《달의 연인 - 보보경심 려》 or “Moon Lovers: Scarlet Heart Ryeo” is a very popular and one of the highly-rated Korean Drama since 2016. It stars IU as “Go Ha Jin” and “Hae Soo”, Lee Joon Gi as “Wang So”, Kang Ha Neul as “Wang Wook”, and Hong Jong Hyun as “Wang Yo” as the leading characters.

The series is a Korean TV adaptation of the Chinese novel 《步步惊心》 (Bù bù jīng xīn) by Tong Hua.

A 花より男子 (Hana Yori Dango); Meteor Garden show with political sibling rivalry

Story

In a story with many important characters, it is important to tell it clearly, they did well in doing that. The political war between the brothers were interesting, they also picked a good period for the Korean version of a Chinese novel.

Sadly, the romantic aspect of the story was delivered poorly. It did not elicit any emotional reaction. There was no built-up. This is primarily a story about sibling rivalry gone to the political level.

Acting

It was lacking in some areas, there were also scenes which looked like they were practicing. There were also memorable scenes, from pure laughter to serious where their acting were very natural.

Music

The music, unfortunately, did not make an impact. There were scenes where a powerful music fits but instead it did not have any or a weaker music was used. They should’ve used more.

Production

The production was very good. They spent for quality materials and designs for the wardrobe of the actors. This is specially true for IU where she was able to wear historical wardrobes yet with a modern touch which fits her aura. Great job in blending the two eras.

However, close-up shots were overused to the 5th power. It wasn’t needed in many of the scenes, it became annoying. In the boat scenes, there was too much backlight glare from the sun the actors (again close-up shots) can be barely seen.

I give this show 8 out of 10 stars.

OST