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Strong start, very weak finish
The story started very strong and had a lot of potential. However towards the end of the drama things started falling apart, being repetitive and too much of a cliche to be considered a good use of it.A shame that the opportunity was wasted.
The acting, especially the ML, did a good job with what they were given but I didn't feel a chemistry between them at all and the try for a "moon lovers" ending wasn't successful. I feel like they tried to emulate the tragic and hopeless feeling of both Scarlet heart and goblin with the ending, but it just felt forced.
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Unsatisfying execution of an interesting plot; Lacking romantic chemistry
Subjective Gut Rating: 7.75I am sure I am not the only one who read the synopsis of “Moon in the Day” and liked it, especially for fantasy romance lovers. The plot looks interesting and the male lead is the handsome Kim Young Dae, so I gave it a shot despite mixed reviews. Although the drama is not horrible, the execution and storytelling could have been better. It is wasted potential.
I quite enjoyed the first half of the drama, and dare I say, I liked the dynamics of the leads in the present-day storyline more than the past. Their encounter, the unfolding of the events, and how the leads get to know each other, are all fun to me. It was decently paced as well. But as we entered the second half of the drama, the pacing slowed down and I started to lose a little interest in the present-day timeline. There’s a whole lot of talking (repetitive themes) but not a lot of action. This is when I become more invested in their past lives. The leads’ story and romance slowly unfolded, and though with controlled and conservative emotions, I believed in their tragic love and felt their feelings for each other.
Unfortunately, I do not feel the chemistry between the leads in the present timeline. The romance is too slow burn and there isn't enough shown or conveyed to make me feel that they have fallen in love with each other again. But the time they outwardly expressed their feelings, it was too late and too superficial. Their romance did not move me. The only time I was sad and cried was in the last episode.
The pace is slower in the second half and people seem to talk a lot slower (in both timelines). It also doesn’t help that the formerly miraculous firefighting heroine slowly becomes a damsel in distress. How many times is she going to trip, fall, get into an accident and need someone to help her out. Where was her fire fighting training? Isn’t she an athlete that could fight and protect herself? On the other hand, the villain can do no wrong. No one could ever catch him, and he has all these resources to pull the strings behind the scene. The cops are as useless as ever.
The acting is not bad. But I’ve seen Kim Young Dae acted better in “The Forbidden Marriage” and had much better chemistry with his co-star. Apparently I’ve seen Pyo Ye Jin in several of her past dramas but I had no recollection of her. Her character allows her to convey more emotions than Kim Young Dae, thus, it seems like her acting is better. . The rest of the cast did fine. The veterans definitely shine more than the younger main cast. Lee Kyung Young as ML’s father is awesome and Jung Woong In never disappoints when he plays a villain.
Overall, this is not a must-watch but do so if you are a fan of the leads, or if you are a really big fan of fantasy romance. I am OK with the ending and feel that it’s quite reasonable. I might not have guessed the result of the end of the present-day timeline perfectly, but I definitely anticipated how the whole drama ended in the last couple minutes. It’s actually quite typical for this genre.
Completed: 1/15/2024 - Review #396
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Moon in the day
What can I say..loved loved it.I don't know how anybody can not like this or found it boring. I am hard to please but although a slow burn it was well worth watchingthe 14 episodes.The two main actors Kim young dae
(Who has the sexiest voice) and Pyo ye-jin were made for the parts of Han Junoh and Han ri-ta.A love that spanned 1500 years.Although it jumped through the past and the present it didn't spoil the story. If you like
Series that had every emotion in it this is for you. Everyone has different tastes but I absolutely loved it from start to finish. Well-done to everyone who worked hard and gave us this drama. 🥰
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It is not as bad as what they say
Dec. 14, 2023Just a psa, YES, I almost dropped this series. It definitely have its slow parts and that definitely pissed me off. The cast is so amazing and if they just stick to the plot of the webtoon. Then I feel like this would have been better and not have those dull and confusing parts.
The ending is not sad, if that’s what you are looking for. I think they did a pretty decent job at concluding this series. I am not sure if I would rewatch it again to be honest. Maybe just watch the highlights and video edits of it.
Someone people said the acting fell flat in certain scenes and I guess I did feel it too. But it wasn't like that bothersome for me as with the plot.
I wish I can say more better things about this show. But the only good thing is that I finished it even though it felt like a chore.
Definitely watch this if you have nothing else to watch.
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Even the trash didn't know it had competition
100% hater and slander review. You've been warned.I've seen Pyo Yejin in Taxi Driver. She was fine there, she was excellent and Kim Young Dae was good in Penthouse, but I don't know what the hell they were doing in this drama. They were acting as if they came fresh from acting school. It was BAD. I have never watched a drama and felt so off put by the bad acting.
The female actress here can't support herself. She is making this show go from bad to worse. While the actor is clearly forcing his voice to sound so deep that I bet you his throat is SORE after this to the point of hospitalizations.
I'm sorry but the actors were a wrong cast here. Actually, I'm NOT sorry. I'm saying this with my whole chest. Hell, I don't think they are even compatible. They are so dull and everything about them was OFF. NEVER CAST THEM AGAIN TOGETHER! They have the chemistry of a dead fish.
The story? Booooring. There is BARELY a plot. How do you make an interesting concept but then write it the worst way possible? The modern day plot so directionless. APPARENTLY, a guy wanting to kill the main leads should be enough to get you through 10 HOURS of watchtime. This ain't the best thing since sliced bread. In fact, there isn't even butter on the bread, no cheese on this pizza, no sauce in this pasta, it's just crusty and dry. Eating no plot. The romance could have sustained it but they were like magnetic polarity, repelling in the name of Jesus Christ from each other. A North and South Pole.
The only decent part is the historical aspect of the story. That's the only one that seemed to have some sort of purpose but when the modern part is lacking severely, the history is as well because I don't give a damn. This is not the only drama with past lives integrated nor will it be the last. How am I supposed to like this lukewarm storyline when I have seen better?
The female lead? Annoying. Throw her whole character away. The only trait she have is her savior complex. How about she buys herself a personality??? How about instead of saving lives, she saves that personality that she doesn't have? Because she let it die tragically.
The male Lead? A walking contradiction. Acting like he doesn't know why he was killed and being vengeful about it. Shut up, you know why she killed your ass. I do have media literacy and I'm aware that it is because he thinks the love between them is genuine which makes her betrayal hard for him to stomach. But like CHECK YOURSELF. Check your history. Even if she wasn't being genuine, he should have accepted that as a punishment for what he have done.
Despite what I said, I don't mind him lmao I understand his pov. I just want to hate on the show more because it's written so bad, it's making the enjoyment of the complex themes fall off.
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Excellent actors who did the best they could with the terrible plot.
I had high hopes for this drama. Despite the censorship and very little skinship there was potential for great chemistry between the leads. Unfortunately this potential chemistry never really took off, and aside from a couple of excellent historical scenes the rest of the drama gets more and more ridiculous and goes totally off the rails.Pros: Good musical score, the historical costumes are really nice, and great acting from the cast despite a very poorly written, illogical, repetitive script with huge flaws in logic.
Cons: Everything else. Smart, confident and skilled characters suddenly become uselessly stunned and make stupid decisions just to push the story along. Themes that matter a lot in one episode are suddenly forgotten for another 6 episodes before resurfacing for convenience and then being dropped again. The same scenes repeat so often that we are extremely bored because we have seen them something like 6 times before! Very tropey to the point that horror scenes are actually comedic towards the end. For example: Running away? Keep stopping to make soulful dialogue and let danger catch up to you before running again for a few steps. !!??
Ultimately I watched it till the end for closure and due to the hilarious comments from other viewers on Viki. Would love to see the leads together again in another historical drama even though I don't usually watch that genre - I would watch it to see them acting together.
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Exciting start, boring middle, proper ending
This might have been better as a shorter series. The first two episodes were so interesting that I initially chased this drama. The Silla-Gaya background and the 1500 year grudge really drew me in. However, as the drama progressed and the main villain was introduced, it just felt like a series of repetitive cat and mouse game, which ultimately made the middle so boring that I decided to just wait until all episodes are out before binge watching and fast forwarding. This had so much potential but ruined by lazy script writing. The main villain's reason for being was too weak for me. The powers of the ghosts and JunOh's fame were treated as plot devices and were inconsistent, it's there when needed but negligible when it's not. To be fair, I really liked the ending and how they incorporated the drama title into a scene. It was, for me, the proper ending for the main characters, with Doha's grudge finally being resolved. Overall, though it's not something I'll rave about, this is a good enough drama to pass the time.Was this review helpful to you?
Shockingly enjoyed
damn. I shockingly really enjoyed this show. This show is 80% thriller with 20% romance in the roots. Lots of jaw dropping moments and really has you engaged. The acting of Kim Youngdae is flawless with seamless transition of each version of him, and him slowing falling for her in the host body. Last Episode made me cry so much. If you don’t enjoy stories of 1500 y/o spirts are falling in love with 30 year olds, and if you love good kisses, not really for you.The ending explains the title of the show and I loved the meaning. Though I wish the ending stopped at a part that made more sense like ending the show mid-way of the last episode would’ve been better imo. Even skipping the rest they shot and keeping the last 5 mins, would’ve been perfect for me.
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An underrated drama
I highly disagree with comments that this drama is boring. I must say that it's one of the best I've seen. The plot is overall incredibly good written, with an ending you wouldn't expect in the first episodes. It does play on your emotions, which surprised me, because after Moon Lovers which is my best and My Dearest, I wouldn't expect any other drama to put me that high with my feelings. The enemies-to-lovers was not just another dull story, but really deep, probably mostly because of the reincarnation theme. Highly recommend to watch.Was this review helpful to you?
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I am disappointed with the ending.
I am little confused or to say little disappointed from the ending. When they meet again in the tourist place will YOUNG HWA taking photos, if I take it as the next life or reincarnation, then JUN OH coming back to life from death in the current life made me no sense if they were not destined to be together as per fate even after the cursed is removed.After JUN OH came back to life and if he had remembered about YOUNG HWA, about their love etc. in his dreams in the current life and they got back together that should been a happy ending. Instead of that so-called happy ending, if they had ended the episode after the airplane scene, that would also have been a good ending.
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The Silla era scenes were the best part of the drama, although they were shown on repeat. They looked so beautiful in the red wedding clothes. I didn't like the brooding, sulky personality of the present day male lead. I was never "sold" on the FL suddenly falling for the ML in the present day. The ML didn't do anything swoon-worthy really until the last episodes. The actress did a good job of having different personalities and voices for her dual role. I think the ending isn't as bad as the other negative reviews make it out to be. I think that it was right for the brother to get his brother back. Was this review helpful to you?
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Beautiful and Romantic
The opening graphics were beautiful, (reminded me of Tale of The Nine Tailed. Gosh, where can I buy the prints ). It sets the mood for the story and I took my time to see it on every episode. Kim Young Dae is so versatile, he can play silly and super arrogant, all while being handsome, like in “Sh**ting Stars”. The chemistry of the leads grew on me over time, but did take some effort to believe it by halfway through the series.Not all fantasy stories have happy ever after, most keep consistent with the underlying premise. I thought this one satisfying but not unique. My all time favorite fantasy is “Goblin”, this series doesn’t reach Goblin’s standards but I still enjoyed it.
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