I watched this show because I had watched some of it as a child, and I was curious to see whether the show was as good as I remembered it to be. Generally speaking, I love historical K-dramas, but this show is probably one of my least favorite K-dramas I've watched to date (in comparison to some of the older ones like Jumong, The Kingdom of the Winds, Empress Ki, and Iljimae and some of the newer ones like Mr. Queen, Mr. Sunshine, and Moon Lovers). There were holes in the plot of this show, and I kept finding myself confused by the characters' decisions and intentions. The story can also be slow at times.

Best things about the show:
- Song Il Gook (Yum Moon)'s acting
- Very intriguing and exciting war, political, and business strategizing
- Jung Hwa's dresses were so beautiful
- Satisfying to see an underdog rise in the ranks
- Okay fighting scenes
- Beautiful landscapes

**There will be spoilers below**

Worst things about the show:

One of my biggest issues with the show was Yum Moon's final decision to kill Jang Bogo. The second half of the show seemed to be building up Yum Moon's character arc. This character was adopted and raised as a pirate, which explains why he was okay with killing, stealing, and doing shady things. However, from the beginning, the show kept demonstrating that Yum Moon had some difficulty always listening to his pirate father/superior. He seemed to always want to keep his promises and had a soft/moral spot. He himself explained that being a pirate and doing bad things became his fate when he was raised as a pirate and that he couldn't escape this fate. Now, after Jang Bogo branded him and enslaved him, it made sense that Yum Moon came back fueled by anger and revenge. BUT against all odds, Jang Bogo forgave him, trusted him with big tasks and big positions, and treated him like a friend. The show kept showing that Yum Moon was having difficulty doing anything against Jang Bogo. Jang Bogo showed Yum Moon that he can be on the right side of history, doing good things, and he can have people's respect and friendship while not having to do immoral things (which he previously didn't like doing). We keep seeing Yum Moon in conflict with himself trying to figure out if he wants to listen to Kim Yang and get revenge on Jang Bogo or not. His final decision to kill his childhood friend and betray everyone's trust was very disappointing and made me feel like his character arc was just useless. Also, he said that he killed Jang Bogo to prevent the war, but upon coming back from killing Jang Bogo and seeing that Kim Yang is still going to proceed with the war, he doesn't take out one of his little daggers to throw in his face and kill him. Why would Yum Moon kill Jang Bogo, his childhood friend who gave him a second chance, but not Kim Yang, a greedy superior with awful motives? God knows. Very disappointing.

Another big issue with the plot for me was the fact that Jung Hwa still LOVED Jang Bogo, but decided to have both of them be in pain for years without getting together. The show never properly explains why Jung Hwa decides that she should not be with Jang Bogo even though they both loved each other endlessly. The only explanation she provides is something similar to "every time we try to get together, something awful happens to Jang Bogo" and "Jang Bogo needs to do great things and he can't do them with me by his side". This was all very stupid to me and made no sense.

Lastly, I very much disliked Jang Bogo's decision to sacrifice an entire city and army at the end knowing that it was a losing war. It was a very unwise, inconsiderate, and somewhat stupid decision. He could have easily stayed out of Kim Yang's way and found alternative ways of making an impact instead of getting himself, his entire family, friends, city, and army to die pointlessly. Overall, I think Jang Bogo was a little bit too idealistic. For instance, a lot of the issues they were facing would've been solved if he had just sent an assassin to kill Kim Yang and some of the other evil nobles. Yes, that would've been against his morals but by doing that he could've stopped a massacre and prevented the king from being murdered or prevented the new king from being controlled by evil and greedy nobles.