while I watching the last ep I wondered if rating the plot as 10 would be biased.. I wanted to give this an overall 10 from the start because I really loved everything, but I could say that the plot was slightly "too convenient" for the writers.

If one looks at this as a historical, it follows the basic pattern for that genre; the lonely paranoid king, the birth secret, the "we can't be together for so and so reasons" and the desire for the crown.
But this drama actually dealt with those cliches really well. I could say it was the "model" way of dealing with it. for one, Dong Joo was actually used to her full potential as a female lead, she was stubborn, jaded and "too careful of attachments", but she was independent, she worked hard to hone her "fighting skills" and they actually USED those skills for the greater good of the plot! also she had a great balance of when to be "cold" vs "cute" during the development of the romance.

Nokdu, well what can I say about dear sweet Nokdu... for starters, he is now my num1 favorite male lead character ever! I love the "sweet" kind, but I don't think they are as widely written as the "Nice Male Lead" tag says they are :)
if one is not as sweet, cute, playful, and easily sulky as Nokdu then they are not the "nice" type..
I can go on and on about his characteristics, but I'll talk about Lady Kim instead ;p
SHE was the main point of this drama, "the wind that carried the plot?", I wish they used her more but seeing her again at the end really made my day (and the decision to give this a 10 easier ;p )

overall I think this great a "Newbie Friendly" drama one can suggest to friends that want to start kdramas, especially for historical genres that might seem too heavy for a newbie.

The ost was also full of amazing mood makers I need to listen to separately and add to my favorite ost list ;p


my rewatch values are either a 1 or 10, and though I might skip the heavy stuff here, I'd LOVE to watch my favorite couple Nokdu and Dongjoo!❤