I disagree. Apologies for choosing to reply to your comment, out of the plethora of similar responses over the past week. Lee Jun Ki's portrayal is okay, it's not stellar, nor the breakthrough out of the drama, imo. He doesn't fit with the cast, and looks way older than the rest. His cold portrayal also doesn't have the charm of the original 4th prince.

But I do agree that the glee of Moonlight fans against Moon Lovers low ratings is also unwarranted, as Moonlight is not exactly a stellar, or groundbreaking drama either. It is enjoying the success of airing first and being the underdog, while Moon Lovers is suffering from a hype backlash.

DramaMama I agree. I keep my own counsel when watching dramas!

I'm kind of picky when it comes to sageuks especially with actors because I can watch for my favorites even if it turns out to be a total crap show.

Kim Yoo-jung has been paired with the best of her generation in this genre so when a new actor comes around it takes a while for me to warm up to them.

The more I watch Park Bo-gum, the more come to really like him on and off screen. Although he is very popular I don't feel any sense of entitlement. He seems very humble and he's going to keep getting better and better because he is willing to learn even from his younger leading lady.

I don't blame the older generation for wanting him as their son in law and that goes for Kim Yoo-jung too.

I think they contributed to the ratings not only by great acting but their personality. They are well loved on and off screen.

Hi @michykdrama! I'll definitely keep an eye out for it on KBS World. Prince needs to up his smarts on Ra-on's gender hijinks!

@The other Kiara
I know what you mean about being picky on sageuks and actors. Tbh, I hadn't liked Park because of a certain remake that shall continue to burn in flames, but seeing him in Moonlight helped turn things around a bit. It was nice seeing his chemistry with Kim Yoo-jung - that bit where she was standing on tiptoe trying to put on his hat, and he just purposely stood on tiptoe as well was hilarious. I do hope for some meat to this drama though, fun and light-hearted as it has been.

@Junny that remake, is that TC?!!!

Re sageuks, wasn't Empress Ki popular? I don't often see it mentioned. The length always puts me off - as I said I need a 20 ep condensed version:)

@Karuna,
Yes, it's TC. May it forever burn and be trashy.

Empress Ki was pretty shrieky and historically inaccurate. I didn't like what I saw of it, but I've heard others did.

The drama whose name must never be mentioned and quickly forgotten:)

I feel like I should watch the female sageuk dramas (EK, Queen Seondeok, Jewel in the Palace, the to be aired Saimdang.... but have yet to work up the enthusiasm. I kind of enjoyed parts of The Painter of the Wind though.

I just looked up his works, and he was producer for Gaekju as well - that gives me the extra push to watch that drama.

That one had great sageuk actors but it dragged on to a point where I ended up dropping it.

He directed Jeong DoJeon if you want to watch a great conventional sageuk. It's probably the last time we'd get to see a real sageuk.

Jeong Do Jeon is 50 eps... *gulps* I was only gonna attempt Gaekju because I could count on Jang Hyuk to lead me through.

Wasn't Six Flying Dragons a conventional sageuk? I didn't watch it, but heard it was pretty solid.

@juniper,
Thanks for explaining the differences! I think I kind of get it, and that's a pity about Six Flying Dragons twisting stuff to suit its narrative purposes - not uncommon, but I always kind of prefer historical dramas to at least stick to key facts and figures and not mangle them too much.

I may give Jung Do-jeon a try when I'm feeling brave about 50 eps!

I was wondering the same thing too because I liked Winter and thought it gorgeous. The close up is way overdone here.

At the rate he's zooming in to the actors' faces and judging from his fetish for closeups I wouldn't even trust him to edit the episodes himself T_T

@ Hye Mi

Lol, true but he did a good job w/ It's Ok, This is Love, at least what I saw of it since I stopped halfway. I didn't even mind the upbeat music in contrast to the seriousness of what was happening.

But the music (except for the instrumental) in Moon Lovers is awful. It's a sageuk and he's using some modern pop music, which just kills the mood. I can't help but compare it to the directing, editing, acting, story/character development and music over at Moonlight, which are all well done and seamlessly combined.

Hopefully the team at Moon Lovers learned from the first 3 botched episodes and have gone back to fix the rest of the episodes.

@news:
I know, actually I was talking about him in SH only :P. I watched IOIL and agree with you wholeheartedly that his closeups weren't that jarring there because I didn't even notice them lol.

Usually I'm not one to notice flaws in directing and camera work but this time it's so blatant with the stage play/ soap opera feel (those flat scenes where all the princes gathered in the astronomer's tower and stand/ sit in a line and took turn to deliver their line) and zoom-ins and closeups that an amateur like me couldn't help but notice it. I can't deny that he's really good at doing long shots though.

I've started to wonder whether his methods don't work very well for sageuks? Because the shots where HaeSoo was still in the present days weren't that bad, at least to me.

@ Hye Mi

Lol, I was so second hand embarrassed for the actors in that scene (including the bath scene), I fast forwarded all scenes that don't have LJK in it, lol.

Yes, I don't think his style of directing suits sageuks. That was my first thought when I watched ep 1-3, but I really hope to be wrong! His cinematography is good (if he doesn't overuse the close-ups), but I've seen better action choreography and cinematography in action-related scenes.

@news: Yeah, that's what exactly what I felt watching those scenes too. I'd say ep 3 did it for me in making the decision to stick to the show b/c plot-wise I find it interesting and the three leads are either good or not jarring, so I'm fine by that. However, I wouldn't want to re-watch ep 1 &2 because I can't bring myself to go through those feelings again, lol, even though I read in some forums that in the editor's cut version they have got rid of those 'Hyung, try touch this muscle here' moments.

Re. the director: I've made this comment somewhere else that this director's forte is in doing long shots but for some unfathomable reason he decided to dwell into his shortcomings (extreme closeups) in this adaptation. Someone really needs to tell him how awesome his panoramic scenes are so he can relax on those extreme closeups a bit. Through all those scenes I keep getting the impression that I'm actually standing there in the drama about to kiss these actors and actresses every few seconds. lol