I found Empress Ki to be truly exceptional because of how uncommitted it was to its main themes and ideas. It's almost like the writers tried really hard to get their points across, but didn't have right tools, so they ended up trying everything. In result the whole show is torn somewhere between makjang and epic historical. Or between profound drama and pulp romance. Ultimately the grand narrative about national affiliation, loyalty, power or loneliness got lost in uneven and overexaggerated script. Some things I loved, some things I wish I only imagined because someone accidentaly gave me acid, but I semi-enjoyed the whole product. Here's a short list of the best and the worst aspects of this show.

What distinguish Empress Ki from similar epic tales is its main theme - identity, or to be precise, national identity - what it means and how important it is. I really enjoyed the idea that Seung Nyang's love triangle figuratevily means something entirely different, that her love for two men symbolizes her being torn apart between two countries. One is loyal and noble the other one is unpredictable, but full of opportunities. But which one has the power and influence to improve people's lives, stop the war and famine? Which one should she choose to satisfy her personal agenda? I think the conflict of "what heart wants vs what brain tells you to do" was one of the most interesting aspect of this drama. Especially those short yet meaningful scenes full of hidden anguish, regrets and bitter taste of lost.
There was a one scene where Seung Nyang, as an Imperial Concubine, declines a personal meeting with Wang Yu and tells his subordinate that from now on he should apply for a formal meeting with her. In this scene she separates herself from her past and partially from Goryeo, she chose Yuan Empire. When she says those words camera pans at the small mirror in front of her face and it's like the mirror is questioning her feelings and her real intentions. It's also here to question her identity. Small details like this scene were my favorite.

The correlation between Goryeo's people national identitiy and individuality is a recurring theme in this drama. It takes different forms, from anger and distrust that leads to extreme decisions (Yeom Byung Soo), hopelessness and resignation (Dok Man) to fearless fight full of idealism (Wang Yu). Seun Nyang felt that becoming an Empress was a victory and she helped Goryeo as much as she can by initialy "betraying" her roots. In the end he ended up utterly alone. A stranger in no man's land.

Though I wished to see more of Seung Nyang's internal conflict between her desire to power and her need to help the people of Goryeo, her fighting her own war with people's prejudice, her mortal enemies and Yuan Empire's dignitaries was a joy to watch. Especially since Seun Nyang actually put an affort to learn and master the art of strategy, so it wasn't just Mary Sue's deus ex machina. I must admit that I didn't like her at first because of her goody-two-shoes personality in the first half of a drama. She was too flawless which didn't feel "real" in a sense that she was more of a novel heroine that real human being that I was supposed to root for. In the beginning it truly felt like she didn't move plot forward, but isntead the plot was moving her around, changing her motivation and/or personality according to its needs. I think she was just a victim of bad writing, horribly executed romance and ridiculous makjang-y scenes.

I'll be blunt and honest, the over-the-top writing was one of the main reason's why I didn't enjoy Empress Ki as much as I wanted to. In one moment it was a grand, almost theatrical, spectacle about the different shades of human nature. In the next scene we had a woman getting bit by a phantom creature as a result of a magic spell. I was baffled by some of the writing choices because they served no purpose at all or were incorporated into the script for the sake of shock value. The bizarre time skips, absurdly over dramatic plot resultion and laughable emotional moments totally killed the mood for me few times. Usually I like all things grotesque and camp, the unpredictable mixture of tasteless and holy, but this time it didnt work for me because I felt like it wasn't intentionally in a bad taste. I swear I saw more wrist grabs in this drama than in the recent romcom I've seen and that was not a good thing.

Speaking of the devil, despite the fact that I highly appreciated the symbolic nature of a romance in this drama, I absolutely hated the way it was executed. It was so damn corny and uncomfortable to watch for the first half of the show (and please rememeber that it is roughly 25 episodes), with oldschool kdrama clichés, sappy romantic ballads playing in the background and a lot of silly moments. Sometimes it was unintentionally hilarious and I enjoyed it in all of its cringey glory, but for the most part it was annoying and the constant mood shifts took me out of the story several times. Because of that I couldn't take that romance seriously, so the eventual heartbreak and tragedy that happened later on completely lacked emotional impact.

Moreover, there is nothing more infuriating than a lenghty drama with a lot of one-dimensional characters. Except for Nyang and the Emperor there was hardly anyone who could catch my attention. The characters didn't have much needed nuance, they served the purpose of either a plot device (Yeom Byung Soo, Yeon Bi Su, Jaek Ho or - the strangest of them all - Golta), cartoonish villains (Yeon Chul, Dang Ki Se, Empress Dowager, the second Empress and once again Yeom Byung Soo) or just a supporting squd that was... just there (Wang Yu's men), but I didn't really blame the last group, although it was funny that the writer expected me to care about their deaths. The only ones that had something going on for them were Tanashili, Baekan and Tal Tal. The first one's malice as a result of expectations, manipulation and inferiority complex was not as shallow as it initially seemed. Baekan has one of the most cohesive arcs in the whole show. The parallels between him and his fallen idol Yeon Chul was forshadowed on the show on many occasions, so his journey was not really surprising, but there was a consistency and almost archetypical meaning that I personally enjoyed. And at some point someone suddenly decided to give Tal Tal some sort of personality (after more than 20 episodes), but I'm grateful for this decision. Thanks to that we got one of the most level-headed, smart and mysterious characters that was a great mentor and adviser for Seung Nyang. I have to admit that their power duo made the whole palace power struggle much more interesting.

Finally, I have to say few words about my favorite character - Emperor Ta Hwan - the only aspect of this show that I loved from the start to finish. I liked him simply because he was deeply flawed. Unpredictable, pitiful, annoying, childish, dangerous, selfish, charming and oh, so deeply human. He truly felt like an actual living person, full of insecurities and anxiety. Really vulnerable man whose constant need for validation, love and understanding met only with greed, betrayal and emotional manipulation and it led him to destruction. Just one character had so many layers , his story was difficult yet fascinating to watch.

So, what's my deal with Empress Ki? I think it didn't meet my expectation of what historical drama should look like thus the plot (ot rather mishaps in the writing) outweighted the other parts that were definitely memorable and worth my time. It's a rare case of a show that left me emotionally detached, slightly annoyed and bored at times when it clearly could do better. A lot of missed opportunities and wasted ideas. I feel like its chaotic, grandiose and campy energy is something that will either fascinate you or you'll end up bitter and disappointed... like me.