I put this drama off for a long time and when I finally started watching it, I almost dropped it several times, but in the end, the characters and the plot of the story won me over.


Plot: 9
_______________________________
★★★★☆ Main idea:
--> I enjoyed the story.
_______________________________
★★★★★ Logic:
--> Whole plot has logical continuity and doesn't contain much irrational twists.
_______________________________
★★★★★ Pace:
--> It was interesting till the end.
_______________________________
★★★★☆ Impression:
--> Impressed.
_______________________________
★★★★☆ Skip rate:
--> I skipped some of the side plots, but not much.
_______________________________
★★★★★ Annoying factors:
--> I loved some of the relationships defined between characters. For example the friendship between the maids. I appreciated their loyalty towards each other and that they despite all the scheming around managed to keep their friendship intact.


Characters: 7,5
_______________________________
★★★★☆ Lead 1 – crown prince Yi San
--> Although I liked Jun Ho in some other dramas, I couldn’t get used to him here. Besides the feeling the role doesn’t really fit the actor, the character got jealous quite often, which annoyed me a lot. I sort of got to like the character as well as the actor (because the acting was without the doubt really good), but it took quite too long.
_______________________________
★★★★★ Lead 2 – palace maid Sung Deok Im:
--> The character itself I liked very much. I liked the fact, despite being “a lowly maid”, she always kept her head up and her morals and goals intact.
_______________________________
★★★★★ Overacting:
--> Absent.
_______________________________
★★★★★ Acting:
--> I liked the acting. At first I didn’t like the appearance of the actress Lee Se Young (playing Sung Deok Im), but she managed to won me over with excellent acting and bringing the character to life. It was probably because of her acting, that I didn't drop the drama and persevered until the end. Only after I completed the drama I looked her over and realized I know her from two other dramas, where I loved her very much. Yet I couldn’t recognize her here and her appearance disturbed me. It was probably the costume and hairstyle I wasn’t used to.
_______________________________
★★☆☆☆ Annoyance level:
--> Some of the characters made me roll my eyes so many times, I cannot count it. Super annoying was the emperor having extremely low self-confidence and constantly blaming everyone for disrespecting him.
--> I was a bit annoyed by those stereotype side characters, who – having no personality of their own – were just constantly jealous of one of the lead, trying hard to get rid of them.
--> Also, as mentioned above, I didn’t like the fact, that the normally extremely rational and calm crown prince lost his pace every time he saw his maid with other man. I mean, with his resources and intelligence it wouldn’t get him much work to uncover the truth, or he could have at least asked before getting mad. This behavior really didn’t match the character outline.


Background: 8
_______________________________
★★★☆☆ Soundtrack:
--> Liked a song or two.
_______________________________
★★★★☆ Visuals (camera, scenery, visual effects, ...):
--> Really liked it.
_______________________________
★★★★☆ Wardrobe (costumes, hairstyles, makeup, ...):
--> Really liked it.


Rewatch value: 7
I assess this value based on impression, skip rate, annoyance level and overall preference.


Final verdict: 8
In general, the story is excellent, however up until end I was a bit disillusioned and was many time thinking of dropping the drama. It was only after the episode 15 and those that followed, that I appreciated the whole story in general and was able to enjoy the bigger picture. Its only shame it got impressive so late.