Revamp Rerun: The Combat of Episode 6

Vampires: those all-powerful, tough to beat creatures of the night, right? Chances are if you're old enough to be reading this, you've interacted with some type of vampire media, or at least heard a thing or two. One such vampire media? Revamp: The Undead Story. As a lifelong literature lover and a decently-seasoned enjoyer of BL dramas, it is of my belief that Revamp brings something fresh to the table. I have truly enjoyed watching every minute of its (so far) 9-episode run. However, we have run into an age-old problem: media literacy and characterization.

"How did the hunters take down the vampires so easily?", "Why do the vampires fight so poorly?"

They didn't, and they don't. So, let's talk about this "underwhelming" fight scene.

First, a few words from our sponsor (me) regarding behind the camera, real-life reasons for the potential lacking of such a battle sequence that I believe some of us may not be taking into account:

1) Sometimes, a piece of media is someone's first ever experience with intense media-combat training and sequencing. There is a lot that goes into choreographing and executing fight scenes, and this fight scene in particular has a lot going on. It may not be completely without flaw.

2) And one I added to this list as I recalled this particular fact myself while planning this review. If you are watching the show because you are a fan of Ramil's actor, Boun, then you may know that Boun was also cast to be in the horror movie Zomvivor, which is set to release at the end of this month. This means that there may have been some behind the scenes conflicts with scheduling that put more focus on progressing the plot of Revamp rather than crafting a flawless fight sequence that we as viewers do not realize.

3) Disclaimer: this is only last because I really want it to hit home, because I am ashamed that there is most likely some group of the people expressing frustration over the fight scenes in Revamp who watch the show because of its inclusion of Boun as a cast member and who also are fully aware of the fact that Boun has a heart condition, which he has been very open about, and his on-screen partner, Prem, has been very wary of. This may have had a role to play in the lack of intense fighting from Boun's character in the episode that we may be unaware of. Even if it had nothing to do with it, which I don't entirely think it did, it is something to be mindful of.

Now that we've gotten the real-life stuff out of the way, let's move on to the show itself.

The ballroom fight scene leaves us with two of the main four vampires: Mekhin, the youngest, and Ciar. Methas is not shown again until the end of the ballroom scene when he zips back in to get Mekhin and Ciar out. Ramil was pulled out of the ballroom before the fight even started. So, let's focus on the ballroom scene from just the perspectives of Ciar and Mekhin.

Starting with Mekhin, he was stabbed very early on in the ballroom fight scene. "How could that happen, he's a vampire! Couldn't he have sped away or something?"

One thing Revamp does very well in terms of vampire media is not make their vampires invincible! It is very explicitly presented to us over the course of the series before episode 6 that not all vampires have the same powers. Ramil spends the first couple of episodes retrieving a portion of his shared powers back from Methas, Mekhin, and Ciar. Each one got one of Ramil's powers — Methas his speed, Ciar his Raven powers, and Mekhin his ability to heal himself and others. Before episode 6, the main four do not do a lot of on-screen interacting with everyday vampires in order for us to see much of the general population's fighting styles, but we also know that Ramil has different powers unique to himself — mind reading and control. This is most likely due to his being of the pure Jonoel bloodline.

During the entire duration of the ballroom scene, Mekhin is not shown fighting, which one may find issue with considering he's a "super powerful vampire", but only if one does not consider the fact that Mekhin's character arc is his love for all beings — human, vampire, hunter, regardless — and his love for helping people as he maintains a human hospital, and still plays himself off to the humans in his employ as a doctor at said hospital and not the owner of it. So, what was Mekhin doing the entire time the hunters are attacking them in the ballroom, if not fighting (and if you have not watched the show and do not know the answer already)?

He was healing people. When he was stabbed? Healing a vampire hunter.

Now, Ciar on the other hand, is portrayed with two very distinct and important points to his personality. 1) the man despises humans, and hunters even more. 2) he cares about his family, even if he doesn't always show it very well, and more importantly, he cares about Mekhin. Mekhin, in this little family of 4, is Ciar's soft spot. It's the reason Ramil often sends Mekhin to "deal" with Ciar when he needs to be talked out of doing something stupid.

Ciar is a strong fighter who can very well hold his own, and that is shown in the way that dozens of hunters cannot manage to take him down…

…until the second that Mekhin gets stabbed.

As we all may know, fighting angry is not always the best way to fight, and fighting angry when you don't know how to actually hold your own in a fight could be a death sentence. However, Ciar is very capable of fighting angry, and we know he can fight. So, what gives? Wouldn't he be fighting angrier once they hurt Mekhin?

Nope. Now he's fighting angry and distracted. As soon as Ciar can get free of hunters on him for even just a moment, he rushes to Mekhin's side, and tries to get him to heal his injury — Mekhin's powers are too used up at that point, which also serves his characterization, using his power up healing the humans. Now that he knows Mekhin is injured and unable to heal, he's distracted enough for the twin hunters, Paul and Caster, to get the edge on him, keeping in mind that while he was trying to get Mekhin off the ground, he was shot twice, to the point of dropping Mekhin. He tries to use his raven powers, and detransforms right in front of them after Paul (I believe Paul uses the guns) fires off a few shots at him in bird form. It is unclear whether any of these bullets actually makes contact with him, in case you are wondering why he would transform back right in front of them instead of flying away, but I do remind you he was 1) concerned about leaving Mekhin behind and 2) already shot, and probably believed that taking the two down was the only way to safely go back for Mekhin.

Furthermore, we go back to him fighting angry as he quickly overpowers the two and knocks their weapons away, and Ciar, combining his belief of vampire-superiority with that anger at the hunters attacking them, argues with the two instead of going for the immediate takedown, mocking their inferiority and inability to truly take down the vampires. Ciar is then saved by Methas, who reappears with his speed to save Ciar from taking another bullet, presumably to the head if the aim of Paul's gun as he manages to reach out, grab, and aim it has any say in the matter. Methas then presumably uses his speed to go back for Mekhin, as the next scene shows him settling Mekhin on the floor of a separate corridor next to a clearly exhausted Ciar and telling him to wait there and rest. Methas goes back into the fray to, as he does, "take it from there".

Now, the end of the ballroom scene does not the end of the fight scene make! There's more!

We finally return to Punn and Ramil, in a different wing of the building, fighting off a gang of hunters (well, Punn fighting them off. Rewind to before the title sequence and you will be reminded that Ramil was shot at least once in the back). Now, I can be reasonable — the fight scene in the section with Ramil and Punn was lacking. I don't know if it was to move the plot along (probably), or because the hunters that are not the main collective of Jett, Elise, Paul and Caster are that bad at their jobs, but you can't tell me that when there's nothing but a corner standing between you and the big bad vampire your boss is telling a squad of like a dozen of you to take down, and a singular man with a gun, and said vampire that you've already gotten at least one shot off on, that you're all going to just sit around the corner and continue firing off shots like that's working so far. Unfortunately, these hunters went to the "Power Ranger Villains" school of "let's wait for them to transform and not attempt to flee with what we're here to steal or continue in our mischief or attack them while they do."

Anyway, moving on!

Punn defends Ramil from the hunters, albeit kind of miserably and also not appearing to be wanting to go for any kind of kill shot, but you also have to keep in mind, at this point, we've been told that Punn used to be an integral part of the hunters with Elise and Jett (Jett founded the Hunters after the 3 survived a vampire incident as children, in case you're not aware of the lore here!). He probably doesn't want to hurt anyone if he doesn't absolutely have to, but especially not people who he once worked alongside. He encourages Ramil to try and heal himself, and if we're following the vampire lore of "the closer the wound is to the heart the worse off you are", then it makes sense for Ramil to be a bit winded considering the entry wound on his back was shown to be pretty close to where his heart would be, so I'm going to extend the benefit of the doubt and say the man has the right to be a little winded. Think that episode of The Vampire Diaries where Stephan got shot and the wood chips were like pressing against his heart and it wasn't killing him but god did it hurt like Hell!

While Ramil finally attempts to heal his injury a little, Punn takes a bullet to the shoulder and Ramil heals him (probably a good time to move in, hunters, but you know, we have to keep the plot moving, which is another point we'll get to at the end!), presumably using up some of his healing power. This gets Ramil angry, and Punn allows him to use his powers on them in exchange for not killing them. As he moves to do so, Ramil takes another hit to the shoulder, and he finally uses his mind control abilities to get the hunters to leave. The two go back and forth for a minute, Ramil trying to get Punn to understand that he also has a responsibility to the vampires, and Punn trying to get him to stay away from Jett, as Jett's ultimate goal is to kill him. Of course, the two compromise on Punn accompanying Ramil in going after the other 3 and protecting the vampires.

Now, we cut away from them and turn to Methas, who is first show ushering a group of presumably vampires if their attire (the hunters were either in disguise as waitstaff in the ballroom or in the other parts of the building in their hunting gear, easy to identify) has any say in the matter. Methas is jumped by a small gang of hunters, and in case the reasons above are not enough to sway you into seeing how decently-done this fight scene overall was, let me just tell you that Methas's moment certainly saves the day. Methas fights nearly unstoppably, until he is faced with Elise and Jett, who he knows are in charge of the hunters (moreso Jett, but, semantics). Methas is the peace-keeper of the four, always trying to stop a fight before it has to start and trying to talk things through rather than swing first and ask questions later. He keeps Elise and Jett talking until Ramil shows up, the real one Jett wants to deal with. This is where Jett's motivations for wanting Ramil dead come from.

Now, there is a lot of reasoning here for how the fight scenes in episode 6 went down. If we wanted to truly connect the three vampires fighting styles — Mekhin, Methas, Ciar — with their characters, they almost completely match up to their backgrounds as humans, which is presented to Punn and of course the audience in episode 3. Methas was a Prince and an Army Leader, rescued by Ramil and turned after he was betrayed by a trusted soldier. His loyalty as well as his combat skill from this shows in his fights as a vampire, specifically in instances such as episode 2, when hunters go after Ciar and Mekhin, and Mekhin calls Methas, who quickly goes to back him up. This is because out of the 3, Methas is the fighter.

Now, Ciar obviously can hold his own, but Methas's fighting ability is nearly unmatched, and he even takes Ciar down later on towards the conclusion of episode 2. Ciar as a human was a slave who was going to be killed in order for the slave owners to gain eternal life, as they believed they could do so by bathing in the blood of the young. Ramil saved all their lives, yes, but he saved Ciar from more than death. Ramil saved Ciar from a life of servitude that ultimately left him a lamb to the slaughter. Ciar's anger comes from the stipulation of Ramil's curse that names the one who breaks the curse as the one Ramil will love for eternity. He is jealous, and definitely heartbroken but covering that up with his anger, that that's not him.

Mekhin was a combat medic who was injured in combat and died, but unlike the others, he tried to say goodbye to his family, and killed them all. This really sets Mekhin's character apart, because it's the one you'd expect the least to have gone on a murderous rampage, and it shows in the fact that he really tries not to fight. He knows how to hold his own, of course, as we see in that fight in episode 2 before Methas arrives. This makes sense, because a combat medic still sees combat and even if he never fought in the military during this time, it would stand to reason that after over a hundred years of being in a vampire-family with Ciar and an ex-military leader, he would at least be taught how to defend himself.

The final point I want to touch on is the plot. The primary storyline of Revamp: The Undead Story is a vampire leader who was trapped in a painting for a century and destined to love the one who frees him from the painting and breaks his curse. The vampires vs. hunter storyline, which includes the hunters' motivations for hunting the vampires, is a subplot. The relationship between Ramil and Punn is the primary plot. The fight scenes in the first few episodes, while portraying the characterization we outlined above, were allowed to be drawn out and really in-depth because the plotline was introducing the vampire hunters. As we have outlined above, the fight scene in episode 6 was specifically choreographed in a way that encapsulates the personalities of each of the main characters in the vampire family, but it also put the fighting to the background with reasons that make sense (Ramil's focus on Punn not getting hurt, Ciar's focus on Mekhin, Mekhin's focus on healing people, etc) in order to focus on the real plot — the turning point of the vampires vs. hunters war, as well as the turning point of Punn and Ramil's relationship. Ramil is put in a position where his option is death, or potentially hurt or kill Punn in order to save his own life, and Punn is a put in a position where he is reminded of Ramil's biological nature as a vampire.

The fight scene in episode 6 accomplished everything the producers of Revamp: The Undead Story set out to: show their vampires in that "not completely invincible" way, accurately portray its characters' characterization within its combat-choreography, and progress the plot of the story.

This fight was not the only one with its share of negative criticism, though, so I want to take you a little further towards the middle to end of episode 6, after Ramil's injury and he and Punn fleeing through the painting to the simulated Greenmore. People wondered how, when Ramil was chasing Punn through the woods of Greenmore after Punn gathers some of his blood to attempt to heal the fatal wound Ramil sustained in the battle with the hunters, he chased him so slowly, and didn't seem to try very hard for an all-powerful pureblood vampire.

To explain this means doing as we've done with Ciar, Mekhin, and Methas, and studying Ramil's character.

1) We've established a lack of indefiniteness when it comes to the healing ability, so perhaps with him only using the speed in small bursts as he's chasing Punn, the producers wished to show the audience that there is some limitation to the speed power. We have also been shown non-explicit instances of limitations to Ciar's raven-power, if you choose to believe that his detransforming in front of Paul and Caster in the ballroom scene was not intentional and was a result of his injuries and power limitations, but more specifically when Ciar knocked the crossbow out of Elise's hand back when they were fighting her and Jet, falling to the ground as he, seemingly unwillingly, changed back out of his raven form.

2) Ramil was injured to a severe level for a vampire, which along with said potential limiting of his speed power and the rampaging bloodlust coursing through him, probably attributed to his ability to chase after Punn.

3) The way Ramil (Boun) choreographs this chase scene can also be symbolic of Ramil's love for Punn and deep-down knowledge of who he is as a person, as well as his battle for control of his instincts. If you focus on Ramil's character, one could argue that there was some part of him fighting to stay in control, especially because he fought so hard all night to not hurt Punn -- something he very easily could have done considering Punn had fallen asleep outside the house and all Ramil had to do was open the door that locked from his side.

Overall, the team of Revamp maintained the integrity of the plotlines of the show in their handling of the fight scenes overall but especially in episode 6, and really focused on what they needed to focus on. Furthermore, the actors in every episode do an excellent job of studying their characters and portraying them in the different ways of characterization. Most American English Language Arts educators use a method called STEAL: Speech, Thoughts, Effect on others, Actions, Looks (physical appearance). Using these 5 points, one can confidently say these actors play their characters well and really take into consideration, given their character's background, how they would act in the present of the show.

Anyway, this has been the Rerun on Revamp: The Undead Story episode 6!