The Red Sleeve

One of the most beautiful dramas I've watched

I think this is genuinely one of the best dramas I've watched. The chemistry, the story, everything was perfect. I enjoyed it from start to finish.


I will discuss the last two episodes, so don't read unless you have watched them!!!

I cried during the last two episodes, but in the end, I was somewhat happy that they went with historical accuracy. It was painful and beautiful.

Honestly started this because I thought it was going to be funny, and at the beginning, it was, but then we were hit with reality. Deok-im was a woman in a man's world, which contributed a lot to her goals and aspirations. One of those was to live life how she wanted, even if it was trivial things she wanted to have some control. When she fell in love with San, she felt that it would restrict her freedom to be with him, so she put it off for a long time, but she was drawn to him either way. Her heart ached for him, and she wanted to keep him safe at all cost.

In that episode, her heart won the battle when he asked her to choose between not seeing him again or being with him. I saw a lot of comments saying that the ending sucks, but it was honestly such a beautiful ending, and you could tell that her harsh words came from a place of love. She didn't want San to drown in sorrow, so she pretended that her feelings weren't as strong as his. But you could tell that in a way she loved him very much. She chose to be with him because the thought of not seeing him and not being around him hurt more than losing the little bit of freedom that she had. Everyone could see their love, and except for that other concubine, everyone was rooting for them and wanted them to be happy. Maybe if we got more of those happy moments with their child and the family they had, maybe more people could see that spending those happy moments with San had more value than the life she once dreamed of. Not to say that she was completely happy and without regrets because she definitely had many, but even when she asked him not to look for her, it was because she knew that she would do it again if he asked. She would fall for him again, and they chose to spend their eternity together in the end.

I am satisfied with this ending because it showed the harsh reality of the past, yet it combined with the beauty of love. Both San and Deok-im were part of each other's happiness. Again my only complaint is that I wish we could have seen more happy moments, especially with their son, as it would make it clear that she did love him and was only holding back. I wanted to see them raising their child together and being a family. I get that having those tragic moments was more important for the story, but still, I wish we could have seen them. It looked like San was a great father, and their grief truly broke me.

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Beautiful slow burn romance, excellent acting and great cinematography

Completed - 1/1/2022

My first completed drama of 2022. What a beautiful ride this has been. I think "The Red Sleeve" has become my favorite sageuk, surpassing "The Crowned Clown" and "Moon Embracing the Sun". This drama has equal parts court politics and romance.

Acting - The overall acting for the whole cast is excellent. We have the amazing lead couple, whose quiet, simmering chemistry is off-the-charts. Lee Jung Ho (ML) and Lee Se Young (FL) were charismatic and playful in the first half of the drama, and the acting switches gears to a more melodramatic and serious tone. Our second male lead, Kan Hoon, portrays a grey character well. He kept me guessing whether he's good and loyal, or bad and traitorous. Not to forget out crazy king played by veteran actor Lee Deok Hwa. There are several episodes and scenes where he just took over the screen, and you were so mesmerized with him. The strong women supporting cast from the Queen Dowager, all the Princesses/Concubines and court ladies - all act their part and make each scene believable.

Romance - As mentioned, this is a very slow-burn romance. ML loves FL for over 10 years and courted her for so long before they were officially together. We have to wait till Ep 16 for that to happen!!! You cannot deny their chemistry. It might not be sizzling hot but it's simmering from episode to episode. We started with the initial fun bantering to the quiet and loyal behind-the-scene support, and then finally talking openly about their feelings (mainly ML to FL). One of my favorite scenes was when ML was grounded by the king and has to stay in his room. Our FL quietly stayed by his side outside the door, and read him poetry from the Book of Odes. That was such a romantic scene! I was happy to see that scene again in the finale. On the other hand, I was frustrated for ML because he never openly heard FL's love confession. I understand where FL is coming from, and her choice to stay with him is an act of love. But ML confesses so many times that I think he deserves to hear those words from FL's mouth directly. In the end, the audience waited until ep 16 to finally have some happy couple moments for less than half a episode. Well, at least we got several amazing kisses (not fish kisses, thank god!) from our amazing couple.

Court Politics - The rise of the crown prince to the throne took up 2/3 of the drama. It's interesting to see another side of throne fighting. Here, we don't have other princes but only the crown prince. Yet, there's still a lot of secret meetings and fighting between factions, before ML can become king. The friendship between the Crown Prince and Hong Deok Ro is quite a tragic one. As with the romance, the complexity of this friendship is not in-your-face, but is slowly and gradually shown to the audience. The power struggle between the King and the Crown prince is interesting as well. It's quite evident that the king wants the crown prince to take the throne eventually, yet he just won't let it go. Behind all these politics, we also have women working behind closed doors. We have scheming queens and princesses, fighting for their own benefits. But the biggest villains is the secret society run by a bunch of evil court ladies. That plotline is quite interesting, as I never would have thought they could be powerful enough to influence who would be the next king. I guess it's similar to how there are powerful eunuchs in C-dramas.

Court ladies & Guards - I also enjoy the behind-the-scene look of the hard-working court ladies. The friendship developed between FL and her friends was heartwarming to watch. Without these friends, life for these court ladies is depressing. The friends also provide comic relief to a pretty serious drama. Having someone like Court Lady Seo to be by FL's side is a blessing.
She's like a mother to her. I can't forget to mention our loyal and naive palace guard, Kang Tae Ho. He is quite adorable, esp. when he's giving tips on how to court a woman!

Cinematography - This is a beautifully shot drama. I especially like the natural lighting in all the scenes. When the scenes are shot indoors at night, the light is strictly coming from the candles and lanterns. There's no fake artificial light. It makes everything so much more natural and real. The costumes are beautifully layered with appropriate accessories. Though court ladies can't wear elaborate outfits, but you can tell that all the clothes are of high-quality fabric and not flimsy ones.

Other Observations:
1. Is it really that difficult to kill a tiger??????
2. How did FL escape from the underground prison when the exit is where the head court lady is having a meeting?
3. Love the dumplings scene in the finale. I feel that the leads are trying hard not to laugh and might have ad lib lines some of the lines.
4. Ep 17 is a little slow. I wonder if it's better to keep it at 16 episodes instead of increasing it to 17. But then, the episodes are already 1.5-long, so maybe not.
5. I am not sure about the ending: somehow I wished the drama ended sooner right after the leads got together. I want to see them happy.

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The Red Death

Some soundtracks were brilliant and went hard while other ones were pure rehashed garbage picked up from your local free-licensed store. However, the drama itself suffered from being painfully long-winded, with excessive and unnecessary long shots that reflected negatively on the cinematography. Especially when the chemistry was average at best. Plot-wise, it fell into the trap of being extremely formulaic, treading familiar ground seen in many dramas with the girl/prince trope. It didn't dare to try anything new or to spin its own twist. The male lead made the whole experience significantly uncomfortable and challenging, his personality didn't exude any attractive qualities in the slightest; in fact, I found his behavior to be quite repulsive, appalling and off-putting, catered exclusively to the fan-fic obsessed mindset, which may explains its ratings.

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Gripping story and strong acting. Recommended (with a warning).

This is one of the dramas that have left a very strong impression on me, together with shows like My Dearest and Mr Sunshine.
Oh, how I cried ...!
Weeks after finishing this show I still got emotional thinking about it. This series will sit with me for a long, long time.
Brilliant performances - the emotions portrayed, whether frustration, anger, love, sadness or joy, was just exeptional.

Costumes, for someone like me with no specific knowledge about this, seemed fine.
Locations and filmography were good too.

Note: After I originally wrote this review I learned the series is based on historical persons.

It also felt more "realistic" than most of the other historical dramas I've seen. Not "over-the-top" with clichés and such (as I remember).

The only thing I guess is holding me back from giving a full score, is that I felt the story skipped a bit much in the end.

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A wounded heart in a critical condition

Long time since i wrote a review, but now i am writing to express my condolence to myself, to sue the screenwriter and the director for their policy to follow up with the historical facts that made this tragedy to happen. Meantime, i will thanks genuinely the cast and them for this massive generation of a drama, a masterpiece, a divine live painting mixed between joy and sorrow black it in the end.
Lee se young and lee jun ho those two were the peace and the typhoon of this framework, their chemistry is beyond talking, strongly enough to make their scenes the best in a sageuk as couple then comes PKH and MCW in princess man and IU and LJK in moon lovers.
Deok im character who has her friends and her pride and free self above everyone, the tense that LSY had shown is unbelievable. She truly reminded me of MCW in princess man. Her character was between kind ,straight then badass and stubborn. She refuses to be subsided to someone and restricts her liberty. She can greatly hide her true and sincere feelings to someone to the very end for that purpose of hers.
Yi san/jeongjo character is a controversy, he lived in fear during his childhood and was always tormented by his father cp sado execution then by his gf king yeongjo who was strict on him and threatening him not to become like his late father. So he never truly had happiness in his life until he met with deok im, he started to smile and have fun with her that's when their story began. His affection to deok im grow bigger every time she saves,protect and look after him meanwhile deok im is in her defense state and hide her feelings to keep living her desired free life, so every time she refused to be his woman he go more persistent and savage on her. During his reign, he forced her to be his concubine without deliberating with her anymore hence she subjected to him because she had no choice although she likes him but she doesn't want this consort life because she knew the king has duties and he will not be hers only and the aftermath is known. So his obsessive character over her and his responsibility as a king to pretend to ignore not letting her live the life she wanted ( although she confessed it was her choice to stay by his side in the dazzling palace and i think after being worn out of his chasing after her)has drawn this wailing end.
This drama made me cry a lot experiencing successive demises that melted my heart and bruised my mind. It cannot be easily forgettable.

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Worthy of watching

I have watched this drama twice. I have to read English subtitles which has a lot of my concentration the first time I watch it. When I watch it a second or third time I always see something new. While other ratings were not at the top, I personally loved the connection between Lee Jun Ho & Lee Se Young. Their performance was excellent and kept me at times laughing and definitely the tears rolled in particular in the last few episodes. I only comment on the entertainment of the dramas I watch and leave any personal political thoughts out.
I watch dramas to learn, enjoy and reminisce my past experiences with love, loss and where I am now. I have become enamored with Korean dramas. I look forward to them everyday. Thanks to the talents of the gorgeous male actors and the beautiful women in these dramas.

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A Gem

Passed by this series on a number of occasions because yes, I did judge it based on its cover page/summary and assumed it was another palace drama with the typical romance story between a poor woman and the prince/king. However based on another reviewer's comment on the uniqueness to their story, I took a chance and wasn't disappointed.

Although the plot does seem to follow the usual servant girl turned concubine, the evolution of their romance is not as glorified as with some other historical dramas. It progresses more realistically in terms of how helpless women were at those times, without the option of having a choice when men decided to turn their attention towards you. While some women fantasize about social climbing and reaching a certain status, many don't realize what they are sacrificing in return.

I absolutely loved the FL and ML actors here as they did a fantastic job with both their subtleties and command of the screen. There are multiple complex webs of relationships with equally complex characters which really makes the series feel full. The pacing of the story was done really well with very little plot lag. Also while fictional, it does nod towards historical facts with respect to Royal Noble Consort Ui and Jeongjo of Joseon for that extra something special.

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Not a fluffy romance and a different take on a different era

I binged this sageuk drama in less than 2 days, as I just got hooked.
I liked the fact it's based on real historical figures, even though the plot was largely fictional.
Fine cast and very good acting. Considering the vast majority of the drama took place within the palace walls, or immediately outside it, I felt the sets were wonderful and it gave a sense of how it must have been for those never allowed to leave.
This isn't a fluffy story at all. Whilst there are many light moments, the latter episodes contain tragedy and heartbreak.
The inner workings of palace politics, the personal maids and servants, tied for life to the King, who has total power and control over their lives, has been portrayed many times in sageuk dramas, but in Red Sleeve, possibly for the first time, I really felt like I got a glimpse into how hard and terrifying life could have been for anyone working close to the King; especially women.
In this instance, the ability to possess what one wishes, regardless, is taken advantage of. Though love is reciprocal, the effect this has on a previously bright, opinionated and free thinking character, I found so sad.
A King who in reality did a lot to reform policies at the time, but was overshadowed by his bi-polar, paranoid father, who was remembered for causing the deaths of a large number of his servants ~ although as the drama portrays, he and others felt Crown Prince Sado was purposely driven to madness.
At the end of the day, the King forced his will on the woman he loved, even though she'd explained why she didn't want to be his concubine.
A fated love story and not an easy ride. A little laboured at times, but overall a powerful watch. You might need tissues.

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How to move on from this??

What an emotional rollercoaster this drama is! It's one of the best historical dramas I have watched for a while. The story and characters were written with so much depth, and the actors conveyed this with so much sincerity. There were many darker themes woven into this romance to depict the harsh realities of court life for many women (loneliness, male dominance, court politics), and you really come to understand each character's motives.

The side characters are strong and hilarious but the chemistry between Lee Junho and Lee Se Young is electric. Lee Junho is captivating with the emotion he shows on screen - you were really with him the whole time and shared deeply in his happiness and pain.

There was a pain where I felt things dragged a little and that it was going nowhere with Dok Im and Yi San, but the continued tension between them made the ending all the more heartwrenching.

I'm not sure where to go with dramas now after this...

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Pretty good as a dramatised adaption of actual historic events, absolutely unfit for a romance

I am a romance lover. I love the love conquers all trope. Don’t get me wrong I can also get with sad endings and drama and heartache BUT this one, from the perspective of a romance drama, was just way too depressing over all.
I mean it was to be expected since it’s based off of actual people and events but still. From a romantic point of view this was a very hard watch. I kind of just wanted to drop it towards the end.

It did however do a pretty good job at portraying a Kings life and choices he has to make in a somewhat realistic (although ofc heavily romanticised still) way. Although tragic, was entertaining for the most part. Just not necessarily my cup of tea. It did also get quite repetitive around the second half. There was a lot of back and forth that seemed unnecessary in bringing the story along.

Overall, if you are into tragic realism (somewhat), and don’t need love to be the center and cure of all this could be a satisfying watch.

I will also add that the main actor did an incredible job throughout.

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Beautiful

I really enjoyed this wonderful story. The chemistry between Lee Jun Ho and Lee Se Young is fantastic !
Prepare yourself for a rollercoaster of emotions that is very rewarding.
The OST is also very beautiful and drags you completely into the story. You should not miss this historical drama
What makes it even more impressive is that this is partly a true story. This gives you a good idea of what the life of court ladies was like in the Joseon period. The 17 episode flew by .
The actors the production and the clothes were great too . for me this historical drama was one of the best i´ve ever seen .

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I am very curious about this drama because it has high ratings in Korea. The story is interesting because it is based on a true story. I like the character Duk Im who is smart, cheerful, and loyal to protect Lee San. But social status becomes a barrier to their love. when I saw Duk Im's life after becoming the king's concubine, I thought that Duk Im's life would be better if she remained a court lady and not the king's concubine. Her story is so sad and touching because she loss her best friend and son. Acting Lee Junho and Lee Seyoung really deserve the best couple award.

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