I went through a lot to find a watchable version of this with English subs. Which makes my disappointment, at how bad this is, much stronger stronger…

I’m dropping this on episode 9. I decided to watch the kdrama bc it’s so highly recommended and rated. IU was great in ‘My Mister’—a drama that I consider to be super impactful. And despite my misgivings about the production quality in the beginning, I decided to push on because of her. Yet, in ‘Moon Lovers’, her character is in perpetual deer in headlights mode. The initial portrayal they gave us was that she was bad ass and wouldn’t take shit from anyone. Her brashness was getting her into trouble in this era, but instead of her character growing to be smarter/cunning, she has become the total opposite. The director is to blame for this I guess. I’m not sure how things will play out from here, but another major gripe I have is the dynamic between FL and SML. As of this point, which is more than half way thru, THEY ARE MUTUALLY IN LOVE. They have made promises to each other. They have had many intimate and tender moments. This persisted despite him being married to her benevolent cousin in this lifetime. So I don’t see how we’ll be convinced that the love story with ML is ~the one~. Furthermore, most of the interactions FL has had with ML usually end with him being violent towards her. While he is a tragic character and I feel for him, the potential romance between them is already at a disadvantage. With that being said, the ML is a great actor and I loved him in ‘Flower of Evil’. Another thing, isn’t the princess actually related to all the princes if they all have the same father? The suggestion of incest is so unnecessary/weird EVEN if it was commonplace during that time.