Reviews

Story: Many would have you believe that this is the Korean adaptation of the highly successful Chinese drama Bu Bu Jing Xing (BBJX). It is not! More accurately, there are only a few similarities (can be counted in one hand) of circumstances but other than that, this is an entirely different story. In a nutshell, it's a story about a woman from the current time accidentally ended up in the ancient times where she became a part of a royal household and became friends with the princes of that era. She was caught in the middle of the political rivalry between the brothers for the throne.

I would like to reiterate that this Korean version was not written by the original Bu Bu Jing Xing writer. This is entirely a Korean written drama. The biggest difference are the characters. The main male lead in this drama is a bit of a ruffian and pariah with tendencies towards brutality. The female lead of this drama is a weak character who is always the victim and never a success of her own (which is so unlike the female lead in BBJX!). Maybe the idea of a strong, arrogant, cold male with tendencies towards brutality and a weak, simpering, without backbone and a blur-bordering-on-being-stupid heroine appeals to the Korean audience as per the rich, arrogant, powerful, abusive chaebol guy and the poor, happy, innocent woman formula. In any case, the lack of strong lead characters (including that of the second male lead) totally spoiled this drama for me.

The charm and success of BBJX relied heavily on its unforgettable characters. The storyline of time-traveling and involvement in palace politics itself is not new and pretty 'standard' in the Chinese drama scene. Popular examples include Palace: Lock Heart, The Myth and the recent web-drama comedic hit Go Princess Go. The Chinese have been making such time-traveling dramas for decades now. What made BBJX achieved such a big success was mainly because of its unforgettable characters and not necessarily the storyline itself. The Koreans went and adapt the main idea of the story and the open ended ending but pretty much made a mess of all of its characters.

Do not get me wrong here. I am not comparing the Korean version with the Chinese version. To do so, will be like comparing chicken to duck. Both are two very different products although from the same story idea! I am merely stating that if the Koreans had decided to do a drama based on time-traveling, palace politics and romance - they could learn much from their Chinese counterparts about writing characters that create lasting and strong impacts instead of following the usual mold of what constitutes a successful Korean romance pairing (rich abusive guy with poor weak woman). I believe if they had dared to break away from this mold and give the audience a strong female character with a strong, upright and strategist of a male character against a kind but ambitious second male lead, the drama would have been a much bigger hit. The only characters that this drama did well are the characters of the 10th prince and his wife. To this day, I cannot decide if I like BBJX's 10th prince and wife better or this Korean version's 10th prince and wife. In both versions, the characters of the 10th prince and wife were given good justice although both had different stories and endings for the 10th prince and wife.

Acting/Cast: Most of the male casts did well, as did the supporting actresses. The female lead, however, was a total let down. She only had three expressions: shy smile, expressionless and shocked. Her body language was a bit stiff too - making it hard for me to be convinced that there's even chemistry between her and the male leads; hence making this so-called 'great romance that caused brothers to fight against each other for the throne' less convincing. Even the shocked look looked rather unconvincing. In cases like these, there are 3 possibilities: 1- This was how the character was depicted in the script, or 2- The actress is bad in acting and shouldn't be acting, or 3- Both 1 and 2. I do not know much about the female lead as I do not follow news of Korean young idols and since this is the first drama of hers that I'd watched, I cannot make a concrete judgment of her acting skills. The jury is out on this matter. What I can say for absolute certain was the lead female character was the reason why I dropped this drama after 6 episodes and only caught up after it has finished airing (with fingers firmly on the fast forward button!).

Music: Nothing that stuck in my head.

Rewatch value: I will not be re-watching this.

Overall: Enough said. I recommend that you go watch Bu Bu Jing Xing instead if you haven't watch it.

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If you are tired of rich perfect boy & ordinary girl matches then you might consider this little gem. Do you question whether a guy living in perfect material comfort with perfect endowments can still be a wonder decent human being? Can an ordinary girl living a simple life with no particular ambition or determination really be a special interesting person?

There are no outside factors used to make more interesting, prove, or test the strength or trueness of their love. (IMHO, The outside elements wasn't important. Those were there for the reader's benefit ;)) People other than the 2 leads barely even realize they went through such tumulteous storm.

There's also Godfrey Gao & his character Wang Lichuan. Bother actor & character are multi-lingual, multi-cultural which my reader, I think you are as well. Did I mention Godfrey & Lichuan are very hot. ;)

The book that this show was based on is out of this world. It has sadder & more mature tone. The show is fluffier, trying to be funny. Male lead nicer. The side characters in the show are pretty good too. There are flaws in it. Definitely don't miss out on the magic that is Remembering Lichuan. Read the book first if you can.

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I was watching moonlight and moon lovers one after the other, While Moonlight was light sweet and fun, Moon lovers is dark heavy and melodramatic.
It certainly is addictive and engrossing, but tends to frustrate you on a lot of issues.
I loved the part with the princes meetings, they were the lighter moments of the drama. Lots of intrigues and twists which sometime you like and sometime you feel...why??
The first love story su/wook is given much more time to develop and grow than the Su/So love story, confusing the audience who to root for. Besides how can a nice kind person suddenly change overnight. not possible. All in all I found the character of Su very fickle and indecisive, switching princes..its annoying. Just not well written, to top it off the actress although better here than her previous works, is so expressionless. I don't know about others but I had very little sympathy with her and found her choices annoying.
The end was kind of incomplete. Lots of things are left for the audience to figure out themselves. I would have liked it better if they had some parts of the present day life between characters.
Overall I liked it but not as much as the other sageuk I have seen earlier. Don't expect too much but deserves to be watched atleast once.

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This drama is a masterpiece. It belong to the greatest love story of all time (how many happy ending of greatest love story are out there???).
It take us to a emotional roller coaster ride and let us longing for another season.

It was my first time seeing LJG acting and I can only repeat HS monologue “If I had not met him, I would not yearn for him. If I did not know him, I would not think of him so much.." I feel "haunted" from his acting skill as the 4th Prince and wanted to see more from him. And I was able to manage to watch most of his past work during the weekly wait of the new episodes. I was totally captured from his acting skill and questioning myself if this was the same actor in the Clown and the King, Iljimae, etc. He is so talented and can totally keep up with the best in Hollywood. I can't wait to see new project from him.

I have seen IU in previous work but she has not make a deep impression to me in the past. But as HS she has elevated herself in a different level. Yes it is hard to shine so brightly next to LJG but she is able to give life to her character very well. I think she is a perfect pick for this roll. So pure, innocent and naive. But always true to herself. Her character is very complex because she is a time traveler. Her action and thought is hard to follow for some viewers but ultimately do not forget that inside of her there is a fight of a modern woman, trying to survive in historical time. She is trying to adapt and fit in but the price is to give up on her true self. Her chemistry with LJG is magical. I can not get enough of the precious moments that they share screen.

Love every one of the other cast. They truly complete this masterpiece.

Love , love , love the music in this drama. "Can you hear my heart" from epik high ft. Lee Hi is now one of my favorite song of the year. I do not mind the rap in a historical drama. I think it is very fitting to the time travel theme, the young cast and it give the drama a fresh breeze. It inspired me to play piano again.

I will miss this drama so so much and hoping to see a sequel or a new project with LJG and IU together :)

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The premise of the story wasn't the issue I had with the drama. A girl is still in love with her childhood first love, he turns out to a total playboy. They fall in love, he struggles with his own issues. That I understood and enjoyed about this drama. But the issue I had was with the execution. It romanticized dating violence, all the red flag in the book were portrayed. The mental, the physical, and the down right disturbing are all featured here. I felt like this show should have come with a warning sign that some viewership is advised.

That being said, the acting and casting choices, I thought were actually perfect. Each actor portrayed their role as they were given (Though I'm not happy what they were given), the did a marvelous job. I despised the bad girl, I feel in love with the main character, and despite my best judgement I was drawn in by the male lead. The chemistry is what really made me keep watching this drama if nothing else.

The music didn't take me out of the show nor did it really fully bring me in. It was good, and fit with the type of teen drama.

Due to the mental and physical violence this portrayed I would say the re-watch value is a 2. I would re-watch the ending, when he redeems himself (barely) and the part where she is falling in love with him again, but skip mostly all the episodes but two.

Overall this drama is a 5.5 on the scale.

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This story has some flaws, but overall it's a great romantic historical drama. I thoroughly enjoyed the first 16 out of 20 episodes. Lee Joon Gi as Wang So was wonderful to watch. This drama will make you a fan if you aren't already. I looked forward to him coming on screen. Wang So is at times dark, dangerous and damaged and at other times sweet, romantic, heroic and loyal. I enjoyed the love triangles, family drama, camaraderie and spirited, pretty heroine. Costumes and actors and cinematography were beautiful to look at. Fun exciting action and martial arts. Good fast pacing. The story moves along nicely. Several scenes - like the scene in the rain or the riding on horseback scene - are really memorable, stirring and dramatically presented. The emotional impact of the 2 main love stories build up really well in the first 3/4 of the drama really make the whole series worth watching for me.

I forgave plot holes or inconsistencies much of the time because it was so enjoyable to watch, but towards the end it fell apart and the actions of the characters didn't make sense to me. As a whole the events at the end didn't hold together to tell a cohesive or rewarding story. If only it could have finished as strongly as it started, I would've given it a 9 or 10. But still I'm glad I spent the time to watch it. It was worth it and it had me hooked to the last episode which not every drama can do.

Now that some time has past and I've watched many more dramas since, it still holds up for me as a great romance despite it's flaws.

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Wow.. I really loved this drama!
Personally is one of the best drama i've seen, A adult romantic drama, different from what we usually see with other romantic drama. The writers pulled off the storyline wonderfully for each couple of this drama, throughout the history we see the evolution of each and also the painful past of Kang Min & Ko Sang. Honestly, this is one of the most well acted dramas! The way their relationship grows from beginning to end is so sweet and also for the cute couple Ko Mi Ryeo & Cha Ming. The actors appeared to have great chemistry. I would like to say more but my english is not excellent to continue..

- Acting cast : Perfet choice.
Always a pleasure to watch the cute Kim Seul Gi, she's so funny! and Ji jin oppa is excellent as usual!

- Musics : Very beautiful songs.

I give a big 10/10 for this drama.
I hope to see more adult romance in the futur dramas..

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Why I watched it: Jung Il Woo. That was all I needed.

Was it worth it: Absolutely.

What I liked the most: “The kisses,” she said unapologetically.

What I disliked the most: The music during the “tense” moments got cheesy. I rolled my eyes a few times.

Moment Meter: 6/10 – Lots of moments. The quality of the moments, however, ranges from straight cheese to heart attack.

Other thoughts: I’m a Jung Il Woo fan, because even though he isn’t drop dead gorgeous, he has some flattering angles and a knack for intense acting. Combine that with the fact that he had the tsundere character (like usual), and this was a hit for me. (He’s also a phenomenal on-screen kisser)

Note: Certain actors will automatically make the drama better (for me), so the rest of the review will be biased. Consider yourself warned.

It watched a lot like a reverse-harem anime, which I enjoy from time to time. Park So Dam nailed this role, and has good control over the tones in her voice. I’m not too crazy about Ahn Jae Hyun’s acting. He didn’t do poorly, but I didn’t get as much feeling from him as I did the others, and one of them is a musician before they’re an actor. I liked the story and it moved along well without stagnating too often.

Conclusion: Actor bias boosted this one up for me, so I would have enjoyed it even if it were complete garbage. Was it unpredictable and fresh? Not entirely, but it hit all of those juicy KDrama notes that keep me coming back for more.

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Why I watched it: Mostly Kim Woo Bin, but also to see a real-life relationship translated to the screen.

Was it worth it: As worth it as it could have been.

What I liked the most: It didn’t pull any punches, especially towards the end. Have tissues ready.

What I disliked the most: Maybe it was just the character, but Suzy was extremely annoying. Especially when crying.

Moment Meter: 4/10 – There were a couple of good ones in there.

Other thoughts: I wasn’t expecting too much from this drama so I was pleasantly surprised. I’m a fan of the male tsundere character type so Woo Bin’s character grew on me fast. The immediate plot kept me entertained to the point where I kept forgetting the main underlying issue and needed the reminders that they squeezed in there every now and then. It was very engaging and rarely lulled. About 60% of the time, Suzy’s character annoyed the crap out of me. Especially when she was whining. I lost grasp of the story for a bit when they jumped from past to present but not enough to faze me completely. Woo Bin is an actor I look out for but he’s not on “the list,” so if you’re a die-hard Woo Bin fan you’ll probably really enjoy it. The star power wasn’t enough to take it up another level for me.

Conclusion: It watched like a generic drama to me. It was entertaining, but didn’t really stand out in an extraordinary way.

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