Black

Synopsis:

Ha Ram has the ability to see shadows when a person is about to die and if she touches it, she can see how it will happen. Because of her ability she didn’t live a good life. Her mother left her and her father when she was little because of her gift. She was teased and bullied by her classmates. And, being with someone special becomes an impossible thing for her. She also ends up blaming herself when she can’t do anything to stop the tragedy that’s about to happen. There are only 2 people who love and accepted her for who she was, her father and her friend and first love, Kim Joon. One, died and the other, she lost in touch. So, when she finally got reunited with Kim Joon, or so, she thought, she can’t help but be ecstatic. However, meeting Kim Joon brought into surface the need for her to use her gift and unbeknownst to her, Kim Joon is not anymore Kim Joon after a certain incident but a grim reaper, known as Black or Grim Reaper No. 444, who is in a mission to find his grim reaper partner who jump ship and violated the rules of grim reapers. Black and Ha Ram ended up unravelling the secret buried 20 years ago and solving the mystery behind many deaths including Ha Ram’s father. Against all odds, Black fell in love with Ha Ram but the different worlds they lived in may not make it possible for them to be together in the end.

Characters:

Song Seung Hun as Black | Han Moo Gang
Choi Seung Hoon as Child Moo Gang
Go Ah Ra as Kang Ha Ram
Ok Ye Rin as Child Ha Ram
Choi Myung Bin (최명빈) as Young Ha Ram
Lee El as Yoon Soo Wan | Kim Sun Young
Song Soo Hyun as Young Sun Young
Kim Dong Joon as Oh Man Soo
Lee Seung Woo as Child Man Soo
Lee Gun Ha as Young Man Soo
Jo Jae Yoon as Grim Reaper No. 007
Lee Kyu Bok as Grim Reaper No. 416 | Jang Hyun Soo
Jung Joon Won as Young Hyun Soo
Kim Won Hae as Na Kwang Kyun | Crazy Dog
Jung Suk Yong as Bong Man Shik
Lee Chul Min as Oh So Tae
Heo Jae Ho as Park Kwi Nam
Lee Hyo Je (이효제) as Kim Joon | Han Moo Chan
Lee Do Kyung as Oh Chun Soo
Choi Min Chul as Oh Man Ho
Ji Soo Won as Park Ji Soo
Lee Kwan Hoon as Chen
Lee Hae Young as Min Jae Hoon
Kim Jung Young as Choi Soon Jung
Lee Shi Won as Young Soon Jung
Kim Hyung Min as Kang Soo Hyuk
Go Seung Bo as Hoon Suk
Park Jung Hak as Kang Ha Ram’s Step Father
Woo Hyun as Wang Young Choon
Cha Chung Hwa as Clara
Kim Jae Young as Leo | Kim Woo Shik
Jun Jin Seo as Child Woo Shik
Park Doo Shik as Je Soo Dong
Bae Jung Hwa as Han Jin Sook
Kim Bo Kyung as Young Jin Sook
Yoon Seung Hoon as Dan Ho Bak
Oh Cho Hee as Tiffany | Lee Young Hee
Lee Yong Nyeo as Hwang Mi Ja
Lee Go Eun as Hyo Jin
Seo Young Hwa as Kim Joon’s Mother
Kim Young Sun as Oh Man Soo’s Mother
Choi Bum Ho as Song Jae Geun
Kim Tae Yool as Gun Young
Joo Suk Tae as Kim Chul Soo
Kang Tae Young as Gun Young’s Mother
Heo Tae Hee as homeroom teacher
Song Min Hyung as Woo Byung Shik
Lee Joon Seo as Park Seung Chul
Noh Tae Yub as Steven
Lee Dal as Son Byung Ho
Yun Je Wook as Lee Byung Tae
Lee Doo Il as Kim Young Suk
Kwon Hyuk Soo as Choi Geun Ho
Kim Tae Woo as Grim Reaper No. 444

My Review:

I watched this K-drama because it is about grim reapers and wanted to see if it is better than “Goblin”, which, by the way, became very popular, loved by many and won awards. Against popular opinions, I thought “Goblin” was a mess and was overrated. But, I am not reviewing here “Goblin” and I can truly say, Black is 100% better in logic, story and delivery than “Goblin”. Though, it may not be perfectly presented as well and have some issues in consistency, but, at least, the story and the suspense it brought to me was a lot, lot, lot preferable than “Goblin”.

So, What do I Like About this K-Drama?

(1) The depiction of Song Seung Hun as Black was excellent. He truly brought his A-game and hands down the reason why the drama has properly delivered an exciting story to watch.

(2) The rest of the actors have done their share to make it worthwhile to watch. I particularly enjoyed the comic relief brought by the 2 grim reapers, Jo Jae Yoon as grim reaper No. 007 and Lee Kyu Bok as well as Jung Joon Won as grim reaper No. 416.

(3) I love the way the director presented the story. It made you think and not just lay the story out there. There are also a lot of surprises on the manner the mystery unfolded. It was truly a thrill to watch and very hard not to get excited on the next episode.

(4) Unlike other k-dramas that you already know who the villain is or are, this k-drama successfully surprised me. It keeps you guessing until the end.

(5) I love the soft English melody of its OST. It soothes me after being on the edge of my seat with the suspense it brings.

What I do Not Like About this K-Drama?

As I’ve mentioned, this K-Drama, though, I thoroughly enjoyed and will highly recommend for others to watch, is not perfectly done. There are times that it frustrates me because the mistakes can relatively and easily be fixed by the writer and the director.

(1) There are some scenes that are totally impossible for humans such as the killer who doesn’t die even if he was already beaten up, stabbed in the neck and arms, etc.

(2) There’s no consistency on a lot of things. One, the make-up for the injuries of the characters is consistent in time line for others but not to all such as on Episode 9 on Black.

(3) Creating a show that deals with out of this world topics is quite hard to do particularly in being constant in the logic on how they bring the story. The audience must be able to believe that the illogical can be logical base on the explanation the writer of the show brings to the table to make the entire thing plausible. The rules set by the writer for the phenomenon that’s happening must be true to itself and undeviating to what the writer set-up to do in the first place. This k-drama failed in certain areas on that because the writer ended up, I believe, compromising. This is the reason why some hated the ending. For me, personally, though, the ending was okay. What bothers me is the consistency as to how Black met Ha Ram at the end considering Black’s situation. I will not expound on it as I don’t want to ruin your pleasure of watching. Suffice it to say, the ending became a compromise, thus, it became problematic to those who are for happy ending and for those who wants it to be real and true to life in its depiction.

Would I recommend this K-Drama? Yes

My Rating to this Drama
( See My Rating System: ) 4/5 Stars

OST:

01. Another Me – Min Chae

Play Me:

02. Like a Film – leeSA
03. Take Me Out – Nam Tae Hyun
04. Take Me Out Lyrics Black OST Part 1 – Nam Taehyun (South Club)

For Lyrics in English, Romanization and Hangul, CLICK HERE

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