‘Heartbeat’ review: vampire rom-com draws fresh blood

Just as the fanged supernatural beings themselves can live for centuries, vampire stories in pop culture refuse to die. Heartbeat, a new K-drama from KBS starring 2PM’s Ok Taecyeon and D.P.’s Won Ji-an, centres around the toothy creatures but instead of pulling from the same tired playbook, it tries to create something fresh around the blood-sucking entities.

Seon Woo-yeol (Taecyeon) is a vampire who’s spent 400 years moving with the times as Korea went from Confucian times to modernity. He’s spent much of that time longing for his old human companion Hae-sun (Yoon So-hee), who sacrificed herself for him when he was under threat by a group of vampire hunters. His time with her was eye-opening – not least because he learned that humans often feel their hearts flutter when they fall in love.

After years (and years and years and years) of waiting for Hae-sun to come back to him in a reincarnated body, Woo-yeol decides it’s time to do what he’s always wanted – become human and feel those palpitating feelings of true romance. So, he seeks advice from Ko Yang-nam (Kim In-kwon), a man who can turn himself into a cat, and resolves to sleep in a hawthorn coffin for 100 years to achieve his goal. It’s a plan that is going flawlessly – until Joo In-hae (Won Ji-an), an ancestor of the butler he left in charge of his mansion while in his slumber, inherits the sprawling house and opens his coffin one day before he hits the centenary.

Lifting the lid on the coffin doesn’t just spoil Woo-hyeol’s new life, but also sets in motion a complicated new relationship between him and In-hae. At times, their link is predictable – surely destined to be a classic enemies-to-lovers trope – but episode four delivers a big twist that could turn their story on its head.

As vampire tales go, Heartbeat is much lighter and sillier than your typical entry in the genre, and Taecyeon shines as a comic lead. As Woo-hyeol adjusts to contemporary Seoul, his reactions to the shiny, new things he doesn’t understand – self-service kiosks, taxis, mobile phones – are perfectly wide-eyed and delightfully amusing. The show does lean on this farcical confusion a little too heavily at times, though, resulting in some slow-moving moments that feel like they’re treading water.

Won Ji-an, too, delivers a strong performance, nailing first the desperation of a character on the brink of losing everything, then her mutating feelings for her new vampire roommate – from pure fear to utter contempt, to something bordering on affection. She does have moments of over-acting, though, not least when she sees a cockroach in her old apartment that’s about to be torn down. Her freaked-out screams go beyond realistic and into overwrought territory, quickly becoming grating.

It’s far from a masterpiece, but Heartbeat is a sweet, fun and worthwhile watch. Much like Woo-hyeol and blood, once you’ve had a taste, it’ll leave you craving for more.

Heartbeat airs every Monday and Tuesday on KBS2, and is also available to stream on Amazon Prime Video

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