"Passion, Sincerity and Hard Work- everything you need to get it done."

"The moon is beautiful tonight."

Moonlight is a rom-com dealing with author-editor relationships, publishing companies and maybe a bit of every c-drama element.

TIP- For some who are hesitant to watch this- I'd ask you to fast forward (not omit) the first three episodes if you're curious, but not willing to risk wasting your time on what seems like a potentially horrible drama.

first thoughts- After watching tedious dramas, and due to the stifling atmosphere created by the pandemic, Moonlight, in its first six episodes of release served as a gift of joy as I unraveled through the lives of the characters. As a regular, consistent drama watcher, I'd only hoped for a decent storyline, fair characters and a plot that doesn't involve unnecessary actions.
Moonlight ticked them all. Introduced to characters that at first glance, fit into the stereotype moulds of an average c-drama, I'd expected many things. To my pleasant surprise, Moonlight took many forms, but it definitely waddled away from stereotypical scenarios and thats what kept me going.

while watching- i didn't binge watch this, so my experience wasn't ruined by constant cringing. The slow-mos were potentially cringe-die worthy and I'd wished they didn't overdo certain moments. But true to its comedic nature, the series had its fair share of chuckle worthy shots and cute scenes. Esther Yu wasn't annoying and childish, Ryan Ding wasn't a tsundere, The second leads weren't completely fools.

Despite appearing to fit into a certain type, I liked how each varied in their own ways. Esther has her pouty moments, but she also shows immense faith and perseverance. Ryan Ding isn't a rude, stand offish guy- he's clueless about human emotions but is willing to learn.

Albeit, the acting as a whole felt a jiffy stiff, especially the romance between the second leads felt WAY tumultuous and seemed irrelevant as to why they were separated in the first place. The last couple of episodes did feel weird and forced.

After watching- it was definitely rushed. I would've expected at least one more episode, or two almost to show a little more progress. But at least we got a nice little gift wrapped with a pretty ribbon and after watching many hyper-realistic dramas, it was nice to see a cute ending.

The leads had their 'main lead halos' but they also had their vulnerable moments. What I liked most about the show is that each of them have their own personality. No character was 'canon fodder' for another and had their own talents. There's a lot of which is unrealistic, but it isn't impossible. There was this perfect balance between both positive moments and negative moments. The pace, in my opinion, in the mid parts were PERFECT. It was natural progress and I loved IT.

Its direct, cutely cringey with some surprising elements and a good story overall. There's a lot of stuff that the series broached about, quietly and shortly.

And that's why I loved it. Watching Rom-coms, in its nature itself is sort of illusion. So I'd rather have a drama like this rather than other unrealistic, head aching ones.

Endline- I'd recommend everyone to watch Moonlight. Watch it when you've finished a sad series, or if you don't wish to connect much to characters too much or if you wish to numb yourself and not want complicated storylines. It's light, carefree, minimum effort to understand series. Perfect light hearted rom-com with a strong female lead and a fun male lead.

Have fun watching!

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Shooting Stars--don't trust ratings. AT ALL

There's nothing too big to spoil nor is there any unexpected plot twists that make you go, "OH SHIT". Shooting stars has its premise: the love story between a pr team manager and a top actor. True to its premise, Shooting Stars aligns right with it from the first episode.

Which isn't the best choice, tbh. The first three episodes, don't really give you intrigue or any sort of interest piquing content. All we get is banter(not a spoiler)...which imo could've been even funnier if it was balanced with some mystery...or some sort of intrigue to the problems that our mcs will get into. And KYD's acting didn't help this drag either.

Following the humour, we finally delve into the plot that I was looking forward too. There's enough characters , just the right amount for you to catch up with. All of them have interesting storylines and I feel, pretty accurate. I, personally, loved the way they balanced the screen time and it made viewing quite enjoyable.

Pros of this drama? It gets better each episode. There's romance for all types. There's issues, but it doesn't drag for long. Its realistic, to a good extent. KYD's acting improves, the acting is done to the t for every role that every actor plays and i'm all here for it. The story is neat, predictable but not boring, and leaves you satisfied with a nice message. For the days you want to escape reality: Shooting Stars is your medicine.

Cons? As a writer, the lack of details bothered me. SO many opportunities to make the characters more nuanced. Storing pacing could've improved and the cheap shots of the first ep bothered me greatly. it was diff'cult to get into, but i don't regret continuing cause i was pleasantly surprised.

tldr: need a good romcom to get you off your stress? This one's actually good.

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Love All Play-- a second chance at life.

If youre planning to watch this drama, I'd say do it when you need to pass time. I was under the pretense that this drama was similar to Weighlifting Fairy Kim Bok Joo. And honestly, its setup of childhood friends, overcoming traumas, motivating each other-- it could've become a kdrama classic.

But what stops this drama from achieving what WFKBJ is the following:

CONS-
1) the entire "incident"- honestly, they could've come up with an entirely different idea. Because rather than focusing on the leads, this plot point made it impossible for anyone to breathe. Everyone was miserable. No one understood the word "accident". This wasn't even a plot hole, this was just...not the right way to add tension.


2) the fl CANNOT catch a break--
--> firstly, i cannot fathom why she has such low confidence. Guilt does not equal unconfidence. The way she was treated by everyone except for the ML....was so heartbreaking and frustrating.

-->secondly, she was too pitiful for me to even remotely hate. Yes, i hated how she accepted a lot of shit and how she never spoke back. I just wanted to hug her and say its okay.

3) the parents-- the fl's father had a slightly better redemption arc.

But the ML's family...oh my oh my. I cannot control my rage. Boys need as much as attention as girls. The concept of equality with the ml's parents ceased to exist. Its funny how this drama portrayed the family on the other extreme spectrum: generally the son is coddled and daughter would be ignored....here its the opposite. To the point where i wondered how the ML is still SO AFFECTIONATE with them.

4) a lot of reasoning did not take place which....put the story out. The pacing wasn't appropriate, which made the pre-post-after the incident coming to light, very messy. We get no explanation, we get only a series of setbacks for our fl and then a 2 minute conversation.

PROS

1) The acting- I'm so sad the story was not it. Because the acting was IT. Even minor characters played their role well. I'm a sucker for pretty smiles and both leads were SO PRETTY WHEN THEY SMILED.

2) the love stories&friendship-- im a sucker for stories where romance is a part of the characters life. Rather than romance being the axis, we had characterisation of the YUNIS members that stood as the backbone, out of which romance was a small, cozy part of it. Every member of YUNIS had their good and bad and so many heart touching moments.

3) the love for sport: i'm no professional player, but i liked that we were able to see a couple of impressive rallies and PARK TAEYANG'S SMASH IS SO GOOD?! I play badminton casually now im all PUMPED to play better. The love for sport unified different people with different mindsets. And thats what is the main focal point of this drama, which never failed to shine till the end.

4) OSTS- i usually skip the intro of dramas, but i didnt. Diamond by Yonghoon(onewe), When the Door opens( intro by JT&MARCUS), There There by Baek A Yeon were insanely pleasing to listen too.

Tldr: had potential, but the story screwed up. Props to everything else. As a drama watcher it was frustrating to see wasted potential. But, do give it a chance when you're doing something monotonous or don't feel anything makes sense in life.

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