Sprawling to a grand setting and powerhouse cast, I did expect a lot on Moon Lovers: Scarlet Heart Ryeo.
I sure have issues on the languid built up of the story in the beginning episodes, but I came to realize the staid plot yarning was necessary to cushion the heaviness of the tormenting conflict faced by the lead couple heading to the culmination of their romance and eventual break-up.
- Main Cast: Lee Joon Gi | Lee Ji Eun | Kang Ha Neul | Ji Soo | Baekhyun | Nam Joo Hyuk | Hong Jong Hyun
- Network & Episode Count: SBS | 20 + 2 Special Episodes
- Official Website: Scarlet Heart Ryeo SBS
I originally wrote this review on my blog in 2016, and later published it on Hellokpop in 2018.
Quick Review
- Plot Trajectory: Consistently engrossing with minor hiccups along the way
- Plot Pace: Slow but knows when to speed up
- Character Portrayal: Great main leads and supporting cast
- Writing: Remarkably penned with emotional and romantic seasoning
- Watch on a binge or intervals?: Binge
- Crowning Moments: Emotionally Stirring Picture | Heartbreaking But Memorable Love Stories
- Romance & Weepfest Meter:
- Overall Rating:
- K-Dramas of Similar Vibe: The King Eternal Monarch | Faith
Moon Lovers: Scarlet Heart Ryeo Series Quick Recap
Full of optimism, Hae Soo (Lee Ji Eun) carries on with her life despite enduring painful moments. She then gets transported back to Goryeo where she meets the Kingdom’s princes. She first develops a connection to Wang Wook (Kang Ha Neul), but amidst the throne battle between the brothers, she falls in love with 4th Prince Wang So (Lee Joon Gi).
Moon Lovers: Scarlet Heart Ryeo Highlights + Musings
Balancing the screen time of the supporting characters while threading their linked stories requires a lot of effort from the actors to commit an earnest portrayal every moment they are captured by the frame.
Despite the big cast, I am glad to say that the actors portraying Goryeo princes put their hearts out in sufficing the roles given to them.
Albeit the tormenting emotional strain I got with Moon Lovers: Scarlet Heart Ryeo, it was one of my 2016 favorites because I love that it became even more believable and fervent due to the plot’s instability and the main characters indecisiveness.
It was a situation that might have weakened the drama, but because the essential character motivations were drawn, as a viewer I enjoyed the feeble and vulnerable facets of the production.
Moon Lovers: Scarlet Heart Ryeo touched the painstaking, unrequited love of a damaged prince to a woman who shared his pain without prejudice.
It also sadly and yet beautifully expressed the betrayals of a dysfunctional Royal family raising devious ways to claim the throne for them to use in protecting the ones they love.
When the narrative turned all business hitting the halfway mark of the series, I found myself wanting to offer myself as a sacrificial lamb to make things better for 4th Prince So, who endured his agonizing relationship with his mother and loving Hae Soo one-sidedly.
When 8th Prince severed his relationship with Hae Soo, I wanted to take him out from the TV screen and castigate how cowardly he was, opting not to use his heart and taking the easy way out.
But I think that it was a turning point in the heroine’s realization that he was let go by the only man she trusted. For that same reason, 4th Prince So and Hae Soo’s romance turned so meaningful because they were at each other’s side when they had no one beside them. Though Hae Soo took time to reciprocate Prince So’s love declaration it was so fulfilling because his faithfulness paid off.
So what ending can you give when Scarlet Heart Ryeo starts on a drowning woman who got transported back to a different era? I was not expecting a happy ending given that most of the characters were killed. It was still Hae Soo and 4th Prince So’s love journey for me.
The sweets, the tears and the angst… all of it. I took 4th Prince So’s last words as an open-ended closure on his acceptance of losing his one great love and longing to find her in the future.
I witnessed how they defied the shrewd political struggle in the royal family to get to a point where they could freely love each other and share memories. So I’m good that I know they love each other mutually.
Just as life is short, love is also fleeting. The all-important love lesson Moon Lovers: Scarlet Heart Ryeo taught us is how loving someone does not stop when we give up on the person because the love does not belong anymore in the future.
It is a sweet reminder to keep as many happy memories as you can to keep you going in moments when you yearn to be with them, but they can’t stay by your side anymore.
I was bracing myself for the finale episode. If truth be told, I was not expecting something cohering anymore because I was so scared the writer would kill all the characters at the last minute. *chuckles
Did the closing chapter satisfy me? Though I did not get the happy ending, I was okay with it. I know that it was bound to be a sad ending so I was prepared for what will happen.
Though the series has a lot of flaws, I grew fond of it because the love story was pragmatic in tapping on melancholic memories that viewers can relate to, especially if they have once loved crazily like the kind of love they paraded in the drama.
The middle part of this romantic ride is the best part of it, strategically hooking the audience with fluffy romance before the surge to the deplorable story resolution.
The Goryeo princes and the dashing look of the royal family with their full makeup plus elaborate wardrobe and jewelry easily slip into the viewers’ system. Dysfunctional as they may seem, the brothers are worth missing.
Even with the unfazed heartrending tone all throughout, Moon Lovers: Scarlet Heart Ryeo left a beautiful message that a happy ending does not measure how great a love can be.
Photos Credit To: SBS
