Daleui Ddeuneun Gang

I have not watched the series yet but I surely will once its completed (can't wait every week). But I wanted to talk about the replacement of the male lead actor Ji Soo. It looks as if people awoken from a deep sleep and decided now after he stared in numerus series for the past 8 years to talk of their hurt from him bulling them at school. Why now? Why not before? Does he have more money now? I understand what he did is wrong and he should pay for it in one way or another, but preventing bulling starts from home, and school. And from what I see, The school and society is much to blame as well.

I want to say that those who left the drama due to Jisoo issue, they had missed a masterpiece. The cinematography, the acting , the actions and moreover the chemistry between the leads all are awesome. Though I am not a fan of historical drama but I was glued to TV during the drama broadcasting time. Kim So hyun was awesome. She played the role of queen, the assassin, the princess and portrayed different emotions according to character. Na in woo was an unfamiliar name to me as I first saw him in this drama but he showed how an innocent person became a great general. His pain, love, cruelty all type of emotions had shown here. Moreover , Lee ji hoon and Choi yu Hwa had done their job. I liked the king , queen, the prince and even the five tribe leaders. The child actors did their job very well. It was an emotional rollercoaster for me .

Kim So-hyun plays Princess Pyeonggang whose mother, the Queen was killed when she was a child and whilst trying to escape she is assisted by the son of a General called On Dal played by Na In-woo. They become separated and the princess has an accident and loses her memory and she is adopted by a secret society and is trained to become a very efficient assassin. Many years later they meet by accident and this begins to unravel a chain of events going to the top of the Royal household and the events from their childhoods. It is an entertaining story and the pace of the first two thirds of the series is engaging and the momentum retains your interest. Sadly the final third is where to me the pacing is off and it would have benefitted from fewer episodes.

Korean Drama "River where the moon rises" was not a great romance story, but the strong female lead saved the day. Her story, the performance, and her presentation were all not only entertaining but also intriguing. That is not to say that the rest of the actors and actresses of the cast did not do a great job. But the leading lady's performance and dynamic appeal stole the scene every time. Her story was overall interesting, as well, and it was refreshing to have a period drama focusing on a female character. The clothes and settings were a nice touch too, as they were different, detailed and looked real.

However, at least for me, the drama was greatly affected by the switch of the male lead. They did not handle it well, and the character disappeared for a few episodes and had a few chopped scenes edited here and there. So, I do recommend watching it with the second actor right from the start, as it feels a bit awkward with the switch.

As for the romance, it was okay, but not as strong and impactful as it presented it, or hoped for it to be. That is because it was often overshadowed by the politics and, sometimes, the second lead. The ending was a bit off too and too unrealistic.

So, overall, six and a half out of ten.

The cast is excellent, and I love the leads. Story line is okay but could have been tightened. This is one of the series (probably most) that simply didn't belong at 20 eps: the result when you do not have enough story is filler, which most fans recognize and bypass anyway. But I did enjoy it and thank Na In Woo for saving the project for the company and fans. He is charming. Recommended.