I feel like River Where the Moon Rises is a cliff notes version of a K-drama sageuk. I know there is a broader/deeper story in there but the execution jumps briskly from scene to scene without delving further into the threads that would render a compelling story. I still like it, leads Ga Jin and Ondal are so adorable together, that reverse cold girl/sweet boy dynamic that works even better here because he’s so big and teddy bear like and she’s all tiny sharp edges. Episode 3 continued the weird spatial problem where it feels like all the locations are right next door to each other so people are running into each other or just wandering over to the next city or town as the narrative requires.

Ondal overhearing Ga Jin’s problems with her assassin clan and going to help save her dad and extricate her was useful for the drama to get them closer but totally nonsensical otherwise. Go Geun, meanwhile, is off being this super smexy, so hot, so brooding piece of warrior general statue doing whatever investigation into the assassin girl and just wandering around to run into Ga Jin as needed. She also manages to enter and exit the palace once again easily, makes me wonder why Evil Go Daddy doesn’t just have the Dumbass Mentally Impaired King killed outright and take over Goguryeo. The whole plot seems way to convulated and unnecessary. Ok, rant done, back to smiling like a fool at cute OTP scenes and drooling over Young General Go