Summary
My Demon lives up the house with a funny and engaging premiere that promises plenty more drama, romance, and amazing-looking leads in the near future.
“Demonic romance” are two words that you’re unlikely to find together very often, but the romantic K-drama My Demon Season 1 — not to be confused with My Daemon — builds an entire premise around them. There has been an almighty fuss around this show ahead of its debut on Netflix, and it’s easy to see why. Only rarely does this much beauty exist in one cast, and as of Episode 1, at least, the slapstick-y potential of the premise, which incorporates fantastical concepts into a contemporary setting, suggests the pre-release excitement seems to have been worth it.
My Demon Season 1 Episode 1 Recap
Who are Gu-won and Do-hee?
Gu-won is a demon. It’s worth getting that out of the way up front. In the show’s lore, demons were once guardians of humans and used to live alongside them. Demons maintain their power by striking Faustian bargains with people, so of course, in the present day, he owns a company.
Do-hee, his love interest, also technically owns a company – or several. She’s the heiress (through adoption) of the Mirae Group, a successful conglomerate. And she’s clearly good in the role, as she wins the Best CEO of the Year award. She agrees to go on a blind date as a quid-pro-quo deal with Mirae’s sickly Chairwoman Ju, and we have all the setup we need for a meet-cute.
How do the leads meet?
In the manner of all romantic dramas, Gu-won and Do-hee meet by chance and initially have their wires crossed. Do-hee assumes that the former is her blind date since she understandably doesn’t assume that he rents out entire restaurants just to eat in peace, but he’s befuddled by the concept that he’s supposed to show any interest in her whatsoever. He’s also preoccupied with the vengeful attacking henchmen of a local gangster he recently ceased doing business with, so the whole thing’s a bit of a mess, but leaves Do-hee understandably interested in this rather handsome and dangerous nutcase.
How does Gu-won lose his powers?
The second meeting between the two, also by chance, is a little less romantic. Do-hee is kidnapped by a man posing as her driver who had earlier killed someone from the Mirae Group who had called Do-hee offering to sell her company secrets. She happens to run into Gu-won on the road while he’s out looking for more humans to exploit, and one thing leads to another. Do-hee needs help, Gu-won insists on a contractual agreement before he provides it, and we have ourselves a deal.
But something’s quickly revealed to be amiss. During the encounter, Do-hee grabbed Gu-won’s hand, and in so doing, his cross tattoo, which is basically the nexus of all his demon powers, transferred to her. It becomes apparently almost immediately that Gu-won is no longer in possession of his demon powers since both he and Do-hee almost drown immediately after as a result.
How does My Demon Season 1 Episode 1 end?
The episode ends, however, with the two of them alive and well, though Gu-won realizes that his powers have been transferred to his new beau.
This is a pretty compelling place to leave things in the premiere since it establishes not just a newly developing romance but also an inversion of the power dynamic the first episode spent its time establishing. There is surely plenty more to come in regards to demonic worldbuilding, but also Do-hee’s family dynamic, especially now that she’s going to find herself in quite the predicament given the responsibilities of demon power and, presumably, demon bargains.
There’s no telling quite how it’ll all shake out, but after just one episode, that’s not just expected but welcome. Either way, it’ll probably be fun to see what happens next.
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