K-Drama Rewind, My Demon: Song Kang's devilish, cake-eating charmer reigns supreme in this wild fantasy ride

Tell me the truth…

….this is the end…

It’s difficult to not sing the opening credits, the moment someone mentions My Demon. You have to admit, that’s one of the most baleful, yet catchy theme songs in K-Drama history in the past few years, following closely on the heels of Goblin. You can’t skip it in the first episode at least, as it takes you to what the story will be in a series of montages: A very fashionable Song Kang, a sturdy Kim Yoo-jung, and they’ll be fighting the universe’s power to be together.

And that’s what it is. My Demon, revolves around Song Kang’s titular Jeong Gu-won, a snarky, cake-loving demon with so much style that hell could freeze over. But this cake-obsessed demon is also the last face the dying see—quite the contradiction.

 He crosses paths with Kim Yoo-jung’s fierce Do Do-hee, a chaebol heiress juggling corporate power plays, the trauma of her parents’ mysterious deaths, and the small inconvenience of someone actively trying to murder her. In a bizarre cosmic twist, she ends up with the demon’s mark—the one thing that can recharge his fading powers.

After countless near-death encounters—one featuring a hilariously timed salsa dance to fend off thugs—the story slips into a fantasy-laced romcom, where the two strike up a contract marriage. Yet, the romance that blooms is marked by numerous uncertainties, apart from people lurking to kill them—their own fates. A deity, who takes the form of a ragged beggar watches in amusement as the events unfold—smiling grimly, whenever the two fight the stars to keep the other alive. In the midst, is the striking Jo Hye-joo’s Jin Ga-yeong, beautiful, menacing and otherworldly, madly in love with Gu-won herself to the point of irrationality—and yet, whose pain is shown in her dances. 

There are plenty not-so-unpredictable twists in the tale, including the fact that Gu-won is connected to Do Do-hee’s past—mind you, her present life as well as her past one. The story follows them piecing together the bits and pieces of both, working through unnecessary guilt—while of course trying to avoid being killed. Yet, beyond their love story, there are several powerful angles at play here: Including a man on the verge of lunacy, owing to his fractured past, a wife who discovers the evil that her husband is capable of, and a grandmother, who, in her moment of rage, causes an accident—and suffers with the guilt, for the rest of her life. Yet beyond the central couple, My Demon weaves in textured side arcs: a man unraveling from childhood trauma, a wife learning of her husband's darkness, a grandmother whose moment of rage leaves her with lifelong regret. These human stories give the show weight, even when it leans on well-worn tropes.

The ending is quite predictable, because given the history of K-Drama supernatural fantasies, there’s usually very few ways that a conclusion could go: He could become human, or they both die together. The second option is a rare morbid one, so you can draw your own conclusions, if Tale of The Nine Tailed, My Roommate is a Gumiho has taught you anything about K-Dramas. 

In all honesty, despite the very predictable ending, My Demon is one of the most entertaining K-Dramas in the fantasy genre, in the past few years. Song Kang’s comic timing is brilliant—he does snark superbly, balanced out well with slapstick. It would be wonderful to see him do more comic roles too; he has already shown his mettle in quiet, aching dramas like Navillera, and a character of mixed shades in the complicated Nevertheless, and even the horror-struck Sweet Home. Kang brings a certain edge of sassiness to My Demon, that somehow gets you through all the predictable plot twists. By his side, Yoo Jung packs verve—as a businesswoman trying to hold it together, while her own family is out to kill her. She isn’t all melodrama and sacrifice, barring one particular scene, where she has to be noble and let him go—that’s usually the low-hanging fruit in screenwriting, where someone has got to sacrifice for the other, to increase the level of yearning and sadness between the two. Don’t worry, Gu-won almost competes in the sacrificing game.

So, if you need something to watch, go for My Demon. It has all the romance, action, ghoulish demonic people that you need.