Pointless Sentience

It is as if Shakespeare wrote Macbeth, but if Shakespeare was Korean, and Macbeth had 20 acts instead of 5, 15 of which lacked a clear direction and had too many twists for its own good.

6.5/10: Overall, it is a decent show with a good cast. There are however some annoyances I have had while watching this show. Plot: The show felt directionless, with no clear plan or goal. Characters were bouncing from one idea to the next to defeat Gwi almost every episode which some might argue was intentional but it certainly left me feeling as if the script was written on the day of shooting. <//Spoiler> The show suffered several plot holes, the largest of which occured near the end of the series, with the Sung Yoel, the Scholar, deciding not to kill Gwi with seemingly no reason other than to drag the show to 20 episodes long. This could reflect a lack of planning of events in the writing process. <Spoiler//> The lack of story progression is also an issue especially poignant in the first 6 episodes, whereby the trope of Sung Yoel saving Yang Sun and giving her blood is repeated 2 times or more. Rather than a build up to the climax, the story spends its first few episodes following Sung Yoel to and fro his residence saving Yang Sun from danger at the very last moment time and time again. Although quite uninteresting, it is not lost on me that the introductory episodes helped to establish a level of intimacy and romance between Yang Sun and Sung Yoel, which compels the viewer to sympathise with Sung Yoel’s background and identity and his “sacrifice”. The role reversal between Yang Sun and Sung Yoel in the later episodes (whereby it is Yang Sun who constantly finds herself bringing the injured Sung Yoel back to his residence and even offering him her blood) is somewhat touching and commendable from a literary standpoint. Furthermore, by drawing a parallel between Sung Yoel’s dead lover and his current one, the film highlights the conflict between man and beast internally and this too is also compelling. Finally, aside from the relationship of the main protagonist, no other felt moving or even genuine. Case in point, the relationship between the Queen and the Crown Prince was set up as an arranged marriage and the Queen was given no prior characterisation aside from her hatred towards her Father. Yet, the script attempts to convince the audience that their relationship was something more. There was a sense that the script tried to do too much with too little (time) which left me feeling that most other romances in the script were very paper-thin. (5/10) Scoring/Background music: The scoring was good, which to me meant it served its purpose in conveying the characters’ emotions, but not really something I would put in a playlist and listen to on a regular basis. Music was played at fitting and appropriate times with lyrics matching events happening. Fade-outs of the music could have been timed with the start of a new scene to make it more appealing. (7/10) Lines and line delivery: Acting was great. However, actors seemed to be constrained by a weak script. A decent chunk of the script seemed to be information relay, which is not really needed and can take place off screen, giving more screen time to character development. Exposition could have been replaced with actual scenes non-verbally providing information to the audience. Rather the script chooses to “tell, not show”. A sort of meta-reflective dialogue towards the last part of the show whereby Yang Sun uses the Night Scholar novels to refer to the show as a whole is refreshing. (6/10) Special effects and choreography: Fight choreography did not fall into the common one-at-a-time pitfall which plague many good movies, whereby the hero or protagonist, badly outnumbered, is able to take on a group of enemies because they approach him one at a time. Special effects were modern and realistic, keeping the audience immersed in the fictional world. (8/10)