The cast is wonderful. I liked everyone. They did a great job of bringing the remarkable writing to life. As usual in K-drama, the child actors were as good and professional as the adults. (How can children act that well? Are they really 30 year-old midgets?) The bad guys were evil without being dehumanized. The good guys were good, but with plenty of flaws. There was some wonderful overacting, especially from Bae Doo-na's mother. The beautiful, self-absorbed, calculating, ruthless, and unlovable bad girl is played to perfection.

The writing was excellent. The writers took some of the standard elements of K-drama--love between people from different classes, the family obsession with marriage, the emotionally-stunted and damaged romantic hero, the secret family relationship, the tension between social and personal rules--and created something that kept you thinking and guessing. They put their heroine in some interesting situations, and you spend a lot of time evaluating her decisions. Prince Charming had some interesting problems, and you spend a lot of time wondering about whether or not he's worth the emotional effort. It's one of the few enjoyable dramas that made me want to figure out what I thought about what happened in the episode that I just finished watching rather than rushing on to the following episode to see what happens next. That's pretty good. I like that.