I was ecstatic when this was first airing, Finally Korea was getting vampire dramas! I love vampires, the more demonic the better. Blood ended a few months prior, orange marmalade was coming to a close and then a Lee Joon Gi and Lee Yoo Bi vampire drama was going to air. Not only that, the aesthetics were to die for. It was a no-brainer that I was gonna watch. That said, this was the only vampire drama that year that I dropped, two episodes from the end no less!

~STORY~
The premise was pretty great and held great promise for some epic vamp action and nuanced character struggles. However the execution left much to be desired and the 'inner' turmoil was only skin deep, leaving scenes sappy and overall sickeningly shallow.

~ACTING/CAST~
You really can't go wrong with casting Lee Joon Gi and Lee Soo Hyuk as vampires. The acting was well done, except for a few outliers who were horribly miscast.

Lee Soo Hyuk/Gwi: I knew nothing about Gwi before watching the show and was very pleasantly surprised by him as the antagonist. He quickly earned the title 'Korean Loki' in my house. Lee Soo Hyuk's portrayal of him was absolute perfection and often heart breaking. His character, although a ruthless vampire, was more sympathetic than the protagonists. The main issue was there wasn't more of him. There were hints at development for his character but the writers didn't follow through on any of it.

Lee Joon Gi/Kim Sung Yeol: Again very well acted. This guy could make me cry even if his eyes just watered slightly. However there isn't much one can do with a corny script, his character was obnoxiously self pitying and didn't really do anything to improve his situation, he just wallowed.

Lee Yoo Bi/Jo Yang Sun: Lee Yoo Bi is a great actress, but this character shouldn't exist and she should not have been cast for it. Part of the story is that she cross dresses. Even if it's unthinkable for a girl to dress in guys clothing, there is no way so many would be fooled that Yang Sun is female, absolutely none. Everything about Lee Yoo Bi is feminine and she is the perfect example of a pretty girly girl. There was next to nothing to her character, the only thing I can pin down is obsession with the main male lead. all of the supposed traits she was supposed to have were only applied to Kim Sung Yeol.

Shim Chang Min/Lee Yoon: I don't even know what to say. I felt nothing for his character and all his scenes felt like he knew exactly where he was supposed to stand and exactly what he was supposed to say. Since I was rewatching this drama after the third episode I skipped all his scenes that I was familiar with.

Ensemble: There were three/four other supporting cast who did their job well enough, but they can't really do much with the lead characters being as terrible as they are. Just when it looked like two of them might gain their own agency the writers decided to remind us that they are just supporting cast undeserving of their own story.

~MUSIC~
Even after four years this OST is still one of my favorites. Unfortunately it set the tone of what this show could be, rather than what it was.

~REWATCH VALUE~
Only the vampire scenes. If you like vampires - real vamps not sparkling day walkers - then there are some really good vampire scenes in here.

~TL:DR~
A good premise is bogged down by terrible writing and even great actors can't save terribly two dimensional characters. If you like vampires and the OST just look for it on youtube.