This review may contain spoilers
Pick Your Poison: Perfect Yet Imperfect Beginning, Middle, End
Under the Moonlight is an incredibly nuanced C-drama and may turn some viewers away who are looking for something perfectly sugary. It is utterly imperfect but perfect at the very same time.
The plot was quite simple, but what makes it interesting was its fidelity to the issues of the time. Our FL is a woman who meets obstacle after obstacle due to her position in society. While she does have the privilege of being a female constable, she is not completely exempt from societal pressure and judgement due to her background as a performer. Our MLs (yes, I count both as MLs) are also constrained by the same judgement when they fall in love with FL and attempt to marry her. Between an ML who is gentle but too cautious (due to his position as a magistrate) in protecting FL and an ML who is too naive and reckless but unwilling to let anyone run roughshod over FL, it was really a difficult choice who was the better choice for FL. While they all got their happy end, I still believe that FL should have just stayed single.
The reason I say the drama is imperfect is because of a couple of reasons. FL ends up with her ML though he is not necessarily the best fit for her in terms of personality. The ML who is a perfect match with FL in terms of personality ends up with his fiancee, someone who he initially despises. The villain didn't truly get his just desserts and the smaller villians (those that betrayed and those that contributed to the whole mess) also weren't thoroughly punished. Some were punished off screen and others were whitewashed before they met their end. Believe it or not, our mains did get punished for trying to save the situation which is not uncommon in history. This felt completely unfair, yet at the same time, this was probably the only way that our main couple could have been a couple (again, due to FL's background). As a result, it could be considered a bittersweet (yet also slightly fictional/fantastical end; FL became a merchant out of nowhere, another golden finger) ending to a drama that falls somewhere in between a more serious, factually accurate historical drama and a more beautified, fictional historical drama.
The plot was quite simple, but what makes it interesting was its fidelity to the issues of the time. Our FL is a woman who meets obstacle after obstacle due to her position in society. While she does have the privilege of being a female constable, she is not completely exempt from societal pressure and judgement due to her background as a performer. Our MLs (yes, I count both as MLs) are also constrained by the same judgement when they fall in love with FL and attempt to marry her. Between an ML who is gentle but too cautious (due to his position as a magistrate) in protecting FL and an ML who is too naive and reckless but unwilling to let anyone run roughshod over FL, it was really a difficult choice who was the better choice for FL. While they all got their happy end, I still believe that FL should have just stayed single.
The reason I say the drama is imperfect is because of a couple of reasons. FL ends up with her ML though he is not necessarily the best fit for her in terms of personality. The ML who is a perfect match with FL in terms of personality ends up with his fiancee, someone who he initially despises. The villain didn't truly get his just desserts and the smaller villians (those that betrayed and those that contributed to the whole mess) also weren't thoroughly punished. Some were punished off screen and others were whitewashed before they met their end. Believe it or not, our mains did get punished for trying to save the situation which is not uncommon in history. This felt completely unfair, yet at the same time, this was probably the only way that our main couple could have been a couple (again, due to FL's background). As a result, it could be considered a bittersweet (yet also slightly fictional/fantastical end; FL became a merchant out of nowhere, another golden finger) ending to a drama that falls somewhere in between a more serious, factually accurate historical drama and a more beautified, fictional historical drama.
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