"Vampire Detective" Episode 3 recap

Our vampirically fortified team continues to coincidentally land cases related to the vampire underworld and San draws closer to his past. Episode 3 finally gives us a better look at our villain and solves a big question. Why hide the obvious from us? It turns out, our villain is hidden for excitement. Get ready for that feeling, as she might be making her grand entrance in the next episode!
The latest case of "Vampire Detective" reveals a regretful thing about the show; these guest cases and guest characters are not very appealing. Regretful, but not surprising, given this does happen in crime shows a lot. On the plus side, this means we have more time to focus on our main story and leads through these related sub-plots. San's (Lee Joon) complicated feelings over Yoo-jin (Kim Yoon-hye) are interesting, but potentially self-destructive. He thinks she is a villain, but also cannot let go of his past with her.

We also learn that Goo-hyeong (Oh Jeong-se) does not know or will not share San's past. This further fans the fires of my curiosity. I assumed Goo-hyeong knew a lot about San and his past, but if he does not then why the strong affection? Throw me a bone here, show. Even more worrying is the fact that no one is addressing San's condition. He heals instantaneously, never eats and is a medical impossibility. What do he and Goo-hyeong think about this? The creators should address this soon.
Another thing which worries me is that clients who are always related to the villain keep randomly hiring our team. It is true that the reach of this underworld is portrayed as grand, especially since Yoo-jin and Tae-woo (Jo Bok-rae) are now close to being revealed as undercover agents for this organization planted in the police force. Even so, 12 episodes of key cases magically landing on our leads' lap will be too contrived.

Regarding some smaller flaws, "Vampire Detective" shows self-awareness by making them entertaining. Detective Park's (Ahn Se-ha) food lust is obviously an easy way of having the group meet, but it is treated as a running joke. The camaraderie in our team is not very deep yet, but it is cute. I did giggle a bit with the episode's very drama-like twist, but Kang Se-ho was endearing enough for me to still care.
As I already mentioned, it is good to see the creators do not take us for complete fools. Seeing Lee Cheong-ah's upper face in this episode and hearing her voice in the preview made me realize keeping her sort of concealed was perhaps merely a way of building up her obscure, otherworldly and dangerous nature. Now that we know San is not as strong or trained as regular vampires, I am looking forward to seeing our wicked queen challenge him.
"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'

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