Synopsis

“Jinxed at First” (“Jinxed”) is about a rising star in the business world, Gong Su Gwang (Na In Woo), whose life falls apart when he accidentally meets a female shaman, Lee Seul Bi (Seohyun).  Born to a long line of female shamans who possess the ability to see the future, Seul Bi and her mother (Yoon Ji Hye) are kept locked away by Geumhwa Group’s CEO, Seon Sam Jung (Jeon Kwang Leol).  One day, by accident, Su Gwang and Seul Bi meet and hold hands.  Legend says that a female shaman brings good luck to the first man whose hand she holds.  On the day they meet, however, Su Gwang returns her to the hotel.  He is accused of kidnapping, loses his promising job offer to work for Geumhwa Group, and his mother is killed.  Su Gwang’s bad luck continues when someone attempts to have him killed.  He wakes up after being rescued by a fisherman.  The fisherman allows Su Gwang to assume the name of his dead son, Go Myeong Seong, and he opens The Lucky Fish Shop in Seodong Market.  Meanwhile, Seul Bi escapes from the hotel where she lives and comes in search of Su Gwang.  Multiple groups try to track Seul Bi down to make her their lucky talisman, but she wants only to be by Su Gwang’s side forever.  Seul Bi lives alongside Su Gwang and befriends the shop owners of Seodong Market, transforming Myeong Seong/Su Gwang from a man of misfortune to a man of luck.  On the precipice of proposing, however, Su Gwang learns that Seul Bi foresaw his mother’s death, but did not prevent it.  While he does not believe that his mother’s death is Seul Bi’s fault, he is devastated and pushes Seul Bi away, resenting himself for getting involved with Seul Bi in the first place.  Crushed, and with nowhere to go, Seul Bi returns to the hotel and lives alongside the CEO’s son, Seon Min Joon (Kim Do Hoon), whom she now serves as his lucky talisman.  Min Joon grants her more freedom than ever permitted by the CEO, but he still suffocates Seul Bi in a genuine effort to protect her.  Min Joon has a deep love for Seul Bi and at first mistakes it for romantic love, but eventually learns that his father is also Seul Bi’s father, making them half-siblings.  After the truth is revealed to the CEO, who was also unaware of Seul Bi’s patronage, he and Min Joon work to protect her from their competitors and other family members who wish to possess Seul Bi and her powers.  The CEO hires Su Gwang as Min Joon’s secretary and the two are finally reunited.  In the meantime, Su Gwang tracks down Seul Bi’s great-aunt, Eun Ok Jin (Kim Bo Yeon), who was once a female shaman but was able to become an ordinary person.  She reveals that female shamans help others avoid misfortune, but the misfortune builds up inside them turning them into witches and cursing the human they serve.  She also reveals that the stone which Seul Bi wears around her neck is the key, and that only upon its destruction – and the destruction of Geumhwa Group, the castle built upon Seul Bi and her mother’s powers – could Seul Bi be free of her powers and the curse.  Seon Dong Sik (Choi Jung Woo), Min Joon’s cousin and competitor, kidnaps Seul Bi and threatens her family and friends, shooting and killing Su Gwang in the process.  After using all of her powers to reverse time and save Su Gwang’s life, Seul Bi suddenly disappears. All of her loved ones search for her, and she is eventually discovered in a small town by the sea, with no recollection of her name or her past. The roles reverse as Su Gwang follows Seul Bi around, waiting for her memories to return.  Though Seul Bi does not regain her memories, she falls in love with Su Gwang all over again.  The two marry and have a son – breaking the cycle of female shamans.  The series ends 5 years later with the implication that Seul Bi’s memories have finally returned.

Seul Bi

Seul Bi is a female shaman of prophecy who has just come into her power.  She and her mother are kept hidden away and almost everything about the outside world is kept from her, making her personality almost childlike.  Everything about the world excites her, and her exuberance for life makes everyone fall I love with her.  Seul Bi wears a stone around her neck, the source of her powers of prophesy.  Seul Bi wears gloves to prevent her from touching others, because when she does, she can see their future.  In doing so, she can help them avoid misfortune and bring them luck, but the misfortune never goes away.  Instead, it builds up inside her, eventually turning her into a witch.  When she escapes from the hotel and is with Su Gwang, she removes them, living free from her caged life.

Seul Bi’s Hair

Throughout “Jinxed,” Seul Bi’s hairstyle is used to convey Seul Bi’s development.  In the beginning, she wears braids and ribbons, much like a child.  The braids and ribbons demonstrate her childlike innocence and inexperience in life.  Her hair is neat and tidy, never out of place, much like a doll.  When she flees the hotel, her braids and ribbons remain, but her hair is often tousled and her curls fly free, symbolizing her freedom from her suffocating life up to that point.  When the truth about Su Gwang’s mother’s death is revealed, Seul Bi returns to the hotel.  Her hair changes with this situation, as the braids and ribbons are mostly gone, representing a loss of her innocence.  Her body language and voice are also calm and restrained, in contrast to her previous exuberance.  In addition, she wears a darker color palette with a lot of navy and black skirt suits and dresses.  This is in direct contrast to the more youthful white and bright colored sweats and t-shirts she wore while living with Su Gwang.  When Su Gwang is hired by the CEO and returns to Seul Bi’s life, her hair is twisted up again, signifying a return to her previous self.  The bows return to her hair.  In addition, her clothes are a light palette again.  When Seul Bi loses her powers – along with her memories – her hair is straight and almost always tied back, representing a more casual, practical, and age-appropriate approach to her hair.   

Gong Su Gwang/Go Myeong Seong

Su Gwang’s promising life is ruined when he comes into contact with Seul Bi for the first time.  He opens the Lucky Fish Shop at Seodong Market, in honor of his mother.  Because he is separated from Seul Bi, however, he is filled with misfortune and is known by the other shop owners as a jinx.  He is kindhearted, though, and when Seul Bi suddenly appears in his life once more, he cannot stop worrying her or helping her, despite upending his life. 

What’s in a name?

Su Gwang discards that name after the attempt on his life, and assumes the name of his savior’s dead son, Go Myeong Seong.  He says he discarded the name because he felt that nothing good ever came of it – Su Gwang’s parents died early, his life was ruined, and there was no one left in his life to appreciate it or him.  But after Seul Bi returns to his life and insists on calling him by the name “Su Gwang” repeatedly, he begins to see the value in it - and himself - once more.  In addition, Seul Bi’s presence turns his luck and makes him a man of good fortune.  Because of Seul Bi, the market people begin speaking to Myeong Seong again.  He is no longer considered unlucky.

Destiny

Destiny is a common K-drama trope that appears several times in “Jinxed.”  When one of the shop owners asks Seul Bi how they met, Seul Bi says “it was like destiny.”  Seul Bi learns from her mother that she and Su Gwang have been connected for a long time.When Seul asks her mother about altering the future she foresees, her mother answers negatively, it is “a fate we cannot change.”  Female shamans are not supposed to change the future they see.  When Seul Bi disappears after stopping and rewinding time, Su Gwang goes to her great aunt for guidance.  “If you two are destined to meet again,” she tells him, “Even if you must circle around the earth, you’ll surely meet again.” 

Seon Min Joon

Min Joon is evidence that one person can break a generational cycle.  Despite the fact that his father, and his father before him, kept female shaman captive in their homes, benefiting from the gift of prophesy, Min Joon was different.  He scolded his father, saying that Seul Bi was not “lost property,” refusing to equate her to chattel like a slave.  He does not intend to use her powers, but wants to protect her from the outside world.  He claims to love Seul Bi, which is surprising given their minimal contact.  But Seul Bi turns out to be Min Joon’s younger sister, which explains his fierce and natural desire to protect her. 

Seon Dong Sik

In contrast, Min Joon’s cousin, Dong Sik, proves that an apple does not fall far from the tree.  Selfish and greedy, this character is annoying start to finish.  Dong Sik’s jealousy of his cousin and his hunger to be acknowledged drives him to manipulate circumstances to feed his power-hungry soul.  Dong Sik kidnaps and threatens people to draw Seul Bi to him, and is responsible for Seul Bi’s final use of her powers which results in her disappearance and the erasing of her memories.  By using the powers of a shaman, there is a psychological toll on the human she serves, which manifests itself in nightmares and delusions.  This process is never explained fully in “Jinxed,” but we see that the curse is inherited, or passed from person to person.  It passes from Dong Sik’s grandfather to Dong Sik’s uncle (Seul Bi and Min Joon’s father), is then assumed by Seul Bi’s mother who uses her powers to save the man she loves, and is ultimately inherited by Dong Sik, presumably as punishment for his actions against Seul Bi.

Seodong Market Business Owners

Trapped in her home with no windows for 20 years, Seul Bi only knows about the outside world through books.  She grows up envying a paper airplane which can fly far away.  The first world she gets to know outside of her “prison” is the Seodong Market and its people.  The people of the Seodong Market are the real highlight of “Jinxed,” providing the heart and the entertainment.  They are embodied by a fantastic ensemble cast.  They begin the K-drama as close-minded and self-serving individuals who view Myeong Seong/Su Gwang as a jinx, and evolve into true friends who are a great source of love and support for both Su Gwang and Seul Bi.  Through Seul Bi’s abilities, both as a shaman and as an effervescent personality, the shop owners of Seodong become a unified group of people, helping each other and supporting one another.  When outsiders come to abduct Seul Bi, they ban together to protect her.  When Seul Bi leaves the Seodong Market to return to the hotel, they admit to feeling “empty inside.”  When the press finds out that Seul Bi and her mother were held captive for 20 years, they appear with great pomp to tell the press how Seul Bi works at their marketplace and is beloved by all.  And when Seul Bi returns to the Seodong Market without her memories, they work hard to help her regain them, but continue with their love and support even when they fail.

Wang Yoon Ho

But out of the entire ensemble, my absolute favorite character is Mr. Wang (Kim Dong Young).  He works as a low-level henchman for a loan shark and begins “Jinx” harassing Myseong Seong/Su Gwang for money owed.  But despite his role, he is a man of principles.  When his partner, Pi Tae Sik (Park Sang Won), suggests that they sell Seul Bi as a sex-slave, Mr. Wang declines, saying that he does not sell people.  Seul Bi manages to elicit his help when Pi Tae Sik sells her behind his, and in return, Seul Bi promises to return the favor and help him.  We learn that Mr. Wang’s son has a form of cancer and needs surgery.  As promised, Seul Bi manages to introduce Mr. Gwang to the best doctor in Korea for his son’s condition.  This introduction results in a miraculous recovery for Mr. Wang’s son and Mr. Wang is so grateful that he swears his loyalty to her.  His help throughout “Jinx” is invaluable and his loyalty never wanes.  Seul Bi and Su Gwang trust him unconditionally and rely on him for many things.  His loyalty is rewarded when Su Gwang is made a director.  He brings Mr. Wang with him and gives him the position of secretary, elevating him to a well-respected status within the business community. 

Negatives

All-in-all, “Jinx” is an interesting K-drama.  But it has many shortcomings.  The plot, for one, is fairly predictable.  Everyone wants the success and power that comes from possessing a female shaman, so naturally, the plot is all about possessing Seul Bi.  The “good” characters – Su Gwang and Min Joon – want to possess her love; the bad characters – Dong Sik and his father – want to possess her abilities. 

In addition, the storyline leaves too many questions unanswered.  For one, almost everything about Mr. Go (Yoo Ha Bok), the man who “rescues” Su Gwang after his attempted murder, is confusing and unnecessary.  There are so many twists and turns regarding Mr. Go that are not fully explained.  Is he actually Su Gwang’s real father?  Also, how and when the curse is passed on is never fully explained.  It passes to three people in the 16-episode K-drama, but each time the transference is different.  Once is with the power of a bracelet, once is via the power of a female shaman, and once is just…magically…by an unknown method…because he deserves it?  And when Seul Bi’s mother takes the curse from the CEO, it seems she does so with the last of her power and dies.  Her body goes limp and the CEO cries.  But then we see her later in a state similar to the CEO’s previous state, only slightly better, as she – like the grandfather – seems capable of speech.  As they sit talking about regrets, however, she seems to die, (again), as her body goes limp and the CEO cries.  In a later episode, we see the CEO sitting alone in the same spot, but nothing is ever said of her passing.  What exactly happened?  And has anyone told Seul Bi? 

“Jinxed” is also filled with many awkward moments between Seul Bi and her family.  The cause is sometimes the writing and sometimes the acting/directing choice.  In a twist, we learn that the CEO is Seul Bi’s father.  There is a scene where he thinks back on a single time with her and cries.  It feels so insincere that I was not shocked that Seul Bi does not flock to him with open arms.  But the really awkward moment occurs when we realize that Min Joon is her half-brother, making the moment he tried to kiss her nothing short of cringeworthy.  And yes, he explains that his feelings were a misplaced desire to protect her as her oppa, or older brother, but the scene was already awkward as she rejects his unwanted advances.  This new revelation adds an extra layer of creepiness. 

But perhaps the most disappointing element in “Jinx” is the flat relationship between the Lead Couple.  The love between Su Gwang and Seul Bi never quite feels convincing.  Their love is supposed to be sweet and innocent, but manages to come across as a bit bland.  Despite the tears, the passion does not translate on screen, resulting in zero swoon-worthy moments.

Final verdict: SKIP  

“Jinx” takes a supernatural look at shadow and light, and the people you can find within each.  We see how the sweet and innocent Seul Bi comes dangerously close to embracing the dark when those she loves are threatened.  And we also see the importance of surrounding oneself with people who are rooting for your success, as opposed to those who are jealous or trying to knock you down.  But outside of the actors at the market, including Mr. Wang, most of the acting is pretty disappointing.  There is no chemistry between the Lead Couple, who spends most of the K-drama separated.  And too many questions are left unanswered to feel any sense of closure when the series concludes.  Overall, “Jinx” fell a little flat, landing it on our SKIP list. 

So there it is, our review of “Jinxed at First.”  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!

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