[ Original date written: Nov. 27th 2020 ]

This had the potential to be one of the best sageuks ever made. Only one thing held it back : the character Rin. What an annoying and worthless mess of a character he was. He served no purpose other than (unintentionally(?)) ruining his best friend's life, with no logical reason I might add. His feelings for the female lead make no sense. They came OUT OF NOWHERE. He blatantly hated her and found her untrustworthy right up until the moment he found out her true identity... and then he was suddenly in love with her? Again: MADE NO SENSE. Same goes for the female lead's feelings for him. If you remove him from this show, it would be PERFECT. I have no doubt about it. That being said, (minus Rin of course) the leads were great, delivered amazing performances and were good characters with good development (for the most part). It also has one of the best (if not the best) *sageuk* villains I've seen. And the side dynamic between the characters Moo Suk and Bi Yeon was really adorable.

I will also note, this is the only K-drama I can think of where the female lead ends up with the second lead - of course the one time we don’t want it.