Oh God, this show was such a mess.

To start off with a nicer note, I'll talk about the drama's one and only saving grace: Lee Jun Ki. I am going to be honest, this was my first time watching him, and I was simply impressed. Not only is he a beautiful, beautiful man; he can also act like nobody's business. I also believe that even though he wasn't given much to work with, he tried his level best. And it showed, for the 4th Prince was the only character who I felt somewhat connected to. For me, this was a total case of liking the actor better than the character.

Next, I'd like to come at the people who gave so much flak to IU for her acting. Like, why y'all tripping? I mean her role wasn't even that hard, neither was it anything special. It was the same old 'bumbling, fumbling, self-righteous Mother Theresa level goodness' shebang that we've seen a billion times before. Every other actress in every other drama is doing it. It doesn't even require that much effort and for what it's worth I think IU handled it quite gracefully. People simply want to jump on the bandwagon of the 'singers can't act' stereotype and bash her, while ignoring the other much bigger problems with the show.

Speaking of problems, to be frank, this has to be one of the worst written shows I have ever watched. It's like the author had this vague idea of how to begin and how to end and so she bullshitted through the road in-between.
There is no character development whatsoever and convenient plot-lines are used time and time again to further the plot.

Want to give our hero the run-of-the-mill tragic pariah look?
No problem! Let's riddle him with some mommy issues and a scar to match.

Want to show our heroine change the hero's life by covering up that scar? Alrighty, let's make our heroine a cosmetician!

Want to show that everybody loves our heroine?
Let's make a harem of princes, throw some half hearted moments between them and take a leap; suggesting that they are suddenly so close that they would die for her!

The story is lacking villains?
Ugh, why not just bring back one that we already killed and got rid of before? We will just deem it a miracle of sorts and call it a day. Haha.

Uh oh, did our cranial light bulbs just fuse and we don't know how to prolong the show to 20 fucking episodes?
Nevermind. We always have good old flashbacks to help us through.

God, what a clusterfuck.

Everything was rushed and carelessly executed. They killed people just for emotional appeal. The relationships between characters wasn't fully explored. I mean, do you really expect my peepers to gush a waterfall if you scarcely show me a character; just enough so that he'll be in mind but not enough so that I would actually come to care for him, then in one random episode you show nothing but him and quickly kill him in the next to tug at my heartstrings? Nah boo.

Scarlet Heart was the definition of an ostentatious production. There was loud music flaring up out of nowhere to make scenes more dramatic, over-acting done by a lot of actors and numerous in your face close-up scenes. All these antics did well to suck up authenticity from the show and what you were left with in the end was superficial characters that are only pretty to look at.

Even the 4th Prince had major inconsistencies throughout. Many times, he seemed like a dumbed down version of Bidam from Queen Seon Duk. Thank goodness for LJK and his roguish charm, that he somehow managed to carry the show on his shoulders but ofcourse, one poor soul can do only so much.

The OST while itself brilliant, was also highly inappropriate for the time setting of the show. Do you really want me to swallow that a court lady in 18th, 19th century Goreo would be nodding her head and singing 'My Baby baby boy' in her moving carriage? Sorry, but I'm choking.

The story flows in fits and starts and the poorly executed time jumps don't necessarily help the case. Some aspects of the storyline had so much potential but the writers failed to tap into it. You could say that some scenes were well executed individually but they fell short at fitting together as a bigger picture.
It was crazy how sometimes, so much attention would be given to a supporting role and the main one's would be ignored. Or how important scenes would be inexplicably rushed while things that would be completely random would take up so much screen-time. The jumbled motivations and the fickle thought processes of all the characters reflected the confused mind of the writer.

When a show tries to elaborately sell me the fact that characters can fall from cliffs, get poisoned and stabbed in the heart and still survive, you know what, with some grievances intact I might actually buy it. But when the same show also tries to tell me that someone who got their knee banged up a bit years ago might, out of nowhere, lose the ability to walk or that heart-ache can cause people to have chronic heart diseases, I'm sorry but I'd just have to call the bullshit out.

Even though it was labeled as a period drama, it seemed like a parody of the genre. There were no intelligent palace politics or court intrigue. No cultural focus or attention to detail. All the antagonists were hare-brained idiots and the biggest enemy the good guys had to face was their own stupidity. Needless to say, they lost to it.

I don't consider myself a particularly hard person to move. Often little things touch me deeply and bring tears to my eyes but in this show- all these character deaths and tragedies- all I felt was a vague sense of detachment.

I am not gonna lie, the love story sure was cute. No matter how over-rated they get 'good girl-bad boy' romances will always have allure. And since the romance was all the drama had going for it, I'll give acknowledgment where it's due. There were scenes that made me smile and swoon but they weren't nearly enough to overcome all the weaknesses of the show.

Normally, I would give a show like this a much poorer rating but it's solely because of my love for LJK that I brought it up a notch. Also, I have to say that despite all its flaws, it did make me watch to the end. So all in all, you should enjoy Moon Lovers like you would enjoy a toddler's company: by being indulgent and not taking it too seriously.

P.S: Go easy on the 'This ain't helpful' button. I know this drama is a crowd favorite but I gotta tell as I feel it is. :)))