[spoiler] tOne of my top picks for bests K-dramas from last year!
This is everything "Ruler: Master of the Mask" failed to succed and was mainly due to Jang Dong Yoon & Kim So Hyun acting, their best performances in their whole carrers if you ask me.
Jang Dong Yoon & Kim So Hyun won the Best Couple Award and the Excellence Award for Miniseries Male and Female at the 2019 KBS Drama Awards; also Kang Tae Oh won as Best New actor and Park Da Yeon as Best Child Actress.
First of all if you're looking for a historical drama with tons of fight scenes and action this is not your best choice cause even if it have some action scenes is more focused on romance and life of both of them.
All the cast was very good but I need to highlight two more actors, Jo Soo Hyang (Kim Ssook) as one of the strongest female characters I've seen and Kang Tae Oh as Cha Yool Moo, hes was PERFECT as the villain and he brings a new and better facet as an actor rather than just making comedy.
Glad the writer doesn't change so much and follow the story as in the web comic.
There are only two things I didn't like from this K-drama, the first, Jung Joon Ho as King Gwanghae wasn't the best choice and Jeon Hwang Tae's character as the dumbest character I've seen yet he managed to survive like what the heck!![/spoiler]

My score: 8.0/10

> Yet Another Melodramatic Sageuk that fails to make sense with non-sensical plot and misunderstandings

This drama is full of action. It also provides you comedy scenes that makes you burst into loud out laugh. Sometimes, you will find it boring in the middle of the drama. But, don't give up. Just follow the stream and you will get the intense actions.

The concept of male cross-dressing is a refreshing thing in a drama and the first half of the drama was light hearted and humorous because of it but the second half took a turn and turned into the typical historical drama with the same old tried plot.

However, I thought this drama would be an epic drama with actions, assassinations, and betrayals. I thought the main character would be a zero to hero figure. Everything is so smooth, nothing wrong with the plot. It's enjoyable that makes you can't wait for the next episode. But, here's the main worst point of this drama:

- The story and the plot is nothing special.
- The writing has up and down, The Lines and the way character evolved is not exactly brilliant.
- It's seems copy paste from the earlier melodrama of the past (yes, It has melodrama element in it) with has rom com touch in earlier episode and make it more approachable to audience who hate melodrama.


But it's the performances of the ensemble cast that make me stay, along with the Director who at times brilliant executed the ambiance and create the chemistry. The chemistry between the cast also makes this drama enjoyable to watch (The power of the chemistry, heck not only the OTP. )

There is some compelling narrative going on that makes me stay in the third act, but alas I think the writers is not interested to unfold it better.

The ending was laughable and without much substance to be honest. Without spoiling I'll say that I don't understand how could they live happily with a dark cloud over their heads that can rain down at any time and wash away their peace.
[spoiler]It looks like the plot is skipped so much. Everything jumped to when the main character is back from dying to save his beloved girl without getting hurt or attacked by the enemy's soldiers. Then the conflicts are ended here. He and all his beloved ones live on a separated island peacefully, while the main conflict (throne stuff) is abandoned. When his enemies lost him and the soldiers, they didn't try to chase them as well. The story tells us the enemies choose the thone and the kingdom while the main character and protagonists choose the peaceful life on the separated island.[/spoiler]

Initially, it stood out by highlighting a predominantly female perspective of resilient women thriving independently, offering a glimpse into a world of contentment among a backdrop of mostly antagonistic male characters. However, the typical romantic entanglement, took a central role in a heartbeat as it featured two inexplicably infatuated men competing for the affection of a seemingly unremarkable woman, creating an appalling surreal cycle of rejection and groveling. This toxic dynamic became overwhelming and off putting, tainting the entire drama. The drama stumbled when merging this with a weary political subplot that ended up being unnecessarily cluttered. On another note, the cross-dressing gimmick at the beginning was nothing but a waste of time and a blatant cash grab. At the very least, it should have served as an element to help the characters bond but it didn't. That only started to happen after the identity reveal, not before.