Although based on a true story but due to entertainment purpose the history was presented distortedly in this drama, which is perfectly acceptable otherwise it would be immensely boring. The main theme was kept same like the tyrannical king and his atrocious reign, his utter jealousy towards his half-brother, his love towards Chae Gyun which he tried to express yet not properly expressed along with intricate politics surrounding the whole monarchy system. Everything was shown properly. Everything was done properly. Still I found something missing in this drama. There was some haunted empty feeling which trudged into my mind after I finished watching the drama. I asked myself: why is that? Is it because the plot was intensely tragic or is it that there was some gap in story representation. We all sageuk lovers have seen quite a number of sageuks which were obviously full of tragedies but this drama lacked a bit of depth I believe. Firstly, the prelude showed the glimpse of some ending scenes that in itself enough to grab attention of the viewers and enhance their curiosity upon what may happen leading to such odious fate of the beloved royal couple. Once one starts watching, certainly s/he would be pulled with the story since the initial episodes were truly marvelous. The teenage couple acted amazingly which can make anyone fall for their cute love-hatred realtionship portrayed so well that they might end up receiving awards for good performances. Their sweet gesture, arguments, fights, playfulness and amicability was capable of winning a lot of hearts and I’m sure many viewers loved them. However, once they started growing up and as everything was going against their relationship, the story seemed playing back and forth. Now an episode seemed gripping and the next episode turned out very monotonous. From 15-18 episodes it was extremely hard to go along with the story. The tragedy, the emotional outburst, the murders and the meaningless sacrifices everything to me seemed exaggerated to the point of annoyance. I just could not cry in few many scenes because I found few death totally out of nowhere unnecessary. The makers could have toned down the death parts of some important characters whose death was imposed forcefully. Many a times it felt like suddenly the writers couldn’t figure out what to do or how to extend a particular character’s story so the only supposed solution was to kill that character making a good story pretty shallow. The last two episodes were rather nicely closed. Though the plot itself was remorseful but the couple could make it through all odds and adversities was satisfying to watch. Most interesting to watch was the despicable king who was submerged under innumerable complexities. He yearned for admiration, acknowledgement, recognition and love; at the same time, he was blinded by envy, mishandled his power and pushed his confidantes away from him. The pressure of ruling a nation who was constantly surrounded by imposters, deceitful people and shrewd opportunists; the poor judgment of making a clear distinction between his enemies and his dearer ones; the struggle to understand whom he loves doesn’t love him back was eventually crippling his fair mind, clouded his judgement and weakening his thoughts. Eventually he let his mind eaten by evil maggots. He was having an utter hard time which he expressed through brutality towards his innocent subjects. Ultimately he himself inflicted ruination upon himself, an obvious end result of any tyranny. Therefore, the king was the most powerful character in this drama exuding multiple personalities through one mind and soul was simply a pleasure to watch. Secondly, as long as the acting comes into concern, I pretty much liked the ensembles. Nevertheless, the role of a despotic king played by Lee Dong Gun was to some extent aggrandized by him which appeared as if he was playing the character in a theatre drama rather than in a televised drama. Both platforms are different and the acting changes according to theatre, small screen and big screen but our dear Dong Gun relatively overdid his performance. The performances displayed by Park Min Young and Yeon Woo Jin was splendid to watch. Their depiction of romance was too heart fluttering and they have an endearing chemistry. The teenager kids did super exceptional job. I loved them so much I did not want to watch their adult version. This is the first time I’ve seen Chungsung of 2 p.m. in any drama and his work was quite commendable. I wish he improvise his acting ability diligently for better and more important roles in the future. The Osts are beautifully soothing to hear and I personally loved “Junggigo - Miss You In My Heart”. It’s on loop since I finished watching the drama for few hours. The singer sung this ost pouring out all his emotions. Simply wonderful. In deduction, this drama again proved to be one of those dramas which started of exceptionally good then gradually not so good. This particular one has gone back and forth and I found the scriptwriter kind of lazy who applied their brain less in thinking about the story. Sometimes it was enthralling and then again it directly went down the hill again it picked and again it went down the hill which persisted till the last. Few things I like about this drama and many things are there which I seriously disliked. Watch it of your own accord.