Pale Moon is an intriguing drama that departs from the norm of what I think of when it comes to K-Drama. It may not appeal to everyone, including myself, however stuck it out and watched it in its entirety. It does go kind of slow at times. To me it is more of a film studies kind of movie. The kind that you may get for an assignment at school in a film studies class where you are asked to watch it and then write a paper on it with your comments and theories. The use of the moon in the beginning and the ending and cinema type lighting techniques - shadows, dark, is reminiscent of old Hithcock films reminds me of this drama although different.
Here in Pale Moon everyone uses everyone else - The ML's (Gong Jung Hwan) boss uses him like a dog and a minion, and he uses the wife to prop up his career only. The wife uses the young ML (Lee Shi Hoo) to fulfill her own emotional needs, the young ML uses the FL, Kim Seo Hyung, for money. Even the side stories everyone uses everyone else for sex, designer clothes, whatever it may be.
As far as the May December romance, I had a hard time believing it. Sorry but didn't see the chemistry - Maybe if the FL had a different haircut just a little bit longer such as in her bio photo on Viki I could have seen the chemistry better. I just thought it looked a wee bit boyish and the bio photo was so much sexier. If they were trying to give her the "housewife" look, I think it was a fail. Couldn't see how the romance could have begun in the first place - the emotional connection wasn't "all that" in the beginning, but the money was. I kept thinking it was more like those jigglo K-dramas I have seen where the young guy gets kept on the side. IMO that was more believable, but don't think that is what the director wanted us to believe.
Which brings us to the ending. Hate the kind of endings where you don't know exactly what happened, where you are left "hanging" there. It is open to interpretation - is it the husband who now lost everything - his job, his wife, and realizes what he lost and that he truly loved her? Or was it the young love that realizes in the end everything she did for him and how much he really did love her after all - which he did all along but the fame and fortune got to his head? Please someone tell me if I missed something and I am supposed to know.....that's why I can only give it 8 stars and not 10. Some might think there will be a second season?
#PaleMoon
#PaleMoonKDrama
#LeeShiHoo
#Kim Seo Hyung.