K-drama River Where the Moon Rises: period action-romance has too many moving parts and too few sparks
- Kim So-hyun and Ji Soo reunite five years after youth drama Page Turner to play the protagonists of a classic Goguryeo folktale
- There’s plenty going on in this period drama, and a refreshingly strong woman character, but the series is hampered with clunky scripting and uneven casting
River Where the Moon Rises, a sweeping tale of bloodshed and romance set in the Goguryeo era (37BC – 668AD) on the Korean peninsula, starts at the point where it wants to lead us – the hero dying in his lover’s arms on the battlefield. Or does he?
Kim So-hyun and Ji Soo reunite five years after the youth drama Page Turner, playing Princess Pyeonggang and On Dal, the protagonists of a classic Goguryeo folktale. This modern spin on the tale is based on the 2010 novel Princess Pyeonggang, penned by Choi Sa-gyu.
Kicking off in grand fashion, River Where the Moon Rises introduces us to Princess Pyeonggang (Kim) as she rides into the thick of battle, sword at the ready. This fierce warrior cuts through her opponents on the battlefield, but though the day is eventually won, among the fallen is On Dal (Ji Soo), her beloved. She holds the bloodied soldier close as he breathes what may be his last.
Following this highly dramatic opening, the series travels back in time to when the princess was but a young girl (played by Heo Jung-eun) living in the royal palace. In the midst of political troubles, her father, King Pyeongwon (Kim Pub-lae), allows Go Won-pyo (Lee Hae-young) of the Gyeru tribe to gain exclusive rights to the lucrative salt trade. Soon after, Queen Yeon (also played by Kim So-hyun) brings her daughter on a patrol and meets Oh Hyeop (a cameo appearance by Kang Ha-neul) of the Sunny tribe.
Meanwhile, Won-pyo begins to manipulate the king at the palace and, after insinuating infidelity on the queen’s part, he and his personal army are sent out to kill the queen. With troubles escalating on every side, the queen sends Princess Pyeonggang away with On Dal, the son of Oh Hyeop. They escape over a cliff face but are separated when On Dal falls into a river.
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Eight years later, Pyeonggang has become Yeon Ga-jin, a member of a secret assassins’ league with no memory of her past. She has decided to stop being an assassin, but she has one more job to complete: kill King Pyeongwon. On her way there, she happens to bump into On Dal during an altercation with some poachers.
From this meet-cute onwards (they don’t recognise one another yet), the show settles into its main story – a burgeoning romance that plays out at the same time as Ga-jin discovers her true identity and resolves to re-establish her family’s blood line and become the first female leader of Goguryeo.
Joseon era (1392-1897) tales, which often detail power struggles for the throne, can occasionally be tricky to settle into, but stories set in the Goguryeo era, a much earlier kingdom whose dominion stretched over most of Korea and parts of what are now China and Russia, can be even harder to follow.
Alas, this is the case in River Where the Moon Rises, which depicts a network of tribes with murky origins and intentions whose actions detract from what we’re really here to see – a grand tale of romance that will, hopefully, in time sweep us off our feet.
Much of the first four episodes is devoted to sketching the show’s many characters, but it’s hard to get a sense of most of them, and we don’t see much of Ga-jin and On Dal getting to know each other. What’s more, in the few scenes where we do see them their interactions are largely by-the-numbers, such as one where Ga-jin claims to On Dal that she is not hungry, only for her rumbling stomach to give her away.
A number of characters offer comic relief, notably those in On Dal’s mountain village, whose caricatured and occasionally grating performances add to the show’s uncomfortable mix of styles.
With the pieces all in play and 16 episodes still to go, River Where the Moon Rises may well evolve into something that is both easier to follow and more engaging. As of now, however, the show has its work cut out.
River Where the Moon Rises is streaming on Viu.
