I feel compelled to write a review for Goblin because I'm finding all the perfect 10s to be misleading and, if I can be honest, completely confounding. Let me first say the best thing about Goblin is the acting. The cast is fantastic. The worst is the age gap. I know most people talk about the age of the actors; however, the issue to those of us that have a problem with the age isn't the actors, it's the characters. The lead female character is a 19 year old girl. The lead male (taking out the fantasy of his living 938 years) is a grown man who appears almost 40. Personally, I find that the Korean's have been dancing too close to the line in the young girls with adult men in dramas for at least a year now and I'm not a fan. They're more daddy issue characters.

There are many times when the relationship between the 2 leads are most like Father & daughter. She speaks to him like a father figure. And he speaks to her as a child. It's off putting when it becomes clear that he has fallen for this high school girl. Part of me believes the part of Kim Shin (the Goblin) was written for a younger man. Considering the life expectancy of the period and his postion, in his late 30s he should have had a wife (and concubines I would guess) and children. I think the character should have been at least 10 years younger (again the 900 years undead aside). The romance of the leads just did not work for me on any level. Conversely, the romance between the supports is a completely different story. It was endearing and very moving. I rooted for them.

The writing was inconsistent. It was great in some parts and just passable in others. Toward the end it almost turned into melodramatic schlock. Goblin works best as a bromance. The scenes between Goblin, Reaper(s), and the male humans were precious golden nuggets to hold onto until the next time 2 or 3 of them were in a scene together. Had the writers held on to that chemistry and nourished it, Goblin would have been much better.