of the information was is perfect as well as well-placed. I felt like we could have been provided with a little more story towards the end though.
Production/Acting
Park Bo Young does an amazing job playing the two characters. Sometimes it felt as though she really was possessed. She potrays Soon Ae and Bong Song so well. It truly shows her ability as an actress. Although towards the end when Soon Ae started calming down and Bong Sun started to have more confidence, only then did the two characters seems similar.
Music
A lot of the music was instrumental or jazzy. I like it. It give a classy feel to the drama.
The title song reminds me a bit of Harry Potter–it has a magical feel to it.
Park Bo Young sings the song, “leave” which surprises me since I like her acting a lot. And I didn’t know she could sing too. Her music isn’t too bad either.
I didn’t notice how many Korean ballards there were until I actually looked up the soundtrack. There are a lot of good songs to listen to while working (since I’m doing it now as I write).
Best Scenes
I like the drama overall so choosing favorite scenes were somewhat hard. But I have a few that I really enjoyed.
I really enjoyed the scenes when Soon Ae first possesses Bong Sun because they think she’s crazy.
I really love the scenes where it is Bong Sun and Chef Kang.
Quotes
“There’s nothing I’m bad at. I’m good at cooking, good looking, and witty. The heavens are being unfair. Giving me everything.”-Chef Kang “You would be perfect if you didn’t always compliment yourself.”-Eun Hee “That’s the weakness I intentionally created.”-Chef Kang
“You’re born once and you die. You should use everything you want and do everything you want.”-Soon Ae
“No matter how tasty a food is, you’ll get indisgetion if you eat too fast. Getting indigestion of the heart is much scarier than indigestion of the body.”-Chef Kang
Afterthoughts/recommendations
I love this drama. That is all. It has the variety that I need and the pacing that I love.
- Other Korean romance dramas that are a favorite: Oh My Venus, I am Not a Robot, Emergency Couple, Shopping King Louie.
- Fantasy: Goblin, My girlfriend is a Gumiho (9-tailed fox), Secret Garden
- Thriller: Erased, Cheese in the Trap, The Liar Game
- Mature Relationships: Oh My Venus, Descendants of the Sun, You’re My Destiny (2017)
Drama-to-Life
Within each drama I watch, there is always something that I would like to learn more about or would like to try. The following is a list of things that I discovered from Oh My Ghost.
Goji Berry Tea
Chef’s cooking lessons
Learning Korean
Red Bean Popiscle
Culture
Knife Skills
Buckwheat Pancakes
Burnt Pollack Soup
What did you think of this drama?
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