This is a little tough to rate, as I'm watching it after the second season has come out so I'm hoping that they flesh it out a bit. I'm glad I didn't watch this when it originally came out because otherwise I might have been frustrated and not really invested in waiting for the second season.

This first season feels like a lot of set-up. That's necessary, of course, but the show still felt somewhat incomplete. There is a real lack of emphasis on the characters, so you're not really invested in them other than the fact that they're living beings on the screen. There's very little conversation or banter that gives you any kind of hint as to their personalities. None of the relationships are really developed either. It was also odd that it felt like a good portion of the action happened off-screen. For example, when the beginning of the outbreak starts, two characters are in a shed arguing. You see blood spill into the shed, but the only thing you really see about what happened that night is the aftermath, with blood everywhere and stakes and sharp bamboo sticks constructed as barriers. This sort of thing happened with a couple of zombie encounters, where the entire situation mostly happened off-screen. I don't mean to say that all zombie attacks have to occur on screen, but it was odd that seemingly big ones weren't really shown.

I was a little confused about how rushed certain plot points were (the politics in the beginning are a bit fast and might be hard to catch onto), while it seemed to also be taking its sweet time in other parts (plenty of long shots of people riding places, walking in the palace, etc.). I will say that the action sequences and zombie parts of the show are really good. There is so much tension surrounding the zombie threat, as our heroes attempt to get people to take it seriously and yet are not listened to. When night falls, they know (and we know too) that they're doomed. The zombies themselves are terrifying. Their clouded eyes, the strange strangled growls they make, the way they move their bodies as they rise from the ground are all so disturbing. Kudos to those actors for giving it 100%. Basically, everything about the zombies is great, both the sequences that involve them as well as people's reactions and plans to handle them, and fortunately that's a good portion of the show, so the show is definitely good, despite the fact that I'm mostly complaining about it in this review.

The aspect of the show that is most developed is the political situation, which to me is the most boring part of many sageuks. It's more interesting here because of the very unique situation that they are reacting to. I hope that with the political situation set up they can not focus as much on it in season 2. As I said, there's so much action and plot-related things happening that the characters are very paper-thin, but I think they show promise and I hope in season 2 they get more time to get fleshed out. I think the twists that happen at the end are good and intriguing, but honestly if I had watched this show when it first came out I don't know how invested I would've been in a second season. I'm glad there's a second season, as now I can see whether they follow up on the good stuff they set up.