I started this when I was sick with flu and watched some 20 episodes in 2 days. The first 10 episodes were really good with constant twists and turns. The middle part from 20-40 felt very repetitive with war after war and neverending palace plots. I skipped all fight scenes and Tanashili scenes. They were just too predictable and devoid of meaning. (=Outdated in terms of current expectations). The last 10 episodes were again a rollercoaster. I think it's best to watch this drama as it originally was meant to be watched, 1-2 episodes per week. Probably only then is it possible to appreciate the big scale of the production and the effort that went into making it visually outstanding.

Regardless of this perhaps being a classic and must-watch, I felt the characters were rather one-dimensional and there could have been more shades to the culprits. Now they are just mainly hatable monsters. I have to say I didn't feel much empathy for the main leads. There were some scenes that stood out for both Ji Chang Wook and Ha Ji Won, but the space they were given to portray character depth was rather limited (in comparison to action scenes). Therefore Tal Tal emerged as one of the most interesting characters, as there was slow progression in his coming to the fore. All in all, with the ending (not an actual victory) and the permanent wars and power struggles and last speeches of the Empress Dowager and Head of Eagle House, I felt the message was one of there being always shadow forces and continuity in power politics regardless of people in charge changing.