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[HanCinema's Drama Review] "Drama Special - Red Moon"

Prince Sado (played by Kim Dae-myung) is not of very sound mental health. It all started back when he was a kid, and his dad King Yeongjo (played by Kim Myung-gon) made zero effort to shield or reassure his son in the face of horrific bloody violence. As a result, Prince Sado grows up with little skill when it comes to ascertaining the difference between reality and hallucination- especially when haunted by a certain malicious, constantly taunting specter.

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"Drama Special - Red Moon" is based on one of the more well-known Joseon royal intrigues. Given the grisly nature of Prince Sado's life, and the radical measures King Yeongjo had to resort to in order to bring his son into line, this isn't all that surprising. It's been fashionable as of late to cast Prince Sado as an unfortunate victim of political struggle more than an actual crazy person, but "Drama Special - Red Moon" doesn't do much with dramatic license. This is the story that most clearly matches up with the historical record- aside from the specific nature of the hallucinations obviously.

In that vein Kim Dae-myung is excellently cast as the forsaken Prince Sado. Kim Dae-myung is not handsome, and his self-worth has only taken additional damage as a result of madness-induced paranoia. Prince Sado in this production is pudgy and lacks confidence, which only makes it that much difficult for other characters to believe that he's actually killing people. The staff don't have the luxury of disbelief, given how they're the ones who have to dispose of the bodies, but it's not like anyone listens to them.

The horror elements are relatively subdued. It's not the shock value that's driving Prince Sado to insanity so much as it is the constant cruel mocking indifference. As desperately as his family wants to help, they're genuinely not sure how. Most of their attempts only result in endangering other people. The diffident specter that haunts Prince Sado is in many ways a twisted recreation of this familial relationship- a fact directly addressed by the ending.

In "Drama Special - Red Moon", there's just madness as the women in Prince Sado's life helplessly come to terms with the fact that he has completely lost his mind and there's not much they can do about that short of merely enabling Prince Sado's awful behavior. The sheer scale of doom and gloom in "Drama Special - Red Moon" doesn't offer much in the way of characterization, but then, that's the drama's main draw. From the records we have, this is probably the most accurate representation of the Prince Sado story to date. No hope, no grief- just sheer madness.

Review by William Schwartz

"Drama Special - Red Moon" is directed by Bae Kyeong-soo, written by Yoo Yeong-seok and features Kim Dae-myung, Lee Hang-na, Jo Mi-ryung and Park Ha-na.

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