Back to the story, personally it didn't meet my expectations. If I am right, this drama is popular in my country that's why I'm really excited to watch this. But the story is slow pace I got bored. After 5 episodes, I find it hard to finish it. Took me 15 days (with a lot of skipping) just to end this drama. I can't really give a long review since I didn't watch it sincerely so I'll just give it a 5.5/10.
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not something you can enjoy
First of all this drama is full of angst. This has nail biting moments but has more torture than love. My heart was hurting so much through out the drama as i was watching it. The twist are really surprising and painful. This is all about sacrifices someone else makes becoz someone is power hungry and killing happens the way you are out there to buy groceries. This won't calm your nerves instead it will work u up. So if you looking for something which will make you happy, put your heart at ease than this is not the drama for you. On top that this drama has the FL lead with dead pan expression which i hated through out the drama.i preferred younger version of FL and her acting skill. Older version of FL has no emotions or expressions coming out and in a way the are saying FL is little dumb as she know she is not a real shaman but she likes to keep believing it that makes you question the intelligence of FL in this drama.
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Moon Embracing the Sun suffers from being pre- golden age of big budget, creative concept era K dramas.
Plot points are endlessly repeated, pacing is slow to allow for viewers skipping/missing episodes. Each character has their predictable role to play: the endlessly self-sacrificing female lead, the righteous, angst filled male lead, the long-suffering mother etc. Very little is explored or developed despite being longer than most K dramas today. It's an addictive show as the female lead is often in need of rescuing, and there's lots of romantic suspense. But, once you realize that there will be no twist, no resetting of expectations it starts to drag.
Acting is all over the map. Some of the child actors are brilliant (and at this point we know on their way to successful adult acting careers), some are over-acting and stilted. Same when everything switches to adults. The two main adult leads have little chemistry together but both are very good at playing their roles independently (especially angst filled/sad moments).
Music is fine. Would not rewatch.
I grade on other criteria:
Complex Themes: 7
Beware of karma it comes for everyone. Attempting to protect relatives from the consequences of their own actions/greed, just allows them to continue to damage others. Keeping secrets is unfair to those hurt by them. Don't force a romantic relationship if it doesn't feel right.
Character Development/Growth: 5
The king's sister matures a bit, but the show almost makes a point of how people stay the same over the years.
Complex women characters/relationships: 4
There's lots of women roles, but everyone is a stereotype/caricature. The one exception is actually the head shaman.There's some interesting ideas about how to sort out competing priorities and values, and sisterhood. The shaman is an interesting, complicated character.
Production budget/cinematography: 4
The costuming for the men is not flattering, materials looks shiny and cheap and are in strange color combinations. The sets are very claustrophobic and repeat all the time. This was shot with HD Cameras full on, and clear in a way that isn't particularly flattering.
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This review may contain spoilers
The story was engaging, especially from episode 1-6. I never felt bored while watching it. In most epic dramas, I tend to skip the political part but in this drama, I was more interested in it than the love story. The OSTs were also really good.I think Kim soo hyun did justice to his role but I could not accept the other adult actors for a very long time. The child actors were too good while the adult cast lacked chemistry because of which I could not feel any emotions. The female lead didn't have the charm that the child actress had. To be honest, Kim soo hyun had a much better chemistry with the 2nd female lead.
I don't really understand the purpose of the 2nd male lead in this drama. They didn't develop his and the female lead's relationship properly. I couldn't feel bad for him at all even when he died.
Overall, I think it had a good story but it could have been much better if it had a better actress.
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I really don't know what else to say about this drama other than it was long and disappointing, with caricature characters that seemed very one-dimensional.
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This review may contain spoilers
The peak embracing the sun
This is the peak beyond peaks.The rice in my bibimbap.
The whatever the fuck is in kimchi in my kimchi.
This is the best Korean drama I have watched.
Each character plays a major role in the story. Nothing is insignificant. Little random pieces of information that they show can become pivotal plot points. The story is intricately crafted and well thought out, and it shows. The dialogue is peak and important moments get referenced throughout the story, leading to some of the most peak moments I've experienced in a korean drama.
The acting is solid as hell. Even the child actors are kinda cracked. Good shit. After the time skip, I did get abit confused because some of the adult actors do not look like the child actors at all. But still, acting throughout the show was very expressive but not like charicature like at all (different from many kdramas I've seen). Characters aren't smart because everyone else is dumb and the plot demands it. Instead, the politics and mindgames are insane and very well developed. The acting and story complement it perfectly, leading to a very high quality show.
Music is honestly so peak. Fits the scenes really well, The fight scenes are honestly pretty decent too. Better than some modern ones that I've seen. The set designs and costumes/outfits were pretty nice.
I feel like i can actually rewatch this drama. Most other ones have abit too much random padding or unecessary moments. Whereas, every episode is important and very pivotal in The Moon embraces the Sun. Its just so peak. The epilogue also ties up loose ends really well. The ending wasn't some bs ending that doesnt really make sense. It was very well written.
That scene when the chinese characters 二 (two) and 人 (person) and 工 (work) are written on some ribbon and it morphs into 巫 (shaman) is so fucking peak, I nearly shat myself and jumped out my chair.
There really isn't anything to complain about in the show. It's pretty fucking peak. My only complaint is that it isn't appreciated enough.
It is criminal that it only has a 8.4 rating and that My Love from the Star is rated higher.
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At first I don't want to watch this because this is historical drama and my favorite type is RomCom so this is something new for me. I thought this will be like boring and dramatic love stories but it's actually not boring and really sweet also cute and pure. I really don't regret watching this. In fact, I personally think this drama is really great.
The story is really great and unique. I love how the story and twist develop in each episodes too. Although on some parts [especially on some first episode] is not really good and boring but it's getting better and better and the ending is definitely not disappointing !
The cast is AWESOME. I all love the teen actors and the adult actors. Both are awesome. And surprisingly I actually think that the teen and adult faces resemble each other so it's really convenient ^^
Overall I think this drama is really worth watching and I suggest everyone to watch this.
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Furthermore, the male lead was one of the most boring, uninteresting and helpless I've ever seen. There's no gravity to him being the king - neither in his official actions as a ruler nor as a person. Plot points related to his rule and not to the romance are being thrown around without meaning or a conclusion.
The rest of the characters were also overdrawn and flattened, made to fit into the limited scenario.
The highest point of this drama was, without a doubt, the acting. Especially the young actors in the first part of the series. Even though the events themselves weren't very captivating, they, with the skill of their acting, managed to pull me in nonetheless. Which is what, in the end, made me watch this to the end.
Overall, I suppose it's a fair drama if romance is what you wanted to get out of it. However, if you - like me - were looking for a plot with more levels than just the romantic one, there's a lot of better choices out there. So that if the first few episodes won't catch your interest, the chances are that the rest won't either.
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I think the cast sucks. Seriously.. Kim Soo Hyun (Lee Hwon) was not really appropriate as a king, and seems to force himself to act coldly when he was far better in acting as a cheerful, clumsy Sam Dong in DH.
I also have difficulties in liking the adult Wol/ Yeon Woo. Ga In's chipmunk expressions are the most horrible focus scenes. But, I like MinHwa and Prince Yang Myung adult's faces!!!! Heo Yeom's terrible, Bo Kyung? Pretty....
Besides cast, everything's great. The story, music, it also have high rewatch values. But if you read the novel's version, this drama was FAR behind. The screenwriter did a lot of amazing scenes, but cutting MOST of the kissing and romantic scenes between Wol and Hwon? That sucks....
The ending? Hate it... Why should everyone suffers for only Yeon Woo and Hwon's happiness?
This IS OF COURSE NOT the best sageuk i've ever seen, No doubt.
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This is why I have trust issues
Why is this show so popular?! It was trash; basically. I'm not trying to be cruel, it was just a very badly made melodrama. I would have dropped this but I watched it with my mother and for some inexplicable reason, she was obsessed with watching this to the end even while complaining that the show is terrible...so we watched it, all the way to the end. I think maybe part of the issue is that this show is just very old and from a time when Kdramas didn't always try to be good. But this was just so cheesy! And it wasn't like Moon Lovers, that show is so obviously cringe, I mean the first time we meet the princes they're bathing! That show was so unserious and in your face with its awfulness that it was fun to watch it but this show was almost good! There are so many strong actors, the plot is serious, and it's like it's trying to be taken seriously but it falls short, my god it falls very short!So first off, the plot here is convoluted but also underdeveloped, with a bit of tweaking this could have been so much more interesting. How? Some mystery would've been nice! The audience knows every single mystery of the plot the whole time (minus the one in episode 19 but by that point, you know these characters so well you will never fall for the plot's tricks.) So basically if we knew a bit less, it would have been so much less tedious to watch characters find out about stuff 10 episodes late. Secondly, this romance had less substance than cheese puffs! Why are these characters in love? Meeting twice and having three interesting conversations is a good build-up but it was just not enough for the epic romance this was set up to be. Also, the plot seems to have given up on using brain cells the moment the characters reached adulthood. The childhood era was actually nice, it tricked us into thinking the show is good. But then, everyone is suddenly dumb as an adult, especially the female lead who was so sharp and intelligent as a child. I get that that's what the amnesia plotline does to any respectable woman so I guess I just hate amnesia plots then. ._. And that's the other thing, the female lead is so passive. The literal moon that is in the sky and is shown, frankly too frequently, was more proactive in this plot than her. In fact, despite being the female lead, she barely has any role throughout the story. She's just there for everyone else to act around! Then there's the fact that events have no consequence as long as the female lead is involved. In fact, a major issue is how hard the show bends logic to protect the female lead's protagonist's halo. It's so frustrating. It was all so frustrating. I was either falling asleep from boredom or rolling my eyes from frustration while watching this.
So the casting...it's really good?! But why is everyone behaving so weird?! I don't know why but these really class actors were delivering absolutely no emotional impact. I could not care less about these characters and the acting made me so uncomfortable, everyone was so cheesy. I only liked Jung Il Woo, he was surprisingly a very strong actor and seemed a bit wasted here. The female lead was a nightmare and I bet Kdramaland unanimously sighed in relief when she married and gave up acting 'cause YIKES! what is that?! It was like she was allergic to expressions and having a personality...though the second one is probably the writer's fault! Everyone else was over acting. I like Fl's mom though. She was in Jewel in the Palace and I just like this woman a lot and her crying scenes were the only emotionally touching ones.
Music....do not even ask...
Production was terrible too but that should go without saying.
And I will not rewatch this, I barely wanted to watch it!
Overall: So many shows are popular on this website for no logical reason! Maybe they made sense 15 years ago, barely any of them hold up now. And I know there are good old shows but none of them are as popular as the bad ones! At least, so far in my experience. I'm gonna watch Goblin and hope for the best...
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