My Demon review: An exciting journey to an underwhelming destination!

In our My Demon review, we talk about Song Kang and Kim Yoo-Jung’s chemistry and the highs and lows of the drama!

My Demon review: Do Do-Hee (Kim Yoo-Jung) is the CEO of a well established food and beverage company. She loves her work but she doesn’t let her guard down in her personal life. The only person she cares about wholeheartedly is Madam Ju (Kim Hae-Sook), her legal guardian who adopted her many years ago after her parents' tragic accident. Meanwhile, Jeon Gu-Won (Song Kang) is a demon who has been around for almost 200 years and hasn’t aged at all. In fact, if anything, it has only added to his glow-up decade after decade. He makes deals with humans who are in desperate need to stay alive. The contract usually lives up to 10 years and on its expiry, he comes to take them back to hell. Making these deals with humans is how he stays alive. But because of an accidental meet-cute between him and Do Do-Hee, there’s so much more to their story than just what’s shown on the surface. Their lives are intertwined in more ways than one and they need each other in order to survive.

There’s also Do Do-Hee’s evil elder brother Noh Seok-Min (Kim Tae-Hoon) who hates her for receiving the kind of love he never could from his mother. He has only one dream and that’s taking over his mother’s throne at their company. He will literally do psychotic things to get there. Not to forget the second leads of this drama, Joo Seok-Hoon aka Lee Sang-Yi has become the flag bearer of the guy who ‘almost’ gets the girl in every drama he is in. There are moments where you suspect him of wrong doings but by the end you’re feeling nothing but sorry for him. Then there’s Jin star (Jo Hye-Jo), who's absolutely annoying from start to end of the story, even causing unnecessary drama and confusion. She’s infuriating but given her past, even her arc is ended in a way where you get where she’s coming from. 

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But the biggest highlight of the story is Song Kang. His portrayal of Jeon Gu-Won is heroic, romantic and he has impeccable comic timing on top of that. Might I say it's his best performance till date. The chemistry between him and Kim Yoo-Jung will go down in K-drama history. It’s quintessential, swoon worthy and of course the enemies to lovers trope can never ever fail you. Also, Kim Yoo-Jung as a CEO has our heart. We love a woman taking charge in K-dramas and Song Kang is her ultimate support system in every decision she makes. The drama had so many edge of the seat plot twists that you long for the next episode all week. Without revealing much, the mid season finale was so thrilling that after that the drama just struggled to keep up with its own standards. This makes you wonder, if the main leads wouldn’t have been so popular, would the drama really gain the kind of views it did? 

When My Demon started on such a high note from the first episode itself, you start expecting a lot from it. But it's disappointing when, by the end, your own theories made more sense than what was actually shown. After exciting plot twists you just keep wanting that ‘oh my god’ feeling in every episode which even the last four put together couldn’t deliver. There was so much potential and so many arcs that could’ve elevated the story but they were just left unfulfilled. Especially the past about Jeong Gu-Won and Do Do-Hee’s first life. It was the perfect villain origin story for him to turn into a demon but it was just left at that. Why wasn’t that used in this timeline in any way at all is a question mark and so is that green manual shown throughout the show for the ‘Demon’. It was guarded and so talked about but wasn’t explored at all. For the longest time most of us expected that to be the way for Jeong Gu-Won to turn into a human. Even Cha Chang-Hwa who plays 'God' in the drama is so interesting as a character but was under utilised in the final moments of the show. 

The visuals of this show are stunning to say the least. Water droplets falling in slow motion, lights, cherry blossoms around them, beautiful houses, the umbrella scene, it all makes their love story even more aesthetically pleasing to look at. And the OST ‘Our night is more beautiful than your day’ by NewJeans adds to the essence of their romance. But all of this were just short moments of happiness between the underwhelming climax it took us to. It felt too easily wrapped up with not much clarity. It didn't even felt like I was watching a K-drama finale. My Demon sure is that rom-com we were all craving for a while and it's packaged in all the typical K-drama elements but fails to leave that everlasting impression on you by the end of it. I was conflicted because I loved the lead pair so much that I will miss them but I'm also dissatisfied with all the loopholes at the same time.

My Demon is currently streaming on Netflix!

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