The Moon Brightens for You was unexpectedly good. At first glance, this show might seem like one of those goofy romcoms, with a cold-stern MC + naive innocent FL and their hijinks together. In a way, it is, but it's also more than that. The plot gets surprisingly serious with sad parts too but the comedy and light-hearted aspects continue to be present from beginning to end.

The first half of the drama has a stronger focus on the SML, and although parts are relatively light-hearted, there's still moments that are serious and captivating. I slowly watched the first half; it was good to watch an episode or two once in a while, and it was an easy, light-hearted watch but nothing too exceptional. The second half, I binged and I was hooked. There was a shift to more serious issues but romcom elements did not disappear which was great to see -- the tone of the show didn't change without reason to make it seem like a new show.

Acting: Definitely the worst part of the show. Fair Xing (FL) plays a mostly bubbly and cheerful girl but it was a bit too much. Lots of smiling... too much smiling... and if you've seen Put Your Head on My Shoulder, you should know she's a good actress, but this was a bit too much. With so much "forced" smiling, it became a bit awkward to watch, and often, she didn't smile with her eyes so it was just seeing a lot of =D face from her. She performed very well during the serious/sad moments so overall, was okay. Alan Yu (ML) did a poor job. His face was too stiff, his emotions seemed unnatural, and Chinese netizens complained about his "chicken mouth" which made him seem a bit odd at times, rather than a "number one attractive playboy that his character was. His acting gets better during moments where he has to show more emotions but still not very good. SML did well. Princess was okay (but annoying). The other supporting cast were very good, every single one of them: the assistant, maid, general, SML's sister. Villains were okay, nothing to write home about.

Plot: What makes the show stand out is the plot. Starting off relatively cliche and light, it moves to more serious tones as it progresses. It's extremely unique since the show spends a long long long time with FL+SML (which makes sense plot-wise and character-development-wise) so it makes the ML's unrequited love a particularly unique plot point. However, this really made the FL+ML's relationship suffer in terms of development. As a viewer, you will be able to see how and understand why everything is happening (relationship-wise), but you might not FEEL it. This was the main issue in pacing since the FL+ML's relationship might feel relatively rushed and viewer's will be reluctant to feel attached. SLS isn't really here since the love-triangle is handled pretty well and reasonably. I thought character decisions were pretty logical (which is surprisingly rare in these type of more budget costume dramas) and there wasn't a reliance on cliches (unreasonable self-sacrifice, annoying in-laws, overly annoying misunderstandings, etc).

So should you watch this?

Conclusion: I won't talk much about the other aspects since they're not really relevant to the overall enjoyment. Watch this if you want unrequited love to be an important plot point. Surprisingly deep and emotional plot for a "romantic" and "funny" show so it's not just all fluff which might get boring. Just be wary of the acting (mostly from ML... it was sooo awkward at times) and the pacing. I enjoyed it but wouldn't be a show I'd re-watch.