River Where the Moon Rises – Ep. 1-2 Review

Wow, am I finally getting over my sageuk allergy? I was already looking forward to River Where the Moon Rises despite my aversion to the genre, mostly because of how badass Kim So-hyun looked in the teasers. She’s one of my absolute favorite former child actresses, and I think she has done the best job of transitioning to more adult roles compared to her contemporaries. Her mini-drama Page Turner captured my heard back when it aired, and I was psyched that she was finally reuniting with Ji Soo!

I’ve never had a great relationship with the sageuk genre. In the past I have often found them boring, whether they were fusion or more traditional, and found myself snoozing at all of the palace politics. Thankfully, though, River embeds enough action and heart in its premiere to keep me interested and the episodes flew by. I still have some reservations, but I’m a huge fan of the fantasy genre, and this show manages to exude a sense of magic without having a whiff of actual magic in its premise, and I totally dig it.

River Where the Moon Rises manages to be both epic and humorous in a more traditional manner than the previous sageuk I watched, Mr. Queen, which was more jarring in the way it blended comedy and melodrama. It has just a touch of whimsy that I adore, and the plot elements and character dynamics are chock full of some of my favorite tropes without seeming ridiculous. I mean, a princess-turned-assassin exacting revenge on those who wronged her with the help of a soft fool who may not actually be as dim as he makes people think? Sign me up!

While I am optimistic, it’s rare that a sageuk can hold my attention for 20 episodes, so fingers crossed this one keeps the momentum going and gives me more of everything I love. I would like to point out to sageuk fans that this show is much more fiction than fact, but I think if you take it for what it is–a very loose modern-day take on a famous legend–there’s plenty for both sageuk fans and non-fans to enjoy.

BACKGROUND

Before I discuss the show, I want to contextualize it a bit. As I said above, this show isn’t based on hard historical facts. The legend of On Dal the Fool and Princess Pyeonggang is centered on verifiable historical figures, but the details are generally regarded as fiction. The story goes that Princess Pyeonggang was a tearful child who exasperated her father so much that he threatened to marry her off to On Dal the Fool, a young commoner whose stupidity was so legendary that it even reached the ears of the royal family. When she grew older and her father made plans for her to get married to a nobleman, Pyeonggang resented the marriage and left the palace to actually marry On Dal. While simple, On Dal was also known to be kind-hearted and devoted, and with Pyeonggang’s help eventually became a celebrated general.

River Where the Moon Rises is based on a novel released in 2010 titled Princess Pyeonggang. The author, Choi Sa-kyu, sought to make a story centered on Pyeonggang where, rather than the crybaby princess she was in the original tale, she was instead a woman ahead of her time who commanded an era. Choi had many questions about the legend that he wanted to answer. After all, why on Earth would a member of the royal family in Goguryeo circa-500 AD ever choose to marry so far below her social class? What circumstances would lead to such a thing happening, and what would the outcome of that be? That’s what the novel and this adaptation focus on.

REVIEW

I looked forward to this solely for Kim So-hyun, and she does not disappoint. In the first episode, Kim plays not only Princess Pyeonggang/Yeom Ga Jin, but also her mother. While she does not seem believable to me as the mom of 13-year-old Heo Jung-eun, who plays young Pyeonggang, she does give off an impressive, commanding aura as both the queen and her princess-turned-assassin daughter. Kim So-hyun as an assassin is something I never knew I needed, and my heart stopped multiple times while watching the first episode because OHMYGODSHESSOHOT. Seriously, I got goosebumps watching her in that first assassination scene after the time jump!

STEP ON ME, KIM SO-HYUN

From that scene alone, we immediately get a good idea of who Ga Jin is as a character. As badass and capable as she is, she isn’t a monster. She falters when tasked with killing a noble mother and her innocent newborn child, something that helps explain her refusal to kill On Dal once he sees her face despite knowing that she should. Giving us a reason for her actions outside of “Well, he’s the male lead so of course he can’t die” lends credence to a story that could easily seem ridiculous. She may be an assassin, but in her mind only the corrupt, greedy Goguryeo nobles deserve to die. She’s not as ruthless as she seems on the surface.

One other thing that I love about Ga Jin is the vulnerability that Kim So-hyun imbues in her performance. She manages to do it in the littlest ways that do not at all take away from her ferocity. Like I said, I’ve always really enjoyed her as an actress, but this role seems poised to show her growth in a way that we haven’t seen before and I’m so excited to witness it. I’m sure Kim isn’t done with the Love Alarms that will be thrown her way and she should definitely take advantage of her youth at this point in her career, but this drama shows that there’s so much more goodness to come from her in the future.

Ji Soo, on the other hand, has always been a bit of a hit-or-miss actor for me. I found him so endearing as the loveable goof in Page Turner and yet so terribly dull in Strong Woman Do Bong Soon. My expectations for him in this were fairly low, but I take it all back! His casting in this is pitch-perfect! Maybe he should only play the comic to Kim So-hyun’s straight man from now on, because I found all of their scenes together so charming and reminiscent of all the best things about their interactions in Page Turner. Ga Jin is so perplexed by On Dal and his “mother”‘s silly banter and I LOVE IT. I am not afraid to admit that the cold girl falling for the foolish guy who makes her laugh is one of my favorite tropes, and it looks like it will be on full display here–with some tragedy and heartbreak sure to come because, of course, this is a sageuk.

But describing On Dal as simply a fool would be a disservice to the character. On Dal is shown in the beginning of the premiere as a boy who never seems to be able to impress his father (played by the FANTASTIC Kang Ha-neul). His father is relentlessly harsh on the poor kid, eager to make him into a capable fighter like himself. Later on, however, after being imprisoned and facing certain death, the father changes his tune, telling his son to stay safe and live quietly as a fool. The scene is quite moving, in no small part thanks to Kang Ha-neul’s effortless performance.

On a side note, one thing about this premiere that just did not make sense to me was On Dal’s nanny’s decision to blind herself. Is there a historical/cultural reason for this that I’m missing? Because it just did not make sense to me, especially when she tells On Dal that she will be his mother from now on and will have to provide for him. Please, someone, make this make sense to me. Another thing that kind of made me giggle was when On Dal was somehow able to take down a few armed soldiers with nothing more than his bare hands. But, well, this is a legend, I guess. I’ll let you have that one, drama.

Regardless, On Dal and Ga Jin are sure to bond over their shared tragedy once they realize and remember who the other is, and I’m so looking forward to it. Their subtle attraction to each other despite not being aware of their past connection makes sense to me. On Dal is clearly a bit smitten with her after she saves his life, and Ga Jin also seems interested (if a bit reluctant) when he returns the favor. There is so much rich potential in their relationship and I’m really hoping the drama lives up to it. Please don’t let me down, writer! I’m begging you!

While I’m totally down with our main characters and the actors who portray them, I am less pleased with some of our supporting characters, specifically Pyeonggang’s father the king and baddie Go Won Pyo. Both of them overact in that way that so many older supporting actors do in k-dramas, and it just takes me out of the story and makes me laugh when I shouldn’t. They seem so cartoonish and I can’t tell if it’s the writer’s fault or the director’s. I’m hoping the actors tone it down in future episodes, and fingers crossed they end up being more than just caricatures. I’m very rarely satisfied with villains in k-dramas, however, so I’m not exactly holding my breath.

I haven’t seen too many dramas set during the Goguryeo period but judging from this show alone, I think I prefer it over Joseon. The sets and costumes give me a feeling of grandness that I don’t really get from Joseon, but perhaps it’s just because I’m not as used to them. They’re splendid while also seeming somewhat unpolished and alien, which really adds to the more fantastical atmosphere of the show.

But as grand as the sets are, the drama makes some blunders in the visual effects department. There were multiple scenes in episode one that just screamed GREEN SCREEN and it was so distracting, especially considering so much of the rest of the drama is so beautiful to look at. Then there’s that scene where On Dal falls into the water, which was so poorly shot it was almost funny. I also found the fight scenes to be similarly inconsistent. For the most part I really enjoyed them, but I wish there had been more wide shots. The close-ups sometimes seemed a bit messy and staged.

That’s really a very small complaint, though. I enjoyed watching Kim So-hyun absolutely kick ass, and I hope she continues to be so bold and intense. As much as I love the cold woman, soft man trope, I just hope he doesn’t make her too soft. I want to see her grow without becoming helpless. So far the drama has allowed her to save him and then him to save her, and I’m really hoping they get to continue that back-and-forth.

Normally I wouldn’t be very hopeful about the show continuing to balance the main characters well, as so many dramas turn into a man’s story in the end, but the source material for River Where the Moon Rises makes me a bit more confident. The author of Princess Pyeonggang took a legend centered on a man and turned it into a story about a woman, and there’s no reason the writers of the drama can’t stay faithful to that. I have hope.