This drama is an all time classic gem! This is the only "rise to power" drama that doesn't involve revenge on it. That's what I like about this drama. The female lead character doesn't need to be rude on her nemesis just to take revenge. I don't actually want to call it revenge, it's more like revealing the truth. She's so innocent and pure, but insanely smart. It's just the people who loves her and people who believes on her was the one who helped her rise from rock bottom to heavens above. There has a lot of revelation on this show, I mean one after another. It makes you stay on the edge of your sit throughout the whole day. Another great about this show is you'll have an idea how the slave on korea was treated during joseon dynasty. How can powerful people manipulate slaves by their money and doing an unjust death so easily. This is actually an eye opener for us. The characters were portrayed so well especially Han Hyo Joo's character which is Dong Yi. She's so innocent, beautiful, and smart. Her acting was so great. Very different on her acting in W which is so lame. I also like the character of Ji Jin Hee as the King. He looks so fearsome and strong as a king but when he was with Dong Yi as regular man, he looks so adorably funny. Lee So Yeon's portrayal of her character which is Jang Ok Jung was also great. From being a good concubine who helped Dong Yi to enter the palace to a very bad royal consort who also the one who tried to kill her. That's a very hard character to portray and I'll give her a credit for that. Overall this drama is worth the watch! Highly recommended for those who wants to find a good drama. Don't be afraid of the 60 episodes. It's absolutely worth it!. Actually when you're on the final 3 episodes you'll wish that it would be longer that it ever should. SUPERB DRAMA! 2 THUMBS UP! HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!