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

I Remember You

I Remember You

9/10

I Remember You

Genre:                                  Episodes: 16                         Year: 2015

Romance

Thriller

Mystery

Synopsis:

As a child, Lee Hyun coincidently has a conversation with a psychopathic murder that his father arrested and has been interviewing, Lee Joon Young. Joon Young notices many similarities between Hyun and himself and takes a keen interest in the child. These similarities do not go unnoticed by Hyun’s father, who fears that Hyun is a monster like Joon Young. Not long after this encounter, Joon Young escapes from prison and visits Hyun’s house where he murders Hyun’s father. That same night Hyun’s younger brother, Min, goes missing. 20 years later, Hyun is a criminal profiler, and a string of serial murders bring him to Korea where he meets Detective Cha Ji An, who has been observing Hyun for quite some time.

Cast:

Seo In Guk (Lee Hyun)

Jang Na Ra (Cha Ji An)

Park Bo Gum (Jung Sun Ho)

Choi Won Young (Lee Joon Ho)

Lee Chun Hee (Kang Eun Hyuk)

Min Sung Wook (Son Myung Woo)

Hong Hyun Taek (Young Lee Hyun)

Hong Eun Taek (Young Lee Min)

D.O (Young Lee Joon Young)

General Thoughts:

This drama didn’t get nearly as much attention as it deserved. It was a brilliant hidden gem in a never-ending stream of K-Dramas. Not one member of the cast can be criticised and the plot was virtually flawless with racing momentum. While the romance did take a backseat to the murders and the bromance, it was a nice change from all the dramas that focus purely on the romance and only include conflicts that create tension between the two leads.

So much tension. So much conflict. So many murders.

The characters were all part of an intricately interwoven web of relationships, and every relationship was fascinating to watch develop and unfold- whether it was between our group of main characters, or in our support cast. All motivations of the characters were easily understandable once they were presented to the audience, and the writers did an excellent job at making every character in the series fully unique, fleshed out, and understandable.

And suddenly girls everywhere want to be in the FBI

The chemistry between Seo In Guk and Jang Na Ra was a nice slow burn throughout the whole drama. Their shift from curiosity to liking was a smooth progression that never felt too rushed or too drawn out. As romance wasn’t at the centre of the drama and there was plenty of plot without it, it left time for our two main leads to gradually come to understand and like each other. In so many K-Dramas we watch our two main leads fall into a burning and passionate love and beat whatever odds are set against them. However, in ‘I Remember You’, our two leads draw closer as friends first. While there’s always a very subtle underlying romantic tone, the relationship between the two focuses much more on trust, understanding and support, rather than on pure romantic feelings. It gives the drama more time to focus on the mystery/thriller aspects of the plot (and the killer bromance), and gives our couple a secure, long-lasting feeling. It also doesn’t hurt that Jang Na Ra gets to play an awesome heroine. Strong, independent female leads rarely come by, so we must treasure them when they do.

A rare flower in K-Dramaland- a heroine who can save herself

The rest of the cast complimented the leads perfectly. Lee Chun Hee was adorable as the slightly clumsy, yet surprisingly competent, team leader, and his band of detectives were just as delightful. The wonderful cast were backed up by a solid writing and directing team who knew exactly the best way to make these characters really shine. The writers paid attention to every minute detail- no useless information was given, and while not every piece of dialogue or every camera shot had significant meaning in the plot, it was always well planned out and done with meaning. No moment was wasted in the series, with every second adding something new to the drama.

Congratulations everyone on a drama well done

And of course it was just shot beautifully. The camera angles used to shoot our heroes and our villains were quietly useful in aiding our characters representations, and the occasional melds from our adult characters into their childhood selves were beautiful and heart-wrenching. I even enjoyed the ending (even though I tend to loathe open-ended endings). The story really was all about the journey rather than the destination. All in all, it’s a wonderfully crafted piece of television that tells a compelling, emotional story about truly endearing characters.

What Was Great:

Interesting View into Psychopaths:

Seeing as the mystery/thriller aspect of the series really took the lead (with the romance taking a firm backseat), it was crucial that our villains were nothing short of phenomenal. Which they were. Both Park Bo Gum and Choi Won Young gave absolutely stunning performances.

Welcome to Crazytown. I'm Park Bo Gum and I'll be your guide.

Believable psychopathic portrayals are hard to come by, and yet both actors managed to nail their roles beautifully. As did D.O as our younger killer. The two men were able to switch between their psychopathic selves and their everyday masks so smoothly and seamlessly that it definitely added a great sense of eeriness into the series. Park Bo Gum was a particular standout with his amazing ability to completely capture such a dynamic, complex character and present himself in a way that was easy for the audience to understand. His face is naturally adorable and gives him a really innocent vibe, so it’s astounding that he was able to make himself into a character that seemed so unstable and so dangerous- and yet was always underlined by a sense of childish innocence. D.O has a similar quality about him, where he can express such a frightening character, and yet give off such an innocent, victimised atmosphere at the same time. As well as the astounding acting performances, the show really nailed the way in which it expressed its villains.

So innocent, and yet so, so creepy

While other dramas tend to lean towards making their villains the root of all evil and dehumanising them, ‘I Remember You’ aimed to do the exact opposite. Rather than taking a stance where it was good guys vs. psychopaths, the story was more about the struggle of trying to fit in with a large focus on the nature/nurture debate. What makes a monster? Are they born or are they shaped by the environment around them?

Nature vs. Nurture

The drama chose to stick fairly squarely in the middle (as do most psychologists), and it really turned into a story that focused more on how our main villain got to be the person he was, and if there was any chance of preventing Min from becoming that person as well. Rather than being incomprehensible villains, our two main antagonists are constructed as victims of circumstance. They are two people who think differently from everyone else- stuck in their completely child-like minds. They lack the ability to be able to think in any form of grey area, and everything is either black or white- this person did a bad thing, so they deserve to die. It was this childishness and innocence paired with their inability to understand the mindsets of others that really made our psychopathic duo such sympathetic, heart-wrenching characters. By giving this insight into our villains, it added a huge amount of extra emotion into our series- because what are we to do after such sympathy as been created for our supposed evil characters? There’s no way you can just ignore their past crimes (you know, because they kinda killed a whole bunch of people), but then how do we get a happy ending?

Bromance to End all Bromances:

The heart of everything in this drama is the bromance between Hyun and Min. Because the brotherly love is laced with such tragedy, it makes it that much more emotional.

Oh my God, these two

Even though a scene may be adorable, it’s always interwoven with a sense of sadness- because the brothers (and us viewers) know that these happy moments won’t last for much longer.

The cuteness is overwhelming

While it was sad to watch Hyun grieving for his younger brother while he thought Min hated him, it was just plain brutal watching how purely these two brothers loved each other and wanted to be together, even though they both knew that Min had come too far for it to lead to a good ending. The relationship between the two had smooth, believable progress. When Min thought that Hyun had abandoned him to Joon Ho, he hated his brother, but was still doing everything in his power to catch Hyun’s attention- even to the extent of murdering people. Min’s sense of longing for his brother and desire to be with him again was always present, even though it was initially hidden under a layer of betrayal and hurt feelings, it was always there. It made Min’s progression from cold-blooded killer to adoring little brother so believable- because underneath it all, Min had always been the adoring little brother. 

Excuse me while I go cry for the rest of my life

Treated Audience Intelligently:

Along with kick-ass heroines, dramas that treat their viewers like smart adults are surprisingly rare. Even though our main male lead is basically a genius, and our two antagonists are pretty darn smart themselves, the show manages to avoid treating the audience like a bunch of idiots.

Given just enough information about our characters

Even in times when the plot is becoming a bit tricky, the writers manage to walk that fine line between leaving things too confusing, or completely over-explaiting a situation. There are times when the drama doesn’t spell out every single situation- we are given the information we need, no more, no less, and the drama keeps trucking along with its fantastic momentum. The writers don’t try and drag out the show’s mysteries either. We’re given a few hints and then the truth is revealed. It doles out one answer at a time, and occasionally gives us a new question to keep the momentum rolling. Thankfully, the drama didn’t try to hold onto Hyun’s past or the identities of our psychopaths until the final hour. We’re given a great chunk of Hyun’s past in the first two episodes, which really shape him as a character and make him much more understandable to the audience, but still manages to avoid dishing out all the secrets. Similarly, knowing who the two psychopaths are doesn’t diminish the story at all.

Welcome to the world of ambiguous conversation, Han Yi An

Rather than sacrificing character development for the sake of mystery, the writers instead opted to reveal most of their cards early on in order to maximise the viewers sympathies to the characters and maximise the emotional turmoil of our characters.

What Wasn’t:

Some Characters were Sidelined:

The only real downside of this drama were that a few characters did get pushed to the side a fair bit. The two policemen involved (whether directly, indirectly or whatever) in Joon Young’s escape were a tad under explained.

I'll totally bypass plot explanation for more brother bonding

It was clear enough that their involvement in Joon Young’s escape was minimal and that they did gain information to climb higher in their careers, but not much was mentioned beyond that. I still have no clue as to why the policewoman who raised Hyun didn’t lift a finger in trying to find Min. But on the other hand, if I had to choose between explaining that lady’s motivations or adding in more bromance- I’d choose Hyun cooking and blowdrying Min’s hair any day.

Re-watch?

Very possible. Min is definitely one of Park Bo Gum’s best characters as he’s so complex and fascinating. Hyun is definitely one of Seo In Guk’s best characters as he’s so handsomely condescending and damaged. Together the two have a heartbreaking bromance that’s worth watching over, and over, and over again.

Already the bromance of the year