This is why I don’t like watching Korean series, they know what makes my heart ache. Seriously though, I wasn’t expecting to enjoy Light Shop as much as I did. There were some parts however that made me feel otherwise, but all in all, it was a fun watch. I managed to finish all 8 episodes in one seating, and that says a lot. The series is adapted from a webtoon of the same name by Kang Full. This is the directing debut of the actor, Kim Hee-won.

TL;DR Spoiler free, short review of Light Shop:

• I was confused at first with how they told the story, but when I reached episode 4, it was clear what their intentions were.
• Music was awesome, good choices and beautiful crescendos to accompany the moment.
• Star studded cast was stellar, I was moved by each of them.
• It was slow paced at first, but just get through episode 1 & 2.
• The symbolisms were genius
• Plot twists and reveals are, as always with Korean film/series, ingenious.
• Highly recommended 4/5

In detail review with spoilers

Now I won’t be doing a review per episode, but as a whole. Light Shop started out slow to be honest, the first episode was dragging and that last bit was enough to get me to watch episode 2. I actually considered switching to a different film because of how dragging it felt. At times, it was confusing as well, because they don’t indicate which timeline was which, you’d have to keep up with it, but around episode 4, everything was clear. It was intended to be shown as such because when I started to piece everything together, it made me go “WTF?! Really?!”.

Characters

The stellar performance of the star studded cast helped bring the two worlds to life. At first it felt like the movie The Vantage Point, where we see each character’s point of view, then slowly every puzzle piece came together, it was so fluid and seamless that I didn’t notice it. Each character has their own story, masterfully told in a manner that it didn’t feel like a flashback kind of thing. If you’re an avid fan of K-Dramas, you’re sure to recognize them. You can see the names of the cast below as I won’t be highlighting each and every one of them. Each of them had something to bring to the table and was an important piece of the puzzle.

Music

Light Shop’s Music was great, very subtle when needed, and goes big and bold with volume if the scene demands. Also greatly increases that emotional oomph, for those heartache scenes.

Koreans really know which heart string to pull, in this series, its not about “which”… no, they chose to pull all of them. The love between a mother and daughter, between father and daughter, love between two genders, even love for an animal. There were others as well. Light Shop really played with my emotions, it was a hell of a ride, specially towards the end of the series, episodes 6-8, those were hard to watch because I could feel what the characters felt.

Episode 6 will stay with me for quite a while, it was about the Light shop keeper and his daughter. Man that one hit me hard. I can relate because we also have a daughter. I couldn’t imagine how hurt he was when he had to leave her daughter under the rubble with her leg pinned against a boulder, and she was around 6 years old. While I was watching that scene I’m like “nope, don’t do this to me.” Had to reach for the tissue box on that one, on Episode 8 as well.

Two things that bothered me

• It’s weird why they had to portray the spirits creepy, eerie and scary during the first few episodes. When the reveal started happening, the spirits became friendly, even conversational, there was no vengeful spirit among them but they showed it as such during the first three episodes. In my opinion, it was unnecessary and an obvious tactic to add some shock value to it.
• Another thing was, towards the end, the detective looked like someone from M.I.B., and it was confusing because I thought that lizard-eyed, border guardian characters were sort of imprisoned to that role, and not as easily to renounce it, as we’ve seen to how the current light shop keeper got his job. I’m not sure if it was a plot hole or something I missed.

Ok, so most of the people involved in the bus accident were in a coma, towards the end, each of them, one by one, showing signs of progress. Opening their eyes, hand movements, etc.; but one individual (same sex relationship couple) who also showed signs of life, chose to remain with her loved one in death. When she was in the light shop, holding her bulb, she intentionally dropped and broke it. Signifying the end of her life and chose to remain in the afterlife. I thought that was very moving that she’d rather die than live without her.

You would also notice that the bus driver in the elevator was soaking wet, and when he started crying, the elevator got filled with water fast. Now you’d think “well he was soaking wet because the bus fell off the bridge and sunk on the river.” So as everyone else on board but their not soaking wet. The water were his tears, he knew from the get-go that the bus was not fit for transport, yet he pushed through with it, dragging everyone along to their deaths. His regret were so much that he’s drenched in it, apologizing to everyone he sees in the afterlife. I love how one nurse says “oh that’s him, the driver.” But the head nurse proceeds to defend the driver saying “there were other factors in play, such as weather and road condition.” A death of a person, whether he was to blame or not, is still a death of one person.

Concept

I love the concept of the “Light shop”. It disguises itself as an ordinary light shop that opens only at nighttime, and closes in the mornings. The bulbs represents a person’s lifeline. In the end, we see an old man carrying a box which contains a new batch of bulbs, a major accident is imminent, and these are bulbs of the people who were involved. The bulbs flickering one by one, some were fast, some were barely giving off light.

Conclusion

Light Shop is highly recommended. A K-Drama with a great concept. Stellar performance from the star studded cast. It ended with sort of a short preview of what’s to come, but the main storyline was finished. Get ready your box of tissues because they made sure to cover all bases.