Title: The Bride of Habaek (or The Bride of the Water God)
Language: Korean
Episodes: 16
Where to Watch: Roku Channel, Tubi
Genres: Comedy, Fantasy, Romance, Drama
Objectionable Content: Suicide
Synopsis (from MyDramaList): What would you do if you had to continue a strange family legacy? Yoon So Ah is a pragmatic neuropsychiatrist who carries a tremendous financial burden to run her own practice. Her family has been tasked with serving Ha Baek, a reincarnated water god, for many generations, and So Ah is forced to do the same. Ha Baek starts to develop feelings for So Ah, but he has competition for her heart from Hoo Ye, the CEO of a resort company, who clashes with So Ah over a piece of land but then falls in love with her. Moo Ra is a goddess from the Water Kingdom who has been living on Earth for hundreds of years. Working as an actress, Moo Ra loves Ha Baek and doesn’t appreciate So Ah stealing him away from her. Meanwhile, Bi Ryum is a wind god who has always had a one-sided crush on Moo Ra despite knowing her feelings for Ha Baek. Can a relationship between a mortal female and a god have a future?
My Review of The Bride of Habaek
The Bride of Habaek is supposed to be an adaptation of the manwha The Bride of the Water God by Yoon Mi Kyung. I say “supposed to be” because other than character names, the most basic premise of a water god falling in love with a human woman and a few small details, the two properties are completely different. I had considered doing a comparison post of the drama vs the manwha, but considering how little they have in common, I decided against it. Instead, I will probably do a reread of the manwha and review it separately. For this review, I will be mentioning the drama only and do my best not to mention the manwha.
Alright on to the actual review.
Habaek, the water god, was born to be the king of the gods. The appointed time has finally come and in order to ascend the throne he must retrieve 3 scared stones from the human world. He’s given a map to find the guardians of the stones, and a seal that will awaken a human servant of the gods. With only that and his trusted servant Nam Su Ri, Habaek travels to the mortal realm. Unfortunately, when he arrives he’s lost everything including his clothes and his powers.
Yoon So Ah is a psychiatrist with some pretty severe financial problems. The last thing she needs is a crazy person claiming to be a god following her around, insisting she’s his servant.
At it’s core, Bride of Habaek is a romance, just not a very good one. From the very beginning, Habaek is arrogant, demanding, and basically insufferable. He is a god who has always had his every whim catered too in the past, so he doesn’t know how to behave like a normal human being, or how to treat others. So Ah mostly seems to put up with him because she doesn’t have much choice. He won’t leave her alone and she’s just sort of bullied into dealing with him.
This is one of those dramas that I wish would break away from the mold. It’s so unfortunate that the male lead and female lead will inevitably end up together. I was rooting far more for Hu Ye, who is actually nice to her and wants her to be happy. Habaek just gets jealous constantly, but more because, in my opinion, he views So Ah as belonging to him than actual love.
Hu Ye is probably the most interesting character of them all. He’s neither god nor human, but a mix of both. According to the other gods, he shouldn’t exist, and therefore they hate him. The guy made one mistake as a child and he’s branded as evil. As an adult, he’s kind of a saint. He fears his own powers and what they can do so he tries to compensate as much as possible. He does actual good in the world. I very much wanted So Ah to choose him.
Sadly, this is a romantic Korean drama and Hu Ye was not the lead male character so he never stood a chance.
The ending is satisfying enough. The couple get to be together, random loose ends are wrapped up.
My rating for the Bride of Habaek is 3 out of 5 stars and I’d recommend it to anyone who just wants a predictable romance to sit back and not really have to think about.
Have you seen the Bride of Habaek? Let me know what you thought!