Moon Embracing the Sun (2012)

I liked the complicated romance between the main leads in this drama. However, the scenes given to portray it are not enough for me. I think it could have been more entertaining to watch if the characters actually got to interact more with each other and not just watch everyone from afar. I also agree with many others on the part that the child actors really raised the bar too high that when they grew up, only Kim Soo Hyun was able to reach my expectations. I also really loved Kim Yoo Jung and her acting. She perfectly portrayed a character that you know the characters will truly miss. Even in the later parts of the series, flashbacks to her few scenes had a very convincing longing effect.

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If you love melodramas and period dramas, then you can not miss this one. This drama has it all, a strong love story, intense mystery, nice background story and politics. I loved that they kept the interest high throughout the twenty episodes, though some dramas tend to overdo it and spread the story so it can last for that long. The flawless acting helped in this case as well, though the leading lady was kind of emotionless at some points. Another thing that kind of stood out for me was that the moving from the past characters to the adult ones was a bit of a bumpy ride, but I can overlook that one, judging this drama as a whole.

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What great actors. So much crying and beautiful poetic language. I'm reading the subtitles. I tell myself that I'm going to stop watching these Kdramas but I can't help myself. Once I have a little peek I have to go all the way. Day and night and day and night I'm glued to my computer no breaks and hardly any food.. Laughing and crying. I tell myself over and over this time I'm not going to cry I'm going to harden up. Next thing tears rolling down my cheeks and I tell you this one was one of the best or worst. Which ever way you look at it. At least the ending was pretty happy apart from one of the best characters dying the kings brother who loved the king wife. The story is a fantasy historical so the authors were able to make the end a bit happy not like those historicals based on fact. You know that they are going to die in the end because that's a fact of life we all going to die in the end. I flick quickly pass the torture scenes but I love the sword fights and the kungfu fighting. Romantic scenes more up to your imagination. Least the kissing is better in this drama but most of these dramas kissing is just lip pressing bit amusing really.
* Really outstanding drama. You’ll love it even more when you rewatch it. So good to see the two brother Princes supporting each other instead of the norm of killing each other. Love the costumes the Royal Family wear. They are so well made and brilliantly decorated with intricate embroidery and gold threat highlights.
* The photography and cinematology were exceptional with very clear pictures that dominated your visual senses. The ending made you feel it was all worthwhile. The bodyguard character was my favourite he was really memorable as an actor.

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This is the first historical K-drama I have ended up liking. Usually they just fail to garner my interest but had heard good reviews of this and I'm glad I watched it.

STORY: The story was nothing really complicated, even on the court politics side, but enough interesting to drive the drama. I still would have enjoyed if it had given me something more. I feel like it lost a bit of it's vision as it progressed. Hence, the 7.5.

ACTING: okay let me first get this out if the way, young crown prince and yeon-woo>>>>>>older king and shaman yeon-woo.
Now, everyone in the drama did a really good job. Have to give it to the young cast though, they had me invested and attached just 5 episodes in. Yeo Jin Goo and Kim Yoo Jung did such a fantastic job for such young actors at that time it was so so good and I absolutely wanna see them together in another drama now.
I warmed up to Kim Soo Hyun as story went by. He did an amazing job as well. Now for Hang Ga In, I'm not familiar with her other works but honestly her performance here just didn't hit for me. She felt flat, her dialogue delivery was bland, she couldn't continue on the charm that Kim Yoo Jung's portrayal of young Yeon-woo showed.
The side characters all played their part brilliantly, be it the brother of both Yeon woo and king or the guard or the eunuch, the chief shaman, seol or jan-sil, the grandmother, the previous king, everyone had an important part to carry. The villains were just meh to me. But yeah, they did a good job with casting.

OST was good but except one or two songs nothing that I would probably revisit but while watching the show it did it's job well.

Some moments that come to my mind looking back: when Yeon-woo and crown prince first met, him getting reading her apology letter and the plant, the festival scene when he snatched her away and then the talk that they had, when he rallied the scholars for the fair princess selection, him going to her house when she got sick and giving her that hair pin and them just softly talking and knowing the time was running out god that was so brilliantly portrayed and such good acting from the pair, oh also gotta mention jin-goo's acting when Yeon-woo was being sent out of palace and he was trying to get past his guards and just broke down crying and when she passed away and again he wept, my heart hurt for him that was some solid acting from him. Basically the first half was the best half of the drama.

Overall I really liked this drama. There was some sweet moments, some funny, some moments that broke my heart and I sobbed big time. I would sure like to re-watch parts of this drama, and they all gonna include the ones from the time of the younger them.

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A lot happened in my Real Life before I was able to watch the last two episodes of this drama (prior to this I was keeping up with MoonSun weekly) and I think the gap between watching episodes 18 and then 19-20 took away from my overall impression of the drama as I literally became distant from it.

For the first 18 episodes I watched it rather obsessively, despite it's flaws (and they are obvious and relentless). For some reason, this show just made my week every week. A lot of that is probably thanks to Kim Soo Hyun who is melt-into-a-puddle-of-fangirl-goo worthy. He is absolutely amazing and I enjoy every second I get to see him on screen. But then watching the last two episodes just made me cringe. It was like I finally realized how totally pointless and useless most (if not all) of the characters were and how lame the plot was overall. Perhaps if I had watched the last two episodes while it aired I would of still been so caught up in the MoonSun craze that I could of just brushed everything off and enjoyed the show for what it was. But alas, I cannot give it that "10-star" rating I would of instantly given it before. And I think the "7.5 Stars" rating is even pushing it, quality wise.

If you are looking for a good star-crossed lovers romance with heartbreaking friendship and betrayal, go see The Princess' Man. If you have already seen that drama, you will understand what I mean when I say it was like MoonSun tried to hit that same emotional level and quality but ended up overshooting and crashing and burning. It was pretty to look at, yes. It had some great acting (Kim Soo Hyun, Jung Il Woo, and the child actors specifically), for sure. But at its very core that is pretty much all it had.

My main and biggest peeve with the plot is the character of Yang Myung. What a horrible and terrible waste of Jung Il Woo's talent. What in the world was the point of his character? Yes, he was pitiful. But what was his greater purpose...? I felt like he was an accessory to this drama: left to the side until deemed useful and then abused until they were finished with him. Yeesh.

But anyway, I wish the climax to the plot at the end had been more exciting (or dare I say "surprising"?) than it was and that the last episode hadn't been so sporadic trying to balance being dramatic and sad with being funny and cute. It didn't work so well.

I can say that I will miss this couple. And I don't even care that there are much better couples out there--many of which I also miss, too--I just really clicked with these guys.

So...do I recommend watching? Eh. If you want a historical that is pretty, angsty, full of Kim Soo Hyun tears, and romantic with little to no action/plot; you will probably like it. If you want something more meaty you probably want to look else ware.

Side note: I watched the Musical version of this live in Seoul staring Kyuhyun from Super Junior. It was AWESOME. Totally recommend!!

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The Moon Embracing The Sun (2012) - one of the hit dramas that I don't really feel anything towards. Maybe because at that time that I was watching this, I was still not into historical dramas. I think it is because I wasn’t totally engage with it, and did not really understand what it was all about. More likely the focus is the curses, and though it is a love story I didn't feel the romance. I don’t have the urge to watch it again, so I believe individual’s perspective is what matters because I found other people within my Korean drama community that liked this drama.

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Okay, so this is the second time that I thought I hadn't watched a drama when I had. But I think I actually remember what happened this time, and it reflects a lot in my rating.

Story: Overall I think this a solid historical drama full of intrigue. That being said, I definitely felt like the story dragged in the middle. What ended up happening for me, I think, the first time I watched, was I got bored around episode 10 or so and just dramabeansed(read the recap) the rest of the series. I still felt that way, but this time I stuck with it. So the story looses some points because of that.

Cast: First off, I think that the entire cast for the younger versions of the characters is fantastic. So many of them have gone on to make a place for themselves in Korean media. But in regards to the adult cast, I don't really share the same attitude. Kim Soo Hyun, in my opinion, is the saving grace of this drama. I think that with anyone else cast in the King's role, this drama really would never have gotten the traction it did with him as a lead. He is one of my favorite actors, so I'm likely biased, but the way he conveys emotions feels very raw and always produces an amazing product, not matter how crappy the writing, editing, and supporting cast may be. That being said, I really did not like the actress of the female lead. She perpetually looked confused, which I guess she was lol, but it made her seem like a rather flat and unemotional. Even the Queen did a better job, imo, so that really knocked down the points for me as well.

Music: Not what I would describe as notable, but fit the drama well, so therefore, on point.

Rewatch: I think this is high, just for the younger kids performance (which is about 1/4 of the total show) and for Kim Soo Hyun's performance.

TLDR; Maybe not so notable of a story, but the younger cast's and KSH's performances make this drama a must watch.

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Beautiful and heartbreaking

This is my first historical k-drama. It was released in 2012 but I only got to it now because I just recently joined K-drama “fan wagon”.
I don’t know how to rate this drama. I’m not a fan of historical dramas and only started watching it because of Kim Soo Hyun. He is superb! I also learned to love all of the characters. All actors were great!
This drama is beautiful and heartbreaking. I will be honest, I skipped some of the palace politics parts and not because it was difficult to follow but because there were way too many of them and it could have been wrapped up in standard 16 episodes, not 20. This not a romcom and though there were some funny and lighthearted moments this story is about unconditional love and ungodly amount of obstacles to go through to keep it. Many painful moments, many tears. But also it makes you believe that someone out there can fall in love with one person and be each other’s sun and moon for the rest of their lives. And the music is so breathtakingly beautiful! Watch this drama if you want a break from romcoms and want to experience some serious emotions but be prepared to pay attention, to cry and develop slight anxiety as story unfolds and leaves you with an aching heart at times.

It deserves solid 9 stars.

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This is a lovely story ultimately about fated love that overcomes all obstacles. The plot moves a bit slowly at times, but this feels more like a reflection of the times than a defect. This film really seemed to make a serious attempt at portraying the mood of the era and how various interpersonal behavior and ways of speaking among people of different ranks, etc. would work in that time (even came across despite my not speaking Korean). As with any Joseon Era plot set in the palace and involving the king, it is full of intrigue, plots and counterplots, but the story also contains a spiritual and magical element that makes it very poetic. My one issue was the adult female lead. After such a gorgeous and charismatic child actor, the adult lead seemed somewhat plain and ordinary, which was jarring. I also think her acting did not match that of the others actors. She had a heavy burden to carry, in that she presumably motivated the undying and passionate love of two men, but was unable to pull it off. Instead one was left having to male a leap of faith on this. Perhaps because of this the chemistry seemed somewhat lacking. Due in part to plot line as well as time period, this show is very light touch on physical shows of affection (especially in all those clothes), adding an extra challenge to pull it off based on more subtle movement and facial expression. Male lead did a creditable job but female lead was lacking, even in the physical moments. Otherwise really good performances all around, many interesting characters with their own fully fleshed out backstories and character development, and the gripping plot made it well worth watching.

Note to a few reviewers who thought ending didn’t make sense: remember the fable at the beginning about two suns and two moons, even referred to by shaman later in show to illustrate how applied specifically to the actual story and characters.

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I'm going to be honest with you. I wasn't going to watch this show originally. I read what it was about and thought that it just sounded so depressing, so why would I even think about watching something like that. I'm glad that I decided to watch it.

Story: The story frustrated me the majority of the time, in regards to the antagonists (you'll know what I mean when you watch it). It was a good story, but I just wanted to throw my tablet across the room a couple times because I was so frustrated with how the story was progressing. I liked that it wasn't your traditional story line where it's all happy for a long time and then it switches to depressing for only a short amount of time then went back to happy. I'm not saying I liked the depressing bits, it's more like I like how they did those parts. Since the story frustrated me constantly I gave the story 9.5/10.

Acting/Cast: I thought that all the actors did well in their roles. It didn't seem like they were overacting to me at any point. They were all chosen perfectly for their roles. If they weren't cast correctly or hadn't done a good job, I would've turned off my tablet before I had finished watching this drama. Acting/Cast gets 10/10.

Overall, this is a great show. It's not for everyone and the antagonists were constantly making me yell at my tablet. I still enjoyed the show and I am currently rewatching it. This show gets 9.5/10.

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