Yungnyong-i Nareusya

Non-stop excellence, each episode was engaging. Fifty episodes was not enough! The writing, the acting, the visuals, the sets, the characters, the action, the music, the costumes are all stunning. This is a classic for so many reasons.

This is a telling of thee life story of how Lee Bang Won became King of Joseon, by the same writer of. Another sageuk classic, "A Jewel in the Palace." The story is compelling, even with the complicated politics, relationships and ideology about how a nation struggled to reinvent itself. King Taejon's complicated rise to power and lead the new nation followed actual history.

This drama is so entertaining and educational; a "must-see" for fans of sageuks, After seeing hundreds of K-dramas, this tops my list.

Being only halfway thru the series, I almost waited until the end to write a review. This show is just too good to not have any reviews up though, so here's what I've seen thus far.

Many Korean dramas are based in the country's history, and this one is also. Not only did the writers pick a particularly tempestuous time period, but also father/son rulers. The story so far has grabbed me from the very fist show, and there's no way I would stop watching through the entire 50+ episodes. The story is written in such a way as to carefully craft each and every character interaction, to best acquaint the audience with all the players. Their stories are being quite intricately developed with many layers. I've found myself sad when some of the worst villains were done away with, because I enjoyed them so much. There are not so many black and white characters, as many shades of gray characters. The writers and extremely talented actors make each character so human, it's easy to forget this story is told in a different century!

The entire cast seem to be the best in the field, especially the young men and women. The Lee Bang Won character, played by Yoo An-in, has been absolutely astounding to watch. I've never seen such a young actor bring so much talent to a role. His scenes are some of the most compelling I've ever watched, in any movie or television show. All of the actors are superb in this series.

If you've ever been curious about shows from another part of the world, I highly recommend you watch this show. It's a work of art in every way.

Extremely well written series. I loved all the characters with their good and bad. You get to see an amazing story and character development, you will get to love and hate the same character multiple times. Game of thrones is nothing compared to this!

My brother who never watches Asian dramas, not even a two hour movie, let alone 50 episodes. I convinced him to watch only one episode in exchange of beers and snacks lol. He couldn't stop after episode one and bing watched it for 3 days straight! :D This series is my all time favourite followed by "Mouse". The plot, the tension, the acting. Everything is phenomenal and makes you get carried away until the very last episode. I have watched all popular kdramas and western shows. Nothing comes close to this. Just one thing you need to focus though. There are many characters and names. Don't be confused. The quotes in this series are also life changing for me. I couldn't get over this series even after a month.

This work of art only explores the multitute of human emotions laying bare the complexity of human interactions and the unpredictability of life in every possible way that it feels wanting for more even after 50 episodes.