The story was really well and interesting made and the cast's performance shined throughout the whole drama (maybe some ups and downs here and there, but not often). Yeo Jin Goo did an amazing job, you just have to praise him for that, even though many others were outstanding as well. Though I enjoyed him more in the first half (and those of you who watched the drama might know why that is :p).
What I loved the most was the development between Ha Seon and Haksan which led to that special overwhelming moment later. I also found Ha Seon's character development well written and shown. If you watch the first episode again and right after one of the last ones, you can see the difference as if it was night and day. Same goes for Haksan's character. I appreciated that they weren't all white or black but had dark secrets and grey zones with difficult decisions to make while walking their paths.
What I don't like in other sageuks but really love here is that they actually let a good king overrule petitions of its court people. You usually only see the bad kings do that while the good ones can't seem to go against their ministers. But here was actually a quite nice balance created.
I also enjoyed the queen's scenes and I'm so happy that Lee Se Young finally got a good main role. She was great in her role, but I also have to admit that you can still see that she's a young actress who doesn't have the range of expressions like her seniors yet. Especially in the later episodes I found some of her dialogues a bit... wooden. Sorry to say that. I still loved her scenes with Yeo Jin Goo though and I'm sure she will become better in the future.
The antagonists were an interesting bunch of people and it was refreshing that not all of them worked together but also were suspicious of each other, too. But as I said in some other post, sometimes the constant anxiety due to their intrigues were a bit too much. Even though it keeps you on edge, I think they overdid it other times, too. Excitement is welcomed, but only to a certain degree.
What I loved the most was the development between Ha Seon and Haksan which led to that special overwhelming moment later. I also found Ha Seon's character development well written and shown. If you watch the first episode again and right after one of the last ones, you can see the difference as if it was night and day. Same goes for Haksan's character. I appreciated that they weren't all white or black but had dark secrets and grey zones with difficult decisions to make while walking their paths.
What I don't like in other sageuks but really love here is that they actually let a good king overrule petitions of its court people. You usually only see the bad kings do that while the good ones can't seem to go against their ministers. But here was actually a quite nice balance created.
I also enjoyed the queen's scenes and I'm so happy that Lee Se Young finally got a good main role. She was great in her role, but I also have to admit that you can still see that she's a young actress who doesn't have the range of expressions like her seniors yet. Especially in the later episodes I found some of her dialogues a bit... wooden. Sorry to say that. I still loved her scenes with Yeo Jin Goo though and I'm sure she will become better in the future.
The antagonists were an interesting bunch of people and it was refreshing that not all of them worked together but also were suspicious of each other, too. But as I said in some other post, sometimes the constant anxiety due to their intrigues were a bit too much. Even though it keeps you on edge, I think they overdid it other times, too. Excitement is welcomed, but only to a certain degree.
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