I had my doubts about The Iron Empress. The title and its visual representation featuring a stern, martial woman, in full armor, made it obvious what I could expect: a sort of Joan of Arc who shows men how the fighting is done on the battlefield and in the royal court. Then there was the episode count which is, at 78, asking a lot of the viewer to commit to unless the drama is a Jumong. To my surprise, the first episode had me completely absorbed. Before I knew it, I was past the point of no return and found myself rooting for Empress Dowager Chun Chu to get control of Goryeo's throne; for Kim Chi Yang's duplicity and betrayal to be revealed; and for the Empress Dowager of Khitan to prevail over her son, the Emperor, who wants go to war and make Goryeo a tributary state. The story obviously had me engrossed. Among the characters and the actors who portrayed them, the actor who plays the role of the mad king, whom Chun Chu marries, stands out. The role requires the actor to be rude, boorish, churlish, etc., and I can only imagine how fun that was for the actor to play and it shows in his acting, which is at times both electrifying and laugh out loud funny. As to Chae Shi Ra, she plays her lead role with consummate skill. She has to lest the entire drama crumble and collapse. Finally, I learned something watching The Iron Empress. I had no idea that the Khitan or the Liao Dynasty was a massive and influential power that rivaled the Song Dynasty. I learned they were a nomadic tribe that transformed itself into a civilized culture and military superpower, a precursor of sorts of Genghis Khan and the Mongol Empire. Two more things: I gave the drama an overall rating of 8 because there are about 15 episodes that are fillers or padding, and the fighting scenes showing the character Gang Jo wielding his spear is the most awesome display of martial arts I've seen in all of K-Drama.