FanFare

Gwi offered power to the Joseon monarchy in return for … loyalty, some deference, regular victims, a place of his own. His lair is a cavern under the palace where evil Prime Minister Lord Choi and his other toadies visit him. There he slouches on a throne made of roots and rocks, beneath a macabre trophy. I mean, it's not as though the Underground Palace, as they call it, looks like a very nice place to stay. [more inside]
posted by glasseyes on Mar 16, 2021 - 2 comments

I mean it's really hard to chase a coherent narrative thread through these chunks of episodes. Plans are made, fail, and are repeated to fail again. The complicated momentum of the story stutters; the visuals remain fabulous. Kim Seong Yeol and Yang Seon begin a dance of fascination round each other. [more inside]
posted by glasseyes on Mar 2, 2021 - 2 comments

Ep. 2 trigger warning for Gwi's seduction of a child to be his vampire minion. The bite etc is suggested more than shown but it is very creepy indeed. //As well as his secret forest mansion Eumseokgol Kim Seong Yeol maintains a base at the gibang owned by his companion Su Hyang. Having learnt in Ep. 1 that even with his new vampire powers he hasn't a hope in hell of facing up to Gwi, he has spent the 100-odd years since lurking, observing, looking for Prince Jeonghyeon's memorandum and on the way acquiring an impressive library and a reputation as a mysterious book-buying scholar. Developed by the Prince and the previous vampire guardian, the memorandum is a strategy for defeating Gwi. With KSY's help it was just about to be put into action when Gwi discovered it and destroyed all but one of the plotters. [more inside]
posted by glasseyes on Feb 25, 2021 - 5 comments

Able to be appreciated on many fronts, visually ravishing and full of restrained (and unrestrained) emotional expressiveness, the addictive qualities of k-drama are becoming more widely known in the West, especially since Netflix got involved. As a two-culture person and I've loved watching compelling art produced from what feels like a familiar space of flux, revision, brokering and reclaiming. The Scholar Who Walks the Night (2015) is a historical fantasy South Korean vampire serial that I love in spite of its flaws. I want to talk about cultural context as well as episode summaries. All I can write about is what I found out on the internet and all I've got is shallow knowledge, I could be really wrong about lots of things but will try to explain what it is about this series that so interests me. There will be some spoilers and descriptions of the male lead's costumes. [more inside]
posted by glasseyes on Feb 24, 2021 - 6 comments