I don't think I have ever watched a drama that went from something light to full on Game of Thrones, but still kept a very sweet and silly romance between the two main characters.
When I saw previews for this drama, I was extremely excited for the whole thing to come out so I could binge it, and I was honestly not disappointed whatsoever. I loved how to was sweet and silly, but also very dark. This also goes for the characters.
If I could describe this drama in a few words, I would say that it was about two young people, Nok Du and Dong Joo, who come from completely different backgrounds, but are brought together with some kind of relationship with the King. I was told before watching this drama that the two mains had such amazing chemistry, and I am happy that this wasn't over-hyped. They both did an amazing job, and it was cute seeing how they were with one another vs the person they were trying to hide from people in order to get their "revenge." Without giving anything away though, I think it was also one of the things I didn't enjoy about this drama - how the audience knew that we were getting that classic kdrama troupe where even though the mains looked completely in love and happy, the fact that they never truly opened up about their "alter-egos" that were seeking revenge, that this wasn't their "final stop." That there would be a conflict and breakup coming soon because they didn't want to let the other person know who they really were. But I can say that I did love how when they both found out (same time or different times, I'm not telling), they were shocked, but ultimately decided that their love for one another was greater than their revenge, and the only real reason why they thought about breaking up, was because they didn't wan't to hurt the other in their revenge plot (where they could potentially loose their lives.)
Also, this might be a very unpopular opinion, but I was in love with Cha Yool Mu . His smile, demeanor, and his desire to ultimately carry out Dong Joo's revenge (as well as his own) and take care of her for the rest of his life. Yes, I completely ship Nok Du and Dong Joo, but if Cha Yool Mu didn't go for a "non-traditional" approach with his plans, then he would have been a great contender.
I loved how everything played out and absolutely loved the twists and turns in this drama as well as the villain. I was never bored while watching this, and only skipped some days because I got busy this past week that took me away. But I ultimately gave this drama a 9/10 because it annoyed me so much that it took until episode 20 for them to finally fully commit, or really for Dong Joo to, but even after "fully" committing, she still kept things from him. Keeping her revenge plot is whatever, you can wait a little down the road for that one, but she never told him her family history, even if she had to keep a little detail away. I love how they were in love with the person they were in that moment, but Dong Joo never opened up about her past or upbringing to Nok Du, which came off extremely suspicious. At least Nok Du opened up a little about his island life and at some point they were both living with his master and daughter, but Nok Du was completely in love with this girl who never wanted to share a single detail about her past with him. I also was so confused of what we were supposed to think of the King. I get we are supposed to hate him, but there are some intimate moments between him and Nok Du and Dong Joo, where I almost thought that he might have a change of heart and become a good king. And we kind of got that, but it was so hard when he obviously had an anger management issue where he would kill whoever got him mad, like he was straight out of Game of Thrones. His ultimate downfall was not realizing who to trust, but also (hand in hand) identifying when people he was close to started to go against him. He knew that he fell of course as being the King he wanted to be 20 years ago, but he was blinded thinking that they would always be by his side, even when he was become a terrible dictator. I thought his ending was very predictable, and I think he also thought so as well where he accepted his fate long ago. Plus, homie was so wrapped up in the prophecy's fate that he did ZERO researched and pinned his downfall to one person. He was extremely narrow-minded and stubborn that even though he knew that he was in the wrong, he was too stubborn to change his ways, and was like, "well...we are already at this point...let's just continue." I thought it was rather annoying. Also, even though I am happy with the ending we got, it was a little anti-climatic. I don't think that the characters knew what would happen after they got their revenge because if the King's son didn't want to rule when the King died, who would have stepped up?