#obsessed with this whole performance but esp girl is a gun | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

icawritestbh · 7 years

Text

REVIEW: Moonlight Drawn by the Clouds

I love reading books and watching tv shows and movies, and even though I have yet to gain the ascendancy to be a /critic/ of professional work, I like critiquing stuff anyway. Hahaha. I'm especially particular about plotlines, and I've been obsessing over Bo Gum a lot, so why not write about it?

So here's a short review of Moonlight Drawn by the Clouds. It's alternate title is Love in the Moonlight, but I prefer to refer to it as Moonlight Drawn by the Clouds because this is the direct translation from the Korean title and when you watch the whole thing, you'd see that it's the more meaningful title between the two.

Like I said, I have no ascendancy to be a real /critic/, so don't take this seriously as this is just my opinion.

WHAT IS MOONLIGHT DRAWN BY THE CLOUDS?

It is a kdrama about a female eunuch, Hong Ra On, who has been disguising herself as a man since she was a kid, and about the ambitious yet unconventional Crown Prince, Lee Young, who is preparing to become king of Joseon. The two cross paths and fall in love as they untangle the issues surrounding Ra On's family and the politics of Joseon.

THE GOOD

1. Characterization + Acting

Lee Young is a very complex character, who is just layers on layers. From the onset, he's very cheeky and mischievous. But as we get to know him more, he is shown to be very brilliant, courageous and genuine in his desire to be a good king for the people. He's deeply loyal to his friend, Byeong Yeon, his lover, Ra On, and to the memories of his mother.

And Park Bo Gum does an amazing job making this entire character come to life. Despite Lee Yeong having a very different (or even opposite) personality from Bo Gum, Bo Gum acts him out so naturally. And every side of Lee Young was made believable through Bo Gum's acting, as well as the cohesiveness of the story. Bo Gum is really such a talented actor; he can express so much without saying a word.

[MAJOR SPOILER]

Probably my favorite scene in the series was the end of Ep 16-start of Ep 17, where we approach the resolution to some of the story's major conflicts: the capture of Hong Gyeong Nae, Ra On's identity as both Lee Young's lover and the daughter of Gyeong Nae, and the loyalty of Byeong Yeon to the Prince and the rebels. As the first two conflicts were unfolding, the feelings of distress and confusion were so evident in Bo Gum's face as he was trying to think on his toes to arrive at the best solution.

And then, out of nowhere, Lee Young turns and directs his sword at the Prince instead. The utter confusion as to how to react to his best friend's betrayal was portrayed so perfectly.

[END OF SPOILER]

Park Bo Gum was truly the standout of the show because his character was, hands down, the most complex.

Hong Ra On was also a very interesting character, although she was definitely more interesting at the beginning when she was actively facing her problems. There comes a point where she becomes a more passive character (who is always the victim) which I understand because she was always in a tough and seemingly hopeless circumstances. Kim Yoo Joon also does a great job breathing life into this cheerful and playful young girl who tries her best to cope with problems and conflicts too difficult for a regular 18-year-old to handle.

And as a whole, all the actors and actresses performed well. Our other main characters, Byeong Yeon and Yoon Sung, were also very lovable. Even though they were not given the spotlight, you also root for them and feel sad for them when [MAJOR SPOILER] they almost die/die lol [END OF SPOILER]. The bad guys were also well-acted, and you really despise them as they try to bring down our prince. Shout out to the evil queen, who has perfected that look of malice.

2. Cohesiveness of the storyline

The writers of the drama definitely adhered to the Chekhov's gun principle, which states that "If in the first act you have hung a pistol on the wall, then in the following one it should be fired. Otherwise don't put it there." This basically means that everything placed in the story has to have some sort of relevance. I can't think of a single element placed in the story that didn't have a greater meaning in the end, which, to me, is how stories should be written.

THE BAD/NOT SO GOOD

There are more things on this list than the "Good," but that's because the two things I wrote in "Good" were very general and applied to the show as a whole. The four things I'm listing down below are small and nitpicky, and do little to offset the two major good things I pointed out.

1. It was predictable

Do I even need to put a spoiler alert before saying that [MAJOR SPOILER] our two lovers end up together? That Prince Yeong becomes king? [END OF SPOILER] I don't think so, but that's a flaw of kdramas in general.

2. The love triangle

…which wasn't a real love triangle to begin with. Yoon Sung never stood a chance. Never. And tbh, all it did for the plot was just add a little more drama, but it didn't advance our story.

3. Yoon Sung's character

I love Jinyoung as Yoon Sung, but I really think they could have developed Yoon Sung's character more. All throughout the story, he was nothing but the silent partner of our main characters, who did nothing but help everyone, even the Prince who has become his rival. In relation to my previous point, they didn't even make him a believable contender for Ra On's love. Also, he made so many sacrifices for Ra On even though their relationship wasn't so deep. I couldn't help but wonder why he was so in love with her even if they never really got close. If they were gonna make him the hopeless romantic martyr lover of Ra On, I think they should have deepened their relationship so that the love triangle will be of more significance and so that the endearing character of Yoon Jung wouldn’t be limited to a plot device.

4. The major death and almost death scene

[MAJOR SPOILER]

I really loved Byeong Yeon's death scene. As I mentioned earlier, my favorite scene in the show was when he directed his sword to the Prince. Later on, we see that in doing so, he was able to save the rebels without causing real harm to the prince, instead sacrificing his life because of course, the palace won't let him get away with threatening the prince like that. So he puts his sword down, then the palace guards attack him.

The only problem with this beautiful death scene is that you later find out that it wasn't actually a death scene. Byeong Yeon's meaningful sacrifice becomes less meaningful because he didn't actually die. To me, it's such a waste of that scene which the writers invested a lot in.

On the other hand, Yoon Jung dies for Ra On in such a stupid way. In the last episode, in his attempt to save Ra On, he ends up single-handedly battling his own guards and dying. I mean, c'mon. Our Yoon Jung is so much smarter than that. Obviously, the writers just wanted to kill off the character so they just wrote a silly death for him that wouldn’t complicate things and fit in the one hour time limit of the final episode. Meanwhile, they invested so much in Byeong Yeon's almost death.

IMO, they should have just kept Byeong Yeon dead and kept Yoon Jung alive. Then although our beloved prince loses his best friend, maybe in the end when all the conflicts (esp. the political ones) are resolved, he could finally reconcile things with Yoon Jung again. After all, it was clear all throughout the show that the two still cared for each other but just couldn't be friends because of all the politics. It would have given the ending a nice bittersweet touch, instead of Yoon Jung’s death being the bitter part of the bittersweet end, but doing little to move me because his death scene was just so dumb.

[END OF SPOILER]

OVERALL

I recommend this show especially to those who have already developed their kdrama goggles and can overlook (or have learned to embrace) the tropes of the kdrama world. It really is worth the watch. (If I end up watching more kdramas and writing more reviews, I'll develop a numerical rating scheme but for now, a qualitative rating will do)

Lol. This may seem out of place in this blog but writing reviews is something I want to learn also since I’m so fond of nitpicking these things with my friends.

Thinking of writing reviews on another platform though cus I had difficulty formatting this on tumbr.

#review #moonlight drawn by the clouds #love in the moonlight #kdrama #park bo gum

2 notes · View notes