The first thing I will say about this drama is that I found it very beautiful. Literally. The costumes and sets were all very pretty. The lighting was used to appropriately set the mood in different scenes. I loved watching this drama just to see all of the beautiful historical costumes and hairstyles.

Second, Cha Eun-woo actually really surprised me in this drama. I had previously only seen him in My ID is Gangnam Beauty and True Beauty. His character in both of those dramas was pretty serious and what I would even describe as stoic, but I saw a different side of his acting in Rookie Historian Goo Hae Ryung. His character was pretty funny and made me laugh many times. His crying scenes are also very realistic and beautifully acted. I feel like this character highlighted his wide range of acting abilities better than the other 2 dramas I have seen him in. Although I loved True Beauty, I feel that this was my favorite role of his thus far.

Third, this is actually the only drama I have watched where I actually noticed and enjoyed the music. Most of the time the music does not even impact me at all and I mostly don't even notice what kind of music is in the drama. However, the score for this drama was a great combination of bright and lively pieces as well as dark and somber pieces. The music always complimented the tone and ambience of the scene in my opinion.

I originally watched this drama because of the romantic storyline that I expected to be in it (because 95% of dramas have some kind of romantic storyline). However, this drama offered so much more that I actually became more interested in. While I did enjoy the romance between Hae Ryung and Li Rim, I found myself putting that story on the backburner in favor of the political intrigue that took the forefront in the second half of the drama. I really was invested in the outcome of the kingdom and the royal family. Also, I found that I really cared about supporting characters. I wanted all of the female historians to be accepted as official historians, I wanted U-min to be rid of his father's shadow, I wanted the remnants of the medical school to succeed. I really enjoy dramas that invest in supporting characters and make me care about them.

I took off half of a star because I did feel like the drama was very long. On Netflix, it is presented as twenty, hour-long episodes, so it is bit of a commitment. The rewatch value diminished because of that for me, but overall I still loved this drama and I would consider it to be one of my top 10 dramas.