Moon Embracing the Sun (2012)

I watched this drama because of its good ratings and reviews. I'd say they're really well-deserved! For me, it is a great drama for many reasons. TMTETS was my first historical drama and after watching this, I would love to try more sageuks. It was truly beautiful to watch - the costumes, places, all the historical stuff, not to mention the good-looking actors! It was way too far from the boring drama I expected it to be.

STORY - Interesting storyline! It has great drama, touching romance, some suspense and action, (somehow annoying) politics, and humorous moments. And it gets more and more exciting as the story unfolded. I was easily moved with the story. What else could you ask for? I didn't expect to have lots of laughs from this drama. And of course, you'll see a lot of sad scenes, a lot of crying. But it wasn't until the last episode that I cried my eyes out! Really. Some were really heartbreaking. Some was just too illogical, and too sad, to happen. Other than that, the ending was lovely. (You'll laugh with still tears on your eyes.)
However, I can't get away with its downsides. I think the drama lost some of its energy on the second half. (Or I guess the first episodes were just too good!) I won't say there was no boring moment because there was some time that I just wanted to skip episodes and proceed to the last, I just find it predictable. (But I'm glad I didn't or else I could have lost the story.) BTW, I hate it when one character just can't move on, being so martyr, when he deserves to be happy.

ACTING/CAST - I loved to watch this drama bec. of Jung Il Woo. But in the end, I also learned to love Kim Soo Hyun. For his superb acting, and looks. He gave justice to his role as the King. (Young Lee Hwon was equally amazing.) I couldn't say any flaw. As for Il woo, he has always been good. Though I think I love his character here less. Han Ga In was a real beauty, but I honestly thing the younger Yeon Woo did her role better. I also enjoyed watching the side characters, each of them. The younger actors also did a great job that I quite got sad when their characters got older.

MUSIC - I love Back in Time and the instrumentals. I thinks they we're all perfect for the diff. moods of the series. But to be honest, I didn't get to appreciate its OST until I listened to it after finishing the drama.

REWATCH VALUE - I'm not into rewatching but I suppose I will still watch it in the distant future. :)

OVERALL - I give it a 9 overall. I love it to bits. Definitely a must-see. =))

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I have mixed feelings about this drama. Maybe my expectations were too high, because of the great reviews, and because of how much I was pleasantly surprised by Sungkyunkwan Scandal (both were based off of books by the same novelist). Don't get me wrong, there are many great things about this drama, but towards the end I felt myself losing interest.

During the first half of the series I was extremely excited. The story of the royals plotting, and scheming, was great. I loved following their rivalries, obsessions, and ruthless ambitions. I thought it was even more impressive considering the fact that most of the main cast was so young. The performances by the teen actors were really great. I think Kim Yoo Jung, and Yeo Jin Goo could rival any adult couple with their performances. l loved watching all the relationships develop, and the fact that there were such strong backstories for the characters. I loved some characters, and loved to hate others. I was instantly hooked, but then all the characters grew up...

Once the characters matured, the show lost some of it's spark for me. I'm not sure if it was because of the pacing, or the constantly depressing tone. It was clear from the first episode that this story would be tragic, but many times in the 2nd half I was bored watching characters cry & scream over the same things. It also seemed irrational for so many characters to be so determined to be with people who didn't love them, so it was harder for me to sympathize with them. The story always managed to pull me back in however with new revelations, or a great scene, but there were still long periods that felt repetitive. This made it much harder to stay excited.

I can't really blame the adult cast, because many of the adult cast members matched their younger counterparts well. I thought Kim Soo Hyun did well as the king, and he really seemed like an older Yeo Jin Goo. Jung Il Woo didn't really look much like his younger version, but I knew to expect a great performance from him. The Queen, Seol, and Jan Shil were all great casting matches. I think the most flawless transition between the young and older version of the character was Jin Ji Hee and Nam Bo Ra. I also think that Nam Bo Ra had one of the most moving scenes in the entire series. On the other hand, one character that was a disappointment was Song Jae Hee as the older Heo Yeom. He just seemed so much older than the rest of the cast, and It was distracting hearing him described as being so handsome when, no offense but... he's one of the least attractive men in the cast.

I think one of the biggest character issues I had was with Wol/older Yeon Woo. I thought she visually matched Kim Yoo Jung, and gave some good emotional performances in some scenes, but she lost all of her charm. She transformed from a young but wise independent thinker, into a willing doormat with a blank wide eyed stare. I really had a hard time believing that such a well read young girl would be so self sacrificing towards the king. I think it also effected their romantic moments together. I think Han Ga In meant for her performance to be melancholy, and altruistic, but instead she often looked bored to me.

Even though all of the main characters had at least one epic crying scene, i barely teared up while watching this. Nam Bo Ra, and Yeo Jin Goo came the closest to making me cry, but I did not have an emotional reaction to many of the sadder parts, which is crazy since the 2nd half is mostly sad parts. Even when characters died my eyes were dry, and I am often a crybaby. I enjoyed watching the relationship between wol, the king, the prince, and the queen, but it lacked enough chemistry to get me emotionally invested in their stories. You still may want to keep tissues nearby just in case, a lot of them.

Speaking of story... The plot itself was a good one, but the pacing of the episodes got worse and worse. There were too many repetitive scenes ( i said this already didn't i. irony...), which fueled much of my boredom. There was also too much reliance on flashbacks, including a flashback of a scene that happened seconds earlier. I didn't lose interest in the story, I just lost patience with how it was being told. The last episode is a perfect example of that. They rushed through endings for major characters, some pretty tragic endings, then filled the time with a silly story about learning to play an instrument. I was satisfied with the ending, but not moved by it.

I would recommend this drama to people who like tragedies (like 49 days, or Sorry I love you). Those looking for more romance (like in Sungkyunkwan Scandal, or Goong) may be disappointed. Those looking for comedy will find some funny moments, but not enough to balance all the crying, sulking, and screaming. Overall I liked the story, but thought the drama was inconsistent. I doubt i would watch this again, but maybe I'd like it more the 2nd time since I now know what to expect.

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