Super high stakes, unpredictable, outstanding cinematography, beautiful OST, amazing directing and screenplay, incredible acting performances - a masterpiece!

I was hesitant to watch this since I’m usually not a fan of historical dramas but I was blown away.
I just finished the show and after bawling my eyes out for hours, this has left a permanent void in my heart that I’ll never forget.
The beginning and first half was sometimes a little slow paced for me to be honest but it builds up for the later half so that at that point you’re so attached to the characters it’ll crush you.
There’s a lot of like political stuff you might not understand unless you really pay attention to what’s going on all the time and every little scene is important. Even when it was slower it still had me glued to the screen and kept me interested which really surprised me.
And the second half I literally couldn’t take my eyes off.
(Not that I could see a lot through my waterfall of tears lmao)
The only thing that bothered me a little sometimes was the acting skills of the foreign actors on the show. As an actor myself I just wish they could find some foreigners that are actually actors. The Korean actors though just WOW! Incredible. Especially the 3 second leads too I am in love with their characters.
Also it got me really interested into researching more about the actual history of that era.