The Moon that Embraces the Sun- The drama that Embraced me

"Back in Time" by Lyn is one of the most beautiful OSTs that I have heard in a long time.  And it fits so splendidly with the drama The Moon that Embraces the Sun, that I can't help but reminisce every time I listen to that song.   The Moon that Embraces the Sun is quite a mouthful to continually type and write so I will refer to it from now on as Moon/Sun.  This is the drama that kicked off 2012 and what a fantastic start to a new year it was. 

Love at First Sight

WARNING!!! THIS REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS, IF YOU DON'T WANT TO KNOW WHAT HAPPENS IN THE DRAMA WALK AWAY NOW!!!!

It's a sageuk drama based on a fictional Joseon king and his love for a shaman.  So far, pretty ordinary I guess, but the writing and tale of this drama, while phenomenal, it is the child cast that make this drama what it is.  You heard me right, the young actors who play the teenage versions of the main characters caught me hook, line and sinker.  Saying that they were phenomenal is an understatement.  They set the premise for the tale and had me laughing, crying and cheering for them along the way. 

As a fictional drama including shamans, there is obviously going to be a lot of fortune telling and mystery in this drama.  We begin with the comment that "Two suns cannot be in the same sky"  Sun in this instance refers to the king, and we learn that the ruling king has an older half brother who is also seen as the sun.  Therefore, his presence is considered a threat to his brother's throne.  The Dowager Queen (current King's mother) decides to eliminate the threat and orders older brother's death.  His death is important since it introduces us to the shaman Ah- Ri (cameo by Jang Young-Nam).  She is a minor character, but serving a MAJOR role.  She has to flee for her safety and meets Shin Jung Kyung (Yang Mi-Kyung) our future leading lady's mother.  For saving her life, the shaman promises to guard and protect the baby after seeing the baby's fate is an ominous one.  Though this shaman dies, she passes the mantle of protection on to fellow shaman and trusted friend Jang Nok-Young (Jun Mi-Sun).  

Then we jump forward to when the baby has become 13 year old Heo Yeon-Woo (Kim Yoo-Jung). [Her name which means misty rain is important to the drama as we discover later]. We also meet Joseon crown prince Lee Hwon (Yeo Jin-Goo), which means we have the re-partnering of the Iljimae child cast.  By themselves, these two young actors have built up quite a repertoire, but together they are dynamite.  In fact, it might be safe to say that they are a better pairing than some adult casts.  If they gave best couple to children, they should get it.  The fated first love comes about and the crown prince finds himself smitten. 

Then we learn that a similar situation exists between this current crown prince and the one that his father, the current king, had.  He too has an older brother Prince Yang Myung (Lee Min-Ho, no he's not Boys Over Flowers Lee Min-Ho, this is a different one), who is the illegitimate son and therefore banned from the palace, so as not to be a threat to the young crown prince.  (You see this is what happens when kings have too many darn wives- anyway I digress).  The sad thing about this situation is that the older prince is friends with Yeon-Woo's older brother, Yeom (Siwan) and as such he has met Yeon-Woo.  Therefore it is not a surprise that he is also smitten with her.  Oh K-drama love triangles, will you never cease to exist?

Of course, since this is a Joseon era drama, it is time for a crown princess to be chosen since princey needs a wife at the ripe old age of 15.  He desperately wants to make Yeon-Woo his bride, alas, he doesn't get to choose his own wife as the decision lies with grandma dearest, who is the same Dowager Queen that killed current King's hyung.  She has her own future bride for Hwon in mind, it's Bo-Kyung (Kim So-Hyun) since putting a puppet in place works in securing her power.  What these people do with all this power is beyond me, but they sure like to have it.  A series of fun and exciting events take place, which eventually end up with the Dowager Queen losing her absolute right in crown princess selection and a committee led by the king having the final say.  Of course, Yeon-Woo wins this process since she is the most qualified to be the crown princess, with one shaman noting "She has the countenance of a queen", but this in turn, means that her life is in danger.

The Moon Embracing the Sun

The Dowager Queen, ironically enlists the help of shaman Nok-Young, who is now head shaman, to kill Yeon-Woo with dark magic.  However, as she is the same friend entrusted with protecting her, she tries to warn Yeon-Woo through magic, so that the girl can escape her ominous fate.  Unfortunately, it is too late for that and Nok-Young is faced with the dilemma of saving Yeon-Woo due to a promise to Ali or obeying the Dowager Queen who controls the shamans.  This dilemma leads her to only one conclusion -faking Yeon-Woo's death.  Yeon-Woo is struck down by a mysterious illness and swiftly and efficiently kicked out of the palace.  The departure of Yeon Woo from the palace and Hwon's reaction to it is such an intense moment that is well-performed by both actors.  It is simply breath-taking, one would think that it couldn't get any better than that.  But it does.  We then have the farewell scene between the two after the crown prince sneaks out of the palace to see the sick Yeon-Woon and give her a hair pin called the Moon Embracing the Sun. Then, I finally understand the meaning of this drama.  Hwon explains that the Moon a.k.a the Queen is embracing the Sun a.k.a King in the hairpin's design.  I LOVE THAT!!!! I don't know how to describe how much I love that.

Hwon's anguish at Yeon-Woo's death

Alas, we soon learn of Yeon-Woo's death and Crown Prince Hwon's reaction to the death gets me right in the heart.  I cried and cried and cried and cried.  I think I reverted to my baby years when I couldn't speak and just cried to express myself in that moment.  It was powerful, poignant and well delivered by Yeo Jin-Goo.  He is a such a great actor at such a young age.  A lot to look forward to from him I think.  As the crown prince must have a wife, he ends up marrying Bo-Kyung, and grandma and her cohorts are thrilled about achieving their goal.  The beauty of this wedding scene is presented in the way that Hwon is busy daydreaming about Yeon-Woo as misty rain begins to fall around him.  It is such a wonderfully shot image with him holding his hand out feeling the light rain while his bride exits and he pays no attention to her.  It is well portrayed how his mind has wandered off to the dead love of his life.  Sigh.  Why do you do this to me drama?

Thinking of Yeon Woo while marrying another

And then we jump ahead 8 years to the adult selves.  Well done kiddies, well done.  This drama had me and I didn't want to let go.  Hwon in now king (played by Kim Soo-Hyun), and the time jump is done through the effective use of misty rain, with Hwon still thinking of Yeon Woo when it rains.  BEAUTIFUL.   Even more interesting is that he literally still aches for Yeon Woo, since he is continually heart sick.  HA!!! Drama have I mentioned I love you and your little allusions to destined love.  Anyway, he has only recently begun official duties as king since his grandma was running the court for him, after former king passed away.  Why?  I don't know. Maybe something to do with all that power she had and him being young, although why he was old enough to marry, but not old enough to run a royal court I will never understand.  He is now slowly exerting his influence and power, which isn't going that well as he doesn't have many trusted people around him, except for loyal bodyguard Kim Chae-Woon (Song Jae-Rim) and his Eunuch Hyun Sun (Jun Eun-Pyo). 

His brother Prince Yang-Myung (Jun Il-Woo) has long since stayed away from him due to conflict over Yeon Woo's death, while Yeo Woo's older brother, Yeom (Song Jae-Hee) who was once his teacher and adviser has been banished from political office since he ends up married to Hwon's sister, Princess Min-Hwa (Nam Bo-Ra) and as a member of the royal family, he cannot get involved in politics.  (To me that is one weird rule. I mean if he can't get involved in politics why are all those other family members like his father-in-law Yoon Dae-Hyung (Kim Eun-Soo) messing with politics?  It jus seems so strange to me).   We also learn that Hwon is still unhappily married to his Queen Bo-Kyung (Kim Min-Seo), which becomes even more hilarious when we learn that they haven't even consummated the marriage [after 8 years might I add] due to the fact that Hwon takes ill whenever a consummation date is set.  (Again, drama I LOVE your little heart sick allusions).  All I can say to that one is that it serves those schemers right. 

I could go on and on and on, but before I go into an entire summation of the entire drama, I am going to just highlight the next important step, which is that the king ends up meeting a mysterious nameless shaman (Han Ga-In) who reminds him of Yeon-Woo.  He is instantly smitten, but fights it because she is after all, just a shaman, and it must all be a dream.  She is of course, Yeon-Woo, risen from the "dead", but due to being buried alive she has blocked out all memory of her previous life.  The king names her Wol, which incidentally means moon, and then through a series of K-drama happenings, Wol is dragged into the palace to be a human talisman to "heal" the king and facilitate his marriage consummation.  LMAO!!! Really?  As we can see from this picture that is NOT going to happen.  I love that the baddies bring the two together unwittingly.  And so the love story continues to grow from there.

Overall, Moon/Sun is not that special a drama, or that original a premise, but like I said, the child actors pulled me in.  I hate calling them child actors because they are teenagers, but teen actors doesn't have the same ring to it.  Without Kim Yoo-Jung and Yeo Jin-Goo's performances I wouldn't have been as invested in how this story played out.  I mean ALL of the young actors really set the tone for this drama.  Don't get me wrong it was thoroughly enjoyable and the older cast were good as well, it's just the children got me, and stuck with me.  As always, in sageuks, the colours and imagery were beautiful and I loved the costumes.  And the OST kept me going along whilst I enjoyed the ride as well.  Moon/Sun gets a full 4.5 stars from me on the Bel scale, since it was almost perfect, but not quite perfect.

According to Bel: Embrace this drama wholeheartedly.