"Vampire Detective" Episode 2 recap

Tensions rise and dangers multiply as our hero is faced with some frightening changes to his body and perception. "Vampire Detective" is progressing quite steadily, focusing on different cases and going deeper into the main story in the process. Gyeo-wool plants her roots into the team and the ever intriguing relationship between San and Goo-hyeong is looking more and more complex.
OCN's episodic format has often hindered the progress of their dramas' main stories, but it is nice to see them get better at it. Seo Seung-hee's (Choi Song-hyeon) story of love, regret and loss might be an episode and case of its own, but it is interesting to see the similarities and differences with San's (Lee Joon) own past relationship. The man carries great trauma and it affects him even in his work. It is nice to see a hero who does not pretend that he is above his emotions and flaws.

This is especially important as we go into San's struggle with his new vampiric nature. The opening narration foreshadows changes in him which he does not welcome and the cool action scenes are written in the same vein, to use a highly appropriate expression. San is in denial of his condition as well as the violence it brings out in him. This is quite a realistic reaction for people and it shows us San is still human. At the same time, it strengthens his relationship with Goo-hyeong (Oh Jeong-se).
Goo-hyeong is a real mystery in his feelings for San. He is extremely attached to him. Seeing him panic when San is hurt and holding his hand throughout the process was quite an emotional sequence. The drama emphasizes his womanizing personality and homosexual characters are rare in this industry, so that attachment is almost certainly not romantic in nature. Yet they do not know each other long or share a family bond either. He seems to pity San, but pity seems too mild for his reactions. I am really itching to see their backstory.

It is nice to see more of a personality from Gyeo-wool (Lee Se-yeong) in this episode and we get to see her role as well. Her work as a hacker, connections to the underground and bold character fit well within the team. However loosely, she is also connected to our main story and villains, so her motivations are close to our interests in the story.
"Vampire Detective" is doing rather well in its pacing and revealing of information on our villains. We know they have their clubs and now we know they use the homeless to harvest blood. San's nature and abilities are being revealed too. I did find his supernatural powers to be a bit silly and too obvious for so few to notice, but I suppose it is a necessity for the sake of progress. Another satisfying episode and another long week ahead of us. Can next Sunday come already?
"Vampire Detective" is directed by Kim Ga-ram and Lee Seung-hoon-IV, written by Yoo Youngseon and features Lee Joon, Oh Jeong-se, Lee Se-yeong and Lee Cheong-ah.
Written by: Orion from 'Orion's Ramblings'

Copy & paste guideline for this article
Always put a link back to the source and HanCinema permalink