Special Guest
Episode 3 of Goedam is one of the more indifferent and forgettable episodes of the anthology. This one revolves around a virtual ghost. Specifically, one that haunts Sae-Rom’s Vlog for Virtual Housework.
Sae-Rom starts the episode off as the live chat explodes with comments. However, as she talks one of her plushies falls on the floor. Convincing her fans that she didn’t stage this, she returns to the screen excitedly talking again.
Midway through her chat, Sae-Rom thanks her fans for reaching 30,0000 balloons. After asking the viewers about blankets, things soon take a turn for the eerie when a book falls off the shelf.
Visibly scared, her fans contemplate whether this is a fake or not as Sae-Rom ends the broadcast. She tells them all she’s off to Se-Rin’s place to finish broadcasting… until she reveals it’s all one big hoax.
Unbeknownst to her though, the camera is still recording despite the chat-room freezing. Grabbing her phone, she starts taking selfies but with the filters, they suddenly start filling the screen and appear to hint at numerous people around her.
Frozen to her seat, Sae-Rom suddenly starts bashing her face continuously against the keyboard. As she passes out on the ground, another version of Sae-Rom – a doppelganger perhaps? – suddenly comes onto view and introduces herself as Sae-Rom, which is where the episode ends.
The Episode Review
Goedam returns with a pretty formulaic ghost story but there’s little explanation surrounding what’s happening. Why did Sae-Rom stage the whole ghost encounter thing? It seems a bit of a random element to throw into a virtual housework blog.
The entire idea of a filter being picked up by a ghost is a good one but the execution is lacking. One face I could understand but the decision to add numerous faces that grow larger over time is a strange one. However, the episode does manage to maintain some good tension early on.
Despite that though, this is definitely not an episode to be remembered.
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Episode Rating
(2.5)
Also:
“ According to Korean superstition, moving to a new home on certain days of the month can bring misfortune. The reason is that that evil spirits will follow you to your new place. According to folklore, the ghosts will be prevented from heading into the heavens if you block them with your moving activities on certain days.
Luckily, a calendar will help you choose the right dates to move according to this superstition. Follow this calendar and make sure that you keep the bad luck away from you. The calendar title is called“손없는날 달력” (soneomneunnal dallyeok | evil spirit-free day calendar). 손 (son) means “evil spirit.” Stay away from the dates on the calendar with“손없는날 (soneomneunnal)” written on it!”
This would’ve been useful to know.
I like the idea of kumiho (kitsune) in her place because they are malevolent, mischievous, and like to take on the form of beautiful women in particular. The fact the girl is tricking people is probably inviting to those spirits.
It was, though, ultimately the least conceptualized.
I think the reason why she pretended there were ghosts is because it probably gets her channel more views and popularity, which is not hard to guess considering how “clickbait” is very much a thing with influencers/virtual celebrities. I even think that greed might’ve something to do with the ghosts, perhaps it’s the personification of that ugly, dishonest ambition, and the fact it’s some sort of “doppelgänger” who’s smashing her head against the keyboard (like she’s bringing herself to her demise, a “suicide”) only makes that theory stronger in my head.
I also thought the way her expression changed from scared to amused when she thought she had turned off the camera is the most impressed I’ve been with the show throughout the first 5 episodes (the only ones I’ve watched so far).
I think the faces were meant to be white foxes. A nine-tailed fox or “gumiho” is supposed to be a liver eating female monster in Korean folklore. (They’re luckier in Japan and China.) But I’m not pretending I know for sure or that I understood the episode any deeper than, “okay this is unfortunate for her…”