This drama actually manages to capture you until the very end, which is about 50 episodes later, no small feat. I love history, I love historical politics, I love martial arts and sword fights, I love clever, tactical plot twists and to that, a tiny bit of romance. I got served so well.... And I started watching this before knowing that it depicted real-life events and persons, that, of course, made it even better for me. It is rare to see a true-to-history-drama successfully deliver a good portion of tension and other emotions throughout the whole series, and they managed to do this here. Because of the length and real-time that passes, you grow attached to the characters, and thus when some of them start to change and/or meet their fate, you are right in the middle of it, or at least it feels that way. Who are the good guys and who the bad, becomes an increasingly blurred line here, and it throws ethical questions right back at you. I never even once got bored by this drama and never skipped scenes. And: This drama produced one of my favourite female supporting characters of all time - master of swords, beautiful face (perfect choice of actress), humble demeanor, tragic story.... sigh (more would spoiler it). If you love historical-political-action - you GOTTA watch this.