Aside from the starring heartthrobs for male leads, Train To Busan star Gong Yoo and Hotel King star Lee Dong-wook, here’s a list of reasons behind the Goblin’s ongoing booming popularity!
The 2016 show rose to the top of becoming one of tvN’s highest-rated K-dramas of all time, alongside Crash Landing On You and Reply 1988.
Goblin Became tvN’s Highest-Rated K-Dramas Of All Time
The 2016 tvN series remains one of the most classic and iconic fantasy K-dramas known today because of its booming popularity since its debut.
In the span of its television run, it even scored 18.68% ratings, according to Nielsen Korea.
Another selling point of Goblin: The Lonely and Great God that reeled in its viewers was its fantasy theme amidst the heartwrenching story between the star-crossed lovers, which was at the height of popularity at the time.
I Hear Your Voice (2013), My Love From The Star (2013), and Another Miss Oh (2016) were some of the K-dramas that featured the same dynamic and themes similar to Goblin.
Not to mention, the strong and intense charisma between the actors in playing their roles well, all the while sparking romance with their on-screen partners was definitely the cherry on top for the K-drama to rise all the way to the top of the charts.
YOU MIGHT ALSO BE INTERESTED: Why is Extraordinary Attorney Woo So Popular?
The K-Drama Spurred A Series For The Second Couple
Second couple syndrome is quite common among K-dramas, and Goblin is not an exception.
Thanks to the remarkable performance and chemistry between the Grim Reaper (Lee Dong-wook) and Kim Sun (Yoo In-na), the two actors were highly demanded by fans to do another K-drama starring the two of them as the main couple.
The Grim Reaper and Kim Sun’s intense chemistry as a couple sent fans over the edge once the series revealed they were the reincarnated versions of King Wang Yeo and the Queen.
Even when the K-drama ended, they still had yet another reincarnation: as actors this time, with the catch being that Sun has a huge crush on Grim Reaper instead of the other way around.
Many believed that tvN's next K-drama would be a spin-off continuation between their characters in Goblin, however, it is not.
Because of their success as a power couple, they ended up starring together again in their own Romance K-drama, Touch Your Heart, in 2019.
This time, Yoo In-na plays an actress who must study how to act like a lawyer for a television series, while Lee Dong-wook is her cold-hearted boss at the law firm.
Goblin Faced Multiple Controversies Over Its Television Run
Believe it or not, Goblin faced controversial issues over its runtime on television.
The first main concern of its viewers was the awkward and overt placement of products.
While it’s normal for K-dramas to advertise products snuck within each episode, it’s gotten too out of hand to the point that it distracted viewers from the story.
If you remember the Twilight trend of Jacob ‘marking’ Bella’s daughter, Renesmee, right at birth, you’ll know exactly what comes next.
Surprisingly, the K-drama revealed the huge age gap between Kim Shin (900 years old and physically looks like a man in his mid-30s) and Ji Eun-tak (canonically, 19 years old when she met him).
Although 19 years old is recognized as the legal age in Korea, no one could deny the huge age gap the show was promoting.
Under the guise of a fantasy story, the audience is led to believe that this age gap is considered okay when it actually presents an adult falling for a high schooler if you think about it.
Finally, another controversial issue Goblin faced was the fact that Eun-tak was not a widely liked female lead.
Considering she had the typical Cinderella trope of being the damsel in distress needing to be saved by men, she came off as a bland character to some viewers.
However, you do have to consider that Goblin was at the height of its popularity in 2016 for a reason.
Many viewers appreciated the thought of strong, kind, and loyal men taking care of the women they love and cherish.
The K-drama, after all, depicts a dramatic love story of how the Goblin yearns to be set free from his 900-year-old curse.
The tragic love story between a Goblin waiting centuries to find his destined human bride and a woman who has always wanted to have her own family.
Want to put this on your watchlist? Go check out where you can watch all episodes of Goblin here!