Crossdressing heroines! Evil vampires! Angsty, immortal heroes! Guyliner? Let’s find out more. To the crypt!
The Scholar Who Walks the Night (2015) probably occupies a very early spot on the watchlist of any K-drama lover. If it was available on a streaming service in your area back then, it probably inspires some seasonal nostalgia at this time of year.
And why not? It has all the ingredients: a script based on a popular comic, supernatural romance, an alternate Joseon Dynasty storyline, a spunky heroine, gorgeous costumes—and Lee Joon-Gi, who notably starred in two cast-iron classic K-dramas, Arang and the Magistrate and Moon Lovers: Scarlet Heart Ryeo. Lee Joon-Gi is the tragic guardian vampire Kim Sung-Yeol, who for 120 years has mourned the death of his lover at the hands (fangs?) of the evil vampire Gwi, here ostentatiously portrayed by Lee Soo-Hyuk (Tomorrow). As the guardian vampire, Sung-Yeol’s job is to get rid of misbehaving baddie vampires; he has spent years since his beloved’s death searching for the late crown prince’s secret diary, said to hold the key to destroying the powerful Gwi once and for all.
Sung-Yeol meets the reincarnation of his lover Myung-Hee, now named Hye-Ryung, and is inspired to enlist the help of Yang-Sun (Lee Yu-Bi, who appeared in the cancelled Joseon Exorcist) in trying to find the secret diary. Yang-Sun’s secret is revealed to Sung-Yeol: he discovers that she’s actually a woman, disguising herself as a man in order to support her family. As the lead, Lee Joon-Gi delivers an emotional, haunted performance. Lee Soo-Hyuk, as the villainous Gwi, doesn’t disappoint either—he commits. There is no badder baddie, nor any vampier vamp, to be found anywhere in the alternate Joseon of the story, and everywhere, there is blood. So. Much. Blood.
Sounds like a cracking good yarn, right?
And it should have been; it really should have. But pretty quickly, the story’s inconsistencies start piling up. The exposition, Sung-Yeol’s entry into vampire life, and the unmasking of Yang-Sun’s secret identity all occur early in the series, but so do some pretty rookie continuity errors. We see Sung-Yeol’s creation as a vampire as he sizzles and smokes in daylight, even though he’s wearing the same magical black robe later revealed to protect him from the sun. Maybe it had a breaking-in period? Then there’s the pacing: a chase conducted at top speed over a distance of maybe a few dozen yards into the underground palace takes…a really long time—long enough for Sung-Yeol to have an angsty crisis, bid Yang-Sun farewell, and drink her blood before Gwi, supposedly right on his tail, comes screeching in from stage left. Perhaps the villain got lost on the way? Not sure. The search for the diary goes on and on—and on—and the repetitive rescues of Yang-Sun begin to grate after a bit.
In the end, there is no other possibility but a happy ending—although we’re never really quite sure how we got there. How did Yang-Sun survive? Where did Sung-Yeol disappear to? Why was eliminating Gwi comparatively so easy, yet figuring out how to do so was the work of twenty episodes? And why on earth is the romance theme so incredibly bouncy and irritating? Do we ever find out?
No, and arguably, that’s not the point. Bad loses, good wins, and in the end, it’s vampires, baby. Really ridiculously good-looking vampires wearing guyliner.
The drama has its high points. Namely, Lee Soo-Hyuk is somehow able to take a protracted, confusing mess of a script and imbue Gwi with a tragic beauty that almost overrides the happy ending. We don’t get much of a satisfying explanation as to how the happy ending occurred in the first place, but no matter. What The Scholar Who Walks the Night lacks in plot, it makes up for in its gorgeous design, stellar cast, and unique story. It may not be the best K-drama you’ll ever watch, but I’d bet my last PSL that you’ll find yourself fondly reaching for it at this time of year, ready to be thrilled and annoyed by it all over again.
