The posters for KBS’s Black Knight are pleasant on the eyes and carry a romantic, moody vibe, so I’m really trying hard to shake the Bride of the Water God flashbacks they’re giving me. Because we don’t want to jinx a show before it’s even begun, right? (Bride of the Water God was beautiful to look at, but oh my god so boring. Not an association I want to carry over!)
Perhaps it’s just the Shin Se-kyung connection, or at least I’m telling myself that, since she’s going from one fantasy-romance drama to another; Black Knight spans 200 years and tells of a pure-hearted man, played by Kim Rae-won (Punch), who fights a dangerous fate for the woman he loves. In the group poster above, the two leads are joined by Seo Ji-hye (Jealousy Incarnate) and Jang Mi-hee (Madam Antoine, Unkind Women), both of whom are described as playing characters who have lived for two centuries. Meanwhile, the copy reads, “Things that are seen, and things that are unseen.” That sort of seems like an unfinished thought to me, but I can see the mysterious air it’s going for.
The couple poster below, on the other hand, tells us, “A fateful love that travels through time to begin again.” Each individual character poster also bears its own copy, with Kim Rae-won’s saying, “Because I’m your black knight.” (Note that his name, Su-ho, also means guardian. It’s a common name, but in this context I’m sure it’s no coincidence.) Shin Se-kyung plays a character named Hae-ra who keeps an optimistic attitude in the face of struggle, and her poster says, “If I meet you, will I be able to turn my life back?”
Seo Ji-hye plays a character named Sharon, a selfish and mysterious woman whose copy tells us, “What you see is not all there is.” And last but not least is Jang Mi-hee playing a character named Becky, which seems oddly chipper for someone with as commanding a presence as she has, and her poster says, “Everything must go back to its place.”
The drama certainly has my interest piqued with all its roundabout mentions of centuries-long lives and fateful relationships, and all of its promotional material has been picturesque and atmospheric thus far. Directing is PD Han Sang-woo of melodramas Equator Man and Unkind Women, both of which he worked on with writer Kim In-young. But more than those two dramas, I’m intrigued by her past credits, which include The Woman Who Wants to Marry and its charming follow-up, The Woman Who Still Wants to Marry, as well as rom-com Mae-ri vs. Dae-gu Battle and Women in the Sun. Her work has taken a more melodramatic turn in recent years, but somehow I’m reassured in knowing she can be funny too.
Black Knight will follow in Mad Dog’s Wednesday-Thursday slot beginning on December 6.
