As someone who is very particular about historical based dramas (or pseudo-historical), I've always favored dramas from China compared to Korea. Aside from the depth or lack of depth of the story itself, the quality of the production tends to be far superior in China than in Korea. The sets seem to be much bigger, and the interior sets tend to be more intricate than the simplistic designs that tend to populate Korean dramas.

I'm pleasantly surprised to say that Ruler: Master of the Mask is a notable exception in everyway to the typical Korean historical drama. The sets were opulent, albeit more simple compared to the sets from most Chinese historical dramas. The cinematography was excellent, and the story was surprisingly good and had a good ending.

YSH is the ML in this drama and he shines. I love his portrayal of the royal Yi Sun and felt that he really carried the performance well. His acting wasn't too exaggerated, but it hit all of the right notes. FL was ok, she did well in her role. The second FL was a surprise. At first, I hated her character (though the acting was good) and how uppity she was. I was really glad when it was revealed that she was the secondary character rather than the main love interest of Yi Sun. Then as the story progressed, her character became far more nuanced and by the end of her arc, I was wishing that she was the main love interest after all. Props to the actress who portrayed the granddaughter of Dae Mok.

The concept of a secret society who manipulates the nation from the shadows is not a unique plot, but it was used to great effect. I was especially glad that it largely avoided the melodrama of the typical historical drama focusing on the royals: Queen Mother or Queen is secretly in control of the party seeking to gain ultimate power and attempts to manipulate the young king/prince, clashing with the virtuous maid who becomes the future Queen/main concubine. The main villain of the story was cunning, vicious and menacing, making his society a palpable presence and threat through the drama. Of course the writers later reversed course and dragged the character of the Queen Mother down to the dogs. A shame, since before the reveal that she was as usually portrayed, trying to gain the ultimate power in the imperial court, her role in the drama was actually refreshing: the woman who had the maturity to accept the concubine of the king and their child and take the child as her own, fighting for the child and the people from within the palace. She was a good foil for the villain and thankfully, they managed to take a couple of twists to her arc that makes it unique from other dramas.

I'm of mixed mind about the second ML. The actor was amazing of course, but as much as I loved the character at the beginning of the series, by it's end I was thoroughly sick of him and cheered when his final fate was unveiled. Of course the backstabbing friend angle has been done before, but this drama did it better than most and I applaud them for it.

There were some characters that I felt were completely unnecessary to the plot, and a bit too much humor throughout, but it wasn't as egregious as Haechi or other historical dramas that on the surface appear to be more serious thrillers but turn out to be muddled trash. There was for the most part a fair balance between the more serious themes and the humor.

All in all, I highly recommend this drama to anyone interested in this sub-genre of Korean dramas. It is definitely among the top 10 of my list of historical dramas and will be one that i will view again soon.

Rating: 9.5/10