In Head Over Heels, teenage shaman Park Seong-ah (Cho Yi-hyun) has spent most of her high school years protecting her cursed classmate Bae Gyeon-woo (Choo Young-woo), first from the shadows and eventually out in the open. Their bond deepens over the course of this supernatural romantic comedy, especially after Gyeon-woo becomes possessed by the spirit of a young boy named Bong-su. Seong-ah becomes his only tether to control, with frequent hand-holding and awkward encounters at school serving as a comedic highlight in the earlier episodes.
Bong-su, initially presented as a malevolent force, is revealed to be a lost and lonely spirit—a child soldier who never found peace after his death. For a time, he and Gyeon-woo share the same body in a cooperative arrangement, but this uneasy truce can’t last. Seong-ah, as always, takes the burden on herself, performing a risky ritual that goes awry. Manipulated by the shaman antagonist Yeon-hwa (Choo Ja-hyun), Seong-ah loses her spiritual mother General Dongcheon (Kim Mi-kyung), allowing Bong-su to absorb the 100 souls needed to fully possess Seong-ah’s body. He then vanishes with her, and the story jumps forward two years.
In the time since, Gyeon-woo has become a successful archer, dedicating every win to Seong-ah, whose disappearance haunts him. His new ability to see spirits leads him to pursue them with talisman-tipped arrows, though this compelling storyline fades too quickly. Eventually, Bong-su resurfaces, far less threatening than expected. Instead of terrorizing others, he mostly tries to kiss Seong-ah’s friends to find a weaker body to inhabit.
The resolution comes when Gyeon-woo enters Bong-su’s dreams and discovers that Bong-su is merely the product of another child’s trauma. Learning the true name of the lost boy allows Bong-su to pass on, ending the curse and freeing Seong-ah. The couple reunites, finally free of spiritual interference.
While Head Over Heels ties up its narrative with a satisfying romantic ending, its pacing issues and underwhelming villains dull its emotional resonance. The promising tension introduced by Bong-su and Yeon-hwa never fully pays off, and the dramatic arcs lose momentum midway. Despite flashes of humor and charm, the show’s tonal inconsistency leaves it feeling less magical than it could have been.
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