This finale’s plot borders on unsatisfactory and ridiculous, but surprisingly, other than a few moments where I was tearing my hair out in frustration, I actually enjoyed the entire finale – Nam Joo Hyuk’s desperate attempts to calm down a bereaved So Ah and a devasted Shin Se Kyung were so good to watch.
One thing I never get about dramas is how blatantly they ignore reality. If I was So Ah, I would have kicked Yeom Mi for telling her story in punchlines – because she leaves the most important piece of information for the last.
“It’s not your boyfriend, it’s an older man.” Yeom Mi notices a photo of So Ah and her father, a photo that is only recently revealed because Habaek secretly switches the photos around, and points to her father as the man in her dreams. So Ah doesn’t believe in her story because “my dad has never saved me before.”
Joo Dong finally appears and fills Habaek in on his recent endeavours – i.e trying to find the servant’s tablet. He similarly reminds Habaek that Habaek has to go back to the Realm of Gods. Funnily, both Habaek and So Ah don’t offer for Joo Dong to stay the night, since they only have 6 days together.
So Ah attempts to switch back the order of the photos but Habaek stops her, knowing that she’s lying when she says she hates her father. He apologises for not realising her wish, even though he’s a deity, “So find him after I leave. Even if your father turns out to be the worst man in the world, find him.” Be an adult and get out of that darkness.
If not, he’d go crazy knowing that she’s still in that darkness after he leaves.
Joo Dong later seeks refuge in Bi Ryeom and Moo Ra…who shout, “NO!” when he asks if he could stay the night. Although that was cute, it didn’t particularly endear me to the couple, given that they have an eternity to make googly eyes at each other. Even calling Nam Soo Ri didn’t help, because he’s busy working part-time jobs. It just occurred to me – do deities need to sleep?
In the morning, So Ah wonders that it’s unlike Habaek to sleep in, but as he turns away, he grabs her arm and pulls her down towards him, “I’m waiting for you to come and wake me up.” Aww.
So Ah finally buys some clothes for Habaek as a gift, which is a nice throwback to many episodes back when she gets grossed out by Moo Ra’s choice of clothes for Habaek. The couple goes on a date, starting with a must – game of chasing.
She brings him to a place which is known for cold noodles because she wants to overcome her fear before he leaves. She finally swallows her fear – and the cold soup, and realises it isn’t that difficult once you face the fear. I think this is a nice link back to the first few episodes where we learnt that she doesn’t drink cold water because I totally lost sight of that in the meandering middle episodes.
After the meal, So Ah murmurs, “Habaek” and omg I realise it’s the first time in 16 episodes that she has called his name. She sets Habaek up for a game of scissors-paper-stone with the shop owner. If Habaek wins, the owner will draw a portrait for them. The owner’s wife intentionally steps hard on his shoes and distracted by the pain, the owner loses.
Turns out So Ah has prepared a surprise for Habaek – she changes into a simple, casual wedding dress. Very, very pretty, but also at the back of mind, I’m wondering just how fast So Ah changes. Habaek is speechless and probably breathless and no matter how cliche is this, I actually find it cute. And sad.
So Ah tells him with a smile that pencil lead is made of a material which won’t fade in time, and she wants to remember his face vividly.
I actually enjoy the scene and find it refreshing that she wants their portrait to be drawn, rather than the usual kdrama trope of let’stakeaselfie together, but I find it a cop-out to have her dressed as a bride just as a cursory link back to the title – Bride of Habaek.
Joo Dong finds Hoo Ye because he realises that other than Hoo Ye’s stepmother who found Hoo Ye 13 years ago, there was also another man. That man was the one who brought an injured Joo Dong to the hospital later and who found the tablet . Hoo Ye revealed that that man was on his way to his wife’s grave that night because he just returned to Korea and didn’t know about his wife’s death. There was also someone he really wanted to meet – his daughter. His name? Yoon Seong Joon.
In the next scene, Joo Dong questions So Ah’s whereabouts on 20th December 2004. Habaek knows the significance of that date and drags him away, but Joo Dong finally fills him in on what really happened – The tablet was visible to Yoon Seong Joon because he was a servant. He probably picked it up thinking it belonged to Joo Dong. Although Yoon Seong Joon wasn’t awaken as a servant, the tablet must have recognised him. And guys, remember that the tablet has the power to grant the servant’s earnest wish? “The tablet must have taken him to his daughter.” Uh-oh.
With the information of where So Ah was on 20th December 2004, Joo Dong goes to the Han River and calls Habaek, “I found him.” The implication of what that means causes Habaek closes his eyes. He later walks in on So Ah planning with excitement the things they can do in the last few days. To make things worse, So Ah tells him that she is going to find her father.
Habaek quietly steps out for a while and tells Joo Dong that he will find the father.
Curious about this tablet thing, Hoo Ye asks Joo Geol Rin who tells him that the tablet is only visible to descendants of the servant family. Hoo Ye puts two and two together, and finally realises that So Ah is the daughter of Yoon Seong Joon. He doesn’t tell So Ah that piece of information because Joo Dong tells him not to do anything even if he figures out who Yoon Seong Joon is. However, he still meets So Ah, in order to finish the last part of his story.
That night, after he chased a light and was found by his stepmother, he also met a man. A man who told him it’s okay and hugged him from the back, “Stay still. Stay calm.” It was the first time he learnt the power of someone telling him that it’s okay. He was lucky. If that man wasn’t the first person he met, if he hadn’t met a man who could tell him it’s alright and hugged him from the back, “What would I have become?” He has met three deities in his life – that man, his foster mother and…So Ah. He declares that this is their last session together and thanks her with a handshake. Last session because he has finally gotten over his trauma, and for that, I’m so glad for him.
I also really like the sub-message this finale sent through – humans can be deities too. We may be small, we may lead short lives, but it’s about what we do with that limited power that we have that makes all the difference. To someone else, we can be their pillar of support.
Habaek returns home all devastated and wet. So Ah comforts him at first thinking that his friends refused to lend him money again, but Habaek murmurs in pain that he found her father. “In the river you jumped into that night.”
I know the episode turned up the melodrama knob by 10 times from this point onwards, but suspending logic and whatever, I actually LOVED it.
Habaek brings So Ah to the river and we all finally learn what happened. Her father’s wish that night was to see So Ah. Even though he didn’t know about the tablet, the tablet must have granted his wish and brought him to the bridge. Indeed, in a flashback, we see So Ah’s dad seeing So Ah jump into the river and he ran after her, shouting “No!!”
He jumped in right after her, in order to save her. Like I said, it’s dramatic, but it really broke my heart to see how the dad swam after So Ah and pushed her upwards. The effort propelled him further into the water and also woke So Ah up.
She immediately swam upwards and seeing that, her dad closed his eyes and sank towards the sea bed. I cannot deny that I teared a little here. The way the dad shouted No in desperation was so good in itself.
Back to the present, So Ah reveals that her father cannot swim. She shouts, “Why! Dad! Come out of there please!!”
She sobs and asks Habaek to save her father, but even Habaek can’t revive the dead. So Ah feels even guiltier because all these years, she thought she got out of the water herself and hated her father. “It’s all my fault – ” “That’s not true!” “I killed him -” “No.”
As she cries and says she will get her father out, Habaek grabs her in a tight embrace and holds onto her desperately, and somehow it’s that desperate clawing, both on So Ah’s and Habaek’s part that makes the whole scene so good for me.
Joo Dong fills in the other two deities on what happened and reveals that Habaek tried to move the body but it wouldn’t budge. It, however, did stay intact because of the tablet’s power. Great, because I was thinking how the father would look after being submerged in water for 10 years.
So Ah must have collapsed and Habaek brings her back home. He sits through the night, thinking over So Ah’s wish of speaking to her father and finally makes up his mind. Slightly Twilight-creepyesque vibes too, if I might just say.
At daybreak, all the gods gather at So Ah’s rooftop. Bi Ryeom and Moo Ra also tried to move the body but it wouldn’t budge. Habaek murmurs that So Ah will go in herself but they all know it’s too deep for her. Moo Ra, however, knows what Habaek is thinking and instinctively lashes out, “I’m Moo Ra. I’ve been able to read your mind for the past 2800 years. I even know how you feel by just listening to your sigh.” Thankfully we are only 30 minutes away from the end of this show, so we aren’t baited for any longer about whatdoesHabaekwanttodo.
Because what does he want to do? He wants to use the power which he needs to return to the Realm of Gods on So Ah instead. That means he can’t go back, he can’t be king, and he will die. And when he dies, he will fade from the memory of humans. So Ah stumbles in on this discussion just in time and is distraught that Habaek is even planning such a thing. He runs after her and hugs her, “Please give me a chance to do something for you. I promise that I’ll protect you.”
Moo Ra is enraged because they can’t stop Habaek – they can’t force a king, and their powers combined can’t even do what Habaek wants to do. “If Habaek dies, I will kill you too”, and the hilarious thing is Joo Dong’s semi-eye-roll HAHA.
Bi Ryeom, whom I glad to see is actually concerned over Habaek’s possible death, meets up with So Ah privately and tells her that Habaek will die if he doesn’t become the king. He’s born to be the king, so if the reason for his existence fails, then he doesn’t exist. “Tell him that you are not going to look for your father.”
The message is then conveyed back to Habaek who learns that So Ah has apparently given up on wanting to find her father. Habaek kneels in front of So Ah and requests that she will cherish her life, even after he leaves. “Your father will be at peace there, I will always look after him. Don’t forget, I’m the Deity of Water and the King.” He brings her to the river again, where So Ah apologises to her dad.
Jin Geon delivers a piece of bad news to the other gods, just as So Ah asks Habaek where they should go next. Habaek holds her hand and murmurs, “I love you.”
He suddenly grabs her and kisses her, and the desperation in the kiss is so palpable I feel it through my computer screen. So Ah realises something is wrong and tries to push him away but it’s too late. He has given her his grace, his power. “I want you to meet someone you love, and live your remaining life in happiness.”
As So Ah shakes her head furiously, Habaek hugs her and tells her that he knows she will go in after her father after he leaves.
“Go, let me do something I can while I am here.” While sad music plays, the three gods appear and Moo Ra shouts Habaek’s name.
Joo Dong stops Moo Ra, who cries into Bi Ryeom’s arms, whilst Habaek smiles encouragingly at So Ah. Admittedly at this point in time, I didn’t really know what Habaek’s power is supposed to do – but now I know.
He has given So Ah the power to reach her father, and So Ah, unlike the other deities, is able to bring her father back up. Let’s go home now, Dad. This whole dad-incident really breaks my heart a little – this man came back after a year and had been in the waters for the past 10 years? Indeed like what So Ah said, he must have been lonely and scared.
I think I like the story up till this point, but it quickly became much more frivolous after this? If you know what I mean.
So Ah buries her father under a tree and promises to bring her mother soon. If you think Habaek is going to die, it’s not going to happen because he’s the male lead because So Ah is going to use the tablet and wish that Habaek returns to the Realm. Which is actually pretty smart.
Just as Joo Dong prepares to awake the tablet, the High Priest appears. Turns out, he comes to the human world quite often and meets a few people. The competent taxi driver whom So Ah met way back? That was him. The old man who gave Habaek his first paycheck? That was also him.
As for using the tablet on the wish, the High Priest’s like why are you all spending the wish on such a useless thing? Habaek finished his mission; he can go back! And in a not-terribly-surprising-turn, Habaek realises that he completed the mission of finding out why the stones were hidden in the human world – how can a deity save the world if he can’t even save just one human?
Thus, So Ah now has one more wish! After some hesitation, she wishes for Habaek to stay with her until she dies and leaves only then.
Turns out it is Hoo Ye who told So Ah all about the power of the tablet, and the High Priest proposes that he teaches him how to use fire. And that~ is the last of Hoo Ye.Habaek has to leave nonetheless for a while to make sure that So Ah’s wish comes true.
He gives her a gentle kiss on the forehead and disappears.
Life goes on, Ja Ya finally figures out how to become a better human being – by coming up with new foundation for single moms, lonely elderly and children without parents. Secretary Min smiles aww.
In her red coat which we’ve seen too often, So Ah tosses a white rose into the river and seemingly drowns in the river. Moo Ra and Bi Ryeom break her daydream. Although Moo Ra gleefully tells So Ah that Habaek is not coming back, she walks off with Bi Ryeom with their arms on each other’s hips awww.
Sang Yu declares that he’s going to get married to Hyung Sik and I thought that it was going to be a gay marriage?? But turns out that Hyung Sik is actually a girl. I must have thought it was a man because of Park Hyung Sik.
At night, So Ah walks home whilst on the phone with Yeom Mi and as she turns the corner, there he is. Habaek!!!
She walks towards him and finally melts into his arms aww. He’s back so late because the process of postponing his enthronement is complicated HAHA. They walk home, hand in hand, while So Ah asks all the important questions – will he still feel hunger? Yes. What about the magic wand? No he can’t take it. How about his driver’s license? He has to get it here. How about Soo Ri? He’s sick of part time jobs and scared of Yeom Mi so he didn’t come this time.
As they walk past the wall, the scrawl in chalk disappears and turns into a permanent block on the house, Habaek, Yoon So Ah, which is an indication that Habaek has his powers…right?
People can survive anything with strength, but life would be better with love.
-the end-
Is it just me or did this episode run longer than usual? Anyhow, my recap is pretty long oh my, but I hope you guys enjoyed it! I think as far as this show had gone (or not), the finale is actually pretty decent because there was plot movement and some resolution. However, as a finale to the entire series, there are still some huge unanswered questions. For one, why does Habaek’s powers only return when So Ah is in danger and pleads for help? Is it because he’s a deity and he has to protect humans? For the other, why were the fishes dying? I genuinely thought it was something to do with the villain, but as we realise, there’s no true villain in this story…so are the fishes’ death really just an indication of pollution?
Also, I get it – I think So Ah’s wish is actually pretty brilliant, but has she thought about the impact it’s going to leave on Habaek? Imagine spending 60 years loving a person and she dies, and you have an eternity thereafter. I wish that So Ah phrased her words in such a way which makes it possible for her to leave with Habaek to the Realm later on, and we know that’s possible because of Nak Bin…unless the point of Nak Bin was to show us that it’s impossible for another human to live in the Realm of Gods because of the betrayal. As a side note, since the show didn’t go any further into Nak Bin’s backstory, I’m just going to assume that she did betray Habaek, whether accidental or intentionally.
I thought initially that the sequence of So Ah drowning in the river in her red coat having turned out to be a daydream was such a terrible idea. No one likes the resolution that “it’s all a dream”, maybe only with Inception. However on the second watch, it occurs to me that the sequence could have been what would happened to So Ah had Habaek not intervened. Remember Yeom Mi’s prediction? Her father who saved her, would also be the one that stole her soul. Thus, if Habaek hasn’t given her his power, she would have gone after her father and that sequence would have been a reality. Put in that light, I actually like it a lot more now!
As someone who is very practical, I did wonder if all the drama could have been saved if they simply rented a diving boat and had So Ah fitted with the right equipment to pick up her father. But I’m going to give the show the benefit of the doubt because well, it’s a Kdrama and also, I guess with only 4/5 days on the horizon, the couple probably couldn’t think properly. It might also raise a lot of questions on why the body was intact even though this man died more than 10 years ago.
The drama as a whole has been a disappointment. I kept waiting for it to get better, but it never did. On hindsight, So Ah’s trauma made a lot of sense, but I think that it was a badly-played card because as far as I know, nobody liked it that So Ah was consistently stuck in that hole for all 15 episodes. I kept waiting to see more of Habaek’s power, but it never happened until now. I think the plot had lots of potential. Unfortunately, while the twists and turns were all good in theory, they were terrible in execution. If the story has had a stronger writer, I think this drama would have been a bigger hit.
I stuck through with it nonetheless because I’ve somehow come to really love Nam Joo Hyuk’s Habaek and Im Ju Hwan’s Hoo Ye. I think the cast had good acting and that was what made most people survive the drama. So Ah was annoying for constantly crying, but it is undeniable that Shin Se Kyung’s performance in EP16 was heart-breaking too. Im Ju Hwan really got me with his portrayal of Hoo Ye, and Krystal/Gong Myung did well with whatever their (annoying) characters offered. If I were to sum up the lessons I’ve learnt from this saga, it’s that 1. even a strong cast and good director can’t save a bad script and 2. Nam Joo Hyuk is an incredible eye candy. Ha ha ha.
<3thoughtsramble
You can watch Bride of Habaek on Viki!
THOUGHTSRAMBLE 
one of the problem in this drama is they went astray to the original story. I was hoping and wishing to see habaek power but they omitted it, perhaps for the same reason that it will entail a lot of effort and money on the production. I was also waiting for habaek to look powerful since he seems to be powerless for most of the episodes. The drama was lacking in so many ways but i still enjoy watching it from the beginning to the end.
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Sorry for the late reply! I haven’t gotten a chance to see the manhwa but yes I was so eager to see more Habaek’s power. Till the end, it was more fluff than talk and they never really addressed why his power only came back when the servant begged for his help. But yes me too! I enjoyed watching it till the end(:
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I just wished they had better writers because they stick to one segment too long and you want them to move on to another. However, I realized this was soap operas but still the prolonged event when they come to earth and stay in those ballooned beds is ridiculous- come on. So-Ah should have invited them to her place a long time ago. Plus, feed them too. I was kind of disappointed with her constant whining and crying and not sure what she was faced with. However, I like the character Mr. Shin’s performance and how he wanted to be more humorous which he tries. He was so uptight but showed his true emotions and to be frank I would have preferred she stayed with him than the Habaek because he was moody and never quite sure of what he would say next. Plus, if he had to go back to his Realm there was a chance Mr. Shin could get So Ah’s attention since she liked him. I just wish the pace to some of these shows would move faster instead of the captions. One that I enjoyed was “inheritors” I did like it but it got a bit confusing at times with so many of the characters when they should have had less.
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You were right that her dad was involved in helping Hoo Ye. (And that sub-message is powerful – too bad it’s so buried and diluted under rediculous.)
How amazingly fortunate that Yeom Mi happens to dream mystical things. Too bad she didn’t dream this 12 years ago. Why now? And frankly, Joo Dong figured it out anyway (which he only needed all this time to do because of his convenient mysterious amnesia) so if Yeom Mi hadn’t been in the drama, we wouldn’t have missed her anymore than we would have missed Ja Ya. I don’t understand why So Ah nearly drowned if she was capable of swimming – and if she couldn’t swim, her dad giving her a shove isn’t going to change that and I hated how saving her cost the father his life. It was all such a cop-out. I mean – I really liked the intensity of their emotions and the acting and desperation but the machination and lame cheesy manipulation just infuriates me. Also so convenient that the body hasn’t decomposed after all this time because of a tablet that apparently has every magcial ability that’s needed. (And after 12 years, there have been no other drowning necessitating in the river being dragged and the body found? That’s convenient.) And what’s the reasoning that his body won’t come up? Why? Other than so Habaek would have to do what he did?
After Habaek is king, why can’t he decide for himself to pay a visit or order someone to help So Ah? All the other gods seem to come and go as they please. It makes no sense at all. And then it turns out it was basically all a test? Too stupid. All in all I think there was just a lot of lazy, lazy storytelling here by the writer.
I did really like how his passing his power through a kiss was woven in from the beginning but we didn’t quite see it coming since they had kissed so often. That was one element laid well from the beginning and the twist was well done.
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Hello!! So sorry for the belated reply I was so caught up with things!
I think they did try to go with the sub-message insofar as Hoo Ye is concerned, but yes it was buried amidst all the drama. To be honest I read your reply when you first posted it and I had all sorts of rationalisation in my head but I’m not sure if I recall the details anymore.
Just to clarify – I am in total agreement with you, but to play the devil’s advocate I suppose, I think there’s some answers to your questions.
>>Too bad she didn’t dream this 12 years ago. Why now?
I think this is because of Nam Soo Ri’s presence. She said a few times that her future-telling powers weren’t so great, which is why she was so desperate for the kiss.
>>Frankly, Joo Dong figured it out anyway (which he only needed all this time to do because of his convenient mysterious amnesia) so if Yeom Mi hadn’t been in the drama, we wouldn’t have missed her anymore than we would have missed Ja Ya.
Of course I think Yeom Mi’s dream was all for drama, but in some sense, I tried to rationalise it as the alternative ending if Habaek hadn’t stepped in. So Ah would have really gone in after her dad/she wouldn’t be able to step out of the trauma, hence her soul was ‘taken’.
>>I don’t understand why So Ah nearly drowned if she was capable of swimming – and if she couldn’t swim, her dad giving her a shove isn’t going to change that and I hated how saving her cost the father his life. It was all such a cop-out.
I hated that it cost the father his life too but somehow the intensity really gave me a punch. It was cheesy true but I think she was unconscious from the initial plunge (hence even if she was capable of swimming it wouldn’t have been of use), but I think it was his push that woke her up literally. This is why he was needed in that scene – without his push, she wouldn’t have woken up and she wouldn’t have swam to safety.
>>Also so convenient that the body hasn’t decomposed after all this time because of a tablet that apparently has every magical ability that’s needed. (And after 12 years, there have been no other drowning necessitating in the river being dragged and the body found? That’s convenient.)
HAHA for this I truly have no answer. Good one.
>>And what’s the reasoning that his body won’t come up? Why? Other than so Habaek would have to do what he did?
I think the reasoning was that he can only be brought home by his daughter.
>>After Habaek is king, why can’t he decide for himself to pay a visit or order someone to help So Ah? All the other gods seem to come and go as they please. It makes no sense at all.
Well now that you said it, you’re definitely right. I feel so stupid because the whole thing about him leaving ‘for good’ feels so childish. But I guess maybe because he’s the king, that’s why he can’t just come and go as he pleases? Also, Moo Ra and Bi Ryeom were protector of the stones which was they were stationed in the human world.
>>And then it turns out it was basically all a test? Too stupid.
Actually I thought it was pretty obvious it was a test all along, but yes the fact that it was apparent to me doesn’t make it less stupid.
>>I did really like how his passing his power through a kiss was woven in from the beginning but we didn’t quite see it coming since they had kissed so often. That was one element laid well from the beginning and the twist was well done.
Definitely agree with you here! It was one of my favourite scenes too, as long as I cut through the drama hehe.
Thank you for your sharing and hope that my reply is still relevant!<3
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No worries about the late reply! ^_^
I agree that if you try hard enough, you can come up with explanations for almost everything (though not necessarily really good ones). I’m just pretty unforgiving when it comes to dramas/books that require too much filling-in-the-blanks. If the viewer/reader didn’t understand what was happening, that means the storyteller failed in their job of telling a proper story. Sometimes the storyteller gets too caught up in their messages too and the story suffers (like in Gu Family Book). But overall the drama at least made me much more interested in several actors!
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Can you please answer me ???
In which ep did yoon so ah meet high priest as a taxi driver??
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I’m pretty sure it was episode seven. He tells her you can’t change your fate but only you can decide how you are going to live your life.
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Thanks Sparksofember!! Yes it is indeed Episode 7, you can refer here: https://thoughtsramble.com/2017/07/25/bride-of-the-water-god-episode-7-recap/ for more
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” 1. even a strong cast and good director can’t save a bad script”
what do you mean?
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Hi there! I see a drama as being composed of various factors, some of them being – actors, director and the script i.e scriptwriters (which concerns the plot/lines). For me, the major failure of this show lies in the plot, hence I said that even a good cast and good director can’t save a bad script!
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Hey, I know I’m asking this a while after the show ended but I stumbled upon it literally 2 days ago and had to watch it all. So wait, does the entire wish thing mean that So Ah will live like a normal human and die when she’s old and Habaek would just have to go back and live without her? Or does she somehow not die at all and they live together till basically the end of time?
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Until she’s old and dies. So unless he can magically make himself look older, she’s going to be a cougar with some boy-toy eye-candy in a couple decades…
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Well-said HAHA
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It has been a long time since you posted here. I’m just now watching the bride of Habaek in 2023. Talk about late to the thread! Good point on the age thing. I would assume since Habaek has hunger like humans while there. He would age as well. Until he would return to be King and regains his power. No, it isn’t disclosed, but she even mentioned his sleeping more at one point. I assume he would experience everything as she experiences. Or that is the way I prefer to think it goes. That he gets the full experience, just like with hunger. But yes, there was a lot of loose ends not ever revisited.
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Agreed with Sparksofember’s comment!
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What’s funny is one could say the same thing with My Love From Another Star but I didn’t mind it there. Because of the way he’s zapping back and forth between his homeworld and earth plus the way he’s not getting as sick anymore from her earth-germs, I like to think the combination of those two things made him start aging normally.
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Okay this is my review on another site 😊
“Okay I so don’t agree with anybody that speaks negatively about the show I love the show I love the ending the actors were amazing the chemistry was wonderful I loved everything about this show and the only thing I would have compared this too was Goblin so everybody else you guys are all way too hyper critical!!!”
Okay I had my daughter and I watch this together we lost sleep trying to watch as much of it as possible and getting up the next day to continue to watch till we finally finished it! We both had so much fun watching this, and I am kind of like a serious Asian drama fanatic I watch a good 5 to 6 dramas a week on several dif sites including paid prescriptions for Netflix, Hulu and Viki!! I live in America but all I watch are Asian dramas, ( I don’t really care for American TV) mostly Korean, but, I also love Taiwanese, Chinese and Japanese dramas! I binge several at one time 😉 My very 1st drama was Good Morning Call on Netflix which almost didn’t happen because I hated the idea of subtitles! Next also on Netflix was Love Rain, Inborn Pair, Murphy’s Law of Love and then You’re Beautiful! I fell in love with Asian dramas and it spiraled out of control from there 😄 because that’s when I discovered Asian music and I was gone from there…. I have been studying Korean Chinese and Japanese languages in the hope to be able to watch these dramas without subtitles but still desperately trying to find somebody to pay to transcribe the raw ones for me until I can be fluent in these languages 😀 my point was that I have a massive list of Asian dramas that I’ve watched and almost did not watch water God because of the reviews and I should have known better because there’s been others that people didn’t like that I thoroughly enjoyed so before judging watch with an open mind and not preconceived ideas okay just had to put my two cents worth in ok Rant over… ^.^
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If your first drama was Good Morning Call, you haven’t been watching dramas very long since that only aired early 2016… I’ve been binging Asian dramas since 2005 so I’m gradually becoming more picky and less forgiving.
Bride of Haebeck was very good in many ways. I absolutely loved the first half of it. But gradually the things I liked about the drama were overpowered by the things I didn’t. The chemistry was amazing but because they got together so early, and the reasons for them not being able to stay together didn’t fly for me, all that tension went flat and made me bored with the story. And then I couldn’t overlook the plot holes anymore. Meanwhile I would argue The Best Hit probably had just as many issues but the tension was kept so tight that I never got bored enough to look too closely at them.
Not everybody is going to like the same things. I’ve got some friends who also like dramas and sometimes it amazes me the dramas I love that they didn’t like (Queen In-Hyun’s Man – how can anyone dislike that?!). But we’ve all got things that we don’t mind and things that are too much for us. Sometimes the good thing about reviews, if they are done well, is they tell us the things that person liked/disliked and then we decide for ourselves if it’s something that would bother us or not.
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You know, very off-topic here, but Queen In-Hyun’s Man – omg that was one gem indeed.
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I’m still quite confused with three situations of the tv series.
1) one of the characters said that if habaek was to be king, he would become one with nature. How does that happen to stop him from seeing soah??
2) Why were the fish dying? And what is the red tide?
3) In the last episode, habaek said he was going to delay his position to become king in relations to soah’s wishes. Would this mean that the thing that caused the fish to die still be ongoing and possibly become even worse in future if he were to delay?
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Hello, sorry for the late reply and hope you have gotten your answers! Based on what I remember, I think the fact that he becomes king means that he has duties to fulfill and therefore, stopping him from seeing So Ah. But this is one area that I don’t quite get as well, and think it’s just for dramatic effect. The fish was dying due to pollution I think; the red tide has nothing to do with that – it’s just to signify that Habaek is to become God soon. I think the fishes dying ultimately had nothing to do with Habaek, although I think I’ve also stated in my recap that this is a loophole I’m not quite comfortable with.
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Awww So Touching
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I’ve had the same thought as you. I also think that the ending was a little bit dumb because she could’ve wished for her to stay with habaek for eternity and yeah I totally don’t get what the problem is. The whole ending episode was good but they could have done better.
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Yeah the script writing was bad! Leads were just making strange decisions
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Okay so I KEPT thinking that the end result would be that she would wish for eternal life and live forever with Ha-baek, because I think that’s the obvious answer. There was no reason for her to stay human and stay in Korea, especially since she said she hated Korea and wanted to live somewhere else. I was very disappointed.
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Soo-ah had no interest in that kind of life. She wanted nothing more than to love a “normal” life all of her life, but she couldn’t. Her parents were always fighting because her father did so much for other people that she and her mother were neglected. Then .. When he left, her mother became an alcoholic and eventually inadvertently killed herself. She’d been struggling with trying to keep up with bills and rent and wanted nothing more than to leave to Vanuatu because she felt her life would be easier there. She doesn’t actually hate Korea, she just hated the memories tied to it.
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I’m a bit late with this comment, but that’s only because I’ve just finished the series about 5 minutes ago ..
As far as Nak-Bin goes, she was a sacrifice to the gods (like how some people give money and talismans to shrines as an offering, I’m assuming that in her time, people made human sacrifices). Habaek fell in love with her and kept her around due to that fact. However, Nak-bin was not immortal. From what we can gather from what they DID tell of her story, Nak-Bin supposedly “unintentionally” betrayed Habaek because the King of the Land of the Sky offered her eternal life (immorality) and she had hoped that she could spend that eternity with Habaek. She claims to not have known that what she was doing would put a curse on Habaek.
As for every other question, I’m right there with you.
Also, I was a bit disappointed on the fact that her father came up dead instead of in a comatose-like trance(because he had a barrier around him, I had assumed he’d been alive). I think the story would’ve been a tad bit better that way. We would’ve gotten to hear from the horse’s mouth everything he’d gone through and saw that night. I’m also sad that Namsuri didn’t return. Yeom-mi was a bit much, but he seemed to have had mutual feelings to hers in their first few interactions.
I also kind of wanted Mura to be killed off due to treason or something because she was a bit of a bitch in the most childish of senses. She clearly liked Biryeom, but her infatuation with Habaek wouldn’t allow for him to be happy with So-a or anyone she saw as being “beneath” her.
Oddly enough, from the moment I discovered Hoo he had been a Demi-god, I’d assumed that So-a’s father had been the one to help him. I had such a nagging feeling. The one things disappointing was that we never found out who fathered him from the Devin realm. I had so many assumptions. I’d assumed it was the King of the land of the sky because Habaek said they’d never forgave what the king of the sky had done (prior to finding out why they actually needed forgiveness). Then I’d assumed it was Habaek (XD) only because when they’d initially showed Nak-Bin, I thought she was his mother.
But nonetheless .. Hoo ye deserved a happy ending more than any of them, honestly. I was really pushing for him (although, rooting for Habaek). I wanted him to find love as well. At some point I had even hoped that after Habaek left, she would end up with him. But as the series progressed, I couldn’t see So-a without Habaek. It was too heartbreaking. Honestly, I loved the series. The only part that really made me cringe were all of the swimming parts because of the terrible graphics.
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Thank you for spending the effort for this series.I felt exactly like you about it and enjoyed your recap.
As you say with a good writer it could have been a really great serial, as the actors worked well.
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Thanks for reading too and for liking the recap! Yep it’s always sad when a good material is wasted because it’s not like they could re-do it again
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Red tides happen periodically and fish die. We in Florida know that well.
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the recap was so long and she wrote unnecessary thing
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FOR MY THINKING,THE STORY IS A HUGE DISAPPOINTMENT ON WHAT I THOUGHT WOULD happen.
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I want to point out just one thing why makers gave the name “Bride of Habaek” even they hardly describe the title of this drama. I have not seen any single scene where they justify the title name. I mean if u gave the title then u should Intend to show some related things, like how she’s the one who entitled with god’s bride. U know what I am trying to say or u can say what I am trying to ask? Anyway I enjoyed whole drama, i personally like this types of drama.
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I just want to point out one thing that why makers gave the drama name ‘Bride of Habaek’. I mean there’s no single scene or dialogue or anything that refer as the ‘Bride of Habaek’ & i waited till the end by expecting that atleast at the end they will justify the title name of drama.
Actually I liked this drama but somehow I felt disappointed by last two to three episodes.. I was expecting more from Habaek, I want Habaek to express his love or concern more but he just always stand there nd listen to so ah with same expression, I feel after confessing his love he became more silent, i don’t know but I want more of his emotions to shown the more of his concern or sadness or words toward So ah. The OST was great in this drama i really like all OST… I don’t know abt manhua story but it seem like original story is quite different from drama, there’s scene where so ah says abt Habaek’s daughter, if i am right Yu hwa is So ah and Habaek first child, atleast they have to show some original from Manhua.. There’s many loopholes which is still uncleared. I have expected they should have shown some back stories abt So ah and Habaek, how she is destined to be his only bride? If not then makers should have given name ‘Servant of God’ Instead ‘Bride of Habaek’.
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