Warning: Don't read review if you plan to watch the drama.

Story: This drama had the potential of being one of those epic dramas like the now classic Jewel in the Palace. The story started around two brothers who were on opposite sides; Lee Kang-to turned his back on his countryman to be the rising star of the Japanese police force and his elder brother Lee Kang-san, the village idiot who, unbeknownst to everyone including Kang-to and his mother, was Gaksital (Bridal Mask). Gaksital was the hero in the village and the scourge of Japanese authorities as he fought for justice for his fellow Koreans. Close on his heels was Kang-to, bent on capturing Gaksital so he could cement his standing with the Japanese .

Then there's Shujin, a genial Japanese music teacher and Kang-to's best friend who turned to the dark side after witnessing his brother killed by Gaksital and realizing that Oh Mok Dan will never return his love.

I was fully engaged the first 6 episodes, but after Kang San's death, the drama went rapidly downhill. Oh Mok Dan became the central figure. Why??? It was almost comical if not totally irritating that Kang-to and Shujin were trying to outdo each other on who can capture Oh Mok Dan first because she happened to be Bridal Mask's catnip. The story was supposed to be Gaksital doing heroic things for his people not just Oh Mok Dan but for unexplained reasons, the writers decided to make Gaksital into this "romantic" hero. If this was for fanservice, they did a big disservice to the drama's story as a whole.

Acting/Cast: I'm a great Joo Won fan but I was a bit disappointed with his portrayal of Kang-to. His constant frowning expression did not do much for his character and I got the impression that Joo Won was having difficulty grasping the essence of Kang-to. On the other hand, Shin Hyun Joon did an excellent job of playing Lee Kang San. His transition from the village idiot to the hero Gaksital was truly amazing.

Park Ki Woong as Kimura Shunji had his good moments of acting but as a whole, he was a meh for me.

Jin Se Yeon as Oh Mok Dan was the biggest let down in this drama. I stopped at episode 15 because I could no longer stand her acting. Looking at her expression as she stared at her nemesis LaLa reminded me of a girl being reprimanded by her mother to go to her room because she's grounded. That's how bad she is. Most of the time she appeared to be shallow and ditzy. To top it all, her character did nothing but run around being caught and then tortured, then she escapes, gets caught again and then tortured. With the amount of torture she received, she should have been a cripple by the third time it happened.

Production, if you wanted Oh Mok Dan to be the central character of this drama, you should have chosen an actress who could do the job. Someone like a Caitriona Balfe of "Outlander" series. Here's the criteria the producer Ronald D. Moore said he looked for in an actress to portray Clair, "...the fundamental quality of the character was her intelligence. You have to have an actress that really projected this really smart quality because she lands in this time she's able to adapt very quickly and everything flows from her intelligence, her strength of character, her adaptability, her sexuality, her warmth. All of this because of this mind and sort of intelligence. So you got to have somebody who you could watch think on camera,,,,,,"

Overall, as I mentioned above, this drama had the potential if not for it turning into a complete dud. It's biggest flaw was the main actress Jin Se Yeon. A really good actress could have saved it.