These posts do contain plot spoilers written from the perspective of someone who is re-watching from hindsight. While it isn’t beyond the pale for me to be prejudicially casting negativity on the blossoming romance between Su and Uk due to personal bias, there is a strong sense that the narrative itself projects the ups and downs of that relationship in dubious light. Superficially Uk is charming to boot, publicly he is careful to ensure that his actions are above board. However, despite claims to the contrary, it’s clear that he’s not content to just play the kind in-law and landlord. Obviously he craves more, but is quite aware of the limits of his position and the opportunities that are available to him. So as not to upset his ailing wife or draw negative attention to himself, Uk casually creates what he believes is a safe space where he’s able to negotiate the contradictions of his position -- “learning opportunity” as his means of “confessing love”. In a way all of that is quite pointless because his wife though sickly isn’t blind to the signs of infatuation so evidently written all over his handsome face. And it is a very handsome face indeed. The tortured, Byronic charisma is obviously to die for. Don’t you love that dark look that KHN projects when he’s about to do something really naughty? Anyhow, charismatic or not, however, fate isn’t swayed because before anything is allowed to take off, the whole thing comes crashing down. He has no idea that Su can’t read Hanja much less is able to engage with ancient literature and on top of that, Baek-A and Lady Hae chance upon the coded poem (Tang Dynasty poet, Liu Yixi’s “Song of the Bamboo Branch”) with Su happily quite illiterate about the piece of dynamite that’s in her hands.
Moon Lovers Retrospective Ep. 5
Moon Lovers Retrospective Ep. 5
Moon Lovers Retrospective Ep. 5
These posts do contain plot spoilers written from the perspective of someone who is re-watching from hindsight. While it isn’t beyond the pale for me to be prejudicially casting negativity on the blossoming romance between Su and Uk due to personal bias, there is a strong sense that the narrative itself projects the ups and downs of that relationship in dubious light. Superficially Uk is charming to boot, publicly he is careful to ensure that his actions are above board. However, despite claims to the contrary, it’s clear that he’s not content to just play the kind in-law and landlord. Obviously he craves more, but is quite aware of the limits of his position and the opportunities that are available to him. So as not to upset his ailing wife or draw negative attention to himself, Uk casually creates what he believes is a safe space where he’s able to negotiate the contradictions of his position -- “learning opportunity” as his means of “confessing love”. In a way all of that is quite pointless because his wife though sickly isn’t blind to the signs of infatuation so evidently written all over his handsome face. And it is a very handsome face indeed. The tortured, Byronic charisma is obviously to die for. Don’t you love that dark look that KHN projects when he’s about to do something really naughty? Anyhow, charismatic or not, however, fate isn’t swayed because before anything is allowed to take off, the whole thing comes crashing down. He has no idea that Su can’t read Hanja much less is able to engage with ancient literature and on top of that, Baek-A and Lady Hae chance upon the coded poem (Tang Dynasty poet, Liu Yixi’s “Song of the Bamboo Branch”) with Su happily quite illiterate about the piece of dynamite that’s in her hands.