We finally made it to the very end!
After 20 episodes, Blood has finally reached the end of its run and what an ending it was.
Read on to see what I thought of the series and the way it ended.
WARNING: Spoilers ahead.
I initially started this drama because of Ahn Jae Hyun as the lead. Even though Goo Hye Sun caught my eye in Angel Eyes, her performance in Blood left a fair bit to be desired. Not because of bad acting, but I have a feeling it was more to do with the script.
Let’s start from the beginning.
I love that Blood based its vampiric legends on something more substantial than just myth. The entire series is based on the search for and understanding of the VBT-01 virus, of which Park Ji Sang’s (played by Ahn Jae Hyun) parents are infected, and he, naturally born with.
The ride to the ultimate truth reveal isn’t as climatic as I would have liked it. Nor was the chemistry and romance between Ji Sang and Yoo Ri Ta (played by Gu Hye Sun).
Although the cat and mouse relationship easily takes off from the moment the two meet. We can’t help but feel that the emotional development between the two is a bit rushed, even more, there’s a smidgen of hero worship on Ri Ta’s part. Stemming from the fact that Ji Sang saved her as a child.
The relationship IS helped though, by the fact that the two are relatively the same age. Rather than having a 100 or so year old vampire and a modern day Juliet. Even so, the portrayal of Ji Sang’s character makes his maturity level much higher than Ri Ta’s but his stunted social development puts them on par with each other.
Ji Sang does enjoy a fleeting moment of, his much sought after, humanity.
In the end though, he parted this earth as the same being of which he arrived, a natural vampire.
However, the final scenes of episode 20 lead viewers to believe, that as difficult as it may be, he is still alive.
If you paid attention to the dialogue of Dr. Jung Ji Tae, then you would realise that his survival isn’t that surprising after all. Remember while Ji Tae was cultivating Ji Sang’s blood he mentioned this:
So basically this means that aside from exsanguination, there’s no way to actually kill Ji Sang unless you behead him, burn him or remove all his blood. Although…how this translates medically I have no idea. How would the body function without a heart? Beats the purpose of having blood pumping if there’s no heart to create a connection point…
Even though his blood is able to cultivate the new cells, in order to achieve the large quantities they are aiming for and the results they want, Ji Sang needs to die. Which isn’t an outcome any of the good guys want…but Ji Sang is probably already thinking about it.
In a last ditch effort to get to Ji Sang, Lee Jae Wook (played by Ji Jin Hee) has his minions kidnap Ri Ta to lure Ji Sang to him. And it works. After one last battle against the band of hoodie brothers and Jae Wook himself, Ji Sang and Jae Wook inject each other with serums. Ji Sang’s one causes Jae Wook to lose his vampirism, or so it seems. Since he ages and appears to die, but not before this ominous thought occurs:
We really don’t want you to come back…
On a brighter note, Ji Sang seems to have developed some psychic abilities as he lay dying:
After his death, Ri Ta travels back to Kochenia on one last favour to Ji Sang. Did you ever wonder what happened to that child that he saved at the beginning?
She’s alive and well. Before his death, Ji Sang prepared a doll and letter for her that Ri Ta passes on.
While she’s visiting Kochenia, she runs into the local VBT-01 infected…the evil version:
Luckily a good samaritan saves her:
Who in the end:
…is…
Now don’t get me wrong. The drama makes it very clear that he actually dies, but don’t forget that Ji Tae said, “He could possibly live without a heart.”
We never see what happens to his body after he dies. So the only plausible explanation is that, even though he ‘dies’ his blood, which can cultivate the Julino-01 enzyme used for VHT-16, allows him to revive. After all, his blood keeps him alive, so even if his heart (which, based on the area of injury is where Jae Wook attacked him) was injured, he could still survive.
This sort of ending leaves a lot of things open to viewer interpretation. Obviously the romance between Ji Sang and Ri Ta is still there, but their future is unknown. The fate of Jae Wook, Kyung In (HR Director played by Jin Kyung), Ji Tae and Soo Eun (Ri Ta’s friend played by Jung Hye Sung) is never revealed.
Basically the only relevant people we know that die are Hyun Woo and Ga Yeon. The quirkiest and most pitiful characters respectively.
I can hold hope that there may be a sequel…but I don’t think that will be happening since the ratings for Blood were never outstanding.
As a drama on the whole, the build up to the final episodes was slow and agonising. Viewers were bounced between Ji Sang and Jae Wook who each had convoluted emotions and plans that left viewers questioning just what the heck was happening every episode.
Let’s not forget the introduction of the psychopath researcher who actually makes his return in the finale to only be killed. I never could understand his purpose other than to make the technical explanations less boring to watch.
This drama is probably only good for the last 5 episodes and teh eye candy for the first 15 of Ahn Jae Hyun.
Funnily enough, in the final episode I spent most of my time in awe of the fact that he could get even whiter than he normally is…and still look natural. Either the make-up artists are miracle workers…or he is a really pale human being.
If you’ve managed to stick it out the entire series, what did you think?
IMO - Time4Drama 