First Look at Kim Bum and Moon Geun Young Together in Goddess of Fire

The adults showed up in the second half of episode 5 of Goddess of Fire Jeongi today and I wish I could tell everyone that the drama miraculously got better. The annoying was dialed down one notch without the histrionics of Jin Ji Hee playing the younger Jung Yi, but frankly she was but one of this drama’s problems and the rest of those issues remained even after the transition. First off – I find Jung Yi’s character really grating, and even having Moon Geun Young play her doesn’t make her any more palatable. She’s just written like every stubborn plucky heroine out there, barreling head first into every situation and then everyone around her cleans up the mess afterwards. When she tries to fix things, she ends up making it worse in the end. I feel like her character was written to generate the situational conflicts to propel this story forward, and lost in this was the importance of creating a character that feels flawed but still relatable. But what KILLS this drama for me is the double whammy of pedestrian and awkward directing paired with truly egregious writing. PD Park Sung Soo may be a veteran but with crap like Heading to the Ground on his resume I should have anticipated that perhaps something eclectic like Ruler of Your Own World was the exception and not the norm. He directs this drama like a cross between a biopic and a Joseon sitcom. All that’s missing is a laugh track at times or somber obvious cues that we’re witnessing a Very Important Moment in others. The man’s camera is about as subtle as a rhino mistaking your backyard party for the shortcut to his watering hole. Even worse is the screenplay by Kwon Soo Gyu, who penned the widely panned Warrior Baek Dong Soo and has managed to out do himself here in that I think GoF is even worse than WBDS. What gives, dude? Maybe writing screenplays is not a professional calling. The script has no delicate touches and instead relies on bombastic scenes and overly sentimental emotions and connections. The villains are one-note villainous and the nice guys fairly radiate an aura of blinding goodness. I wanted to write this post to put closure on my impressions of this sageuk, widely anticipated by me because it starred Moon Geun Young plus Kim Bum, in a sageuk genre that I know is her forte since she raked in the awards for Painter of the Wind. GoF’s myriad failures make me appreciate just how amazing PoW was, with well-written characters, absolutely breathtaking directing, and acting chemistry that was out of this world between Moon Geun Young and Moon Chae Won. But I think I have the fortitude to watch GoF on FF just for Kim Bum scenes, because his character remains the only one who doesn’t make me want to stabbity something, and because he’s so darn cute in his mane of glory and blue warrior robe. I might just enjoy doing periodic updates on GoF to picspam Bummie pictures. Who’s with me on this?