Records of a Night Watchman Hints at Potential Hot Mess with New Stills of Jung Il Woo and Yunho

Finally! After weeks of teasing with drama stills of all the parental and elder generational cast members in character for the upcoming fantasy sageuk Records of a Night Watchman, MBC loosened the teaser spigot today and dropped the first look at male leads Jung Il Woo and Yunho in character. To say I’m underwhelmed is an understatement. Why oh why does it have to be a posed still? They look so uncomfortable and mildly constipated, not to mention the outfits are eeeesh level bad. Okay, mostly Jung Il Woo’s outfit is the pits, like it was pulled out of costume department storage from the silly sageuks of yore, akin to something out of Thousand Years Love. Yunho’s outfit isn’t as bad since it’s the uniform he wears as a military officer and personal bodyguard to Jung Il Woo’s princely character.

These two new stills, on top of the batshit insane looking one released last week of Kim Sung Oh playing the villain character called, get this, Psychic Sadam, this drama is already one foot in hot mess territory and hasn’t even aired yet! Psychic Sadam?!?! Seriously? Who is naming and dressing characters in this drama? Psychic Sadam is dressed like a cross between Jafar in Aladdin and an aging rocker fan attending a KISS concert. These stills definitely worries me and gives off the impression that MBC’s decision to extend the pretty lowly rated Triangle for two episodes might be a late ditch effort to buy more time to tweak Night Watchman before it even airs. All those jokes about painfully awkward at acting Yunho in his first sageuk might end up not even worth mentioning if the entire thing fursplodes into brilliant fireworks of crazy.

Jung Il Woo’s outfit wouldn’t look half as awful if he wasn’t wearing what looks like leather pants and what definitely is a leather sleeveless long vest. It’s also a shame that Jung Il Woo, rocker of the famous sageuk mane of glory in Return of Iljimae, now looks like he got his hair cut at a sageuk equivalent of Super Cuts. You guys need to help me out with more eyes on Yunho’s picture, but I swear it oddly looks like just his face is photoshopped onto the body, except I know it can’t since there would be no reason for it. His face visually looks like its floating on top of his body!

Presenting……..Psychic Sadam! ROFLMAO forever! The asymmetrical ill-fitting half mask under the shaggy blond wig just seals the lameness deal completely. Kim Sung Oh will likely be hamming this up like his paycheck depended on it. There’s no other way to play a character dressed like that other than embracing the full baddie glory.

Even the promise of Jung Il Woo’s cute smile and adorable munchkins might not be enough to save this drama.


Comments

Records of a Night Watchman Hints at Potential Hot Mess with New Stills of Jung Il Woo and Yunho — 43 Comments

      • I don’t know he is just like one of the villains in power rangers with that costumy and ill fitting mask. The staff he was holding also very school project. Giving the name which obviously scream his power, as someone over 12 years old, i feel slightly offended :p. Ohh i can’t stop…i could go on and on.

  1. They airbrushed the shadow on the collar out from yunho so it doesn’t look like his body but a copy and paste of his head. Someone needs a photoshop 101 lesson.

    • OMG thank you for explaining to me! I was worried my eyes were malfunctioning and I needed immediate eye exams lest I was having trouble judging dimensions.

      • It looks like it was this persons first time every doing photoshop project. JIW’s looks odd too although not as bad as Yunho’s. That’s because as capt k pointed out the leather vest is ummm…. Distracting us from noticing the bad photoshop job. Perhaps, they had to cut costs somewhere. Maybe they have a harder time with sageuks cause they can’t have PPL everywhere in the drama to rake in the dough for the budget. No cell phone scenes with the characters using an app on the latest smartphone. My hubby just made me sit through the green hornet on DVD so I am in a snarky mood. 🙂

  2. *face palms her glasses into her nose, hard* I was really looking forward to this one cause the story sounded awesome, but it now sounds like it’s going to be either a major cheese fest or a giant cluster****. I still haven’t forgiven Jung Il Woo for that, I don’t know what to call Golden Rainbow actually. I was hoping he’d redeem himself.

  3. Yunho…Yunho! When will you learn that acting is just not your forte?!?! Why torture us while you are figuring that out? Any acting teacher will tell you to not embarrass yourself on the small screen (or any screen really).

    Also, is it just me or does it look like he has something in his mouth in that still?

      • @ockoala
        “chin jutting sucking on a marble look”…so rude and over the top. Do you have a personal hatred against Yunho?

      • Ah! The Girl’s Generation of Kim Bum love! You’re back! LOL, no, I don’t have a hatred of Yunho whether personal, professional, or psychic. I’m merely pointing out in a cheeky description of how he looks in every single non-teeth smiling picture of him. If you find it rude so be it, but hardly cause to project some sort of vast hatred bubbling forth towards the guy. I would have to actually care about him in some way to have feelings that merit hatred. At most I’m indifferent towards him other than when he’s cast in dramas and then I just want to headdesk.

      • What’s surprises me even more is that he actually has professed his love of acting and desire to keep on acting.

        If I decided to be a welder and can’t even operate hand tools, then I would hope to god I have the self-awareness to exit the profession with a pat on the back that I tried and the acknowledgement that it’s just not my thing.

  4. Hey, look on the bright side, maybe it will be “Dr. Jin” level of bad and we’ll all just laugh a lot. I mean, I’m laughing already so I’m looking forward to the crazy!

    • Gotta give it Dr. Jin, it did not look anywhere near this level of bad in its promotional material. Not sure whether that bodes well for Night Watchman….

    • NO! I mean, at least with THT it is a lost cause. He just isn’t going to be good and his lack of acting skills + his lack of awareness at that fact = risable material.
      But not JIW, I don’t want to laugh but love him.
      I want him to be in something that makes him better.
      When was the last good show for him, anyway?

      Oh this will break my heart if it sucks.

      • He was fantastic in MoonSun, you remember that right? WAYYYYYY better than Kim Soo Hyun who nabbed awards left and right for mostly looking constipated = pining and screaming = the overflow of emotions he can’t keep in check.

      • I think I have been blocking that show since JIW was so underutilized. Ugh. Makes me mad to think of how they effed with his character’s story.

      • I like Scheduler and 49 Days more than I liked Jung Il Woo’s performance in that drama. That drama really rested on Kang’s emotional shoulders for me.

      • I watched a little of MoonSun that day and couldn’t figure out the hype over Kim Soo Hyun coz his acting was really cringe worthy. “Looking constipated” is probably a really nice way of describing how his facial expression did not change much for the entire drama

  5. After Doctor Stranger…..nothing surprises me anymore. I <3 JIW, but Night Watchman is just begging to be snarkbait.

  6. You had me at Pyschic Sadam. oMG. Does that sound better said in Korean??? And what’s funnier is that the costume is just as bad as the name.

    Is there any chance at all, this could be remotely decent? It’s not looking good for now….

    Count me in as one who was not happy the JIW’s character in moonsun wasn’t great. Sigh…

  7. oh gawd! can’t stop LOLing at Psychic Sadam!uhh.. Yunho -_-

    JIW character was underrated, they should have explore his character more but i love LMH’93 portrayal of Yang Myung \^o^/ (and i just can’t imagine Joo Won taking that role)
    well TMETS was overrated to begin with, its ratings and Kim Soo Hyun..

    • TMETS! LMH’s Yangmyung is awesome! but yeah, the drama went down (for me) the moment adult cast enters (;¬_¬)

  8. Owww pleeeaasseeee, better should they oust their wardrobe stylist before that person dresses another actor in a wildly bizarre fashion do! That stylist only did well on Yunho’s plain bodyguard outfit, and partly on Jung Il Woo’s poor warrior suit… But to Kim Sung Oh, man! Why do I have those Faith nightmares?? *coughs* Chun Eum Ja *coughs louder*

  9. Oh no no no, this does not look good. Who is the costume designer for this show? I’m definitely getting the Jafar vibe haha. And Kim Sung Oh? Is that mask photoshopped onto his face? It’s hard to tell it’s him under that wig.

  10. Bad customing is one of my least concerns regarding this drama. This type of fantasy saguek needs time and budget. I am predicting yet another cheap-looking Korean fail.

    But I might watch it for fun.

  11. i know I may be in the minority but i’m going to give this drama a chance. it could quite possibly be so bad it may be good as a quilty pleasure to watch

  12. I agree with JG. A show of this genre and scope needs a lot of time, planning, and finances. Everything feels rushed. I will give this show a chance, but I hope that it’s not a disaster.

  13. I actually saw the stills of the villain in another post and thought, “When did David Bowie start acting in Korean dramas?”

  14. Inspite of your negative reactions, il still give this drama a chance. Gonna watch its 1st episode. For me, when it comes to sageuk, MBC is still the best.

  15. This post made my day! Still laughing as I am typing. Can’t imagine that Jung Il-Woo might be stuck with another poor drama, guy really needs some good projects. Unless he has the Lee Bum Soo touch, I will be staying away from this drama. I watched a Yunho drama in the past and dropped it like a hot potato. Guy seems nice, but acting just really isn’t his thing.

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