Letter #44: My Roommate is a Gumiho

Good morning, Erin.
 
So, I can’t remember exactly why you recommended this one to me, especially since I double-checked that you haven’t seen it (maybe this was another sister-based recommendation?), but I absolutely know why I started watching My Roommate is a Gumiho: I desperately needed a break from Inspector Koo. 
 
…well, okay, that’s why I rewatched Sherlock. But then I totally started on Gumiho—and here we are.
 
So, without further ado (and with the standard promise not to spoil what you haven’t already watched), let’s talk about my second-favorite show that desperately wishes it was Goblin but isn’t:
 
1. I keep calling this show “My Neighbor is a Gumiho.” I don’t know why. 
 
1A. I mean, you’d think it might be because of My Neighbor Totoro, but A) I’ve never seen that movie, and B) I’d like to think that, if it were because of that, I’d call it “My Neighbor Gumiho,” which would be the correct number of syllables and, therefore, funnier. 
 
2. The first shot of the female romantic lead, Dam, has her dressed up in historical garb at a tourist location, and, having come so recently from Alchemy of Souls, I thought she looked like Jung So-min (or, more precisely, I thought she looked like Jung So-min’s less attractive little sister). Which is hilarious, ultimately, because it turns out the male romantic lead, Mr. Gumiho, had a romantic relationship in ye olden times with a woman played by—you guessed it!—Jung So-min. I have no idea if this was a deliberate bit of casting or if I’m just so smitten with Jung So-min that I’m just seeing her in everyone’s features, now, but I thought it fitting that Mr. Gumiho might have a type.
 
3. Speaking of the actress who plays Dam, though, she is really, really good at physical comedy. (She’s also really good at being similar to my ex-girlfriend. Which is much less to be proud of, but no less true.)
 
4. Daryl, circa Ep 5: “Chevrolet is a sponsor, so just about every car is a Chevy. But Subway is also a sponsor, and we have not spent a single second needlessly eating a Subway sandwich while having an important conversation. And I am not happy about this.”
 
5. Daryl, circa Ep 11: “OH MY GOD SHE’S GOING TO WORK AT A SUBWAY I LOVE THIS SHOW.”
 
5A. “Oh my God her boss at Subway is the Divorce Attorney from Touch Your Heart I love this show.”
 
6. The dashing secondary point in the main love triangle and his family have dinner at some hoity-toity restaurant, at some point, and, in the hallway outside the restrooms, there’s just this…I don’t know what to call it, exactly, but some kind of display of, like, American political paraphernalia. Like, there are some old-timey hand-drawn newspaper portraits of…well, I can’t see who, exactly, but I know I’ve seen them before in textbooks. And that is 100% a bust of JFK. I have no idea why.
 
7. This show is not unlike Because This is My First Life in how it’s about a lot of things but also not really about any of those things. (In this case, it’s stuff about degrees of love and soul mates and the like.) And, as such, it is similarly disappointing when it doesn’t follow through on them. Which is not to say that the show is bad or disappointing, just not what it could be. 
 
7A. …that said, I see I’ve written “we’ve jumped the shark” at about the halfway point in the series. So.
 
8. By nature of the plot, the kissing in this show can get pretty intense. But, in equal measure, it can be stock-standard tame. And not always when you’d expect. 
 
9. Okay, so, there’s a scene where two of our main characters are walking across their college campus and having a plot-relevant conversation, and there are extras walking around them in all directions, just as you’d expect. But, in the distance, this girl comes around a corner and, inexplicably, for the 30 or 40 seconds of conversation that follow this moment of her coming around the corner, my eyes were glued to this blurry girl in the background as she walks in their general direction. And I’m saying to myself, “Why do I feel so drawn to this girl?” And then, a few moments later, it turns out she was deliberately trailing behind our main characters so she could catch up to them and start chatting. And it turns out to be none other than Miss Intern from Hotel Del Luna! I’m telling you, I had NO IDEA it was her, but she still caught my eye the moment she stepped on screen, even though she was technically indistinguishable from the dozen other extras wandering around in the background. Which, I mean, I dunno about you, but I think that sounds an awful lot like destiny. 
 
9A. Thinking back, I wonder if something about her outfit made her stand apart from everyone else. I mean, she wasn’t in neon yellow or anything, but I think she might have been the only one in white or something like that. Hmm. Those TV people. Always with the stage direction. Very clever. 
 
9B. …which doesn’t mean I don’t have an ephemeral connection to her akin to destiny. Just, y’know, it could be that and clever TV stage direction. 
 
10. Similarly, in the early part of the season, Mr. Gumiho is working on something with a woman, and I just really, really liked her. She’s not in it very much, but there was just something about her—and it turns out that she was Ae-wol, the kisaeng in 100 Days My Prince (who had that maybe-romance subplot with Good Boy except oh wait the story forgot that was a thing never mind). So, no wonder I liked her!
 
11. All right, all right—we’re overdue for the “everyone I recognize” portion of the letter, but I wanted to mention the folks I already have apart from this list, so…I did. But here’s the official list, and, much like with the list from Alchemy of Souls, this turns out to be a reunion party for a handful of other shows…which are themselves a reunion party, as you will see:

• Big Sister from Start-Up as a foxy lady (...that is, as Mr. Gumiho’s friend, the female gumiho) 

• the dude with the dead brother from Start-Up as Dam’s best friend

• Miss Intern from Hotel Del Luna as an ex-girlfriend

• Ji-ho from Because This is My First Life as Mr. Gumiho’s old flame

• the bully girl from Extraordinary You/True Beauty (unrecognizably) as a fortune teller

• Ae-wol from 100 Days My Prince as a publisher

• the magistrate from 100 Days My Prince/Sunny’s agent from Touch Your Heart as a professor

• Gray Ghost from Goblin/Ms. Dam from Touch Your Heart as Dam’s best friend

• Divorce Attorney from Touch Your Heart as the boss at Subway

• Prosecuter from Touch Your Heart as a professor

• the intern from Touch Your Heart/handyman from When the Camellia Blooms as…um, a guy

• the boss from Touch You Heart/Mr. No from Camellia/autistic brother from It’s Okay as the dude with the dead brother from Start-Up’s older brother

 
12. …but that’s not all! So, in a show that has my current celebrity crush (Jung So-min (...as you know)), Big Sister, Miss Intern, Gray Ghost, and even Ae-wol in it, it might be shocking to find out that none of these incredible ladies managed to earn the #BestGirl spot—but it will not at all be shocking to find out that the one who did grab that title was the bratty little sister (totally because she’s hilarious and not at all because of whatever reason you’re rolling your eyes for as you read this) of the dashing secondary point in the main love triangle. BUUUUT what’s extra-fun about her is that she was a member of I.O.I, which is the same idol group Miss Intern was in. Like a big ol’ game of connect the dots, this show. 
 
12A. Also, this show could have used a lot more of her. Just sayin’. 
 
13. …but even that’s not all! Sort of! Or…well, I just read that the male lead from Camellia and Jung So-min are going to be in a new movie together. Which is kind of relevant. Kind of. 
 
14. Okay, so let’s talk about Big Sister from Start-Up and how she’s really good in this. ‘Cus she is. First off…they let her smile, which is not only a nice change of pace from her turn in Start-Up but also more than a little dazzling. (Gosh, she’s pretty, huh?) And she’s quite charming when she…well, turns on the charm and gets all flirty and playful and teasing—and she is highly entertaining (that is, funny) when she drops into this mode (…though I am especially partial to her huffy, childish moments and I can hear you judging me, Erin, don’t pretend that I can’t). And she has this brilliant quirk where she doesn’t understand idioms, and it’s hilarious. 
 
14A. The only real drawback with her is that the show cannot figure out how to dress her. Like, they can’t decide if her style is classy/preppy or…um, vaguely provocative. It’s mostly their obsession with putting her in these thigh-high boots. Which…just…no. I mean, don’t get me wrong: I’m all for unnecessary flashes of Big Sister’s thighs. But I don’t think this particular fashion choice was doing her any favors. 
 
14B. No, seriously: when she goes to visit Mr. Gumiho at home, she obviously has to take off her shoes…which are 90% of what’s covering her legs…so she’s sitting in his living room and they have to be very particular about how they shoot the scene, lest we be distracted by her very, very, very bare legs. It’s kind of hilarious. 
 
14C. Oh! And there’s this scene where she’s supposed to blush, and they edit it in such a way that, when they cut back to her, her face is actually red (presumably with makeup, but…maybe just with acting!), which I thought was a really nice touch. Most of the time, everyone just acts like the guy or girl is blushing, even though it never looks like it. But, this time, an effort was made. And I appreciated it.
 
15. Actually, going back to the boots thing, basically all the ladies are put in boots. Sometimes, with dressier winter coats and/or long skirts, the boots look very stylish. Other times, they just look…bad. (Over blue jeans? Why?) And maybe it’s just that I don’t like the way knee- and thigh-high boots look, but I’m willing to bet you’d take a look at a few of these fashion choices and shake your head, too.
 
16. Dam wears a sweatshirt with “California” written across the front…and I felt compelled to sing the theme song to The O.C.. Like, out loud. Like a total dweeb.
 
17. Unsurprisingly, Gray Ghost is also really funny. I’m not sure she was given the best hairstyle, but she’s still really funny. Like, all the time. 
 
17A. I’m once again surprised to find out she’s as young as she is. Like, the actress. I could have sworn she was in her 40s. Like, a look-good-for-your-age 40s, but…still. Which is hilarious, here, because there’s a gag in the show where one of the characters thinks she’s a professor because she looks like she’s in her 40s. So, y’know, it’s not just me. 
 
17B. “...wasn’t that because of how she was dressed, rather than how she physically loo—” 
Shh, Erin, there’s no time!
 
18. One of the characters describes falling in love as feeling very childish, which I really liked—because the earliest pangs of liking someone are very, very playful. The flirting and teasing and excessive smiling…and, for the very young, there can be literal chasing each other around. It’s all just play. 
 
19. The multiple foxtails CGI-ed onto our actors when they’re all gumiho-y creeped me the f*** out. Very unsettling, to me. 
 
20. I’m not one to turn my nose up at typical narrative contrivances and cliches and all that…but, gosh, this show went to the “no one just talks to one another” well a few too many times for its own good. 
 
21. There’s also a really, really contrived class assignment that absolutely reeks of authorial plot manipulation. And it actually manages to get worse as it continues on. It’s laughably hackneyed. 
 
22. For the record: I was rooting for the dashing secondary point in the main love triangle. 
 
23. The show does a brief discussion of the idea that men keep a room in their hearts for their first loves, and…I don’t know that that’s a thing—or, rather, I’d say a guy’s first love is not guaranteed to hold that kind of place in his heart (Lord knows I don’t care a wit about mine, anymore)…but it’s absolutely true that the house that is his heart is occupied by a lady from his past for whom his feelings and reality never quite matched up. (Or, if you’re me, four ladies. Well, three plus my current crush, who I’m sure is on her way to being a never-quite-matched-up, so I’m counting her, as well.) And maybe they all get kicked out when he meets the one. Or maybe not. But that’s not discussed on the show. So…who’s to say.
 
And that’s all there is to say about that. I guess. 
 
It’s a bit of a mixed bag, at times, but still a pretty good time. For the comic chops of many of our actors, if nothing else. 
 
…well, and Big Sister smiling. Of course. 
 
Hope you had a nice Thanksgiving. And, frankly, a nice every other day, too. 
 
—Daryl