Genie, Make a Wish: Creating Magic Out of Chaos

Even if you know little about Korean dramas, I’m sure you’re familiar with Kim Eun-sook — or her incredible streak of hits. Her name has become almost synonymous with K-dramas as she’s the mastermind behind SBS’s Secret Garden, The Heirs and The King: Eternal Monarch, KBS2’s Descendants of the Sun, tvN’s Goblin and Mr Sunshine, and Netflix’s The Glory. One look at her filmography and you’re amazed — how creative can this woman be? 

Well, I guess she decided to take that creativity a step further with her latest adventure, the eccentric and strangely timely Genie, Make a Wish.

Directed by Lee Byung-hun and Ahn Gil-ho, Genie, Make a Wish is the latest Netflix Korea original to arrive on the Tudum platform. With Kim penning the script and a powerhouse cast bringing it to life, Netflix knew that this project would naturally create massive buzz within K-dramaland, so they scheduled it to coincide with this year’s Chuseok holiday: October 3rd.

In 13 episodes, Genie, Make a Wish follows a devilish Genie (Kim Woo-bin) and his master, Ki Ka-young (Suzy). The Genie has spent his entire existence trying to prove to god that human beings, his greatest creation, are flawed, easily corruptible beings. Meanwhile, Ka-young was raised by a loving grandmother who has gone to great lengths to keep her granddaughter’s psychopathic tendencies in check. When the arrogant Genie and the aloof Ka-young come together, she proposes a “best-of-five” bet: if the Genie proves that humans, without exception, inevitably turn corrupt in the face of their deepest desires, she’ll give up her life.

Genie, Make a Wish is a chaotic, wacky, and loud fantasy rom-com, whose narrative may be imperfect but whose themes resound with powerful clarity. An incredibly ambitious, audacious project, Genie, Make a Wish sometimes gets it right, sometimes gets it wrong — but it undoubtedly stands as a unique story.

While the review is spoiler-free, the interpretation section contains spoilers. But if you’re in a rush, you can just pin our spoiler-free summary at the bottom!

Reviewing Kim Eun-sook’s Latest Adventure: The Good, the Bad & the Ugly

Genie, Make a Wish is a rare case of a completely fantastical, farcical universe. The worldbuilding doesn’t even try to be remotely realistic: the world where Genie, Make a Wish exists is one in which angels and demons fight among the stars, genies are broke but amazingly fashionable, and owls and jaguars fall in love. It seems vast, colourful, unpredictable. Its scenarios are so beyond imagination that you soon begin to take everything in at face value — because nothing, even the unimaginable, seems to be impossible.

That kind of story is fairly difficult to find. Think to yourself: when was the last time you watched a Korean drama that is a fantasy through and through? Not one that makes use of a couple of fantastical elements in a mostly realistic environment, but one that completely reshapes the world we’re familiar with to design its narrative? Genie, Make a Wish dares to go that far, and it works for two reasons: first, it establishes clear rules for its universe, and second, it blends fantasy with unabashed comedy.

Humour in Genie, Make a Wish is cheeky, self-aware, and flawlessly timed. It’s even theatrical: the characters seem to realise they are mere fiction, as if they are willingly putting up a play for us to watch.  Comedy allows the fantasy to hold water, creating magic out of chaos and charm out of the ridiculous. 

Ironic and keen to poke fun at its own absurdities, the series often employs cheesy aesthetics and foolish sequences just to establish worldbuilding and its limits (which are pretty much nonexistent). The tone is mostly kept within these farcical boundaries, with camerawork, dialogue, and delivery all working in absolute sync to establish comedy as the heart of Genie, Make a Wish. And here, we’ve got to praise not only Suzy and Kim Woo-bin (the Genie is particularly silly), but an exceptionally talented cast whose comedy chops are always on point. Ko Kyu-pil and Ahn Eun-jin are an absolute delight, while even Daniel Henney and Kim Ji-hoon allow themselves to get rid of their seriousness to embrace the bizarre.

Their performances amaze regardless of how dramatic or comical the moment is, of course. Reunited after 9 years since KBS2’s Uncontrollably Fond, Suzy and Kim Woo-bin continue to have an indomitable allure and magnetic chemistry that pulls you in. They are both incredibly charismatic, and Suzy’s performance, which is precisely calculated for most of the series, shines with a huge moment of emotional contrast in the last episode. Suzy and Woo-bin lead a cast that simply can’t go wrong: they poured their hearts into these characters, and that’s easy to see. As for their delivery in Arabic, I reckon I’m not the right person to evaluate it. To a non-Arabic speaker such as myself, it sounded good enough, but I think Arabic speakers are the ones who should have the final say.

To bring this universe to life, it goes without saying that Genie, Make a Wish relies heavily on visual effects. While some scenes are much more convincing than others, the show’s overall effort with VFX is commendable considering where the current industry stands. The series also counts on stunning production design, which definitely helps sustain the aesthetics and effects.

Putting it all together is Kim Eun-sook’s script, which falters in its last two episodes. Strangely enough, narrative structure is the show’s greatest weakness. The set-up, conflicts, and rising action all work well to convey the story’s main theme and establish excellent characterisation. If you enjoy the series’ kind of humour, Genie, Make a Wish makes for an entertaining, moving, and extremely easy watch. The narrative gets rid of stressful melodrama, replacing it with a bunch of fun characters whose journey — no matter how silly — becomes a joy to follow.

However, the story’s climax and resolution are simply… well, messy. Episodes 12 and 13 are, at the same time, too convoluted and too simplistic, relying on a sequence of events that seem fortuitous and contrived. Even the tone becomes overwhelmingly dark at times, with moments of graphic and heartless violence that feel incompatible with the previous instalments.

[SPOILERS] What Genie, Make a Wish Is Really About: Interpreting the Show’s Main Theme

And yet, beyond its technical achievements or failures, Genie, Make a Wish offers an astonishing, resounding theme. In a world that seems to become ever more divisive and egocentric, Genie, Make a Wish raises a simple question: can humans choose to be kind and altruistic even in the face of their innermost desires?

The protagonists of Genie, Make a Wish aren’t your run-of-the-mill leads. They aren’t particularly nice people, nor do they have any desire to become so. This isn’t a story with a perfectly standard positive character arc, that is, a process in which a character grows into a better person. This isn’t a story in which the kind female protagonist will help her twisted male counterpart become kinder, either.

No, not at all. This is a story that introduces us to an entire group of selfish beings who are offered a choice: to be more humane, they have to choose to go against their instincts.

After all, “to be human is to make one’s own choice.“

Ka-young lives with an antisocial personality disorder that stops her from empathising with others. A truly fascinating, complex character, she navigates her inner conflicts while adapting to what the world expects of her. She recognises emotions, understands the concept of gratitude, but doesn’t truly feel them. She’s intelligent, confident, and observant, but completely aloof. Through rote learning and a strict set of routines, Ka-young can live in society without major problems — her morality is artificial, but effective. 

Meanwhile, the Genie is — quite literally — the devil. He’s arrogant, mischievous, and self-serving. Evil, even, but also childish and simple-minded at times. However, Ka-young never puts up with his attitude or lets him have his way. They are equals — in strength, personality, and integrity (or lack thereof). To the world, they aren’t afraid of hurting others (and they openly say so).

At first, you’re led to believe that Genie, Make a Wish works with contrasts: our wicked protagonists are surrounded by generous individuals. But that image soon disappears to give way to a much more realistic portrayal of society. Except for Ka-young’s grandmother (wonderfully played by the one and only Kim Mi-kyung) and best friend (the great Lee Joo-young), and maybe some of the townspeople, most of the villagers around Ka-young merely keep up the pretence of kindness. Even Ryu Su-hyeon (Steve Noh) is an angel who isn’t all that angelic, after all.

Before long, the prejudices, vices, and cruelty of these characters begin to emerge. One by one, we witness as they lie to each other, they brag and humiliate, they mock. Even worse, they steal, harm, and kill.

Genie, Make a Wish doesn’t work with contrast, then, but irony. It offers a protagonist with psychopathic tendencies who chooses not to harm others, even though she’s constantly judged and prejudiced against (“Humans sure are shallow, aren’t they? They’ll ostracise and judge you even if you’re just a tad bit different.“). Meanwhile, the people around her, who are supposed to be instinctively righteous and generous, just hide their selfishness and resentment inside. They allow them to fester, coming to the surface in caustic remarks, small actions — and, of course, in the face of three wishes. They don’t believe they need to opt to be kind, because, well, they are just ordinary people and ordinary people are naturally nice, right? 

This theme becomes heartbreakingly clear in episode 11 in the tragic sequence that portrays Ka-young’s death in a previous life. Back then, Ka-young was indeed kind — and the Genie was spellbound. The Genie, sure of his conviction that humans cannot choose to be altruistic in any circumstance, found Ka-young’s behaviour puzzling and, eventually, even hopeful. 

That is, until that hope is shattered and his belief reinforced by a profoundly symbolic, marvellously delivered scene. With the dying Ka-young in his arms, the Genie (or Iblis, as the devil is called in what would be Dubai in the 11th century) begs the hundreds of people that surround him to save the girl. He’s sobbing, he’s in a position of complete weakness and vulnerability, and he begs, wholeheartedly, for someone to become his new master and use one — just one wish out of three — to save her life. With the other two, they could ask him for anything and he’d gladly grant it. No one volunteers until a man runs to grab the lamp, announcing to the crowd that he’d do it. But instead of asking for the girl’s salvation, he asks for gold. Then, more gold. And finally, for even more gold to cover the city.

As gold rains down, we see the character who is supposed to be the devil sobbing, grieving. We see a dead girl who chose to be kind even in the face of poverty, even as she was ostracised. And we see all those “ordinary” people, the ones who are supposed to be “righteous” human beings, laughing and celebrating the golden rain that falls upon them.

Aren’t we in a world where some people celebrate their riches while others starve to death as well?

But Genie, Make a Wish doesn’t try to be completely cynical. It doesn’t end on a hopeless tone as if humankind is indeed lost. It does bring our hypocrisy, greed, and egoism to the surface, building an entire narrative upon it. In the end, however, it allows some of its characters to prove the Genie wrong — by eventually choosing generosity and kindness over individual desire. Ka-young herself decides to shed the artificiality of her morality and sincerely experience emotion as her very last wish. Altruism and empathy may seem utopian in such a selfish and arrogant society, but we can still find them. After all, they are a mere decision away.

Should You Watch Genie, Make a Wish?

Genie, Make a Wish is bold, humorous, and goofy. Even though it doesn’t hit all the high notes, it deserves praise for its courageous theme, its rare worldbuilding, and its extraordinary cast. While its style of humour and tone won’t be everyone’s cup of tea, and the narrative structure isn’t in the least perfect, Genie, Make a Wish is a story that says much in between the jokes and visual effects. 

Most importantly, Genie, Make a Wish reminds us that kindness and empathy are indeed choices — ones that we can start making this very moment.

You can watch Genie, Make a Wish on: