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Scholar Who Walks the Night: Episode 20 (Final)

It did seem to take an awfully long time to get here (some weeks were longer than others, to be sure), but now that it’s time to say goodbye to scholar-nim, I find that I’ve grown pretty attached. Or is that just the Lee Jun-ki Effect? At least Scholar Who Walks the Night knew to save the best and bloodiest for last—the buildup (and buildup, and buildup) finally pays off in a mighty battle that brings the house down.

 
SONG OF THE DAY

Kimbo – “중독” (Addiction) for the Scholar Who Walks the Night OST [ Download ]

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FINAL EPISODE RECAP

Sung-yeol meets with the rebels and sets the plan in motion for Gwi’s ultimate demise: They’ll blow up his underground lair with both Gwi and Sung-yeol trapped inside. Sung-yeol thinks to himself that tomorrow will be the last day that Gwi will get to breathe.

At the same time, Gwi sits on the throne surrounded by countless bodies and covered in their blood. He seems to sense that the end is near, and perhaps even welcomes it. Gwi: “Come to kill me, Kim Sung-yeol. I will gift you with eternal darkness.”

The prime minister leaves the room reeling from the site of the massacre, and huffs that Gwi will meet his end. But the drunken bender only continues, as Gwi goes from palace to palace, drinking every servant he comes across. A court lady runs away from him, only to come upon a courtyard littered with bodies.

Yoon sheds a tear as he mourns Hye-ryung, but says to her that he won’t let her sacrifice go to waste.

It looks like Yang-sun doesn’t plan to sit by either. She dons a man’s hanbok and straps on her hat, and tucks a small dagger into her sleeve. Su-hyang catches her walking out and tries to stop her, but Yang-sun says that if her blood will keep Sung-yeol from dying, she has to try.

Su-hyang argues that it’s too dangerous, but Yang-sun has faith that Sung-yeol will be strong enough not to lose himself. And if Gwi tries to take her hostage, she plans to kill herself. Aish, that trauma’s gonna last another 120 years if you do that!

Yoon finally comes out of the brooding room looking for Sung-yeol, and realizes from Ho-jin’s reaction that he’s run off to fight Gwi on his own. Ho-jin falls to his knees to beg Yoon to stay put, saying that his job is to keep Yoon out of danger so that the country still has a leader when the battle is done.

Yoon says that he’s not the king anymore, but Ho-jin says he’ll have to kill him first and breaks down in tears, saying that he didn’t want to stay behind and guard the house either, but this was Sung-yeol’s last wish.

Yang-sun in turn argues that she can’t just stand by while others sacrifice their lives, when she’s Gwi’s descendant and part of the secret plan written in the diary. When they get word about the palace bloodbath last night, Yoon is more determined than ever to go there.

Yang-sun says she’ll come too, and says with resolve, “It’s my turn to protect Sung-yeol.” She cashes in the debt that Yoon owes her, and asks him to take her to Sung-yeol now. She says that even if she dies, she’ll die by his side.

Su-hyang relents, and Yoon agrees as long as she promises not to think of dying. He refuses to lose either of his good friends, and intends to keep both Yang-sun and Sung-yeol alive.

Ho-jin asks to be taken along too, figuring that he’s already going to be in trouble for letting the two of them go, so he might as well get to fight alongside Sung-yeol like he wants. He tells Su-hyang that he’ll return by sundown with everyone safe and sound, and her eyes brim with tears as she tells him that he has to come back alive. You’d better listen to her. Don’t die, Ho-jin!

Ever the slippery weasel, the prime minister packs up his house to flee to China before things get any worse. He discovers that he left a good amount of his silver in the palace though, and plans to head back to collect it.

Sung-yeol and the black hanbok brigade stand by as scholars lead a citizen protest outside the main palace gate, and use the chance to break their way through a smaller entrance. Sung-yeol can’t sense Gwi’s presence though, and finds it odd that they haven’t encountered a single person inside the palace.

He heads down into Gwi’s lair to scope it out, but finds it empty. And sitting on the throne is a drawing of Hye-ryung, soaked in blood. But suddenly Sung-yeol senses someone nearby, and realizes that it’s a trap. Palace guards have been turned into vampires, and they come out from the cave’s shadows to close in on him.

The protest continues outside, and when the prime minister walks by, the scholars call him out for serving a vampire. He tells the guards to just arrest all these people and saunters inside. But Yoon arrives before any arrests can be made, and asks the guards if they don’t know what’s going on inside, or why they haven’t been relieved of their shifts all night. He says that while they’ve been guarding the gate, Gwi has turned the palace into a vamp nest.

Yoon declares that they’re headed inside to fight them and destroy Gwi, and anyone who stands in their way is serving a king who kills his people, and is no different from a murderer himself.

Sung-yeol fights the group of warrior-vamps and kills them without too much trouble, but he now realizes that the entire palace is filled with vampires.

Yoon convinces the guards to open the gates and let them inside, but he stops the crowd of protestors from joining them because it’s too dangerous. He warns them that anyone who comes out after sunset is a vampire, and they must collect their efforts not to let anyone escape.

The prime minister rushes into his study to collect his valuables, and gasps when Gwi emerges from the shadows and catches him in the act. Gwi muses that he let the prime minister live because he wasn’t even worth killing, but he crawled back in on his own due to his greed. Yeah, that’s what we call karma.

Gwi smiles pleasantly and tells him to take it all… “to the afterlife,” and stabs him. The prime minister’s body goes limp and falls to the ground. Gwi’s hand is covered in his blood, but he refuses to drink it, because he doesn’t think he’ll be able to swallow it. Man, you know you’re pond scum when the vampire doesn’t even want to make a meal out of you.

Sung-yeol makes his way through the palace looking for Gwi, and killing the vampires that he comes across.

Meanwhile, Yoon’s team heads inside and loads up with guns. Ho-jin is a nervous wreck, holding his rifle upside-down, but Yang-sun is a natural, shooting down a vamp when one is about to attack Yoon from behind. I still wish we had gotten an explanation as to how vamps became zombies and can be shot down so easily with bullets, but let’s just go with it.

They make their way from building to building, and it’s nightfall by the time they reach the main palace. They encounter a room full of minister-vamps, the largest nest so far, and back away in fear.

The only real fighter among them, Hye-ryung’s bodyguard, stays behind and locks the door to give them a chance to run away. Ho-jin and Yoon argue about who will stay to hold the door closed, when Sung-yeol arrives. Phew. He jumps into the fray and the others only hear the bloody fight from the outside. Yang-sun covers her ears the whole time, fraught with worry.

Sung-yeol takes down every last vamp, and it’s only then that he notices Yang-sun is there. He tells her and Ho-jin to leave this instant, and doesn’t let them get a word in edgewise.

He tells Yoon that only Gwi is left, and that he’ll lure him into the underground lair, which is when Yoon will blow it to smithereens. Yoon argues that they need to find another way, but Sung-yeol knows there isn’t one, and convinces Yoon that it must be done.

Yoon gives in and agrees to the plan, and then holds out his sword. He tells Sung-yeol that it’s the king’s sword, and he can’t face his ancestors without it—so Sung-yeol is to bring it back to him, no matter what, even if the palace collapses on top of him. Aw.

Sung-yeol takes it, but makes Yoon promise not to hesitate for too long lest they lose their window to take Gwi down.

Ho-jin escorts Yang-sun toward the gate, and she promises to go straight home on her own, prodding him to return to Sung-yeol’s side. He totally falls for her lie and leaves her there, thinking she’ll go home.

Sung-yeol stands in the courtyard with his sword drawn, just waiting for Gwi to find him. He does, of course, and asks eagerly how Sung-yeol liked the present he left for him all over the palace. Sung-yeol says he’ll return all the pain those people suffered, and Gwi is only happy to receive it, though he looks down at the sword and asks what Sung-yeol is doing with a human toy like that.

Sung-yeol attacks with all his strength, but the sword is no match for Gwi. He realizes mid-fight that he can’t hold Gwi down this way, but manages to at least draw the fight closer and closer to the lair. Sung-yeol challenges him one last time before running underground, and Gwi muses that dying at his beloved’s grave isn’t such a bad idea.

Sung-yeol enters the lair alone, and is alarmed to find Yang-sun already waiting for him inside. She says that she’s already chosen to live and die with him, and tells him to drink her blood. Sung-yeol blurts angrily, “Do you really not know why I want to protect you?!”

But Yang-sun only argues back that he’s the one who doesn’t know her heart. He says that before he met her, he had nothing to lose and could’ve done anything to get rid of Gwi, but not anymore. She counters that he won’t be losing her, “Because wherever you go, I will go with you,” and urges him to drink her blood.

He spills tears as he tells her, “I love you. That is the reason I want to protect you.” He swears to remember her so that he won’t forget his heart, and kisses her one last time.

Then he moves down to her neck and bites down. They cling to each other as he drinks her blood, until she goes limp in his arms. He lays her down, still crying, and the blood starts to affect him.

Gwi runs in and smirks to see that Sung-yeol has finally drunk Yang-sun’s blood. Sung-yeol slowly rises to his feet and turns around to face him, eyes glowing blue. He growls and they charge at each other, but he’s not up to supervamp strength—they’re evenly matched.

Gwi offers to wait until he’s had more of Yang-sun’s blood, then notices that Sung-yeol is actually fighting the affects of the blood. He goes from gleefully evil to tortured again over and over, as if he’s having an internal battle.

Sung-yeol falls to the ground just struggling not to lose himself completely, and Gwi starts to move in on Yang-sun. Suddenly a rifle goes off, and Gwi catches the bullet in mid-air. Yay, it’s Yoon, who decided not to listen to Sung-yeol after all. Gwi knocks him aside easily, and chuckles that now it’s a proper feast.

While that’s happening we take a detour into Sung-yeol’s head, and actually see the war raging inside between Tortured Human Sung-yeol and Evil Vamp Overlord Sung-yeol. Evil Sung-yeol says that his human self already died 120 years ago, so he could stand to disappear now.

Human Sung-yeol doesn’t argue and says, “Yes, but you’ll have to come with me.” And then he takes out his hawthorn dagger and stabs himself in the leg. Evil Sung-yeol is shocked to see blood pouring from his own leg too, and Human Sung-yeol uses that very moment to run the dagger straight into Evil Sung-yeol’s heart.

They both fall to the ground at the same time, but Evil Sung-yeol is the one to drop dead in the end. The one that remains declares, “I am no longer human, nor beast.”

We whoosh out of Sung-yeol’s head and watch the blue light go out in his eyes. He’s found himself, and gaaack, he pulls a dagger out of his leg, which I guess means that it wasn’t just a metaphor.

He smiles and throws Gwi a few feet before nodding at Yoon to make his escape, and Yoon hurriedly carries Yang-sun out to safety. Sung-yeol tells Gwi that this place will become their grave, and Gwi tells him to stay here alone if he wants to die so badly.

Sung-yeol asks why he wants to live so badly, and Gwi doesn’t see why he’d need a reason for living, when strength and immortality will get him whatever he wants. Sung-yeol says that’s why his ambition will never be fulfilled, because without death, life isn’t precious to him.

Gwi gets angry at the lecture from Sung-yeol, who hasn’t lived very long compared to him, and Sung-yeol says it might not have been a long life, but it was full and bright. He taunts, “You’ve never really lived, have you? You are just eternally dead.” That gets Gwi where it hurts, and he screams, “Kim Sung-yeooooool!” and charges at him.

Yoon carries Yang-sun above ground and leaves her with Ho-jin, and gets to work setting up the explosives. The fight below rages on all night, and it’s sunrise by the time Yoon completes the task. He only hesitates for a moment, then lights the fuse.

The charges begin to go off, and soon the lair is rumbling and starting to cave in around them. Sung-yeol eggs Gwi on to keep fighting, and they muster up all their remaining strength to go at each other one last time.

They dig their fingers into each other’s hearts, and it starts to look like Gwi might have the upper hand when Sung-yeol coughs up blood. But then the lair actually caves in enough to let the sunlight through.

Sung-yeol breaks free and pushes Gwi directly into the light, and his skin starts to sizzle and smoke. Gwi is at last brought to his knees, and he smirks as he looks up at the sun. He thinks to himself that it’s beautiful, and seems to embrace his death.

He shuts his eyes and lets the sunlight burn him, until there’s nothing left but his robes in a pile of ash.

Sung-yeol gasps for breath and thinks back to his happiest memories with Yang-sun, and thinks, “It was a beastly life, but because of you, I briefly got to see the light. Thank you, Yang-sun.” He closes his eyes and waits for death.

The cave crumbles around him, and above ground, Yoon and Ho-jin shed tears knowing that he’s gone. Yang-sun stirs awake and wants to go looking for Sung-yeol, in denial about the fact that he couldn’t possibly be alive underneath all that rubble.

Ho-jin holds her back and cries that it’s time to let Sung-yeol go, saying that he had a hard life, but was able to find happiness in the time he had with Yang-sun. She finally lets it sink in, and breaks down in tears.

Su-hyang waits all night outside with the crowd, and urges the guards to open the gate when there’s a knock. When Yoon, Yang-sun, and Ho-jin are the ones to come out, the crowd erupts in cheers. Only Su-hyang looks to Ho-jin and sees his tears, and falls to the ground weeping for Sung-yeol.

A year later.

The marketplace is bustling and the people are flourishing, and two men lament the fact that the writer of the Night Scholar novels hasn’t put out anything new. One of them heard a rumor that the author went to go live in the mountains, and they debate whether the story is purely fiction.

The gibang is back in business as well under Su-hyang’s care, and a scholar comes looking for a rich merchant, in search of some rare books. Su-hyang leads the way to a private room, where the mysterious man is hidden behind a screen and a fan, in obvious Kim-Sung-yeol fashion.

The scholar marvels at the rare and expensive things around him, and asks why the man lives in hiding when he is so wealthy. The man folds his fan to answer, and ha, it turns out to be Ho-jin behind the screen. He says that he’s just watching over an elder’s estate until he returns, at which time he will go back to being a servant.

The scholar wants to meet this great elder, and Ho-jin says that he likely won’t be back for a hundred years, but might return someday if the world falls into turmoil. And then he smiles his old goofy smile at Su-hyang.

Yoon is king, of course, and two of his advisors run up to him with a novel that’s making waves lately because it includes some fantastical accounts of history. It’s the Night Scholar novel, and they advise him to ban it.

Yoon smiles as he looks at the cover and tells them that history isn’t only what’s recorded, and suggests that they broaden their horizons a little. He holds up the book and adds a saucy, “Honestly, isn’t it more entertaining than the Sillok?” Lol.

In a quiet moment, Yoon holds Hye-ryung’s hairpin in his hands and thinks of her, then smiles as he gazes at his sword. Huh, you got it back, did you? Does that mean what I think it means…?

We catch up with Yang-sun, who’s teaching little kids how to read and write. One of her students isn’t paying attention to the lesson, and she catches him reading the Night Scholar novel.

He asks if it’s true that Teacher is the author of these books, and then opens the page to a giant drawing of a kiss. She gets all flustered, and the kid makes her chase him around in circles for the book.

On her way home that day, Yang-sun keeps turning around and looking behind her, perhaps because she feels someone’s presence, or simply in the hopes of discovering Sung-yeol there. She’s disappointed when no one’s there at the bridge, then again as she looks behind her on the road to a bluff.

But when she turns back to keep going on her way, there’s Sung-yeol suddenly standing there, waiting for her. He smiles at her, and I’m not convinced he’s not a mirage until she goes running into his arms.

She cries as they hug each other tightly, and they speak to each other in voiceover. Sung-yeol: “I’m a little late, aren’t I?” Yang-sun: “Are you already here? I was thinking of waiting another fifty years.”

Sung-yeol: “Let’s go.” She asks where they’re going, and he asks where she’d like to go. Yang-sun: “If I can be with you, I’ll follow you anywhere.” Sung-yeol: “Hold on tight.”

And with that, they vanish.

 
COMMENTS

What? Okay but they didn’t like, disappear into thin air because he was imaginary, right? The disembodied voices always make for a confusing resolution when life and death hang in the balance, but I’m just not even going to consider that Sung-yeol is a ghost, because I did NOT sit through twenty episodes of this show for Sung-yeol to die, okay? I’m just going to be glad that he came back in her lifetime at all, never mind that he took a year for some stupid unknown reason (Did he have to study abroad? Does he make a mean espresso now?). Agh, I dislike those kinds of separations because they’re not organic to the story—they’re introduced solely to keep audiences on the hook, instead of just letting the heroine dig through the rubble like she freaking wanted to. Come on. I really wish drama finales could just do away with the unnecessary separations that exist for the sake of the fakeout.

At least it’s happy, and otherwise was a finale that wrapped up mostly in the way I wanted it to. I like where our characters end up, with Yoon becoming the righteous king he was meant to be, and Yang-sun continuing to write her books and teach young people how to read and write. It may seem like a small point, but it makes me feel better about her finding a purpose through her novels, and returning to what she loves. I did find her self-sacrificing nature to be heavy-handed at times, but the way she opened and closed the series reminded me of the bright, optimistic girl who dreamed of a better world and brightened Sung-yeol’s life to begin with. They were a rather uncomplicated couple despite the large human/vampire, mortal/immortal gap, and I did find myself wishing that their relationship could take on more layers, especially in the latter half when they were already in love. It was mostly Sung-yeol’s insistence that he was too beastly to deserve love that kept the early part of their romance engaging, but when we got to the second half, their main conflict seemed to be arguing over which of them would die to save the other, and that got old pretty quickly.

This drama’s length was regrettable, since it actively worked against its own momentum more often than not, and was quite obviously spinning some wheels in place as we waited for the final battle. I mean, THAT was the final plan? The very unsophisticated plan to just blow shit up? This required rebel brigades and secret diaries and trials and sacrifices, and sacrifices, and sacrifices? And the show’s other flaws aren’t few. A lot of times the dialogue was painfully on the nose, the music blaringly bad, and the special effects lacking. It couldn’t escape being unintentionally cheesy sometimes, and the plot was laughably simple. But it was heartfelt and earnest to the end, and the actors played the drama so straight that it never veered into campy territory. They really embraced these roles without irony and elevated the emotional journey of the characters, making us care about evil vampire overlords and getting us to invest in a war between two metaphorical Sung-yeols.

The drama owes a lot (okay, everything) to Lee Jun-ki for that, because he always kept me in the moment, no matter how outrageous the circumstance (outrageous doesn’t really begin to cover it, does it?). I didn’t have to actively suspend my disbelief to think that he’s a vampire with a tortured soul who thinks he doesn’t deserve love. He just grounded every emotion, making the supernatural elements just part of the world. I was impressed with Lee Soo-hyuk for managing to do that with Gwi as well. In the grand scheme of things, Lee Yubi had less to do since she had a very straightforward character who was rather simplistic and a little slow on the uptake, but I’ve always found her very lovable and warm, and she kept Yang-sun likable and believably smitten with scholar-nim from start to finish. I enjoyed Kim So-eun’s turn as Hye-ryung, especially when she went from enigmatic to bold and brave, and was pleasantly surprised by Changmin for delivering a solid performance as Yoon. He should only do sageuk, ever.

I didn’t mind that Scholar Who Walks the Night was unabashed about its romance-novel feel, but I did find that it took a hit in fleshing out anything that wasn’t directly motivated by said romance. So often plot felt cursory, and sacrificial love became this ultimate stand-in for all that is heroic. Which isn’t really untrue, but it’s also not the only thing you want from your heroes. For a story that was so fixated on the romance, I often found that the hero-villain relationship was far more riveting, at least in the latter half when the couple stopped having much romantic conflict at all. Honestly, the Sung-yeol/Gwi love-hate antagonism kept the show alive, and even delivered some moving final moments in the last two episodes.

Because they’re really two sides of one idea, and the real versions of the two warring Sung-yeols (one of the show’s highlights, to have his inner Human vs. Beast war portrayed as an actual battle with two of him. I got shivers when he stabbed himself, and then looked so broken up about it). But Gwi was given some fascinating human, sympathetic facets, like a lifelong desire for love, and attachments to Hye-ryung and Sung-yeol, who both hated him and seemed to fuel his self-loathing in a twisted way.

I thought it beautifully fitting that it was the light that killed him, not some crushing blow or dagger to the heart. He was the embodiment of Sung-yeol’s dark side, and literally could not live in the light. Sung-yeol had to be willing to go down into the darkness to face him—and his own demons, which is ultimately the point—but in doing so he defines himself as something other. He’s finally able to tell himself that he’s neither human nor beast, and that self-acceptance is the one thing I wanted for him more than anything. That maybe he isn’t the human Kim Sung-yeol who died, but he’s also not Gwi either. And maybe he deserves a little love and a happily-ever-after with his sweetheart. That makes the journey worthwhile, no matter how broody and tortured he was for the last 120 years. If anyone’s truly earned their happy ending, it’s him.

 
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On tonight's finale of Vampire Idol who Walks the Night, Mukadil reveals his true reason for being on earth: to take Yoobi-chingu back to Vampiritus with him because Gabri forgot about her after going on a huge popcorn bender and ending up in a coma. Yoobi-chingu naturally can't really decide which fandom she should ship herself with, but before she makes a decision, Mukadil suddenly gets beamed back to Vampiritus. Satto claims that he won the fight, even though they didn't actually fight much, and then blows up the cave for shits and giggles.

Mukadil returns to Vampiritus all sad because sageuk Yoobi-chingu is still vampire crazy, just over the wrong vampire. Yariru yells at him, saying they could have still brought her back to learn more about earth, but Mukadil disagrees. "If she comes here all she'll do is write horrible fanfics, and TRUST me, you don't want that," he says.
And so the Satto Yoobi ship sailed away into the great horizon of mediocre fusion sageuks that I have watched. Along with Faith and Gu Family Book.

Thanks for bearing with me all this time! I'm gonna go watch maybe 5 or so Vampire Idol episodes to celebrate :D

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I'm going to miss this! Thanks, Cali, for the humor.

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this whole time i thought it was call..lol sorry Cali!! ^^

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To be honest, I hope for another bad fusion sageuk which will catch calli's attention for more delicious anti-fanfics.

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SO DO I!!!

Make it happen, sageuk gods!

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Noooo!! The next one will be bride of the water god? *fingers crossed it will be good* Can Cali pls continue giving such hilarious stories even for good shows?

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@June - NOOOO I need Bride of the Water God to be good! I'm too much of a fan of that manhwa....

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I'm gna miss these. :) thanks for sticking with it till the end! lol

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It is funny, as always!! Thank you, Cali for you humourous comments. They were always amazing!!

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As always, a great alternate recap of the drama, and good for laughs, thanks so much, @cali!

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Couldn't wait to hear from Cali! Will miss you buddy.

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Cali, I'm going to nominate you for a DB special award at the end of the year <3.

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Cali, you're a star.

And I'm with Kiara, you are definitely going down in the dramabeans commenter Hall of Fame if we have anything to do with it! (if there isn't one, we'll make it, ha)

This drama has frustrated me endlessly some episodes, kept me gripped for others, and had me cursing a LOT because frankly, the cast turned out to be way too good for some of the nonsense they were forced to act out. If there was another award I could give them for sheer tenacity, I would.

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Ok, I didn't watch the final two episode because I felt like they'd be a waste of time (also suffering from horrible Kim Soo Hyun withdrawal symptoms... Everyone else fades in comparison. T_T). found myself skimming the recaps (I swear it wasn't the writing. i just didn't care that much anymore.) and hurrying to cali's commentary. Man, am I going to miss your mashups. T_T

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It’s been quite interesting to watch the pinging around between different writers. The original writer was part of the team that did Coffee Prince. She had absolutely beautiful scenes both there and in SWWTN.

Ratings:
(eps 1-10) original writer: 8.1, 7.3, 7.8, 8.5, 8.9, 8.7. 8.3, 7.8, 8.6, 7.4 avg: 8.14

Then they added the execrable Liar Game writer who made a hash of the characters and the plot (with a few charming scenes from the original writer sandwiched in).

Full point drop in the ratings:
(eps 11 – 16) new writer; 6.8, 7.1, 7.3, 7.5, 6.5, 6.9 avg: 7.02

Then they went back to the style of the original writer and made the characters coherent and deep again.

Ratings pinged right back:
eps (17 – 18) back to original writer’s style: 7.8, 8.0 avg: 7.90

It’s an lesson for producers – audiences find what they like. If you change it to something else, you lose viewers. While there was a good reason to bring in a second writer – the original writer isn’t strong with action pacing – you have to be careful who you bring on. You want to enhance, not detract.

I’m glad they went back to the original writer’s style these past few episodes. The show is back to its satisfying origins. The characters are richly developed now and quite likable. I’m still Team Gwi. :-) Mostly because I was waiting to see Lee Soo Hyuk give us the great performance I suspect he’s capable of. This wasn’t his breakout role – but there were some really great moments in episodes 19 and 20 where he was subtle. Hopefully his next role will be the one in which he finally crosses to the next level.

Everyone else also gave strong performances – really beautiful work by Lee Jun-ki, Lee Yoo-Bi, Shim Changmin and Jang Hee-Jin. I’m also looking forward to more character work by Choi Tae-Hwan.

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Episode 20 ratings just posted: 7.9 - consistent with ratings bounce.

Episode 19 isn't out for AGB Nielsen yet (the Seoul ratings can take a week sometimes to get sorted). The less consistent TNmS ratings gave it an 8.3.

So, all in all, they did very well their final week.

I noticed below that several people didn't like the ending. I felt it was quite nice. I have read that the Scholar died at the end of the manhwa. If that's true, then this sort of unclear whether he lived or died ending is a nice elision between the romantic ending we want and staying true to the source material.

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The manwha is still on going. Sung-yeol and Yang-sun are still very much alive there. It's not going to end in the height of it's popularity.

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Then I like this ambiguous ending even better. It leaves many possibilities open.

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Same here.

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The rating at 6.2 % and 7.7% for the final 2 episodes is low for a drama .

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isnt it more like the norm this days with the falling viewer numbers inside korea? Not a hit show by any means but not quite a flop either. Week day drama if they can get 10% they doing well.

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Well for me rating is meaningless .... I. Love ... This drama ... That's it

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lol so technically all they had to do was blow up the lair when gwi was in it..ok. well I mostly liked the drama. though I stopped watching a few eps ago. now I am ready for a new one! :))

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Yeah, that was a bit weird lol. I mean, we had all of the symbols in one place: the good vampire with the king's sword and Yangsun with the special blood.... And all they really needed were some bombs? Why did no one else try this a hundred years ago? lol Oh well, plot was never Scholar's strong point. Thank goodness for the cast.

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See now I'm wondering about the timeline. Did they even have bombs and guns in Joseon 120 years before the current time? If not, then surely this must not be the plan Prince Jeonghyun wrote about? Not that it seems revolutionary in any sense anyway... Like you said, you have the guardian vampire and a descendent from Gwi, plus the king's determination. And you end up with explosives as the answer...? Yeah. About that.

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Koreans were able to make their own gunpowder before the the Joseon era but it was mainly used for cannons.

This is basically a fictional Joseon but if we are to make a connection to the real history then the current timeline would be between (1776-1800) during King Jeongio's reign. Guns and explosives did exist back then.
Prince Jeonghyun's father would be the 10th king of Joseon King Seonjo (1567-1608).
Blowing up Gwi's lair was Yang-sun's idea. Prince Jeonghyun's diary was pretty vague and only gave clues to the 3 main players and Gwi's maternal linage.

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Blowing up the lair when Gwi was in it would not have killed him. He was buried under a huge rock in Ep 1 and was not injured at all.

However, they still needed the 3 elements to work together to make the plan succeed, a King who was fully committed to getting rid of Gwi, the Vampire Guardian to fight him and get him into the sunlight and the Descendant's blood to give the Vampire Guardian strength to fight Gwi.

One hundred years ago, the King didn't have the will and was resigned to serving Gwi. And Prince Jonghyun didn't have any time to put his plan into action before he got killed. I'm guessing he had all the 3 elements, since he wrote the book, and after he died, his supporters hid Gwi's descendant.

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btw Hak-young was my favorite character of this whole drama.. :))

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No, technically they just had to drag Gwi into the sunlight.

Which they could have figured out and done 100 years ago, rather than seeking that book with the secret way to kill him that ultimately didn't amount to anything in any case...

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right except trying to drag out gwi seems more risky than planting and setting off some explosives..and perhaps even without the need of the guardian vampire..so joonki could have stayed with stayed with myunghee and yoon could have possibly ended up with yoobi..only probably not because she was a "boy" then..but who knows.

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You just need to figure out a plan on how to do it. Like someone else said below, drug him.

Or trap him when he is out stalking at night and then force him into the sun.

Plus, even if it's risky, if they had overpowered him with a large number of men, only to sacrifice them all to get him exposed to the sun, it would have saved them 100 years of Gwi-victims.

There isn't anything wrong with the explosives, but exposing him to the sun (by whatever means) is something that should have been figured out a century ago. Or at least it should have been floated as one of the plans to kill him. They just put in so much energy into the the other special, secret way to kill him (which ultimately was for nothing) that it's laughable. But I guess that's the only way they were going to have a story – spending episodes trying to find the diary, realising what it means, fighting against YS being sacrificed etc. But then this is also why it's badly written drama, because you can't ignore a perfectly obvious way to kill a villain for the sake of one that doesn't work.

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But the problem would be dragging Gwi into the light isn't it? Seeing that he terrified most of the royals, officials, and soldiers that no one would volunteer to drag him out. I am not sure how would drugs work in a vampire's body system. For all we know, there might be a drug smelling ability somewhere.

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Yeah, few would volunteer though there should always be some. We have had several characters walk right into Gwi's lair after all. Plus, kings in those times regularly force people to do things they did not wish to do.

Not sure about the drugs either, but you could try. And keep trying till you find a way to get the vampire exposed to sunlight. But they didn't really try for 120 years, they only tried to find a book.

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I'm sure they have tried various ways to kill him over the centuries but did not succeed. At least 2 princes and their supporters have met untimely deaths in the last 120 years, and there may have been more during Gwi's reign.

They could have tried to drug him, but since he only drank fresh blood out of his victims whom he hunted, it would have been rather difficult to do so. Drugs may not work on him either, since he's not human.

SY did try to trap Gwi when he was out stalking at night to force him into the sunlight in an earlier episode. Unfortunately, he did not succeed as he was not strong enough to hold him there.

The King, Prince Yoon's grandfather, with the help of the hunter, had tried to overpower Gwi with a large number of men, but they also failed and all of them were sacrificed.

Prince Yoon's father also tried, he already had the book, but ended up as part of the wall decor in Gwi's lair.

What the writer/director should have done to make the show more interesting was to show a couple of scenes at the end of each episode entitled "The Ways We Tried to Kill Gwi Over the Last 400 Years But Did Not Succeed". That would have been fun.

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What the writer/director COULD have done, not should have done. Sorry.

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I couldn't wait any longer for the last recap so I actually just finished watching this about 5 minutes ago.

I'm a bit disappointed about the ending, but I can't say much since the last episode was the only episode that I had actually watched. I usually just read the recap.

All of that drama just to blow up the underground lair and expose Gwi to light.

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so yoon's father was wrong. you don't need people but the sun to get rid off gwi.

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You need people to get him into the sun.

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Wait, assuming explosives were already invented 120 years ago, they didn't need some super secret plan, some special friendly vampire, some super secret vampire/human offspring, and some bloke who happens to be a royal. They just need one morning, a bunch of explosives and a small bit of common sense. Sunlight > vampire? Vampire stuck in his lair during day hours. So set things up and blow shit up in the day?

And we needed an entire century to figure that out. Everything could be solved in one episode. Set up Joseon, next day -> blow shit up, no more Gwi. All series long I was wondering what special ability was preventing people from messing Gwi up in the day. Now I know. 'Removal of Common Sense'

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Bravo for giving me the best laugh of the day!

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I was thinking the exact same thought, but had to express my dissatisfaction with that fake out of a non-ending first.

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I love fantasy/vampire/historical dramas/movies but this was the most ridiculous of all. They keep making new rules as they go. After a while I stopped caring because I start to feel like a stupid 10 yr old.

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Fear and intimidation works pretty well to deter people. Especially if they are threatened with Gwi turning their beloved into vampires.

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Just playing a devil's advocate her:

While it was true the final plan was a bit, how shall we say, too obvious and lame, and could have been thought out a few hundred years back, I think following the 'logic' of the story, the three ingredients laid out in the memorandum still applied.

Sure, someone already said way back in the earlier episodes' recap comments that they could just drag Gwi out to the sun and let him fry (which is what exactly happened).
But how would mere men be able to do that? Even SY in his normal vampire form is no match for Gwi - hence the cat and mouse game for 120 years.

And the royals (except for those three black sheep) were generally content - and threatened by and frightened of supernatural force - with following the original agreement outlined between Gwi and Taejo (Joseon's founder) and saw no real need to get rid of him. What are a few massacres and the monthly concubine sacrifices when it comes to power and wealth?
(A look at our real world history will illuminate that all royal families/regimes have done worse, and there are no vampires).
So, it needed real will from the reigning royal to want to get rid of Gwi for good for any plan to work.

I think in his normal form, even a blown up and caved in lair would not have been able to kill Gwi. He might be buried under the debris, but would have been resurrected by night, in all probability.

They needed a Guardian Vampire strong enough to fight and hold Gwi under the sun long enough to kill him, and I suppose here is where the maternal lineage is required, and that was basically what transpired at the end.

Any, that was my attempt at giving that lame ending some sort of justifications, however ridden with holes it was, too. LOL ??

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Actually, your explanation does make sense.

Perhaps it's the way they present it, so that the viewers didn't really feel the 'might' of the Secret Plan. Perhaps, because the story only have 2 big conflicts for 20 episodes : the search for the Secret Plan and the execution of it, so that it just doesn't feel as great as it should be.

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We were always way ahead of this writer. At this point 10eps ahead lol. We talked about shooting Gwi with silver bullets to make him weak enough, then tie him up with silver chains while he was out in the courtyard. All they had to do was wait the sun to come out. I think our plan was better haha.

I still think the diary was useless if the sun was the main cause of his death.

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You ladies were certainly ahead of the game when it comes to the writing and plotting. The drama would have been tonnes better if the writers had just peeked into the comments section here and elsewhere for some inspiration. ???

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"We" includes you tenoh27. Don't make me ship you with one of the baddies lol.

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They did try to shoot him with silver bullets at the royal wedding but they failed as he was too strong. Basically no one was strong enough to overcome and capture him, not even Sung Yeol.

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Hunter Baek shot him with one silver bullet and that made him weak but it took a while. I'm not sure what the guards were using because it didn't have any effect on him.

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and they need the will of the king i.e. the third puzzle to blow up the lair lol

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@tenoh27 what you're saying makes a lot of sense based on how the story progressed.

And even when there's a willing royal, there's always some traitorous official or eunuch who sells out the royal, like the eunuch in Prince Jonghyun' time, and HR's father, the PM.

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They still needed someone who was willing to set off the explosives aka the royal bloke.

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I love you Lee Jung Ki, but after Joseon Gunman and Scholar.. I really wish you stay away from saguek for a while..

I watched both dramas until ep 8, lost interest and after that only read recap on DB. Oooh my.. with such writing.. even LJK can't glue me to the screen :(

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Well, in my case, I love Joseon Gunman. I think it is so much better in term of stories, and I'm still rewatching it sometimes. I don't want him to stay out of sageuk, coz he does good there.

Sometimes you choose a good project, and sometimes you choose a bad one, so it's natural. The most important thing is to do your best and stay positive.

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Yes, I look forward to LJG in sageuks too, so I want him to continue doing them. He just need to get a good script.

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LJK is Mr. Saeguk. :) He was born to wear Hanboks!

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Frankly, I have only watched him sageuk dramas, so, he better makes more. That, and him and a Hanbok is a perfect and deadly combination.

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@tenoh27, haven't you watch Two Weeks ? It's his modern drama and it's very good.

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@Luna

No, have not watched Two Weeks yet, but after all the good things I have read here about it, will catch it soon. Thanks!

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LOL!!!!! @tenoh27 "perfect and deadly combination"

<3 <3

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@Ice

Yeah, out of all of his equally gorgeous Hanboks throughout the drama, my absolute fave was the - dark-indigo against orange (?) with plum blossoms embroidery - one he wore at the end Ep 19 going into 20 (final fight with Gwi).

And when he bit into YS in them, he certainly gave me a little-death, so yes, unabashedly lethal. ????

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Thank you for recap, Gf!!
Well, Gwi wasn't killed, he died on his own. What was the secret in all this of killing Gwi? It is obvious Sun is deadly to vampires.
Yang sun is human and survives vampire's bite. Sung yeol unaffected by sun?!
Ooh, my brain..

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Ya, that's another thing: How the hell did Yang Sun survive that vampire's bite?
It'd be nice if they bother to make the final ep make some sense.

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i'm sorry but it makes perfect sense...have you even watched the show? of course Yang sun survives the bite she has vampire blood in her vains..this is how Gwi dissovered she was his descendant in the first place...cuz he saw tthe ampire bite on the shoulder didn't affect her..she survived it and only one type o people can do that..those with vampire blood..maybe if you would pay attention to the show would make more sense to you

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maybe because the times when she was bitten by a vampire they didn't suck all her blood and because she has some sort of vampire bloodline, she'll not transform into one. however, if they sucked all her blood then she'll probably die...and that's my theory :)

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to answer you...Yang Sun survives the bite bbecause she has vampire blood in her veins..remeber how Gwi discovered her?? he saw the vampire bite on her shoulder and realised she was his descendant because only someone who has vampire blood can survive the bite unctouched..yeah..and the you're askung why Sung yeoul doesn't burn? well duh why didn't he burn during daylight the whole series? because of the black robe of course...damn you people need to pay attention to some details here

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"damn you people need to pay attention to some details here"

So nice of you to post the same comment twice, and damn us in the process.

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Twice comment posted..twice damned!!

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Chill Miki11!! Why should i be damned for not paying attention to something that was unable to catch my attention?!
If she wasn't going to die then what was that SACRIFICE talks for??
You liked it... Cnol!! Don't damn us just because it didn't make sense to us. We are entitled to our opinions, remember??
And am not brave enough to sit IDLE for 15hrs, going nowhere like the plot.
Kudos, to the actors!!

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Of course, you are entitled to your own opinion, and if you didn't watch or read most of the episodes, it wouldn't make any sense to you at all.

But if you had watched or read the recaps like the rest of us "brave" people willing to sit "IDLE" for 20 hours going goodness no where with the plot, then you would have realised that all the stuff that did not catch your attention were established and repeated throughout the show namely:-
1) Sunlight kills vampires.
2) Yang Sun is NOT human but half-vampire. In fact, she's Gwi's great-great-great (x times) granddaughter.
3) As a half-vamp, she can and has survived vampire’s bite earlier in the show.
4) Vampire Sung Yeol is not only unaffected by sun, but has been freely walking around in the sun in every single episode since Ep 2 (for 19 episodes!) thanks to the magical black robe.
5) The sacrifice talks were because they hadn't figured out how to use Yang Sun to get rid of Gwi. They thought her blood was deadly to Gwi and wanted to sacrifice her, but they were wrong. It turned out that her blood was a "vitamin" booster for the Guardian Vampire's strength, LOL.

Peace out.

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Come to think of it, Sung Yeol was already walking around in the sunlight at the end of Episode 1, after he got bitten by the Guardian Vampire!

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Haha thank you ...

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Heck, all they had to do was to have a palace guard ingest a whole lot of sleep inducing herbs and then, let Gwi feast on him. Then, Gwi would have fallen into a deep slumber.

At which point, all they had to do was carry his body out into the sunlight. Voila, problem solved.

This drama could have been over in two episodes. LOL

Kudos to the cast for continuing to act so well, even though the story wasn't very satisfying or proficient.

Kudos to you for recapping to the finish.

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Totally agree with this, LOL. I also personally felt that this drama was incredibly campy. I only watched it for Kim So-eun.

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LOL, this might have worked except that Gwi preferred to hunt his prey while they were alive and kicking and a sleeping guard would not have been any fun for him. I think he would have been suspicious if they tried to offer him a sleeping guard, and since he's not human, the drugs may not work on him either.

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The ending of the drama with sweet and nice they ended up together and I believe that they lived happily ever after. And maybe had a couple half vampire children. SY was definitely alive not an illusion. Remember the King had the sword back that he'd given SY. Lee Joon Gi proves once again that he's the man!

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I don't find the finale satisfying, what with the unexplained time skip, and their also unexplained disappearance. What the heck??? He is always beautiful, but I mean, What is he now? And where are they going? Into the Spirit realm, where she CAN follow? Are they being beamed to planet Vampiritus, as Cali suggests?

I'm glad I didn't sit thru 20 eps for this ending, or I'd be mightily pissed for this fake out non-ending!

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Yes i'm a little bit confused and disappointed with the ending too .... AATM has better ending .., anyway ... I still love this drama ... And leejunki ...

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Oo ... Ksy is not death ... He definitely alive .... Watch carefully ... Yoon smiles and looks at his sword .... It means ksy is alive and return yoon sword ...

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I was not satisfied with the ending either. And not with just this drama only, most if not all, Kdrama endings suck!

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Agree wholeheartedly, and no idea why most endings suck.
Still, since the drama as a whole as been flawed, I did not hold out much hope for the ending, and am mainly pacified that both SY-YS, and HJ, SY and LY survived to lead 'happy', peaceful lives.

@Aigoooo

I giggled at the time skip for in-training barista or chef - as in my limited KDrama experience - two of the more memorable Kdramas I have watched have exactly that ending scenario/s, and it just tickled. Thanks!

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Under the circumstances, the ending was good enough to leave it to one's imagination. I think the time skip though did not serve any purpose since there was no reason for the separation. Time skips should only be used if someone is going abroad to become a chef or a barista; or if you want your finale to show the OTP married and have kids. lmao

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LOL ..
I also don't get the necessity of the time skip ...
I thought that SY really died *actually, this is the first time that I want LJK's character to die in the end :p *.

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It would had been the honorable thing to do was let him die. His job is finished. Let him rest in peace!

There will always be vampires...would had liked it if Yang-sun became the new Vampire Guardian.

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No, don't let him die yet. At least, let him live happily with YS though it may not be forever. He deserves some happiness in his life.

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Their kids can takeover as the new Vampire Guardians.

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I thought I read somewhere about him wishing to die in one of his dramas, but till now, a wish that was thwarted time and again.

This drama would have been the strongest contender for his character to bite the dust, but just too bad that once again, his wish was not fulfilled. ??

My brain did not mind him dying, but my heart said otherwise, so.... ?

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Sigh, Kdramas and their love for open endings. I never liked open endings but learned to live with them, since I like to watch kdramas.

As for the time skip, I think it's just to show where everybody was and doing with their lives some time after the explosion. As a viewer, I'm glad to see the characters whom I've come to care about, Lee Yoon, Su Hyang and Ho Jin, living happily. I hate it when the drama does not show what happens to all the characters.

SY's definitely still a vampire (guyliner). He was probably away for the last year setting up their new home in a faraway land. (In the manhwa, they wanted to set up a bookshop in China).

SY did say "Let's go” and “Hold on tight” before they vanished, so I guess they went up, up and away. Oops sorry, wrong show. I think he/they just ran away at super roadrunner speed, but did not show it cos they ran out of money for the CGI. LOL.

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Yes, I loved that they at least showed what the remaining characters were up to, and to be able to see their contented faces were a big plus of the ending for me.

Reading some other interpretations of the ending, I tend to agree with those who pointed out that SY was most probably away on some business, and returned then.

I don't believe the ending scene was the first time SY returned, actually. I think they just showed us that reunion scene as happening a year later for the sheer heck of it, but that everyone involved already knew SY survived by the time the ending scene rolled around.

Lee Yoon already had the royal sword back, and SH and HJ's reactions to the unknown scholar's queries didn't seem as if they were from people in grieving mode (and I doubt that a year would be enough to dispel the grief they felt if SY was really gone forever). Anyhow, that was my own personal interpretation and am sticking with it.

@Jannie
(I also agree that while he should have been honourably left for dead in the cave, emotionally, it is quite difficult to accept for me. I prefer for him to have survived and returned to his loved ones, as he can end his life after YS dies, and in the meantime, he should treasure whatever time they have to enjoy his well-earned happiness).

Peace.

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Remember that in the debut episode, the first guardian could vanish. Maybe KSY has already mastered it at this point and used it to movie him and his girl. The mere fact that the sword was returned to the king meant KSY is still alive. ;)

Although I guess the reason why it took him a year to return was because he had to dig his way out of the palace. That is going to take some time. :P

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I feel seriously bad for Lee Yoo-bi, she's such a good actress but this role was so lackluster it's such a waste of her talent. I'm really glad Kim So-eun didn't play the lead role, Hye-ryung was more interesting than Yang-sun. I'm not the biggest fan of Lee Jun-ki, I only ever liked Arang and the Magistrate out of all his dramas I've seen, but I feel really awful for him too. His character wasn't as lackluster, but the drama was so boring. It also didn't help that I felt absolutely nothing when Yang-sun and Sung-yeol were supposed to be in love, I was waiting for the spark but it never came. I hope every member of the cast gets a better written and more compelling drama or movie than this one because this is one of the biggest disappointments of the year for me. I was so looking forward to this show.
Prayer circle for Lee Soo-hyuk and Kim So-eun to be cast in a movie or drama together, something like Mr and Mrs Smith maybe. Who's in?

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im with you on the prayer for LSH n KSE to be paired again. :)

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Me too :) but my previous comment is awaiting for moderation !!! :P

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Do you know why our comment has to wait for moderation?

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In my case I think because I pasted two YouTube links that is why... I am not sure though

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join the prayer circle :) mvs are soooo good

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Md5yeBWg31A
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U3vdvqxeO8c

People are seriously talented :)

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wow. those videos were great! count me in that circle! lol

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I cant open these videos yet due to some internet connection problem. sobs..

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Thank you for sharing such amazing MVs!!

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I disagree... With you. Leeyobi has done a lot too.... She write the night scholar books and spread it .... And she told the story to the girls ... And one of them recognized KSY and help him and moved people to help KSY too ...
Leeyobi as joyangsun has helped her man ... Use her own way. She let him drink her blood to fight gwi ....

Both of lee couple are lovely and love each other .... I love to see them together ...

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I agree with Mien. People in the background helping the heroes tend not to be appreciated for what they do, only the heroes get remembered. Not everyone in a drama can be a hero.

And LJK's and LSH's characters in this show are far from lacklustre. And I really liked the 2nd leads and side characters like Lee Yoon, Hye Ryung, Su Hyang, Ho Jin and Hak Yong, all of whom acted very well.

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I feel so sorry for Li Jun Ki.... Hopefully he picked his next project carefully. This drama is a mess actually

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I disagree .... Though not perfect but still good .... Still amusing to watch ....

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It was a mess at writing. Not his fault. His acting was superb!

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Lee Jun Ki and Lee Yubi had no chemistry to me. It was either their big age difference, or her prepubescent baby face, or the fact that Yang Sun was mind-numbingly naive, but I could never get into their romance. In contrast, she had good chemistry with Shim Chang Min when, ironically, she was at her most naive -- unaware Yoon was the Crown Prince and believing she had fooled him as a boy. "Hyungnim." Lee Soo Hyuk is the uncontested King of Chemistry in this show. While he and Kim So Eun were hot, he and Jang Hee Jin were even hotter. But Gwi's undying devotion obsession with Sung Yeol was the hottest of all. Hak Young was probably my favorite character in this drama. He was my Kwang Soo of Secret. Such a faithful sidekick and smoking hot as a vampire. Thanks for all the recaps, javabeans and girlfriday!

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"uncontested King of chemistry" ...he he true :)

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Based on manhwa ... There are age different but this couple loves each other so much ... No chemistry ? They looks cute together ... Lyb or jys character is not suck ... She did a great jobs too ... Willing to sacrifice ... Writing a novel ... Introduce to people ... Made people understand the scholarnim is good vampire ...

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"The drama owes a lot (okay, everything) to Lee Jun-ki for that, because he always kept me in the moment, no matter how outrageous the circumstance (outrageous doesn’t really begin to cover it, does it?)."

I agree. I watched because of him, I stayed watching until the end because of him, and I've tried to accept the plot holes and flaws because of him (and because I also want to appreciate the hardworks of the staffs and crews). All of the other actors have done a good job, along LJK. I do enjoy this show, but at the same time, the story makes me frustrated. It has it's good moments though. My favourite ones are episode 1, episode 6, episode 18. Then again, if you look it as a whole, it's hard for me to accept and really like it.

Out of all of LJK's series, this one is my least favourite, along with Hero. SWWTN has a lot of potentials, actually, but after the roller-coster ride, I don't think it is something that I want to rewatch (except if I want to rewatch LJK's parts. I think his acting gets better here as a vampire).

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LJG truly shined in his role as KSY! I was watching his drama, Arang, before diving into SWTTN, and found that his acting here has improved, and he was already good in Arang too.

So, no matter how outrageous and inconsistent the plot was in SWTTN, I am very glad he took the role as it provided him with a different scope to expand his acting, and in general, I garnered lots of enjoyment from the characters in the drama.

I found the ridiculousness of the plot mostly hilarious and not aggravating, so personally, it has been a most satisfying journey. ?

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@Luna and @tenoh27 I totally agree to the moon and back! Lee Jun-ki saved the drama alright because if it wasn't for him, I would had dropped this drama like hot kimchi pancakes earlier on. The storyline was intriguing the first couple of episodes and after that it became blah blah blah and lackluster.

But no one can be Kim Sung Yeol except for the incredible LJK! He nailed it!!!!!! He played so many emotions in this drama...I will be really pissed if he doesn't get any awards!

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Gwi will reunite with Hye Ryung in afterlife :D

Well done to all casts. I am not LJK's fan, but i would say he is one of the great actor. LSH should do more sageuk in the future. I hope LSH and KSE will be paired as a lead in a drama, i wudnt mind if it is sageuk again. :)

i would say, aside from LJK which was already solid in acting, this drama gave a great opportunity to underrated actors to gain some recognition on their talent. The result, if I may say, they are better than some of popular actors/overrated actors. Kudos to them ; Lee Jun Ki and sidelines character who made this drama is worthy to watch, despite of poor writing.

Hope they can get more chance to shine in the future especially my princess Soeun. This girl deserves to get a leading lady in the future. Jang Hee Jin also so underrated, she is good. its pitiful that she hadnt be given a good role before. Dear drama producers, you should open your eyes with these two ladies :)

Not to forget, the ones who played as Hak Young and Ho Jin. There are on sideline, but their presence still gave some aura to this drama. I have some bitter feeling about this drama from the beginning, so i may not enjoyed that much. But despite of that, i still manage to aware of the existence of all characters :)

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So agree with this.

I heard that JJH already has another project for her, while LSH is also offered a role in a new project. I've watched Ho Kyung in Two Weeks, still in a supporting role. Then again, I think he is more recognized here. Yeah, other than LJK, the supporting roles here are also good. For me, JJH is the best.

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Yes Luna. i am looking forward to JJH's next project. I hope her character will be better and a platform for her to be more recognized.

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i hope to see JJH to act character like Kim Sa rang in My Love Eun Dong. i have seen JJH in other drama, Myung Wol The Spy. But i dont like her at all in that drama. err actually i hate all female characters on that drama. aha.

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Ah, I didn't watch it. I heard bad things about that drama *LOL* .
Anyway, I heard that she will act along with MGY in the Village or something ? (not sure, sorry). I would like to see her in another sageuk, though. She is very pretty. In SWWTN, her costume is also the prettiest of all (well, HR's costume is the most lavish and glamour, but SH's costume is more unique)

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oh i forgot to mention LYB as well. She is a female lead who has the love line with LJK , but i think i'll just put her in supporting. its not that i downgraded her, its just her character is quite wasted. i admit i dont like her character and as an actress, i have no interest on her, yet. But i tried to find anything interesting about her character especially as female lead, but i could not. i will find her character interesting if she is just supporting character. Nonetheless, I wish her all the best in the future to find a role that will bring the best out from herself.

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That's the problem with male-centric sageuks, the female characters tend to become more supporting role in nature. In this drama, we had several strong & interesting male leading and 2nd characters like SY, Gwi, Yoon, Prince Jonghyun etc.

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agreed.

But somehow, i feel like it is more interesting to see Su Hyang and Hye Ryung and i will have no problem to see them as leads.

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Lee Jun Ki carried the whole drama. If not for him. the whole drama would have been much worse. Everything else is just mediocre.castings , direction and story line. One drama that I would not watch it again

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It is because LJK is the only actor which was already solid in acting. We cant blame the other actors so much, they still lack of exposure and experience. Nevertheless, they still do good job. That is what i mentioned on my comment above that LJK together with sidelines characters help to avoid this drama from total disaster.

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While I agree that LJG carried the show, the other cast members also did fine with what they were given, and portrayed memorable characters that I cared about. So, for that, I commend both the cast and crew (particularly the costume team) for providing a memorable experience despite the story.

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So true ...

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I disagree that the casting was mediocre though the storyline and especially the music was not my cup of tea. I think the cast (& the writer) did very well in creating interesting characters which managed to make some viewers including me, feel invested in them.

I thought LSH and JJH both shone, and CM was surprisingly not bad at all, compared to his performance in Paradise Ranch where imo he was a bit stiff. I really liked KSE as MH and thought she acted very well as HR. And I also enjoyed the performance of the faithful Hak Yong and funny Ho Jin.

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I guess 120 years ago, they didn't have explosives and guns. Then, the good guys were just too immersed into finding the memorandum without thinking much about alternative plans except grandpa King who didn't think of blowing the cave. However, I think there were not enough support and trust during grandpa King's rein between the humans to make it possible. I guess that's one the reasons the writers are implying, right?

Naturally when they discovered the plan was not much of a plan and learnt it the hard way that it doesn't work anyway not in the way they thought it would, that's when they had to crack their heads for alternative. I know it's not meant to be funny but... :)

Anyway, so it turned out that they still need the 3 main ingredients, Sung Yeol, Yang Sun and Yoon coupled with a whole load of modern technology, explosives, to finally get rid of Gwi.

I'm glad I guess, that the good guys were slow on the uptake and not too bright in thinking up ways to kill Gwi. They are good guys after all. They don't think like a killer.
:-D They made it possible for me to enjoy the magnificence of Gwi all the way to the end. The way he died was perfect in so many layers. Gives me goosebumps. He was a Guardian once after all.

From how I saw it, probably for the first time ever Gwi felt like dying. He may not want to admit it but he was hurting really badly when he lost Hye Ryung. And he thought the killing spree would help. Of course it didn't. A perfect example of thinking that external stimuli will help numb the pain in the heart. Poor Gwi. That's for trying so hard to deny you have a heart.

As for the ending. Sung Yeol probably wanted everyone to think that he and Gwi died. Then, everyone can just go back to their lives and forget about the existence of vampires. Just like what one of the peasants said. The story of the Scholar, maybe it's just fiction.

Why he needed one year? Beats me. Maybe he needed time to build a beautiful nest for him and Yang Sun to enjoy the remainder of her days and making babies.

I'm quite he's still a vampire. He still wears guyliner. :)

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i agree with your explaination, overall I like the final episode. Don't forget, the manga itself is still ongoing, so I guess the writer did not want to give a detailed ending, because the reader of the manga could probably still waiting for more stories about Night Scholar manga.... just my opinion. maybe can have the story open for season 2 haha....

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I agree for a 2nd season, if that means that they'll fix the plot holes in this version :p . One thing that I truly want to know is what SY (and the previous Kings) have done in the past 120 years, in order to defeat Gwi.Then, I wanna know about the origin of Gwi .. perhaps an explanation regarding the vampire world (vampire vs vampire guardian).

And, I wanna know how the hell Junghyun's memorandum could fall into Sadong's hand. Did I miss something ? I didn't remember finding any explanation regarding this.

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Sadong stole it from Gwi, who took it from Junghyun when he died.

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"I did NOT sit through twenty episodes of this show for Sung-yeol to die, okay?"

Exactly! Just knowing that he came back in the flesh makes all the difference and I don't care to bitch about anything else.
I've never fan-girl like this over anyone before but I love him to pieces for being such a dedicated actor. Kim Myung Min does the same thing to me and that's why I can sit through any of their dramas even if the writing sucks.

This has been fun and frustrating at the same time but I'm glad I stuck around till the end. Well done oppa <3!!!!!!!!!!

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After reading people's comments, I'm kinda proud of Junki *lol* . If an actor still shines despite the frustrating plot and people's complaints, then it really proofs that his acting is solid.

Can't wait for Junki's next project! On the mean time, I'll go back rewatching his old dramas *LOL*. Probably Joseon Gunman and Two Weeks ..

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Kiara and Luna,

Even i'm not a fan of LJK, i am truly understand your feelings and dedication towards him. Because me myself is also so loyal towards my biases :D

I kinda want to watch Junki to act character like Two Weeks again.

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Agree with you again :).

I really want to see him in a drama like Two Weeks again. I really love most of the works of Two Weeks' writers, like 49 days and Prosecutor Princess. Looking forward for dramas like that and it's good if he can be a part of them.

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I would like to watch him in a drama where he has witty and cheeky dialogue rather than all the serious stuff that he's always doing. Or maybe a cool action thriller. And modern not sageuk please.

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LOL! At least "he came back in the flesh" does help console my heart a little. I didn't know what to think at that moment. My LJK did an incredible death slump and I surely thought that was the end of it. The ending still not satisfactory. :(

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As far as I'm concern the ending is open for interpretation because they are not going to come back and explain it. If I try to make any sense out of it I'll start bitching because I usually pay attention to details.
He came back a year later. They met and hugged and that's my ending. Logic and reality does not exist in this drama lol.

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One thing I can thank this drama for is introducing me to Lee Jun Ki. By far the best thing in this show was the acting and the costumes. It's a shame the story was so messy; I think it had a lot of potential. I'd love to see a Gothic Korean drama that mixes the Joseon era with mythological creatures ala Dracula or something similar. However Scholar was just okay; the things that kept me interested were the core cast.

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I'm sorry, but the end is awful and ridiculous! How did Sung Yeol stay alive?!! Realy didn't get it at all!

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Sung Yeol is a vampire, he's immortal and can't die unless he wants to, or if someone traps him in the sunlight, without his black robe, like what happened to Gwi.

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I love this drama from start to finish, I am satisfied with the ending. I love Lee Joon Gi for his awesome performance, it was so impressive to see him act as vampire here. I have seen all of his movies and dramas and I must say he improves a lot! I love Lee Yu Bi, I think she's matched Lee Joon Gi so well, their chemistry are just so beautiful. And I didn't think they both could be so sexy and also so sweet together hahaha,, And all the other actors, I love them all, every body did amazing job. I can't even hate Gwi hahaha... Now I am having a withdrawal syndrome and probably will marathon it this weekend. I'm gonna miss it a lot next week...

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Yes agree with you ... I love this drama ....

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I'm in ..... I'm satisfied ... Not perfect but okay for me

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Well, I am sort of disappointed wuthering the Way they changed the plot from secret diary to explosives. But I am OK with that. What I am happy about it that the leads are together and Yoon found his place also HJ and SH are fine and happy. Also the way SY sacked YS neck was so sexy, I think my brain stopped working to take anything else in.

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Yeah, the way they got their peaceful ending might not make much sense, but I just cared that the rest of the remaining good guys got their happy ending, and the neck bite was delicious! ??

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The secret diary had served its purpose after SY read it and found out from the diary that the key to defeating Gwi were the Guardian Vampire, the King and Gwi's descendant. They had to work together to come up with a plan ---> explosives

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I actually agree with you, since the exact method was not outlined in the memorandum, just the required 'ingredients' for any plan to succeed, which was not forgotten in the finale, albeit not emphasised by then.

While this drama had been heavily panned for its story and plot, I did appreciate the way the characters were written, (mostly). In general, the character arcs and development were consistent (even if unsatisfactory for some), and all the actors and actresses made them shine (though I admit I found Chang Min to be the weakest link amongst the cast members, he was still alright).

@Jannie, I really appreciate and enjoy your perspectives on this drama, as by on by, most of us were too harsh on it. I suppose as fans, we just wanted a much better performing vehicle for our biases to in.

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what I gather from last episode, they did not need SY actually , they needed Scientists who can make powerful explosives
they did not need YS's blood that badly but needed to sacrifice HR
and will of people, king??? aniyo will of Gwi, it was clear Gwi was devastated after losing HR, just did not want to admit it

at this point I feel it would be better if they stuck with the plan that YS's blood is venom for Gwi, atleast one out of three elements would work or just YS's blood is a booster for SY to become enough powerful to break Gwi's neck

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How about the next time there will a fantasy sageuk about the scientists who lived in Joseon time? maybe there will a group of ppl who are crazy enough to invest something extraordinary, to be used in their daily life, or maybe to be used during war.

I just hope there will be no more fantasy sageuk about vampire, gumiho.. at least for another 4,5 years :P

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Wasn't Faith about a modern doctor in sageuk era ? Or dr .Jin ? (don't watch any of those dramas, though :p ). I thought there were X-Files kind of sageuk, but I don't watch it either *LOL*

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they borrowed some explosives from Hwajung's crew...

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Nah, Gwi would have gotten over Hye Ryung's death sooner or later. They still needed SY to fight him, YS's blood to boost his strength and the King's will and co-operation to blow up part of the palace.

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Thanks for recapping this drama!!

Once again, watched this for Lee Jun Ki but I also loved Lee Yubi, Kim So Eun, and Lee Soo Hyuk ❤️❤️❤️

I'm glad we got the happy ending even though some ends were left loose because Sung Yeol and Yang Sun deserved it after hatching and carrying out the only plan anyone could come up with to actually kill Gwi in 100 years lol. Sad that Hye Rung died though. Looking forward to the next project by any of these actors/actresses ?

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Lmfao the ending made no sense at all.
I found LYB character to be annoying af! She needs more acting class because ????
Lee jun ki needs to pick a good drama next year to make up for this mess ,poor him ,having to carry this drama on his own lmfao

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Finally ..... kudos to all of the crew and the casts . I find this drama enjoyable despite the flaws and plot holes . Mostly beacuse of the casts . Although the ending is somewhat lacking but im glad its a happy ending . Going to miss scholar-nim a lot ....

P/s : yang sun survived the vampire's bite because she is the descendant of gwi @ (vampire) .

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Lmfao you can tellwhen people are bias when they can't admit some one did a shit job,lyb was the the wrong female choice for lead ,her character was mad annoying and her pupils did all the acting ,her facial expressions her terrible, and she looks nothing like the manhwa.
Kse and lyb ,I don't know why people are saying either of them had chemistry with lee jun ki when NONE of them had ,
SH ,was the only likable female character here .smh 20 episodes later and that was it.

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Well ..

I'm a fan of LJK, not a fan of KSE and LYB . I think he has chemistry with all the ladies, including SH. I also like SH the most, and I think she has the best chemistry with LJK. I really wish that they can be a pair in other drama someday.

And, I also think that LYB's acting is good. She can keep up with LJK's acting . She is adorable.

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I agree with Luna.

And I also find it laughable when some people have to post under different user names to bash an actor/actress.

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Ummm.. so you all think that SY is alive?

I thought it was obvious that YS went mad (why else the flower and free flowing locks; every Korean knows that this means "crazy as a loon"; no respecting Joseon woman would ever have such a hairstyle, not even kisaengs), waited for SY for a year, accepted reality, and after an imaginary hug with SY, threw herself off the cliff. That's why both of them disappeared.

Is it just that everyone is in denial? If so, I totally understand. I shipped Syndey and Sark for ever so long so I'm all for denial as a powerful creative impetus. However, in terms of fact as presented by the writing and directing in the last couple of scenes, all the signs seem to point to a sad ending in my opinion. And actually, this was the general opinion at the DC Inside forum last night.

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This was a fictional Joseon with zero history and no proper tradition. The ending is up for interpretation imo.

What kind of a mad woman would teach young children to read and write?

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I haven't watch this with subs, but didn't gf's recaps said that HJ had mentioned that the owner of the gibang would return? In addition, LY got his sword back. Then that means, SY is still alive.

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HJ mentioned the owner may not return for another hundred years.

I'm confused too. Did YS die?

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You're kidding right?

I think SY is alive because if he was dead, SH and HJ wouldn't be so happy, they'll still be grieving and same for YS.

I'm curious about YS's hairstyle though. I've been thinking that maybe YS is no longer human or less human because she was bitten by SY the Guardian Vampire, and her hairstyle is to reflect her new vampire or almost vampire status?

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Or to reflect her bride-to-be to a vampire status? LOL.

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Isn't Ho Jin wearing one of Sung Yeol's hanboks- the orange one at the very end? I remembered seeing Sungyeol wearing that while saving Yangsun and her adopted father from the prison. He's a funny character...definitely gonna miss him.

And we say ahn-nyeong to our scholar-nim for the day.
Cheers to all who have followed this drama all these weeks. All the best to the casts and crew who have worked hard in this drama.

Till then...we can wrap up the 'happy ending' for Scholar and his loved one.

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thanks for the recap.

I'm happy the this drama was ended. I hope the cast can have a new project with better and strong storyline.

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Sorry, Teacher, for not being able to keep up with the drama, but I was SOOO busy. I did manage to take a glimpse at "Gwi moments" from Youtube, there were some neat compilations.
But I wish they wouldn´t stereotype him now, he should play a "quiet guy" for once. Maybe someone autistic or savant...

Teacher, I promise to watch, I just had to finish my stories
( and now I am like...wait. Don´t read it. burn it. steal it. hide it. throw it away. so embarrassing!)

huhuhu

I have to start marathoning now, it will be a good distraction from regretful and panicking thoughts.

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Despite this drama drawing flak for plotting fallacy, bad editing and music, and finishing off with a disappointing finale, LJK had once again delivered an amazingly awesome performance overall. His acting is so laudable that I feel impelled to make my first ever posting here to do him justice. He did really well in those romantic-melo aspects, which are considered more intense in this drama as compared to his previous ones. It is a big treat to us viewers to watch Sung Yeol’s depth and angst of emotions so convincingly conveyed through his eyes and facial expression! His acting has matured and he developed the X-factor which commanded a charismatic presence on screen, he is just so versatile as an actor which got me captivated in all the roles he played. Though I am also following dramas of my other favourite actors/actresses, none of them earned my unwavering loyalty through the years as LJK. I can’t help but have to fan-girl him though I’m a noona turning into ajimah ^.^ Hopefully, LJK is not too disheartened by the disappointing ratings of SWWTN, yep, let’s hope that he will grab the MBC best actor award end of this year as he well deserved it! LJK jal haess-eo! LJK choe-go-ya!

Also credits to LSH, KSE, and also Changmin’s acting has improved tremendously since Paradise Ranch. Their superb acting managed to salvage the drama. Can’t really comment much about LYB, I like her more in Pinocchio as I sort of agree that YS's character is boring, and she and LJK lacked chemistry somewhat, their romance scenes felt merely like fan-service.

Since the start of SWWTN, it was really fun to read the recaps and comments from all of you here who share my appreciation of LJK’s acting. It gave me something to look forward to each week and it’s a bit sad that it has ended. Will be eagerly awaiting LJK's next project with lots of anticipation, which I hope is a modern rom-com drama in the likes of the A Gentleman’s Dignity.

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Just a shout-out to say that I completely share your sentiments when it comes to LJG's acting in SWTTN. He was truly marvellous here, and I would not have missed his performance herein for anything, whatever else is said about the drama.

I have no prior exposure to any of the other cast members except for LJG before starting this drama, but I find their performance here to be excellent, regardless.
I suppose I am one of those lucky ones who liked LYB as JYS, and enjoyed her scenes with LJG. Truly, reading all the wonderful and funny comments here, I am glad that I could manage to find them enjoyable.

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INSANELY STUPID SHOW!

so he dies because of his exposure to the sun.
what prevented them from blowing that cave up earlier? they'd have achieved the same results?
i thought there would have been something special that would keep him alive in case the humans decided to blow his lair up.

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Blowing up his lair wouldn't have killed him. They needed someone to trap him in the sunlight.

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Did it really matter about Yang Sun's blood or the King's involvement in getting rid of Gwi? SY didn't drink enough to vanquish Gwi. All SY had to do is wait 120 years for the invention of explosives to trap Gwi and blow up his evil lair? Couldn't SY corner Gwi in all those years and get him exposed to the Sun (death) earlier???

The muddling crappy ending was confusing and disappointing..didn't understand the time jump.. and unclear if SY is a ghost or Yang Sun lost her mind and committed suicide? Hated the ending.

The episodes dragged too long toward the end. Maybe a movie version would have been better venue. Hope Lee jun Ki does another drama soon. He really was the perfect SY. Lee Soo Hyuk should definitely do more sageuks! He was really good and had such presence as Gwi. Hope he finds a role which will elevate him to more lead roles.

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SY did try to corner Gwi to get him exposed to the Sun (death) in an earlier episode, but he failed to hold him there because Gwi is much stronger than SY. Blowing up his lair may not have killed him either as he could have just brushed off the rubble and escaped and hid in the dark until nightfall.

Yang Sun's blood was needed to boost up SY's strength to at least hold on to Gwi and the King's involvement was needed as the place they blew up was part of the palace under which Gwi was living.

Imo, the time jump was to show what and how the characters were doing some reasonable time after all the terrible events culminating in the explosion, and it was nice to see them living happily and Yoon remembering HR.

SY is still a vampire and probably just travelling because Ho Jin says he's looking after his estate until he returns which may be in a 100 years, which implies he's immortal.

Yang Sun couldn't have lost her mind because she's teaching kids and writing books. Curious to know why you think she may have committed suicide?

I guess they had to have an open ending because the manhwa is still ongoing?

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I've heard an interesting theory, the bluffs that she walked to and found SY were the same she tried to jump from before. Maybe they were meeting in the after-life? If thats true though, I think it would be more meaningful to meet at the lake.

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despite i anticipated the death of one of our love birds (sung yeol,yang sun) it still turned out well at the end. but am still not statiafied its too happy go lucky. if it was a Nigerian written drama i swear on my sweet tooth that sungyeol could have right there in gw'is layer or hojin or yang sun. anyone to make the success better sweet and spicy of course and maybe make yang sun queen afterwards. LOL

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I wish we had little more of yangsun n sungyeol instead of vanishing js like that.....

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i meant die right there in gwi's layer. but noting out the "kill a vampire with a rifle", did the hunter run out ideas on how to kill a vampire? anyways i new that gwi was going to end up giving himself up to the light of the day right from the ending of episode 19, he was so frustrated with living as a vampire and that was totally predictable! everyone w he was tired of living when he kept looking for new ways to amuse himself with humans that just means his a frustrated jerk! give your self to sunlight willingly is potential vampire suicide!

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For all the people criticizing Lee Yoo Bi's acting and saying there is not chemistry between LYB and LJK, isn't that Lee Joon Ki weakness as an actor? He also didn't have chemistry with Soeun and she is well known for having great chemistry with all her co-stars.

So all people praising on his acting skills and putting down others should think about this, this is a romance drama after all and maybe that is why it was a failure. It is very telling how the majority of people is more interested in Gwi-Hyeryong pairing even with their lack of screen time.

Lee Soo Hyuk was a great discovery for me, I didn't pay attention to him before but after this drama, even with a ridiculous and senseless story-line, he made me care for his character the most..I will be looking forward to his next project.

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i agreed on your opinion about LSH. Truly, i never interested on him before. But this drama start the attention towards him. well, a bonus for him to gain more recognition in the future.

However, very few putting down other actors as you can see in these comments. i dont see ppl's comments so much about chemistry between LJK-LYB and i also have no comments on their chemistry because i skipped most of their lovey dovey moments.

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I also like like like LSH but I don't want him to be cast in a dark shabby role anymore, it is limiting his potential as an actor, I have seen him before this in white Christmas, highschool king savvy, valid love but only VP idol he get to act some comedy. I really want him in a bright romcom next :) can he do that well too??

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i want to see him playing as a detective. err i still cant picture him do a romcom, but will see it later.

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who said LGJ have no chemistry with KSE ??

sorry, but this's the first comment I read that talk about ( no chemistry ) between them.

well, I disagree .. I still ship SY with his first love (both of them show as a lovely couple, with said ending) , and I believe the K-comments agree with that too.

I tried to ship him with yubi but I couldn't ... then I start skip their parts. I'm not sure if the wrong with their looks or the writer (storyline) .

I'm sure they did their best as a couple, but I really couldn't feel any chemistry between them.

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@Ari, there was only one person who was criticizing Lee Yoo Bi's acting and it's obvious he/she is dragging LJK and possibly trolling with all the "LMFAOs", and using different user names to post the same comments.

And there was nobody else who praised LJK's acting skills and put down others, rather there were many who praised his acting skills and the acting skills of the other actors and actresses in the show who all put so much heart and effort in their acting.

I thought he had great chemistry with So Eun when she was Myung Hee, and some chemistry with LYB. It was the nature of YS's character that some viewers did not like.

I never considered that SWWTN was purely a romance drama, as there were so much other stuff going on, rather that the romance stuff was just fan service. And I may be one of the "minority" who was not interested in Gwi-Hyeryong pairing, as I felt she hated/was afraid of Gwi and I personally find such relationships unacceptable. I preferred her with Yoon, since I thought she liked him.

And imo, the reason why this drama did not succeed was not because it was a romance drama or chemistry, but rather the poor writing, not really intriguing storyline and terrible music.

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Is there people here who praises LJK and puts down other actors ?

The reason why most people are frustrated with this series is the plot holes and, not the bad acting. In fact, the actors/actresses are the ones who have made the show better, and that includes LSH. Then again, people praise LJK the most because he has the most solid acting among others.

Regarding chemistry, I think people have different opinions. Some people say that they do have chemistries, but some people don't. Then again, not many people watch a series just because the chemistry of the lead (unless it really sucked). Some people also look for a good story.

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Sorry, this should be the reply of the previous comment.

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Actually I agree that it's difference in opinions because I felt the chemistry between LJK and KSE, then later LJK and LYB. He has great chemistry with the actresses in this drama. Thought chemistry was never the issue but more like the plot holes where the issue.

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I read comments saying LJK alone was carrying the show and blablabla

Regarding the chemistry I totally disagree, I mean what is the point of watching a romance-oriented drama if the main couple don't have romantic chemistry?

Plot and chemistry are the main reasons for any romantic drama to succeed in my opinion. And this drama has neither.

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Once again, it's a different opinion.

Just go to soompi forum, then you'll see people praising the chemistry of LJK-LYB, LJK-KSE, especially LJK-LYB. They even support them to be a pair in real life.

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Well, there is a saying that if they don't have chemistry on-screen they must be having it off-screen. Too bad I don't care about their private lives...

Yes this is my opinion and my feeling only and I don't expect
everyone to agree. I was looking forward to this drama since last year and it became a disappointment.

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There was only one comment who said that LJK alone was carrying the show compared to the sea of comments who praised the actors and actresses in this show, so maybe you should ignore it?

Chemistry is subjective, some viewers see it and others don't. And imo, SWWTN is not a romance-oriented drama, as the plot was focused more on how to get rid of the evil vampire rather than on the romance. The romance was more like fan service.

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@Luna, I will respond to your logic. No one praised LJK to the point of bashing other actors, in re: LYB. I think most comments praised the cast as a whole and we fangirls are over our heads sometimes with our gushing of LJK. I agree with you that chemistry is with the viewer. :)

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@Ice, actually that is what I had been trying to say. No one praised LJK to the point of bashing other actors, coz it was obvious that most people here were complaining about the plot. Thanks for helping me explaining it :)

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My top 3 gripe of SWWTN:

1) Writer
2) Plot Development (Writer)
3) Suspense Factor was zero (Director)

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In my earlier comment, I said that LJK-LYB lacked chemistry, pls let me clarify, no chemistry does not mean bad acting, just like in real live, it does not mean that incompatible couples are not deeply in love, get what I mean? I think it is more about them being soothing to the eyes when presented as a pair.

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@Luna, I agree whole-heartedly with your comment.

And there are no people here who praises LJK and puts down other actors and actresses.

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To dukdam- thanks a lot for the explanation! But WTF?! She committed suicide after all?! Very very strang and stupid end! Hope a film will be better and they show us a little more, I agree even for a short scene Sung Yeol and Yung Sun together in heavens;(((( crying! Crying! Crying!;(((

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LOL, I think Dukdam is kidding. There are no signs at all that she committed suicide. The most likely ending is that they left to live in the mountains (as per the rumour) or maybe to travel the world together at super vampire speed, cos SY said Let's go, Hold on tight.

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Some people interpreted the ending as YS committing suicide. But I don't understand, if she wanted to follow SY in death, shouldn't she have committed suicide shortly after the explosive bombing? Why did she wait until one year later to commit suicide and follow SY? That doesn't make sense to me.

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Exactly, why wait one year to commit suicide, and in the meantime, teach kids and write books with drawings of kisses. She sure doesn't seem to be grieving, same for Su Hyang and Ho Jin, which implies SY is not dead, which is also supported by the other signs like Yoon's sword, and Ho Jin saying that he’s just watching over SY’s estate until he returns.

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I wonder what direction the show would have gone had the original writer not quit. I somehow feel that it all could have been better (all except Gwi because he was the best character, in my opinion, of the entire show) in terms of character development closely followed by LJK. The female lead was kind of weak in terms of development as well.

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The original writer did not quit. They just added in another writing, so they both wrote the story.

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another writer, not writing. Sorry.

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i'm not bothering about plot of the drama or ratings, it is over now, have a good rest LJK, and come back soon, waiting for your next drama.

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Thanks for all the recaps. I think all the actors and actresses did a great job. They all worked hard and carried the show. Despite this drama being slightly disappointing with the plot, it introduced me to Lee Joon Gi. Now I am his fan. I love his acting and his portrayal of SY. Can't wait for his future projects. I will also be looking forward to the future projects of the rest of the actors and actresses.

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Thks for recaps ... GF and JB ... Both of you are amazing ....

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Well ... This drama has ended ... Though some people may not really satisfied ... But personally i love this drama ... Just a little bit not satisfied with the ending ...
Anyway i think leejunki has done excellent job ... And i like the Lee couple despite the age difference ... I think both of them are lovely ...
Changmin kse ... Or lsh kse are lovely too ....
Gonna miss all the cast here ......

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It's finally over. I can't say that I enjoyed it or hated it. It was alright I guess.

The good:

1. LJK and LSH's acting. They really threw themselves into the role. It would have looked so cheesy and unbearable to watch otherwise.
2. The hanboks were awesome. I applaud whoever did the costumes for this drama.
3. The character Su Hyang. She was just daebak. She was the perfect right hand woman and honestly wished she was the lead. I got a bit worried in the beginning since it looked like she was being set up to be a jealous backstabber but thankfully that never happened. I kinda resented Sung Yeol a little bit for not loving her the way she loved him. Her devotion was just awe-inspiring.
4. The good looking cast.

The bad:

1. The OST. Whoever was in charge of picking the music to match the mood of the scene failed miserably.
2. The pacing. Adding/switching writers (or directors) has very seldom made a drama better. Producers and The Time I have Loved You proves that point. A drama has to have a certain feel to it and changing key production people just confuses the audience.
3. The "secret plan". I dunno about everyone else but it really felt like I wasted my time watching half this drama. So much time devoted into finding this damned book and all they needed was a damned sun-roof for Gwi's cave. I think Sung Yeol spent that time jump year bashing his head against a rock for not thinking of that simple plan.. oh maybe 100 years ago.

The meh:

The romance. I did not hate it. It was cute at some points but it never got to that epic level where you just go gooey inside just seeing them together. I think LYB was a bit miscast for the role. She just has that youthful vibe about her that would make her a perfect heroine in a trendy rom-com or high school drama, but not a sageuk. In short, that role needed a woman and not a girl.

Thanks for the recap ladies!

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yes, the costumes were gorgeous and yet didnt feel like a historical inaccuracy

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I concur with your thoughts on Su-Hyang.
Like you, I sort of resent SY too, for not reciprocating her love. However, I am also fortunately a fan of SY-YS, so it was bearable. ??

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I think SY did mention that he sees Su Hyang from a litte girl till she grown up to a fine lady, and he is proud of her. He saved her when she was a child and raised her properly. In my opinion he thinks of her as his daughter or something. He always acts as her elder/master.

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I agree that it would be rather icky to fall in love with someone whom he brought up and thinks of as a daughter, maybe bordering on incest?

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<I think Sung Yeol spent that time jump year bashing his head against a rock for not thinking of that simple plan.. oh maybe 100 years ago.

LOL. I would have preferred if he had used the year to learn how to make a mean cappuccino or something (okay, a flat white in my case). (On a side note: how about a drama called "Vampire Café"? Not sure what the plot would be....)

< I think LYB was a bit miscast for the role.

I think so too. I really quite liked her that Twenty movie, but maybe sageuk doesn't quite suit her. Of course, it didn't help that her character wasn't particularly well written.

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LOL !
Nooo SY, don't bang your pretty head! We forgive you!!

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Regarding LYB's youthful aura, I believe that was her main selling point. I haven't read the manhwa, but according to the folks who have, Yang Sun comes across as a young girl and not a woman.

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i agreed, I think LYB is perfect cast to potray young girl, Yang Sun

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In my case, I love SH too, but I prefer her to betray SY :D . If she can't be his lover (because there's YS already), then I'd like her to be a strong charismatic female villain for SY. Ahh, I thought that's gonna be fun. Then again, perhaps the writers wanted to use the remaining time for HR, coz her character development is kinda late .

Fine, then. Really wish that JJH will act along Junki again someday.

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