This drama had it all..beautiful sets...good cast..nice plot..in short this drama should have sweeped me off my feet but ended up dissapointing me The plot is fairly good.i like the whole north-south divide because this was something new.one thing i also liked was the fact that this drama challenged pre conceived notions about royalty.I thought that royalty was supposed to be all encompassing power but in this drama the royalty is so real and powerless that its almost to the extent of craziness. Lee Seung Ki has done an amazing job..he's convincing as a king who doesnt know his place in the world.i loved how the drama focused on his growth as a human being throughout the 20 episodes.he never stopped to amaze me.He came out as one of the strongest character out of the lot.Jo Jung Suk is the shining star for me,he made Eun Shi Kyug utterly lovable and believable.I loved the father daughter relationship between kim Hang Ah and Kim Nam il the villain in this one was very interesting to watch but i wished he had more brains..:D.i would have loved a psychological war between him and the king.would have been awesome this drama has lots of flaws.i had loved Han Ji Won in earlier works but in this one she was too irritating with her north korean accent but for that i should probably blame the director.she just tried too hard to be cute which was painful to watch.she was a woman who could kick ass in the starting episodes but as the episodes followed Kim Hang Ah became more and more weak according to me.another fact was that the leads had too much of an age difference and it showed in the drama.the chemistry was sometimes good and sometimes lacklustre.i expected romance.i tried really hard to find it but just couldnt find it at all.their love should have been worth swooning after but it didn't make me giddy with happiness or perceive their love as star crossed lovers of a divided nation the story is filled with drama and tension but i didnt feel any of the emotions that the chracters were going through.I was wholly detached while watching this one.This started out as a very strong drama but in the end messed up everything it tried to prove.many wouldnt agree with me since this is a pretty popular drama but for me..this one's a forgetable one. this drama could have been perfect and it kills me because i expected so much out of this. this drama deserves atleast one watch simply because of Lee Seung Ki who has grown as an actor in this one...and the few good characters that this drama had.