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The Heavenly Idol: Episodes 1-2
by Unit
Kim Min-gyu and his dimples have descended from the heavenly realms to earthly planes (and my screen), and oh boy! Going from a heavenly body into that of a mere mortal is bad enough, but said mortal is a K-pop idol? Ha! The jokes write themselves as his misadventures begin, and as such, this show clearly has my full attention.
EPISODES 1-2
We begin our story with an introduction to “The Other World” — a fantasy world where magic and mysterious beings exist. Our leading man REMBRARY (Kim Min-kyu) is a pontifex in the service of Lord Redrin — the righteous lord of The Other World. And in opposition to Lord Redrin is THE EVIL ONE (Lee Jang-woo) — who, after being asleep for a long time, has now returned on the wings of volcanic activity to wreak havoc on The Other World.
The biggest casualty in The Evil One’s attack ends up being Rembrary — who gets sent to our world (current day Seoul) just as he was about to send The Evil One back into a state of slumber. Oops! Swapping immaculate heavenly robes for a crop top and chained jeans, Rembrary begins a scary new life in the body of his earthly doppelganger, WOO YEON-WOO (also played by Kim Min-kyu) — who happens to be a K-pop idol in the five-membered washed-up group “Wild Animal.”
It’s all wild hijinks from this point on, as Rembrary’s fish-out-of-water adventures begin. And when he’s — all but — pushed onstage for Wild Animal’s comeback performance, he’s left with no choice but to declare that he doesn’t know how to dance — on live TV! Yikes! It’s a disaster, as you’d expect, and their manager quits on the spot. Double Yikes! Rembrary is not unaware of the predicament he has thrown the group into, but he is also in a predicament of his own, as he explains to their agency’s CEO IM SUN-JA (Yeh Ji-won). But as far as Sun-ja is concerned, the visual center of Wild Animal has gone nuts.
“You’re not the Woo Yeon-woo I know,” she says in exasperation, and for the first time since he arrived, Rembrary is excited! Finally, someone gets him! But far from being a pontifex of Lord Redrin as he says, Sun-ja thinks he’s suffering from reading too many fantasy novels. Heh. The other members are convinced that he’s putting up a show, and as for me, I think Rembrary could have just proven his true self by showing off his divine powers — which he still has.
Instead, Rembrary goes from the agency to the hospital (where the doctor refers him to a psychiatrist) and then to Wild Animal’s dorm — which is just as messy as you’d expect from a boy band. “People can live in a place like this?” Rembrary spurts, turning up his nose. And when he gets shoved into the room Yeon-woo shares with two other bandmates, Rembrary balks at the idea of ending his life by being squashed in his sleep. So, he gets a solo spot on the balcony where he moans about how humiliating all of this is. Lol.
But “humiliation” is the very thing that saves Wild Animal from disbandment, as a clip of Rembrary’s on-stage goof goes viral. To capitalize on his current virality, Sun-ja arranges for an unfazed Rembrary to be interviewed by a popular influencer. But just as Rembrary starts to spill the tea about his passive-aggressive relationship with the Wild Animal bandmates and the filthy condition of their dorm, volcanic activity occurs just like it did in The Other World. And this can only mean one thing: The Evil One has arrived in this world. Uh-oh!
Rembrary’s search for The Evil One leads him to the broadcasting station where he finally crosses paths with our leading lady KIM DAL (Go Bo-kyul) — who is such a big Yeon-woo fan that she immediately detects that Rembrary is not Yeon-woo. But Dal is also human, so she can’t comprehend his story about Lord Redrin and The Evil One. Instead, she tearfully switches from a “Who are you and what have you done to my oppa?” to a “How stressed out were you that you got in this state?” Lol.
But this is no time for a meet and greet session. The arrival of The Evil One poses a threat to mankind, and it’s up to Rembrary to stop him — only, in this world, as Dal explains, The Evil One (whose earthly persona is powerful enough to have an audience with the broadcasting station’s director) is just like the nobles in The Other World. And being a failed idol, Yeon-woo (Rembrary’s host) is like a slave, meaning it’s almost impossible for the likes of him to meet The Evil One. Hehe.
I have to give Dal credit for playing along with what she thinks are Rembrary’s delusions and not totally dismissing his ramblings to be that of a crazy fella’s. She even goes as far as researching possible causes for the change in her beloved idol’s behavior, and she wonders if he’s suffering from trauma. But it’s Dal herself who’s got trauma — stemming from the (semi-clouded in mystery) accident of an idol at the entertainment agency where she previously worked as a manager on the planning team.
In the present, Dal manages to convince Rembrary that the only way to meet The Evil One is for him to become a successful idol. Unfortunately, The Evil One’s arrival seems to have caused Rembrary’s divine powers to dissipate, and the poor guy cannot even have a filling meal to restore his energy — no thanks to all that idol dietary restriction. The opportunity of having a face-off with The Evil One aside, Rembrary becomes even more determined to succeed as an idol so that he can at least buy himself some decent meals. Heh.
Rembrary eventually lands a spot on a singing survival show, and the PD (who is infamous for his malicious editing) is upfront with Sun-ja about bringing him on as the show’s villain. Although reluctant, Sun-ja agrees since it’ll guarantee enough screen time for Rembrary, and it also secures a plus-one spot on the show for CASH (Choi Jae-hyun), one of the Wild Animal bandmates. While Cash gets nervous during the photoshoot and is told off by the photographer, the opposite is the case for Rembrary: the photographer cannot get enough of Rembrary’s pontifical poses after the latter is told that a “pose” is the position a person is most comfortable in. LMAO!
Since he’s supposed to be a holy man and all, Rembrary becomes a bit uncomfortable when the shoot gets to the sexy concept. But after all that “rabbit food” he’s being fed at the dorm, the anticipation of eating the snacks on set — or “tributes” as Rembrary calls them — is enough to make him pop a few buttons and turn on the sexy. Unfortunately, as someone who has experienced real evil, Rembrary is forced to draw the line when it comes to making “evil” but sexy poses, and he storms off the set.
Rembrary cannot understand the levity with which the humans in this world treat “evil,” and even worse, that idols are required to take on evil concepts. The allure of being an idol begins to fade for Rembrary — even though that’s the only way he knows how to get tributes. But Rembrary needs to re-think quitting idol life, because Dal gets hired as Wild Animal’s new road manager and she takes him to a psychiatrist, determined to find a cure to his problem. And for Dal, this is not all about blinded fan love.
You see, two years ago after the incident at her former job, Dal quit and went into depression. Then by chance, she ran into Yeon-woo who was handing out Wild Animal CDs with his bandmates on the street, and he spotted charcoal briquettes — presumably for a suicide attempt — in her plastic bag. Yeon-woo saved her life by trading the bag for an autographed CD and a photocard where he scrawled that his calling is to heal people. Now it’s Dal’s turn to help Yeon-woo — or rather, Rembrary.
Truly, Rembrary needs all the help he can get at this point because after restoring his divine energy (thanks to a basket full of tributes he swiped from the hospital), he finally manages to achieve a telekinetic connection of sorts with the real Yeon-woo who is now living as Rembrary in The Other World. The problem is that Yeon-woo actually prefers his new life as a pontifex (minus the uncomfortable robes), and he has no intention of returning to his life as a failed idol. Welp!
Rembrary is desperate to return to his body, and Yeon-woo offers him a deal: if Rembrary gets Wild Animal to win Artist of the Year at the Korean Music Awards, Yeon-woo might be inclined to go back to his old life. Wait, might? Ha! Yeon-woo is crazy, but it gets even crazier when they have to recite the contractual vows that’ll guarantee their soul swap at the music award. While Rembrary vows on the basis of the Artist of the Year win (as originally planned), Yeon-woo — who wants to become an actor — has a last minute change of mind, and he whispers his vow on the basis of a Best Rookie Actor win instead. You’ve got to be kidding me! Thus, their vow of confusion is sealed at the sacred altar of Lord Redrin. Oh boy!
Meanwhile, for an undisturbed telekinetic session with Yeon-woo, Rembrary locked himself up in the meditation room much to Dal’s discomfort. And when she hears a disturbing thud from inside, she’s forced to get the key from the doctor, only to find Rembrary collapsed on the floor after expending all his energy on the session. Rembrary moans about the slave contract he has just signed, and in The Other World, Yeon-woo wears a dimpled smirk.
With this, we come to the end of our premiere week — which almost fully delivered on the humor I was expecting! Aside from this, The Heavenly Idol also did a good job of setting up the plot, introducing us to most of the main characters, and establishing their relationships. The members of Wild Animal don’t seem to me like best of friends — more like very civil co-workers. And HWANG TAE-IN (Shin Myung-sung) in particular strikes me as someone who actually doesn’t like Yeon-woo that much.
For a group that hasn’t turned in a profit in their five years of existence, it’s obvious that Sun-ja still cares a lot about her wild animals — malicious editing aside. And as for Dal, I love how she’s more than just a one-dimensional fangirl — although, for obvious reasons, Sun-ja must not find out that Dan is a Wild Animal fan, else she’ll lose her road manager job. So far, Dal seems to be the only one who can handle Rembrary because she’s got Yeon-woo’s best interest at heart. But I wonder if she knows that her beloved idol is such a prankster. I mean, Best Rookie Actor? LMAO!
Due to the peculiarities of the characters, I was half-expecting to feel a bit of cringe from Kim Min-kyu’s performance. But he really sold it as the pontifex, the high-priest-turned-idol, and the idol himself. And I cannot wait to see Rembrary navigate the idol life on his way to winning Artist of the Year.
PS: I also cannot wait for us to get a proper introduction to The Evil One’s earthly persona. And he better have an actual name!
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