All right, time to up the stakes, and ratchet up the emotion on all sides. People are pushed into corners, and characters take one step closer to making some finite decisions. Hwon takes one step forward in the big mystery of years past, but also suffers a setback as the baddies get crafty, too. And that cliffhanger leaves us wondering if we’ve hit a point of no return, or if our hero can find a way out. (Okay, I’m pretty sure it’s not a real point of no return, but at the same time I’ll have to remain in suspense another week. As will we all.)

SONG OF THE DAY

Lucid Fall – “어부가” [ Download ]

(...)
Read the rest of The Moon That Embraces the Sun: Episode 12 (3,844 words)

© javabeans for Dramabeans, 2012. | Permalink | 208 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: featured, Han Ga-in, Jung Il-woo, Kim Min-seo, Kim Soo-hyun, The Moon That Embraces the Sun

Yay, the fun is back! I love this episode. It’s full of funny pranks, stealthy missions, and some new mystical elements that work nicely to integrate our characters further. Hwon finally starts playing detective and asking some key questions, and I say, IT’S ABOUT TIME.

(...)
Read the rest of The Moon That Embraces the Sun: Episode 11 (3,848 words)

© girlfriday for Dramabeans, 2012. | Permalink | 138 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: featured, Han Ga-in, Jung Il-woo, Kim Min-seo, Kim Soo-hyun, The Moon That Embraces the Sun

What a fantastic episode for our men. This really should be The Sun Embraces That Other Sun (And Heck, Also Those Other Friendly Suns, While We’re At It). Yes, the two suns are brothers and that would require breaking a number of taboos, but hey, I’m game if you are. Sigh.

Another ratings increase (the ninth straight one) with today’s episode bringing in a 37.1%. (Ratings were 7.5% for Captain and 4.5% for Wild Romance.) Good grief. I mean, I’m entertained so I’m not complaining — it’s just way beyond my expectation. Timing and circumstance really have so much to do with which shows hit which numbers; previous sageuk hits Princess’s Man and Tree With Deep Roots are both better dramas, but they aired in different circumstances. But Moon/Sun can thank them for setting the stage for it to come in and dominate.

SONG OF THE DAY

Feelbay – “낮잠” (Midday nap) [ Download ]

(...)
Read the rest of The Moon That Embraces the Sun: Episode 10 (3,541 words)

© javabeans for Dramabeans, 2012. | Permalink | 285 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: featured, Han Ga-in, Jung Il-woo, Kim Min-seo, Kim Soo-hyun, The Moon That Embraces the Sun

Wol finds out just how much danger lies inside the palace walls, and the king struggles to keep his curiosity, and his heart, locked away. It’s a crucial episode for Wol’s character, who hits rock bottom in more ways than one.

Ratings hit another high today at 34.5%, which is kind of insane. I thought low thirties would be the ceiling on this thing, but I guess there’s no slowing this train. Captain followed at 7.8% and Wild Romance at 4.4%.

(...)
Read the rest of The Moon That Embraces the Sun: Episode 9 (3,863 words)

© girlfriday for Dramabeans, 2012. | Permalink | 101 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: featured, Han Ga-in, Jung Il-woo, Kim Min-seo, Kim Soo-hyun, The Moon That Embraces the Sun

I really appreciate that things are moving swiftly along, as girlfriday pointed out in yesterday’s recap. It’s so much more satisfying when the show remains a step ahead of you instead of broadcasting everything far in advance and cluttering up your path with obvious angsty obstacles, so that the only things lying between us and the inevitable are a bunch of pesky angst-toys that are irritating to step on. Brisk plot developments are much welcomed in my book.

Also: Welcome to the 30% club, Moon/Sun. Today’s episode brought in a 31.7%, meaning that every episode has increased upon the ratings before it. I wonder where it’ll plateau, because surely it’ll settle at some point, right? Or is the MoonSunSky the limit?

SONG OF THE DAY

Jouet – “내일 아침 (Fly Away)” [ Download ]

(...)
Read the rest of The Moon That Embraces the Sun: Episode 8 (3,621 words)

© javabeans for Dramabeans, 2012. | Permalink | 199 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: featured, Han Ga-in, Jung Il-woo, Kim Min-seo, Kim Soo-hyun, Kim Yoo-jung, The Moon That Embraces the Sun

It’s a crash course in fates, as we find out that some connections can’t be shaken, even in death. We finally get our introduction to grown-up Yeon-woo, and things move along a lot faster than I had anticipated. This episode is sort of the sister to last week’s introduction to King Hwon and his world, and this time we get to see Yeon-woo’s side, and what life has been like outside the palace walls for her.

Ratings: Moon raked in 29.7%, further widening the gap with Captain at 7.1% and Wild Romance at 6.2%.

(...)
Read the rest of The Moon That Embraces the Sun: Episode 7 (4,045 words)

© girlfriday for Dramabeans, 2012. | Permalink | 147 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: featured, Han Ga-in, Jung Il-woo, Kim Min-seo, Kim Soo-hyun, Kim Yoo-jung, The Moon That Embraces the Sun

FINALLY! This is what we’ve all been waiting for. And holy moly! Ratings scored a hefty 29.3% for this episode — every episode thus far has been a new high, so we’ll see how long this steady climb can continue. (Apparently in the minute-by-minute ratings, the episode topped out at a 31.56% at Jung Il-woo’s first appearance. Ha. Why am I not surprised?)

SONG OF THE DAY

The Moon That Embraces the Sun OST – “시간을 거슬러” (Going against time) by Lyn.
[ Download ]

(...)
Read the rest of The Moon That Embraces the Sun: Episode 6 (3,993 words)

© javabeans for Dramabeans, 2012. | Permalink | 187 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: featured, Han Ga-in, Jung Il-woo, Kim Min-seo, Kim Soo-hyun, Kim Yoo-jung, Lee Min-ho (2), The Moon That Embraces the Sun, Yeo Jin-gu

Can you be in love with a press conference? Because I love everything about the press conference for The Moon That Embraces the Sun, the fusion-sageuk fantasy-romance drama premiering this Wednesday.

Maybe it’s the cast, whose members are both talented and charismatic, not to mention easy on the eyes. But more than that, I’m swooning over the gorgeous hanboks on display — rich, colorful, and vibrant. I love that everybody got to shine in his or her own colors. I’m particularly drooling over Jung Il-woo‘s bright jewel tones, although Nam Bo-ra’s electric yellow is a close second.

Swoon.

(...)
Read the rest of Hanboks galore at press conference for Moon That Embraces the Sun (289 words)

© javabeans for Dramabeans, 2012. | Permalink | 84 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Han Ga-in, Jung Il-woo, Kim Soo-hyun, press conferences, The Moon That Embraces the Sun, Yoon Seung-ah

Upcoming fantasy-romance sageuk Moon That Embraces the Sun, or better known around here as MoonSun-Snowflake-PixieDust, has just released its official posters, less than a week out from the premiere. They feature the four leads: Kim Soo-hyun, the fictional Joseon King, Han Ga-in, the shaman who falls in love with him, Jung Il-woo, the king’s playboy hyung, and Kim Min-seo, the femme fatale. The posters all carry the tagline: “Don’t come close! But don’t go far…” which I’m assuming comes from the king. Well THAT’s not a mixed message to a girl or anything. Geez. I guess being King doesn’t preclude a guy from being a guy.

(...)
Read the rest of Moon That Embraces the Sun releases posters (207 words)

© girlfriday for Dramabeans, 2011. | Permalink | 62 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Han Ga-in, Jung Il-woo, Kim Min-seo, Kim Soo-hyun, The Moon That Embraces the Sun

Ooh, interesting: Yoon Seung-ah (Playful Kiss, All My Love) joins the youthful cast of buzz fantasy-sageuk project The Moon That Embraces the Sun, where she’ll play a badass swordswoman who guards the shaman/heroine played by Han Ga-in.

Ha, I love that Yoon Seung-ah’s character’s name is Seol (雪), aka Snow, so really I wasn’t too far off with the whole MoonSunRaincloud bit, although I’ll have to adjust that to MoonSunSnowflake, which doesn’t quite have the same ring. (Fyi: Originally it was stated that the king’s name would be Hwon, as in light, while his love interest was named Wol, aka moon, to make this all very literal. I am a little bit sad that Han Ga-in’s character’s name has changed, though really, the shtick was terribly on-the-nose so it won’t be too hard to recover from that disappointment.)

(...)
Read the rest of Yoon Seung-ah cast as badass warrior in Moon/Sun drama (365 words)

© javabeans for Dramabeans, 2011. | Permalink | 87 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Han Ga-in, Jung Il-woo, Kim Soo-hyun, The Moon That Embraces the Sun, Yoon Seung-ah