Season 1 was not perfect. I skipped parts and rolled my eyes more than I care to admit. However, the actors, scenographers and CGI department did a good job, even the montage was adequate. But why, by god, did the writers and the director need to butcher the series as they did in the second season?

Having an amnesiac as a main character in the last third of the series (30 episodes in total) is never a good idea. It drastically halted the progression of the story and, in general, Bu-Yeon (who was supposed to be the fearsome Naksu) did nothing of her own volition to propel the plot forward. She was always a maiden in distress.

As a series written by two women, it sadly also had only two human-like and relatable female characters: Ju-Wol and Mu-Deok. All the other women were over the top jealous, over-subserviant, conniving or borderline crazy.

It would have been more satisfying if, at the end of the first season, everyone died and Jin-Mu took the body of a king. Sad, utterly tragic, but what a story it would have been.

If, in the first season, the writers would sometimes forget some of the character traits and made them act against their nature, then in the second season they decided to butcher almost all the characters, which was most evident in Mu-Deok / Bu-Yeon / Naksu. Pardon my French, but frikin Naksu / Mu-Deok could not have been contained for three years in that captivity.

Perhaps, it was too great to expect to see an interesting sword battle between Naksu and Jang Uk in the second season, but to once again be mainly subjected to the drawn-out "love triangle" and to witness the "back and forth" between main lovebirds (as well as the side lovebirds) was extremely, extremely dull.