[[Drama 2016] Moon Lovers ❤ Scarlet Heart Ryeo, 달의 연인-보보경심 려 \^0^/ Soompi Kdrama 2016 Winner]

53 minutes ago, kyar7jizhenll said:

In MLSHR, it is already hard to communicate between HS-WW as being from different era with different personality and mindsets. HS fell in love with WW warm and caring personality while being dependent on him both emotionally and financially.  Although it hurt HS seeing WW turned his back on her, it is very understandable that she could NOT abandon their love as well as would NOT blame Wook for his inability to save her as she believed that WW understood, trusted, respected, loved and cared for her and tried to help her with all his abilities.  We, as viewers, compare WW and WS effort on saving her and we saw that WW was lacking but for HS, she would not and should not compare her lover with WS (who is just a friend). In love or familial relationships, it is not right to compare your loved ones with those who are outside.  I'm glad that HS did not and it shows her personality strength that she is very grounded and put 100% in relationship. However, she could no longer love WW the way she did after she found out he never trusted, understood her feelings and respected her decisions but instead used her.  She lost hope for this love. However, she was not in love with WS yet like WW/ some people thought at this point.  There is closeness, caring, friendship, understanding, respect and gratitude but not deep love yet. Of course, both HS and WS already have all those 4 elements, their love will be epic and long-lasting when they mutually fall in love

 

Yeah, I appreciated this about Hae Su to. I think she's being written a lot more nuanced than she's being directed as an actor. Again, the real problem of the show continues to be that the director doesn't show us her motivation and point of view. I have a theory that fandom is obsessed with the show (not just b/c of gorgeous LJK) but b/c we're desperate to try to understand Hae Su. 

[[Drama 2016] Moon Lovers ❤ Scarlet Heart Ryeo, 달의 연인-보보경심 려 \^0^/ Soompi Kdrama 2016 Winner]

oh lawd, what is my life. I was up until 1:30 rewatching the earlier episodes. Here's what I noticed

Ep1 - That horse meet cute. That's gotta be one of the best meet cutes ever. Both Hae Su and Wang So were immediately PHYSICALLY attracted to each other, without knowing anything about each other first. I mean, that tension is pretty palpable through the progression of the episodes. I think in contrast with the Wook meet-cute, that felt like Hae Su was into him because he was so damn classically handsome (like a prince, which he is) vs. her attraction to Wang So which is like a baser, more primal attraction. Idk, guy on a horse always wins. 

Ep 2 - The infamous bath time near strangling - even though Hae Su was suppose to be genuinely afraid for her life when Wang So freaks out over her seeing his face, the sound track was insanely romantic. In fact, that Lee Hi song (My Love) was playing softly in the background. So freaking weird?! Idk if the musical director was just like, screw it, we gotta make this near strangulation romantic - it kinda undercut all the tension they had between them. Even though, I enjoyed the physical proximity/sexual tension of the scene, it played WEIRD. 

Ep 2-7 - I noticed how different Wang So was with Hae Su as their relationship kept progressing. Even though barring the horse meet-cute and the bath scene (which were in your face romantic); you can see a changing attitude in Wang So. I would pinpoint it to several crucial turns in their relationship.

1) When Hae-Su stopped him from destroying the mom-rocks. (He wanted to kick mom-rocks). Later in this episode, they have a really cute exchange before snowfall when she shows him the same kind of consideration she would show a friend. I mean, Wang so was effed  from the start. This girl basically showed him more kindness in 1 week than he'd had experience in his entire life. 

2) She sat with him at his lonely brunch at the mountain top. Seriously, what's a brunch w/o friends. 

3) Wang So helps Hae Su escape the king's proposal on horse back. That's why Hae Su really begins to understand that Wang So cares something for her. They do some of their best talking on a horse, apparently: it's where they meet, its' where he helps her escape, and it's the post-forced kiss moment. And damn, all the skinship. *wipes brow* This escape with Wang So made Hae Su take notice, she said "Prince, I never thought you would help me like this."

Basically, after these turns, Wang So was like completely head over heels. There's almost nothing that he's doing that isn't about finding a way to get closer to Hae Su. 

 

 

 

[[Drama 2016] Moon Lovers ❤ Scarlet Heart Ryeo, 달의 연인-보보경심 려 \^0^/ Soompi Kdrama 2016 Winner]

This episode was great, all the swordfighting, done in a Bourne style with kinetic cuts and some of those really cool looking wide shots. See director, what you can do when you give actors scene context!

Hae-Su is finally coming into her own as a character because she finally has a purpose. It occurred to me that in C-BBJX, it can be read as a feminist text since it’s about a woman existing in wildly oppressive times and her struggle to maintain identity. Hae-Su struggles with the same thing, but it’s done in a way that doesn’t allow us to glimpse into her inner workings. We are dying for some actual Hae-Su perspective, but the director is just not giving it to us. Wang So is definitely a more well defined character b/c we see everything from his point of view. It would be nice to get those moments for Hae Su, instead of trying to infer from her interactions with Wang So how she really feels. This is where a lot of her relationships with the female characters are wasted, like her maid Chae Ryung. We can get from her maid how she REALLY feels about being in this world. The “best friend trope” exists because that’s how we get some quick exposition out of the way. I would argue that someone like Lady Oh and/or Lady Hae aren’t those characters, we need someone on the same footing. Instead Hae-Su gets defined by her relationship with Wang So or Wang Wook, which is a classic male-writer mistake. They rarely think about female characters outside of their intended purpose for the male heroes. *feminist rant over*

It is mildly annoying to me that she needed a directive from the king to realize her purpose, I felt like Jimong gave her direction already, but now the King kind of does a 180 and tells her that she needs to make sure CP ends up on the throne? Kinda the opposite of what he was saying to her earlier to not interfere. Alright, not taking advice from a dying King plz.

———Entertainment Biz Rant

Oh one more thing, people are complaining about too many idols and speaking from an industry perspective, the idols are most likely the reason that the show got sold, as well as netting a huge streaming deal with Youku. Idols are money in the bank, so to speak from a product packaging perspective. I know I hopped on the show b/c I’m not normally a fan of sageuks, but this one had all the eye candy. Yes, some of these actors aren’t great. But it’s the sausage-making of the entertainment industry; you need the meat to sell to the audience. Also keep in mind that this is a network broadcast show, beholden to many many stakeholders, not some indie film where the auteur has all control and vision.

[[Drama 2016] Moon Lovers ❤ Scarlet Heart Ryeo, 달의 연인-보보경심 려 \^0^/ Soompi Kdrama 2016 Winner]

Oh man, initial thoughts. I thought this was such a good GREAT episodes, with important character growth and plot movement forward. I understand many shippers are upset (man that Soompi thread was hysterical this morning), but honestly I feel like Hae Su and Wang So’s relationship is so deeply romantic that while the pacing is agonizing, I’m totally balls deep, emotionally that is. 

Point 1 - So JiMong tells our girl that she’s not suppose to say goodbye to any of the princes and what does she do? FINDS Wang So tell him that she’s leaving. Aiiiish, both of them are so bad at obeying palace orders. Even in this talk with Wang So, she’s careful with her words, but she’s clearly been shaken by his actions: the poison, the bold sword fighting at the gallows, the rain shield. I mean, homeboy STEPPED UP. I don’t think it was as simple as gratitude. Why didn’t she tried to find Wook to have a sweet good bye? Wook was ostensibly a safer goodbye since he made no overtures for her safety and thus not under palace scrutiny. Instead our girl was like, um, I wanna see the dude that I got kicked out of the palace. I think she also knew deep down that even as Wang So got exiled because of her, he still wouldn’t be mad at her. Since this is before the year-long exile for Wang So, homegirl had no clue that he would be gone for so long. 

Point 2 - That Wook “I missed you” scene was so TRIFLING. He said that he missed her everyday, but you don’t nearly seen the loss on Hae Su’s face. She just smiles, and it was mad bitter because the follow up to “I missed you everyday” is “why the hell didn’t  you come see me?” Wook then walks away being like “oh you made me feel bad.” PFFTTTT EFF OFF DOOD. 

Point 3 - When Hae Su gets pulled by the other water maids, drinking haterade, it’s the writer drawing a parallel between Hae Su and Wang So. Now they both have the reputation of being bad luck and bringing ill fortune onto people. When we, dear audience, know that truly, they’re on more of a legendary trajectory than a humble one. 

Point 4 - Waiiiiiii never has hanging laundry been more tragi-romantic. Hae Su is straight up about to cry when she realizes that Wang So was real and not a figment of her imagination. This kind of leads me to believe that Hae Su has probably been fantasizing about our dark prince since he’s been gone and that’s why she was on the verge of tears. It almost like a moment (if the relationship were further along),  she would have been teuchin’ his face ands stuff. I mean, you see how she truly feels about his mental state, she’s worried that he’s reverting back to the angry mensch before she turned him on to BB cream. But he says, no, it was just a way to remember her. Even when she’s yelling at him, it’s not bitterness or anger, she’s truly frightened. She’s seen FIRST HAND how it went down for Lady Oh when she tried to protect Hae Su from the palace. And now her best friend/(secretly lover prince) is offering the EXACT same thing, the same kind protection that gets you killed in the palace? Oh Hae No, (hah, I made a pun), she spurned him with some b.s. reasons but we all know where her heart really is. She basically had a panic attack over his safety in front of him, and Wang So was hurt, but also bebe was confused af. 

Point 3 - Hae Su entertained the proposal. Fully. I know she did because IU did her super huge doe-eye blink. And if it was not for the king telling her that she has to be around to observe and not interfere with the fate of Wang So. She entertained it because Wang So offered her freedom, all that she has wanted when they first met, and her modern sensibilities of being an independent person not under the subjugation of any royal decree. Wang So understands that about her. She almost said yes, because it would solve all of her currently problems. But because of the King’s conversation, she says no, she must stay in the palace, which is verbatim, what the King told her to do. Yeah, it sucks, but I think there are many things at play with