I mainly tried the series out initially for Jang Hyuk (who didn't disappoint as usual) and found that the overall cast was actually quite fantastic. Having seen so many historical dramas, it's almost an expectation at times to come across one that follows the same general story. While this one sort of does, there is enough uniqueness to it that really makes it special.

The focus of the series isn't the standard political manipulations and catty dramatics. It's focused on individual ideologies, reasons for choices made, repercussions of those choices, and difficulties in empathizing. Our current political leaders can take a good lesson here. The series does a really good job with the magical pivoting of characters you may initially root for or characters you may initially detest, only to realize how little you knew of everyone once you are made aware of their past and intentions.

The underlying romance is built in quite naturally and it doesn't overwhelm the plot with excess. It's one of the rare historical series where I really didn't feel a need to fast-forward any scenes as it all served a purpose. It's an easy watch that is also quite emotionally impactful with good plot twists.