User Reviews

Let me start by saying that after excitedly recognizing the characters and art style from the Manhua (Bride of the Water God), I was horribly disappointed to discover that this story has nothing in common with it at all. So for readers of the Manhua, this is likely to be a let down.

HOWEVER, that being said, I still can't understand why this show has received such poor ratings. If you look past the title and treat the film as a stand alone product, it is actually pretty solid (as K-Dramas go). While the story lacks originality, the script itself is well written. The acting, though not Oscar worthy, is mostly believable (especially CEO Shin). The special effects are acceptable (some are even pretty cool). And the other technical aspects (such as cinematography and soundtrack) are all nicely polished.

That's not to say it was perfect. I struggled with So-ah's fainting (which was probably meant be slapstick but only translated as annoying), her clueless character early on in the show, and the disparity between her caring personality vs her standoffish behavior. I also never bought her role as a psychiatrist. On the other hand, I loved how she was humble enough to admit her faults, yet never let others put her down.

Some other nitpicks include Habaek's "smile twitch" (what was the purpose???), the rushed ending, and the fact that Habaek's backstory gave absolutely no explanation that the curse caused him to become a child during the day and revert to an adult at night (a major point in the Manhua). This made the 2-3 scenes with his "younger" self completely disorienting.

In addition, the plot also took some unnecessary turns toward the end (but what K-Drama doesn't suffer from those?), and the current subtitles on Netflix had several critical segments of conversation where the wording was out of context or failed to tie together the larger meaning/subtext of what was being said.

In summary, despite some minor problems, I thought this was a pretty decent film overall, with lots of romance. If you are a fan of manga and K-Drama with a splash (no pun intended) of fantasy, give it a try. Recommended!

ROMANCE RATING: 10/10. I thought the lead couple had good chemistry (though others may disagree), and they share the largest number of kiss scenes I have yet to see in a K-Drama (7+). Additionally, in comparison to the brief or static "pecks" used in many K-Dramas, these kisses didn't skimp on dynamics or duration. This flick also deserves a nod for its' plentiful amount of skin/fanservice, courtesy of Nam Joo Hyuk and Gong Myeong's gorgeous torsos.

Here's a show about how the anchor is pulled up from a generations-long curse & Nam Joo-hyuk is put in his proper place.

BoH is one of my guilty pleasures. The term "guilty pleasure" is overused & misused. Most commonly it's thrown in b/c we're embarrassed about what we like or we're throwing cover over something we've enjoyed for fear of being mocked. For a GP to actually be a GP, there must be something to feel guilty about, meaning it has to be a show that is more than alittle flawed, but we just like it. Any fair assessment has to be a combo of technical competence & how it touches the 💗. Critics often focus more on the technical b/c that is measurable, while matters of the 💗 are subjective. How the receiver takes them matters as much as how the messenger sends them out. We have to be vulnerable to admit what our 💗 likes, & that makes it scary. BoH has lots of flaws - so many logical problems, so many missed opportunities, & if one steps back & really thinks about So-ah's story, it's so So SO SAD! But I've already watched it twice & I'm sure I'll watch it again, b/c I'm a bit of a romance junkie, & BoH gotz goodz. I'll take a flawed show in which the director can give me the flutters, merely by showing closeups of the actors' hands, over Citizen Kane 6 days a week. I'll watch CK on the 7th. Technically excellent shows give me a thrill, but left-brain thrills are just trills compared to right-brain dopamine. Anyway, romance junkies! You'll love this one! Everyone else - probably not.

BoH is comfy & soothing while being surprisingly sensual at times. Based on the Kmanga, Bride of the Water God, it's a tale of the future king of the heavenly realms who must come to earth & complete tasks in order to ascend to the throne. Habaek (Nam Joo-hyuk from Start-Up-8) is that future king. So-ah (Shin Se-kyung Rookie Historian-7.5) is a psychiatrist who has no peace in her life. Nothing has ever gone right. She is drowning in debt and, well.... forget romance! She doesn't have the time or energy for that. Unbeknownst to So-ah, things are even worse: Her family is sworn to serve the heavenly realms whenever needed. Habaek somehow lost his powers when he descended, so he is going to need a lot of help... But So-ah is a mess! Even worse, b/c she's from a line of divine servants, she's a god magnet.

House cleaning 1st. Besides the logical problems & missed opportunities, there was no follow-thru on many ideas. They dropped things here & there that initially made a splash, & then they let them sink to the bottom, forgotten. Habaek's powers, or lack of, are inconsistently handled. There are ill defined rules of the game, a thing too common in Kdramas. Not only does it get confusing, but it feels like they are cheating by making stuff up as they go. Before setting sail, they should clearly define the fantastical world depicted & stick to the parameters that they've set down. After 16+ hours of content, couldn't they have allowed a little more time for a thorough wrap up? We don't know what happened with most of the characters, & I would have liked a peek at what the coming days & years would look like. This is also too common and always yields discontent. It adds up to mandatory deductions. From a craft standpoint, BoH is at level 5~6 but as a romance it's a 7~8.

So-ah is in a submerged cage. She's drowning. Her altruistic father never had time for the family. Only child?!? Their house was always full of needy orphans. Ultimately, dad left on another goodwill mission & never returned. Her assistant recalls how evil she was as a child. From her perspective, she's the victim. To dad, everyone else was more important than she. (It's a reminder that our perspectives often aren't the full story). Her dream is Vanuatu🇻🇺 - a beautiful sea ~ 🏖 ~ 🍍 ~🍌 & 🍾 ~ she wants the life of a god. Her clinic is in a lower income area with bars on the windows. She literally lives behind bars. She's floundering in the dissonance between how she's compelled to live & how she wants to live ~ she's human.

Habaek begins as demanding & dismissive. It's amusing that he calls her his servant, but he always ends up helping her. As he acclimates to life on 🌏, it becomes clear that something dark is afoot. He & So-ah must wade through perils to right wrongs before all of creation goes under. In the background other gods are making trouble & complicating things; most have no respect for So-ah. One person that does respect So-ah is Shin Hoo-ye. He likes everything about So-ah, which makes Habaek gradually more irritated & determined to show his own worth, even w/o his powers. The overdone 💘⚠ makes a little more sense here given who So-ah is.

They ain't subtle. Like in The Terminator, clothes don't survive world-transference, so Nam Joo-hyuk is in the buff at the start. Rap music beats as he walks to So-ah like a model (though I can't say what he's modeling - It's not a tad overdone; he's worthy of it). The director was able to make simple scenes sizzle with moments that practically steam up the lens with their sensuality. At times, just a touch is enough. Shots of hands moving slowly until the tips of their fingers separate are just beautiful. The soundtrack complements it all superbly. Glass Bridge, by Savina & Drones, made the romantic scenes flow deeper & stronger, like a wave washing over & the only way to escape the power is to drop under. I've got Glass Bridge & Savina & Drones on a variety of playlists. Ty, BoH.

One thing that is not lacking in BoH is the acting. Nam Joo-hyuk is fine, though I'm not sure if anyone cares about his acting. He plays Habaek who sits atop the world with no equals. He's never had to give anyone else a thought, so he has quite a bit of growing to do. Shin Sae Kyeong plays Yoon So-ah. I've seen her in Rookie Historian(7.5) & Run On(7- but the 2ndary couple's 💓 is a 9). She has an acerbic wit & authoritative air that lends to her playing a mother-lover in these shows. I like her, but I'm not partial to the mother-lover in a romance. Here she's gasping for air & she's fantastic. The superb actor, Im Joo Hwan, is Shin Hoo-ye. I'm a fan since Oh My Ghost(10). Just don't watch him in The Spies Who Loved Me(4) b/c it's awful. Krystal Jung is the petulant Mu-ra. She's got the best drop-dead stare - quite natural for a spoiled god. She's great in the hilarious Crazy Love(7.8) & even better in Sweet & Sour(7) and of course, she stars in the legendary Heirs(7.3). Gong Myung is Bi Ryum, another spoiled god. He's got a beautiful baby face. I'm currently watching him in Be Melodramatic, which is outstanding. I'd say skip Revolutionary Love(5.7) - not worth the 🕔 & his character is one of the worst things in RL.

Viki-9.2; MDL 7.4; Awiki 87; IMDB 6.9. BoH 's ratings are all over. Director Kim Byung-Soo doesn't have any duds. His low water mark, Bubble Gum @6.3, is his only feature rated under 7 on IMDB. Nine: 9 Times Time Travel is the high mark at 8.1. The very popular A Korean Odyssey(7) is the only other work of his that I've seen, & it's pretty much the same story. The "issues" made me crazy, yet I loved the show anyway. Both of these shows are too sloppy to appeal to anyone but a romant-a-phile. Mr. Kim's name in the credits is a draw for me, & to be honest, I would probably enjoy watching Nam Joo-hyuk in any show, good or bad.

Mr. Kim works in excellent shots & imagery. Hou-ye is also behind bars. His office is cave-dark & coldly industrial, with bar imagery on either end. It's a metaphor for his earlier life. Somebody goes through a window & the movement of the broken glass is beautiful, like it's water circling round them. Gorgeous. While there are not many action scenes, the stunts during the parking garage scene are excellent. In a scene or two, their clothes form ☯ as they embrace. There's reverses. In eps1&9 they kiss, & the scenes switch which one of them has closed eyes. In ep13 they both close their eyes.

There's laughter & warmth. Koreans & food - even when there's gods that don't get hungry they can't help having them go out to eat anyway. Why does Asian entertainment always feature eating while Hollywood starves us? The result is that their stuff has more warmth. Role reversal shopping is pretty funny. He has no clothes, so off to the fitting room scene they go. What's funnier is that tight-fisted So-ah buys him a suit that doesn't fit right. You get what you pay for, So-ah😜! The police want to know if there's anyone who might want to kill her? Her assistant immediately responds by giving names, Misters A-L, & blah blah blah, "I can't count them with my fingers..." She's utterly shocked. She had no idea.

They do go below the surface briefly. Instead of just one villain, everybody did wrong. Everyone has to live with regrets. Much of the angst in the show could be traced to a father's lack of love or attention. There's beautiful moments such as this poem about two people in love, as when you're in love even dandelions look beautiful & bright: 'The dandelions beneath the telephone pole swayed brightly. I've come to believe that there is no such thing as coincidence in love. I've come to trust that the universe calculates even the littlest things, such as the winged stroke of a butterfly, in order to make two people fall in love.'

The name So-ah means: Beautiful waters. Drowning. Her whole life she's been drowning. The beautiful water god saves her. He turns her horror to honor & love.

QUOTES📢

The ones who smile during hardships are the winners. The ones who endure it are lesser. The ones who cry are losers.

It's in our language. We put action first in our sentences, while they put nouns first.

〰🖍 IMHO

🎬6.7 📝6 🎭7.8 💓7.6 🦋7.8 🎨7.5 ⚡5 🎵9 😭7 🤔5 💤0 🔚6.5

Age 15+ for mild sexual content

Re-📺? ~GP~

🏢

I saw a lot of bad news and reviews about this drama, so I never thought about watching it. Eventually I watched it and it's not that bad, actually it's pretty good drama. Even though I don't really like how So-ah sometimes behave, and the conflicts that they have just felt like being forced, overall I could enjoyed it. In fact, I want to rewatch it. Another thing, the plot is kinda slow, so I give eight for this drama.

Worth to watch, especially in this quarantine time!!! I love both main and second couples, they're cute and their chemistry is on point.

I don't think I've ever written a review for IMDb, but I felt compelled after reading a couple of unpleasant reviews. It you don't like fantasy and romantic comedies, you probably won't appreciate it. I liked everything about it.; the story, the actors, the characters, the special effects, the scenery, the cinematography, the comedy, and the music. I understand that there are people that don't like K-dramas, just like I don't like gore/violent movies that have no point, but if you enjoy fantasy/love stories, this one will captivate you.

I started this drama because i love supernatural dramas or like fantasy dramas, whatever you want to call it. I like the whole being gods thing, but i wish Habaek had more chances to showcase his power. The female lead was really annoying at times, she was always a damsel in distress, which i like to an extent, but come on she cant do anything? She is apparently a therapist, but she definitely does not act like it. Mura was also annoying, her constant jealousy got on my nerves, even when she was with Biryeom(?) she was still jealous of the female lead. Apart from those things, it was pretty decent and i liked the story line. Nam joo hyuk was absolutely stellar in this. I loved the dynamic of the 1st couple.

I write this review in 2023, and my main reason of writing is to state that this series is way better than some reviews here suggest!

All in all, this is high quality entertainment, pure fun! And by fun, I mean it covers all ranges of emotions. Yes, funny as well, some times, but also very dramatic other times. In my humble opinion, K-dramas excel in acting in sad scenes, and here is no different.

Morover, both leads are very pleasing to the eye, and do an all-round masterful acting job. And not just the leads! The whole cast is very lovable in their respective roles. Hats off again to South Korea! 8/10.

I had a touhg time watching the first episode. It was all over the place and I couldn't make heads or tales of the thing. But I watched the third epidsode I couldn't stop myself.

There's your usual Brat that you just want to slap silly.

There's the mis understood CEO that you want everythimng goes well for him.

There are the fsaithful servasnts that just about do eveything their "Master" ask of them.

Even the old wise man is there tio give a helping hand.

Fortunately we don't have the over-exagerated friend.

The story is great the acting good, the eek I found was the water special effects. Truely they could be so much better.

All in all I loved their banter the way he softened up because of her.

I saw some great reviews and some really bad reviews for this show and decided to give it a shot. I don't think it deserves a really poor rating, but a rather strong start to a rather cute story ultimately fell short. The acting was pretty good but not great, the special effects were fine but not amazing, and the story was cute but not powerful. Strong emotional moments failed to connect with me, and although I felt sorry for our characters, I never cried (and I am a BIG crier). Also the female characters in this show were just SO annoying that it actually made me cringe a few times. In particular the main girl is rather immature and has reactions varying from cute manga reactions to total stupidity (fainting at the sight of an ex). Her and her friend were also the FARTHEST things from actual psychiatrists that I had to actively pretend I didn't know anything about psychology to get through the series. What was frustrating about the lack of anything resembling actual doctors is that I have seen two other medical based K-Dramas that did a great job of portraying the medical field and the professionalism and care that would be required in a hospital setting. I get that our main girl has her own clinic and doesn't have the "rules" of a hospital, but come on, barely listening to an obviously disturbed paranoid schizophrenic and then screaming like a child when he proceeds to have a breakdown? (BTW This happens in the first 15 minutes so its not a spoiler). It was ridiculous and brought the whole show down in my opinion.

I'm still not sure why i chose to watch this, but i'm glad i did. It is a good mix of fantasy and everyday life, with some great one liners and a few good fights thrown in. I don't know the original tale about the water god, so it seemed a nice story. I've been to Korea though, it's a lovely place i'd like to see more of and i've been to some of the places shown, but i never saw men there with frilly or lacy shirts with giant bows around the collar (maybe i wasn't in the right place and to be honest nowhere else in the world i've been to either has men dressed like that), but it somehow fits in here with the gods and their OTT lifestyle. The acting was good, the ending was pretty good and I'm glad i watched it.

I've been on this Kdrama kick for a while now. This one was definitely worth the watch. Now we know that with any show, some of it can be cringy and sometimes we don't like one of the leading characters. This is no different. When it comes down to Yuns character, when she was at work, it was bad, she wasn't a good doctor/psychiatrist, when it came down to her only two friends; she was not a very good friend, when it came down to Habaeck she was better, although I think she didn't have to be so clueless. Habaecks character was annoying but the romance between the two of them was worth the watch. The show was all over the place and some parts had you scratching your head and the end was a little weird but I still enjoyed it. This review is all over the place because that's how the show was to me. But if there was a second season, I'd be front and center!

Female leads are frustrating!!! Always crying, getting angry unnecessarily??!!

The story doesn't make sense tbh.

I 💙 this drama because of Lord Habaek. I 💙 the fantasy elements to the story Beautiful scenery Beautiful love story

First off, can we take a moment to appreciate the stunning visuals? The show's got this magical aura that's seriously captivating.

Now, here's where it gets real - the storyline had so much potential with the whole water god and bride concept. But, and it's a big but, the character development left me wanting more. I wanted to connect with them on a deeper level.

And let's talk romance. While I'm all about swoon-worthy moments, the relationships felt a tad rushed and lacking that authentic spark.

On the flip side, major kudos for the fantastic cinematography and production design - they pulled off a seriously mesmerizing world.

In a nutshell, The Bride of Habaek has its charm, but it could've dived deeper into character connections and storytelling to really hit the mark.

Still worth a watch if you're into eye candy and a dash of fantasy, though.

The only thing that I like about this drama is the love story between the mortal & immortal, the forbidden love! The leading actor & actress are comfortable with each other so their interaction is beautiful. The kissing scenes are just romantic & swoonworthy!

Every one of them has a role in the drama & their contribution is put together to tell a stort except for one the so-called divine goddess who thinks too highly of herself, snobbish, wicked & self-centred. She is so petty & vicious over others misery! She is the opposite of the word divine. Its too exaggerated for a storyline. I fast forward some scenes of her, too irrelevant & uninterested in her pettiness! Didn't think her role in the drama relevant as there is no significant contribution to the show at all!

The story of the halfie is also good, who tried to do good deed & things happened to him, not his fault.

Other than that it's too far fetched of a storyline. Revenge for event happened 1,200 years ago!

Most of the k-drama, the nasty supporting actress who think they are the most attractive & prettiest are actually the unattractive ones, script directors need to find better lines as it's put a dent in any show just like this one, the granddaughter/ exclassmate of the doctor is truly delusional & brainless!

5 stars because... Nam Joo-Hyuk. One star for shirtless... Nam Joo-Hyuk. Last star for good kissing scenes: Nam Joo-Hyuk really nails it every time. Chills.

Yes, I'm a fan. Is how I bore this to the end.

First 10 episodes are boring and the failed attempts at humour are just embarrasing. After that, it becomes okay. Still. Too many useless characters. The demi-god's existence is pointless. We're given no information about who he actually is. Habaek's first love has... disppeared? Was she not Hoo-Ye's mother? Who was the father? Couldn't it be Habaek? This could have been used to tighten the plot...

Even such questions are pointless, as nothing makes sense in this story. The characters' behaviours, feelings, motives and interactions are awkward, unrealistic. The whole thing feels like a patchwork of cheesy clichés that don't blend together to build a moving love story.

Besides, this is a story about gods. I mean GODS! I expected something grandiose at some point, an epic fight, a demonstration of immeasurable power. The special effects were watchable at best. What about the gods' way of life? They just wander around? Ah, yeah, they take care of Nature, saving fishes and other great stuff... So many things are left unexplained.

The ending. Reminds me of Duncan McLeod, except that, for some reason, (probably good acting and good plot and hard work) I felt for the Highlander, thinking of how he would have to live forever missing his wife. No way I'm pitying Habaek.

Overall, I don't regret watching this, but without NJH, I would. He's the reason why I came back to this drama when I had already given up once, after 40 minutes of ridiculous nonsense. 2 stars without him.

I loved the show, its leads and the romance scene between the two.It was funny at the same time and romantic and emotional at the same time.In total definitely a good show

I REALLYYY loved this drama a lot !! I laughed so much .. it was absolutely amazing !! Definitely worth a watch !!

A captivating example of sacrificial love. The actors portrayed there roles very convincingly with sincerity and humor. It's hard to find a movie where you laugh and sob alternately. Finally a movie I can enjoy with my teenage daughter without worrying about vulgarity. I truly hope another season will be made. Kudoz to Hulu for such a surprisingly refreshing choice of series. I hope they will request another season be made.

A little bit disappointed, but overall it's still worth to watch if you're bored enough.

The opening was fine but the ending was like the crew got electric shocked, too much superfluous suspense plot made it nearly impossible not to skip.