MORAL of the story ... Revenge does not bring happiness or contentment!! Overall I did enjoy this ... It is an 'epic' however it's a kind of Korean 'Telenovela' (soapy) ... I thought the three MC's did a wonderful acting job as did many others of the cast & great to have a consistently strong determined FL ... the pace was relentless (that was both good & bad!) So many plots so many characters so many bad guys ... I don't know how people lived in those times tbh (especially women) Yes there was some love I enjoyed the bromance too between the King's group ... Some humour which was great It mostly wasn't boring but for me a LOT of frustration ensued I certainly enjoyed the first 30 episodes more than the last 20+ ... It did go from sublime to ridiculous ... Firstly it was waaaay too long ... too much faffing about with merchants ... counterfeit currency ... Eagle House ... Mining town (yes all part of the story) but all those scenes could easily be condensed down Secondly ... I hate my intelligence being insulted ... I'm happy to suspend disbelief for certain things of course but when for instance Yang is giving birth at the same time as Tanashilli (fake birth) even though they are MONTHS apart ... & Yang gives birth to a healthy full term baby ... Sorry that was too much for me ... Things like ... All those crates of gold (the fund) are unloaded from the Grand Councillors house in no time even though that would be impossible without anyone seeing (especially with TalTal's arrival imminent) & the weight & volume of it all ... Again nonsense! ... Transcribing all those text books by hand in one night LOL! The many many times they had chances to kill bad guys & let them go (usual plot fav) The way these dramas have the same bad guys coming back again & again & again (CDramas do it too) The plots were just never ending & too much ... We start to go around & around ... There is not enough time given to the rare happy moments for us to enjoy ... We just leap into another plot & crisis more death & sadness I could go on & on ... I hated the fact that the script writers got to the end & then just killed off most of the characters left even though they had gone through 51 episodes avoiding death & traps & plots (good guys & bad) To kill Tal Tal just on a whim for the 'story' with no good reason especially was unforgiveable!! He was my fav character & the King for that matter Didn't make sense! ... There were still people who knew the secret & the Emperor was dying so why kill Wang Yu?? Just pure jealousy that's why Using Wang Yu's love for Yang against him! He couldn't help but be vinditive He enjoyed it You could see it in his face... & don't get me started on the bad hammy acting & those stupid villains maniacal laughs ... haha OMG

I knocked off an extra star for the LUDICROUS story line that Golta the Emperor's eunuch was the leader of Eagle House! with one of his personal body guards as his assistant ... I literally laughed out loud at that ... & the fact that although they could find out anything mostly neither Yang or Wang Yu could uncover his identity & that he was the leader ... What? ... Just use spies!! ... Isn't that what they usually do? Don't insult me script writers ... & Yang didn't notice the King was ill or being poisoned Really!!? SMH

I must be the only one who didn't like the Emperor character & I don't know how she could 'love' him like she did Wang Yu ( I mean she forced the situation completely so I didn't buy the 'love' thing)... Well-acted but totally unlikeable character ... Childish selfish controlling abusive unstable paranoid ... I don't think it was 'love' It was obsession with him He latched on to the first person who showed him kindness ... No woman I know would stay with a man like that Yes at times he could be sweet loving funny BUT mostly NOT ( I know he had a hard time) but no excuses ... I liked Yang better with the King ... Handsome Stoic Honourable Kind Intelligent Loyal ... Yes he could be 'cold' perhaps but his heart was filled with all the good stuff Great expressive eyes ... I actually shipped her with the King or my lovely Tal Tal ... He would've been a good partner
So would I rewatch? NO ... (I'd rewatch Tal Tal scenes) but not the rest ... It's not the best ever for me