Welcome to Kdrama and Ramen!

Kim Sung Yeol is a guardian vampire who has spent the last 120 years trying to avenge the death of his first love, which was caused by the evil vampire, Gwi.  During that 120 years, Gwi has been ruling the Joseon Empire from behind the scenes, by controlling the king and all his decisions.  Sung Yeol finds an unlikely ally in a struggling male book seller who turns out to be a female in disguise.  With her help, Sung Yeol hopes to find a missing book, written by the deceased Crown Prince, that gives a detailed strategy of how to defeat Gwi once and for all.  But Gwi is not going down without a fight!

Lee Yoo Bi as  Jo Yang Seon

Jo Yang Seon’s father is framed for treason, which causes her family to lose everything.  To protect her from an unfortunate female lineage, her father has made her dress and act like a boy since she was young.  As a boy, she runs errands for her father and helps him sell books around the city.  When a  rich, private book buyer comes to her looking for an old manuscript, she is determined to succeed.  But as she gets to know the mysterious man, she begins to believe he could be the famous “Night Scholar” who is one of her favorite book heroes.  By the time she learns Sung Yeol’s true identity, her feelings have become too  strong to make her alter her course, no matter what dangers she may face because of him.

Yang Seon has lived her life with the freedom of a male, while never being able to reveal her true identity, so she understands Sung Yeol’s feelings of having to live in hiding.  She is bold and adventurous, although that often gets her into more trouble than she can actually handle.  Lee Yoo Bi is okay in this role, although the character is a bit non-descript. The romantic storyline gets moved to the back burner about halfway through and that doesn’t leave much for Yang Seon to do.  There are still some sweet moments but they are less frequent as time goes on.

Lee Soo Hyuk as Gwi

Gwi is the evil, greedy vampire who hopes to one day do away with royal family all together, so that the kingdom will be his alone.  He will stop at nothing to maintain his power, including creating armies of vampires just so that he can play the hero by killing them.  

♥ Lee Soo Hyuk as Gwi

For Lee Soo Hyuk’s character, they kept the dialogue to a minimum, which definitely worked in his favor.  Gwi’s facials expressions and body language were a highlight of this drama, and his lines, when he had them were few and sincere.  His absolute disdain for humankind was hilariously clear in every scene.  From bored eye rolls to fits of pure rage, Gwi’s feelings and motivations were always clear, and he never had to rely on internal monologues or over-the-top acting to make his point.

♥ Vampire Saeguk

Combining any horror element with historical dramas creates an interesting platform, as evidenced by other dramas like “Kingdom”.  It worked particularly well for vampires.  The flowing costumes and dark lighting really set an appropriate mood.  In concept, I really enjoyed the premise of this drama.  Visually  the whole series was well-designed and fun to watch.

Lost Chemistry

Lee Joon Gi and Lee Yoo Bi had some good report in the beginning of this drama.  Their scenes together had chemistry and suspense.  But once they both came to terms with their feelings for each other, I felt like the chemistry fizzled out.  Without any conflict, their relationship just wasn’t very interesting.  And how many times can they argue about who gets to die for the other?

Who Needs a Book?

Ok, this was one of my biggest pet peeves with this storyline.  They make such a big deal over finding the hidden book with the amazing secret plan. But in the end, Sung Yeol discovers the power of Yang Seon’s blood on his own, when she uses some to save him.  And then the rest of the plan was, let’s go blow things up?  I just expected something with a little more finesse than bite the girl and blow the lair to smithereens.  The book was just a distraction with no real purpose, except to provide some temporary misunderstanding about Yang Seon being offered as a sacrifice.

So, this is another one of those dramas that seems like it’s a happy ending, but still leaves some doubt, which as I’ve said before, are not my favorite.  Gwi and Sung Yeol have their epic battle and the lair comes crashing down on top of them just as the sun rises, burying them both.  Though the crew waits outside, neither vampire comes out alive.  Fast forward a year.  Su Hyang is back to running her gibang and Ho Jin uses the backroom to sell rare books until Sung Yeol “returns”.  Yoon has taken over as king but he still mourns Hye Ryung.  In his room, he proudly displays the sword he gave to Sung Yeol before the battle, which causes the first glimmer of hope in fans who are still hoping Sung Yeol is alive and well.  Yang Seon has gone back to teaching and writing, which is nice to see.  She walks home thinking of Sung Yeol and glances around her in hopes that he will be there.  And then, as if her thoughts conjured him, Sung Yeol is there in front of her.  He apologizes for being late and she answers that she was prepared to wait another 50 years.  They kiss and then the two of them seem to vanish into thin air.  So was this a dream?  Was he really there?  I guess that is up to you to decide.