From what little historical abstracts I’ve read on the Web regarding Empress Gi (and there’s very little of it), MBC’s _Empress Ki_ isn’t as good as it could be in terms of being faithful to the actual facts. However, as I’m neither a Sinophile nor a Korean history scholar, I’ll stick to my impressions of the TV drama. Stunning is the word that comes to mind. And this is a first when applied to Korean historical dramas which I’ve always shunned under the impression that they were mostly palace intrigues involving a lot of stuffy, elevated speech in grave, dimly-lit, austere settings. Indeed, _Empress Ki_ had enthralled me so that it wouldn’t surprise me if Korean historical dramas comprise my current watch list to the exclusion of all else—at least for the time being. Its epic scale was its chief appeal. The story’s settings encompass a continent as it begins in ancient Korea and then moves westward to Beijing all the way to the Silk Road and China’s western frontier before settling for good in Beijing and its environs, with a brief sally back to Korea. The story is equally epic as it has, in the broadest strokes, a love triangle involving an emperor, a king, and a self-made empress; strife and unrest among nations and ethnicities; and a palace intrigue replete with the usual murders, betrayals, and acts of revenge, more than meriting the drama’s allotted 51 episodes. There was a moment of doubt, at episode 38, when what seems to be the story’s biggest conflict—the heroine’s ouster of the inveterate tyrant—is resolved; but it didn’t take long for the tension and suspense to rebuild, putting me once again on the edge of my seat chewing my fingernails. Just how much I was moved by _Empress Ki_ can’t be said enough. Even the villains evoked my sympathy: namely, when Tanggisi helplessly watches his sister get executed and when, fending off his assassins, Regent Bayan calls for his nephew’s help only to fall under his nephew’s sword. Even Yom Byung-soo, who I wanted to see boiled alive in a cauldron (in the old Mongol style), had a moment deserving of my sympathy: namely, when he sighs in dismay at Tanggisi’s mission objective if or when El Temur's hidden treasure is found. (Tanggisi wants to raise an army and regain control of Yuan when all Yom wants to do is retire and live the good life.)