Early Access: The Haunted Palace Episodes 1-2 – The Fangirl Verdict
Hi everyone!
I hope you enjoyed my recent episode 1-2 notes on Resident Playbook (here!).
Today I’m sharing my episode 1-2 notes on The Haunted Palace, because I am enjoying it more than I’d thought I would, and I was wondering if you’d like to join me? 🤗
These are my episode 1-2 notes, exactly as they appear on Patreon, ie, without screenshots (I’m saving those for the actual review).
I hope you all enjoy, and I hope you’ll consider joining us over on Patreon, for the rest of the discussions! ❤️
Episode notes:
E1-2. My friends, this is working out to be more fun to watch than I’d originally anticipated.
Let me clarify upfront, however, that this is not a comedy, and more of a drama with spots of levity, which is likely why I actually find the comedic beats entertaining – because Show isn’t trying too hard, to make me laugh, if that makes sense?
Originally, I hadn’t been super interested in this one, because, unlike phl1rxd, I’m not naturally excited about stories about shamans – sorry, phl1rxd! 😅
However, I decided to check it out anyway, and whaddyaknow, I’m actually feeling pretty entertained and engaged, in spite of myself. 😁
There’s some set-up that you need to get through in episode 1, but by episode 2, I think it’s a lot clearer, what kind of story we’re working with, and who our key players are.
Let me explain.
I think it’s quite important to manage our expectations around our male lead; that our male lead is the demon, and not the human.
As you might already know from Show’s synopsis, Yun Gap becomes possessed by an imugi, Gangcheori, played by Kim Young Kwang.
I might feel differently, if Yun Gap were still alive in our story, because then there’s the possibility of Gangcheori leaving Yun Gap’s body.
However, by the end of episode 1, Yun Gap gets killed by men sent by an obviously scheming political dude, and it’s only afterwards, that Gangcheori enters his body, thus resurrecting him.
Because Yun Gap’s life has already ended, as Gangcheori points out more than once, I don’t think it’s possible for Yeo Ri to bring him back to life, even though she’d really like to do so.
And so, my thought is that Gangcheori is our real male lead, and this story will be about him figuring out how to live in this human body, while falling for Yeo Ri – because of course he will, yes?
I think that it’s quite important to get this lens on from the beginning, because I do think that if you’re hoping for Yun Gap to take back his body from Gangcheori, you’d mostly be disappointed, since I doubt it would be possible for Yeo Ri to bring Yun Gap back from the dead. 😅
Backing up a little bit, I do rather like the set-up, that Yeo Ri is such a special girl – with a righteous and pure character – that she is favored by the heavens with the ability to interact with the supernatural realm, even though she does not become a shaman like her grandmother had once predicted.
I buy the idea, that because Yeo Ri is that special, that’s why Gangcheori had been drawn to her in the first place, 13 years ago, when he’d first set eyes upon her – and when she’d looked at him, right back.
According to Show’s internal mythology, Gangcheori believes that if Yeo Ri would accept him as her patron deity, he’d be able to regain his dragon form, instead of being stuck as an imugi, and I buy that, for that reason, he sticks to Yeo Ri’s side, all these years.
I do love the casting of Kim Young Kwang as Gangcheori; I feel he gives Gangcheori a pitch-perfect blend of jadedness and offhanded badassery.
No offense to Yun Gap, but I genuinely find Gangcheori a more interesting character, and so, I’m actually not mad about the fact that Gangcheori looks to be our real male lead.
It’s true that Yeo Ri considers Yun Gap to be her first love, and is very sad about his death, but it really looks to me to be a mix of her having a childhood crush, and her feeling grateful to him, for having protected her, when everyone else had pointed fingers at her for being a source of bad luck, because Gangcheori was following her around.
I don’t actually think that she was deeply in love with him, and so I’m also not mad about the idea of her eventually falling for Gangcheori, even though she’s currently really upset with him for inhabiting Yun Gap’s body.
In terms of the beats I was entertained by, there are a few.
First, there’s how I am quite tickled by how Gangcheori keeps grumbling about how weak this human body is, and at the same time, quite thrilled by the fact that, for the most part, he’s still superhumanly strong – except when he’s stopped in his tracks by Gap’s stab wound.
And then there’s also how Gangcheori discovers pieces of the human experience, and is overwhelmed.
We start with how amazed he is by the taste of plain rice gruel, which then naturally escalates to him trying out all sorts of food and wine, and getting completely blissed out, to my amusement and Yeo Ri’s chagrin. 😁
And then there’s also how he discovers the comfort of lying on a warm floor, wrapped in soft bedding, and refuses to get up, again to Yeo Ri’s chagrin.
Of course, let’s also not forget how he discovers that he gets flustered at the sight of Yeo Ri in his arms, when he saves her from that water ghost.
I am inordinately tickled at how he’s discovering the joys and sensations of the human experience, and figuring out how to feel about it all. 😁
On that note, I have to say, Yook Sung Jae is doing a great job with the role.
He’s perfectly pleasant and bland as Yun Gap, but totally channels an animated, mischievous and badass energy as Gangcheori, that I find very similar to how Kim Young Kwang feels, in the role – except Gangcheori wasn’t actually animated, before taking possession of Yun Gap’s body.
I find the switch in actors very believable, and I do feel like we’re seeing a sparky sort of chemistry between Yeo Ri and Gangcheori in Yun Gap’s body, versus Yeo Ri and OG Yun Gap.
Which also means that I’m in principle quite into the idea of Yeo Ri and Gangcheori having a bit of an enemies-to-lovers bickering romance. 😁
Generally speaking, I don’t find myself very interested in court politics, but this time around, it does lean rather different than most dramas, since, at the heart of the goings-on in the palace, is an evil spirit that has possessed the crown prince.
And, I’m also looking forward to Yeo Ri and Gangcheori working together to defeat the evil spirit, whom we glimpse at the end of episode 2 (eek, such creepy eyes! 🙈).
Overall, I find myself quite a bit more engaged and entertained than I’d expected to be, and so, I’m actually looking forward to see what unfolds next, between our reluctant central pair.
*This show is being covered on the Early Access (US$5) Tier on Patreon*
To view episode 1-2 notes in Patreon, along with everyone’s comments, you can go here!
You can find my Patreon page here, and for all future episode notes for this show you can click here.
Episodes 5-6 notes will be out soon! I hope you’ll consider joining us!
It’ll be a way to have fun, and support me at the same time? 🥲❤️
PS: For more information on what the Patreon experience is like, you might like to check out my Patreon update post for May, which you can find here!
