Series / Vampire Prosecutor

Hmm ... yummy!

Vampire Prosecutor (Hangul: 뱀파이어 검사, romanized: Vampire Geumsa) is a Korean Drama which aired on cable network OCN, starring Yun Jung Hoon as the titular character. Season 1 aired in late 2011, season 2 in 2012.

Prosecutor Min Tae Yeon is a reluctant vampire. As he uses his abilities in his day job, his main goal is to solve a 7-year-old murder in which the victim was close to him and the culprit was undoubtedly another vampire.

Tae Yeon is asked to set up a special "detective-prosecutor" taskforce to investigate unusual homicides in the Seoul area. To this end, he is given several team members:

• Hwang Soon Bum, a grizzled veteran detective who knows Tae Yeon's secret;
• Yoo Jung In, a young female prosecutor with a gung-ho attitude and a shadowy past; and
• Choi Dong Man, the young enthusiastic intern and resident computer nerd.

The team is under the mantle of a chief prosecutor, who sometimes clashes with Tae Yeon. Together, they try to make Seoul safer for the living and the undead.

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This series provides examples of:

• Agent Scully: Interestingly, Tae Yeon, the vampire, plays this part to Soon Bum's Agent Mulder.

• Amoral Attorney: As the series deals with the law, there amoral attorneys pop up every now and then, but most notable is Park Hoon.
  • Yoon Ji Hee in season 1, who has built her career on getting murderers off scot-free. Later she's revealed to be the mastermind behind the murder of the episode 4's Asshole Victim.

• Downer Ending: A great number of the episodes end on a sad note.
• Guyliner: Tae Yeon rockin' it out.
• First Love: Yup, Detective Hwang is still pining for Sook-ja.

• Improbable Weapon User:
  • Yoo Won Gook beats his boss to death - with a cane. All it took was just one question: "How is your daughter?"
  • Tae Yoon vs. an Unknown Vampire in the bathroom includes strangling with a shower head and head-bashing with a toilet seat cover.

• Mood Whiplash: Any time something comical happens in this otherwise serious show. Imagine a random funny moment in a series like Law & Order.
• My Greatest Failure: The unsolved murder of Tae Yeon's sister Yeon Ji is the Story Arc of Season 1. He's still looking for her in Season 2.

• Our Vampires Are Different: They have no trouble walking in broad daylight, for one. And heal quickly. And never age. They can also flash back to the scene right before someone's death by tasting their blood.
• Police Psychic: Min Tae-Yeon works alongside the police as part of a special joint unit, his particular talent known only to one other team member: As a vampire, he can drink a small amount of a victim's blood and see the last few moments of their life and then uses that knowledge to help push the police in the right direction.
• Reluctant Monster:
  Tae Yeon: (to Soon Bum) If I act human, does that make me human?

• Teeth-Clenched Teamwork: Hwang Soon Bum and Yoo Jung In have different methods for going about solving murders; their personalities clash.
• Vampire Detective Series: In the very title. Tae Yeon is part of the new detective-prosecutor team.
• Vegetarian Vampire: How else could Tae Yeon be our hero?

Season 1

• Armour-Piercing Question:
  Tae Yeon: (to Jung In) Is there anything that makes you want to turn back time?
• Asshole Victim: The pastor who was also a child molester in episode 4.
• The Bartender: The blood dealer/doctor at the bar where Tae Yeon frequents
• Berserk Button: Don't ask Jung In's father about his daughter. Just. Don't.

• Casting Gag: Yun Jung Hoon, who plays Min Tae Yeon, is famous for playing a prosecutor in East of Eden.

• The Coroner: Sexy Soo Hee, who's always hitting on Tae Yeon
• Damn, It Feels Good to Be a Gangster!: But not when everyone's only out for themselves. And their children.

• Debate and Switch: In episode 6. "The question is not whether or not I believe, since I know what I saw."
• Distracted by the Sexy: The boys (Hwang Soon Bum and Choi Dong Man) go 'ga-ga' over the medical examiner, Soo Hee.
• Dragon-in-Chief: Chief Prosecutor Jang, The Chessmaster, works to feed Yeon Ji's insatiable appetite.

• Every Car Is a Pinto: Justified. The first scene ends in a nasty 3-car crash including a tractor-trailer, but there's no fire until someone uses a lighter. Even then, the tractor doesn't blow up till much later.
• Everyone Is a Suspect:
  • Episode 6. Everyone in the fight club injured the victim in some way and as the mystery unfolds, the detective-prosecutor team can't figure out exactly how the victim died.
  • Episode 10's murder on the set of a Reality Show
• Facial Dialogue: When Tae Yeon returns to work after being fatally stabbed while protecting Jung In, the two of them have this type of conversation.

• Flashback: The characters' stories unfold in flashbacks.
• Four-Fingered Hands: The suspect in episode 3 has one.
• Good Cop/Bad Cop: Cho Dong Min/Hwang Soon Bum. Played With. They weren't even interviewing the same suspect! Or in the same room.

• Gone Horribly Right:
  The Bartender: (about the Big Bad) I ... I think ... I created Black Cape.
• Hello, Attorney!: Both our protagonist Min Tae Yeon and his opponent in episode 4, Yoon Ji Hee
• If You Kill Him, You Will Be Just Like Him!: "If you kill him, then you'll be a killer too!"
• Inspector Lestrade: Bumbling detective Hwang Soon Bum, who knows Tae Yeon is a vampire, is fairly good at his job, but Tae Yeon is much, much better.
• Jack the Ripoff: Tae Yeon's first case in the series proper mimics a vampire killer from 7 years ago.
• Knight Templar Parent:
  Jung In: (about her gangster father) He’s the bad guy. He’s someone I have to lock away. But when the reason he did those bad things is because of me, I can’t call him the bad guy. I can’t even hate him.
• Life Imitates Art: In-Universe. In the 2nd episode, the murder victim (a director) is found lying in a pool on the set of his horror flick, Murderer. The entire cast had been shown earlier working on a scene in which the victim ends up dead in the pool. The film was also based on the unsolved murder of a young woman.

• Not a Game: Tae Yeon rains on Jung In's parade when they first meet by telling her that murder isn't "fun."

• The Only One Allowed to Kill Him: Tae Yeon says something like this in the first episode as his suspect is being stabbed to death.

• Prima Donna Director: Episode 2's murder victim is an overbearing director, working on his debut film.

• Real Men Hate Affection: Episode 9. Tae Yeon goes to comfort Jung In—and stops short.

• The Reveal: Tae Yeon's sister Yeon Ji is alive! Well, undead. She's a hungry vampire and Chief Prosecutor Jang has been feeding her for the past 7 years until she decided to go looking for Tae Yeon.
• Room Full of Crazy: Tae Yeon finds one of these filled with newspaper articles in the house he inherited.
• Sunglasses at Night: Actress Seo earns a slap from her director for wearing Sunglasses at Night.
• Treachery Cover Up: Episode 7's victim covers up the fact that his adulterous wife killed him.
• "You Made Me Do This," said the murderer in episode 3.
• Volleying Insults: The medical examiner vs. Jung In
• Wimp Fight:
  • Actress Seo vs. Director Cha in episode 2
  • Also, hilariously, all the fight club showdowns turn out to be this in episode 6.

Season 2

• Almost Kiss: Multiple times between Jung In and Tae Yeon
• Answer Cut
  Dr. Jo: What do you hope to find by cutting her open?
  (Cut to ...)
  Jung In: Diamonds?
• Beautiful All Along: After Jung In gets a makeover, Soon Bum wonders if "a pumpkin can be made into a watermelon just by drawing lines." Tae Yeon's reply? "Jung In's not a pumpkin, she's a watermelon whose lines have been hidden."

• Busman's Holiday: In episode 8, the team takes a break and goes on a trip together...and runs into a murder.

• Crossover: Episode 8 is a crossover with tvN's "reality-documentary” show Rude Miss Young-ae.
• Dualvertisement: The pre-season ads show God's Quiz's main character, who's a medical examiner, handing over a case of "bad blood" to Tae Yeon. (Vampire Prosecutor was taking over the time slot from God's Quiz.)
• Expy: No, Park Hoon is not Angel. And Law Firm H is not Wolfram and Hart. Just ... similar.
• Failure Knight: Dr. Jo feels responsible to little Ji Ae because of the death of her family members.
• First-Name Basis: Soon Bum insists on dropping the honorifics and calling Dr Jo "Jung Hyun hyung."
• Introdump: Chief Prosecutor Joo, the new boss, goes over everyone's files in order to subtly introduce or re-introduce them to the audience.

• Jack Bauer Interrogation Technique: On the season's Big Bad villain

• Not My Driver: In episode 5, it's Soon Bum instead!
• Parody Episode: Episode 8, "Rude Tae Yeon," is a parody of Rude Miss Young Ae.
• Recursive Fiction: The movie, Vampire Prosecutor, is based on the life of Chief Prosecutor Jang—if he was a vampire.
• Running Gag: Dong Man really wants to be hyung-dongsaeng with Soon Bum.

• Saying Too Much: In episode 8, when Young Ae says that she has to do SOMETHING or she feels like she'll go crazy, Dong Man agrees with a, "like you have to write on his forehead when he's asleep ... or something." Flashback Cut to Soon Bum, waking up with the words "BIG HEAD" written on his forehead.
  Soon Bum: That was you?
• Shipper on Deck: Soon Bum gleefully ships Tae Yeon/Jung In.
  Soon Bum: (to Jung In) You're supposed to grab your head a little and collapse toward Tae Yeon. He'd catch you in his arms, you'd look into each other's eyes ... and fireworks would go off.

• Spear Counterpart: Medical examiner Soo Hee has been replaced by Dr. Jo Jung Hyun.
• Sudden Downer Ending: episode 4. But ... but we caught the actual murderer. A full 24 hours before the statute of limitations ended.
• Tactful Translation: Dong Man's translations for the Japanese psychic, Runa, is a hoot!
  Jung In: (in Korean) Is catching murderers a joke? Are we using psychics now! (to Dong Man) Translate. Translate!
  Dong Man: (in Japanese) 'Welcome to Korea.'
  Runa: (in Japanese) Arigatō.
  Dong Man: (in Korean) She said 'thank you.'
  Jung In: (in Korean) I know what 'arigatō' means too. For what? Did you translate correctly?
  Dong Man: (in Korean) What? Of c-course.
  
  
  Jung In: (in Korean) We don't need you. I know you want to help, but this is dangerous work and you are better off returning home to Japan. (to Dong Man) Hurry up, translate.
  Dong Man: (in Japanese) 'Please stay in Korea a long, long time! Let's be good friends.'
  Runa: (in Japanese) Didn't she say much more than you translated?
  Dong Man: (laughs nervously and says in Japanese) Korean is longer than Japanese.
  Runa: (in Japanese, to Jung In) Arigatō.
  Jung In: (to Dong Man, in Korean) Hey!

• Tempting Fate: In episode 8, Jung-in cheerfully tells Tae-yeon there's no way they'll run into a murder while on a trip—and immediately hears a scream.
• Time Bomb: Multiples times. For Runa. Then Ji Ae. And finally for Jung In. With an actual time bomb.

• When It All Began: Park Hoon's scenes in the "cold open" are shown to have taken place much earlier than the current timeline. But seeing as how Park Hoon never ages, getting appropriate dates can be a bit of a hassle.
• You Never Did That for Me: Dong Man gets jealous over the "brotherly" relationship between Soon Bum and Dr. Jo. "You'll drop honorifics with him, but not with me?"

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