Drama | Island 아일랜드 — A chaebol heiress who’s actually likable, Cha Eun Woo as a priest, and an immortal semi-demon demon slayer…tays

Hello BAYOG Fam~ We taking a break and briefly going back to my original area of expertise for BAYOG: Real People Stuffs. Let’s talk about a recent K-Drama~ Y’all know I’m usually about cute fluffy romance dramas. We not here for that this time. Today we got a darker series that’s more about horror and the supernatural. It’s called Island/아일랜드. It’s a web series adaptation of a comic series of the same name. It just recently premiered on TVING and Amazon Prime Video back in December. Also, Cha Eun Woo is in it… He’s a priest here, and holy shit! Who knew he’d look good as a priest? Like he’s actually a really good-looking priest?? When I first saw him I was like, “It’s a sin how good-looking he is as a priest…” LOLOL Anyway, let’s get into it~

---

Island
아일랜드

Content/Trigger Warnings: Violence, Assault, Blackmail, Sexual Harassment, Gore

Genre/Theme: Action, Fantasy, Supernatural, Horror, Drama
Spicy Level: Not that kinda drama — It’s an action fantasy kinda series. So not that kinda series.
Rage/Frustration Level: Meh? — I wasn’t particularly bothered
Original 1998 Manhwa: [Island Part 1 — Webtoon]; Available in English
2015 Webtoon: [Island Part 2 — Naver Webtoon]; Korean, not yet available in English
Watch: [Amazon Prime Video]; Available in English
Synopsis:

Evil took its first step to destroy the world. On the mysterious island of Jeju Island, the gateway to this, “Van,” a mix of human and monster, “Won Mi-ho,” the one in the center of fate, and “Johan,” the one who exercises God’s power, come together. A strange, yet captivating, action-packed exorcism fantasy in which they fight evil, share the fate of saving the world, and defy their own…

[Amazon Prime Video]

This drama is considered a web series and is following a Part 1 and Part 2 format. Part 1 was released with 6 episodes on December 30, 2022. Part 2 was released on February 23, 2023. You can catch it in English from [Amazon Prime Video]. This was probably my first K-Drama in a while, and a rare one that I actually finished. Again, I used to be all about K-Dramas. Like I used to be the one totally up to date and all caught up with all the aired episodes. However, I haven’t been as fond of K-Dramas over the past couple of years. I also basically hadn’t really finished most of my series since 2020. Since 2020, I’ve probably only finished a handful of dramas: [Itaewon Class], [Sweet Home], [Squid Game], [All of Us Are Dead], [Business Proposal], and [Extraordinary Attorney Woo]. You know…this series would’ve been under my radar. Like I really didn’t pay attention to it. I honestly only started it because of Cha Eun Woo and Lee Da Hee. We all know Cha Eun Woo as a member of the K-Pop boy group [Astro], as well as starring in live-action drama adaptations like [My ID Is Gangnam Beauty] and [True Beauty]. He was also in the live-action drama promo trailer for [The Villainess Is A Marionette] manhwa. I remembered and loved Lee Da Hee from the hilarious Korean drama adaptation of [Beauty Inside]. There’s also Kim Nam Gil , who plays Van, is probably most recognized for the 2017 film [살인자의 기억법/Memoir of a Murderer]. I was also pleasantly surprised to see that Sung Joon was also in this. He’s recognizable from series like [Flower Band], [Gu Family Book], and [Hyde Jekyll, Me]. Anyway, I had no intention of starting this drama at first. I like supernatural stuff, sure. But I’m trying not to get into dramas with dark vibes right now LOL But Cha Eun Woo… Like I saw the trailer and was like, “Fine… I’ll give it a try.” Plus, I ran out of things to watch. It was also about time I tricked my family into watching another K-Drama with me~ My mom and grandma be like “No. We not gonna watch it.” But they end up being the most invested. My stepdad usually hates K-Dramas, but he was like, “What’s this? Why?” And slowly watches along haha~

Honestly, I wasn’t expecting much. But once I started episode 1, I was quickly pretty surprised and impressed? First off, Cha Eun Woo blew my mind. As sinful as it sounds…he looks hot and looks really cool as a priest LOL. Like he’s not your traditional priest for sure. Priest Yohan has earrings, wears sneakers and hoodies, and has huge headphones while blasting Korean rap music. Dude was performing an exorcism while blasting Groovy Room’s [We Higher] LOLOLOLOL

But also, I was just incredibly impressed with his acting?! Look, I love Cha Eun Woo. I like Astro. Cha Eun Woo is incredibly good-looking and is known as one of the best-looking faces in Korean media. I love his voice and music. He also seems like a sweet and genuine dude. Like I’ve also heard lots of people praise his personality. However… I personally just find his acting to be a bit… stiff at times. It’s not awful, but just not my cup of tea. I think it’s also because I’ve always seen him as that calm, cool, and sweet student male lead type of character. Other than that, I remember him from his first role being in [Hit the Top] as an idol. So him being a priest threw me off. It was unexpected. I also didn’t expect him to actually speak some Italian. I don’t speak Italian, but I’m familiar (formerly somewhat fluent when I was younger) with Spanish. Not the same language, but same language family and some similar pronunciations. So to me, it was obvious he wasn’t a native speaker, but I think he did a good job. I think while it’s not perfect pronunciation, it does seem to probably be fairly understandable. At the very least…I think his Italian was probably much better than Song Joong Ki’s in [Vincenzo]…

But honestly, I’m just really surprised at how he’s matured and his acting has greatly improved. And in such a short period. Like True Beauty and Gangnam Beauty weren’t that long ago to me. I found that Eun Woo’s expressions don’t seem stiff to me anymore. He’s gotten so much better at displaying various emotions. He had his suave, cool, and charming moments. But also these very chill moments that just made him seem more natural. He was also a bit of comedic relief now and then too~ Also, I loved the action scenes. He looked great during those scenes too. I’m honestly surprised at his increased range.

Now we have Lee Da Hee as our female lead, Choi Miho. Honestly, she’s gorgeous. She looks amazing and I didn’t realize she’s 37. I also love how her character is. Like in Beauty Inside, she plays a chaebol heiress. However, we got very different vibes. Actually, totally unexpectedly different vibes from what I’d get from a chaebol character. Most chaebols are portrayed to be pompous, power-tripping rich people who can’t and won’t relate to normal people. They often look down on them and disregard them. They come off as prideful, pretentious, cold, selfish, and incredibly out of touch. Miho is a rich and powerful chaebol heiress. She’s prideful, sure. But I wouldn’t really consider her pretentious. Rather, the way she treats people is based on how they treat her first. She also wields her power when needed. She’s got alot of pressure on her and alot of enemies. Like her aunt literally set her up and ruined her reputation, which led her to being forced to go to Jeju to lay low. But honestly, she’s a rather kind and empathetic person. I think for a chaebol, she’s pretty down to earth and is actually super chill. I found her to be surprisingly relatable too. This is super obvious in her interactions with her bestie in Jeju. Like I enjoyed how she wasn’t all that different from any of us, and she has very similar thoughts and reactions as we would. When she thought her secretary/driver was in trouble and being humiliated, she tried to intervene and then get payback. Because she considered him to be like family and one of the people she truly cared for and trusted. I think she only really acts a certain way to keep up a somewhat spicy and powerful image to protect herself. Because she honestly does feel pain, worry, and sadness for herself and the people around her.

She also gets upset and disgusted at the injustice of one of the students at her school (she’s basically a guidance counselor/teacher while she’s laying low). The student was being stalked, harassed, and abused by her toxic, rich, and powerful psycho boyfriend. Like here’s a good difference. Miho really feels for her student. She’s sad and pissed for her. The psycho boyfriend got away with the shit he did, and many times too, because he’s got money and power since his family has a big influence in Jeju. He pretends to be remorseful but basically laughs the whole thing off. He smugly tells Miho it’s stupid and there’s no point because they’re on different levels than that other girl. Clearly aware and flaunting the power and privilege they have that allows him to get away with it. Miho said, “Fuck that”. She used her privilege by decking him in the face. It wasn’t even a lil bitch slap either. She’s a queen~ Cuz although he’s big fish in Jeju, she’s an even bigger fish from a huge ass conglomerate in Seoul. The way she did it was hilarious too. Cuz she does have to lay low. So she held her purse to his face and was like, “Oh, hold my purse for me. Hold it well cuz it’s limited edition…” Then punched her “bag” which sent him flying back, but she pulled on the purse. Caused the dude to propel forward as she kicked him. It was beautiful and satisfying ~ Which brings me to the other thing I like about her: she can fight. Like she’s not afraid to throw punches or give judo flips. Though she isn’t OP and does have her moments where she’s scared (totally natural reaction). But I like that she’ll fight if and when needed. And that’s exactly why I like her. Also, she has little bits of comedy. I will say, the funniest scene to me was when she was running for her life while being chased by a demonic possessed bride. It was funny cuz she jumped in to hide in a delivery truck. Slammed that door shut just in time for the monster to have a really loud BANG into the door. I was eating lunch at the time and almost spit my noodles out laughing so hard LMAO.

I will say that they kinda did my girl dirty with her makeup in some shots, particularly with her eyebrows. Her eyebrows were one of the things that constantly distracted me. I feel like it wasn’t consistent?? Like it’d look fine in one shot, especially during the daytime shots. But then it’d look hella thick and dark in certain scenes and shots. More so whenever she had a shot in the Jeju house. Like I don’t even want to say it’s because of the lighting because it honestly just looked like it had a darker and thicker shape in those scenes than in her other scenes. Cuz every other shot, her eyebrows look totally normal. Even my grandma was like, “Why her eyebrows so thick??” lolol This coming from Thai women, where our beauty trends and standards ARE hella thick and bold eyebrows.

Next up we have Van, played by Kim Nam Gil. Dude kind of comes off as this cold and stoic jerk. But he’s always jumping in to save Miho. It seems that he’s got a past that’s connected with Miho’s past life. Also, simplified spoiler, the man is an immortal demon slayer. He was forced to become one after he and some other kids were captured and forced to have demon blood poured into them. It’s his job to hunt after these demons on Jeju Island. However, I wouldn’t say he’s necessarily a totally good guy. He seems to not really see others in a good light. He comes off as a bitter and tortured soul. But he also does have a painful and complicated past. Throughout the series, we jump back and forth the past and the present to find out more about it bit by bit. But again, he’s not necessarily a totally good guy as he believes in not interfering with things he doesn’t need to. But he does have his moments of compassion I guess. Other than saving Miho, he’s the one who really helped get true revenge for that student who was blackmailed by her toxic boyfriend. The revenge is actually crazy. Satisfying if you’re one of those lowkey sadistic people with no mercy when it comes to revenge. But honestly, it’s been a few weeks since I watched this, so my memory of Van is a bit fuzzy. Also, I was back and forth running into the kitchen to work while we were watching these episodes lol

And surprisingly, we have Sung Joon who plays Gungtan. All I’ll say is that Gungtan is our antagonist. He also seems to have a past with Van and Miho’s previous incarnation. I honestly didn’t recognize him at first. I just kept staring at his face and was like, “WTF this dude familiar…?” So yeah, it was a pleasant surprise to see him in this.

I do have some criticisms (that I can remember), other than Lee Da Hee’s brows. For example, how the music for some of the scenes are. Like I get it, it’s an action/drama/fantasy series. I get there’s gonna be dramatic music and sounds for certain scenes, like the action scenes. However, sometimes the music they use is so sudden and incredibly cringe. Like I remember specifically mentioning this to my K-Drama Circle group chat. I think it’s episode 3 or 4, but there’s a scene where Miho’s secretary had been possessed and was after her. Van appeared out of nowhere. But it was made into such a grandiose entrance with hellaaaaaaaaa extra sfx and the music made it super cringe. I think it was like orgel/choir chanting kinda shit going on too. It’s just a bit too much. Like instead of making the scene look cool, it just seemed to extra and cringe to me. My only other criticism isn’t actually with the drama itself though. Like the drama was interesting so far. However, I was incredibly pissed cuz Amazon Prime seemed to be having issues with the subs. It was constantly not in sync and it was just killing me. Like either the subs didn’t show up, or they would be hella delayed. Sometimes they came up to fast during different lines. Like I kept restarting the app and my TV. Same issue. Apparently, it’s a common issue. It’s not even that my interest was shit either. So that’s why I was incredibly annoyed. Also, I think I was questioning the accuracy of the subs. Like I don’t know Korean, but 23+ years of consuming Korean media has made me familiar enough with bits and pieces. Also, if y’all didn’t know, I work on subtitles on some show for Viki. So I’m familiar with translating/subtitling. And there were a few times I was like, “This doesn’t seem right…” Like the subs also just seemed a bit off somehow. There were times I felt it could have had much better wording or it just seemed like MTL to me.

I’ve yet to see the newly released episodes, as I’ve only watched those first 6 episodes. However, I found this series to be surprisingly interesting. It’s very dark though. So if you want something funny and fluffy, this ain’t it. But if you like action, drama, and some darkness…then yeah. You might be interested in this. It is dark, but there are unexpected bits of comedy here and there. Again, I did not expect that sudden comedy bit during Miho’s first encounter with a demon. But I do find the lore interesting. Admittedly though, I don’t fully comprehend it. But I think that’s more on my part since I was in and out of the room while we were watching it. But the acting is really solid and the characters are interesting. Again, I’m super impressed with Eun Woo and his character. I love Lee Da Hee’s character too. Totally windblown that we’d have this strong, but still relatable female chaebol heiress. And I love that her actions and everything make logical sense. Although, I honestly probably wouldn’t be all that into the webtoon. It’s not usually my kind of series. But I do have an interest in supernatural and folklore stuff. So it’s enjoyable enough for me through a drama format. I will say, there are some rollercoasters of emotions here and there. Like I’m legit shocked an upset about one of the extra’s deaths?? I’ve never been so upset by an extra’s death before… But the emotions portrayed by the characters were really good. Though I do want to note that I felt like episodes 5-6 felt a bit rushed and ended at a weird cliffhanger. But I guess I’ll see once I continue the rest of the newly released episodes. But for now, I’ll give this drama an “OK”. It’s not the best drama. But I do find it interesting so far. For now (and for me), I’ll give it like a 7.5-8 out of 10.

---

Anyway, that’s it y’all~ This drama post has been sitting in drafts for weeks now LMAO. I’ve just been behind with work, stuff for Manta, and just being exhausted. Glad I was finally able to get it out here. Again, I used to love K-Dramas. It’s been a struggle for me to find one that I do find interesting, and interesting enough to keep watching until the end. I do have a couple I’ve been meaning to put out. So it might take a while, but I’ll eventually get those drama posts out. I just figured I’d share this one. Especially since I’m usually more about the bright, sweet, and fluffy romance type of drama series. Have y’all watched it? What do you think so far? Have you read the webtoon? Share your thoughts on that and the adaptation~ Let me know in the comments, my socials, or Discord~ Aside from that, I do hope to get some of my novel posts also out soon within this week…or at least before I go on my trip by the end of the month. Anyway, that’s all for today~ I hope you all have a wonderful day friends! Stay safe and take care~

---