Moon Lovers comment: On IU's acting, I think that was So's interpretation of her gaze, not necessarily what she was thinking. Though I do think that her gaze was meant to be ambiguous.

It's hard though, Lee Jun Ki is so amazing he blows everyone out of the water.

I just cracked up on how Girlfriday and Javabeans described the actress playing Hye-ji in Cinderella. "wooden"

So glad that they complimented Jung Joon-Young's W OST! It heightened my love for the show at the start too because I'm a fan and it was a great OST for the drama too

Rather worried about his controversy now though because he is suffering a lot of repercussions although the issue shouldn't have been as blown up as it is now :(

Speaking of OST's, if there's 1 show that did their OST right, the award and recognition should definitely go to Jealousy Incarnate. By far, this show has the best OST among the dramas that came out this year.

Javabeans, I believe that was her, said the magic words about Moonlight. That the team knows how long to linger.

PD and team know how to take advantage of the cast's abilities. And I'm grateful for it. Yes, give me more pauses, give me more lingering, give me more micro expressions. And give me more beautiful wide shots and sunsets.

"How can OSM be so famous but such a shitty writer?"
Ummm...KES anyone? ?

Cinderella...let's just say I'm very glad it's ending tomorrow.

I assume this podcast was recorded prior to this week's episodes since Ep.11 of ML was nearly perfect on all levels though I'm still wary if it's really the turning point. We shall see next week. Despite the good episode I still think KKT's directing style just doesn't fit sageuk. By the way, is the hate towards IU still the same after Ep. 11?

This is my first time listening to the podcast, I just wanted to hear more thoughts about Moonlight so I jumped on this. I hate to agree that Kim Yoo-jung, despite being Park Bo-gum's sunbae, is really less awesome that Park Bo-gum, the casts as a whole are awesome and wonderfully integrated, but I wish we can see more micro expressions from Kim Yoo-jung, or maybe Park Bo-gum already set the bar too high. I do appreciate though that they complement each other so well as a couple in the show. And we could definitely all agree that there are so much pretty faces in moonlight, I could just stare at them all the time.

On the topic of being great on gut feelings and linger, I do agree that Moonlight team does it better than any shows I've watched before. Especially in a recent scene where the fight scene were done in swift motions, but we linger a bit on the moment where Yoon-sung grabbed the incoming scene and twist it away from Yeong, and we also linger a bit on Yeong's reaction. Perfect. And it lands more impact with us.

And I absolutely love all the OSTs. Just maybe not "Love is Over", maybe after the show is over? But now I'm not loving that one bit.

Thanks for the podcast!

I was nodding all throughout the discussion about W. Such a shame. It was overly ambitious on the part of the writer, but she failed to deliver on the fundamental aspects of the plot. I've moved on. It'll be a good memory up until half of the drama.

I also have the same sentiments about Moon Lovers. I've realized that though I love LJK, the last drama of his that I finished was Two Weeks. All of his dramas after that I've dropped. I sincerely hope his next project will be a good one.

When Beige's song was played I got goosebumps. Her voice is just ughhhh amazing and that song just tugs my heart. My favorite type of show is the show that does everything right just like what JB and GF said about Moonlight. A show does not have to have an over the top plot or effects or star cast. As long as it delivers well on all fronts, I'm in.

JB and GF's laughter are so contagious! Thanks for the fun podcast!

Jealousy Incarnate.

I don't know how JJS does what he does, but the more jealous and angry he gets, the more I laugh. He's just so good.

Re: Park Bo Gum's acting & micro-expressions
Honestly, in all my years of drama watching, his facial expressions are one of the most varied and versatile I've seen in an actor. The muscle control, the various tics, shifts and movements, are truly exceptional - not many actors have this ability to do this, even if they wanted to, I believe.

Take for example smirks and winks and single eye-brow winks. Asymmetrical facial movements are probably one of the hardest to control and manage and honestly even among talent actors/ actresses, not many have the capability to do this. But Park Bo Gum is blessed in being able to not only perform these movements, but to also perform them in a controlled way so that we can clearly see the shifts from one facial expression to another.
It is honestly super-amazing and definitely exceptional.

Jo Jung Suk in Jealousy Incarnate is also amazing at this.

And I have to admit that while I have heard so much praise for Lee Jun Ki's acting ability, after watching Moon Lovers, I personally think that while his acting is definitely superior to all the rest of the cast members in that drama, his range of facial expressions is still nowhere close to Park Bo Gum's. Perhaps he is also restricted in terms of his character who is generally closed-off and supposed to be hard-to-read. But when you compare PBG's shifts in expression in serious scenes vs LJK's shifts in expressions in similar scenes, I personally think PBG's nuanced facial control is superior.

It is because of PBG's exceptional talent in this area that it would be a little unfair to benchmark others against him, I think. I personally think Kim Yoo Jung is doing a fantastic job as Hong Ra On, and she is certainly light years away from IU in terms of acting talent, but anybody would be hard-pressed to match PBG in the micro-expression department.

Just saying'! ^^

Joy! Joy! Joy!

Thank you for the new podcast! CAN'T WAIT!

About moon lovers, I hate the close-up shots, it just feels too much face, the whole screen is a face and that drives me crazy, the only time I loved the close-up was in episode 11 and that was Lee Jun Ki, I can't take anyone else!

And I agree about Baekhyun, it feels like he's trying to act cute but is coming out as annoying, very annoying, I end up rolling my eyes everytime he's on screen.

Moonlight drawn by clouds is my favorite show right now, I'm in love with it, so so much, Park Bo Gum is love, nothing more to say really!

Jealousy incarnate is my second favorite, it is a very funny show, it's hilarious, I can't stop laughing, Jo Jong suk is killing this role, he's amazing.

Thanks ladies for the podcast.

I agree with everything said on Moon Lovers. I have said it over and over again that they dumbed down Rouxi when adapting it to become Hae-Su to the point stripping off her defining characteristics.. I do agree that the hate is irrationally directed towards IU and it isn't all justified. But you wonder, you do wonder what it could be with somebody different acting in her place.

What a lovely surprise! Two podcasts in one month!? Fabulous! Will listen later! ????❤️ Thanks, ladies!

Thank you thank you thank you for the podcast. I listen to you all soon podcasts when I work out and some days your voices are all I have motivation wise. For people like me who don't have a friend's into kdrama's your podcasts fill the gap.

There are lots of problems with Moon Lovers. No matter how much I wanted to like it, I had to drop it this week. I don't want to bring up the original here, but probably like what was said, they might have too caught up in having this drama as an adaptation while trying to make something new and true to story, which unfortunately didn't work out. The original novel and Chinese version had their own reason why the 4th Prince didn't appear until half of the story. He stayed quite low-key since he didn't want the King to see him as a threat, plus he wasn't in the 8th Prince's camp to visit often aka meeting Ruoxi more. Meanwhile when he wasn't in the picture, Ruoxi made friends with other princes. They had nice and warm friendships and created strong bonds toward each other. Then Ruoxi went to the palace and started interacting more with the 4th Prince while maintaining the friendships she had with other princes, and that was why it was so difficult for her to see it all fall apart. In the original novel and Chinese version, you simply can't help but care for all of them, it doesn't matter whether they are supporting roles or main, because they feel real. Each of them is unique, well-developed character, and together they create a world where you laugh and cry with them. With Moon Lovers, I couldn't bring myself to care for any of them. Despite how much I like IU, her character Hae-soo is written in the way that stays monotone throughout, and nonsensical at that. It doesn't help that I don't feel the supposed-to-be-romance to be romantic. It lacks warmth and respect from how I felt from the original novel and Chinese version. I simply feel that Moon Lovers tries to be dramatic just for the sake of being dramatic which hopefully captures the audience's attention throughout. Too bad it doesn't do anything to me in a positive way. The OSTs is wonderful when listened separately though, I enjoy them immensely.

OMG yaye new podcast. Off to listen!!

Wow, I'm familiar with all the dramas in the lineup!!!!!

Watching Moonlight reminded me of why I liked about Discovery of Romance directing- how good the camera angles are, the spacing of the actors (whether sitting or standing), the expressions and body language of actors during silent moments. And yes, the lingers. This PD is good then, he's still good now. Actually, better.

I really enjoy Moon Lovers and I didn't really have any problem with the close-up... until last week when I upgraded my computer equipment: I now have a big and quality screen, and now I see the film crew in the actors' eyes and that's disturbing! ?

I, like javabeans, caught up with Cinderella. Until episode 12, that is. But I honestly think I need to end it there, while I'm still on good terms with it. I will freely admit that it actually has a lot to do with Younha's OST that is getting stuck in my head too much, to the point of annoyance. That and the other one they overplay. I just know they'll continue to play those songs all throughout the angsty scenes and I don't know if I can bear it.

For me, the Moonlight OST takes me back to moments in the drama because they have a number of good songs that they've used really effectively in just the right moments. I can't wait until I get ahold of the instrumentals.

You know who they should have cast as the second lead in Jealousy Incarnate? Kim Jae Wook. I would have died, at least partially because it would mean that Kim Jae Wook was doing kdramas again.

The strangest thing is how Moon Lovers seems to work despite all its flaws. Any other drama with that editing, directing and acting, and I (and I'm sure many others) would have easily dropped it in the first few episodes, but Moon Lovers, for whatever incomprehensible reason, is riveting. And it keeps upping the ante episode after episode, and if things stay at the level of episode 11 hereafter, we have a very solid drama on our hands. It's got the smarts and the material, but needs better writing. Also, as much as I disliked the close ups (and still do sometimes), I have to admit that watching dramas with long-shots has become particularly frustrating, because I keep wanting them to focus on their faces as happened- which I mentioned in one of the recaps- with the film adaptation of Wolf Girl and Black Prince. It's highly uneven, which is why each episode we have to pray that the next maintains the momentum.

Moonlight is a great drama in terms of direction and acting, but somehow I'm beginning to find it rather dull at this stage. Park Bo Gum is phenomenal, but Kim Yoo Jung's character is just not very well written, and doesn't give her enough to do. Ra On has too much of a damsel vibe, and episode after episode you have the Crown Prince try and save her from something or the other. The writing is decent (in that it's not all over the place like Moon Lovers) and tells a coherent story, but it's just too predictable. This drama works well in direction and Park Bo Gum's microexpressions. That guy is a powerhouse, and I can't wait to see what he does next. The drama doesn't keep me engaged however, even within the course of an episode.

But, in my personal opinion, in terms of direction, writing, acting etc. Jealousy Incarnate blows both Moon Lovers and Moonlight out of the water, because everything about it works. The characterization is flawless, they actually make great use of an ensemble cast and keep it engaging, the actors are phenomenal. More than a sitcom-feel, I get an arthouse, independent-film feel from it. I am constantly blown away by how many things they can make me feel in the course of an episode.

W lacked reasons why anything HAD to happen. it was and endless discontinuity and the writer tried to make it look ok. the events felt detached, it is like some scenes just seemed or looked good, so lets put them in who cares if they are unnecessary

Meta comment to Javabeans and Girl Friday: Aren't you missing a Moon Lovers song in the music list (around 24 min)? I think it's IU singing but I'm not sure so if you can check and fill that in I'd appreciate it!

Cinderella and 4 Knights is very rudimentary and serves very nicely as a gateway drama. Kinda like Pasta or Full House but not nearly as charming. It'll spark interest in someone who's new to the genre.