King Taejo, the first ruler of the Joseon Era, chooses his youngest son Bang-seok as his heir instead of the son he had with his first wife, Bang-won (Jang Hyuk, macho, mercurial and machiavellian like never before). It is the dawn of a new dynasty but it might as well be its twilight as a deluge of desire and sudden death is about to flood the young kingdom. Queue a blood feud that erupts into superbly choreographed violence, lavish production design, flourishes of historical fantasy, and hanbok-ripping sex. Court intrigue aside, the film's main business is a love story of lunatic majesty between Supreme Commander Kim Min-jae (Save the Green Planet's Shin Ha-kyun in a stellar performance), and Ga-hee (Kang Han-na), a sword dancer who becomes his mistress. Kim's son Jin (heartthrob Kang Ha-neul playing against type), as it turns out, is a despicable serial rapist and it may not be an accident that Ga-hee has entered into upright Kim's domestic life. As family drama mixes with court drama and multiple revenge plots converge, the film enters into a sort of costume melodrama nirvana, stripped out of superfluity and softness, where the tip of a sword and a whisper from a red lip can bring the high and mighty crashing down