[KDrama.com Spotlight] "The Night Watchman's Journal" - First Impressions

MBC has been excitedly teasing their newest Monday/Tuesday drama, "The Night Watchman's Journal" for months. From a superstar cast, to a refreshing genre in K-drama - sci-fi - this drama was on a lot of people's watch lists. So, after the first two episodes, what's the verdict?

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First of all, the CG effects are far better than I was expecting. Since it's a weekday drama, I doubted that MBC had the budget to keep the effects interesting but I was proven wrong! So far they have only had two scenes where heavily CG-ed events happen - both battles with ghostly creatures. The rest of the time ghosts appear, they are little more than black wisps on the screen - though they do manage to make them look menacing. By balancing out the ghost CG effects from extravagant to meager but interesting MBC will most likely be able to keep up the good work and keep the series visually interesting.

The cast so far has been perfect at capturing both the era and the dark mood of an evil sprit-ridden Joseon - and the heavy hitting actors like Jung Il-woo and U-Know haven't even appeared yet. The current King of Joseon, played by Choi Won-young, and the main antagonist, played by Kim Sung-oh, are great at capturing the mildly insane possessions that both of them seem to experience within the first two episodes.

The child actors are also doing a good job at keeping me hooked - with the young Prince Kisan being delightfully evil even in his young age. I look forward to Kim Heung-soo taking over the role as the older Prince and battling Jung Il-woo (as the older Lee Rin) for the crown.

The story hasn't yet put much focus on who the "Night Watchmen" are, but I look forward to a more in-depth explanation of their purpose and how they came to see spirits. I also hope that Kim Sung-oh's character sticks around - he's equal parts terrifying and fascinating as the rogue shaman.

Since I'm already hooked and my favorite stars haven't even appeared yet, I can solidly recommend that you check this one out!

New episodes will air every Monday and Tuesday night and you can catch them on KDrama.com if you're in the US/Canada!

 

Watch "The Night Watchman's Journal" on Kdrama
 (in North America)