Moon Lovers Retrospective Ep. 6

As usual spoilers galore... read at your own risk.

It occurs to me with each new viewing of the show (whether in part or in whole) that ambiguity plays a fascinating and deliberate role in our engagement with the narrative. I suppose the show could spoon feed us and provide us with explicit rationale for all kinds of attitudes and actions. It would be easier I imagine but less stimulating.

In the hands of masterful and immersive actors like LJG and KHN, ambiguity can lend itself to shifting motivations and demonstrate a whole gamut of emotions in one given moment, especially considering the show’s time constraints.

As I view the progression of the storyline a second time round, I am toying more and more with the idea that the show isn’t about one specific love story or even two over-lapping ones. I’m coming round to the idea especially after re-watching this particular episode that it really is about one woman and her different loves. It’s not that I think she loves all her men equally, with the same intensity and for the same reasons but clearly she is greatly beloved for her selfless, warmhearted inhibition and responds in kind. The role of the younger princes is a lot clearer to me and I don’t actually find their presence here quite as objectionable as I may have previously. I have never really disliked Eun the way many have and begrudged the time spent on him here because I always had an inkling that the puppet show he puts on here is both an expression of how he deals with life and his ongoing perception of his relationship with Su.

A lot has been said about Eun’s immaturity, which has the effect of hitting you between the eyes with pressing immediacy. He is the butt of a lot of the show’s humour and is easily manipulated. The 10^th Prince is a simple fellow, stuck perpetually in childhood so it follows that he would use dolls to comfort her. His child-like disposition appeals to her maternal side. A quality, of course that inoculates her from falling for him.

The most fascinating aspect to the abortive attempt to rescue Su from an impending politically expedient marriage is how the princes position themselves in relation to her. Certainly it’s the mechanism by which the storyline attempts to draw Su into the palace web and hinders her growing attachment to Uk but it demonstrates also within the show’s limits, how these men frame their own narrative and how that impacts their problem-solving approach. Furthermore, it is one of those rare demonstrations of unity amongst the princes.

Another thing it does is reiterate the importance of personal freedom even if the demonstration of it smacks of tokenism, is life-endangering and apparently futile. It’s the gesture of resistance that matters. Despite all the goodwill and efforts of the princes, at the end of the day, Su is the one who saves herself… at great personal cost and with long-term ramifications. However, for her it is a price worth paying if it gives her the freedom to choose not to marry someone she doesn’t love. The exercising of choice is what matters.

Uk is the natural leader in this instance as his attachment to her runs deepest at this point in time. In a rare departure from his usual modus operandi, he acts on impulse to help Su escape the clutches of someone rumoured to be a 60-something old fogey with grown up sons. The implication is that he does it for the love of Hae Su. As something spontaneously conceived, it had its appeal but as things turn out, it ends up being a foolhardy enterprise because it goes to the very heart of the king’s rule, his default border protection policy.

It is fair to say that this is the episode where Uk openly declares his own powerlessness for the first time. I suspect that despite his posturing in previous episodes, he has always known his own rather tenuous position in the royal court. When his family was embroiled in an earlier scandal and fell from favour, it took marriage to Lady Hae to recover from the ignominy and through her influence he managed to make a comeback. The dilemma for him is that he has no power of his own to protect Su, much less be with her. All the chatter about her belonging to him, is just that… talk. In a sense he knows he has her heart but to make that relationship a reality is a pipedream.

So although initially a reluctant collaborator is roused to action for Su’s freedom. He is swayed to a large extent by Baek-A’s appeal to his position as spurned underdog, a former hostage, someone whose life has been directed by others in brutal fashion. Therefore, he understands better than anyone else what it means to be without choice, to live at the whims of others. Moreover he senses quite early that Su doesn’t belong in this world. He already has an inkling that she doesn’t belong in the palace and the thought that someone with energy and attitude being compelled to become the 10^th or something or other concubine of some rich elderly man repulses him. Once he’s committed to the enterprise, he is willing to fight his way out of it. What ultimately holds him back from drawing his sword and slashing the throat of the nearest guard is respect for her choice. There’s a lovely shot of him at Lady Hae’s funeral first looking distinctly cynical and out of place regarding the entire proceeding but on seeing Su’s loud and genuinely heartfelt sobs, he softens. It’s one of those little hints that show the subtle shifts in his character as he responds to a Goryeo with GHJ in it.

As a musician, artist, and free spirit, Baek-A is a natural kindred spirit around the issue of personal freedom. Su’s drunken tirades of equality and individual liberty resonate with him deeply although he is well aware of the political dynamite of espousing such thoughts. He knows his own powerlessness to help Su out of her predicament but appeals to the only older brother that he respects enough.

Jeong’s first port of call, of course, is Mummy Dearest. At this early stage his identity is still very much tethered to his mother’s influence and dotage of him. He goes to her for help while she’s sipping tea with Lady Hwangbo but she’s not very interested in getting involved. What really interests her is that Uk and Yeon Hwa are keen to be part of the fray. The smirk suggests that they’ve aroused her curiosity and this could be a potentially explosive situation if these kids don’t tread carefully. It’s almost slapstick amusing as one at a time barge into the Queens’ parlour to enlist the aid of either women although it’s not entirely clear to me what Yeon Hwa’s interest in this might be.

The role that Ji Mong plays in this is quite possibly the most intriguing of all. It’s obvious he wants Su in the palace and it doesn’t matter one way or another how it happens. His motives are seldom clear cut. Whether he is Fate’s Hand by design or by choice, we are never told explicitly although the show hints the former. Contrary to what he says about letting Heaven’s Will run its course, it seems to me as if he’s all about making sure that Heaven’s Will does come to pass. Or at the very least give a nudge in the right direction. In addition, Ji Mong feels to me to be another in a long line of obstacles that keep Su away from Uk. Note how he inconveniently and noisily shows up in the daisy field as the two of them believe that the worse is behind them only to burst that bubble. When Ji Mong is loud and yelping unnaturally, he’s always highly suspicious. It’s usually a hint that he’s up to something.

One of the great metaphysical debates has always been the tension between the sovereignty of the divine and the free will of man. I see some of that played out here. I’m not saying it’s explored in any systematic way but there are echoes of this tension throughout the drama. I now wonder if Uk would not have been better off letting go of Su and moving on saving himself and a lot of people a lot of heartache. But then there would be nothing to watch. For a man who is circumspect to the extreme, he was quite determined to hold on to Su even with the knowledge that she’s even more out of reach. Desire, greed might be part of it… but is it just greed? I can’t help wondering if there’s a greater force at work driving him to clutch on in order to bring a whole range of events to pass?

This episode exemplifies to me that Uk’s motives regarding Su are much more complex and murky. His brewing passion seems to be in earnest but he never refers to her near-death experience overtly or what she does to get there. The wrist slashing is an unpleasant activity that he’s much happier about making vague reference to. Rather ambiguously he says that it’s over and it seems he’s referring to the awful prospect of Su being wedded to the king and the context seems to indicate that.

On the other hand, it sounds like he’s trying to convince himself of something in his consolation speech because in reality it isn’t really over at all. She may be out of the woods where being married to the king is concerned but there’s still what needs to be done now that she’s defied a royal decree. There are consequences for doing so and it is Court Lady O who refers explicitly to it, not him. All he does is ramble on about how powerless he felt and prayed to his late wife to send Su back to him. “If you had become His Majesty’s woman, I would have never forgiven myself for the rest of my life.” Aside from being somewhat ambiguous as to why he wouldn’t have been able to forgive himself, his underlying sentiment is wrapped up with his ineffectiveness to change circumstances.

To me it sounds like his pride has been wounded above all else. The pain of recalling Su’s wrist slashing episode reminds him of his inability to intervene successfully despite promising her that he would take care of her to the end. Despite bragging to So earlier about the people who belonged to him, all the status he enjoyed while his wife was alive was in effect transient and illusory. Now he (Uk) had been made to feel his actual position which, in all honesty, is not much better than So’s… a prince in name but with little power to attain his heart’s desire especially when the king is a crucial part of the equation. Whatever power he had came from his late wife hence the reference to “begging his wife” to preserve Su for him.

Su weeps and says she was afraid that she’d never see him again or say her goodbyes properly. Then he utters another one of his silly hyperboles again, “In future, such a thing will never happen again.” This is worrying especially coming from a man who just confessed to his own powerless state. “I made a mistake once but there won’t ever be a next time.”

He frames the event completely from the point of view of his status. While there’s no denying that the event was out of his control and proved that he had no power to stop it, objectively it was first and foremost about another life hanging in the balance. In his remarks, he positions himself as the focal point of the event not her. It almost seemed like he was the one that almost married the king and felt embarrassed that someone else had to save him from utterly disgracing his manhood. In short, it’s his ego talking. It may be his clumsy way of comforting Su but it’s more bravado than substance providing us a glimpse into his inner life. In her presence, Uk dons his mask of cheerfulness in the pretence that he he sees her entry into the palace as the lesser of many evils but there’s no doubt he knows what he has lost.

Dropping Su off at the palace Uk responds to her emoji from the previous episode with his own. Representing the eyes in his drawing is the ren (人) character, which means person or people. As there are two, I am supposing that he’s referring to the two of them being together. Uk comically raises his hand showing he understands what she communicated in her reply letter. Su appears deeply moved by the gesture and Uk promises to visit everyday.

The emoji motif is something that practically comes and goes but it’s importance for me lies less in how it enhances the Uk-Su relationship. Like many I find it more compelling that it was So that deciphered its meaning and intent. Some say that it is a reflection of his innate shrewdness and others because of his more grounded outlook on life. Undoubtedly there’s truth in both but I like to think that So understands Su a lot more than anyone else in that space about what makes her tick.

Both men are fully aware of what makes her attractive. She’s a breath of fresh air as far as Goryeo is concerned so they’re both angry that she’s made her way to the palace in the end. But while Uk sees her as something precious that’s gradually slipping from his grasp, doing and saying anything he thinks will maintain his hold on her in spite of his own powerlessness, So, on the other hand, sees that the very thing that makes her unique is her unfettered self-expression… linked to the unbridled freedom that she enjoys to be herself. The light burns brighter when it is free to burn without the society harsh restraints. He realises that Su’s attractiveness is tied to her need to be free.

So has an inkling that it is in Ji Mong’s scheme to drag Su back to the palace and he’s none too please. The only who is openly displeased in fact… because he knows full well what being in the palace will do to Su.

This retrospective is based on the SBS broadcast version. Subtitles can be found at Darksmurf Subs.

Moon Lovers Retrospective Ep. 5

These posts do contain plot spoilers written from the perspective of someone who is re-watching from hindsight.

While it isn’t beyond the pale for me to be prejudicially casting negativity on the blossoming romance between Su and Uk due to personal bias, there is a strong sense that the narrative itself projects the ups and downs of that relationship in dubious light. Superficially Uk is charming to boot, publicly he is careful to ensure that his actions are above board. However, despite claims to the contrary, it’s clear that he’s not content to just play the kind in-law and landlord. Obviously he craves more, but is quite aware of the limits of his position and the opportunities that are available to him. So as not to upset his ailing wife or draw negative attention to himself, Uk casually creates what he believes is a safe space where he’s able to negotiate the contradictions of his position -- “learning opportunity” as his means of “confessing love”. In a way all of that is quite pointless because his wife though sickly isn’t blind to the signs of infatuation so evidently written all over his handsome face. And it is a very handsome face indeed. The tortured, Byronic charisma is obviously to die for. Don’t you love that dark look that KHN projects when he’s about to do something really naughty? Anyhow, charismatic or not, however, fate isn’t swayed because before anything is allowed to take off, the whole thing comes crashing down. He has no idea that Su can’t read Hanja much less is able to engage with ancient literature and on top of that, Baek-A and Lady Hae chance upon the coded poem (Tang Dynasty poet, Liu Yixi’s “Song of the Bamboo Branch”) with Su happily quite illiterate about the piece of dynamite that’s in her hands.

Can a poem cause that much of an explosion? Well, seeing that Baek-A flipped his lid, hit the ceiling and raised the roof over it… I’d say so. It is a love poem after all and the intent is clear.

I imagine that even for a woman in Goryeo who loves her husband dearly that it must be excruciatingly hard not only watching him make googly eyes at another woman but also taking active steps to get close to “the other woman”. Sure her days are numbered and yes, polygamy is a legitimate form of family building but it must still hurt that she has no power over her husband’s heart. I can only imagine the devastation that she must have felt seeing her husband enamoured with another, convinced that his care and attention of her was a lot more about duty than love. It attests to her strength of character that she is able to keep it all together while succumbing to illness, take it in her stride and evaluate the situation with as much pragmatism as she can. To me she’s valiantly admirable.

Su maybe illiterate where Chinese characters are concerned but she knows too well the dilemma she’s in with the 8th Prince and Lady Hae. It’s an untenable situation and she knows from experience how painfully destructive this can be to the innocent party. When confronted by Baek-A she doesn’t deny the accusations, her only concern is with Lady Hae knowing that there’s something brewing between her and the 8th Prince.

All this begs the question for me… why does Baek-A go after Su and not Uk? It’s one of those things that bothered me endlessly the first time round. After all it was Uk who wrote the poem, got the ball rolling and naturally he should be the one held responsible for trying to “fan the flames". I’ve played with a number of possibilities in my head: fear of reprisals and so he picked a soft target; he didn’t want Uk to take it out on Lady Hae etc etc.  The explanation that best fits the context for me after a second viewing is his belief that Su did the dirty on Lady Hae because of her amnesia/head trauma. Underpinning that notion was in all likelihood the belief that she probably used her newfound feminine wiles on Uk to make him fall in love with her. He’d witnessed first-hand her personality change (fight with Eun) and had been told by Lady Hae that Su’s entire personality had changed. In his mind, everything between Lady Hae was fine before Su lost her memory and underwent a personality change. Whatever his rationale was, I can’t help but think that there was some degree of cravenness in his actions. Why didn’t he confront Uk on his way out? Wasn’t he equally culpable? Or perhaps he thought that if he spoke loudly enough, it would somehow reach the 8th Prince’s ears. Rather fortuitously for him, it actually did. 

While Uk’s lack of courage is even more deplorable, in the scheme of things, it’s scarcely surprising because doing things undercover is his default modus operandi. Under the nose of his sickly wife, he sends a veiled confession to another woman to test the waters. No one can say the man is not consistent in that regard. My impression after Baek-A had dished out some home truths was that he had been standing there for a good proportion of the tirade enough to get his ears burnt but numbly said nothing and did nothing in Su’s defence. Or even to take some responsibility for his own actions. Here is where I could quite easily call Prince Charming out on being a fair-weather wannabe paramour but I won’t because he’d probably justify his inaction by saying that he didn’t want to exacerbate an already tense situation. Whatever his justification might be, it’s not a good look and it sets the pattern for repeated inaction down the track. If Su had had her wits about her, she probably would have seen the red flags but yes, I can see how being accused of almost adultery even in a backhanded way could send a person into an emotional tailspin.

I am reminded of an early incident in Agatha Christie’s Mirror Crack’d from Side to Side where Miss Marple is taking a gander round the new housing development in her village. A young woman almost falls into a sinkhole and her boyfriend does nothing to help her. On witnessing this Miss Marple goes over to the young lass and tells her to see the back of this young man in a hurry (or something along those lines) because he can’t be relied on to take care of her. There’s something similar going on here.

Maybe it is a bridge too far to say that Uk is cut from the same cloth as Won, the 9th Prince. However it makes sense in light of why they become strange bedfellows at a later time. Both tend to act under the cloak of someone or something. Won behaves like a buffoon and Uk is happy for everyone to think of him as the sensible, diplomatic gentleman in their general dealings with him. The facade diffuses any thought that they could be possible contenders for the throne while they hide their true intentions.

It’s interesting but totally in character that Uk never acknowledges the true intention of the poem and prefers to sweep the entire thing under the carpet. His face at the end of the entire debacle says it all... thwarted again.

My second favourite scene in this entire episode has to be when Hae Su meets Taejo. Introduced by loud dramatic music, it’s undoubtedly a comical blast meant to elicit laughs from what should ordinarily really be quite a serious moment. Face to face with the founding monarch of Goryeo, the first thing that pops into Su’s mind is her immediate reference to the historical figure — television dramas. (Does she break the fourth wall?) Then there’s mention of the high school history lessons that were drilled into her with no little amount of reluctance I’m sure. A sharp reminder undoubtedly that she’s an ordinary woman who has time travelled into extraordinary times.  By now, she’s developed a bit of a reputation in the palace for having given Eun a good thrashing but apparently it elicits a certain level of admiration rather than disdain. Fortunately the Hae Su-GHJ charm seems to work its magic and Taejo is grounded and magnanimous enough to see the humour in all of it. 

So why make such a fairly significant moment a comical one? The cynics amongst us might suggest that it’s a timely reminder to the bored kiddies that historical facts are important because one never knows when facts about long dead kings will come in handy when one accidentally finds oneself transported via an eclipse or through a wormhole and into the past. However, on a more serious note and as a history buff, my view is that the teaching and learning of history goes beyond cramming one’s head full of useful facts and into the realms of policy making in all levels of governance. But there is also the application of history on an individual level. These days everyone’s heard the Santayana quote that’s often bandied around, “those who fail to learn from history are doomed to repeat it.” There is that of course. Then there is the fact that ignorance of history leads to the making of poor choices in all strata of life. History is ultimately about facing reality. Ignore it and you will most certainly be mugged by reality.

It’s a pity in this drama we don’t see Taejo Wang Geon quite enough. In general I like the character with all his flaws and i like the actor who plays him. On the one hand, Taejo must seem like such an awesome, larger-than-life figure. Yet there’s something distinctly down-to-earth about him. He’s no fool but the weight of the throne lies heavily on his ageing shoulders. In this drama he is the kingly figure first and foremost in the way he prioritizes the demands of the throne. On the rare occasion we catch glimpses of the father inside the robe we see a much more complex creature at work. In the game of thrones, he sets the template. Well, he is the template. He is the guy that all the other guys will be compared to. So while his physical presence in this drama is limited, his influence endures.

The snow scenes are pretty to look at and the close-ups are gorgeously shot but there’s for me a troubling undercurrent that never allows me to enjoy them fully. Su and Uk playing in snow may seem adorable to some but for me I feel it comes at the expense of a noticeably absent sick wife. I’m sure the symbolism of the whiteness of snow is deliberate here pointing to concealment and feelings that are hidden. I think it’s evident from the little he says that Uk does find Lady Hae is a burden with political benefits. She’s a stabilising influence and a restraining force and there’s a part of Uk that longs to be free of the straightjacket of being the head of the Hwangju clan. Piggybacking her isn’t just a visual metaphor of the dynamic of that relationship where he shoulders the responsibility of caring for her physical needs while she gives him clout and respectability, it’s also a larger picture of how he sees people in his life… as responsibilities… that an intelligent, well-to-do, privileged young man like himself need to carry through to the end. Condescension, I believe, is part of that package.

Speaking of condescension, there’s a fascinating conversation between 3 of the siblings in this episode: So, Yeon Hwa and Yo. As usual when 2 or more of these siblings are involved in a conversation it’s about marriage, mostly initiated or at least provoked by Yeon Hwa. There’s little doubt that Yeon Hwa is an interesting contrast to Su. She seems to have her fans in ML fandom but I’m not one of them. I don’t fit into the hate camp either but I find little to admire in her although I suspect she’s doing the best she can in a world where marrying expeditiously trumps marrying for companionship. With all her practiced cynicism she’s obviously trying to have the best of both worlds, which largely explains why she has these cryptically flirtatious conversations where she throws out bones to see which dog bites. In her mind marrying well is her meal ticket but for someone who professes to be highly ambitious it doesn’t feel like she really distinguishes herself in any noticeable fashion. She can scheme and backstab with the best of them but she doesn’t give anyone any real reason why apart from the power of her clan, she should be queen or anyone of importance in Goryeo’s political landscape. With all her so-called intelligence, she only uses it reactively and to do serious damage. Ironically in thinking only about power and self-survival, she keeps her world very small.

I thought it was fascinating when LJG was asked at a fan meet who he preferred: Su or Yeon Hwa. He said that while he was filming, it was Yeon Hwa but while he watched the drama, he changed his mind to Hae Su. I can’t remember whether he gave an explanation why his thoughts fell along those lines. For me I feel similarly. In the early days I thought Yeon Hwa was a lot more on the ball. However, taken as a whole even with all her flaws and naiveté on certain issues, I’ve concluded that at the end of the day Su was the real risk taker. Her thoughts and actions were far bigger than herself and in the end her impact on the people around her and history was much greater.

There’s no doubt that the death of Lady Hae was gorgeously and poignantly done and like many of the these key scenes in the drama, it’s the reaction of those around that are far more important to the overall story than the event itself. Nevertheless this should not take away from how valiantly she lived out her final days and like all selfless people her thoughts were first and foremost on those she was going to leave behind. Her final words to Uk are a delayed response to what he said about most people being a burden to him. She never wanted to be a burden to him but someone who would lift him and his family out of ignominy. It didn’t matter whether he loved her or not, the main thing was that she loved him.

This episode and the ones preceding it are largely constructed to demonstrate how much of a fish out of water Hae Su is. In these early days, the showrunners take a more light-hearted approach although the darker undercurrents are never really far away. So far she managed to get by with her personality quirks and the graciousness of Lady Hae but as the 4^th Prince says, what is she doing in a place she really doesn’t belong in?

Moon Lovers Retrospective Ep. 4

The opening scene where Wang So tells Mummy that he sliced and diced a couple of dozen monks for her is probably one of my favourites in the entire drama. The first time I watched it, it hit me even then that I was witnessing an acting event. In my eyes, LJG went  from being a decent enough actor to a whole new level of greatness. This scene more than any other so far brought out the duality in the Wang So character in such an emotionally gut-wrenching way… the lost boy craving for mummy’s elusive affection wrestling with his violent inner demons of primal savagery. It occurs to me now that perhaps one of the reasons why this drama did not have the same traction with local audiences as it did with international ones is because they didn’t particularly enjoy seeing one of their great kings moping around with mummy issues.

He saunters into her boudoir with a blood soaked sword accompanied by an eerie calm and an even more eerie smile. Like the little kid who’s pleased with himself for having done something that he’s sure he’ll get a pat on the back for. It’s the height of his psychosomething confusion and needy disposition but the payoff never comes. Instead, he is shattered and yet angry enough that his survival instincts kick into gear.

If LJG never plays an outright psychopathic villain, at least we’ll always have Wang So and Moon Lovers. Never has an actor done so much with the act of creepy smiling as he did bringing Wang So’s inner turmoil to life. 

A young man in his teens eternally craving for his mother’s love enough to kill for it. Although we should be aghast at the horror of what he did… and to some degree we probably are… our pity for him overrides any kind of revulsion. It’s his passions that drive him, not a cold, calculating need to kill. He is monumentally angry and the rest of us are hopefully human enough to understand why.

I don't think So is psychopathic incidentally. A interesting argument could be made that instead of being ruthless, he is man driven by deep passions. This is a quote from the translator of my copy of The Art of War to illustrate where I'm coming from.

Lao-tzu and Chuang-tzu show that the man of aggressive violence appear to be ruthless but is really an emotionalist; they they slay the emotionalist with real ruthlessness before revealing the spontaneous nature of free humanity.  

The ancient Taoist masters show how real ruthlessness, the coldness of complete objectivity, always includes oneself in it cutting assessment of the real situation. The historical Buddha, a contemporary of Confucius who himself came from a clan of warriors in a time when the warrior caste was consolidating its political dominance, said that conflict would cease if we would be aware of our own death. (Cleary, T.(2011). "Translator's Introduction", The Art of War. London: Shambhala)

So throws down an ultimatum. He won’t make it easy for Mummy Dearest to ignore him and she can’t expect him to roll away and play dead just so she can satisfy her vanity. The woman’s psychopathic lack of empathy is translated into blithe irritation at having to deal with a lifelong nuisance.

This is followed by another deeply poignant scene in which So wanders and staggers into the area dedicated to rock shrines… a place where mothers pray for their children. In tearful rage, our blood-streaked prince mows into the rock pile closest to where he recovers from his tear-stained stupor. Who can blame him? Those rocks are a mockery to his pain although it’s not their fault of course that Mummy Dearest doesn’t have one dedicated to his welfare.

Su happens along, dives right in on impulse and wrestles to hold him back. She falls back and realises in horror that there’s blood on her hands. So laughs maniacally and declares with anguish and irony that he’s killed.

“You’re injured!”

I especially liked this brief moment where they’re talking at cross-purposes. He thinks she’s horrified that he’s killed but she’s all concerned that he’s hurt himself. He expects to see fear but her thoughts are on his injury.

Not only does she act contrary to his expectation, she gives him the very thing his mother is incapable of giving him. Compassion. This counterintuitive response naturally confuses him and in response to what he perceives as odd, unexpected behaviour,  tries to intimidate her into thinking the worst of him… as everyone else does. “I told you I killed people!"

Instead she takes it to the next level and offers him empathy. Her voice holds steady as she asks, “Then tell me why you killed them?” Just to let him know that she heard him right the first time.

It’s a truly mind-blowing moment for him and in an instance it defeats the turmoil and the rage swirling around inside that body.

In this scene, LJG is incredible… there’s no doubt about it. The way his eyes dart around confused at what manner of creature he is faced with. The softening around the edges of his eyes and then the resignation. The man is at the peak of his game. There’s not a lot that needs to be said on his part because it’s all there. But the effect of the words on Wang So are palpable. 

But I’d like to give some credit to LJE too for her delivery, her ability to project the right amount of simplicity, courage and sincerity in a way that would resonate with someone who has never experienced love even at its most fundamental. It wasn’t much of a speech but it was heartfelt and someone who’d been so deeply hurt could tell that there was something different in it. More importantly it struck a chord. She understood his need to be seen as a human being… to live as one and to be free as one.

The morning afterwards they’re both embarrassed. After all the emotionally charged, raw honesty, they now find themselves unable to communicate. Rather like a couple of awkward teenagers unsure of how to move on now that they’ve bared the darkest parts of their souls in an unexpectedly intimate way.

What makes Su and So somewhat unique (to me at least) is in the way they are bound by a kind of dark empathy. The darkness in So is an ever-present, overwhelming force and on a certain level Su is able to look it squarely in the eye, speak to it and even tame it. However, the darkness is only ever suppressed, never really driven away. There is a reason why his reputation precedes him.

The thing that interests me most about the Chae Ryeong whipping isn’t the beating itself but the aftermath.  One clear highlight from this episode is that Uk is rather more of a reactive figure. He is less likely to take matters into his own hands immediately and is more likely to piggyback on what others are already doing and saying. Whether he is hesitant to act for fear of the consequences or whether he is merely circumspect, he ends up being the cultivated opportunist. The fact that he is positioned amongst the clamour of multiple female voices making demands on his attention (whether deliberate or unintentional) could be a large factor in his inability to act decisively.

This is first time perhaps that GHJ-Su is mugged by the reality of what Goryeo is. She had an inkling previously but this time she’s experienced it first hand. It’s where her 21st century sensibilities of freedom and basic human rights clash with the reality of medieval life. Killing to stay alive may be understandable but apparently beating a person up like an animal isn’t. Why this glaring inconsistency? Or is it an inconsistency? My guess is… it depends on what is more valued… life or freedom. 

In this instance, Uk makes in all likelihood the second in a series of promises to Su. (Hey, but who’s counting?) He says, “I promise you that no one will ever treat you in such a manner again. Trust me.” Or something to that effect. And of course he looks extremely swoony when he does it. Well, he practically looks swoony all of the time in this early stage. I’m sure he means it too except that no one least of all a man whose natural inclination is to hesitate should ever make such a promise. But he is so infatuated with her that he would promise her the moon if it cheered her up. It has the right effect on her because while she doesn’t swoon, her heart does that thing again for him. She wants to do the right thing by her kind cousin and shrugs off his nicely placed grasp on her shoulder. He does appear to be unusually decisive when trying to play Romeo to her Juliet but for now at least Juliet has a conscience. 

If the man didn’t have a wife already, would we heartily approve? Maybe. Maybe not. There’s a dark edge to him that surprises even So. When So tells YH that Su belongs to him… this stuns everyone obviously. Everyone on the scene interprets it differently. But only 2 perspectives matter enough for further exposition… the one who does the beating and her brother. Uk takes offence and takes it personally. “Nothing here belongs to you.” is a statement absolutely calculated to make So feel his place and to curb his complacency. Uk, in his most territorial, leaves little doubt that the point of contention is ownership, casting a different edge to his promise to Su. When he makes his promise about never allowing anyone to do that to her, he is speaking from the perspective of perceived ownership of her. But of course all that is hot air posturing when Lady Hae dies and Su is sold off to the king as political chattel. That promise and those that follow turn out to be empty oaths not because he was wanting to be intentionally deceptive but at the end of the day, he is quite simply powerless to deliver. In effect, nothing really belonged to him. Not even the freedom to fall in love with his wife’s cousin and act on it.

While the drama was airing, there were many repeated complaints that too much time was spent on the Su-Uk romance which left very little time for the OTP to have their time in the sun. I defended the writer’s choices vociferously on Soompi not just because I had an inkling or two as to what was coming but I really believed at the time that the Su-Uk entanglement was built on shifting sand and unlikely to survive the test of time. Although I still think that, I am more inclined to see Su-Uk less as a viable romance in a love triangle but more as a staging point for how Uk turns over to the dark side. It’s pointless now it seems to me, to argue if either of them were really in love with each other because in the scheme of things, that turns out to be the least significant outcome as love is never the endgame in this drama. What is far more crucial to the plot is the long-term effect that this unfulfilled desire for Su had on Uk. Watching this episode again, it’s clear that Uk wants desperately to be the Prince Charming that he thinks she needs but circumstances inadvertently show him to be inadequate to the task. On the two occasions in this episode, he doesn’t cut it. Twice it isn’t he that saves Su. He almost does it twice. He almost confesses. He almost kisses her. And it turns out to be a recurring metaphor of his relationship with her: Almost. The following words could quite easily be inscribed on his epitaph… "Here lies the late Prince Almost"… and it has nothing to do with whether he has the King’s star or not.

As I had intimated in a previous post, there is also a sense where Uk’s newfound passion has a forbidden aspect to it. Despite his posturing, she really doesn’t belong to him in any sense. On a certain level he takes responsibility for her well-being but every attempt of his to cross that line into something more definitely romantic is thwarted both literally and figuratively. The presence of So looms large in that. The ending scene of the episode captures that picturesquely and poignantly. Su’s heart may be wavering in Uk’s favour due to his grand gestures but on the other hand, she’s building an awkward, yet earnest friendship with the dark prince. Then there’s also her growing relationships with other princes… embodied in her spontaneous hug of Jeong.

This reminds me of another criticism I’ve heard about Uk is that he has a major personality transplant in later episodes but I think it’s clear from even these early days that there are already distinct features about his personality that give way completely to the less attractive aspects of who he is later.

Time constraints aside, it is necessary for the romance elements here to serve many purposes. Those who watch it for the romance and many happy moments between the OTP will probably be sorely disappointed. If the intent of the show is to make this primarily about the game of thrones than the romance will in all probability be relegated to being the vehicle rather than the destination.

This episode is also quite significant in terms of establishing Su’s relationship with Jeong and his role in how things play out in the final resolution. Certainly Su’s misguided attempt to save Jeong provoked no little amount of hilarity and creates a long-term bond between them. More importantly, it foreshadows a long-term promise that will have other kinds of ramifications. My only beef about that incident is that we didn’t get to see LJG in any sword fighting action. What’s the fun in seeing him merely trading on the currency of his wolf dog reputation with one draw of his sword?

Speaking of foreshadowing, the other aspect to the Chae Ryeong beating is how draconian punitive measures becomes a major part of tensions between the OTP in the final episodes. I say this now to point to a consistent thread that runs right through the drama. This breach of basic human rights was a sore point with Su on this occasion and it recurs, as it were, one last time in later episodes. In Su’s eyes, whatever CR’s crimes were, she didn’t deserve to die so cruelly. This is GHJ being true to her 21st century self… all throughout. Whoever these people are, whatever they’ve done (CR or Uk), no one deserves to die horribly for them.

Edited to add missing articles, conjunctions and other misc lexical items when I was hurriedly trying to get this posted etc.

Moon Lovers Retrospective Ep. 3

Moon Lovers Retrospective Ep. 3

So there’s some kind of follow-up to the beating of Prince Eun who turns out to be the simple sort of fellow that we suspected him to be from the first episode. His brother talks him into believing that the nutty Hae Su has romantic designs on him which is her upside down, crazed rationale for making violent physical contact with him.  A seed is firmly planted in that simple brain of his… another infatuation is born.

I once said on Soompi that this drama has the best and most brutal reverse harem I’ve had the fortune to cross paths with. Far from the Madding Crowd I imagine could be a worthy contender but for the purposes of this post, I shouldn’t go there at all.  Nevertheless, seeing that Moon Lovers is an adapted work which owes a great deal to its source material, it can’t get all the credit for dishing out the double-edged elements of one woman caught between far too many men. In the beginning as we see, being loved by many men shields her from the big bad medieval world of Goryeo as she spouts radical ideas of equality and individual freedom. I’m also inclined now to see Su as that embodiment of those ideas and her wrestling match with Prince Eun is indicative of that. The drama intimates that these are attractive ideas even for some in Goryeo but whether they survive the rigours of that political context remains to be seen. Ideas have practical consequences. Nowhere is this more true than the heart of Goryeo’s power base. 

In my travels around sites dealing with the superhero genre, I have often heard it said that a hero is only as good as the villain. I imagine that comes from the fact that a villain must provide the right kind of challenge worthy of the heroic figure It’s an idea with many supporters but not one that I subscribe to. Not that I don’t enjoy a good villain that proves to be a worthy adversary but I’m one of those oddities that prioritizes a well-developed, multi-dimensional hero over a souped up villain.

On one level, villainy is reasonably easy to identify in Moon Lovers. There’s Yo and Queen Yu who are obviously “baddies” because they’re a pernicious influence to familial harmony. Short of evil laughter and moustache twirling (although there’s the trademark evil smirk), they’re so evidently greedy for other people’s things that they tick all the right boxes in the “villainy” column. To our modern sensibilities, if a creature walks like a duck, waddles like one and quacks like one… clearly it must be a duck. Queen Yu fits the bill as the scheming witch from the fairy tales and her abject rejection of a son she disfigured has us modern types shifting uncomfortably… how can a mother reject her own child so readily and so cruelly and remorselessly? Then there’s an older son she wants sitting on Goryeo’s throne. With him she’s apparently quite motherly and supportive (in a scheming ambitious way) but there’s a lingering suspicion that he’s not just her spawn but her pawn too. With him, she’s seeking to supplant the legitimate heir with the goal of consolidating her own power. To all intents and purposes, Queen Yu is the archetypal villain writ large. In flashing neon lights. On the other hand she has a soft, cuddly side reserved for her true favourite… her youngest son that she fawns over in sickening fashion. The favouritism is egregious to the point of being nauseating especially when her treatment of her second son seem so absurdly brutal. All of this is to leave little doubt that she’s a woman who loves and hates in extremes.

Queen Yu is easy to pick from a lineup. But where does Wang So stand in this game of categories? At first glance he would scarcely be labelled “heroic” in the traditional sense. I’ve heard the term antihero bandied around. Sure he’s instrumental in thwarting the nefarious schemes of the villains but it isn’t out of pure altruism that he puts himself in harm’s way although he may have some affection for the Crown Prince who was perhaps more of a brother to him than the ones that were born out of the same uterus. However, there’s an aspect to him that solidifies him as his mother’s son.… Not just the darkness she obviously disdains but the tendency towards extremes in both hate and love.

I have always held that Taejo deliberately took So out of Songak and left him with the Shinju clan to keep him in large part away from his mother’s grimy influence. This is I think borne out in later episodes when it is revealed that Taejo and Ji Mong have both known all along that So, despite the physical obstacles, was destined for great things. The fact that he arranged for him to learn martial arts from a master is another point in favour of that theory.

It’s easy to forget that Wang So constantly teeters on the edge of “villainy”. Just because he has mummy issues and desperately needs a hug or two doesn’t mean that his propensity for violence should be swept aside. Of course it helps that he’s played by LJG with poise and great gusto but locked inside that emotionally needy boy is a trained killer. He remains very much the guy whose savage instincts have been left to fend for themselves which means given the right circumstances he could slit your throat without batting an eyelash. 

If there’s anything really wrong with Moon Lovers it’s that there’s not enough sword fights. They seem to be largely concentrated in these early episodes and then they taper off until the commencement of the game of thrones with the death of Taejo. Perhaps when the wolf  is momentarily tamed he has no reason to wield his sword and once he becomes King, he has other people doing all the housecleaning on his behest. 

Undoubtedly it's more than a little cheeky of the director to juxtapose Uk and Su’s growing infatuation with these incredibly violent, bloody scenes of So slashing his way through speechless monk hell. There’s something playfully cliche in the scene where Uk’s fingers accidentally makes their way to Su’s which sends her heart all aflutter… It’s the kind of thing that comes out of Rom Com playbook 101 and it affects Su more than I think it really should. Particularly as she’s just come out of a really bad relationship and particularly as she’s come off the back of a major betrayal. Maybe it’s the power of the 8th Prince who seems to have it all together, who manages to say all the right things at the right time. Myself, I think it’s the power of KHN. 

This time round I’m looking at that relationship much more critically. It isn’t just because of what we know now of how that relationship turns out but it’s also the little hints here and there that this relationship doesn’t quite have the approval of the gods. The writer clearly wants to parallel Go Ha Jin’s experience of betrayal with Lady Hae’s growing feelings of misapprehension about Uk’s attraction to Su. When Su told Lady Hae about her dream… her experience of relationship betrayal, it felt as if Su was foreshadowing Lady Hae’s own eventual experience of betrayal regarding what her husband about to do behind her back. This is of course not discounting the fact that polygamy is an accepted, legitimised reality in this society but even so it was still a matter that brought great pain to Lady Hae. It became a relationship built on a breach of trust and someone else’s pain whether it can be categorised as “adulterous” in the sense that we understand it, remains a matter for debate.

When first we watched this very episode, I primarily saw this infatuation from Su and Uk’s point of view but this time round, I paid much closer attention to how it was affecting Lady Hae. Yes, there were elements of cute but there were also indications of forbidden passion. Whether polygamy legitimises this attraction and whether us modern types object to our taboos being flayed publicly, let’s not forget that first and foremost, there is another person involved in this. A good, kind innocent woman  whose heart is being trampled on while she witnesses her husband going moony-eyed over her cousin under her nose. Worst still, he tells her thoughtlessly that her amnesia stricken cousin is a source of happiness to him. Everyone wants something from him but this bright young thing is a breath of fresh air in that she wants to carry her weight. I don’t know if he was listening to himself on that occasion but the implications of that for his sickly spouse can't have been pleasant.

The OTP aren’t off to a good start. Not that any OTP usually are. But threatening to kill the woman, that will one day become the great love of your life on more than one occasion isn’t exactly an auspicious start to a long and mutually satisfying relationship. If anything it must seem ominous for longevity. However, while he labours under a dark cloud, so does she. Clearly they are both interlopers… outsiders to a well-oiled machinery that is Songak. Evidently their presence portends something ominous for its inhabitants. Then there’s the label “OTP”… what does that even mean when applied to those two in light of how things end up?. Does it mean that just because things don’t end happily for them in a fairytale ending that they aren’t the OTP? Her rhetorical question to him sets the stage for their checkered relationship… “Is it so wrong to want to live?” The question is posed in relationship to his “Don’t show your face to me again.” Which is echoed in Ep. 19…  when So finally finds out at long last who Su’s secret paramour is. We know of course that it’s an empty rage-filled comment because no matter how So feels at at the time of vitriol spitting his bond to her is forever fixed.

So yes, I do contend that they are the OTP because of that eternal bond that transcends time and space. They’re tragedy bound but they are no less tethered to each other. Still it’s a glorious mess… he, with his savage inclination for violence and she, with her disruptive, radical ideas of equality and individual freedom. it’s the sort of collaborations that bloody revolutionaries could be made of.  

Moon Lovers Retrospective: Eps 1 and 2

This is the first of a series of posts celebrating Moon Lovers: Scarlet Heart Ryeo in retrospect. These are analytical posts based on a re-watch rather than straight recaps.

I’m sure I’m giving way to my inner dark impulses when I say that there's something highly, HIGHLY attractive about Wrathful, Dark and Bloody So insisting that he didn’t want to let Su go? I’m sure he didn’t mean it the way he means it later in episodes 17-19 but there’s a little part of me that believes he just might. The dishevelled mane accompanied by that brooding, defiant smirk only adds to that impression.  It does beg the question obviously… of whether he was he already attracted to Su to some degree especially because she bit her hostage taker among other insane things she’d already been doing prior to this encounter?

On hindsight, it feels like foreshadowing… the three of them embroiled down the track in some love triangle while she would be the meddlesome bystander caught in a game of thrones she ends up exacerbating albeit unwittingly.

What strikes me as even more fascinating is the implication that despite being treated like a cast-off sack not once but twice, Su finds the intrepid 4th Prince an intriguing figure already. in spite of hearing half-truths and embellished tales of the 4th Prince’s apparent wonton bloodlust and pariah status, it doesn’t seem to put her off whatsoever. Au contraire. She follows him into the forest when observing him in hot pursuit of someone or something. It can mean one of two things, she really does have a thing for bad boys or the first time she laid eyes on him as he swooped down on horseback to grab her was when it all began for them. Either way the seeds of attraction were laid long before she was wooed by the scholarly Uk. Whether it’s a case of them lying dormant before taking root and finally bearing fruit under the right conditions, the work of falling in love between those two would never be the work of a single moment but over a period of long, hard years.

From my second viewing the romance does present interesting ambiguities right from the start. The connections are formed but the attractions are obviously not the endgame which is to say that the romance is the vehicle but not the destination.

It never gets old watching Eun getting his behind handed to him. With our modern sensibilities we applaud Su’s spunk for taking him on because we think he deserves the sound beating and black eye he gets. Here he is ML’s Domyouji to Su’s Makino but thankfully romance isn’t on the cards for them. However, realistically no matter what kind of brat he is, he is still a prince. It’s probably fortunate for her that everyone thinks that she’s off her rocker since her near-death amnesia because otherwise she should be flogged rather soundly for laying hands on a prince. Luckily the people that matter find the whole thing rather hilariously shameful that a prince should be at the mercy of a girl and mirthfully finding some entertainment value in the entire debacle.

I’d forgotten how wonderfully spectacular the exorcism sequence was. For a longtime martial arts fan, it’s a breath-taking visual feast from start to finish. The wirework which was beautifully used adds to the artistry and storytelling of the moment. The rousing track, the tense build up, LJG’s skill and athleticism on display… the choreography… made for immersive viewing. I’ve started to wonder if they didn’t blow the entire budget on this episode (leaving no moolah for an extra episode or two) because it looked absolutely amazing.

The big thing for me would be the obvious symbolism in the use of masks and costumes as exposition of the appearances vs reality theme. There’s a lot of talk about So’s disfigurement and the justification behind his ostracisation due to his physical appearance. In addition there are two scenes of women being dressed. Su is dressed to the nines and utterly bored by the entire experience while wondering about the practicality of being saddled so many layers. Queen Yu revels in being dressed and adorned. For her appearance is the key to being the belle of the ball and catching the eye of the King. This is a woman who is obsessed with physical beauty to the point where she’s vehemently hateful towards a son she scarred for life. This is also demonstrated by her many leisurely hours spent in beauty bath therapy and trying to outdo the other women in the palace in the beauty stakes. She’s clearly modelled after Snow White’s witchy stepmother but without the magic mirror. Her disdain for the son she birthed is not just because she slashed his face in a fit of rage but because the man whose eye she had meant to command was looking unsentimentally elsewhere. Her obsessive attachment to Taejo not only disfigured So but reminds her that she does not have Taejo’s undivided attention despite all her machinations. Her son is the mirror as it were… that she’s not the fairest of them all. At least she’s not fair enough for Taejo to stop taking wives even if for political expediency.

In a significant enough way, ML is also about the dysfunctionality of families that polygamy brings. I’ve always thought that a good case can easily be made against polygamy purely on the basis on what it does not just to the women but also to progeny.  While polygamy and in-breeding are 10th century realities in Goryeo, it’s still breeding ground for family disharmony in the worst possible way. No doubt there’s some kind of superficial, precarious brotherly affection that’s carefully held in balance by the 8th Prince. As long as No.3 doesn’t see any of his other brothers but the Crown Princes as genuine threats to his goals, he is quite willing to play happy families in the interim. His contempt for So is plain but his disfigurement puts him out of game of thrones contention.