Bring It On, Ghost

Welcome back to *Hallyu Reviews!* We hope you enjoyed Sabrina’s review of **"Hotel Del Luna"** last week. If you missed it, be sure to go back and have a read!

This week we take a look at “Bring It On, Ghost.”
**SPOILERS AHEAD!!**

Synopsis

“Bring it on Ghost” (“Ghost”) is about Park Bong Pal (2PM’s Taecyeon or Ok Taec Yeon), a college student who has the ability to see ghosts, and Kim Hyeon Ji (Kim So Hyun), a ghost who is unable to move on to the afterlife nor remember anything about her life or how she died. Bong Pal excels at school, but is a loner. He needs money to have surgery on his eyes to remove his ability to see ghosts, so he hires himself out to help people rid themselves of ghost problems. One evening, he is hired to rid a school of a formidable ghost. It turns out that Hyeon Ji hired him to rid herself of a fellow ghost, a perverted man who preyed on school girls when alive, and attempts to prey on her as she looks for answers to her past. When Bong Pal and Hyeon Ji accidentally kiss during a scuffle, some of her memories begin to return. Bong Pal realizes that the two make a great team, and Hyeon Ji believes that being around Bong Pal may help her regain her memories. Therefore, Hyeon Ji agrees to help Bong Pal vanquish ghosts for money, in return for room and board and help with solving the mystery of why she cannot move on. Over time, the two fall in love and Bong Pal is happy for the first time since his mother was killed by a ghost. But when his mentor, Monk Myeong Chul (Kim Sang Ho), finds out that Bong Pal is dating a ghost, he is enraged. He convinces Hyeon Ji that the best thing for Bong Pal is for her to leave. She does, but both are devastated. While apart, Hyeon Ji sees her mother and follows her to the hospital where she finds her body, lying in a coma for the last 5 years. Hyeon Ji is not a ghost but a wandering soul. Involved in a minor accident while ghost hunting without her, Bong Pal ends up at the same hospital. Hyeon Ji seems him and runs to him apologizing for leaving. She begins to share the news about her body, but disappears, as she wakes up from her coma and her soul returns to her body. When they are reunited at the hospital, unfortunately, Hyeon Ji has lost some of her memory – a side effect of the coma – and does not remember Bong Pal nor their time spent together. Fortunately, even without all of her memories, she falls for Bong Pal again as he works hard to regain her affection. Together with the monk, they work to eliminate the evil ghost that killed Bong Pal’s mother and who is intent on possessing Bong Pal’s body. Afterwards, the pair must be separated for a year while Hyeon Ji returns to her pre-coma life to study and take both the high school equivalency test and her college entrance exams. A year later, she surprises Bong Pal as a freshman in his department at Myeongseong University. Finally, together again, Bong Pal holds on tightly, vowing to never let Hyeon Ji go. He even manages to win Hyeon Ji’s mother’s approval so the two can date openly. The series ends with the two university students vowing to be together forever as they return to their work, this time with the goal of helping ghosts find peace.

Lead Couple

Bong Pal is junior at Myeongseong University studying economics. He has the ability to see ghosts, ever since he was possessed by an evil ghost when he was a child. Raised mostly by his mentor, Monk Myung Chul, Bong Pal uses his ability to see ghosts to exorcise ghosts for money. His goal is to make enough money to have surgery on his eyes to remove his ability, which he sees as a burden. He wants to be able to tackle stronger ghosts and raise his prices to reach his goal sooner. Hyeon Ji is a ghost who is unable to go to the afterlife, but does not know why. She remembers nothing about her life or death, but suspects she must have died with either a lot of grievances or unfairly. She died wearing a school uniform with a nametag, so she spends her time searching the records of various schools in Korea in an attempt to learn her identity. I love her feistiness, both as a ghost and as a human.

Bong Pal and Hyeon Ji are one of the cutest couples in K-dramas. At the beginning of “Ghost,” they aggravate each other like two siblings, but things begin to change over time. Both have lived their last years mostly alone, without anyone to rely on, and they begin to enjoy spending time together and caring for one another. Hyeon Ji gets jealous of Bong Pal’s senior, Im Seo Yeon (Baek Seo-E), both before and after she loses her memory. She is jealous whenever Seo Yeon is by his side or takes his attention. After they help a child ghost, she understands him even more and witnesses him crying in his sleep from painful memories of his mother disappearing. And it is because she comes to care for him so much that she leaves when the Monk convinces her that Bong Pal would be better off not dating a ghost. She witnesses the lonely life he leads and sees the strange looks that he receives when he is out in public with her, and genuinely wants what is best for him, even if it devastates her to leave his side.

In turn, Bong Pal begins to have sympathy towards Hyeon Ji’s situation – a first for him – and ghosts, in general, as Hyeon Ji helps him see that not all ghosts are bad. He says he likes being alone, and that he has always done fine alone, but I love how quickly he adapts to having her by his side. Hyeon Ji is a joyous person, and for someone like Bong Pal who has lived a life of sorrow and solitude, he quickly becomes accustomed to having her happy spirit (see what I did there?) around. He looks for her when she is gone and smiles at her innocent excitement at life, even while pretending to get annoyed by her very presence. He cares for her sweetly, covering her with a blanket when she crawls into bed with him one night, preparing food for her, and protecting her. She aggravates him by following him around, but when she disappears from his side, he misses her and worries if she has eaten.

An important moment in their relationship occurs when Bong Pal takes her to an amusement park as a reward for studying hard for her college entrance exams. They are nothing short of adorable as they run to the Ferris wheel hand-in-hand. Caught up in the emotion of the moment, Hyeon Ji confesses on the Ferris wheel, but promptly disappears out of embarrassment. Later, she asks Bong Pal to forget what she said. Things are uncomfortable between them because they both think the love is one-sided, when in reality, Bong Pal feels the same way but has not admitted his feelings to himself. This is evident in the way he looks at her when she’s not paying attention, like when he sees her in the pink dress he buys her and taken aback by her beauty for the first time. This happens several times throughout the K-drama – when the wind is blowing her hair softly as she sleeps, when she is skipping ahead of him at school, and when she puts on her black ghost hunting outfit off for the first time – as Bong Pal slowly becomes aware of his developing feelings for Hyeon Ji.

But the turning point in their relationship occurs when Hyeon Ji unexpectedly fades away for the first time. The fear on both of their faces when she fades away – especially his – is like a punch to the gut. He panics and shouts out her name. She reappears and he runs to embrace her, his relief evident. “Don’t disappear. Ever again,” he tells her, with tears in his eyes. This moment is impactful because Bong Pal witnessed his mother disappearing. And it seems that this is the moment when Bong Pal admits to himself that he wants to be with Hyeon Ji, allowing himself to think of her as more than a “little sister.”

Minor

The kissing scenes in “Ghost” are a bit lacking, but after researching for my review, I found out that that is for good reason. According to The Fan Girl Verdict, it turns out that the lead actors in “Ghost” have a significant age gap in real-life, making the filming of physical intimacy challenging. When filming “Ghost,” Taecyeon was 27, while Kim So Hyun was only 17 and a minor. That being said, the writing, the acting, and the directing choices were all well-made, combining for a K-drama with emotionally sweet moments between two well-developed and well-acted characters. The interactions between the two leads are playful rather than filled with sexual tension, and the kisses are sweet and innocent, never inappropriate. In addition, Kang Ki Young, who plays Choi Cheon Sang, is also a year older than Taecyeon. This was a smart casting choice. In addition to his great acting and comedic timing, Kang Ki Young is one of my personal favorites, and his presence in the cast prevents Taecyeon from standing out as significantly older than the other actors.

Ghost Club/Sundae Soup & Rice

One of the clubs at Myeongseong University is Ghost Club, whose name changes later in the series to Sundae Soup & Rice (Sundae). With only two members, third year athletic major Choi Cheon Sang (Kang Ki Young) and third year computer and information major Kim In Rang (Lee David), they are desperate to increase their membership in order to remain an active club. They initially try to recruit Bong Pal without knowing of his ability, but he turns them down. Then, they run into him at Seoyi Girls’ High School where they are hoping to capture a ghost on film. The watch him encounter and defeat a ghost – with Hyeon Ji’s help – and become determined to make him a part of their failing club.

Sundae and its members play many important roles in “Ghost.” Cheon Sang and In Rang are definitely the comic relief of the series. And while they are sometimes a bit over the top, you cannot help by laugh at their antics. They also serve as important conduits of exposition. It is from Cheon Sang that we learn that in moments of extreme fear, humans can see ghosts. For example, when In Rang falls down a set of stairs, he catches a glimpse of Hyeon Ji for the first time as she rushes to see if he is okay. And when they are at a psychiatric hospital, they both see Hyeon Ji when she saves them from a hostile ghost.

Cheon Sang and In Rang are also invaluable friends to both Bong Pal and Hyeon Ji. When Monk Myeong Chul asks them to keep tabs on Professor Joo Hye Seong (Kwon Yool) – the human whom the monk suspects is possessed by the same evil ghost who once possessed Bong Pal – they do so despite their fear. And when Professor Joo kidnaps Hyeon Ji, they use their combined skill sets to help track them down. Despite being total scaredy cats, the two go with Bong Pal to rescue Hyeon Ji. Despite being terrified out of their minds, Hyeon Ji is one of them.

Finally, it is through his service with Sundae that Bong Pal evolves from a boy who sees ghosts and holds a grudge against them, to a man who has compassion towards them and decides to help lead them to peace. After Bong Pal’s mother is killed by a ghost, he assumes that all ghosts are bad, and he carries inside himself a deep-rooted grudge against them. The monk profoundly tells Bong Pal that “angry eyes cannot see the world properly.” Through his work exorcising ghosts, he realizes that many ghosts are simply trying to find peace so that they can move on. “There is no better way to become happy than by leading others to happiness,” the monk tells him. And in the end – with the help of Hyeon Ji and his Sundae friends – Bong Pal decides to do just that.

Monk Myeong Chul

Monk Myeong Chul is a friend of Bong Pal’s father and a mentor to Bong Pal. He was once a skilled exorcist. We learn that he was the monk that exorcised the evil ghost that once possessed Bong Pal, but that he carries with him the guilt of not being able to fully eliminate him at that time, as that evil ghost then killed Bong Pal’s mother and then possessed another soul. Since then, the monk has lost much of his abilities. But despite his foolish and clumsy ways, it is the monk who is able to piece together the main storyline of “Ghost,” connecting the dots between Bong Pal, his parents, the professor, and Hyeon Ji.

Joo Hye Seong

My least favorite part of the story is the role of Professor Joo Hye Seong, who is a veterinarian and a substitute professor at Bong Pal’s university. We learn that Hye Seong is possessed by the evil ghost who once possessed Bong Pal, and his sole purpose in life is to retrieve an exorcism tool that can destroy him. Throughout “Ghost,” we learn that the tool was originally ordered by Bong Pal’s mother and placed at her memorial altar upon her death. Many years later, Bong Pal’s father begins to suspect that the evil ghost is after the tool and retrieves it from the altar. But before he can hide it, Hye Seong (who is possessed by the evil ghost) appears at the temple. Bong Pal’s father hastily gives the tool to Hyeon Ji, who happens to be there praying for a good score on her test, and asks her to deliver it to Bong Pal. The evil ghost pursues Hyeon Ji and runs her over, resulting in her coma. Hye Seong is unable to find the tool, however, and continues to stay close to Bong Pal, in case the exorcism tool should appear.

When Bong Pal and company finally succeed in expelling the evil ghost from Hye Seong’s body and destroying it, Hye Seong is still arrested for the multiple murders that he committed while possessed. This seems unfair to Bong Pal who views the professor as another one of the evil ghost’s victims. Monk Myeong Chul says the evil ghost was drawn to Hye Seong originally because of his desire to kill his father – who was abusive to both him and his mother – and that that desire was a punishable sin. It may be a cultural and criminal difference, but I feel that Bong Pal most certainly has a valid point. Hye Seong’s father was physically abusive, and though that does not excuse murder, it certainly paints the situation it in a very different light than if Hye Seong had been a cold-blooded murderer. It may be different in Korea, but crimes of passion (considered second degree murder) are handled differently under the criminal law in the United States than first degree murder. Also, Hye Seong merely has the desire to kill his father, as he does not actually murder his father until the evil ghost possess him, thereby limiting his sin to the THOUGHT of murder, rather than the physical ACTION of murder. In the United States, it is not a crime to think murderous thoughts, but to take action on them.

Final verdict: WATCH

“Ghost” utilizes several of the typical K-drama tropes – romantic fireworks by the Han River, pedestrians hit while absentmindedly crossing at a crosswalk (to be honest, I’m terrified of crossing the street in Korea!), someone experiences memory loss and forgets all about the other, there are multiple parent figures who disapprove of the Lead Couple’s relationship, and the ideas of destiny and fate are brought up multiple times. But that being said, this K-drama has a very unique storyline that makes it stand out from others. The Lead Couple is also adorable, despite the actors’ age difference, and they evolve quite believably from a sibling like duo to a romantic pair. It is a fun and relatively well-paced story with a “ghost of the week” type format similar to “The X-Files,” adding the right amount of suspense to keep the viewer engaged. “Ghost” also deals with the topics of holding grudges and facing one’s fears, two noteworthy topics for all ages. So in conclusion, while there were a couple of elements that prevented it from making the MUST WATCH list, “Ghost” is certainly a well-rounded K-drama that lands it solidly on the WATCH list.

So there it is, our review of “Bring It On, Ghost.” What did you think?! Thank you for joining us on this journey.

Have a favorite K-drama you think we should review, comment down below!! We look forward to seeing you back again next week!

Up next, “Jinxed At First”

Jinxed at First

Hotel Del Luna

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