Even though I know my review will get lost in the pile, I wanted to share my 2 cents anyway. To those who want it short and sweet, I think the most important thing I have to convey about SHR is that it captured the "magic" of a Kdrama. To those that say that the plot/characters/music/logic was bad, they are probably right. But despite all of that (and it's weird, because things like that usually bother me too), I just fell in love. I guess you could say it was the Hae Soo to my Wang So (sorry, I had to...). ~ More thoughts: It was hard to rate this drama objectively. If I really think about it, there were times when the plot was off or the characters behaved a certain way to move the plot. That's why my overall rating is a subjective one (how much I enjoyed the drama) rather than an objective one (how good it actually was). Like I said, this was the type of drama where the parts didn't equal the sum of the whole. I thought the acting was really good. I know IU's acting of Hae Soo and Hae Soo herself got some crititism. As far as IU goes, I thought she was able to show Soo's emotions well, along with her growth and life experiences. It was good enough for me. And as for Hae Soo, she was good enough for me too. Sure, the actions she made could be called stupid or selfish. But when I look at her reasoning, her intentions or her emotions at the time, I can understand and relate to her, and even cheer her on. If I put myself in her shoes, I would probably behave much worse. As a side note, I feel like there are a lot of light romcom-esque sagueks these days, but a true saguek tells the story of people trying to survive in a dangerous and volatile time period. Even though, yes, there were a lot of shallow elements, I felt that SHR fell in the latter category, and that's why I was able to accept Soo as a character. Because along with the people of the time, she was trying to survive. It was also why I was able to accept the total shift in tone of the drama and the ending. Music: as some have stated, all that pop and rapping was probably out of place for a historical drama, but I loved the songs themselves and they added to the magic. It was one of those dramas where I had to get the OSTs. And the instrumental/other music was really good to. As a side, the setting/scenary were just pure awesome. SHR definetely reaffirmed my love for Goryeo hair and clothes. Rewatch: I usually never re-watch dramas. This one? I woudl start watch/skimming it again while waiting for it to update. In summary, I think this is a drama where YMMV. Some loved it, others hated it, and in a few years, newcomers may wonder what all the hype was about. As for me, I was having a phase where I was losing interest in a show halfway through. This was the drama that brought me out of it. You could say it felt like watching my first K-drama all over again.