Obviously the House of Cards comparison is a stretch but this is undoubtedly a political drama through and through. Yes, there is a strong romance plot most of the way through but it's heavily embedded in the political plot mechanisms.

I think the acting and the characters of this drama are superb. The ML and FL especially break free of most historical Cdrama tropes. So that in itself kept me engaged: I wanted to see their developments arcs. And except for the ending, as noted in every other review, the series delivered.

What let Rise of the Phoenixes down for me was the plot. At first, I enjoyed that the writers had prioritised the political plot over the romantic one (normally in these types of dramas, the formers serves just as a prop for the latter). However, at around the half way point, the pacing became bogged down. From there on in, I felt like I was wading through molasses. It was still worth it in the end purely for a few of the support characters that were put on more display in later episodes.

I've now seen this series twice despite the drawbacks but I still don't think I'd recommend it. I don't know, it's a tricky one.