I don’t think anyone’s brought this up yet so I’m just going to put it out there. Angel’s Last Mission: Love is basically a crappy re-imagining of My Girlfriend is a Gumiho, which saddens me greatly because MGIAG is my first k-drama love and I was really hoping that this show would finally be the fantasy forbidden love rom-com to replace it. I’m also frankly shocked that with the amount of “inspirations” the writer of ALML took from it she still managed to screw it up so bad. Like, let’s examine all the commonalities:

1. A couple that has to go against the heavens to be together
2. The 100 days to be a couple period which ends in the death of one half of the couple.
3. The pairing of a rich self-centered ass with a fish-out-of-water mythical being
4. Mythical being goes on quest to find a way to become human without telling the person they’re trying to become human for
5. Human finds out about mythical being’s quest and imminent doom through second male lead spilling the beans in a jealous attempt to break up the couple
6. Both couples become entangled when the mythical being saves the human on a rainy night
7. Both couples have a contractual relationship requiring cohabitation
8. Both second male leads love the female lead simply because she’s a doppelganger of their first love
9. Above first love dies as a sacrifice for second male lead who then lives an eternity being unable to die, hating being human, and stalking his first love’s doppelganger
10. Mythical being gives something critical to their identity to the other person (fox bead vs handkerchief)
11. Both shows have a secondary female that tries to fatally injure female lead by making them fall off a high place
12. Even the “I don’t care if I die, I’m going to love you” grab-face-and-kiss scene in ALML was like a watered down version of the infamous Seung-Gi/Min-Ah kiss minus the exchanging of fox bead, stopped traffic, and emotional impact. Unlike ALML though, Dae Woong stuck with his decision to love her, whereas Dan went back to being wishy-washy about whether he wanted to be a couple with Yeon Seo the following week…

I’m sure there’s more, but these were the ones that stuck out to me the most. I don’t mind that the writer is taking so much from MGIAG, but it really irks me that she’s clearly had MGIAG in mind when writing ALML’s plot, yet failed spectacularly at getting right the one aspect MGIAG succeeded the best in: the rom-com entertainment factor.

MGIAG definitely had its flaws and I’m sure there’s many people who, especially if watching it for the first time 10 years later, would be less than impressed by it. But at least the Hong sisters didn’t forget its intended genre and kept ample amounts of cute and laughs throughout the entire run to keep viewers satisfied. Despite being billed as a “heartwarming rom-com about the beauty of love that makes us human,” ALML is pretty much 75% drawn out angst and secondary character drivel no one cares about, 15% scenes of Dan and Yeon Seo on screen at the same time, and only 5% rom-com fun. Not to mention, in the writer’s greed to include more shock factors and cliffhangers, the only coherent message she’s been successfully portraying with this show is that God is petty and cruel.

*Sigh* Anyway, I guess I’ll have to wait another 10 years before someone attempts a MGIAG-like story again. Meanwhile, I’m pretty much only tuning in now to see how many more similarities she’s going to add in. My prediction is that next we’re going to get Dan becoming progressively weaker as his D-Day comes as punishment for turning his back on God and that in the final episode he’s going to turn to dust, there will be a time skip of life going on for single Yeon Seo, and then Dan will magically reappear as a human 1 year later as an example of a miracle granted by God. Bonus points if he retains his angel power finger-snaps.