anopinion
Pittsburgh, PA
This review may contain spoilers
Inconsistent drama, amazing Jang Nara
I loved all the episodes up till episode 10, and I loved episode 12, but everything fell off a cliff after that.
Sell You Haunted House is basically an episodic series with an underlying arc being the exorcism of Hong Mi-jin. The show was consistently good in the beginning. It is actually a relatively well-written supernatural drama with good world-building. We know from the very beginning how exorcism works: exorcist + name + hairpin + medium + stab + memory. The biggest puzzle was also written down plainly right at the start. Why is Hong Mi-jin still dwelling in the human world? What is needed to exorcise her? We know what's happening and we have a direction for the story, and that's a good thing.
Every few episodes depicted the story of a lingering spirit. The pace was good, the execution was slick. I was especially impressed with episode 10, because I genuinely had a heart in the mouth moment. The action sequence was exciting, the improvisation was smart, and everything was just perfect. That one scene pushed the drama to a high. What was even better was Jang Nara's performance in episode 12. Simply legendary.
However, I wonder if this "high" proved to be detrimental to the series, because in comparison the remaining parts of the story lacked punch. After episode 12, the preview for the next episode was like telling the viewers "don't watch". Episode 12 was not a build-up, it was the climax. And so it was difficult for me to continue with the series, because I didn't think it was possible to Jang Nara to top her performance (not because of her, because of the flow of the story) and I didn't think it was possible for the series to give more excitement. I was right. I had to force myself to finish the show.
I do appreciate how the clues were given and how the solution to our puzzle was logical. However, I already guessed how the egg ghost could be exorcised, and I guessed how Hong Mi-jin could be exorcised. A better approach will be to push it further and make it smarter. The show needed a surprise, a eureka moment, but the writers failed to do that. I would prefer it if another episodic plot was added in to make the unravelling of the main story much quicker, and the quicker pace would've also allowed the writers to cover the flaws of their plot.
Overall, this is still one of the better K-dramas of 2021 though. Even if you don't like how it ended, I would say that the first half was a good watch anyway.
Sell You Haunted House is basically an episodic series with an underlying arc being the exorcism of Hong Mi-jin. The show was consistently good in the beginning. It is actually a relatively well-written supernatural drama with good world-building. We know from the very beginning how exorcism works: exorcist + name + hairpin + medium + stab + memory. The biggest puzzle was also written down plainly right at the start. Why is Hong Mi-jin still dwelling in the human world? What is needed to exorcise her? We know what's happening and we have a direction for the story, and that's a good thing.
Every few episodes depicted the story of a lingering spirit. The pace was good, the execution was slick. I was especially impressed with episode 10, because I genuinely had a heart in the mouth moment. The action sequence was exciting, the improvisation was smart, and everything was just perfect. That one scene pushed the drama to a high. What was even better was Jang Nara's performance in episode 12. Simply legendary.
However, I wonder if this "high" proved to be detrimental to the series, because in comparison the remaining parts of the story lacked punch. After episode 12, the preview for the next episode was like telling the viewers "don't watch". Episode 12 was not a build-up, it was the climax. And so it was difficult for me to continue with the series, because I didn't think it was possible to Jang Nara to top her performance (not because of her, because of the flow of the story) and I didn't think it was possible for the series to give more excitement. I was right. I had to force myself to finish the show.
I do appreciate how the clues were given and how the solution to our puzzle was logical. However, I already guessed how the egg ghost could be exorcised, and I guessed how Hong Mi-jin could be exorcised. A better approach will be to push it further and make it smarter. The show needed a surprise, a eureka moment, but the writers failed to do that. I would prefer it if another episodic plot was added in to make the unravelling of the main story much quicker, and the quicker pace would've also allowed the writers to cover the flaws of their plot.
Overall, this is still one of the better K-dramas of 2021 though. Even if you don't like how it ended, I would say that the first half was a good watch anyway.
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