Moon Lovers: Scarlet Heart Ryeo

Who would she end up with?

For a drama produced eight years ago, it was still very appealing. I had not watched the Scarlet Heart produced earlier in China, which was what this drama was modelled after. But I am now inspired to do that.

Heart broken by her boyfriend and best friend who betrayed her, Go Han Jin was crying by the sea. While trying to save a drowning boy, an eclipse happened and Han Jin found herself transported back to the Goryeo era and into the body of Hae Soo. Here she witnessed the fight over the throne by the Princes.

Han Jin unwittingly attracted the attention of several of the princes and they fell in love with her. Most prominent was the 8th prince and 4th prince. The 8th prince was quietly plotting for the throne. The 4th prince was seemingly the ostracised and the least favoured for the throne, but unknown to most people including himself, he was born under the star of the King, the same as for the Crown Prince Wu.

So, who would Hae Soo end up with? The gentle loving 8th prince, the forceful 4th prince, the playful 10th prince or the righteous 14th prince?

1. The story was interesting. It was difficult to predict what might happened next. We know quite early who the next king would be but would he become the cruel king who massacred his brothers? Would Hae Soo be able to change that?

2. Character development was very evident. How a gentle soul become cunning in the face of the desire for power. How someone with no interest in the throne was eventually lead to follow his fate. How a confident modern maiden bowed down to the cruelty of the time.

3. Having only 20 episodes, the pace of the story development was fast and there were no dilly-dallying.

4. The cast was outstanding. The leads did a fabulous job. Lee Joon Gi portrayed the forceful 4th prince who was very much ashamed of the scar of his face. Kang Ha Neul had such a gentle look on his face when he was in love with Hae Soo. Hong Jong Hyun was absolute evil looking and he looked really deranged later in the drama. Then there is Byun Baek Hyun with this innocent, playful and silly look.

5. However, the drama was not without some flaws. In some instance, it was clear that the drama was deliberately made very makjang. The rather intelligent Hae Soo became brainless, weak and hesitant. And she started blaming Wang So for beating to death someone who had betrayed her trust. Of course, this was to lead to the chosen ending of the drama.

However, overall I highly recommend this drama.

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Memorable ending

Story: A heartbroken woman in modern world suddenly time traveled to Goryeo Dynasty after drowning and woke up with Hae Soo's body. The plot is full of politics, love stories, family issues and tragedies.

Acting: Both leads did amazing in the series, as well as the other side characters and villains. However, there were few noticeable unconvincing acting or lacking of intensity emotions to some, especially in the last episodes of the drama.

Music: I love most of the sound effects used with catchy background music / osts.

Rewatch value: It's not rewatchable for me but i might wanna watch Jun Ki's scenes as he's really good looking in this drama.

Overall: What made this drama memorable for me is only the ending, some may hate it, some may love it but directing wise, it was an impactful one. It's one of those series that will make you feel sad whenever you remember it because of the ending. Kudos to IU and Lee Jun Ki for giving their best in creating their roles that will forever remain in our hearts and hopefully will remind everyone to not regret things and keep giving all our best in the face of challenges in life. Despite the traumatic ending, Scarlet Heart Ryeo isn't memorable as a whole. IU's character was all over the place and I couldn't understand what her goal was or what she values. Sometimes she values her life, sometimes she doesn't, so the things she did was a bit confusing and made me question her decisions in living in the palace, then staying away then back to living there again. The progress of Hae Soo and Wang So's (4th Prince)relationship was not as convincing like her and Wang Wook(8th Prince)'s initial love story, even so, they were still cute and believable because of their acting. The first few episodes were full of wisdom or quotable quotes but then faltered in the middle until the end because the focus was directed to the brothers fighting for the throne and giving us tragedy every step of the way. Even with the devastating events, i wasn't fully invested with each story as i felt detached or the flow of the story didn't make me feel connected with some of the princes' while IU's modern character had no explanation whatsoever as to what happened of her 'coma' like how she was saved and what happened to her best friend, boyfriend etc, where she's suddenly awake, back to working and with snippets of her 'time travel' experience via her dreams, which felt rushed and left me more confused. Quite a bit disappointed but still happy that I got to watch this drama, so my overall score would be 7-8 stars.

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One of my all time favourites

All of my friends
know how big of a moon lovers fan
I am. I just love this drama so so
so so much and there are so many
reasons for that as it is sad and you
all know how much I love sad and
tragic dramas.

2nd thing is the actors I mean you
gotta accept the fact that the cast is
amazing consisting lee jong gi, IU,
kang ha neul, ji soo, nam joo hyuk
and many more fabulous actors (
and they all are hot too ). They all
potrayed their characters so well that
I was fascinated by it.

3rd reason is the story of course. I
mean for me story is the main
important thing in any drama. The
story was very well written that in the
first episode it made me laugh out
loud and so they made me connect
with the characters and when I got
enough time to connect with the
character they broke our hearts by
making them suffer a lot.

I won't tell how they suffer as it will be
a spoiler. The characters were well
written. I liked the fact that nobody
was “perfect” as a lot of dramas do.
And the chemistry between the leads
was awesome! From episode 1 till the
last episode I laughed with them, I
cried with the. If it was a sad scene I
would feel bad for them if it was a
happy scene I would feel happy for
them, overall their chemistry was on
another level!

Like they are my favorite couple that’s
for sure. I really liked the female lead
too. Even though many people don’t
like her but I think she was very strong
and had her own very understandable
reasons for doing the things that she
did in the end. If I were in her place i
would have done the same.

Overall the drama holds a very special
place in my heart as it’s the first and
last kdrama that made me cry a lot
and not only me but even my mom.
She cried more than me and she also
loved this drama so if my mom likes
something then it has to be the best.
Period.

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Not the ending I would've wanted!

So I rewatch this Kdrama again on 11/16/2019. I love Lee Joon Gi. The fight for the throne amongst the brothers when they started becoming adults was a steady game. Li Joon Gi played his part very well and the idea of having a scar on his face... he pulled it off with his acting abilities. Lee Joon Gi's martial arts was absolutely bad a__. Actually, his martial art was a 10 by itself. IU who plays Hae Soo was very emotional but she did well. The first time I watch this I just couldn't connect with her but this time I did connect with her. Now the storyline, I don't know what I was thinking when I first watch this. I wished this had a better ending and that is the reason why I brought it down to 8 stars. The story where Hae Soo married his younger brother and had a baby where did the time go that not unless that was Wang So's baby got me all confused and Wang So married that horrifying Woo Hee princess. That part didn't make any sense to me for like 3 episodes. I was not happy with the ending at all. Sorry to the screenwriter on that part. I do want to thank all the various teams for doing the best they could.

The screenwriters did an alternate ending as I rated it low now it's back up to 10. You can check it out yourself by copying and pasting the link to your browser https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SYNf0KBd404

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Honestly.. I was so into this drama, the main couple, the acting, the pretty directing, lovely OST,.. But it all falls flat because the storylines were all over the place.

Everything was focused too long on being "set up" and "leading up to". Then when everything was good it lasted for a quick second only to fall apart again.
Will be good to edit to, but what a mess to watch!

Acting was on point, however. IU was pretty and just subtle enough. Lee Jun Ki takes the cake here, I feel like he really gave it his all. Very powerful, sad, yet sometimes light and sweet, his character really lived through it all. I should have known it would break my heart, as I've read the story online beforehand, but I was hoping, with the changes made already, that the story would be directed and/or written better.

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Moon lovers <3

Esse drama eu recomendo muito mesmo.
Me lembro quando começei a assistir e foi mesmo incrível, a história , os atores , tudo tudo mesmo, e eu hoje acabei de assitir , e eu estou sem palavras para descrever a sensação que estou a ter agora após assistir.
Chorei , ri, fiquei surpressa , preocupada, até entusiasmada fiquei para saber o que irá acontecer a seguir, e digo-te uma coisa, pensei que iria ser um drama igual aos outros mas nada disso, ele exedeu as minhas expectativas , esse drama explodiu com minha mente, tanto que é a primeira vez que estou a fazer uma ressenha de tanta emoção que estou a ter ,estou sem palavras para descrever o que estou a sentir.
Eu realmente quero muito que estas minhas palavras possam insentivar alguém a assistir.
Até poderás pensar que é o calor do momento, mas após assistires saberás do que estou a falar!
Me fez refletir de uma forma que não estou bem a ver!!

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Tout se paye...

Franchement... C’était un bon drama. Pas celui qui m’a retournée au point de pleurer toutes les larmes de mon corps, mais une histoire qui suit son cours avec logique, intensité et conséquences 😌💔

On a ici une romance belle, mais douloureuse… Pas de conte de fées, pas de "je t’aime moi non plus", mais des choix, des silences, des regards, et des regrets...
Chacun récolte ce qu’il sème, et ça rend le tout très réaliste pour un sageuk.

Les persos sont bien construits, même les antagonistes sont nuancés (enfin… parfois j'avais quand même envie de leur jeter un caillou hein 😅)

L’OST est sublime, l’ambiance bien travaillée, et certaines scènes sont juste... cinématographiquement WOW 😍. Pas de surjeu, pas de niaiserie, juste un drama intense mais cohérent 👍🏻

Je ne ressors pas en larmes, mais avec ce petit goût de mélancolie douce-amère...💭🌙. C’est pas un drama que je reverrai en boucle, mais je suis quand même contente de l’avoir vu.

Bref, c'est une histoire qui m'a laissé une trace… sans forcément laisser de cicatrice ✌🏻

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Magnifique drama

Je ne sais même pas par quoi commencer cette critique tellement tout se bouscule dans ma tête. Voilà un de mes dramas historiques préférés, y a pas à dire.
Tout a été (à mon goût évidemment) magnifique et fort. Je vais tenter de décrire toutes ces impressions :
L’histoire : Déjà, là il y a du lourd. Une femme de notre époque se voit transporter à l’ère Goryeo, pendant le règne de Taejo, le premier roi de cette ère, suite à une éclipse solaire. La partie moderne tient donc dans les premières 10 minutes du drama et le dernier quart d’heure de fin. Tout le reste est durant l’ère Goreyo. Et là, s’entremêle les histoires des 14 princes, et de cette femme qui arrive, mais étrangement prend la place, d’une cousine proche de la femme d’un des princes. Ce drama s’étale ensuite sur plusieurs années.
Points forts : Tous les princes ont leur propre caractère et leur histoire. Tout se mélange, s’entrechoque et l’amour côtoie la haine et l’avidité du pouvoir à longueur de temps. On ne peut pas ne pas être touché par chacun de ces personnages. Certains sortent du lot, mais quand même, bravo…
La cinématographie est magnifique, les costumes aussi. Certaines scènes comme celle des princes et du rituel de la pluie m’ont littéralement filé des frissons
L’ascenseur émotionnel : Franchement dès le premier épisode, j’ai été embarquée, et j’ai vécu plein d’émotions de toutes sortes avec intensité. Grâce à l’histoire mais aussi et surtout aux acteurs, tous quel qu’ils soient, principaux ou secondaires.
Aucun temps mort durant les 20 épisodes, tout se tient, tout se met en place, et qu’on aime ou pas, toute l’histoire reste logique. De fait, on peut prévoir la boite de mouchoirs. J’ai versé bien des larmes. Mais j’ai trouvé dans ce drama un travail et une profondeur que je ne retrouve pas toujours. Alors chapeau !
L’OST accompagne magnifiquement le drama.
Quand au couple principal, énorme. J’ai adoré Lee Joon Gi comme d’habitude : Il n’y a pas à dire quel acteur, il dégage quelque chose d’intense. Même si son rôle au final apporte une moral difficile. Pas de spoil, mais j’ai été touchée.
Quant à IU, elle reste une de mes actrices préférées. Elle porte son rôle à merveille. Leur histoire est magnifique même si loin d’être rose.
Un aparté sur Kang Ha Neul : Très belle découverte pour moi, j’ai adoré son rôle et son évolution en tant que 8ème prince.
Je ne sais pas quoi dire de plus, hormis que si vous êtes prêts à être embarqué, et verser quelques larmes, alors laissez-vous porter par ce drama de qualité.

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Dor que transcende o tempo

Talvez esse dorama divida opiniões porque foge da lógica do que estamos acostumados a visualizar em histórias de romance. Foi tão marcante que não me esqueço de tê-lo assistido em 2016 e de sentir um completo vazio e dor. Acabei de reassistir em 2024 e, oito anos depois, saio com os mesmos intensos sentimentos.

Particularmente, gosto bastante de contextos históricos, e isso o drama soube fazer bem. Somos imersos na Dinastia Goryeo e, embora príncipes e reis sejam reais, ainda assim possuem características e histórias fictícias.

A cinematografia e ambientação histórica são deslumbrantes e a trilha sonora complementa perfeitamente as emoções das cenas, intensificando ainda mais a experiência.

Minha dica é: assista preparado para vivenciar diversos sentimentos e aproveite para mergulhar e vivenciá-los. São cenas engraçadas, muitas de amor, de ódio e de tristeza, todos aqueles sentimentos que compõem a existência humana.

São histórias fadadas ao sofrimento. Pode parecer estranho dizer, mas não evite histórias assim, também há uma estranha beleza, um certo tipo de poesia que permeia nossa existência.

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