I watched this drama because it has so many good reviews, it was well watched and just known as one of the top dramas in the kdrama world (not to mention that literally everyone is in it in some way or another).

It started well, the historic background really gripped me and made me watch further. The main story as well as the sub plots were all very interesting and made me want to find out what would happen next.
But then the story started to slow down, like reaaaally slow down.

Before I get to the rest of the story, I just have to say the main love story just did not convince me at all. Their scenes were poorly written if you ask me because at some point they were just in love and for the life of me I couldn't figure out why it happened or when. And their scenes were unnecessarily dramatic. Their long gazes, the dramatic music... it would work if I had been convinced from the start but I wasn't so it was just boring and skippable. However, the last episodes changed a bit and from the moment they get fake married, I really like the couple. Their heart wrenching ending also made me bowl. But again these were the last episodes.

The rest of the story is kind of the same. Starts interesting, especially with Eugene assassinating that minister, the smuggling of that one patriot etc. but then the story sort of forgets it's potential for exciting moments. There were some funny moments, some interesting ones but they hardly kept my will to finish the show intact. I honestly only finished it because of the historic background which was really interesting, especially in those last episodes. And there we are again, those last episodes saved the show to me. They were exciting, the love story was finally interesting, things started moving along and I finished those episodes with no problem.
Also, someone here said the historic background doesn't feel as meaningful for a global audience but I fully disagree. The story about the rebels was my favourite and it was incredibly touching to see how many people from different life paths all came together to try and save their country. I feel like I learned a lot and was just moved by the resilience Korean people showed in the faces of their oppressors.

All in all, this drama was okay. The cinematography is amazing, the casting was obviously great and the OST has some gems. But it should've been shorter, 24 episodes all longer than an hour is just way too long to keep the audience gripped (although many would disagree i guess). But I still think if you have a good attention span that you should watch it.

Some other things that annoyed me:

- Hina finding out about her mother's death. I don't know why the minister had to use her only to tell her her mother passed away. I know he gave his reasoning but it felt dry and just lazy idk
- all the men being in love with one woman while not even properly knowing her and who she is. Very unnecessary.
- we get zero closure for Hotaru. Plus we don't really learn anything about her until the end and the story felt cliche when i feel like it could've been way more meaningful to the whole plot. Idk she's just there and then she's not and that's just lazy writing to me.
- Hina dying??? like I know she wanted to but then she didn't want to but then she did? It would've been a lot more meaningful to let her die in the hotel or let her live. The way it happened was only so that she could confess to Dongmae which at that point felt unnecessary. Why did they even start that love line?????
- Dongmae having 309403924 battles and dying several times until actually dying like ??????
- the French... girl