River Where the Moon Rises

I'm a fan of Na In-Woo, but Ji Soo is more effective as On Dal. Ji Soo has a boyish, innocent charm.

The story suffered from erratic pacing, cramming too many plots that made it hard keep any interesting narrative. The characters were a simulated circus clown that kept making foolish moves intentionally at every turn. Might explains why it's 20 episodes. The childish love square was another contributor in that regard. Na In Woo's portrayal felt strained, his expressions, intonations, inflections, and emotions seemingly forced to fit the character mold. Comparing it to the original version, it seems there was a notable disparity. Checked a couple of scenes side by side, there's a clear difference in the delivery, as big as expressing an entirely different emotion of the exact same scene. I wonder what was the director even doing? The lack of chemistry with his colleagues was obvious too. He was called to fill in a role on a quick notice with so little to work with in the first place. All of that didn't compare to the abysmal last episode, and even worse, the detestable last scene.

The lead actor change part way through (in the original, although by now they may have re-shot all those earlier episodes) did create unevenness. Na In Woo hoo had no time for any character prep, so the first couple of episodes where he had to dive straight in had him seeming a bit wooden after JiSoo. Na In Woo quickly made up for that though and developed On Dal as his own intrinsic character, with excellent chemistry between the leads. The second leads' story was also very well done. Compelling writing and an epic tale.

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 .

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.