“Black Knight” on Netflix: a South Korean post-apocalyptic series calibrated to hit

A devastated world, two heroes who oppose everything, very evil villains, deadly trials… Netflix's new K-drama does not have much new to offer, which should not prevent it from making a misfortune. 

 “Black Knight” 

Need to know the secrets of Netflix's algorithm to know that the platform expects a lot from Black Knight. This South Korean series, adapted from a webtoon (a comic published online), ticks all the boxes of what has been working on the American platform lately. It is set in the year 2071, forty years after a meteorite devastated the Earth and transformed the Land of Morning Calm into a vast, unbreathable desert, where a wealthy minority leaves a mass of outcasts to die. Sa-Wol, a young “refugee” – a name given to the poorest people who are piled up in ruined cities – crosses paths with 5-8, a mythical “transporter” – the name given to those who transport food supplies. oxygen through the region. The first is mischievous and clumsy, and the second is placid and heroic. Together (we suspect), they will change the course of history...

The South Korean series, 

Written and directed by Cho Ui-seok, Black Knight (nothing to do with Batman) is all about those Netflix series that look like they were designed on an Excel board, with every plot, and every character designed to appeal to the audience. The equation is a priori infallible: a post-apocalyptic world like Mad Max (transporters pilot armored trucks attacked by grimacing bandits); a duo of a reckless joker and an indestructible superhero; a series of tests like Squid Game(a contest whose content we will keep silent begins in the third episode); a pinch of martial arts; an ultra-conventional societal subtext (South Korea is in the hands of an all-powerful corporation)… Shake it all up, add some K -drama quirks like heightened feelings and theatrical acting, and the count is Good.