The first time I watched this drama I was in year 10, now I'm in my second semester of university. The first time I watched it, I thought it was an alright drama ( the making, cast etc.), nothing exceptional. However the overall drama left me deeply affected. At that time, I don't think I was suited to watch a heavy, emotional and mature drama such as this to be honest. The drama impacted me in such a way that I was sad for weeks and then I no longer wanted to think about it and be sad. So I sort of just tried to forget it existed. I'm specially sensitive, but still, being this moved by a drama as you can tell, is not usual and speaks volumes about the quality about the drama. The way it ended however, I couldn't really come to grips with. I was one hundred percent expecting a fairy tale ending, And I think not getting one, really distrubed me. And I'm not being dramatic or exaggerating unfortunatley. I felt like I really needed closure due to becoming so emotionally attached to this drama

So this year in yet another lockdown I decided to do something about it. I decided to watch season 2.

The original producers act like this drama was a bif flop due to the ratings in korea, so of course there's not actually a season 2. However, the chinese season 2 was there. The original story was sourced from a multi part book series by a chinese author and was adapted in to two seasons of ( luke warm quality might I add) of shows bringing the novel to life in China. I was not excepting much, after all the korean one was made 5 years later with writers who were more experienced with how to appease a broader, more critical audience. It only made sense the chinese one would not live up. Still, I wanted to experience the characters finding happiness after being reborn. But my god, the chinese drama had such little impact. I felt very neutral watching it, not really engaging with the characters or the badly paced plot. But it did give the sudden, unavoidable urge to rewatch Moon Lovers. I really really felt like rewatching the korean one after seeing how underwhelming the chinese one was.

To be honest , I was scared to rewatch moon lovers. It affected me too much emotionally ( I didn't want be sad all over again). But I put on my big girl pants and off I went. I watched epsiode 1 to 20 with absolutely no skips or lack of attention ( unlike the first one where my attention occassionaly drifted away during the political bits). And now I can conclude this show is a cinematic master piece. The first time I was not able to grasp the sheer perfection of this drama because I did not focus on the plot truly. A lot of things happen at the same time, and so it distracted me as I did not want to pay this much attention in between school and homework. But after truly and clearly seeing this drama, I realised how to beautiful this drama was. It truly lingers with you not matter how many times you watch it. I cannot think of a bad thing to say about the making. I can even say that after watching it a second time, the ending hurt me a little less.

I think it's very much worth watching this drama, if you're willing to truly give your attention to it. It has a lot of power and control over it's viewers and I think that's very special for a drama. I could not reccommend this drama enough to a person who has the ability to watch this with true focus.