Moon Lovers: Scarlet Heart Ryeo

Moon Lovers: Scarlet Heart Ryeo

4.5/10

Moon Lovers: Scarlet Heart Ryeo

Genre:                                      Episodes: 20                              Year: 2016

Romance

Historical

Synopsis:

During an eclipse, Go Ha Jin travels back in time, waking up in the Goryeo Dynasty in an identical body with the identity Hae Soo- an in-law to one of Goryeo’s many Princes. As Soo learns to live in this era, she draws closer to many of the princes. As she befriends the princes, she tries to remember which prince will become King Gwangjong- the King who killed all his brothers to become King.

Cast:

IU (Hae Soo/Go Ha Jin)

Lee Joon Ki (4th Prince Wang So)

Kang Ha Neul (8th Prince Wang Wook)

Hong Jong Hyun (3rd Prince Wang Yo)

Nam Joo Hyuk (13th Prince Baek Ah)

Ji Soo (14th Prince Wang Jung)

Baekhyun (10th Prince Wang Eun)

Yoon Sun Woo (9th Prince Wang Won)

Kim San Ho (Crown Prince Wang Moo)

Kim Sung Kyun (Choi Ji Mong)

Kang Ha Na (Princess Yeon Hwa)

Seohyun (Woo Hee)

Z.Hera (Park Soon Deok)

General Thoughts:

What is this drama supposed to be about? Love? Changing history? Nefarious schemes to steal the throne that end in bloodshed with an underdog hero to cheer for? None of these? Who knows. Seriously- who knows? Please tell me because I’m so confused about what I have just watched.

You'd think it'd be about the romance- but it's really kinda not

While dramas can have weaknesses, as long as the story makes sense and the characters have clear motivations and are generally likeable, it’s easy enough to enjoy it. ‘Moon Lovers’ had many weaknesses, the story made no sense and the characters didn’t really seem to have motivations that went beyond ‘just cuz’ and no one was really all that likeable.

Please let's just go back to when this was happening, okay? Okay.

On the bright side, it did take a little while for the drama to become complete and utter nonsense, so there was a patch there where it was an enjoyable (if not addictive) drama with interesting characters and a compelling plot. In the beginning Soo actually has a wisp of personality and is shocked and annoyed at how people in the Goryeo period are judged on their birth status and their families. She seems like a heroine primed to help the princes with her modern-day values and general knowledge of the future. So is wonderfully badass- a hurt puppy that tends to kill people when he gets upset and is hiding one hell of an inferiority complex. It’s fun to see him gradually open up to Soo and some of his brothers, and he’s understandable (even if you don’t agree with his actions) for the most part. The love-line between Soo and Wook is sweet and beautifully developed- so much so that I wondered how they were going to get us off Wook’s ship and onto So’s. But even that was done in a satisfactory manner. Fearing the powerlessness Wook felt when he couldn’t help Soo during her brief engagement to the King, Wook sets out to gain more influence and ultimately does immoral things that Soo doesn’t agree with and causes a rift between them- right when So is ready to throw everything away and take Soo out of the palace to live in peace.

Lee Joon Ki's swoon levels were off the charts

The other princes are cute and fun to watch, even if they are horribly pigeonholed into their characters: Crown Prince- nice but a tad clueless, 3rd Prince- generically evil and greedy for the throne, 9th Prince- bland and just kind of there for the numbers, 10th Prince- childish with no responsibilities, 13th Prince- artsy and into drawing and music, 14th Prince- into martial arts and sneaking out of the palace.

Back before the drama tried to kill you with its senselessness

Scenes of all the Princes together were always fun to watch, and tinged with sadness because you know not all those boys are going to make it out of this drama alive. The first half of the series had a steady story that seemed to be making its way towards some sort of large conflict (spoiler alert: it’s not), and our characters’ decisions had some degree of logic that we could follow. Then it all turned to poop and I can tell you when- Episode 12. Episode 12 was the first time I really thought something wasn’t quite right with the drama, and it’s ultimately the start of where things started to go very, very wrong for ‘Moon Lovers’. To start with, we open on a completely random scene where our hero is sent out of the palace on some mission or the other. The scene was so random with no buildup to our hero’s departure that I originally thought I’d accidentally skipped an episode. But no, it was what it was- a poorly placed scene with no buildup and no explanation. Then our heroine is also booted out of the palace. Then the drama just flails around and doesn’t know what to do with itself. There are a bunch of time skips thrown in there that it makes it hard to follow how much time has passed- not to mention much of our characters’ development happens off-screen. Which is never good.

Please, please go back to making some sort of sense

We come back from one of these time skips and suddenly Wook is full-blown evil now (he was just testing the evil-waters last time we saw him), the Crown Prince has become a bat-shit crazy King, the 9th Prince is actually one of the biggest antagonists (even though everyone still ignores him anyway), and our heroine stops making any sense whatsoever.

Travelled back 1000 years to...do nothing apparently

And the incest was fairly strong in this one. While I understand that during that time period things like that happened, the writers seemed to forget that we the viewers have modern values. So when you marry off one of the boys in the love triangle, our little modern minds think that he’s out of the running now, even if that’s not supposed to be the case (first it was Wook married to Soo’s cousin, then So gets married to his sister, and finally Soo marries Jung). And then there’s Yeon Hwa who’s desperate to marry one of her brothers (yeah, gross), and actually succeeds in marrying Soo and having children with him. Then it’s really just a downward spiral in regard to the story. There’s no central conflict and the drama is just made up of smaller plot-points: attempted poisoning of the Crown Prince, Soo’s engagement to the King, 3rd Prince’s treason etc. etc. etc. The only real idea that seemed to span for the whole show was that Goryeo was a real sh*t place to live and everyone who lived there sucked. I think what’s most frustrating about this drama is that it had all the makings for something really excellent- but just failed to deliver. 

Goryeo: where the nobles won't accept you as King until you marry your sister

What Was Great:

Casting:

The acting was all brilliant- particularly Lee Joon Ki who became a bit of a one-man-show.

Would we really care if it was a drama all about Lee Joon Ki killing everyone?
Probably not.

While this drama failed to do many things, it did showcase what an excellent actor Lee Joon Ki is. All the unnecessary close-ups really let us have a good look at all his micro-expressions (oh my God he acts so, so well), and he’s also super pretty so that’s a bonus. He also just suits historical dramas insanely well. IU was also good in the few scenes that actually required her to act, like when Court Lady Oh dies for her, but she does spend most of the time staring off into space and not doing very much. Kang Ha Neul is also excellent, both as the warm, loving prince we’re first introduced to, and as the cold, jealous prince he becomes (even if that transition does happen off-screen). He always seemed a little conflicted and carried an air of regret that saved his character from being the worst guy ever and gave him a hint of humanity. Nam Joo Hyuk was in the background for most of the time, and I don’t really think the writers put a lot of effort into his character.

All 3 women Baek Ah liked died- not a great track record

It felt like Nam Joo Hyuk took a very bland, poorly written character and breathed a bit of life into him, ensuring that we’d at least remember he was around.

A total star- if only they gave him a chance to shine

Ji Soo didn’t really get much of a look in at all, but when he did he delivered strong, emotional performances- like his anger and heartbreak at Eun’s death or his complete devastation at So taking Soo’s ashes after he devoted years to protecting her and loving her as her husband. All the other Princes, and Yeon Hwa too, were acted marvellously but I just don’t have the time to talk about each one in detail (because this drama had soooooo many characters). ‘Moon Lovers’ was also a drama that had quite a few idols making their first big appearances in a drama. First, and with the biggest role, was Baekhyun from EXO as our 10th prince. Baekhyun really sold the childishness and immaturity of the prince, and while there were a few times his acting wasn’t the best, it was a nice small role for him to find his feet. He completely sold the innocence of his character, which made his death that much sadder to watch- because out of all the princes, Eun was the one that was least-likely to commit treason to seize the throne. Baekhyun acted extremely well during his death scene, and hit the emotions well, both with his agony over his wife’s death and his desperation for So to finish him cleanly and quickly.

It really was quite sad

It was a great start for Baekhyun in his acting endeavours and a perfect role for him to gain experience without having too much pressure. Next to Baekhyun, we had Z.Hera as his wife. Z.Hera didn’t have that many scenes, but she was similar to Baekhyun in that her character was mostly young, naive and fairly straightforward to act out- a good first step for her acting career. Even though she expressed her character’s more childish traits well, she also displayed an air of stubbornness and determination which played in well to her death.

Every single idol-actor in this drama dies

By having a slight tenaciousness about her that mixed with her childish adoration of Eun, it didn’t seem strange that she would sacrifice herself to try and save Eun when the time called for it.

It's okay Seohyun, you're not the only character to be crappily developed

These two idols did a great job at portraying a simple love story that ended tragically that we could all get on board with. Lastly there was Seohyun from Girl’s Generation. I’m not as convinced by Seohyun as I was by the other two (as much as I love her), and I think this is due to the extreme complexity of her character. She did a good job at displaying the basic emotions of her character, and made Woo Hee likeable and mostly understandable, but she was given a task that would have been difficult for actresses with 10 years of experience- tell a convincing love story about a Princess of a fallen nation, bring in her conflicted feelings about betraying her people for the man she loves and do it all in 5 minutes of screen-time. Yeah, that was just never going to happen. I really bought Seohyun as the fallen Princess who would kill the King to avenge her people, but once the romance was added her performance seemed to weaken. It could be that Seohyun’s just not cut out for romance, or (more likely) that the writers just did a terrible job at writing her character.

What Wasn’t:

What the Actual F*ck is Going On:

Halfway through the drama everything just stopped making sense and I have no idea why anyone did anything. Soo stopped having any sense of self and just kind of stood around watching things happen, and any time she did do something it seemed to actively make things worse. Like get Eun killed.

I can't think of one time she actually tried to help So

Although the show seemed to want us to buy into the Soo X So relationship (and really did they have to call them Soo and So? How confusing is that, honestly), Soo seemed to always think the worst of So and acted on those feelings of distrust- so it never really felt like she loved him at all. Because if she thought he was a bloodthirsty mass-murderer, how could she love him if she hated the princes fighting? And if she did love him, why did she always tip-toe around him as if he was a bloodthirsty mass-murderer (which I should probably point out he wasn’t)?

Decides to not trust him based on visions out of context that he might, maybe do in the future

Wook turned into an asshole who wanted to ruin things for everyone, and I completely fail to see the motivations behind any of his actions. At first it was believable that he tried to gain power in order to protect Soo, but after it was those very desires that turned Soo away from him, why did he keep going? Was it really nothing more than ‘I’ve already started down the road of treason, so f*ck it- might as well go all the way’?

Apparently being King makes everyone psychotic

Then there’s the 9th prince who’s super keen to get involved in all the treasonous goings-on, but doesn’t seem to have the slightest bit of ambition for himself. So why be involved in all the treason then? Just whyyyyyyy? And even our beloved hero So appeared to be given schizophrenia or something. One minute he was lovey-dovey with Soo, the next he was ordering everyone who questioned his enthronement to be killed (but they never actually were). And I wish the drama had done something more with the princes who became king- because it just seemed like it was their backup plan to make everyone who became King go completely bonkers in order to justify everyone’s paranoia. Moo went totally nuts when he was King, and did all kinds of crazy things. Then Yo became King and he went cray-cray too, driven insane by the voices of those he killed (even though he’d never before hinted that he could feel anything close to remorse). I really wished that the drama had kept Yo sane as a mentally capable, if not fairly bloodthirsty, rival for So to defeat fair and square. Because then it would have made sense for So to want the throne- because Yo (being of sound mind and body) was off on a tirade to kill all his brothers in order to solidify his place on the throne.

A cold-blooded mastermind seems much scarier than a crazy person who hasn't slept in two months

But no, instead he just went nuts and died of his own accord (what even was that- a heart attack?). Then there’s Woo Hee and her completely under-explained story about her fallen nation and all the reasons behind her suicide that just get totally ignored. And then So seems to go a bit crazy once he’s King- even though I don’t understand why he was so determined to remain King.

K-Dramaland loves nothing more than self-inflicted misery

Couldn’t he just be King, marry Soo then abdicate to Jung? Rather than be King, marry his sister, exile Jung and make Soo so miserable that she she actually marries Jung just to get away from him. But then apparently she’s still in love with him and pines for him every day. SO WHY LEAVE THEN? STOP BEING SO F*CKING MISERABLE GIRL AND SORT YOUR SH*T OUT. Sigh. By the end of the series, we viewers really have no idea what was going on in Soo’s head or the motivations behind any of her actions- which is pretty bad when you remember that she’s the person we use to view this strange new world. Then she dies in Goryeo and wakes up back in the present day. And eventually remembers it all and cries. The end. Yeah. What the hell. As soon as the final episode finished I really just wondered what the point of it all was. It couldn’t be love because they both ended up married to other people and not seeing each other, and Soo doesn’t even meet reincarnated So in the present.

So she really did nothing but destroy his tiny, insecure heart 

It seemed like the story wanted to be about changing history to make So a good King rather than a King who earned the throne by killing all his relatives. Apparently Soo achieves this (as she reads about what a just king So was once she returns to the present), but I fail to see how as she literally did nothing. Except never trust So because she was so sure that he was going to become the blood-crazy King she'd read about. I don’t see how totally breaking this poor man’s heart would have made him a better King, but there you go.

Honesty wouldn't have minded 20 episodes of So killing everyone- because that's about how much sense this drama made anyway

I think I actually would have preferred if this drama had been all about why So was seen as murderous King, and how it was all a misunderstanding that got lost in history (like the way he killed Eun because Eun didn’t want Yo to shoot him slowly to death with arrows). But no, instead we got a drama that made no bloody sense whatsoever.

Is it Really Pre-Produced?:

Sure, there were some very pretty scenes, but overall the drama seemed to lack all things a pre-produced drama is supposed to have going for it.

Oh, so pretty ♥

Like a story that makes sense because the script is written in full before airing- didn’t have that. Or a drama that had scenes flow beautifully from one to the other because they have time to tweak and adjust the series into a complete and whole story- again, didn’t have that.

There were horrifically few cute couple moments

Scenes that seemed like they should have been important were skimmed over- such as So’s coronation and marriage, and things that should have been explained just weren’t- what happened to the niece So was engaged to or the girl whose body Soo was using? Also I feel I need to throw in that whoever was on wigs probably deserved to get fired, because some of those boys had some real shockers. Mainly So, whose wig often didn’t move in the same mystical breeze that blew Soo’s hair, and Jung- whose wig looked so mangled and tattered that it was fairly obvious that it was a wig trying to be a glorious warrior’s windswept locks.

Re-watch?

Absolutely not. I barely made it out alive the first time. While the drama could have been so much more, and there were certainly aspects of it that were good and enjoyable, when you look at the drama as a whole it’s just not very good.

The beauty of Goryeo- you're either alone or dead.