Lovers of the Red Sky

A piece of history, a few scenes in See You In My 19th Life and I already want to turn on period k-drama! I love Joseon places dramas and it's been a while since I watched one. Lovers of the Red Sky was on my waiting list for quite a long time so one evening when my husband went to party with his friends, I sat in front of the TV and started another adventure with Hyo-Seop Ahn 💘

One night in the Kingdom of Joseon, the king with is shamans takes risks of trapping the Source of Evil, in the royal portrait. During the ritual 2 children are born Hong Chun Gi and Ha Ram both with a great destiny to fulfill. 

She was born blind but manages to acquire a sense of vision later in life and gets to be accepted to one of the most prestigious art institutes. One day, she meets Ha Ram, an astrologer whose fate is the polar opposite of her own: he lost lost his sight in childhood. But regardless of that, he made a great career in the Royal Astronomy Bureau with his astounding talent of reading the future by tracing the movement of the sky at night.

Hong Chun Gi and Ha Ram are faited to join royal court affairs and act in between princes Juhyang and Yangmyung, king and hidden Ma Rang.

I fell in love with this series from the first episode. It featured everything I'm crazy about - children connected by destiny, mysterious creature, court schemes, loving couple despite being evil-faited and story twists at the end. The whole story is well organized and it was fantasic to watch! So far so good, this year I have a great streak of hitting brilliant dramas (ok ... part from 2 poor choices but the procentage is small ^^) and I hope it will be like this until the end of 2023!

What did I like the most?

1. Charming leads 😍 Both Ha Ram and Chun Gi were well played (with some minor issues which will be covered in the next part) and there was some chemistry between them that was cute to watch. Ahn Hyo Seop was lavishing in Abyss and Business Proposal and now I adore him even more. It was a good role for him. As for For Kim Yoo Jung it was my first drama with her and I enjoyed her very much. I feel that both of them are not particulary great actors but made this show delightful to watch 💜 
2. Cast, characters & acting 😎 Every other main and supporting character was beautifully played and created a fantastic alternative world with divine objects and creatures. Grand Prince Juhyang (Kwak Shi Yang) maybe was a villain (not in 100% tho) but I am fond of him. He had a valid reason to reach for Ma Rang. I saw him in Café Minamdang where he playes total idiot and I appreciate to see him as a strong person, it suits him so much better 🙈
3. The art 👀 I loved how show focused on art and the craftsmanship. They truely appreciated traditional paintings and showed so many details and neccesary skills that I was mesmerised. Now I want such a painting too! Not talking about perfectly calculated strokes and techniques in painting the kings portraits which were insane 😲
4. Special effects 👌 A good drama with supernatural elements must have good special effects or else it's boring, flat and ridiculous. Both Ma Rang and the rest of the magical characters were really detailed and I loved it. It gave the drama the right vibe 👍

Okay... this show isn't perfect. Overall, I give it 7/10 points because the following shortcomings may not have destroyed the drama, but they did not allow me to fully blend into this world, as was the case with King's Affection, Hotel Del Luna or Mystic Pop-Up Bar or the amazing Alchemy of Souls.😁

The thing that pissed me off the most was the blindness of the main character. My husband is halfblind and there is no way that he would be able to find me in the middle of the city with an umbrella! Ha Ram is fully blind but moves like he isn't. He rides a horse, fights and stolls aroun without losing himself .... Come on! 😤 .... The astrologist part is also a bit far-fetched but let's say that he has magical ability due to Ma Rang influence. Without that in mind his proffesion is just riduculus. This is a big oversight of the producers, but fortunately, due to the fact that the drama is one of those supernatural, many can be explained with magic and this saves the situation. Otherwise, everything would be beyond the borders of absurdity. 

Sometimes I thought Chun Gi was going to far with being straight forward. I know that she was fighting for her rights but let's be honest - it was Joseon times not XXI century 😅 Also the sound of brushstrokes .... that was a 3rd and last absurd in the drama. I don't know, maybe I'm wrong and in the old times that was lounder but THERE IS NO WAY YOU CAN HEAR IT! This is such a minor and almost silent sound that one would have to have an ear next to the brush to be able to hear it. This was ridiculus ....

Some didn't like the convinient solutions to the drama but I was really fine with them. I like when obstacles are handed quick and easy... Special ring to control uncontrollable, execution broken down by sudden appearing of royals... I like that 🙈 Maybe it's cliché but that's what I want from such series... because who didn't know from the first episode that Chun Gi and Ha Ram would end up together and defeat evil? Pfff that couldn't be more obvious but this is what we (or at least I) enjoy! Life is unpredictable enough so let's have at least predictable dramas' endings.

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I have started to write the review while still having 3 episodes to watch and was super excited for the ending.... Unfortunately it wasn't what I was expecting. I was hoping for a grand finale with royal shaman showing her divine abilities, Grand Prince Juhyang being or cured or killed by Ma Rang, Chun Gi being actually blind as the Evil is not killed 😐 There was the same siuation when she was born - Ma Rang trapped, she cursed. The role of shaman could be so nicely expended and making her also a hero but all what they did is making her a toy being thrown from one corner to another. Her character was very good, one of the more interesting from what I've seen in recent times but together with middle Grand Prince, they got the most unsatisfying endings possible. Not talking about weirdly open ending to what Grand Prince Juhyang was planing in the prison....😑 producers could have handled it in a waaaay better way to close the show with a bang 💥

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Lovers of the Red Sky was a great escape from the dramas of the present day which I am watching now (review of Celebrity, See You In My 19th Life and King The Land are the next to come!). I love fantasy productions and I will probably never grow out of them 💙 Throw in romance, destiny and magic and I'm done! I'm sold! I watched the first episodes with bated breath as well as the last ones. The middle ones were slower but still intense. It's definitely not a drama to take nap 😁