It has been three months since I watch this drama, and still I can’t overcome it. I haven’t been able to watch any other sad drama because this one had too much of sadness for itself.
First of all I didn’t watch the prior Chinese version, so I can’t compare both. I know a lot of people thinks the Korean version is the worst, but I really liked it, although I’m not happy with the ending and I’m sure it has a lot of flaws.
Story: when you finish watching this drama you have the feeling you have watch two different things. The first half of the drama is like a comedy, and I althought there are some typical and (and cheesy) tropes, it’s funny. The second half is so sad... and so good at the same time,  but so so sad that you will need a lot of Kleenex to get to the end.
Things I didn’t like about the story:
- I didn’t understand that the female lead gave up so easily on finding a way to return to her time. I had the feeling she even didn’t try to find out. It seems too as it would be really easy to adapt to the past that it could be worthless to try anything else.
- The ending: SPOILER ALERT!!!!.........
.....…






I get that it’s not an easy task to have a happy ending with time travel stories, because you can’t change history, but in this drama I didn’t understand why they made IU remember everything when she returned to her actual time. I like the fact that when she disappeared in the past she returned to her actual time, but in my opinion it’s really cruel to let her know that she lived in the past, she loved someone who had been dead for centuries, and she even had a child she never ever could have the possibility to see.
She could have just returned and live her life in her own time, but like this she’s going to pass her life in complete pain remembering everything.


END OF SPOILER
Casting: I heard that there were a lot of complains about IU acting, but sorry here, I liked her. I think she did a good job although sometimes I didn’t like the way her rol had to act.

For example,

(SPOILER ALERT),




when Lee Joon Gi decides that he likes it better to become a king than to stay beside her (as he had told her he’d do), I would have preferred a strong female lead who would have left him there and would have lived her life anywhere else. Ok, that wouldn’t be the same story, but, come on! in the beginning she had a strong character  and afterwards she was so submissive... At the end I was overjoyed when she decided to leave him and marry his brother Wang Yoon (the 14th prince).

END OF SPOILER

I loved too the rest of the casting. I hadn’t seen anything of Lee Joon Gi before, so I wasn’t rooting for him to win the girl, neither for the 8th brother (he didn’t deserved her anyway). But I liked very much all the bromance moments among the princes. It was like it should have been in Hwarang but much better.
Music: I liked the OST very much, overall the song “Will be back”, that represents this drama for me: a wonderful and sad story at the same time.
Rewatch value: I’ll probably watch it again in the future, but not every episodes, only the first half of the season until it gets sad (I don’t want to cry it over and over again).
If you are willing to see a beautiful story even if you know that it will make you cry, go ahead, it's worth it.