I know almost ZERO about Korean history so I was eager to watch this and learn a little more (with a heavy dose of online supplementation).

At first I was super confused. There are SOOOOoooo many characters to remember and SOOOooooo much political stuff to wrap your head around very quickly. I still feel like I didn't really understand the subtleties of the history which makes me a little sad. That said, the story told in this drama was excellent.

I didn't get too hung up on the "those aren't real historical characters" much because I was clueless and that helped here. The romance parts were so sweet, if heartbreaking. Ugly tears were shed while watching. The friendships were tender and enduring despite some really tough situations. I love that!

I wish all of it could have had a happier ending dramatically (so many ill-fated relationships to move history forward) but I feel like the ending itself was testament to the triumph of the idea to create a better world for the people of Joesun...and that's kinda the point of the show. So I was satisfied.

Acting was superb. The endurance of those actors (it was FREEZING the whole time) is amazing. The soundtrack was good but that one song - Yalla Yalla...my kingdom for that song...so good!!! The story was well crafted (if heavy in content) and fairly well paced. It seemed to slow down in the middle and wrap up a little too fast at the end (I didn't want it to be over that fast...but it's like a million episodes long so...conflicted!). It definitely deserved the accolades it received and I'm glad I got to watch it.