Tale of Nokdu is a show that I found very easy to watch and quite engaging. Although I didn't find the humor as hilarious as other people did, the first part of the series when Nokdu dresses as widow Kim is entertaining to watch. Pretty early on (I actually thought they would drag it for longer) Dongjoo finds out he is a man though, and her feelings for him grow during the time they are forced to cohabit.

This show follows the characters as they go through many phases, from finding out the truth about their pasts, to plotting revenge all the way to giving up and freeing themselves from it all. I found it refreshing yet somewhat bittersweet how they didn't accomplish any type of closure, specially Nokdu. He finds out he is the king's son, then that the king tried to have him killed as a baby, he tries to find out the reason why (and is crashed to realise it is only because of the throne), he wants revenge but then he tries his best to stop prince neungyang from becoming king. Eventually, he fails at everything, and the actual king (his father) never for one second wavers in his decision to have him killed. Makes me wonder, why did he have to go through so much for?

That part of the story is pretty heartbreaking. I expected that after spending time together as guard and king, the king obviously having grown affectionate feelings towards Nokdu, that in the end he would regret everything he did to his son. But the king is despicable until his last breath. I saw glimpses of him being a good guy and had hope, but by the end of the story even his last words to prince Neungyang feel like a pointless effort at self-justifying his life. He warns Neungyang that when he claims the throne he will be very lonely... man, you are a psychopath, no excuses!

As for prince Neungyang, I don't see why Dongjoo hates him so much. He is plotting treason against the king, but overall he is a very mellow baddie. He rarely kills and he has been kind to her all his life. Even the way he acts towards Nokdu isn't that terrible, I have seen worst in other dramas from second MLs. Burning the village of the widows was pretty bad, but Dongjoo never truly confronts him about it, making me wonder if she is even aware he was 100% behind it.

The soundtrack is good, the fighting scenes are well done, the side characters are not given much time so they didn't grow much on me (I was extreme surprised how much I ended up disliking the kid Aengdo, I mean kids are normally impossible to dislike).

It is an easy drama to watch and the love story is cute and refreshing.