[Review] Moon Lovers: Scarlet Heart Ryeo

Romance, politics, fantasy

This story begins with the story of a woman who had lived a difficult life and she felt really unsatisfied with the current living because she has been betrayed by her boyfriend and had to settle his outstanding debts too. She met a beggar and shared her Soju with him and expressed her satisfaction of her living to him. The beggar told her that she can stopped everything by ending her life. Suddenly, there is a kid has been drowned in the lake. She quickly ran over and saved the kid, however, she herself has been drowned in the lake. The surrounding atmosphere in the universe has been changed. When she awoke, she found herself in the pool where the princes spending their time there. She was shocked and surprised that she has living in the Goryeo Era with the name Hae Soo (8^th Prince’s wife’s cousin). She was so surprised and scared and wanted to go back to modern world. However, she has no choice but to endure the lifestyle in Goryeo. She made many troubles after her injury. She had a fight with 10^th prince and also being threaten to die by the 4^th prince every time she saw him. The 10^th prince thought that Hae Soo has a crush on him and decided to confess to her. On the other hand, 8^th prince also has a crush on her due to her warm and loving character. His family found that after the injury, her personality has changed a lot. Sometimes she also used modern language to talk to them which caused them even more curious about her.

The 4^th prince came back to the palace and he did not want to go back to his adopted family. He acts as fierce as wolf and he is a cruel person. He has a scar on his face due to his parents accidentally scratch him. Therefore, he always wears a mask. He always feels lack of love from his parents and being jealous when his sibling has gain much attention than him. Whoever see his scar will be threaten to die. Hae Soo was just lucky that he did not kill her when she entered the pool where the prince taking bath.

One day, the Crown Prince met him and suggested him to replace his role during the ritual ceremony secretly as the Crown Prince aware that there will be assassin will attack him and asked him to find out the culprit behind the assassination. The 4^th prince agreed with a condition: he wants to live in the palace. During the ritual ceremony, the 4^th prince has been attacked. All other princes went over to catch the masked assassins. Unfortunately, they failed to capture one. Hae Soo follow the 4^th prince to the forest and she saw the assassins with the mask have been killed by their leader. She tried to inform the 4^th prince but she has been captured by another assassin. The 4^th prince tried to question the assassin who is behind the assassination but failed too. He then blamed Hae Soo for causing trouble for him and again threatening to kill her. Hae Soo told him everything she saw in the forest and 8^th and 4^th prince suspected that it was the doing of 3^rd prince and the Queen Yoo.

Later, he and the Crown Prince found the bodies of the assassins. They noticed that all of their tongue has been cut. They tried to locate the nest of the assassins. The 4^th prince met and questioned 3^rd prince about the assassination. He denied anyway. The 4^th prince went to the nest of assassins (temple on top of the hill) and killed everyone in there and burned the palace in order to destroy the evidence to save the Queen. His action did not impress by the Queen Yoo, instead she chased him away and considered him not her child and someone who bring bad luck. But that did not stop him from leaving the palace. The crown prince and the astronomer persuaded the King to let 4^th prince to stay at palace and the king agreed. Although he was so upset with his mother’s unfairness treatment towards him, Hae Soo consoled him and then after he changed his behaviour toward Hae Soo. He no longer threatened her anymore. Hae Soo asked her servant to return the hairpin that 4^th prince dropped during the pool at his room, unfortunately, the servant has been caught by the princess. The princess punished the servant by whipping her. Hae Soo saw that incident and stopped the princess. At the same time, she explained to the princess that she was the one who asked the servant to return the hairpin. The princess did not believe her. Hae Soo replaced her servant and whipped by the princess. The princes bypassed the corner but none of the them able to help her although they know she was innocent. (traditionally men are not allowed to interfere the household issue) fortunately, 4^th prince interfered and stopped the princess. The princess was jealous that all her brothers protect Hae Soo. 8^th prince has a feeling for Hae Soo. He wrote a love poem for her and asked her to reply with poem. Hae Soo did not know the content of the poem due to she can’t read Chinese character. 14^th prince and Lady Han (8^th prince’s wife) found out about this. 14^th prince in love with Lady Han but she in love with 8^th prince. She has a weak body, she was going to die. She found out that 8^th prince love Hae Soo and wanted him to re-marry or divorced her. 8^th prince did not want to. Hae Soo also tried to distance herself from being close to 8^th prince. She did not want to hurt Lady Han. One day, 8^th prince bought a lot of medicine as Hae Soo interested in medicine. She used those medicine to make soap for the queens and 8^th prince as souvenir.

The 13^th prince has been captured by somebody who claimed that the prince has caused his hand cut. He tried to kill the prince. Hae Soo saw that incident and decided to follow them. She instructed her servant to inform someone for help. 4^th prince saw her and followed her to the forest. Hae Soo tried to save 13^th prince, but there are just too many persons. 8^th came to the rescue but he just can’t fight alone. 4^th prince came over later and just gave a glance on them. they quickly ran off. Hae Soo get along well with all the princes and they are happy to protect her. before Lady Han passed away, she asked 8^th prince to take care of her cousin. He was regret that he didn’t have the chance to tell her his feelings.

Just after the Lady Han passed away, Hae Soo was being arrange for marriage. Hae Soo was so surprised with the news and she did not want to marry either. The news has been known by the princes. They work together to rescue Hae Soo from being marry to an old man with many sons. But they never know until the guard told them that the old man was the King. Hae Soo don’t want to give troubles to the princes, so she decided to enter the palace and discuss with the King. However, that’s does not solve the issue for marrying with the King. Hae Soo therefore cut her arm in order to leave a scar on her body. Body with scar is not allowed to marry the King. Thus, she managed to escape from marrying with the King. But that’s not the end. She has to accept the punishment from the King (instead of death punishment, she was being work in the palace as court lady in Damiwon). She was so happy to work at there as she was expert in medicine and makeup. All other princes always come to visit her there. However, this has caused troubles for her as other court ladies were so jealous about her. she often got punishment by the senior court lady (SCL). SCL often warned her to distance herself from being close to the princes, but she never listened to her. thus, SCL punished her. SCL did not want Hae Soo followed her footstep and asked her not to trust the princes promises.

Due to the princess not very satisfy with Hae Soo and wanted her brother to be the Crown Prince, she cooperates with Queen Yoo by putting the poison on Crown Prince’s tea and framed Hae Soo for trying to kill the prince. 4^th prince knew about it through the confession from Queen Yoo. He tried to stop this incident happened. Thus, he drank 3 cups of the tea. He quickly left the place but the poison has come to react. Hae Soo was being arrested and tortured by the royal guard. 4^th prince was rescued and he told 8^th prince to find the evidence to clear Hae Soo’s name. During the investigation, he found out that his sister was the one behind it. He was so shameful to face Hae Soo and unable to reveal the culprit behind it. He turned away from Hae Soo and she was disappointed toward him. SCL also want to save Hae Soo from being beheaded. She asked the King to release Hae Soo and took her instead. SCL took all the blames and replaced Hae Soo die. Hae Soo was so upset with the result. She begged the King to release SCL but failed to do so. 4^th prince was besides her while all other princes also know the truth about SCL death.

The King instructed 3^rd prince and 4^th prince to settle issues outside Songgak. Before 4^th prince away from the palace, he asked the Hae Soo to wait for him and also requested the King not to hurt her. However, the King never listened to them. He felt that it was Hae Soo fault who caused this problem. Astronomer also warned Hae Soo many times that she should not involve in any affair with the royal family. The king demoted Hae Soo to the lowest level of servant in the palace. After a year, 4^th prince came back and looked for Hae Soo. Hae Soo tried to distance 4^th prince but that did not help. 4^th prince continued to look for her even though he has been pushed away by Hae Soo. Hae Soo broke up with 8^th prince after finding that 8^th was the one who wanted to be the King and caused attacked with 3^rd prince after knowing that the King was dying soon. 4^th prince came to stop 3^rd prince from being crowned as King. He fought with 8^th prince and at the same time he asked 14^th prince to find crown prince who was in outskirt. The crown prince managed to came back and crowned as King. But things did no go smoothly. While 4^th prince tried to persuade 3^rd prince to give up, he accidentally killed him. He was so upset and yet his brother blamed him for killing their brother. Year after year, the King was ill. The 3^rd prince came back alive and stole the crown from the king. Hae Soo saw with her own eyes that the King die in front of her. the cause of death is due to the King as been poison via the mercury in the bath pool. Hae Soo was then accused for murdering the King and threaten 4^th prince to recognised him as the King. 4^th prince has no choice but to save Hae Soo. Hae Soo asked the King about who the one behind the cause of the late king, and the king were signalling her that it was the idea of 8^th prince. The 4^th prince was so anger to the king when the king asked him to kill 10^th prince and his family. The 10^th prince and his wife hided at Hae Soo place and she not intended to tell 4^th prince about it as she afraid he might kill them. They came out with the plan to help 10^th prince to escape and it was unsuccessful. The 3^rd and 8^th prince ambushed the place and 4^th prince tried to rescue 10^th prince but it is too late. 10^th prince told 4^th prince to kill him so that he can die with his wife. He has no choice but to fulfil his wishes. The 4^th prince was very angry with Hae Soo who distrust him. He was so disappointed and left for work without saying goodbye with her. 

Hae Soo waited him so 2 years. The 13^th prince also came back from the war after 2 years. Hae Soo asked him whether he resented her/ could not forgive her. He remained cool but he still cared for her. 3^rd prince tried to shoot Hae Soo with arrow, 4^th prince noticed that and saved her. He was injured by the arrow on his arm. His injury got worsen and stayed at 14^th prince’s house for treatment. Hae Soo found out this and went to the house to treat his wound. After he was waking, he noticed Hae Soo was beside him. Hae Soo don’t want to let him go. 4^th prince cannot control his feeling for her and yet he kissed her and spend the night with her. 4^th prince told Hae Soo honestly that he wants to become the King to stop the killing between brothers. Hae Soo has no choice but to support him. One day, the King become ill and passed away in front of Hae Soo. He wrote an abdicate without the name for the throne. 4^th prince became the King without a fight. However, the government was curious and suspected him to stole the throne because they knew that the king would not pass the throne to the King. The government pressured the King to marry the princess in order to gain power in the court. 4^th prince did not want to but was forced to marry the princess he did not love.

When Hae Soo knew about the news regarding the King marriage, she was so upset and yet she knew that she cannot marry the King with the scar on her body. Although the king did not bother about her scar, she was being told by the astronomer that she should not interfere anymore. She took his advice to reject the king proposal. The king wanted make Hae Soo his queen badly and have child with her. He asked Hae Soo to take care of her body and asked the physician to exam it. The physician told Hae Soo that her knee was not treated properly and she has a heart disease that could not allow her to live long.

She comforted the King not to marry her and told him that she dislikes the life in the palace. She prefers to be free and live outside the palace. The King wanted to marry her but he has to respect the decision of Hae Soo. 13^th prince was in love in Hae Soo. He had previous asked the late king to allow him to marry ae Soo. 13^th prince told Hae Soo that if she wanted to leave the palace badly just informed him that she is willing. The king married the queen with the condition that she has to turn back on her family in order to allow her son to be the crown prince. The queen agreed with it. The King purposely accused 8^th prince for treason and wanted to kill the 8^th prince. Hae Soo knew about it and begged the King to spare his life. The King then disallowed him to leave his own compound.

The princess tried to ruin the relationship between Hae Soo and the king. She told 8^th prince to tell the prince about their past relationship. The King felt being betrayed and did not want to Hae Soo again. She was so upset and informed 13^th prince that she wanted to leave the palace. The 13^th prince informed the king that he wanted to marry Hae Soo and helped her get out of the palace. The King could not believe it and asked Hae Soo about it. Hae Soo wanted to leave the palace badly. The King has no choice but to let her go.

Hae Soo spent her life with the 13^th prince. The king instructed someone to spy on their daily activities. The King get jealous when he found out that the 13^th prince sleep in the same room with Hae Soo. He then stopped getting update from them. One day, Hae Soo became ill. A physician came to exam her. 13^th prince only knew that she was pregnant before marriage. Hae Soo did not want the King to know about the child. They kept it secret until she gave birth to a baby girl. After giving birth, her condition became worsen. She wrote letters to the King but the King never read them. She waited for the King until the moment she died. The King only realised that she passed away and regretted for not reading her letter. Before Hae Soo passed away, she asked 13^th to take care of the child and do not let the child to enter the palace.

Years after years, the king met the child. He felt the child looked like Hae Soo very much. He asked 13^th prince how old is the child. He then suspected that the child was actually his. However, he respected the will of Hae Soo not to let the child live in the palace.

Go Ha Jin woke up from her coma. Hae Soo was back in the modern era. Ha Jin worked at her cosmetics shop and she met the strange guy looked like the astronomer. She then recalled back the memories when she looked at the museum pictures. She realised that it was true that she experienced everything there and she was really sad when she saw the King was all alone at the palace.

The storyline captured my attention and I find it very interesting to watch it. What I noticed about is that most of the historical drama their storyline is more or less the same. It is either sad/funny type of drama. However, I enjoyed both of them. And most importantly, they storyline don’t overlap with one another. The drama has to be fresh and different from one another. It portrait the funny of modern people and ancient people. Whenever Hae Soo using modern language in her conversation, it caused confusion for the ancient people to understand. The overall drama is amazing and love both couples in the drama. I am looking forward for the season 2.

Source: https://www.dramafever.com/drama/4926/scarlet-heart-ryeo/