Moon/Sun is basically a romance dressed as a simplified saguek with supernatural elements, so it’s fairly light on the political intrigue.

Cliffhangers are mostly of the romantic kind instead of the political kind, and there’s some pretty strong sexual tension that goes on for a good stretch of the drama. I lapped up back-to-back episodes of this. Even my mother zoomed her way through the first 8 episodes in just 2 days

The ending could have been handled better, but overall, I really enjoyed this one 🙂

The Moon that Embraces the Sun OST – 애지애가(愛之哀歌)

THE LONG VERDICT:

The cinematography is very pretty in Moon/Sun, and everything looks fabulous right off the bat. The colors are beautiful and intense, and makes everything look just that little bit more amazing.

The child actors take us from episode 1 through 6, and they are So. Good.

I was blown away by their delivery, which is so convincing and so mature. These young ones are going to be brilliant adult actors in time to come. Wow.

They really set the stage – and the bar, really – for the adult cast, and I wondered if the transition would be convincing.

I had no doubt that Kim Soo Hyun would be as intense and nuanced as Yeo Jin Gu, but I wondered if Han Ga In would be able to match Kim Yoo Jung’s layered and completely convincing delivery.

Most people seem to agree that the writing was better in the childhood portion of the drama. It was after the transition to the adult actors that many people started to feel the drag story-wise.

[SPOILER ALERT]

Many people said that it was laughable how simplified the story became, with basically one main romantic plotline: will he or won’t he sleep with his wife?

[END SPOILER]

Let me just say that I can see where they’re coming from, but I managed to enjoy the story for the most part, even after the adult actors showed up.

I don’t need a whole lot of intricacy in the story if there is a main romance plotline that interests me. Especially if the actors involved are very good.

And they were. Except for Han Ga In.

Let me say right away, that I am a big Jung Il Woo fan. Big.

I loved him in The Return of Iljimae and also in 49 Days, where his amazingly nuanced deliveries shot him way up my mental Brilliant K-Actor List.

I went into Moon/Sun expecting to enjoy Jung Il Woo much more than Kim Soo Hyun.

I’d enjoyed Kim Soo Hyun a lot in Dream High, but I hadn’t seen him in anything else. I thought he was very good, but my loyalties were with Jung Il Woo.

Imagine my surprise when I came away completely mesmerized by Kim Soo Hyun instead.

I think it’s partly to do with the writing. Jung Il Woo was rather wasted in this show, I felt.

Yes, he did show flashes of brilliance as Prince Yang Myung, but it was Kim Soo Hyun who had all the opportunities to really blow it out of the water.

Kim Soo Hyun is seriously magnetic as the young, bitter, heartbroken king striving to rule on his own terms in the midst of political scheming on all sides.

Very nice indeed 🙂

It’s actually really refreshing to see him be dashing and sharp-witted and in a position of power, after seeing him as Song Sam Dong in Dream High.

In Dream High, he was the underdog who spoke with a country accent. And because it was a high school drama, he played a teenager.

In Moon/Sun, though, he’s all grown up and mature, and so cool.

He comes across as nuanced, natural, layered, regal, charismatic.. and sexy. A lot sexier than I thought I’d find him, since he was last Song Sam Dong to me in Dream High, and Sam Dong is cute, not so much sexy.

But just look at him here, shrewdly teasing his queen:

And then wooing his first love / true queen here:

And here:

And here:

I was mesmerized. Who knew that Kim Soo Hyun had it in him to be so badass sexy?

Of course, he delivered equally magnificently in the heartrending scenes as well. In fact, he was all-around fantastic in every scene.

Kim Soo Hyun really did an amazing, amazing job.

It’s even more amazing when I consider the fact that this is actually his first adult role. He delivered so effortlessly that it didn’t occur to me till halfway through that he’d never had the chance to play an adult before. Prior to this he’d always played teenagers.

And in his very first adult role, he takes on such a complex, demanding lead character who’s royalty, no less, and delivered so well, sageuk-speak included, and he even won the Baeksang. Wow. Kudos. What a feat.

He is one talented young man, definitely an actor to keep on my radar. I am a full-on fan.

If only his Wol / Yeon Woo had been better cast.

Han Ga In is serviceable at best, in this role.

She’s seriously disadvantaged in Moon/Sun, in my opinion.

First of all, Kim Yoo Jung was simply stellar as the young Yeon Woo, and set a really high bar for Han Ga In to match. Han Ga In is an ok actress, but this kind of heavy lifting is not her forte. And it shows.

Her delivery is mostly quite flat, and she spends most of the time opening her already big eyes really wide. Regardless of whether she is scared, angry or happy. That got old really fast.

Now, what makes this even worse, is that she’s playing opposite two seriously amazing actors. Kim Soo Hyun and Jung Il Woo act circles around her, all the time.

And to really drive in the nail on this coffin, she looks way older than both of them. And she IS quite a bit older than both actors. Han Ga In is 30 while Kim Soo Hyun is 24 and Jung Il Woo is 25.

I don’t fault her for being older, but the casting folks should really have taken this into consideration. No matter how fresh-faced she is for her age, she simply does not look like a 21-year-old, which is the age of her character.

Add all of these things together, and Han Ga In was fighting a losing battle from the get-go.

Still. Kim Soo Hyun sells his role and sells the romance so well that I was happy to suspend disbelief for what I tend to think is poor casting, just so that I could enjoy his fabulous king.

[SPOILERS THROUGH THE END OF THE REVIEW]

MY THOUGHTS ON THE ENDING