Glad i gave this a chance. Lee Joon Gi's phenomenal fighting scenes in this reminds me of Warrior Baek Dong Soo that i have just finished recently, but his acrobatic moves here is probably a notch higher because he's so agile and fast like a ninja, and the way he moves around and makes use of spaces in ep. 18 fighting scenes kinda gives me some Jackie Chan vibe. So so good!

The story is well done for the most part. I really liked the twist at the end about the main culprit of it all, it has similar energy to main villain's plot twist in City Hunter, Time Between Dog and Wolf, and Cruel City. But the ending proved that Yong was the most un-ruthless revengeful person i have ever known, he turned his back from his enemies because he just can't bring himself to killing people, and ended up being sliced because his enemies are ruthless. In that sense it really made us question whether taking revenge is really worth all the pain and sufferings. But perhaps it's something that can't be helped too since regaining his memory proved to be too painful a price for him to bear.

If I have to explain my score, then it's due to some plot holes that makes the viewing experience not as smooth.

First, in the first half, often times the drama gives confusing flashbacks or snapshots between stage-i Iljimae who was already an expert burglar to someone who's still novice about stealing and breaking into noble's houses with tight security. Not once in the duration of the first half were we ever exposed to Yong's upbringing whether he was passed down the skills properly by his father who is a retired petty thief so to have to connect the dots by ourselves was quite a jump.

Second, it wasn't very obvious for how long stage-ii Iljimae trained with the Monk Master to sharpen his sword fighting skills. We could see that he became very fast and very advanced in the later fighting scenes with Ja Dol/Shi Hoo, so that part was quite a mess. It's unlike in Warrior Baek Dong Soo which made it clear that the ML trained for a solid 3 years with his swords master in the mountains which was more reasonable.

I don't really have any problems with the romance. The chemistry feels very muted and considering her parents, it was always meant to be forbidden love so I was able to enjoy it for what it was, and for how short-lived it is. Quite sad that Bong Soon is hinted to abandon her adopted father who she found out he was the one who killed her family, and because of that she also stayed away from Yong because he's remained close to his Monk Master.

Aside from all the support characters that i found really elevated this drama, Lee Joon Gi's phenomenal action scenes are making me contemplate to watch all of his sageuks, even the non-recommended ones LOL because I really do enjoy them. The man's talent is no joke.