S1E1 Moonlight Drawn by Clouds

Love in the Moonlight Season 1 Episode 1 'Moonlight Drawn by Clouds' aired August 22, 2016 on KBS2 as the premiere of the historical romance that would peak at 23.3 percent nationwide viewership - one of the highest ratings for a Korean drama of 2016 - and establish Park Bo-gum as a national star. IMDb audience ratings identify this episode as the season's highest-scored individual hour at 8.7. Rolling Stone India, in a retrospective, called the series 'a timeless classic K-drama that looks into the intersection of culture and society while placing an improbable love story at the forefront.' The premiere establishes Hong Ra-on's ingenuity and social precarity with precision before her collision with the Crown Prince: her disguise as a male eunuch is the comedy premise, but the episode's real work is establishing why Ra-on has no alternative to the deception. The Joseon court atmosphere is rendered without sacrificing pacing. Park Bo-gum's Crown Prince Lee Yeong is introduced as a character whose sheltered authority will be tested rather than a romantic lead who simply requires a worthy partner - a distinction the premiere makes in its first encounter between the two characters: neither knows who the other is, and both are immediately off-balance.