Monday, April 27, 2015

KDrama Review: Blood

Blood (Korean Drama)-p1.jpg


The Gist: Park Ji Sang (Ahn Jae Hyeon) is a vampire. Or rather, he is infected with the vampire virus VBT-01, born to infected parents. After he uses his abilities to help a young girl, he decides to dedicate his life to helping people, rather than give in to his thirst. This proves especially difficult after his parents are murdered and he sets out to cure his illness and find the people responsible. This lures him to Taemin Cancer Hospital, where thanks to his non-aging, he is an incredibly young top surgeon. This irks Dr. Yoo Ri Ta (Ku Hye Sun), a fiery young surgeon, who also happens to be the girl whose life Ji Sang saved. Ri Ta is the least of Ji Sang's worries as the infected Director of the hospital tries to bring Ji Sang into the fold, while hiding the experiments he's performing in the poorest patients in an effort to perfect the vampire virus. Ji Sang's best friend Joo Hyun Woo (Jung Hae In) and coworker Dr. Jung (Kim Yu Seok) work alongside Ji Sang and Ri Ta to help combat the Director and find the cure. It's mystery and romance at Taemin, where everyone has secrets and some of them are lethal.

Love:

1. Ooey-Gooey Romance

I came into this drama with fairly low expectations. Vampires are falling out of fashion, although Ji Sang's Carlisle complex is fairly adorable. The main reason I watched this is because I really enjoyed Jae Hyeon in My Love from Another Star and I was curious to see him in a leading role. Except for the fact that he kisses sort of like a mannequin, I thought he and Hye Sun had excellent chemistry and really sold the often times corny lines alongside the dramatic ones. I wasn't crazy about Hye Sun as Jan Di in Boys Over Flowers, but she does play up that energy well. Honestly, I really loves that there weren't any love triangles happening, no one was shunned and unrequited, which was a nice change of pace from my usual fare. The romance actually takes quite some time to develop, but I didn't mind because it was just as much fun watching them become friends and frankly, there's a lot else going on in this story to keep you preoccupied. I also was totally in love with our secondary love storyline, but more on that later.

2. Action, Adventure!

So I went into this drama thinking it would be primarily romance, with some backstory filled in. I think now that the romance is, very cute, really just one piece of a larger conflict. I was surprised at how quickly I became invested in what was happening and felt very distressed alongside Ji Sang. I loved the crime fighting group we had by the end of it and that we didn't dance around the fact that Ji Sang is a vampire too long. I was kind of stunned to see Choi Kyung In, which you may remember as the horrible mother from Pinocchio (I know I do!). Minor spoilers ahead... I found it very interesting that her trajectory was pretty much 100% in the other direction from her character in Pinocchio. In Blood, she starts out so sweet and turns out to be so evil! I was shocked. Actually that brings me to the next point....

3. What a twist!

Spoilers. Obviously. So when Ji Sang agrees to take on Min Ga Yeon (Son Soo Hyun) as a residence, she seems like an innocent little lamb. I honestly thought her biggest threat was going to be fighting Ri Ta for Ji Sang's affections. How mistaken I was. When they reveal that she's actually been workign for the Director the whole time, I was impressed with how taken aback I was. I really thought she was trustworthy and I didn't suspect a thing. Normally, when there is a reveal like this, there is something to show for it to lessen the shock, but I was really just blindsided. And I appreciate that. It's boring when you know everything that's coming and although she dies in the end, you do get rewarded for your faith in her as she sticks to her guns against the Director in the end.

4. Luuvy

So, Luuvy is totally random, non-essential and I don't know who thought that a robot would make sense in this storyline, but I love him so much. He adds a lot of comic relief to a series that never veered too far into serious and really just teased our characters on how ridiculous they really are. It was an odd choice, but I think despite the logic factor, Luuvy is a fun addition to this show. 

Meh:

1. Plot hole?

So, I was able to mostly look past this, but I was confused about what exactly was special about Ji Sang. The Director goes on and on about how he needs Ji Sang and how special he is, but aside from being immune to death serum, he seems to have all the same problems that regular vampires do and he gets super weak around blood, which is worse than regular vampires. He extolls all this effort to find Ji Sang and then get him to like him and then force him to find a cure for the side effects. It's all just not clear why he even cares if Ji Sang is alive or around, other than the fact that his parents weren't supposed to conceive. So, kind of sloppy writing, but oh well, we move on. 

Hate:

1. Was that even an ending??

Eh. Not really. Despite the cheesiness of the romance and the overdoneness of the vampire story, I was really ready to give this show a grade somewhere in the A-range, right about until I watched teh last three episodes of the show. Let's break down this non-ending and ready, set,go (Spoilers - Ahoy!)

First, Yoo Ri Ta gets totally screwed over. I am stunned that the Chairman and the Asst. Director had her parents, and almost her, murdered to get hold of the hospital. After all the love and support, how does someone ever recover from something like that? She has a line in this episode about how her heart is now an empty room and it's true! Everyone she cares about has pretty much betrayed her in the worst way possible. They both get their comeuppance, but it doesn't really mitigate the horror that Ri Ta is going to be left with. Yikes, that got dark.

Speaking of dark and Ri Ta getting screwed, second, we find the cure, yay! But Ji Sang has to die, maybe? Even though they're testing blood that has been drawn, somehow he has to be injected with the something to make something to cure the patients? Or something? See how skeptical I am. So, that's totally cruel to Ri Ta, but it gets worse. We never get to see if the patients are actually cursed and somehow at the end, Ji Sang is somehow not dead, but there's no explanation, no nothing, except for what seems to suggest that he is still a vampire and no human, which leaves his romance with Ri Ta right about where they started. Annoying.

Speaking of death and romance, thirdly, Hyun Woo, no!!! So right after he gets a happy little romance and potentially finds a cure, Hyun Woo is murdered, brutally and sadly. I hate this. I don't mind any of the other deaths, but Hyun Woo is an absolute good. Again, I think the end of this show got surprisingly dark for how balanced the rest of the show is. Really, once I got to the end of this show, I was kind of angry and confused and disappointed. Which is all too bad for a show I really was enjoying.

So:

So... if the worst issue we were going to face was that Ji Sang isn't obviously special enough, then I really enjoyed this show. Unfortunately, a really confusing and dark ending overshadowed what was otherwise a gripping thriller with a lovely romance underneath. Such a pity. Although, I do look forward to what Jae Hyeon is going to do next. He has that comedic yet brooding thing down. So adorable.

Final Grade: C

18 comments:

  1. Based on this review, I think I'll skip this one - nothing I hate more than a bad ending after putting in all the time to get there (grumble BIG grumble).

    FYI - a bit off topic, but I just finished Punch and really enjoyed it. There isn't much of a real love story, it's more of a legal/political drama. The male lead's character is really more of an antihero and I truly despised him by the third episode, but the writing and actor Kim Rae-Won kept him from being a caricature and kept me watching. The rest of the cast is good to brilliant (Cho Jae-Hyun stands out for me although I don't think I've seen him in anything before). The writers again did an outstanding job giving them depth and making them fully developed, complex individuals. As with many kdrama's, there were a few flashbacks too many and although the final episode was very satisfying and tied up the loose ends wonderfully, it felt like the last 5 minutes was just filler to make the episode long enough - but maybe that's just me being picky.

    If it's romance you're after, this isn't the kdrama for you, but if you want a drama that keeps you guessing and wanting to find out what happens next, I'd recommend this one. It's good for veteran kdrama fans and very accessible for newbies.

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  4. totally satisfied with you i mean like how can they kill hyun woo it was really really really disappointing..also as you said ending was not up to the point they couldve made much more detailly like curing those patients of 21A but overall beside ending and murder of hyunwoo it was awesome....i really had fun watching this drama but still at the end it was but tasteless

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  5. totally satisfied with you i mean like how can they kill hyun woo it was really really really disappointing..also as you said ending was not up to the point they couldve made much more detailly like curing those patients of 21A but overall beside ending and murder of hyunwoo it was awesome....i really had fun watching this drama but still at the end it was but tasteless

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  6. Okay, so regarding how special Ji Sang is, it was mentioned that the Director wants him on his side because Ji Sang is a pure blood, he is way stronger thay normal infected and he still continues to grow stronger, if I remember it correctly it is impossible for a both infected couple to produce offspring so it was a miracle Ji Sang was born. :3 So maybe that is what makes him special.

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  7. Okay, so regarding how special Ji Sang is, it was mentioned that the Director wants him on his side because Ji Sang is a pure blood, he is way stronger thay normal infected and he still continues to grow stronger, if I remember it correctly it is impossible for a both infected couple to produce offspring so it was a miracle Ji Sang was born. :3 So maybe that is what makes him special.

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  8. i was expecting pretty good drama what i got was slow romance and Hyun-Woo killed that just killed this i didn't even want to watch the last episode... i think when im really bored to death i'll finish that last episode since my taste is lot of seeing Hyun-Woo death wasted my time on this crap

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  9. I felt like the drama was flat. The plot is confusing and there's these little holes everywhere. From the beginning I felt like something was wrong. And the ending, wow, why is he still alive. Like I know it's cool that he magically appears but you can't just do that without an explanation. It also felt super cliched. Oh know he's dead. Feels sad. Boom he's actually alive. Obviously most Korean dramas have the same rich, rude, and romantic guy cliche so I expected something different from a vampire plot. Lol this drama just made the cliche rich rude drama look much better, in a way because at least they have a plot that makes sense and has values. Rating this drama a 2/5. Kept me entertained enough to keep watching till the end so it's fine.

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    1. There's 2 main theories why he's alive. First it's either because the infected are still around and that the person that helped her wasn't actually Ji Sang but an infected who was also kind like Ji Sang so she saw him like he was Ji Sang. It could also be because in the last episode, the chief says that Ji Sang van literally live without a heart so there's a possibility that he actually was alive when he saved Ri Ta. Otherwise, this drama was good!

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  10. it was dumb like i stopped watching 13 episodes in, the romance is too cliche & it's too much of a copy of my love from another star like no

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  11. Just explain the ending and the drama would be amazing for me, I mean except SPOILER ALERT(for the next 4 words) Hyun Woo's death obviously. The rest of the drama was sooo good
    I'd totally recommend it. Nothing better than a good blend of a Vampire+ hospital drama
    So
    I didn't like Gu hye sun's acting at the beginning but it gets waaaayyyy better by the 4th episode. It could be because I loved her as Jandi that I didn't like her acting as Rita at first. Anyway,the rest of them-great acting,especially the villain Thankfully no cringy scenes. The romantic scenes are adorable,then all those heart touching scenes with those patients etc and the funny parts. ๐Ÿ’–It was never tooo serious, I mean until the last 3-4 episodes. And luvvy was just tooooo lovely๐Ÿ’—๐Ÿ˜น.
    Don't read further if you haven't watched the show
    About the ending,
    I do have a theory
    They just cured the patients in their hospital. Like Ji sang's blood was eventually used as the cure right, so there is a limit to a dead man's blood. They can't really disinfect all the infected people in the world with that. Also even if they wanted to, they couldn't publicize it that they have a cure for vampirism,if interested come to Taemin cancer hospital, South Korea ๐Ÿ˜น. But if this theory is true then ji sang is definitely dead and the guy she saw at the end was some other nice person, who reminded her of him, u know like a representation of kindness. One thing that I am really confused about though was how the director got old. Like if Ji sang injected him with something that turned him into human and his body changed into his real age condition then why need him at all for the cure. They figured something about separation of something using the most decomposed blood so that probably was injected into the Director but if thats the cure then why did Ji sang fucking have to die. I mean according to the chief he could live without his heart so he had a good survival chance. Or maybe that's what happened. He secretly saved Ji sang without Ri ta's knowledge and used that cure instead or something. And so he is alive and ahoy, ready to save the damsel in distress
    I prefer the latter, no matter how unrealistic it sounds ๐Ÿ˜น

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  12. Can anyone tell me, if Yoo Ri Ta is also a vampire...? as i saw the poster of them both drinking blood..!!!

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  13. what was that thing that killed Jisang? i thought nothing can kill him even the lethal injection for vampires discovered by his parents cant kill him.

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  14. I toyally agree with the fact that director lee was clueless of ji sang's ability but still kept him alive. He ain't special no nothing, he can just lure him and kill him but didn't when it was nonesense to leave him alive.
    The series has the worst ending of all the series i've watched so far.i loved the story regardless of the "holes", but the ending would have been properly done by not less than 5 episodes yo execute all the necessary details especially how jisang came back alive, what happened to the patients at 21A specifically the family and the girl and how the hell director lee didn't die like the normal infected. Also if they made a cure for the infected or almost done figuring out about the cure, why didn't jisang revive hyun-woo and cured him after? Really they rushed the series like they ran out of budget or something. Overall rating is grade C indeed.

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  15. I hated how they killed Hyun woo but even if they did they should’ve at least showed us the cured patients and maybe even showed all of them together in their next life with park jisang human.. and if they didn’t want to do that then an explanation to why park jisang came back to life would’ve been ok.... I rlly liked the drama up until the end.. I’m really disappointed and dissatisfied from this drama......

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  16. Totally agree with your description of the final episodes of this kdrama. Even after reading multiple reviews and thoughts I am unable to decipher the ending!

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  17. I totally agree with the lousiness of this series. Salute to Ji-Sang, somehow I loved his character and himself here but Dr. Ri-Ta is so annoying and overacting just too much...even when she starred in Meteor Garden I am not a fan of her acting....sorry just my opinion.

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