[HanCinema's Drama Review] "Blood" Episode 13

Ji-sang has this rather odd determination to solve all his problems with violence, even though he's not actually all that good at fighting. In all fairness Jae-wook is equally determined to have his goons provoke violent confrontations, again not for any particularly good reason. I get the impression that writer Park Jae-beom-I doesn't really have any idea how vampires could react to each other short of just fighting.

Advertisement

Well,　to that extent, thank goodness for the comic relief. Ri-ta comes up with a plan to at least make violent confrontations less likely, and while it's not too effective, at least we get some cute funny scenes of Ri-ta pestering Ji-sang at home. Hey, he already lives with Hyeon-woo. Considering that much, I'm surprised it's so easy to rile the guy up. It's like I've mentioned before, though- while Ahn Jae-hyun may have issues with acting, this really wasn't that good a role in the first place so we shouldn't be too hard on him.

I think most of the cast in "Blood" can be evaluated on the same standard. The problems with acting are quite minor compared to the larger storyline issues. Although nothing about the production is really aggressively bad- it's just kind of low-brow and undignified. Not every vampire story needs to grapple with complex metaphysical questions about mortality. Disappointment here is mainly a result of the fact that vampire surgeons are a very potentially interesting concept, and yet "Blood" is the only medical drama in recent memory not to explore its central premise through patient-of-the-week storylines.

Everything beyond that is just the usual backstabbing and scheming with characters whose agendas may or may not be what they seem. Annoyingly, the only character whose motivation is totally out in the open (Ga-yeon) still has almost no screen time. Still, we do make reasonably good progress in terms of exploring what these various people want. Ji-sang even makes a serious scientific breakthrough.

I rather wish that "Blood" spent more time on the actual patients. There's another good scene here whether the various female patients have a little bit of fun. The actual plot of this drama is so serious and grim that levity in any context is quite welcome. I have most assuredly given up trying to assess "Blood" from a serious standpoint. In this drama the plot is just what it is- cheesy and mostly dumb, but perhaps passable as a casual time killer.

Review by William Schwartz

"Blood" is directed by Ki Min-soo, written by Park Jae-beom-I and features Ahn Jae-hyun, Koo Hye-sun, Ji Jin-hee, Jung Hae-in, Kim Kap-soo, Son Sook and more.

Watch on Viki