The Attempted Coup in Episode 17 of River Where the Moon Rises Deflates Like a Souffle as Both Male Leads Hie Off to Angst Afterwards

Remember when what happened to KBS drama River Where the Moon Rises was like the biggest news in K-ent? Oh what a month does to keep one upping another in terms of wild news and crazy scandals. River has now settled back down to just being a mediocre sageuk that might have actually benefitted from losing a leading man, it gained a better suited one and also got more publicity because honestly it’s like an well read elementary school kid wrote the script. Mo Young and the assassins bust Go Dad and Son out of prison and they attempt to punish everyone and lead a coup. That goes down in failure as most of their plotting has all drama actually, other than when Go Dad managed to get the Queen and On Dad killed in episode 1 in one fell swoop. Since then he’s been operating in B-villain territory and Go Son went from melo general to raging power hungry irrational dude over the course of the drama without it being explained WHY other than he got rejected by the princess and got a boner for a slow talking big-eyed Shilla spy with zero personality. This episode even brought On Nanny into the palace solely for the purpose of her getting killed as payback for Go Dad getting killed, and by the end of the drama King Dad is dead as well though it happens off camera as four years pass and a cute teen boy turns into brooding smexy Kwon Hwa Woon in FOUR YEARS. Let that sink in, cuz that’s like light speed Tale of Genji growing up going on. There were lovely OTP scenes but it’s all telegraphed so clunkily, from Ondal suffering pangs of soldier killing remorse to dealing with his nanny mom’s death, our fated couple parts but since there is three more episodes to go I’m good with the temporarily break.


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The Attempted Coup in Episode 17 of River Where the Moon Rises Deflates Like a Souffle as Both Male Leads Hie Off to Angst Afterwards — 23 Comments

  1. Pingback: The Attempted Coup in Episode 17 of River Where the Moon Rises Deflates Like a Souffle as Both Male Leads Hie Off to Angst Afterwards - Kpopnchill - All About K-pop News

  2. 2021 will be remembered in K-ent for the cascade of scandals and its only April. RWTMR survived a big one and got a male lead upgrade which was good for the drama in many ways. The writing might be subpar but its not the worst and the OTP continues to dominate in both chemistry and acting.

    • Miss the good old days when ‘dating’ was the biggest scandal celebs used to get into. There’s hardly been any dating news since covid instead things went bat shit crazy.

    • I swear, I think this drama is converting me into being a fan of her. From action scenes to crying scenes, she can do it all and do them beautifully. Throughout all my KDrama watching, the only actresses who have been believable to me in action scenes are Jun Ji Hyun and Ha Ji Won. And now KSH from the younger actresses.
      KSH most likely will be the action goddess of this gen if she do more action projects in the future

  3. Weak writing and all, I’m still somehow loving this drama, but I admit I’m mostly watching for the main OTP.
    Second lead couple is the definition of toxic. Super disappointed on how they both turned out. The Geon from earlier episodes and the Geon now are like two completely different people. I think we were all expecting him to get darker in the later episodes, but not like this, he literally became cartoon-y villain. His “love” for the princess turned into a complete utter hatred even before she killed his dad, and it’s just so not believable because it happened so quick and it’s like there’s not even a little trace there of his feelings for her or at least a master’s affection for his former student and childhood crush, and again, I just can’t buy that. I don’t know if I explained that well because I’m not good with words, but yeah.
    And Mo Yong, ugh, I’ve liked you before, girl. Why the hell is she simping for a man who used her so many times? For the life of me, I can’t see what’s so lovable about him at all lol. I can’t root for this couple at all, all they do is scheme and make out lmao ?
    And I love how no one is buying their “romance”, except maybe for the shippers, but they are shippers, so…
    I think I even like the older villain couple (Gochuga and the Queen) more than the second lead couple, there’s something so watchable about them when they’re onscreen together lol

    Anyway, that scene in the rain when On Dal left Pyeonggang gave me Moon Lovers vibe for some reason, I’m still crying over that ?

    And what is up with the new king?
    That scene when he was still the teen prince where he overheard that he’s going to be the new king and the camera zoomed in on his face, and there’s this kinda dark music playing, what’s with that? Is he gonna be bad too? And now that he’s king, why is there a seemingly tension between him and the princess? They used to be so close! Is it because he’s threatened by her? I dunno, it’s so weird.

    And in the next episode, we’re going to see Geon the rat as a Silla envoy, ugh, I’m so tired of him already.

    I wish Pyeonggang would just leave her ungrateful brother and come live with On Dal in the woods, we were shown that she’s willing to leave the palace life anyway.

    And congratulations Kim So Hyun and Na In Woo for the Baeksang nomination! 100% well-deserved!

    • Oh, and the camera work (is that the right term?) for the double showdown scene (Pyeonggang vs Gochuga and On Dal vs Geon) was incredible! That scene was amazing!

      • To be honest your comment was challenging to read through due to structure but I read it all, and it was an enjoyable, fun read. I share your enthusiasm 🙂

        I’m really curious to see what happened between the brother, the sister, and their father. Episode 17 ended in such a unique way, it presented so many questions haha

      • Oh yes, sorry about that, I tend to ramble when I’m passionate about the subject I’m talking about lol ?
        Thank you for reading anyway lol

  4. With 3 more episodes left, I’m getting more and more worried that the drama will end up just like the folktale. The new king is like a paranoid brat which brings the possibility of him sending On Dal to a war then he will die there. I already cried in this episode when they parted ways and the preview looks hella sad. Whatever the ending will be, I’m prepared. The OTP’s acting and chemistry is excellent. Pyeonggang and Ondal’s love story is bittersweet ?

  5. I dropped it. Between the writting, the bad music, the editing, the awful fight scenes that gave me a headache and the scenario that didn’t make any sense… I’m so disapointing because the area was a fresh air between Joseon’s dramas, the costumes are beautiful and except Ji-Soo, they had good actors.

    But congratulation to the production who could make a whole drama with a new ML.

    • The fighting scenes are actually one of my favorites from this drama. And I also like the music?

      But, people have different preferences I know. From the current airing, this is the only drama I’m watching and I know after this I’ll have k-drama slump again until Jirisan.

  6. Gosh I can’t stop gushing about this drama. I wish my writing was advanced elementary student level haha It’s my crackling crack, I don’t know why I’m easily emotionally moved for this particular drama. Almost everything works for me here. The action scenes and the characters and their relationships were all so winning to me this episode. The lines, the parallelisms were all delivered so cleverly, the writer weaved in so many heart-wrenching flashbacks. The separation made me bawl but it was written so realistically, the characters holistically explained why it’s best for them to go their separate ways 🙁 Most of the time we see characters not share the complete truth in why one should split up. I’m glad they were honest. We lost the male lead mother, that scene of loss was so brilliantly acted. Congrats to the baeksang nominations for both leads. Well-deserved. I’m looking forward to the time jump. 17 episodes in, and it still seems the drama has plenty of story to tell in an organic way 🙂

    • The separation though it’s heartbreaking is my favorite scene. On Dal unmoving lips while Pyeonggang is kissing him is implying that he cannot kiss her the way he did before because of the pain and suffering he’s experiencing. He just cant. And it’s so satisfying that Go Won Pyo died in Pyeonggang’s hands. It’s only fair that he died that way. She finally got the justice for her Momma.

      • Absolutely brilliant assessment! Thank you for sharing! And yes it was indeed satisfying, I was grinning ear to ear 🙂

      • And I forgot, On Dal is contemplating whether to stay or leave. If he return the Princess’s kisses, he might never be able to go. He loves her truly but staying with her is just turning him to someone he doesn’t want to be. It’s not the Princess’s fault. He saw it coming because he chose to do it for the Princess. In the end, he reached his limit and they’re both hurting. And the Princess also let him go. It’s mutual and it’s truly painful.

  7. Pyeonggang killing two villains in one episode how cool is that! And that sword/hand changing fight with Go Won Pyo was just wow! Never doubt a girl who knows what she wants, KSH really wanted to do action and it show!?

    This episode is a roller coaster of emotions for sure. I’m excited to see what another stupidity will Go Geon do lol.

    I’m glad that they finished filming yesterday. My girl and the other cast and crew can now get their much needed rest. Fighting RWTMR!

  8. I just can’t believe that this drama was submitted for an Emmy nomination and the main leads got Baeksang nominations. This drama is fucking boring.

    • ehhh.. u watched this marga? woww.. never knew u still watch this despite ur hate towards sohyun.. btw, when u have heard this two wonderful news, i bet ur face must have turned sooo red. like u brain want to explode or a bomb was just dropped on ur head. like a typical situation when u heard something that u hate ?

    • What does being boring have to do with their Baeksang Nomination? Oh, I see. You can’t say anything stupid about the actors because you have nothing to say. Their portrayal is excellent and even you can’t create nonsense just to say they are not deserving. Nobody buys your shit anymore. I’ll gladly nominate you for the most consistent trolls of all time along with joane and Lai Pei Yee.

      • Yeah right. She has been commenting this since epi 1 yet still manage to watch the drama till last.

  9. Does anyone know where can I watch the refilmed episodes 1-6? I want to watch this drama but I want the Na In Woo version.

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