I might be in the minority here, but I really struggled to finish this drama. The overwhelmingly positive reviews made me go into this show with high expectations, but also made me even more disappointed in the end. Not everything is bad, but there are way too many parts that frustrated me to watch or was just plain boring.

The casting was good. All the actors and actresses played their roles well (no hate towards any of them). The visuals were great and the show itself was filmed in a visually stunning way (although dark and bland sometimes). As with most shows that I'm not a fan of, the problems mostly lie in the writing and execution. This drama is long, taking into account parts 1 and 2, with some episodes being over an hour long. This wouldn't be a problem if the show actually kept my interest the entire time, but there were so many scenes that were just dragged out for way too long, and so many repetitive situations. The two leads going back and forth arguing with each other became extremely repetitive and annoying very quickly. Gil Chae's character was not very likeable for the majority of the show (especially at the beginning), and the way she treated Jang Hyun in the first half was frustrating to watch to say the least. She would constantly blame him for things, badmouth him, and was just plain rude. So many times Jang Hyun would help her or save her life, and all of this would go unnoticed. He would fight and hurt himself in the process, only for very little acknowledgement and little payoff in the end (in fact, Gil Chae would often get upset with him instead). Gil Chae being "in love" with Yeon Jun in the first half was so frustrating to watch. So many times I thought she would finally come to her senses and move on from this unhealthy relationship with Yeon Jun, only for her to fall right back in to blindly chasing after his affection even though he's already in a relationship with her best friend. It didn't help that Yeon Jun was incredibly annoying for most of the show, especially when he admitted to having some feelings for Gil Chae while also seeing Eun Ae.

Side characters were okay, although boring at times and helped to drag out the story for way too long. Ryang Eum's dynamic with Jang Hyun was interesting and not something that you see often in these types of shows. Gag Hwa was also a pretty interesting character, and sometimes I felt more chemistry between her and Jang Hyun than with Gil Chae. I didn't really care at all for Yeon Jun and Eun Ae's relationship (even though Eun Ae was a very good character in my opinion), as Yeon Jun was not very likeable.

The vibe of the show started off as a historical rom-com, but quickly turned very dark, violent, and moody. Not necessarily a bad thing, but I do prefer rom-coms over dark shows. The first two-ish episodes were great in my opinion, but I soon found myself wishing there was a fast-forward option to get through some of the boring scenes and repetitive dialogue. Namkoong Min, who I acknowledge is a very talented and well-respected actor, did this thing throughout the entire show where he would talk in a very slow manner. This was obviously done for dramatic effect and to increase tension in his scenes, but I found this also dragged out his scenes for much longer than they normally would have been. He would take a pause between every few words or sentences that dragged out his dialogue scenes waaay too long. I don't know if this was just me who noticed this?

The story itself became boring very quickly. I haven't seen Gone with the Wind, so I can't really make comparisons with it. The story just felt dragged out, and some parts like Jang Hyun losing his memory twice didn't really make much sense to me. The ending was okay I guess, I think I was just glad that it was finally over. The relationship between Jang Hyun and Gil Chae was cute at times, but I couldn't really feel the chemistry. Often times I wondered why they were so obsessed with each other (especially with Jang Hyun towards Gil Chae), as I felt like their relationship lacked a strong connection that made me want to see them together. The constant bickering and push&pull in the first half didn't really lead to a good build up to their relationship, and then the introduction of Gag Hwa into the story and her dynamic with Jang Hyun made it even harder to feel the connection between the main leads. I felt like most of the show Jang Hyun and Gil Chae weren't even together.

Overall, rather disappointed to say the least. You may enjoy this show if you like historical/costume & period dramas. I prefer modern-day rom-coms so maybe this show just wasn't for me.