You know what? I really, really wanted to like this week's episodes, but the drama seemed to be hellbent on ruining my enjoyment as a viewer.

I still like the insight we got into the k-pop idol world. Especially with Dal ready for a war, she became this perfect "guide" to introduce us to the crazy that was entertainment business' ridiculous reality. From the overdone and utterly age-inappropriate aegyo, the pretend reality show, the public's obsession over exposed abs and on-stage sexy moves, the frankly weird and downright embarrassing concept, to all those endless "shipping". I kept having weird flashbacks about things I've watched from the idol groups I enjoyed, and that added a layer of fun into the experience, which I like.

I was even ready to like the more serious insight the drama offered us, despite all the dramatic exaggeration and the slightly-comedic take it chose to employ. The critique about twisted article and malicious comments, the spotlight on sponsorship issue and suicide cases. I know the drama couldn't stay purely comedic from start to finish, so I really wished these was the serious conflicts we actually have to deal with.

Instead we got a series of very unimaginative evil deeds from The Evil One, with him continually making new minions and turning potentially interesting characters (whom I always felt modeled after common characteristics found among people in ent. industry) into boring sidekicks. And the fact that this disappointing part of the show actually got more and more allotted time as the story went on doesn't bode well for my future enjoyment. I want my ridiculous and weirdly realistic show back.

I accepted that the show can't do away with the evil bits because it would mean that Rembrary also can't exist, but it is asking too much of the audience to sit through the boring evil fights and threat. So, I just fast forwarded a lot of the baddie scenes to the point of having no clue about what's even going on in the drama. Rembrary's sexy dance practice was hilarious and his subsequent open talk with the group leader was nicely done, but the show loses its essence whenever it focuses on evil. I feel bad for the leads because they are giving it their best, but the plot direction is falling apart.

I like everything about this show except for the evil part. The big bad is not even scary just annoying. And the show had to add more evil not less. I just want the two evil beings to fight each other and leave Rembrary alone. That would be a nice plot twist.

As for Rembrary, our boy is in a serious pickle. He can't break his celibacy vow; he would feel too guilty. Even if he does stay, will he just give up on going back to his own world? He can't even date as an idol so......where are they even going with this? I ship them but the upcoming angst is more than I can handle.

Echoing other comments here - where did my happy pill show go? Yes, it was never ONLY comedy and idol life meta, but ep1-4 managed to maintain perfect balance between hilarious and dark stuff, but this week... *sigh* Jokes were still good, but I'd like more of them and less of cultist wars. Does some evil deity pretend to be Redrin on Earth and that's WHY Rembrary ended up here - to fix the issue as her holy champion? And he probably landed on Yeon Woo's body because Yeon Woo himself was involved with the cult... Nice to see it all finally starting to make some sense, but still, kpop hijinks are the best part of the show and once you largely take them away...

But forget about lost opportunities for more kpop fun (tho I'm still bitter we didn't get to see Rembrary performing sexy dance on stage lol) and let's focus on the really off moment here - romance. I voiced my worries last week about how hard it's gonna be for writer(s) to make ship sail convincingly and, sadly, I was proven right - they didn't bother with a smooth progression of our celibate hero's feelings AT ALL. Just where did his sudden jealousy over Dal's fangirl attachment to Yeon Woo come from? It's been only few days since he was rooting for them together! Did I miss something? Well, there was this passing reveal of Yeon Woo actually NOT being the person Dal comfortingly chatted with on fansite all this time (that's Jung Seo) and Rembrary being his caring self probably took it to heart, deciding to keep the bitter truth from her for now, but was that the only reason? Or we should "blame" that saccharine moment between the two when she distracted him with food talks and skinship while he was stitched? Don't get me wrong, they HAVE chemistry - I really appreciate this effortless, lazily sexy vibe KMK has because it's: a) pleasant to watch, b) makes his chaste role even funnier - and I'm not completely against romance here like some other people, but it has to make sense! Grandpa Rembrary is a bit too old and, as we found out recently, too seen-it-all to go full thorn birds over some mere touching from a woman. I also find his refusal to tell Dal about his pre-religion love life confusing - why? He just shared much more intimate memories with her willingly so it shouldn't be a big deal, right? Was he just trying to avoid an awkward for his status theme or is he not THAT chaste after all? If it's the latter, show should've hint at him still having some suppressed desires sooner, sorry. He even started to behave more juvenile all of sudden! At least Dal still calls him grandpa and he's fine with it lmao. And if we indeed had to go the sudden love epiphany route, it should've been the moment of Dal's confession in Ep6 - I admit, what she said to him there would've been enough to give ANYONE a pause, century of celibacy or not. But no, apparently it was the moment when he realized HER feelings, not his own... Such a lost opportunity.

P.S. All this time I...

So far this drama is hitting all the right notes for me. I think the 12-episode structure actually work against it, as the show is not able to delve as deeply into other parts of the story which have gotten people's interest, like the background of the other members of Wild Animal, and also a slower and more detailed progression of feelings between Rembrary and Dal. Perhaps this is one of those situations where 16 episodes would be better suited.

I actually think the way how the friendship and subsequently feelings between Rembrary and Dal have developed make sense. Both of them come from a background of profound loneliness, and they are drawn to each other by the other's sincerity, even if they don't always understand where the other is coming from all the time. I'm not surprised at Rembrary's protest at Dal looking at Yeon Woo as her resting place instead of him (I appreciate how the show slipped that in). She's been his guide in this realm and also the one who has helped him the most and tried to understand him the most. Likewise, he's been the priest-counselor-friend who sees her pain and also cares about her. While Dal's last sentence at the end of Ep 6 can be interpreted as a confession, for me, I interpret it as more of her desire to know him as a person, and not as the pontifex. Of course, now Rembrary has to figure out how he's going to respond to that, and that's just one of many reasons why I'm looking forward to the next episode.

I didn't understand why Rembrary was arrested for the sponsorship thing; I don't even understand why having a sponsor is a problem. Don't all celebrities want sponsorships and endorsements?
And why would he be arrested because she embezzeled from her company?
That guilt by association rationale in Korea is... frustrating to say the least. (God, I'm feeling so sensitive to this type of thing)

I laughed a few times during this weeks' episodes but the moments that stand out are when Rembrary was cursing Yeon Woo, the intensity in which he cringed over all the gestures he is supposed to make, when he displayed some jealousy that Yeon Woo was Dal's happy space, and when he was embarrassed over seeing his acting haha.
It tickles me when actors have to portray "bad" acting (sidenote: if anyone knows the American show Supernatural, you know what I'm talking about. That was like a masterpiece in layered acting haha). Rembrary is always so unfazed by his actions or how he's preceived by others so it was really funny to me seeing him actually being affected by his own actions.

I truly didn't even remember the guy with the dyed hair was the maknae of the group. I keep forgetting he even exists. What are they doing with the group characters?! In show, they seem so uncool and underprepared and then from a viewer's perspective, they're underdeveloped and underused.
It might even make sense for the perpetually angry member to become an evil minion since he's in close proximity to Rembrary and he seems to have alot of negative emotions which the evil one preys on (or uses as an opening). At least that would give him something to do.

I want to know what Kasy and Liz did that was so "wrong" that the media and public turned on them and pushed them into having panic attacks and suicidal ideation. Why do I get the feeling it's going to be something petty or something truly not worthy of whatever backlash? Like what could Kasy have possibly done on a variety show that was so mortifying?

I recently watched a video about the hypocrisy of selling the BL angle while the country itself is pretty conservative (to put it nicely) and that's what came to mind seeing how Rembrary keeps ending up in situations where they are selling that image (I did chuckle at his reaction to seeing the video haha. "What is going on in that PD's head?! Haha).

I already expected The Evil One to be an "evil for lulz" type so nothing surprising there but a cult coopting Rembrary's religion or the Redlin deity possibly being the big bad was unexpected.

Also expected was the second manager (from the afterlife/underworld/wherever he's supposed to be from) not doing much and leaving most of the work to Dal. Though I did kinda think he would be hovering more around Rembrary but I guess now he's working on trying to find the cult.

Just one question.."Yeon-woo" has gone through so much in such a little time span, including almost dying...where is his family? Is he an orphan? Is Rembrary not curious about it? And what about Dal? Considering she now knows Rembrary's identity, shouldn't she at least once voice out her concern for Yeon-woo's parents, if they exist that is? Answer me drama!

My head is spinning because of the multi realms.

I hung on as long as I could, but this is a drop.

Episode 6 did not right this sinking story ship. Adding another universe to the mix is like adding too much MSG to a failed soup. The new road manager brought ZERO understanding or movement for the main storyline. The script is going nowhere but sideways. To be honest, Kim Min-Kyu is not carrying the show as the ML. He is not a dynamic protagonist. All the antagonists who actively oppose or are hostile to him are one flat-note paper characters. The Evil One is only a mind-control freak (is that his only power?) The new female cult leader seems to be just like the Evil One with unclear motives and no direction.

What is also annoying is that every weekly “scandal” is magically tuned 180 degrees with little to no effort. The k-public is not that forgiving and apparently neither am I. Liz Ri's "recovery" shows the weakness hard wired into the ML show notes: he has not learned that his actions have consequences in this world. If the end game is that his unchanging pious principles will win the day, a white-bread only diet is not appetizing to me.

Thanks for the recap! I could see some of the seams breaking at we reach halfway point, but still, this drama just makes me feel warm and happy. I think the emotional connections feel authentic enough and are holding the drama together.

I was happy to see Park Sang Nam, but Gam-jae feels very out-of-place and no one is commenting on how weird it is that this dude with idol-esque good looks wearing a sharp, expensive suit is working as a road manager. I did LOL when he disappeared for a long amount of time (despite being a road manager...and Dal was doing all the work) and the CEO was like "where have you been?" And I'm like "why are you paying him to do nothing?"

As I am watching Peak time, the reality, I really wanted to see more of Wild Animals and the way they try so hard to keep their dream alive. I think one of the most interesting things of the drama would have been to watch how the group became united again thanks to Lembrary and maybe get that success they have been working for... but what do we see? When do they practice? And what? They don't even share a bond, not even a working bond. They seem to be fed up of each other. It would have been nice the drama went that path, but I guess it will go with the magical bond as it has gone with the way celibate Lembrary is falling for Dal. Don't get me wrong, she's a woman any man should fall for, but...

I'm also tired of Evil One and Evil Two, that seems to be on Earth impersonating Redrin... are they husband and wife? What is this whole plot about? And most important... do I care? (Probably not).

I’m not following as closely as some since this is one of my chore-accompaniment dramas, so I’m not disappointed in the least. Plus, Kim Min Kyu is a delight. It’s fun to see him play the Ultimate Innocent character. As for his past love life, I think it would spoil things if that was revealed at this point. We can’t advance that plot too quickly.

I’m so confused by the Devil Cloaked Priestess who appears to mediate Redlin. Is Redlin not actually good? The only Font of Goodness character we’ve actually met is Rembrary, and he’s a little on the naïve side. If he’s been deceived, maybe Rembrary won’t feel bound by his vows and that will resolve the budding romance. I love me a beautiful platonic friendship, but there are too many unacknowledged feelings here, so that’s not going to work. But it’s also hard to see how anything romantic will work between an interworld couple. I’m interested to see how they spin this.

I definitely foresee Rembrary recognizing his feelings once Dal is endangered. Maybe it will trigger memories of family/friend/beloved destroyed by the Devil.

I just finished the first episode and I like it! I'm hooked and I hope to stay that way.

i cant believe im actually enjoying this show???

i guess i really missed the light-hearted fun in fantasy kdramas and KMG & GBK are doing so well with their roles (SO happy to finally see KMG & GBK as leads in a comedy drama theyre hilarious) Im just ffwding through "the evil one" and his antics cuz imma be honest hes not a memorable character and a really underwhelming villain.

but damn that grim reaper & rembrary gosh two pretty boys :')))

Agree with everyone that the Evils are boring and confusing, and adding more of them doesn't make them any more interesting! Also agree that I would much rather have had more boys'n the band bonding shenanigans and Rembrary actually learning how to be an idol so he can save Wild Animals.

I also wish, instead of multiple random otherworld entities showing up on earth, we had a plot line following Yeon-woo in Rembrary's world. Wouldn't it have been fun to watch KMK being both Rembrary and Yeon-woo?

Anyway, I'm still watching because there are fun scenes and I have nothing else to watch right now!

Thanks for the enjoyable recaps! I also dropped this show. I found all of the evil factions too tedious, and the fun parts weren't all that fun. Such a shame for a likable and talented cast.