I decided to write a review because 8.2 is not high enough for this drama. I just think that many people don't seem to get it. This is not the kind of drama that would give you a satisfying conclusion, but rather a brutal depiction of reality. Some people might say that the show has no clear vision about what it was trying to convey. It might seem like that because the whole point of the show is about the meaning or actually meaninglessness of life. I was really surprised by the direction this drama takes, especially with Song Tae Ha's character development. Try to take a look at history. When you live in an extremely corrupt society, the idea of changing the world usually ended up like what happened in this drama. The so called revolutionists are mostly like either Song Tae Ha, who was pretty much clueless about what to do, or who fell to the temptation of power. In my opinion, Lee Dae Gil and Song Tae Ha represent the saddest members of the privilege middle class. They are two sides of the same coin. One was idealist when it comes to life meaning, but secretly feared that his life was actually meaningless. The other was a nihilist, but secretly still desired for life meaning. The reason why they hated each other was because of envy one another. It wasn't just because they shared the same love interest. Tae Ha envied Dae Gil for being able to accept the meaninglessness of life. To Tae Ha, Dae Gil was his worst nightmare. The one who exposed his biggest fear that all his struggle was meaningless, that he should just run away and live a peaceful simple life. A conversation with Dae Gil might lead to existential angst, which is why he hated this guy. On the other hand, Dae Gil envied Tae Ha that he could still see a meaning in his life, but he was mad at Tae Ha for not being able to abandon his quest for a meaningful life in exchange for a happy life with his family. Because Tae Ha had everything Dae Gil wished to have, but he kept choosing the other option. At the beginning, Song Tae Ha appeared as a Gary Stu perfect gentleman, but he turned out to be the real embodiment of the uber-privilege upper middle class. While Dae Gil, too, represent the middle class. Their story are sad and fascinating, but their struggle was actually nothing compared to the slaves. Changing the world had to be about them, but the story of the group of revolutionary slaves are a mere subplot compares to the story of Dae Gil and Tae Ha. Tae Ha and the gang just kept talking about changing the world while nothing they had done actually changed anything. It was only right that these slaves who actually barely had any relation to the 2 leads to bring down the bad guy. The more corrupt the society, the more you would find people like Dae Gil and Tae Ha. I had several friends who are just like Dae Gil. They told me exactly what Dae Gil had told Tae Ha about his silly idea of changing the world in the exact same manner that Dae Gil did. But even the slave, Eop Bok, chose what could be considered a stupid decision for the sake of giving meaning to his life and the life of his compatriots, never mind someone like Song Tae Ha who was told he was destined for great things. Perhaps running away to live w/ Jakgwi's group or abroad was really the best decision, but for Tae Ha, it was a humiliation, the last resort. Unfortunately, the way he said it I really really think he couldn't stand to live in Joseon any longer. He indeed said he despised the corrupt court too much. The acting was great. Unfortunately, imo, Oh Ji Ho was simply overshadowed by Jang Hyuk. There are times when I think he had to be more intense. This made Dae Gil way more fascinating compared to Tae Ha, which, imo, not true. Tae Ha was actually an equally fascinating character if we don't include the Jang Hyuk factor into the equation. I actually can relate with Tae Ha better than Dae Gil. Another complaint of mine is the show spend too much time with the side characters such as the jumos and the perverted painter. Those parts are boring which is why I don't give the story a perfect score.