I've been wanting to watch this show for a long time, but just have never felt an urgency to watch until a friend recommended it as a binge-able romcom to fill some time. The story started out very well, but became much too political and draggy from the middle onwards. I ended up fast forwarding some of those scenes in the last few episodes just to get back to the romance part.

This was my first encounter with Kim Tae Hee, who made the drama. While there were too many scenes of her crying, she also had a very infectious laugh and I enjoyed her happy bubbly personality the most. Song Seung Heon was quite adorable and seemed like he had the ability to really have a sizzling chemistry with KTH. However, I feel like the writers underutilized the romantic potential for this pair. I loved the bickering and banter between them, but longed to see more "skinship" because it was really lacking. We got far too few kissing scenes, and far too little romantic scenes in general.
I pretty much despised Yoon Joo from the moment I laid eyes on her, and that didn't change - but, as the villainess of the show, she succeeded!
I didn't have any issues with the acting from anyone, but other than the leads, the 'court lady' helper and the young chef were the standout side characters for me. They were both very cute!

Story-wise, I felt by episode 4 that the main leads were just running around from one scene to the next, and Lee Seol did a LOT of crying. (She cries very prettily, but still...) I watched this in 2018 and it's a drama from 7 years ago, which I feel shows because it has a decidedly "classic" K-drama feel to it. There's nothing wrong with that, but if you are late to this party, it does feel a bit noticeable compared to newer dramas. The romance seems to be dialed way back, and every time the characters get close to having a moment, something causes them to be interrupted and the action moves to something else. They left the conflict resolution between the main leads until the last couple of minutes of the show, choosing instead to focus the majority of the last episode on resolutions that I cared little about.

The music was nothing interesting, just general instrumental - I don't even recall hearing a 'theme song' or song with lyrics. I feel like I did recognize the classic American song "Sleepwalk" during a romantic scene (it has no lyrics), but I've always associated that song with sad scenes for some reason.

I don't see me re-watching this show, but I'm happy to check it off my list of classic shows.
It was worth it just to see Kim Tae Hee and Song Seung Heon.