Bride of the Water God (Bride of Ha Baek 2017)

Bride of the Water God (2017); a.k.a. Bride of Ha Baek
(Spoilers below)
This drama was one that I liked more the first time that I saw it. The second time, I just tended to notice more areas that it was lacking. I have read the Manhwa Bride of the Water God, and although the illustrations sere lovely, the story was not that compelling. This drama uses that story as a sort of back drop to this modern setting.

Quick rundown of impressions:
How much crying? Not too much really.
How funny? The humor stands out weirdly, but there are some random moments that really just cracked me up.
How ridiculous? Very. Very ridiculous. The ending seems very overblown.
How cute? It has its moments. Mainly a few characters are adorable.
How steamy? Although it's not overflowing, there are definitely some pretty steamy moments. It's probably the saving grace.
Chemistry? The leads have a very awkward and mostly lacking chemistry, but I think that is more due to the writing and the nature of their characters. The supporting characters have more chemistry.
The OST? Decent. It seems to fit the mood, if the mood is a 90s American drama. It's not music I would seek out on my own, but it serves the purpose.
Tension/Stress? The tension level is not too high, considering the plot aims to be a little intense. Again, I chalk this up to their characterizations.
Plot intricacy? Decent. Entertaining enough but not something that takes too much focus.

The basic premise follows a very arrogant (and ridiculously beautiful) god of the Water Realm, Ha-Baek (played by the ever-aquatic Nam Joo-Hyuk). Seriously, I have pretty much only seen his play swimmers, but I'm never mad about that. Ha-Baek is 2800 years old, and is on his way to ascending the throne as king of the gods. To do this, he needs to get some stones from the other gods acknowledging him as well as complete a mission that involves his human servant lineage.
He travels with his servant of the godly realm, Nam Soo-Ri (played by the adorable Park Kyu-Sun). Nam Soo-Ri provides most of the cuteness in this drama and you really feel for this hard-working guy. Together they find the servant in our world - Yoon So-Ah (played by Shin Se-Kyung). Shin Se-Kyung is lovely, just lovely, but her character is the worst psychotherapist I have ever seen in my life. Yoon So-Ah is completely self-absorbed. She is arrogant to the point of self-sabotage. She ignores her patients who sit in front of her begging her for help, and she blames everyone else for her problems. This is definitely not the normal type of K-Drama heroine. That being said, I feel like a character like her is the only one that makes sense for a being such as Ha-Baek.
The other characters include the gods Moo-Ra (played by the beautiful Krystal Jung) and Bi-Ryeum (played by the SOOO cute Gong Myung). This is where the real tension in the show comes from, in my opinion. These gods have a very long and complex history. It involves Moo-Ra having feelings for Ha-Baek that will never be reciprocated, and her lingering jealousy over the human Nak-Bin, who is only mentioned really as a side-story. Bi-Ryeum is known as a player and never seems to take anything seriously, but underneath all the immaturity you can see the real feelings he has for Moo-Ra. It's like watching middle schoolers trying to flirt. It's infuriating sometimes. You're just like KISS ALREADY. But their story is played out very well and in an ultimately sincere way. You are left feeling like some progress has finally been made after a couple thousand years, and it's pretty gratifying.
The other main character is CEO Sin (played by Im Joo-Hwan). This character is perhaps the most complex in the whole series, as he seems like a ridiculously nice guy at the start, but then you find out that he has the potential to literally burn this place to the ground. He was born the product of a god and a human, and is an outcast in both worlds. He possesses a power that not even Ha-Baek has, as he can bring about utter destruction. There is some tension between his characters and the gods, and some tension that stems from his interest in So-Ah. At the beginning, he is very amusing. He seems perfect: he has looks, money, kindness. He just doesn't know how to be funny, so he finds it difficult to connect with other humans and to be understood by them. He is very sincere in his determination to just make the world a better place. So-Ah eventually becomes his doctor, and he is probably the only person she even sort of helps. He struggles deeply with his identity and feels like his role is already determined for him. So-Ah tells him that the (literal) trees he plants will become a forest. He remains a good force in the world from the work he does, and he helps the human world out much more than the bickering and petty gods.
Now - to focus on So-Ah for a moment. Like I said before: her character is pretty awful. Her dad took in all the orphans he could get his hands on and she was always left feeling like she wasn't important at all. So much so that after her mother dies, she tries to kill herself as a way to punish her father, who left to save the world and neglected his own family in the process. She is greedy and selfish, but I actually found that this made her character much more relatable. I have a harder time connecting with the characters who always out others before themselves. Although it's not pretty, I would definitely connect more with So-Ah. It's easy to see how she is so pessimistic and cannot see all the support she does have around her. People care for her even though she seems to not be deserving. It is brought up again and again that she really does have a kind heart underneath it all. She has just built strong walls around her heart because she is tired of being hurt and left alone. It seems only right that she would fall in love with a god (although his powers are mostly gone) who is destined to leave this world to become the rightful king of his own. That being said, her ending is dull. She finds out the father she thought abandoned her lost his life to save her useless one. Her realization of this feels too self-absorbed to connect with and you are mostly left feeling apathetic towards her.
Now. Ha-Baek. Wow. So handsome. Major selling point. His character has some minor growth. Mostly he just learns to lose the arrogance. Through his journey of falling in love with So-Ah (still not entirely sure what he sees in her) he learns to treasure a human life, which I guess is the big lesson he was supposed to learn. There was some stress about he has to leave, oh wait he came back, oh wait he has to leave again. At some point you just want them to settle on something. Eventually he decides to live out a human life with So-Ah, and then when she dies he returns to the godly realm to continue to live.

This drama has a little bit of laughs and some great kisses (but be warned some of the kisses are super cringe-y and make you feel like you are watching fish suck face), and it's something nice to pass the time. I enjoy it, but it's mostly something for a fan of fairy tales. Definitely worth seeing how ridiculously cute Gong Myung is.