Kokeu: Season of Deity

6/10 is my rating. This is a 2023 South Korean fantasy romance with 16, 70 minute episodes.

First I provide a unique synopsis then review.  I provide a synopsis as with some, particularly Japanese and Chinese dramas, the available synopsis are not very good.  So, I hope to provide another description of the series that might help someone decide whether they want to watch it.

Synopsis

Dr. Han Gye-jeol (Im Soo-hyang) faces many struggles in life. Though working as a doctor, which is her passion, she didn’t excel in her studies and attended a mediocre college. Whenever issues arise—an inevitability in her field—her lack of elite credentials is often brought to the forefront. She is between jobs when she trips and nearly sustains a serious injury or worse, only to be saved by a mysterious man, Do Jin-Woo (Kim Jung Hyun). What she doesn’t know is that this man is no ordinary person—he is an underworld god, known as Kokdu, who was tasked with guiding the deceased to the afterlife after angering the creator. Kokdu (Kim Jung-hyun) inhabits human bodies to fulfill another part of his responsibility: executing immortals who violate supernatural laws. Kokdu inhabits the body of a doctor whom Gye-jeol was working under and, over time, develops feelings for. Their relationship starts out adversarial, but as Kokdu discovers their connection from a past life, he realizes that this unassuming doctor may be the only person with the power to break the curse he’s been placed under.

Review:

The premise was intriguing. I really liked the unique take on this god figure—not a Grim Reaper, but a God of Death who also acts as an angel of vengeance. That was an interesting twist. However, the romance didn’t resonate with me, largely because of the way the female lead character was written. I ended up not liking her much, so I wasn’t invested in her relationship with Kokdu. Despite giving it a low rating, I think it’s worth a watch for supernatural fans, especially for its unique interpretation of this deity’s role. I wouldn’t recommend it for the romance alone—it’s okay and resolves decently, but it’s not the standout aspect of the story.

Spoilers

I can mildly tolerate the female lead being a somewhat incompetent doctor. However, it made no real sense that they chose to make her a doctor with such limited skills, as it had no relevance to the overall story. I’m not sure if they were trying to make a point about elite schools or something, but that aspect just fell flat.

The female lead’s interactions with Kokdu were very frustrating. I get that it would be hard to believe someone was an actual god, so it was easier for her to think it was some kind of multiple personality situation. But when all the evidence was there that he was a god, she never questioned it. When she found out he was a god, her anger about it made absolutely no sense. I thought she was being petty and ridiculous about him fulfilling his duties as a god and killing the bad guys. Even a very basic understanding of gods suggests there are things a deity has to do—things that a higher god or the ultimate god would command. So judging him and making him feel guilty for fulfilling the duties of a god was unreasonable. She had sympathy for really horrible people, like rapists and other evil criminals, whom you would expect a god to judge, jury, and execute. That’s the way of the gods. She was also angry at him for deceiving her, but he did try to tell her the truth. She just never believed him, which was not his fault. So, she was angry with him basically for being a deity, and she acted hostile toward him.

I did not like any of the female characters in this show. The female lead was an incompetent doctor who quit practicing for a large portion of the series, and the second female character was just unlikable. The female lead’s sweet brother falls in love with her former friend, who has always been extremely toxic to her. It might’ve been somewhat forgivable if the friend had come around, but she continued to be a “mean girl” to the main character, even when she was in a relationship with her brother. The second female’s friend was also not very nice. She would give advice to the lead female character, but it was always in a condescending, mean-spirited way. So, virtually all the female romantic partners in this series were not very likable.

It also annoyed me when the female lead insisted on going along when Kokdu was trying to save her brother after he was kidnapped. I mean, if you’re a skilled martial artist or something, fine. But if you’re just going to be baggage, get in the way, and possibly become a hostage yourself, it always seems incredibly selfish and foolish to insist on going. Then, after the explosion happens, she’s shocked when he transports them, and she learns he is indeed a deity. She completely forgets about her little brother and goes off on a tangent about being upset with what he is, and I guess about him deceiving her. She completely stops trying to figure out what’s going on with her brother. So, she was so upset about her brother that she insisted on coming along, saw his cell phone, and got freaked out, but then when something unexpected happened, she completely forgot why she was even there. Was she really that dumb, or just that selfish? Neither quality was endearing.

#KokeuSeasonofDeity #ImSooHyang. #KimJungHyun