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[HanCinema's Drama Review] "Blood" Episode 3

The theme this time appears to be on the social skills of vampires- or lack thereof. OK, I can work with that. In the first place this does explain why Ji-sang is, well, so rude. Before I was worried that maybe this was the acting inexperience of Ahn Jae-hyun, but no, Ji-sang really doesn't seem to have any idea how to convincingly talk to people. I imagine that even absent vampire practical jokes the other staff would have still started up rumors about him.

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The long-term importance of this to the plot is more important than it may seem at first glance. Jae-wook's abilities, resources, and communication skills all seem superior to Ji-sang's. While the older vampire does get a little cranky here upon finding out that his orders weren't followed correctly, he does make a pretty good point of only flexing his muscles in appropriate contexts. That's why Ji-sang is raising more eyebrows than Jae-wook at the moment.

Koo Hye-sun also gets a nice moment to be emotional here, as she finally manages to put down Ji-sang in such a way that he can't really ignore. In between the young vampire's own parental issues, I somewhat get the sense that Ji-sang doesn't really know how to do the whole empathy thing. Hyeon-woo (played by Jung Hae-in) seems to be digging the scene more out of excitement for vampires than any kind of genuine emotional attachment to Ji-sang.

There are a few nice points to hook on to this episode, and even the comic relief robot doesn't come off that badly in the presence of an actual plot. All the same, my optimism at this point is still pretty cautious. However much I try to dress it up, in the end "Blood" is just a drama about vampire surgeons doing vampire surgeon stuff. Most of the story sounds so ridiculous in the abstract that context is pretty essential in order to overcome the willing suspension of disbelief.

I suspect a lot of how well "Blood" might or might not work going forward is how the cliffhanger is resolved. I do hope Jae-wook isn't pulling punches for no reason here- by any rational measure he should be able to clear the board here and get right to work on his evil scheme unmolested. Koo Hye-sun really needs to make a relevant appearance to the supernatural storyline here, because however much he tries, I doubt Ahn Jae-hyun can carry a concept this peculiar on his own.

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.

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