La rivière où la lune se lève

I want to say that those who left the drama due to Jisoo issue, they had missed a masterpiece. The cinematography, the acting , the actions and moreover the chemistry between the leads all are awesome. Though I am not a fan of historical drama but I was glued to TV during the drama broadcasting time. Kim So hyun was awesome. She played the role of queen, the assassin, the princess and portrayed different emotions according to character. Na in woo was an unfamiliar name to me as I first saw him in this drama but he showed how an innocent person became a great general. His pain, love, cruelty all type of emotions had shown here. Moreover , Lee ji hoon and Choi yu Hwa had done their job. I liked the king , queen, the prince and even the five tribe leaders. The child actors did their job very well. It was an emotional rollercoaster for me .

I'm a fan of Na In-Woo, but Ji Soo is more effective as On Dal. Ji Soo has a boyish, innocent charm.

The story suffered from erratic pacing, cramming too many plots that made it hard keep any interesting narrative. The characters were a simulated circus clown that kept making foolish moves intentionally at every turn. Might explains why it's 20 episodes. The childish love square was another contributor in that regard. Na In Woo's portrayal felt strained, his expressions, intonations, inflections, and emotions seemingly forced to fit the character mold. Comparing it to the original version, it seems there was a notable disparity. Checked a couple of scenes side by side, there's a clear difference in the delivery, as big as expressing an entirely different emotion of the exact same scene. I wonder what was the director even doing? The lack of chemistry with his colleagues was obvious too. He was called to fill in a role on a quick notice with so little to work with in the first place. All of that didn't compare to the abysmal last episode, and even worse, the detestable last scene.

The lead actor change part way through (in the original, although by now they may have re-shot all those earlier episodes) did create unevenness. Na In Woo hoo had no time for any character prep, so the first couple of episodes where he had to dive straight in had him seeming a bit wooden after JiSoo. Na In Woo quickly made up for that though and developed On Dal as his own intrinsic character, with excellent chemistry between the leads. The second leads' story was also very well done. Compelling writing and an epic tale.

The cast is excellent, and I love the leads. Story line is okay but could have been tightened. This is one of the series (probably most) that simply didn't belong at 20 eps: the result when you do not have enough story is filler, which most fans recognize and bypass anyway. But I did enjoy it and thank Na In Woo for saving the project for the company and fans. He is charming. Recommended.