Cha Cha-Woong (played by Park Hae-Jin, who I knew from My Love from the Star) is a magician. But, not really. Actually, he's descended from a Shaman and he can see ghosts. The magic tricks in his show are all accomplished by ghosts who work for him.
Meanwhile, Go Seul-Hae (played by Jin Ki-Joo, who I've mostly seen clips of, other than her small part in Splash, Splash Love) is a police officer who wants to be a detective. She also has a crush on someone else on the force -- Seo Hee-Soo (played by Kim Jong-Hoon, who I haven't seen in anything yet), who also happens to be the son of the police chief...and probably looks at her like she's his little sister (she might have grown up in their household after her father died?). That police chief? He, um, seems like he might be a bit crooked, though his son doesn't seem that way. Pretty sure they'll make something of that in the show at some point.
Through crazy circumstances, she finds out Cha-Woong's secret when she thinks he's the one that killed her neighbour in a hit and run, because he knows things that the ghost told him but that only the killer would have otherwise known. That was basically the first episode and I gather it will be a bit of a buddy cop show type of thing where the acerbic magician who doesn't trust people will open up to the bubbly but tough police officer.
Good ensemble cast. The ghosts are particularly fun. Glimpsing the full list on the AsianWiki, I've seen many of them in many shows. There's definitely some physical comedy to this one and the production value is good. Will write more after I've seen more episodes, but it looks like it will be an enjoyable one.
Edit: I've seen a few of them now and I am enjoying it, though there are times when I think the pacing is a bit slow. And they've teased a whole past life connection thing which I'm a bit meh over as it's been done in other shows and very seldom is handled well enough to justify it. But maybe it'll make sense here as there's the whole ghost/shaman thing. I dunno.
I do have to say that I'd much rather she wind up with Mr. Magician than the Mr. Detective she has a crush on. While the guy seems good, she turns into a pile of aegyo every time she sees him and it's a bit cringe.
Edit: think I'm around the halfway point now? Still enjoying it, but I admit that there are still moments that drag a bit for me (like with the a) police chief and the b) evil possessed dude). It's not that they aren't important moments, but a) look, we realise he's a weak dude and corrupt...you've established that. Not really sure how many scenes we need to pound that point into our heads and b) I get it. He's bad. The evil spirit possessing him is bad. The scenes, while they keep confirming that he's EVIL, haven't given us really a wealth of new information.
Anyway, the past life story is being dribbled out. The characters are all holding their own. It would be a good entry Kdrama for anyone who likes buddy cop shows or things like Castle.
Edit: Okay, I finished it! 9 July, so, eh, took me a little while, but I was watching some other things too. I quite enjoyed this one, though I still feel like a few episodes had some draggy bits. Park Hae-Jin was born to play a magician. Seriously.
The past life / reincarnation stuff actually all worked and they brought it all around in the last episode in a way that made the happy ending make sense. Good job on that. All of the supporting cast were really great and a joy to see. It was nice to see all of their stories wrapped up as well; for once, no one was missed. Well, I suppose we don't really know what happened to the son of the police chief, but he made it out alive, so that was something. He was a decent guy.
So, am I glad I watched it? Yes. Would I watch it again? Hmmm. Maybe, if I could talk little dude into it. I think he'd actually like it, though he's not a huge fan of live action. But there's a lot of humour in this one, so if he could get past his aversion, it would grab him.
I liked Park Hae-Jin before, but this made me really love him. I might have to pick up that other show he was in, Forest, now. Jin Ki-Joo was good as well and added a lot of fun to the show. It would be hard to picture her in a super serious part, but I'm sure she could do it. So, yes, I'm calling this one a success. Now I just need to work out what my next watch is before I climb back on the elliptical.
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