Moon Lovers: Scarlet Heart Ryeo

After watching Love in the Moonlight, I looked for another sageuk drama to watch and friends recommended this. It came with numerous warnings but I took it as my baptism of fire. I won't consider myself as a serious K Drama fan if I don't get to watch this. Moreover, I was told that I'll be drowning in oppas in this series and they did not disappoint. Sharing also my real time Twitter thread about this series below.

MOON LOVERS: SCARLET HEART RYEO
I was told that this is a saksak-puso-tulo-dugo series so I set aside a whole tissue box for this. Already finished Ep2 and I'm enjoying it, so far. Was not prepared for the oppas and topless scenes though. Not complaining. Hehe. pic.twitter.com/HwP1gNW8az

— Shine ☀️ 빛 (@sunshi_fairy) July 17, 2018

This series was based on a Chinese novel by Tong Hua called Bu Bu Jing Xin. It aired from August to November 2016. Main stars are Lee Joon-gi, Lee Ji-eun, Kang Ha-nuel and Hong Jong-hyun. To summarize the confusing sea of characters:

Kim San-ho as Crown Prince Wang Mu (he usually wears red or yellow)
Hong Jong-hyun as the 3rd Prince Wang Yo (orange)
Lee Joon-gi as the 4th Prince Wang So  (black)
Kang Ha-nuel as the 8th Prince Wang Wook (blue)
Yoon Sun-woo as the 9th Prince Wang Won (purple)
Byun Baek-hyun as the 10th Prince Wang Eun (green)
Nam Joo-hyuk as the 13th Prince Baek-ah (pink)
Ji Soo as the 14th Prince Wang Jung (royal blue)

I tried to get a screen cap of a complete family picture but this is the best that I can come up with.

Back row: 14th Prince, 13th Prince, 10th Prince, 9th Prince
Front row: 9th Prince, 4th Prince, 3rd Prince

They just look so cool wearing different colored hanboks and the colors is how I differentiated them from each other.

Here's also another chart that can help figure things out.

From aminoapps.com

WHAT I LIKE ABOUT IT

The Oppas

This series was raining with oppas.

Lee Joon-gi was the main character but I liked the other princes more. Hong Jong-hyun grew on me and I love his eyes. They are just so intense! As for Kang Ha-nuel, I watched him in the movie Midnight Runners with Park Seo-joon so this is the first time I'm watching him in a drama. 

I love their appearance in Running Man. It gave me a insight on how they are in real life outside of the characters that they play. Here's a clip:

There are two specific scenes in the series that are my favorite. This one because it showed a time when all the princes got together and were just simply happy. There were no talks of betrayal or death. Just brothers getting together to celebrate the birthday.



The next one of course, is the bath scene and which also served as the introduction of the princes.



The OST
My husband asked me why do I listen to the songs when I don't understand the language/lyrics. I guess music will always be universal. It brings me back to what I felt when I heard the song during a poignant scene in a drama. That's why I created a playlist in Spotify which I listen to whenever I drive (or even just at home). Feel free to follow.



Next to Descendants of the Sun, this one has songs that I don't skip when it comes up randomly in my playlist.

The Female Lead - IU
I read that a lot of people didn't like her. I actually admire her. I found her really pretty especially during the birthday scene where she sang to the 10th prince. And her character made do with the situation. She did not actively sought out all the princes and it was not her fault that all the princes (well, not all) love her.

The Fight Scenes
One thing I like about the period dramas are the fight scenes. There's this particular scene in Episode 2 where the princes had to do a martial arts sword dance wearing masks. That was beautiful to watch with all of them jumping and flying around.

WHAT I DON'T LIKE ABOUT IT

The Fucking Ending! (SPOILERS AHEAD!)
I really really hate the ending and the episodes towards the end. It was really not making sense anymore and it felt like the writers had a fight with someone and would want to hurt people by ending it that way. They could always say that not all stories should have a happy ending but this one really bled me dry. I cried so much and it took awhile for me to get over it (Strong Woman Bong Soon helped).
For one, I don't get it why the Wang Eun had to die. WAE??! He was the 10th Prince for God's sake...10th! There were three other princes before he could claim to the throne. The reason just didn't fly with me. I swear. The writers/producers just want the viewers to be in pain!
It's odd though that even if I was already agonizing over the story, I just couldn't stop watching. Up to the last 5 seconds, I was hoping for a happy ending. But NO! It was just not meant to be.

RATING

I give this four tissue boxes even with the ending because I literally finished one whole tissue box because of this. I was ugly-crying so hard that I could relate with Leo. Will I still recommend? Yes, with lots of disclaimers and will market it as a baptism of fire to be considered a real Korean drama addict. It could've been a five if not for that really wonky ending.

Ugly Cry GIF from Ugly GIFs

Watched: July 16-22, 2018

She Was Pretty

Continuing on with my PSJ marathon, I chose to watch this next. Of course, starring Park Seo-joon, Hwang Jung-eum, Go Joon-hee and Choi Si-won. This drama premiered September 2015 and ran until November same year.

PSJ's younger character, Ji Sung-joon, used to be unattractive and was bullied around by other kids, while his friend, Kim Hye-jin played by Jwang Jung-eum, was very pretty and popular among their peers. When Ji Sung-joon moved to the US with his father, they lost track of each other.

When Sung-joon returned to Korea for a work assignment, he found a way to contact Hye-jin and scheduled to meet with her. When she saw how good-looking her childhood friend turned out to be, she asked her bestfriend, Min Ha-ri (Go Joon-hee), to pretend to be her.

As fate would have it, she got a job in the same publication that Sung-joon works and after seeing her, he belittled her appearance and even mistreated her because of her ineptitude. However, Hye-jin was befriended by a senior editor, Kim Shin-hyuk (Choi Si-won) who eventually fell in love with her even before her physical make-over.

WHAT I LIKE ABOUT IT

Park Seo-joon
Yes, it's a given that PSJ is one of the reasons why I like this series and why I watched it. However, unlike his previous dramas, I initially did not like his character here. He was very rude to the girl and was rather curt and abrasive.

Funny Park Seo Joon GIF from Funny GIFs

He did however mellow down throughout the series and like his other dramas, was again blessed with a topless and shower scene.

I couldn't resist NOT taking a screen cap.

Choi Si-won
When I started watching this, I had no idea that Si-won was part of the famous Korean boy band, Super Junior. One of my friends just told me when I was almost halfway through the series. Even if I only started watching K Dramas this year, I've heard of Super Junior since 2012. That's why I laughed when they mentioned this in their conversation.

It was because of Si-won that I experienced for the first time, the Second Lead Syndrome. Though I love PSJ, I really wanted Si-won to get the girl here. He worked hard to get her and even fell in love with Jackson (that's what he called the character of Hye-jin) even before her beauty transformation. I cried more for him that PSJ. Hmph.

I also found his character very entertaining and amusing. It's one of the reasons why I was rooting for him more. Found this clip from Youtube showing his hilarious moments in the series.




The Bromance

The gif says it all. Even if they're after the same girl, Si-won still manages to give him hell. Hehe.

Siwon She Was Pretty GIF from Siwon GIFs

The Blowout
When the truths began to unfold, I liked it that the expected blowout between the bestfriends did not happen. If it was a typical drama (like what we have here locally), there would've been a lot of shouting, hair-pulling and slapping. But their confrontation happened with a quiet grace and the understanding of a real best friend. It was really touching and heartwarming to watch. I'm not sure though, if that could happen in real life.

The Cameos
I did a lot of finger pointing when I rewatched Episode 9 again and saw cameos of some of my other oppas--Park Hyung-sik and Lee Joon-gi! Apparently, the footage was taken from the Seoul Drama Awards red carpet. Nevertheless, it was a little thrill to see them suddenly appear in the middle of the episode.


WHAT I DON'T LIKE ABOUT IT

The Female Lead Character
She was really over the top here. I can't believe that a human being can be that clumsy. Moreover, she was so loud that whenever she screeches, my ears would hurt that I would bring the volume down. I'm not sure if the character was written that way or if the actress portraying her chose to play her that way.

The Lies and Deception
There were too many lies and deceptions happening in the first part of the story that it was painful to watch. I actually skipped most part of an episode because of Ha-ri's lying and Hye-jin's inability to say who she really was.

RATING

Rating this two tissue boxes as it's not one of my favorites. Still giving it a two because of PSJ.

Edit: 8/4/21 Changing the rating to three tissue boxes because PSJ and CSW

Watched: July 8-10, 2018