The Moon truly does rise where the River is

Acting and Characters: Kim So Hyun was absolutely perfect as Pyeonggang. Na In Woo took on the difficult job of filling in On Dal after Ji Soo got dropped and exceeded all expectations. Lee Ji Hoon was the swoony SML that we grew to love and hate. Choi Yu Hwa did an amazing job portraying a cunning yet kind-hearted Silla spy. The side characters were all so lovable. Pung Gae and Jin were so cute. The Queen and Go Won Pyo were extremely well portrayed. Won (or King Yeongyang) was lovable as a teen and despised as an adult. King Pyeongwon was a character that we grew to love over the course of the show.

Plot: The plot was iffy at times but it was bearable. It didn't help that they rush a couple of episodes and write a whole new set of episodes due to the allegations around Ji Soo. Overall I think they did a really good job of sticking to the history and folktale while giving us the viewers some fanservice with that ending. They did Geon and Won (or King Yeongyang) dirty in the latter half of the show, but at least we got their true character back by the end. The "death" of On Dal was kind of unnecessary but I get why they did it. They needed to stay somewhat true to the ending of the folktale.

OST and Cinematography: OST was amazing. The soundtracks used for the battle scenes so perfectly. The main OST was lovely. The cinematography was absolutely stunning at times. One of the better cinematographies I've seen. The setting for the scenes was absolutely beautiful. The camerawork was pretty good. Overall a very well-produced show given the circumstances.

Final Score: 9/10

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A story that had so much potential but was wasted due to poor writing

I stole Sun-Oh’s smile away from him.. just so I wouldn't feel any pain - Jojo

The above quote pretty much sums up my feelings and the show as a whole. The cinematography is not good at all compared to Season 1 and the plot is just a worse version of the love triangle that was developed in Season 1. We got no proper closure or anywhere near a good apology or explanation. We had the wrong ship sail. Don't even get me started on her use of the spear. So cowardly and something only Jojo would do. That one scene between Jojo and Brian in Episode 5 summed up everything about Jojo.

You used the shield to prevent Sun-Oh's Love Alarm from ringing and you used the spear to ring Hye Young's Love Alarm. You lie for your convenience. - Brian

No truer words have ever been said in this show. Well maybe that Gulmi quote, but that's neither here nor there.

Nothing went right this season. Not even the side stories. After the SunJo ship failed to sail we should've spent less time on the love triangle and spent the time to actually develop the romance between HyeJo and YukOh. The ending felt super unsatisfying just due to very minimal development in the two relationships. We didn't even get to see Jojo's full journey on her path of reconciling with the past and healing. We got to see the end result in the final half of Episode 6 but it just isn't as emotional as it could have been. The same thing goes for the very last scene showing us viewers the times when Jojo rang Hye Young's Love Alarm unconsciously. It just didn't hold that much weight due to the relationship feeling forced from lack of development. But I've got to give credit where credit is due as those scenes were beautiful. Just doesn't hold too much weight as they could've held if we had good writing.

Going back to the point on the development of the relationships. This is one reason I wished we had the normal 8 episodes. To delve more into the relationships so that scenes stated earlier could hold more weight. I mean come on, YukOh was pretty damn cute not gonna lie. That final scene between the two of them was so heartbreaking and wholesome. I just want Sun Oh to be happy and Yuk Jo as well. I've grown to love this ship more after the writers decided to completely ruin my SunJo ship. Lastly, for my final remarks on this show, we really did need more scenes dedicated to the building of HyeJo for it to have anywhere near as much meaning, weight, or satisfaction that SunJo had.

Oh yeah, one more thing I would like to add that I just came to realize. Remember how in Start-Up the writers made Do San explicitly say that he has changed instead of actually showing it on screen? Yeah, that same exact thing happened here. When you force a character to say something that you can't convince the audience through said character's actions you know you are doing something. I want to actually see Jojo fall for Hye Young through their interactions and I want to see development. I don't want to hear not only her but Love Alarm through Duk Gu to tell me that it was her own volition to choose Hye Young.

While on the argument between choosing what your heart tells you and what a program tells you, I am glad that Netflix found a way to insert it into this drama with the right answer to the argument. What I'm mad about though was the execution in which the argument was inserted. One it was done super late into the final episode and two there are a lot more nuances to the argument than Netflix lets on. Yes, it may have been her own true volition, but behind every volition, there is a motive. We may never know what her motive was behind choosing Hye Young (outside of what the writers tell us through dialogue) so can we really make the case that she followed her heart? Not really. She may have done because she truly did love Hye Young or maybe she was just continuing to run away from her feelings.

Overall just not worth my time and left a bad taste in my mouth. Still can't believe we waited 2 years for this mess. Sigh.

To end this review, let me sign off with one of the truest quotes ever said by a side character that I hated for most of the show.

Jojo doesn’t do anything, but she has two guys taking turns ringing her Love Alarm here and then - Gulmi

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A Drama That Hit Too Close To Home

Before I begin my review (something that I rarely ever do), I would like to start off by saying this. I was one of the few people who never had SLS while watching this show. Another thing to keep in mind while reading this is that I am a relatively new K-Drama watcher (started around quarantine if not a bit earlier) and am a high schooler myself (hence the title). All of the comments being made here will reflect the above sentiment. With that out of the way, let's begin the analysis of this beautiful show, but first some background on how and why I decided to watch this show.

I think I first discovered this show around when Start-Up was airing as I was looking for dramas that the main leads had acted in before. I initially put it off for later as I did not have much time to binge-watch a show but I knew from the get-go it would be a show near and dear to my heart as it seemed to be a slice-of-life high school drama. And I was right. It wasn't until I felt the need to binge watch some Kim So-Hyun dramas (due to my broken heart from Love Alarm) that I decided to pick it up.

While watching this show and binging it in the span of a week, there were so many things that caught my eye and made the show one of my favorite high school dramas and just K-Dramas in general. First, let's start off with the most fundamental part of every good drama in my opinion: the characters.
- Eun Bi: When we were first introduced to Eun Bi in the very first episode and what she was going through I could feel my heart just break into a million different pieces. Those scenes were so painful to watch that I didn't even know if it was worth continuing if my heart was just going to be broken every episode. It was even more painful to see her hide her suffering behind her happy exterior and beautiful smile. Her story is what dragged me in and kept me going.
- Yi An: There's really not much to talk about him. He's just your typical friendly male lead. I really did enjoy (heartbreaking as it was) to see his internal struggle with not only his injury but the identity of Eun Bi.
- Taegwang: Taegwang is almost the complete opposite of Yi An, but deep down he, like Yi An is a super caring and friendly character. His story, like Eun Bi's, was rather heartbreaking but it was the way that he coped with the situation that made him so lovable. His character arc and story may have been one of the best in the entire show.
- Kang So Young: Where do I even begin with her? My blood boiled every single time she was on screen and I just wanted her to go away and not hurt poor Eun Bi anymore. Ugh. One of the least likable characters to ever exist. The way her character arc ended was kind of unsatisfying and she didn't really get what she deserved, but at least she got punished.
- Eun Byul: Girl crush material right here. I loved her sass and confidence. But as with most of the characters, that was just a facade to hide her internal pain and suffering. Once her backstory was revealed and it was explained as to why she did what she did, my heart broke. It hit way too close to home for me. No one should have to ever go through that. It honestly brought tears to my eyes.
- Teacher Kim: Such a wholesome character. I loved the banter that he had with the students and the eventual close friendship that grew between him and Taegwang.
- Class 2-3: What a fun little group of students. How I would kill to be in a classroom setting like that. Shi-Jin and Song-Joo are the kinds of friends that I would love to have in all of my classes. Min Jun's character resembles me way too much. All in all, a great group of supporting characters.

But with such amazingly written characters, there is a price. A somewhat lacking plot. It started off really strong by cutting straight to the chase and getting Eun Bi into Eun Byul's shoes by episode 2 and then finding out who she really was just an episode later. We got some interesting subplot introductions with Soo Jin and Min Jun. The struggles through which our leads went through were extremely well written. The continuing antagonism of So Young. But all of that went downhill after Episode 12. Why? The completely unnecessary continuation and drag of the love triangle. By this point in the show, it was already super clear who our endgame was going to be.

Let's talk about the love triangle and why I was not on board with TaeBi. Let me start this off by saying I didn't really care who she ended up with as they both deserved her. But Yi An just was the better candidate for me. He was always there for and even when he was hurting from her lie you could tell that he still cared for Eun Bi. Taegwang was even more so, but it sometimes felt in a way a reaction to other people's actions. It didn't feel voluntary at times. It was more "He needed to do this" and not "He wanted to do this". At least that's how I saw it. And that's not what I'm really looking for in a relationship. I also feel like, he as a character didn't really need a romance line as he already had a much more pressing issue to deal with in his own life. You could say the same thing for Eun Bi, but at least in her case, it makes more sense as it was a side-effect of spending time here friends.

As for the chemistry between the leads and why Yi An even fell for Eun Bi and when he did, it felt rather clear as to when and why. He fell for her was because of her personality and attitude. Yes, the only reason why he was even interested in her was that he thought she was Eun Byul but in the end, as we saw in Episode 7 during their date, he not only bought a furry doll for her (something he would never do if he knew without a doubt that she was Eun Byul as Eun Byul said herself) and he explicitly says he likes the new Eun Byul more. I think this was what pushed her to finally tell him the truth. The chemistry, on the other hand, was most definitely lacking but I didn't really care all that much but it was there although very subtle.
Why they decided to drag out the triangle at the expense of closing off all of the other storylines properly is a question for the ages. The Soo Jin plot was already pretty emotional (and hit way too close to home) but it just wasn't nearly as impactful as it could've been. Same thing with the wrap-up of So Young's character. There really just wasn't nearly as much build-up and it was just resolved way too quickly by the end of the show. But overall, the show made a seemingly simple plot and made it something much more meaningful and memorable.

The cast of this show was spectacular. Kim So Hyun did such an amazing job pulling off two completely different characters. Nam Joo Hyuk did well enough I guess considering how new he was at that time. Yook Sung Jae was probably the most stand-out actor in the entirety of this cast. His portrayal of Taegwang was absolutely perfect and it's what made the character so damn lovable. Cho Soo Hyang. I don't think anyone could've portrayed Kang So Young better than her. She made my blood boil. It was scary how real the acting felt. Absolutely blown away. Props to her for pulling off such an unlikable character so perfectly.

And last but not least, the cinematography and OST. Overall I really loved the way the show was shot. The lighting and the color schemes fit really well in most of the scenes. The production was pretty good as well. Lots of desktop backgrounds can be made from this show. It was just that perfect and beautiful. The OST was one of my favorite dramas OSTs. Reset was a perfect song for this drama and really did highlight the message of this drama. They all fit the show really well and will definitely be on my playlists.

And as a parting message about this show, I would like to take some time to make this review a bit more personal. As a high school student, these stories are all things that I have experienced, seen, or heard of in my day-to-day life. It was truly heartwarming to see characters going through the struggle of high school and preserving through it all. It's a very inspirational drama for me to say the least. I could relate to all of the characters and I could feel their pain and suffering. But in the end, it reminded me that no matter what happens, we are all young and the things we go through during this time are all there to help us grow. There truly is nothing more special than our time in school and I hope I keep that in mind as I finish out my journey as a high school student in the coming year. I think the ending monologue really captured this message really well and is one I will never forget for years to come.

"We’re eighteen, so we live every day as if it’s our last—loving and hating fiercely. It’s an age where we falter and get hurt easily, and are hurting more than anyone. Despite that, the reason we can look back on that time and say we were happy is one person’s warm outstretched hand. Not more, not less, but just one person—if we each approach one friend who’s crying and stretch out a hand like this, there’s nothing that I—we—can’t endure. It’s okay. You can hurt. Because you’re eighteen." - Go Eun Bi

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