Main Cast: Kim Min-Kyu, Ko Bo-Gyeol
Summary
The Heavenly Idol is the latest South Korean drama on Viki and follows the story of Rembrary (played by Kim Min-Kyu), the high priest of another universe’s cult. Through his position as a high priest, Rembrary channels heavenly powers from the local god Redlin to fight demons. However while attempting to fight a demon, Rembrary suddenly experiences an intense headache and wakes up in modern-day South Korea, an alternate universe. Rembrary learns that he swapped souls with Woo Yeon-Woo, the “visual” member of a struggling K-pop group, and the two possess each other’s bodies in their respective universes.
Unfortunately, Rembrary and Yeon-Woo swapped souls at a critical time for the group. Rembrary suddenly becomes Yeon-Woo moments before Wild Animal’s final chance to launch their careers at a live TV music performance. As expected, Rembrary does not know how to dance or sing, causes a commotion at the show, and nearly causes Wild Animal to be disbanded and discarded by its agency after the team manager quits. Although Wild Animal’s future seems bleak and non-existent, Yeon-Woo is suddenly launched to fame after clips of his outburst at the music show goes viral. Rather than watching him implode, Yeon-Woo’s biggest fan, Kim Dal (played by Ko Bo-Gyeol) joins Wild Animal as their new manager. Given her previous experience as a team manager of a girl group, Kim Dal supports Yeon-Woo and attempts to turn his career around while trying to understand what led to his sudden change in behavior.
After channeling his heavenly powers, Rembrary reaches Yeon-Woo and makes a heavenly promise to swap souls if Wild Animal wins the Rookie of the Year award at this year’s music awards. Determined to make it back to his universe and body, Rembrary embodies his new life as Yeon-Woo and begins the journey to become a phenomenal K-pop star.
Thoughts
Although only a few episodes of The Heavenly Idol have been released on Viki, the series is definitely unique yet entertaining. The concept of Rembrary fighting demons was a bit difficult for me to wrap my head around, however Kim Min-Kyu did a great job of portraying the culture shock between his world and modern-day South Korea. One of my favorite scenes is when Rembrary realizes that he can recharge his heavenly powers if he eats chocolates. However, since he has only seen them as gift bags from actors to various directors and photographers, he refers to them as “tributes”. Also his sincere shock and disgust at the K-pop diet to remain lean and skinny left me with a smile on my face.
The plot of The Heavenly Idol seems interesting, especially as we continue to learn more about Kim Dal’s past and prior connection to Yeon-Woo. I am also looking forward to Rembrary’s attempts to repair Yeon-Woo’s “bad boy”, failed-idol image as he struggles with the basics of how to act, dance, and perform as a K-pop star. New episodes are currently being released every Wednesday and Thursday on Viki!
