So I just finished Gu Family Book, and see ehn, this show really took me on a journey I did not even imagine or budget for.
The story starts a whole generation before the actual plot even begins, and I have to be honest about this , that opening part might be the strongest stretch in the entire series, Yoon Seo hwa loses everything in one shot, her father framed and killed, her whole family scattered and she ends up running from a wicked official called Jo Gwan woong who is obsessed with her, the way some men just cannot take no for an answer, she's found half dead by Gu Wol-ryung, a mystical guardian spirit, a gumiho, and he falls for her and protects her, but here is what got me, this man lied to her, told her the people she lost actually escaped safely, when the truth was far from that, never even told her what he truly was, and all this while he's trying to become fully human just so he can be with her the right way, going through this brutal hundred-day trial where one wrong move costs him everything, that whole storyline had real depth, i was fully invested, no cap here
Then Kang chi is born, gets separated from his parents as a baby, and floats down a river like something straight out of a village folktale our grandmothers would tell us by the fireside, he grows up with no idea who he really is impulsive, quick tempered, always ready to fight before he even thinks, once he's older, the story shifts gear properly, he meets Dam Yeo wool, a sharp, principled martial artist, while he is wrongly accused of murder, she finds out what he truly is and instead of running away screaming, she stays,she trusts him, becomes the only person who can calm him down when his instincts start taking over, and of course, their fathers cannot stand each other, because what is a good drama without family rivalry standing in the way of young love?
I genuinely liked Kang chi and Yeobwool together, their chemistry carries a lot of the story, especially once Jo Gwan woong yes, still alive, still wicked, still scheming a whole generation later sets his mind on destroying Kang chi the exact same way he destroyed his mother, history repeating itself like that actually felt deliberate, not lazy writing, add in a real historical figure like Yi Sun shin caught up in the political drama, plus Kangchi's constant search for the actual Gu Family Book the one said to hold the secret to him becoming fully human and you have a show juggling a lot of moving parts, and juggling it well, for a while, at least.
Then the ending happened, and chai....
I was fully with this show until the final stretch, It had spent all that time building a real question, does Yeo wool get to choose her own fate and live freely in the present, or is she bound by some prophecy a monk keeps hinting at ominously? That is proper tension, the kind that keeps you glued, and then, without warning, the show just decides to time-skip into the present day to wrap everything up, It abandons the very story it built for over twenty episodes and jumps into an entirely different resolution for the finale.
I sat there thinking, is this how we are ending it? The book itself, the whole reason the show carries this title, basically gets pushed aside once this twist comes in, It felt like the writers hit a wall and grabbed the nearest exit instead of actually landing what they started.
I don't regret watching this at all , the performances were strong, the first six episodes alone are worth your time, and the world they built has real texture, but that ending left a mark, and not a good one, sometimes a show gives you ninety percent of a great story and fumbles the piece meant to tie it all together, This, unfortunately, is one of those times.
Rating: 95/100
Originally posted through scrobble.life/tv.
