I thought I would have a badass historical drama I would be able to recommend to one of my Internet friend who loves historical drama (even though she surely would take half a century to watch it because her life is busier than mine), and I was bitterly disappointed by this mess. By the way, as you might have noticed, all my reviews are really subjective. Iāll admit it, one of my friend actually liked Bride of the Water God, but I know that Iām more a story line/character evolution girl and I like thriller/mystery/dark/supernatural drama, which Bride of the Water God isnāt even near.
Bride of the Water God is a supernatural romance/(mess). To become the King of the gods (as heās promised since his ābirthā), Habaek has to go on Earth to find the stones as well as answer to the question the high priest asked him about the use of the humans. When he reaches Earth, the narcissist god goes to seek his āservantā who is none other than So-Ah, a psychiatrist in the ditch who is barely able to survive.
As always, I tried to put the less spoilers it was possible in the review, but some might have escaped me, so please stay careful as you read.
As some of you may know, the drama is āinspiredā by the manhwa of the same name. Personally, when the drama was first announced, I became quite interested by what it may be like, so I started reading the manhwa. But, for the few who know the manhwa, youāre already well-aware that itās nothing like the original work, which kind of disappointed me because I was into this manhwa and restrained myself from reading too much because I thought I would spoil the drama. That aside, letās start talking about the plot. The story is mostly centered on romance. The thing is that the romance isnāt really interesting. I mean, it revolves around really dumb moments (who are quite annoying) and a lot of push and pull (who cause a lot of useless drama). Thereās really little progression in the relationship between the two characters, which makes the drama drags quite a bit. The plot stagnates a lot and very little happens in the episodes. Because the pace is really slow, I thought there was a lot of filling scenes, which, at first, were okay, but, with the time, became quite boring. I mean, I have nothing against a few filling scenes, they sometimes help make the drama a little bit more light, but after a time, it just became too much. To me, the drama was too long for the content it had. Also, the plot twists were kind of poor and, sometimes, seemed a little bit forceful. Iām just going to discuss for a little bit about the ending, because I think itās important to explain that. The drama starts with a scene thatās supposed to be the ending, but itās really misleading. I thought it would be a sad drama, but it ends up being some kind of messy ending that, in my opinion, didnāt make a lot of sense. In short, if I could summarize this drama, I would say that itās a series to watch for the actors and nothing else. If you seek a good story, it truly isnāt the drama I would recommend.
So, now, letās talk about the characters. I would tend to say that thereās 3 to 7 main characters. Yes, Iām unsure about how much of them there is because there are four characters that I donāt even consider as main, but some could. The male lead (Habaek) is quite typical. Heās always so sure of himself and narcissist, but becomes a little bit soft with the female lead. For me, there wasnāt much to say about him. He doesnāt really progress and, to the very end, he stays annoying. But, I have to admit that I thought that his relationship with his male god servant was absolutely adorable. The female lead (So-Ah) is too dumb and too emotional. She keeps trying to keep Habeak while not really wanting him. Also, she rarely figures out that something is wrong. I mean, she always think that everything is fine and never takes the hint. For me, the best character was the second male lead. I mean, I wonāt say what he is because it would be a spoiler, but Iāll still discuss about Hoo Ye. He was the one who probably had the more progression and truly changed through the drama. What really changed was his perception of himself rather than his personality and that was great. Also, heās one of the rare character who has a truly developed background as well as a personality of his own. I was badly shipping him with the female lead. It wasnāt that I thought they were a good match (because of how dumb she was), but I thought he was a better choice than Habaek. I wanted him to be happy and the only way by which he was able to accept himself was when he was with So-Ah. Iāll briefly talk about the four characters who could be considered as main, but who, for me, arenāt. First, thereās the male god servant. Heās sweet and quite present, but thatās pretty much everything we know about him. Second, thereās So-Ahās friend who is kind of a psychic, but aside from putting some drama in the story she doesnāt add much. Third, thereās Moo Ra, the second female lead ā I donāt even know if I consider her as a second female lead ā sheās quite useless and I didnāt really like her character. Fourth, thereās the third male lead, Bi Ryum. I donāt have much to say about him. Heās as the second female lead. He adds really little to the story and his character is a bit boring (even though I absolutely love Gong Myung). So, overall, in this drama the characters were quite poor, there was really little progression, way too much minor characters and I didnāt feel as if the antagonist was a true antagonist. I mean, he didnāt really want to cause issues to the others, the gods just kept provoking him while he simply wanted to live a quiet life.
Iāll conclude here because I feel as if I bashed this drama way too much. The plot would be worth a 4.5/10. The characters a 2/5 mostly for Hoo Ye. And the tearjerker factor a 1/5 because the drama was useless and badly done.
