SBS’ ‘ Let Me Be Your Knight’ offered viewers a predictable and cliche-ridden setup surrounding the haughty singer of LUNA ( a popular idol group ) Yoon Tae-In ( Lee Jun Young) who is diagnosed with somnambulism. In order to avoid media-attention, the CEO ( Kwak Ja Hyung) of the idol group’s contracted company employs world-renowned in-house somnologist Kang Sun Jun ( Jung In Sun). However there’s a catch; the CEO ended up employing Kang Sun Jun’s identical twin sister In Yoon Ju ( also played by Jung In Sun) instead. With her own personal motives for taking up the false identity of her estranged twin, Yoon Ju finds her nerves tested to the limit when she begins having to keep watch over the insufferable Yoon Tae-In as well as sharing a house with his fellow band mates Lee Shin ( JR), Kim Yoo-Chan ( Yoon Ji-Sung ), Woo Ga-On ( Kim Dong Hyun) and Seo Woo-Yeon ( Jang Dong-Joo).

Directed by Ahn Ji Sook and composed together by a quartet of screenwriters (Shin Seo Ha, Hae Yeon, Seo Jung Eun and Yoo So Won) as a marketed story about “ romance and healing, ‘ Let Me Be Your Knight’ is undeniably a fairly disengaging and “ fluffy” drama.

Of course, a good drama doesn’t always necessarily need to have labyrinthine plot points and often romantic escapist dramas do present versatile opportunities for dynamic screenwriting. However, where an ultimate problem did lie with ‘ Let Be Your Knight’ ‘s presented formula is that reimbursed cliches and tropes often led to predictable and generic outcomes throughout the storyline.

There was an admitted problem with the casting choice of Jung In Sun as the main female lead ; she didn’t seem to quite match the role for audiences . Respectfully the age of her character In Yoon Ju ( as well as arguably her “ twin sister”) is never truly specified throughout the series. However, with consideration to Yoon Ju’s notably more benign personality traits, mannerisms and soft-spoken tendencies at times, ‘ Let Me Be Your Knight’ often seemed to indicate that the screenwriters should’ve facilitated to two possibilities; a younger actress to play the suggested role, or changing elements of Yoon Ju’s age or mannerisms as a character to better-suit the casting choice of Jung In Sun .

Admittedly this isn’t entirely the fault of the actress. Yoon Ju presented a polar opposite to her seemingly “cold” twin; emotional, kindhearted and notably benign at times but rarely did she seem to have a quintessential requirement for her character’s seeming “ difficult past and problems”; flaws .

This isn’t to say that Yoon Ju didn’t have potential to have intriguing character exploration moments ( including her complicated relationship with her sister as well as the loss of her parents) nor did she show affection to others throughout the series. However considering the fact that Yoon Ju has had to take up the false identity of her sister; a qualified professional in sleep diagnosis and aside from a comical “ initial struggle” early on, it seemed odd that neither the band mates or CEO Moon didn’t begin to grow slightly suspicious by her actions or mannerisms early on. As a consequence, the female lead often suffered from a predestined fate as a “ carte blanche Mary Sue”; a plot device in order to keep the storyline intriguing,but missing out on truly engaging with the audience as a fleshed-out and definitive female lead.

Costarring alongside Jung In Sun is Lee Jun Young. Jun Young is undeniably a good actor and has proven his talents in versatile roles over recent years. However there seems to be a recent and notable pattern with In Sun being cast in the “ stoic” male lead role with his onscreen persona Tae-In being no exception.

Tae-In is a character who is notably hard to warm up to during the initial events of the storyline ; he’s brusque, aloof and aside from gaining the adoration of the “maknae” of the group Woo Ga-On ( Kim Dong Hyun), has struggled to get along with the rest of the band. Admittedly Tae-In’s growth is gradual through his initial self-depreciation after the flop of the band’s recent album ( which he mainly wrote) as well as gradually falling for the female lead. However similar to Yoon Ju’s missed-out opportunities to be explored as a well-rounded character, Tae-In’s more evident character drives such as the traumatic link of his somnambulism, gradually developing a closer-bond with his teammates and even his exact reasons for attraction for the female lead, were rarely covered in order to shoehorn him into particular scenarios and plot events.

The onscreen chemistry between Lee Jun Young and Jung In Sun whilst decent enough, did seem to lack a certain dynamic charm for audiences. Tae-In and Yoon Ju’s gradual attraction from one another to “ contempt to love” rarely flowed coherently due to the characters often being enforced into romantic cliches and scenarios, rather than gradually developed.

In addition to this, there’s the issue also with consideration to the indecisive writing decision of the “love triangle” between Tae-In, Yoon Ju and fellow band member Seo Woo Yeon (Jang Dong Joo). Whilst the “love triangle” trope was used in the series as an attempt to “ keep chemistry alive”, there was rarely time to truly see this dynamic with more finesse. Woo Yeon was often limited merely to his archetype as the “ second male lead”; the dreamer who is pointlessly chasing the female lead without clear reasons or even definitive character traits along the way.

The side characters of the series admittedly were often used in a seeming attempt to fill-out screen time through various subplots. It’s wrong to entirely state that these subplots weren’t interesting per say; Yoo Chan’s complicated relationship with his mother, Shin’s clandestine relationship with radio presenter Ji-yeon (Ha Young) and Ga-On’s traumatic experiences as a trainee did seem to put forward some intriguing side storylines throughout the series. On the other hand whilst a lot of the side characters were arguably more fleshed-out than the main leads, the primal focus on the main storyline rarely gave opportunities to delve deeper into the subplots. Instead these storylines were often slightly rushed, brushed over or given anticlimactic resolutions by the ending of the series.

‘ Let Me Be Your Knight’ was arguably self-conscious from outset about not overcommitting itself to a complicated plot in twelve episodes. Nevertheless whilst the basic formula surrounding the main leads’ romance and issues is compacted, the series did often seem to struggle with truly expediting plot. Instead the pacing of the series could often be tedious in parts with niche plot setups and enforced dialogue becoming apparent. Perhaps if the series had given more opportunities to exploring characters, or even a definitive plot goal, then ‘ Let Me Be Your Knight’ could’ve had a less anticlimactic and impactful ending.

The cinematography of ‘ Let Me Be Your Knight’ was admittedly decent enough under the directing reigns of Ahn Ji Sook. Most scenes throughout the series were filmed throughout a usage of slick, long distance and closeup shots and gave a professional and glossy edge to filmed sequences and key moments. However despite the aesthetic edge of filming, the innovation of presenting the arts in intuitive ways , reflecting the emotional scope of its characters through palettes or tones ( aside from niche pathetic fallacy in certain scenes) , or even vivid mise-en-scène moments were greatly absent from the series.

The OST of the series was admittedly a mixed-bag. For a series which mainly focused upon its central characters being in the music business and industry, it seemed odd that certain song tracks in the series were slightly insipid at times . This isn’t to say that these songs were bad per say. In fact there were definitely several tracks which helped to definitively reflect the mindset of the characters and will likely grow on some. On the other hand, it seemed surprising that the OST didn’t always deliver a memorable punch for the audience either.

‘ Let Me Be Your Knight’ is a fairly lighthearted and niche romantic melodrama . Whilst the acting performances are decent enough and the side storylines did offer intrigue for viewers, the drama could often feel unable to escape its own set-limitations. In particular certain casting choices, predictable screenwriting tropes and character archetypes alongside poor pacing in parts, presented ‘ Let Me Be Your Knight’ as an above-average drama; watchable and enjoyable during a binge-watch, but lacking in more definitive traits also.