Royal families in saeguk drama always left me uncomfortable. While I could empathize with them as characters, the sheer amount of killing and suffering around them just so that they can hold onto their position diminished my fun for drama watching. Finally, this drama gave me the satisfaction I was craving for when rooting them as queen and king.

Story
All the characters were well written. Let's start with the king. You could actually feel the helplessness and powerlessness when you look at him. The teenage crown prince was naive to think that he was powerful enough to protect and rule the country. He had his rude awakening when his own mother has to commit suicide just to protect him. Now the mature king just trying to survive and hoping to protect at least a few people. The king has very few happy moments and that is only with queen. He is always aware of the sacrifices around him. It is always tearing him apart. For him, queen is the only one he truly protected. She was more than a women he loved, her survival was the only thing that kept him moving forward. He was never really happy to gamble with her life. Even the death of councillor park never felt like a victory to him. He was tried of all killing. And in the end when he agreed to her becoming her rival, it was to give her the power to protect herself and to have a political rival (an inevitable thing) who he could trust.

The queen was really the only person worth fighting for and that was what this drama did. the king and councillor both fought for her in their on way. She was the only person who truly understood what both sides of a coin meant. She was the only character to rise above her fear and live in the present. The king and councillor park's action were always derived from their past experience. The queen dowagers action were from her fear for the future. Queen was the only one who understood what her duty was and what being the master of someone else truly meant. When she was a scholars daughter she was sharing her knowledge with kids to make them self sufficient. When she was the village head she was more happy to sacrifice her fortune and life to save the craftsmen. When she became the consort she fought for both king and her court maids. Her bringing salve to court maid and her relationship with the slave was really heartening to see. When she became queen she was ready to point out the mistake the king did even while empathizing with him. The king truly outgrew of his limitation because of her and councillor park was okay to back down because of her.

Councillor park is someone who is haunted by his past was ready to loose everything to avoid it happening again. I think in a way he himself condemned his deeds but he truly felt that it was the only way forward for him. That is the reason he allowed his son to grow outside his influence and also why he was dissapointed by his kings .In his eyes the kings were never brave enough to loose something for the greater good. This is also why he was impressed by the queen.

When the drama ended with a loose cannon called lady cho, my instincts where calling to kill her character to avoid future dramas. But then I found that this was the easy way the king was taking . Withering lady cho's trap is hard but being tolerant was all the main characters where looking for in the end. Their fear of others being in tolerant was what lead to the bloodshed. In a way the ending truly fit the drama.

The storytelling and acting in this drama was so compelling that I felt the actors but the characters. It had many kaboom, goosebump raising moments. Expect for one BGM I don't really remember much of the music. If you are looking for a drama with cool female character(Believe me, it is really rare) in saeguk drama then this is it for you. Don't hesitate. DIVE IN.