This show was so good! It was different but I think it still belongs to the Saeguk Hall of Fame. There were some hiccups along the way, the uncanny similarities to Gone With the Wind, the unfortunate shoehorning of that one actress with her bad acting skills...but the main plot, the romance, the historical events, the main actor and actress (and the supporting cast that mattered), the music, and the production were all perfect!
In fact, I loved this show so much, that I didn't want to finish it because I was afraid the ending would ruin it. That didn't happen. A certain character who shall not be named really downgraded my enjoyment of this from a 10 to a 7 and I would have let that affect my rating except I decided she wasn't worth it. I decided she was not significant enough for me to let her ruin my favorite show's rating. So I was gonna just redact half a point, which would be what she deserved but by the end, I loved the main cast so much that I decided she wasn't even worth that. So this is now a 10/10 show!
Now, there were some hiccups in production but I only noticed this nitpicky stuff because the overall work was way above average which allowed me to then pay attention to details. So for example, some scene blocking, editing, and camera angles were a bit bothersome but come on!!!! Do you even notice this stuff for an average show?! No, you don't! You're distracted by the cringe dialogue, the stiff acting, and the ridiculous melodrama! So I'm not gonna hold it against the show if they forgot to change a character's clothes from one scene to the next to show the passage of time...it's fine! It's totally fine. Is it a rookie mistake?....kinda! But whatever. It's fine.
Now the indisputable strength of this show: the main cast. Except for miss-death-of-emotions-by-botox-I-am-a-nepo-addition-to-the-show-to-ruin-your-enjoyment-evil-cackling. She sucks as$. But everyone else was so good! No one more so than Namkoong Min and Ahn Eun Jin. They were soooo good. Their acting is just heartbreaking and inspiring. I also loved Kim Yoon Woo, my lil baby. He did such a good job. He is one of my newcomer favorites. I can't wait to see more of him.
Now, I never mention music but this show had great music. Why? Well, you might not know this about me, I may hate Korean pop but I love traditional Korean music and the main song and the general vibe of the whole show's ost were heavily inspired by traditional Korean songs, like the songs I used to love before I even got into kdramas. So not only did the song make me emotional every time I heard it, it was also just so beautiful. I love it. I had to mention that.
Overall: Great show. Go watch it and join our cult!!!!