Goblin Episode 5 Recap

It’s like a yo yo exists between our couple.

Goblin: The Lonely and Great God Episode 5 Recap

Kim Shin (Gong Yoo) reads until he hears Ji Eun Tak (Kim Go Eun) call to him. She loves the bit of magic he does for her as she crosses the sidewalk. He stares at her and thinks “an object doesn’t have to be large to have great mass. That girl, tiny as a violet, drifts in the sky like petals of a flower. She draws me to her with a force greater than gravity. In a single moment, I fell for her.”

Eun Tak rushes to him thrilled. He stares at her intently. He thinks “my heart bounced from the heavens to the earth in a pendulum motion. Such was the moment I’d first fallen in love.” That makes me wonder if he’s saying he’s never been in romantic love before. What about his love for the Queen?

There is silence in the car between Eun Tak and Kim Shin. She says she’ll walk back to the hotel if he’ll drop her off. He pulls over and she gets out wishing him a good evening. What happened? Why did they switch from adorable to awkward? Is Kim Shin having a hard time dealing with the reality of falling in love?

Kim Shin returns to his room. He clutches his chest right where the sword is. He has flashbacks of Eun Tak and his past. A voice intones that only the Goblin Bride will be able to remove the sword. My, we are starting this episode plunging into the dark after repeating the falling in love scene at the top of the episode.

As Eun Tak walks home a ghost appears and asks a favor. Can Eun Tak restock her fridge in her dorm room? She’s newly dead and her mother will go to the dorm room soon to mourn. The ghost doesn’t want her mother to think she lived a Spartan existence. Eun Tak restocks the fridge and tidies the room. The ghost appears and thanks her. The mother arrives and examine the neat room. She cries over the fridge contents. Little does the mother know, her daughter, now a ghost is in the room crying with her mother. I don’t know what that scene was about beyond showing the Eun Tak is sensitive and kind. She must generate positive buzz among the ghost community.

God of Death / Grim Reaper Wang Yeo (Lee Dong Wook) offers the newly dead ghost the tea that will wipe her memory. She slowly drinks the brew. Wang Yeo looks on with compassion.

Kim Sun / Sunny (Yoo In Na) spots Wang Yeo on the bridge. She rushes to him and demands to know why he hasn’t called. He promises to call her right away. In fact, he’ll go home and call. Sunny can’t believe it and won’t let this opportunity slip through her fingers. She suggests they forego calling each other and go to a cafe. Wang Yeo has an awkward unsure vibe in that scene. Will it continue in the cafe?

Wang Yeo downs iced coffee after iced coffee. Sunny breaks the silence and asks if he’s going to converse with her. Yes, he says staring at her. Seeing the ball is in her court, Sunny asks if he’s doing well and taking good care of her ring. He assures her he’s well and the ring is fine. She laughs at his stilted conversation. He stares at her. She asks why he’s staring. He admits his mesmerized by her smile. He shoots, he scores! Sunny asks his name.

Bromance is the best…Wang Yeo tells Kim Shin that Sunny wanted to know his name, but he doesn’t remember it. Sunny asked how he was doing, which is irrelevant because he’s no longer alive. Kim Shin nods. Kim Shin thinks that when he saw Eun Tak and fell for her, it reminded him of the day he died. Kim Shin has decided to disappear before he decides living is more important than dying. He thinks must do this for Eun Tak. Wang Yeo tells Kim Shin that he can hear everything he’s thinking. LOL! That altered the solemnity of that moment! He asks if Kim Shin truly intends to die. Kim Shin confirms he’ll be dead before the first snowfall. They drink together.

Yoo Duk Hwa isn’t happy to see the minibar bill. Eun Tak says she cleared out the minibar for a good cause (stocking the ghost’s fridge). She asks Duk Hwa to cover the bill because she’s broke. He snaps he doesn’t have money either. Eun Tak lights a ton of candles and opens the door to Kim Shin. She explains about the bill. He tells her there’s no need to summon him because he’s always by her side. He tells her to come home with him. She asks where. He says she’s going to come live in his house, because she’s the Goblin’s bride. She asks if he loves her. He says he can if she needs him too. In a flat voice, he says “I love you”. She stares. He stares. The scene about love replays. That’s confusing and I’m not backing up because the subtitles get out of sync. She asks if he hates her. Is that why he’s sad? She says she’ll come live with him as she has few options. She says all he needs is for her to pull out the sword. He confirms this. She goes to pack her things.

In the car, she asks his name. She points out if they will marry she should know her husband’s name. She says they are an odd couple. Kim Shin says they knew each other before she was born. He tells her his name is Kim Shin. She smiles.

They arrive at the house and Wang Yeo greets Eun Tak by stating its garbage day. She offers to take the garbage but he sidesteps her. He asks why she’s being nice. Kim Shin says that she’ll be living with them from now on. Wang Yeo recalls Kim Shin thinking that Eun Tak will end his life. Wang Yeo flings the garage onto a moving garbage truck. Ha! He thanks Eun Tak for what she’ll do in the future. He invites her inside.

Wang Yeo and Kim Shin realize they don’t know the passcode to the house. Ha! Kim Shin explains they don’t use the door when they enter the house. Eun Tak turns and they are gone. The front door opens and Kim Shin beckons her inside.

As she enters the house, Duk Hwa is surprised to see her. Wang Yeo informs Duk Hwa that Eun Tak will be staying with them. Duk Hwa can’t believe it.

Kim Shin shows her to a room that looks like it’s used for storage not guests. Kim Shin and Wang Yeo argue on the decorating theme to use. Ha! Eun Tak offers to sleep in the flower bed. Wang Yeo decides she’ll sleep in his room. No, he tells the stunned faces, she’ll sleep alone, he’ll be on the couch.

But that means that Kim Shin will share Duk Hwa’s bedroom. He tells Wang Yeo that he’ll rest his head on his bed. Wang Yeo won’t hear of that. Kim Shin materializes outside the bedroom blocking Wang Yeo’s exit. Kim Shin says he’ll sleep on the couch.

Exploring the room, Eun Tak is pleased to find her leaf in a book she’s with ancient writing she can’t read. Kim Shin’s voice over explains that his wish is to die but his pleas for release go unanswered. He and Wang Yeo discuss God. Kim Shin muses that if God doesn’t overburden a person with too many struggles then God thought too highly of him. Ha! Wang Yeo muses that humans can seemingly see God but they can’t.

 
The next day Eun Tak wakes for her first day in Goblin’s house. She thinks the house feels lonely. She’s stoked about the food they cook. She shakes her head when they float the knives in the air between them after breakfast. She quips this is why they can’t have hired help. She reads a list, a plea letter, of what she’d like during her stay. Stay positive so it doesn’t rain, don’t threaten to take her away, call her don’t just appear and don’t bother her while she’s at school, work, or the library. She heads off to school after she pins the note. Wang Yeo and Kim Shin can’t believe she expects them to use a phone. They wonder if she made the rule because they don’t have phones. Ha! Duk Hwa presents them with phones. Wang Yeo grabs the black one (of course), leaving the blue one for Kim Shin. Duk Hwa is ready to teach them how to use it. He says first they’ll go to the playstore. Kim Shin puts his coat on. Ha! Video chatting seems to escape Wang Yeo.

Kim Shin calls Eun Tak and they go shopping together. She fills the cart and says she better stop because when she leaves the house, she doesn’t want too much to carry. Kim Shin asks what she means by that. This stuff isn’t even hers. Ha!

As Wang Yeo signs a document he recalls Sunny asking for his name. He left the coffee shop and she went after him stunned that their time together was ending because she wanted to know his name. Yep, that would surprise me too! He stares at the paper she wrote her phone number on and pressed a kiss on the paper. Like a school boy, Wang Yeo creates a contact for Sunny. But calling the contact, that’s for another time.

Eun Tak returns home and finds her room decorated. She’s giddy with glee. Kim Shin brags that he spent money and time putting the room together for her. He tells her to step softly because his room is under hers. As she moves in the room he’s able to understand what she’s doing by the sounds. He smiles. What a darling scene! And they weren’t even in the same room!

Wang Yeo stops by her room and wants to know her name. Eun Tak gets flustered and says she’s heard if a person says their name before the grim reaper, they’ll die. Nervously, she says her own name twice. Wang Yeo tells her he needs a name. He’s surprised to learn the Goblin’s name is Kim Shin. He mentions three names, she counters there are three names women like, Hyun Bin, Woo Bin, and Kim Woo Bin. Ha!

Duk Hwa drives Eun Tak to work. He’s surprised that she works in the chicken restaurant he wanted to sell to raise some money. He tells Grandfather’s assistant to belay the sale. Grandfather’s assistant assures him that he ignored his request to sell it. Ha! Grandfather’s assistant relays that Duk Hwa is to support Eun Tak’s studies with decorum. Duk Hwa snaps the chopsticks irked that a credit card is not being offered.

Kim Shin puts several snack trays together for Eun Tak while she’s studying his notes always request that she take care of the sword, which she ignores. Wang Yeo’s clunky snack tray (broccoli and a bottle of ketchup) includes a note asking her to take care of the sword. That had me laughing out loud!

Eun Tak returns a snack tray to the kitchen and finds Kim Shin waiting for her. He complains that she’s not taking care of the sword. She declares she’s delaying taking care of the sword. She’s afraid if she does, he’ll no longer need her and kick her out of the house. She says if he’d given her the $5M like she asked, things would be easier for her. He complains that amount is too small. She counters that amount is huge to someone as poor as her. Wang Yeo enters and tells Kim Shin to give her the $5M. Ha! Wang Yeo confirms the goblin’s name is Kim Shin. In a flat tone, he congratulates the cool name. Ha!

Sunny stares at her phone unable to believe Wang Yeo still isn’t calling her. Eun Tak asks her opinion about getting married young. Sunny questions Eun Tak and can’t believe that Eun Tak is contemplating marriage to man she doesn’t like and he doesn’t like her. Eun Tak laughs uncomfortable at that insight. Walking home Eun Tak declares she doesn’t need Kim Shin to like her.

She ignores Kim Shin when she returns home, but offers to help Wang Yeo fold towels. LOL, when Wang Yeo asks her to refrain from calling him a killer. He returns her red scarf. Kim Shin tries to insert himself in the conversation but they ignore him. Eun Tak explains that the red scarf was a gift from her mother to keep the ghosts from seeing her birthmark. Touched Wang Yeo tells Kim Shin to give her the $5M. Kim Shin tries to shoo her away to study but she ignores him and continues talking to Wang Yeo who enjoys their interchange.

Irritated Kim Shin demands that she acknowledge the man with the sword. Equally irritated Eun Tak tells Kim Shin that it’s his fault she can see ghosts because of her birthmark. They bicker and Eun Tak demands that he fulfill her third birthday wish…a boyfriend. He yells that he fulfilled her wish. She demands to know where her boyfriend is. He yells standing in front of her. He declares he’s her boyfriend. That stuns both of them into silence. Wang Yeo looks on as if they are children that need a scolding. Wang Yeo’s looks relay so much disdain! Awkwardly they stand, stare, then run away. Yes, I mean they literally ran away to their individual room. Wang Yeo flips the folded laundry. Does he realize Kim Shin may not want to die now?

Inside her room, Eun Tak says Kim Shin has a lot of nerve declaring him her boyfriend. But she smiles in pleasure.

Inside his room, Kim Shin can’t believe he said what he said. He realizes that technically he’s her husband. He wonders if he should clarify that. But he smiles in pleasure.

Wang Yeo is bummed that he can’t call Sunny because he doesn’t have a name. Duk Hwa and Kim Shin find him brooding. They tease him about Sunny’s note and the lip press. Kim Shin grabs Wang Yeo’s phone and dials Sunny’s number. Wang Yeo stares in horror as it rings, he hears Sunny’s voice, he bats the phone away from Kim Shin then freezes time. Then he tries out different ways to answer the phone. LOL! Kim Shin startles him when he offers an opinion on which way he preferred. Wang Yeo is shocked that Kim Shin wasn’t frozen. Kim Shin declares himself too cool to be frozen. When Wang Yeo hears Sunny’s voice he takes the call in his bedroom. Sunny comments that he knows how to make phone calls. Wang Yeo counters he just learned. Sunny comments that he kept her phone number. Wang Yeo counters he has it with him safe and sound. There’s a lull in the conversation. Sunny asks if he’s got anything else to say. Wang Yeo asks what she has in mind. She suggests that he ask her for a meal. Wang Yeo asks using the same words Sunny used. Duk Hwa offers to drive the couple telling Wang Yeo that most humans would find Incheon too far to walk.

With the words “I’m your boyfriend” looming between them, Eun Tak and Kim Shin are adorably awkward when they meet in the house. He admits to being nervous. She admits the same. She suggests they grab a bite to eat. He agrees. She tells him to get dressed. In a flash, Kim Shin dons a plaid overcoat and they are back at their restaurant in Quebec. But this time we see that the other humans don’t see Kim Shin. Eun Tak has a different hairstyle. She on the phone saying she’s meeting a cool man. Kim Shin sits across from her and thinks at 28 she’s happy but doesn’t seem to have him by her side. He surmises that his immortal life ended. He thinks that Eun Tak has forgotten about him and is perfectly happy in her life. He thinks he must disappear, for Eun Tak, with the smile he loves to see. He thinks he must end his life. We see Kim Shin fade from their past moments together. At the restaurant, Kim Shin sighs realizing that he chose to die. A tear rolls down his face. The young 19-year-old Eun Tak stares at him. Then he’s staring at the poised 28-year-old Eun Tak.

My thoughts

A slower episode where not much happened but things happened, if you know what I mean. So, what did happen? After the lovely “I fell in love” opener Kim Shin spent the much of the episode trying to resist Eun Tak but that proved too difficult. Kim Shin admitted he’s Eun Tak’s boyfriend. Kim Shin struggled with the decision to die or stay immortal. Eun Tak moved into the house. Wang Yeo grappled with calling Sunny who patiently waited for the socially awkward Wang Yeo to call. And then the end of the episode threw us a curve ball. Kim Shin sees the future Eun Tak and surmises that she’s happy and he’s dead. He realizes that he must have made the choice to die. Watching Kim Shin believe that he must die for the good of Eun Tak wasn’t all that riveting. But the bickering bromance, the sparkle between our couple, the tentative first steps into technology Wang Yeo and Kim Shin took, and the budding relationship between Wang Yeo and Sunny were a delight to watch.

Kim Shin (Gong Yoo) decided death was the right choice for Eun Tak. I’m never fond of characters that choose to do something for the good of another. Invariably no one is happy with that kind of decision making process. It was a bit jarring to start the episode with Kim Shin falling in love, and then watch Kim Shin be impersonal with Eun Tak. I did love the folding laundry scene where Eun Tak and Wang Yeo chatted while Kim Shin watched enviously unable to break into the conversation. I know he can’t love her forever if he chooses to end his immortality. I know this is a big decision for Kim Shin. But I wonder can’t he love her for the time he has? Can’t he relish the joy and then deal with the consequences later? Will Wang Yeo give Kim Shin the tea so he forgets Eun Tak? Gong Yoo fills the screen with his masculine presence and is compelling to watch. He’s tough but sensitive, he’s confident but awkward, he’s gruff but loving. I’m ready to learn more about Kim Shin’s past, Sunny’s past, and Wang Yeo’s past. The writer, Kim Eun Sook, can start doling out more of these details.

Ji Eun Tak (Kim Go Eun) hit the jackpot when Kim Shin invited her to move into the house. She was giddy with the invitation, the room, and the snacks. Those snack trays and notes from Kim Shin were too cute. The snack tray from Wang Yeo was hilarious. Her budding relationship with Wang Yeo is fun to watch. Rightfully wary of Wang Yeo initially, she’s growing on him and he’s growing on her. While jarring, it was a pleasure to see Eun Tak years in the future happy and confident. She doesn’t realize the pulling the sword will kill Kim Shin. She’s delaying because she doesn’t want to lose the home she’s just been granted (and her budding relationship with Kim Shin). She needs Kim Shin to need her. He does need her, but she doesn’t understand the price being his bride will levy.

Wang Yeo (Lee Dong Wook) was awkward and adorable as he tried to navigate the perils of liking a girl. Is he unable to remember Sunny’s name? I was surprised that he didn’t know Kim Shin’s name. I was surprised he didn’t have a name. The bromance bantering is great fun to watch. The tentative wooing of Sunny was a delight. His horror when Kim Shin grabbed his phone and called Sunny was superb.

Kim Sun / Sunny (Yoo In Na) doesn’t seem to have a purpose beyond waiting for Wang Yeo to call her. I look forward to learning more about her and increasing her prominence in the story. I missed the hair flip.

The fourth song of the OST is the lovely “Beautiful” by Crush.

About KJT (aka kjtamuser)

Asian drama fan. I watch and blog dramas on https://kjtamusings.wordpress.com/.

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