Wanted

Wanted

7.5/10

Wanted

Genre:                                   Episodes: 16                      Year: 2016

Mystery

Thriller

Synopsis:

On the verge of her retirement, top actress Jung Hye In’s son is kidnapped. The kidnapper demands that she carry out a live TV show, completing various missions. He gives her 10 episodes to air if she wants her son returned safely.

Cast:

Kim Ah Joong (Jung Hye In)

Ji Hyun Woo (Cha Seung In)

Uhm Tae Woong (Shin Dong Wook)

Lee Moon Shik (Choi Joon Goo)

Park Hyo Joo (Yeon Woo Shin)

Jun Hyo Seong (Park Bo Yeon)

Shin Jae Ha (Lee Young Gwan)

Lee Jae Kyoon (Na Soo Hyun)

Kim Sun Young (Oh Mi Ok)

Park Min Soo (Song Hyun Woo)

General Thoughts:

I enjoyed this show far more than I initially thought I would. It’s one of those rare dramas where the plot is more developed than it’s characters. You’d think that would make for a boring drama (I certainly did), but surprisingly I found myself drawn in more and more, curious about the end result.

Waahhh! Ji Hyun Woo, you're so cool!

There were a few characters that were given depth and that were likeable enough that I was invested in the outcome of the kidnapping. Sadly, our heroine was not one of these characters. But Cha Seung In, the most loveable policeman ever, certainly was.

Best characters in the show

I don’t know what it is about Ji Hyun Woo, but he has this ability that makes his characters so insanely loveable. He flies pretty low under the radar, but when he’s in a drama he commands the screen and has so much charisma. His adamant endeavour for justice made Seung In admirable and his blatant disregard for rules in order to get the job done gave him a nice edge of badass-ness. His heart was in all the right places- not just for the kidnapped Hyun Woo, but for all the kids and adults who ended up being hurt by SG. It was impossible not to root for him and his little rag-tag team of cops, out to fight the underdog battle against the Chaebols. The team behind the show-in-the-show were interesting in their own way, as each had a different reason for wanting to take part in the kidnapper’s demands. However, I do feel as though a lot of characterisation opportunities were passed by in order to keep us wondering if anyone on the team was involved in Hyun Woo’s kidnapping. The writers chose not to show us too much about these characters in order to keep the mystery element high, but this also meant that as a viewer, I was confused about the motivations of these characters and had difficulty connecting with them.

You people confuse me

Writer Yeon and Bo Yeon got some development before the others and became likeable enough, but the two men always came across a bit murky and unclear, as was Hye In herself. The villains of the story were set up wonderfully- both the kidnappers and the chaebols. The gradual unveiling of how everyone was connected played out well, and it was a plot line that was hard to predict- which is always welcome in K-Dramaland were things often tend to follow a predictable, set progression.

PLEASE DON'T KILL OFF THE PUPPY POLICE

The writing kept me on my toes, particularly as our loveable policemen started to become more and more personally involved. As the show clearly didn’t mind killing off characters, I did worry abut the lives of our characters- particularly the police. I honestly thought that puppy Young Gwan had a pretty big risk of getting killed off part-way through, and even our hero Seung In didn’t come across as 100% safe. I always enjoy a drama that can actually get you concerned about the lives of their characters, because so often a lot of dramatic tension is sucked out of a scene purely because you know the drama won’t kill of such a likeable character. But in ‘Wanted’, none of our characters felt safe (except weirdly Hyun Woo), so even though all our ‘hero’ characters made it out in the end,  it would have been understandable and fit into the story well even if one or two had been killed off in the big final show-down. I also enjoyed how the drama showed the power of the media. Our police always felt more in danger than our TV crew, purely because of the lack of cameras. The thugs and paid-off-policemen always backed down in front of a camera, because no one wants to be outed on television- wether the footage is manipulated or not.

And people say TV is useless...

It was interesting (and a little unsettling) to consider how easily the truth could be distorted by those in power, and how solid facts can become ‘simple speculation’ in front of a man who controls the media and the police. The writers did an excellent job at showing just how much of an underdog fight this was. The innocent regular people who were impacted could do nothing against this great power, and only had a voice once someone famous like Hye In gave them one. It was an excellent portrayal of the brutality of the world and how truly untouchable the rich and powerful really are.

They always manage to weasel their way out somehow

I wonder if this drama was inspired by, or even written to point fingers at, Reckitt Benckiser- a company that sold dangerous humidifier disinfectant in South Korea for around 10 years. Many pregnant women and children died (just like in our drama), and it’s only this year, five years after the discovery, that victims and family members received an apology. I’d like to think that the drama was written as a bit of a f*ck you to Reckitt Benckiser, but you never know.

What Was Great:

Ji Hyun Woo Of Course:

Obviously Seung In was my favourite character and obviously Ji Hyun Woo smashed the role. He’s just such a brilliant actor and now I want to go and watch every drama he’s ever been in. Particularly if it’s one where he gets some romance- because his adorable, justice-driven characters always seem to lack the lady-love.

How can he be so cute and so badass all at once?

Mystery:

For the longest time I didn’t know the direction the drama was going. Which is awesome. I love not being able to predict the story. It’s rare that my emotions get swayed the exact way the writer wants them to, but I was taking every path the writer was leading me to.

Unlike some characters, the plot was confusing in a good way

There were a few things I figured out before they were revealed- Hyun Woo being a son from the first marriage, brother-in-law being a bad dude- but these were relatively small discoveries in light of the big-picture, and the large mysteries always remained hidden until the writer chose to unveil them. We were right there with the police team, trying to build a whole story with only tiny scraps of information, and with each new piece, the story could change into something completely different. It was wonderful how by the end of the drama everything fit nicely into place. There was nothing shown in any episode that was unnecessary to the story’s development- it all had some connection to the SG mystery being unravelled. Sad as it was, I really enjoyed the way the show wrapped up it’s story. While the big-bad was exposed for what it was and our mystery was all solved, it still seemed unlikely that any form of justice would result. The general public would gradually forget once ‘Wanted’ was no longer airing, and only the victims and their families would be left to remember. While it’s not exactly a happy ending, it’s still satisfying, and much more realistic than a huge company being brought down by a single actress and her policeman friend. So while not being a happy conclusion, it’s still a satisfying and deeply thought-provoking conclusion. 

Because we all know he won't stay arrested

Victimisation of Villains:

One of the best, and most conflicting, aspects of tis drama was the way the kidnappers were victimised. Because as the story continues, we see their struggles and the injustice in their lives, and to be honest- was there really any other way?

How can he be so loveable when he kidnapped a kid?

Na Soo Hyun was a delightful antagonist because his methods were just so wrong. You’d surely think that nothing could justify the kidnapping of a young child, but even so you can’t help but pity this kid who’s had his life torn apart by men living in comfort and luxury who don’t even care about their wrong-doings. The reveal of Soo Hyun’s truth is handled so delicately, that it doesn’t feel like we’re being hit in the face with the pity card (the way it felt a bit with Joon Goo). He gradually goes from despicable kidnapper to heart-wrenching victim, so much so that his death was actually quite saddening. Soo Hyun’s death made sense in the plot, and was probably the best outcome for his character as his life was completely over anyway after he kidnapped Hyun Woo, but it really drove home the senselessness of the whole conflict. So many innocent people were getting hurt by one corporation’s cover-up and unwillingness to admit fault. It just seems even more nonsensical come the end of the series when it’s apparent that even after their crimes are exposed, the large company and those that run it will be able to make it away mostly unscathed. 

What Wasn’t:

Heroine:

Jung Hye In was just a boring character. I knew the facts about her life, but got no real sense of her as a person. Sure, I knew that she was deeply distressed about the disappearance of her son- but what mother wouldn’t be?

I like the three dead kids in the photo waaaay more than I like her

Not only did she seem super boring, but she didn’t come across as particularly likeable either. She was civil to some of the policemen working on her son’s case- but that was it. She had a rather sour relationship with her husband (who admittedly she’d only married as a business deal), and was snappy and uncommunicative with those on the ‘Wanted’ TV team.

She was weirdly disconnected from every other character

Even though she was well aware that the program was one of the kidnapper’s demands and that Hyun Woo would be hurt if it was stopped or scored low ratings, she seemed to get angry at anyone who put effort into the show. While I understand the crew themselves having moral dilemmas and internal conflicts, this shouldn't have been something Hye In was a part of. She even stated several times that she would do anything to save Hyun Woo- so I was confused when she got angry at Director Shin for focusing on ratings. Sure, his primary goal may not appear to be rescuing Hyun Woo, but when one of the conditions is that if the show scores below 20% ratings Hyun Woo would be hurt you’d think she’d be pretty darn pleased that someone’s worrying about the ratings. Because she also didn’t seem to care what kind of show she was airing until the last two episodes. Kim Ah Joong didn’t really sell the character for me, and while she did an acceptable job, her character never really jumped out, and it didn’t seem like Kim Ah Joong was taking a deep look into her character past what was written in the script.

And any sort of action scene involving Hye In...it wasn't good...

I also don’t know why they kept the face of Hye In’s first husband a mystery for so long. Axing out this huge portion of her life (where she actually seemed like a likeable person no less) made me feel like there was a huge chunk of this character that was purposely being hidden from me- and at the end of the day it really made no difference whether Husband No. 1’s face was revealed in episode 15 or episode 2.

Oops, totally forgot that one time I made my husband choose between me and an investigation

I also wasn’t keen how they spun Hye In’s involvement in the cover-up of SG Chemical’s wrongdoings. I loved it when they seemed to be going for the indifference approach- these two young men both tried reaching out to Hye In, but oblivious to the situation she shut them down and kept her distance. Logically this direction would have made the most sense- it gave Hye In a very, very tiny role in contributing to the cover-up, but also allowed for her ignorance of the situation as a whole. As it was, Hye In knew something was wrong, and purposely intervened to prevent her husband from participating. While this does place more responsibility on Hye In and made it more understandable as to how Joon Goo thought she deserved punishment, it doesn’t logically make sense in the present story-line. If Hye In felt as though her husband was in danger, so much so that she would give him the ultimatum of choosing her and the baby or investigating the case, it makes no sense that she would have thought her husband’s accident was actually an accident.

These flashbacks were withheld because of...what reasons?

It also didn’t make sense at how clueless Hye In was to her involvement all through the kidnapping. She is constantly wondering what it was she could have done to deserve such a punishment- yet she somehow fails to remember the huge argument she had with her husband before he died, the young kid she tried to prevent him from meeting, and the soldier who crashed her husband's funeral screaming that it wasn’t an accident? Yeah, I dunno about everyone else, but those memories would probably stand out in my mind just a bit. 

Characterisation in General:

The writers were just not good at characters. The only characters that were written to a satisfactory level were Seung In and Soo Hyun.

All our mastermind's story came in the last 3 episodes

While the other cops were likeable, we knew absolutely nothing about them, and the same could be said of the TV crew. Hye In was pretty flat and lifeless, and even Hyun Woo was reduced to simply being the kidnapped kid that was the catalyst for the discovery of SG’s corruption. Frankly, I’m a little disappointed that they didn’t focus a bit more on Hyun Woo as a character. As more was unveiled about Soo Hyun, there was no real sense of danger for Hyun Woo- because I honesty didn't believe Soo Hyun would have hurt him. It was interesting to see the after-effects of the kidnapping, and seeing how Hyun Woo was the only innocent that the kidnappers were hurting, it would have made an interesting plot-point. As it is, the mystery and development of the plot definitely took precedence over character development.

Re-watch?

Probably not. The mystery is what kept me really engaged in this series, and now I know how that plays out. It’s wonderfully endearing characters that leave you wanting more of a series, and this drama just didn’t nail that aspect.

Great plot, average characters

Top 5 Chaebol Romances

Top 5 

Chaebol Romances

There are many scenarios that make common appearances in K-Dramaland, perhaps none more so than the Cinderella set-up. While many genres come in and out of style, it’s pretty guaranteed that there will be at least one or two Chaebol Romances each year. There’s so many, you’d almost believe that every second man in Korea was a third-generation chaebol. K-Drama writers seem to love the idea of a young, rich man with everything to lose falling for a young, poor girl with nothing to her name. There have been some beautifully memorable Chaebol dramas and some real shockers, but here’s my pick of the best 5 Chaebol Romance K-Dramas I’ve seen so far.

5: The Heirs

‘Heirs’ was one of the most hyped dramas of its year, mainly due to its star-studded cast. Lee Min Ho plays the role of the rich boy with Park Shin Hye the penniless subject of his advances. There’s even Kim Woo Bin as Lee Min Ho’s rich rival. The story takes place mostly in a high school catered for young chaebols, with Park Shin Hye’s character somehow finding herself in possession of a scholarship- but there’s still plenty of company plot-line and family drama despite Lee Min Ho’s lack of greed for power. While the plot was interesting enough, it’s definitely the stars’ big names that are the drama’s biggest assets.

4: Master’s Sun

While the main focus of the drama is our heroine’s ability to see the dead, we still get a great Chaebol Romance, as the only way she stops seeing ghosts is to touch…you guessed it- a young, handsome, rich dude. The drama is packed with laughs and reasons for skinship. While the company story plays in the background to the ghost plots, it’s still constantly present. So Ji Sub plays the young owner of a department store, haunted by his past, and Gong Hyo Jin plays the poor heroine haunted by actual ghosts. 

3: Kill Me, Heal Me

The son of a wealthy family develops Dissociative Identity Disorder and has many split personalities. If his company’s shareholders found out about his condition he would be forced out of power. And so enters our heroine as his personal psychiatrist. Ji Sung is our chaebol and Hwang Jung Eum is our psychiatrist. The many personality comedy-fest is definitely what takes centre stage, but company dealings weave in and out of the plot, and are also the driving force behind our couple’s connection. 

2: My Name is Kim Sam Soon

Not only is it a Chaebol romance, but it’s also a Noona Romance- two birds, one drama. Our titular heroine Sam Soon, played by Kim Sun Ah, has a poor educational background, but due to her talent is hired by a large hotel restaurant as its pastry chef. The young air to the hotel chain, played by Hyun Bin, offers Sam Soon money in order to pretend to be his girlfriend so he can stop being sent on blind dates. Of course they fall for each other for real and the process is sweet and fun, with Chaebol Mum throwing in a bunch of conflict. A fair amount of the drama revolves around Hyun Bin’s character being the inheritor of the hotel chain, and as Sam Soon is an employee, much of the drama takes place in the hotel- where Hyun Bin has all the power despite being younger.

1: Secret Garden

When you think Chaebol Romance, you think ‘Secret Garden’. While it has so many Chaebol cliches, they’re spun together in fresh, funny ways- often taking a direction you don’t expect. There’s something endearing about a heroine who accepts money from Chaebol Mum but continues to see her Chaebol son anyway. Hyun Bin is our rich hero once more (he’s very good at playing Chaebol heroes) and Ha Ji Won is the poor girl he falls for. The main focus is the difficulties of the Chaebol romance and how the two lovers come from completely different worlds, resulting in problems with understanding and communication- and of course the disapproving mother who will do anything to free her son from an ‘unworthy’ woman. There’s even some body swapping to really keep the laughs flowing and give the romance a kick-start.

What are your favourite Chaebol Romances?

Moonlight Drawn by Clouds

Moonlight Drawn by Clouds

6.5/10

Moonlight Drawn by Clouds

Genre:                                Episodes: 18                                 Year: 2016

Romance

Historical

Synopsis:

In order to earn a living, Hong Ra On disguises herself as a man and counsels men on how to woo women. In order to settle a debt, she is sold to become a eunuch in the palace. She is stationed at the East Palace, the home of Crown Prince Lee Young. To stay alive, she can’t let anyone discover that she is a woman, but the Crown Prince’s growing interest in her makes life in the palace dangerous for both of them.

Cast:

Park Bo Gum (Crown Prince Lee Young)

Kim Yoo Jung (Hong Ra On/Hong Sam Nom)

Kwak Dong Yeon (Kim Byung Yeon)

Jin Young (Kim Yoon Sung)

Chun Ho Jin (Kim Hoon)

Kim Seung Soo (King Soonjo)

Chae Soo Bin (Jo Ha Yeon)

General Thoughts:

I feel like I missed something with this drama. There’s this big ol’ hype-train filled with love and emotion for the series…and I’m not on it. It actually reminds be of ‘Moon that Embraces the Sun’ in a lot of ways. Hot new sageuk starring a hot young actor with lots and lots of pretty.

The pretty is undeniable

However, the two shows are similar in some not so fantastic ways too. A prince (or King) with no power seems to care more about his first love than about his country, a heroine that does literally nothing beyond the halfway point, me wondering how in the world the show was getting so much attention and cracking 20% ratings.

Basically how confused I was comparing the hype to the actual drama

It’s not a bad drama- I just fail to see how other people find it so much drastically better than anything else on Korean TV. The casting was all wonderful, as was most of the acting, and any lapses in acting ability were mainly due to the inconsistencies or incomprehensibility of the characters. Park Bo Gum was just awesome all the time- though admittedly not as awesome as he’s been in other roles. Kim Yoo Jung was awesome for the first half of the series before (surprise) her character took a dive and forgot how to do anything except breathe and look slightly startled. The boys from the broken bromance were excellent, giving a ton of emotion to their characters and hinting at the past relationship between the friends. This part relationship doesn’t really get explored much, but Park Bo Gum, Jin Young and Kwak Dong Yeon do such a fantastic job at acting that I was able to grasp the general idea around their fallout even if it was never explicitly stated beyond Yoon Sung being a part of the Kim clan.

Oh bromance- where art thou?

All the eunuchs were hilarious and I particularly loved Lee Joon Hyuk as Eunuch Jang. He was able to bring some comedy even in the dramas most angsty episodes with his exasperation and quiet acceptance at the all Prince’s antics. As for the plot…well…yeah. While the drama focused on Ra On posing as a man in the palace and the Prince’s growing feelings for her, things were pretty peachy. Sure, not a lot actually happened story-wise, but it was still so fun and so addictive to watch.

When there's this much cute, does the plot really matter?

At this point I understood all the hype surrounding the series, as Park Bo Gum and Kim Yoo Jung had soooooo much chemistry between them, and every interaction between their characters either left you laughing your head off or getting butterflies in your tummy.

Seriously though- look how cute these two are

I watch a lot of K-Dramas and they have a lot of cute, so it’s been quite some time since a drama has managed to sweep me up and engage me so completely by just how plain adorable its leads and their relationship is. But before long the cuteness disappears as the plot becomes unnecessarily serious. While it was necessary to have a plot that went beyond ‘look how cute these two are’, I didn’t think it needed to get quite as angsty for quite as long as it did. Can we all just be grateful that the extension to 20 episodes never happened? I know I am. It’s a sageuk so of course there are a bunch of grumpy old men with too much power making life tough for our cute lil’ Prince and his girlfriend. And there’s a whole rebel plot that made very little sense to me beyond making Ra On a character of mild significance outside of her relationship with the Prince. I don’t know how much of my inability to understand is based on my limited knowledge of Korean history and how much is due to the confused writing, but either way the writer defiantly relied on external knowledge of the Prince and the rebellion to add tension in this drama.

I have less than no idea what the dealio is here

I had no clue that Park Bo Gum’s character actually died young before he became King (until I heard it after the show), so I didn’t have that extra layer of anxiety that the Korean viewers might have had that revolved around how the writers could be historically accurate and also have a happy ending. (Spoiler alert: they don’t. They ditch history.)

Ohhhmygod Hong Jyung Rae! Should...should I care?

I also didn’t (and still don’t) have much knowledge about the rebellion or Hong Kyung Rae, so the complete panic character’s entered after hearing his name or hearing that his daughter was alive left me feeling pretty baffled. I also don’t understand why Ra On gave a toss about the rebels. She knows they’re aiming to bring down or kill the man she loves, and it was this rebellion that took her father from her. Yet she still chats happily to those in the rebellion and lets them involve themselves in her life. Um, why? I also don’t understand why she didn’t just leave. While I usually hate heroines that do this, Ra On was in a lot of danger and was causing a lot of trouble for the Prince. The two had already said their teary farewell (many times), yet she still remained close to the palace and practically everyone knew where she was. Not such a smart plan if half the country wants to kill you. Needless to say, the plot went from cute and engaging to angsty and irritating. Once a drama loses its sense and I begin to get frustrated it’s hard to win my interest back, but the last two episodes of ‘Moonlight’ captured the humour and heart that it had in its original 12 or so episodes.

Aaaaaand back to happy fun time!

I wouldn’t say I was 100% back on board, but it did lessen the sting that the hugely melodramatic episodes left, and while I didn’t leave the drama ecstatically I was at least satisfied and mildly amused.

100% best cameo I've ever seen

Also the greatest cameo ever did raise my opinion of the show. Kim Seul Gi cameoing as another assumed crossdressing eunuch was definitely a highlight. If you’re not sure what I’m talking about, go check out ‘Splash Splash Love’- a shorter (and dare I say better) drama about a different girl posing as a eunuch while accidentally romancing the King. Taking a step back from the plot and the characters, everything else was done in a very satisfactory manner. The music was lovely cutting between typical sageuk instrumentation and more modern sounding pieces. The costuming and cinematography were stunning, though I could have done with a few less close-up shots of our characters that lingered for maybe a smidge too long.

What Was Great:

Crossdressing Comedy:

The first 12 or so episode that focused purely on Ra On as Sam Nom were golden. Sam Nom was hilarious as the love-guru giving advise here and there to set people up, and her initial contact with the Prince was both funny and unforced. The whole situation where she was forced to pretend to be a eunuch was pure hilarity, as were all her interactions with the Prince and the other eunuchs.

Oh the pure hilarity

It wasn’t all just fun and games, with the show also hitting some nice emotional beats as Sam Nom unwittingly continued her/his dating advice from inside the palace. Not only did these smaller points bring some emotion into the series, but they also provided a learning curve for our main leads. Through the King’s romance and his undelivered letters, our hero and heroine learned that even the King doesn’t have complete power in the palace, and it’s difficult even for him to engage in a real romantic relationship- as it is for our Prince. The love-line between a eunuch and a palace-maid was not only engaging and touching but also gave the Prince the courage to move forwards with his love.

Oh the pure adorableness

While at this point he still thought Ra On was a man, he planned to at least acknowledge his one-sided love. And that’s what led him to finding out Ra On was a girl, and a cute secret romance begun. The secret dating and adorable honey-moon phase were just too cute for words, and I truly wish the drama had kept at least some of the adorableness going as it made its way into its endgame.

Park Bo Gum:

While not his best performance, Park Bo Gum is still one of the major reasons so many people stuck around for so long.

So fab in so many ways

Most of the character shortcomings came from the way the Prince was written, and Park Bo Gum did an excellent job at always making him an appealing character despite his unclear motives and mildly unwise decisions. He also got an alarming amount of chemistry going between himself and Kim Yoo Jung despite the very minimal amounts of skinship. The two were able to use nothing more than their expressions to display their emotions, and it had an amazing result considering how often K-Dramas rely on skinship for that initial spark. I adored Park Bo Gum as the Pince, but wish the drama had allowed him more room to manoeuvre his vast acting ability.

What Wasn’t:

Too Much Candy:

Candy heroines are annoying at the best of times, but in Joseon they become especially irritating. Females tend to already have an air of powerlessness about them in historical settings, so adding a Candy personality on top of that…eeish. For the first half or so of the drama, Ra On was a fun and slightly quirky character.

She didn't even have half that much personality by the end

Sure, she wasn’t vastly different from other K-Drama heroines, but she was at least making her own decisions about what she wanted to do and how to handle her situation. But once the external conflict (omg rebels, everybody panic) started kicking in, she lost every once of her decision-making ability. Ra On kept getting caught up in dangerous situations and literally did nothing about it. Where did that Ra On who was willing to sacrifice herself to China to save the Prince go?

Oh no. Ra On's in trouble (and unwilling to do anything about it) again.

I think Kim Yoo Jung is an astounding actress, but she was drastically under-utilised in the second half of this series. Even if it’s an actress I like, I get frustrated so quickly when I see only two expressions- startled rabbit or sad in acceptance of the situation.

70% of the drama right there

So many times I found myself wishing that Ra On would do something whether it would endanger them or not, because I just got so sick of her waiting around for something to happen. But on the bright side, at least she seemed age appropriate for her role- not like that other sageuk this year. It didn’t help that to go along with our Joseon Candy, we had a plot that didn’t actually get our characters motivated to do anything. Sure, it’s a dangerous situation- but it’s not one that Ra On and the Prince have actively involved themselves in. It just kind of happened. Our Prince and Ra On were off happy living in la-la-land until all this sh*t started happening around them. They had no interest in said sh*t, and had no real ability to alter that sh*t in order to form an out for themselves. The drama was basically sit-around-do-nothing-and-be-happy and then sit-around-and-do-nothing-until-this-sh*tstorm-blows-over. 

Unoriginal:

While the original happy stage of this drama was fresh and entertaining, the later stages turned into every sageuk we’ve ever seen.

All these power plays we've seen 100 times before

There’s a Prince who wants what’s best for his people- but even this characterisation is weak, as for 90% of this drama our Prince has only cared about Ra On and not given a rip about the rest of is subjects.

Most sensical plot-point in the whole show

Then there’s old men who want to keep the King and Prince powerless so they can do mildly illegal things and earn a lot of money. It’s a typical Joseon power struggle with a lot of under the table dealings and threatening talk- but not much actually happening. Though I will give the show props for so clearly showing the advantages of marrying the nobleman’s daughter. Not a lot of sageuk’s make me think ‘oh yeah, marrying that chick you don’t love is definitely in your best interests’, but ‘Moonlight’ gave some excellent insight into how much easier the Prince’s life would be if he married Ha Yeon.

Yoon Sung’s Death:

I always called that one of the three friends was going to die before the series wrapped up. It’s not the act of Yoon Sung’s death that bothered me, but the way it played out.

Alas, poor Yoon Sung! I knew him well.

It was nice and poetic that he died defending Ra On, but also pretty pointless. I mean, those men fighting him were his men. Could he not have ordered them off along the way to Ra On’s place? Or just not taken them to her house? And then everyone seemed to forget that he died pretty darn quick. It also didn’t help that Byung Yeon had a much better, much more dramatic, much more emotional death (except he didn’t die) the episode before.

Prince got the girl, friend got the cool death scene. 

Yoon Sung’s death would have been a success if: 1- there was a decent reason he was involved in that fight (because it felt like the writers were trying way to hard to kill him off) and 2- if his mate hadn’t had a much cooler death an episode before him. 

Re-watch?

Probably not. While I did enjoy large parts of this series, I was also frustrated for large parts of it. Honestly speaking, the drama left me feeling pretty disappointed on several fronts.

Had to see it once- for all the pretty if nothing else