Balancing grotesque horror with light-hearted moments, the drama enchants us with its tightly woven story, unfolding the tale of a mismatched trio who begrudgingly join hands to purge the palace full of vengeful ghosts and subdue a colossal eight-foot spirit haunting the royal family.
Concluding its run with a high-stakes and enthralling finale, the drama ends on a high note, sticking the landing and gifting its characters with closure and the happy ending they deserve after going through so much.
- Main Leads: Yook Sung-jae | Kim Ji-yeon (Bona) | Kim Ji-hoon
- Addictive Meter:
- Overall Rating:
- Rewatch Value:
- K-Dramas of Similar Vibe: Our Blooming Youth | Mirror of the Witch | The Moon Embracing The Sun | Arang and the Magistrate |
The Haunted Palace Quick Series Recap
Defying her family’s shamanistic legacy, our heroine, Yeo-ri, becomes a skilled glass craftswoman. That is, until a terrible accident causes the death of her first love, Yoon Gap, who also gets possessed by an imoogi. Yeo-ri must now team up with the imoogi to assist the king in chasing away the vengeful spirits plaguing the palace.
The Haunted Palace Series Highlights and Musings
The story begins in a countryside village when an imoogi, Kang Cheol (cameo by Kim Young-kwang), tries and fails to become a dragon and ascend to the sky. As a last-ditch effort, Kang Cheol wishes to possess the body of a young girl who was born into a family of talented shamans and ascend. Not that she will let him do that. Thus begins 13 years of Kang Cheol following our heroine, Yeo-ri (Kim Ji-yeon/Bona), around and pestering her to grant his wish.
Having lost her grandmother and only family at a young age, Yeo-ri had no one to rely on. The villagers harassed her and blamed every little misfortune on her, since Kang Cheol was glued to her. The only one who treated Yeo-ri warmly was her first love, Yoon Gap (Yook Sung-jae). but unluckily, he had to leave the village and head to the capital with his mother, leaving Yeo-ri on her own.
Years later, Yoon Gap returns to the village and meets Yeo-ri, who works as a glass craftswoman. Inheriting her family’s legacy, Yeo-ri could have become a shaman, but she abhors that fate. Also, she doesn’t want to serve Kang Cheol as her guardian. Getting reunited with Yoon Gap, Yeo-ri feels ecstatic and agrees to join him on a trip to the capital. But sadly, Yoon Gap gets killed and his body is possessed by Kang Cheol (now played by Yook Sung-jae).
Arriving at the palace, Yeo-ri discovers the real reason Yoon Gap wanted to bring her there. Strange things keep happening around the royal family. The young prince is possessed by the eight-foot spirit, a powerful vengeful spirit. Meeting the king (Kim Ji-hoon), he is in denial and refuses to believe such vengeful spirits exist. But eventually, he confronts the truth and asks Yeo-ri for help.
To defeat the eight-foot spirit, Yeo-ri needs Kang Cheol’s support. So, she accepts him as her guardian and vows to serve him faithfully in return for his help. Yeo-ri wants to save Yoon Gap’s soul, which got swallowed by the eight-foot spirit, and Kang Cheol wants to ascend. So, it is a win-win situation, right? But of course, their mission proves harder than expected.
After a few encounters with other vengeful spirits, Yeo-ri and Kang Cheol, along with the king, figure out the eight-foot spirit’s real identity and why he holds a long-standing grudge against the royal family. They plan to appease his resentment. Yet, as expected, things don’t go as planned, and the king gets possessed by the eight-foot spirit.
Desperate to save the king and end this tragedy, Yeo-ri and Kang Cheol pull out all the stops. Neither can bear the sight of the other one being in danger, so they try to sacrifice themselves instead. But luckily, it all ends well, and no one is sacrificed. All it took to soothe the eight-foot spirit’s anger was a sincere apology for the wrongful death he faced. Then he willingly moves on, marking an end to this tragedy.
Horror and vengeful spirits aside, the off-beat dynamics between our trio were the highlight of the show. Between Kang Cheol’s imoogi-out-of-water antics, Yeo-ri figuring out the truth about Kang Cheol and how he protected her all those years, them falling in love with each other, denying their feelings and then admitting to it, and finally the king becoming buddies with Kang Cheol after starting off as sworn enemies.
All those years, Yeo-ri believed Kang Cheol caused her grandmother’s death. But actually, it was the eight-foot spirit’s doing out of retaliation for Yeo-ri’s grandmother standing up against him. Kang Cheol knowingly lied to Yeo-ri about killing her grandmother to protect her. But Yeo-ri eventually learned the truth and regretted resenting Kang Cheol. At first, she was confused about her feelings since Kang Cheol occupied Yoon Gap’s body, but it was Kang Cheol whom Yeo-ri gave her heart to.
We also appreciate how the drama handled Real Yoon Gap’s arc in the penultimate week instead of dragging it to the finale. Yoon Gap’s death was unfair, but he chose to accept his fate and move on instead of becoming a vengeful spirit and hurting the people he cares for.
On the acting side, everyone nailed their roles from our main trio to every cast member. The eight-foot spirit might be the central antagonist, but we felt sorry for the other vengeful spirits, too. Kim Ji-yeon was stunning as Yeo-ri, playing such a complicated role with grace. Kim Ji-hoon cemented his spot as one of our favorite K-Drama land kings ever, and we want to praise his versatility. Last but not least, Yook Sung-jae killed it with his dual roles, and the scene of Yoon Gap and Kang Cheol bickering in the same body will remain in our memories for long.
The Haunted Palace isn’t a flawless show, but a drama whose strengths eclipse any weaknesses. It was gripping from start to finish, so we willingly turned a blind eye to any downsides. This is one of the few cases where the drama doesn’t drag out things or need a shorter episode count. With such a rewarding finale, the drama earned its spot as one of the most riveting fantasy shows and one of our favorite dramas ever.
Photos and Videos: SBS Drama
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