28 November 2014

Night Watchman’s Journal Review

Title: Night Watchman’s Journal
AKA: The Night Watchman / Records of a Night Watchman / Diary of a Night Watchman
Genre: Period, Romance, Fantasy, Action
Episodes: 24
Broadcast period: 2014-Aug to 2014-Oct
Cast: Jung Il Woo, Go Sung Hee, Jung Yoon Ho (U-Know) and Seo Ye Ji.

In a world where ghosts and dark magic are present, the ones that protect the country are the ones that hide in the shadows: The Night Watchmen.
Lee Rin (Jung Il Woo) is a prince who lost his throne at the age of 10, when one tragic night he loses both his parents. Ever since that night he has been able to see ghosts, but due to the outcast treatment from his older brother (now the king) Rin pretends not to see them, even if they talk to him. In order not to be ‘a burden’ to his king brother, Rin lives life as a playboy and pretends not to have a care in the world. But this all changes when he one day he is given the task to find the kings new shaman. This is where he meets Do Ha (Go Sung Hee) who is looking for her sister who had gone missing 12 years ago, and a mysterious man Sadam (Kim Sung Oh). After seeing the ghost of the woman who had taken care of him when he was the crown prince, Rin goes to the castle, and finds a book – The Night Watchman’s Journal.
The king being jealous of his younger brother makes his most loyal servant and best swordsman Kang Moo Suk (Jung Yoon Ho) tale and spy on Rin, however as fate has it the two and Do Ha become involved in not only the horrible politics of the human world,  but also the fights of the spirit world…

Okay, so the review is written so that I won’t spoil anything, but I ended up having it being kind of lame. The beginning is scary as I am not used to the entire ‘Dark Magic’ world. It’s a drama about curses, possessions and evil spirits, and to be honest, it freaked me out a lot. They can see ghosts, so I was expecting a bit of’ Arang and the Magistrate’, but comparing those two is like comparing Pororo and Hunger Games. Not that this drama is barbaric, it just brought tragic to an entire new level. Well the beginning of it. After the typical backstory, the rest is kind of a fight against evil, and the end cuts everything a bit lamely.
The cast was okay, however I was disappointed. They kind of were below average, and the female actresses were just bad, though the supporting actress freaked me out a bit. I am a Jung Il Woo fan, and I see why he is the prince character, however the screenplay and dialogues were so bad that I didn’t like most of it. The chemistry between the main couple was forced, and the bromance was overrated, like there were scenes where they were supposed to have ‘serious/deep’ conversations, but the dialogues were just written badly so it all became shallow. I was quite disappointed.
Now you wonder why the rating is so high. To be honest, when a period drama of 24 episodes is able to keep my interest for all episodes that is really an achievement. I think the theme was what made me addicted – even made me dream about it.  So I think that 4 stars, is very decent to give.
To sum up: a drama with thrill and somewhat acting.

☆☆☆☆ / 4 out of 5 stars

♥♥♥½ / 3½ out of 5 hearts

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