Records of a Night Watchman’s Cute Cast Goofs Around the Set as the Drama is Off to a Decent Start

This might be the weakest Mon-Tues line up in recent memory with all three dramas neither getting any buzz nor ratings. Temptation is actually intriguing without being tawdry but the subject matter isn’t for everybody while Lovers of Music (Trot Lovers) has a plot written by a monkey who watched too many K-dramas and is pasting together the worst tropes into one story. Records of a Night Watchman has turned out to be quite watchable and I say that with a huuuuge caveat. It reminds me of 80’s HK-period movies with slightly better CGI but the same supernatural hokiness permeating the plot and entertaining overacting on larger than life roles. This thing has human looking ghosts, spectral black fog thingie ghosts, wizards dressed as aging rock stars, a serpent dragon monster flying through the air before turning to stone, ghost horses and demon stone fighting machines, a King getting possessed and going rapey and homicidal all over, and generally so much cheese you can heat up a pot and make fondue. I went in expecting cheese so I found the first three episodes creamy and salty when spread on the crackers of logic tossed out the window.

I’m planning to keep watching until the story or acting goes down the drain but so far it’s decently entertaining. The adults have just shown up in episode 3 and it’s a mixed bag of acting charisma but none of the four are so bad as to ruin the watch. Jung Il Woo is smirky fun while Seo Ye Ji must’ve studied tapes of Lee Yoo Bi in Gu Family Book because she’s hitting it out of the park playing the sure to turn bad second female lead. Yunho is surprisingly okay so far and looks great in a hanbok and among the four leads Go Sung Hee is the awkward to watch weak link. Her acting is dull and listless and she looks terrible in the hair and outfit of her spirit girl character. On the villains side both Kim Sung Oh and Kim Heung Soo are doing a thumbs up job while Choi Won Young was a scene stealer as the gone-crazy King. Aside from my two cents on the drama so far, I find MBC making an effort on the promotions and this week the network released a batch of so so cute BTS snapshots of the cast being cute and cuddly on the set. I don’t think this drama will turn into something great but as an off-beat hokey fantasy bit it makes for chill watch option.


Comments

Records of a Night Watchman’s Cute Cast Goofs Around the Set as the Drama is Off to a Decent Start — 9 Comments

  1. Liking it, not too sure if the minister is a goody or baddie,most probably a baddie and the great queen dowager is slightly evil maybe, can’t decide if current half brother king is mentally disturb in some way, very confusing, but hopefully all this will be answered soon enough. i like the trio ghost that follow him, why does he deny seeing ghost? what an amazing abs does his father’s old bodyguard have, all that muscle!!!

  2. This drama is turning out to be interesting. Thank God. I was scared my Monday-Tuesday was going to be a bust with nothing to watch. Wish there were some sites that are actually recapping this drama, though. Would be interesting to see the public’s reaction to the drama as it progresses.

    • Oh! Agreed that Go Sung Hee is the weakest link among the cast members so far. She’s quite painful to watch. I chalk it down to inexperience and hope she loosens up soon, you can tell she’s acting and not feeling the emotions. If she’s to carry the lead (or is it second lead?) she’s going to need to pull more out of herself to carry the role.

      • the girl who plays do ha is hard to watch…the acting is pretty bad…is she an idol?

  3. Does anyone understand what exactly does sadam want? And why does he just turn up again in epi 3? Its entertaining enough but kinda confusing to me. What is the bad for?? Or do i just not care coz there will be no logic to any of it anyway?

    • Yeah same here. I’m lost watching it. Like what is it he’s after? I’m actually okay with go sung hee. She’s cute but second lead stealing her spotlight. Yunho isn’t bad so far maybe a stoic character work haha

  4. After Choi Won Young’s character went his way the story just went to shit. Somehow things happen without any buildup, explanation or resolution – they just become.. that way.. and then other things happen.

    I also wonder if anyone on the production team asked the all important question in a supernatural drama about ghosts and fighting them. Where are the ghosts? After the giant skeletons, cool fight scenes the first few episodes, it felt like they exhausted their budget. Supposedly all sageuks need boring court machinations by shouty old men. And our show delivered on that. Except then most of the story revolved around the king’s trust and self-esteem issues. They’re supposed to be fighting ghosts but half the time they’re standing around talking and looking stupid.

    And the music, fuck me, it sounds kinda epic but then when they match it to random dudes and court ladies talking it falls short. Like, what’s so epic about granny empress talking shit to old minister?

    And Yunho’s character as a member of the night watchmen. Are you fucking kidding me? He can’t see ghosts but if he points a compass somewhere, he suddenly can jump, parry, somersault, slice the right bits, etc? At least with Ghostbusters they just need to point at a general area and shoot their beams. But with a sword? Ridiculous.

    I’m not sure how you think Yunho improved his acting. Except for his one crying scene with the sister, he basically had one expression the whole series. There is no nuance, barely any emotion. It’s like a blackhole of nothingness. Lee Jin Wook’s Nine character had a lot of same expression scenes, but there was nuance, flickers of emotions in the eyes, slight smiles. That’s basically what Yunho tried to do, but nuh uh, failed.

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