The Red Sleeve

Good as a political drama but subpar in terms of romance genre!

After seeing the ratings, I had high expectations for it and to a certain extent it had paid off just not in the way and in the genre it had promised to deliver. I am happy there were other reviews that had pointed out exactly what I had wanted to say. Still, I will try to express in my own words how I felt about this drama. I had dropped it in the beginning of Episode 15. And whatever plot spoilers I had gotten from the reviews here, it seems dropping it was a good decision.

I must admit I am not a huge fan of historical dramas,especially those centred on romance. I had chosen to watch this because I had been truly impressed by Lee Junho's acting and also the dramas that I had seen previously, which he had chosen to work in.

And I must say, it had a promising start and build-up. I was truly absorbed in the past world of the royal household that they had showcased. I appreciate the production value for succeeding in creating the perfect ambience for this heavy tale. I must mention here the first episode itself. It was the perfect exposition for me. And the acting by the younger versions of the leads(especially the female lead) was impressive and set the perfect tone for an epic tale of romance.

But, it was the romantic genre that this drama failed in despiteit being promoted as so. What it succeeded in was in political drama. I am quite impressed by how well the writer tried to write the intrigues within the royal palace, especially the very essential role the women of the household(including court ladies/palace maids play in it) and how they had been a silent force behind crucial royal orders and kingmaking. The moment the plot around politics ended, the plot lost its track completely. Romance was almost a side plot and it should have been so till the end because it was the least compelling portion of it. And by the end, it seemed to almost hinder the story ultimately crushing it with its weight. I certainly wouldn't have rated it this low had not the romance plot involving the same two people become the focus in the last few episodes. Now, don't get me wrong. For the first few episodes, both aspects of the drama had worked wonderfully in tandem with each other. But then the love story started to drag out which made it stale like an over-chewed chewing gum. And it became the most dull element to watch in the episodes.

Another aspect that the plot and the writing succeeded in after three episodes or so was building the character and story of the male lead. It was his journey to ascension of the throne that kept us captivated as the story moved on keeping in with his relationship with his grandfather. Till then, the female lead's choices made sense as well because she had reasoned out that there was a lot to be done in order to help him ascend the throne to care for other sentimentalities. In fact, the male lead's strengths and vulnerabilities were wonderfully fleshed out. And obviously Junho's acting fully delivered it with a very humane touch. His scenes with his grandfather and the scenes with Deok Im in the first few episodes were touching. He acted well till the last episode I watched. Its just that the writing fell off. The writings after he became the king was very weak and very convoluted and confusing. Its as if the writers had many plots in their head but they were not given the desired number of episodes to work with so they decided to break up the plots into pieces and made a mush out of it. That's the problem with KDramas. But that's not for here and now to discuss.

Its the same thing with the characters, moreso with the female lead. They started off pretty impressive. As somebody else had pointed out, the female lead's background was hardly explored. But that can be justified given this story dealt with the royal palace. And her life in it was pretty well explored I believe. But a truly wasted potential for who could have been a really strong female lead as it grew annoying towards the end. Like her actions were at times ridiculous. Emotions and motives behind them elusive to me at least. The male lead took some time to bloom as a character. Not too long. Just first few episodes. But again, towards the end, I felt he became a little too desperate to the neglect of other duties he had. He's sometimes contradictory but given the situation and his own position, it might make sense. To be honest, I had wanted better for him. Like by the middle of it, I just wanted a different female lead who would have similar virtues to Deok Im but would perhaps be committed in love for him. Like an all-consuming love. Unconditional one. That's the kind of love he deserved after everything he went through. The chemistry fell off unfortunately. I couldn't see any spark between them or even any comfort or warmth between them. I think at one point he might have had more chemistry Hong Deok Reo(another wasted potential character) and even the Captain of the guards.

Why I dropped it? I could see the direction it was going for. And its one which is unnecessarily angsty and just not my type of plot.
Its a shame. Because this could have been a good political drama with many emotional layers to it. If you want me rate it as a political drama till the episode of the old King's death, I would give it a 9 or 9.5 probably. To me, it was very impressive. Obviously, as I had said my experience with historical dramas is limited to 100 Days My Prince. So it might not be the most reliable rating. But as a romance drama alone, I might rate it lower than I am currently rating it. I didn't want to give a low rating for a Lee Junho drama. But given the somewhat misleading rating this drama had gotten compelled me to write this in a way!

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Exciting and beautiful

If you haven't started watching Red Sleeves, you are missing out on a wonderful historical drama! I am enjoying the storyline and the beautiful costuming and scenery. The vivid blues and magenta/pink colors add to the ambience of the scenes. The music also expresses such depth of emotion to me. The actors, both children and adult, were well cast. To me, the feelings of the characters shine through the actors' expressions and actions. Even the secondary characters are showing such depth. I am especially enjoying the banter between Court Lady Seo and Kang Tae Ho. Looking forward to more episodes!

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Memoir and not a drama

The screenplay and the drama style pretty much felt like a memoir rather than a drama. A memoir of two people, the king and his court maid. The pacing was good, for me, I didn't mind the squeezing of too much plot in last 2 episodes. As the anticipation of MC getting the girl made the pace of narration go slow but when he gets the girl, time flies by.

I really liked the king's character and how he develops and adapts over the years. As for the courtmaid, she was not your usual heroine but strong and smart. There are one or two disappointing moments I had. One, when the MC strangles the FL, maybe he was crown prince and maybe she had no authority but it was sad to see her do nothing about it. Two, she was indecisive for so long about committing to MC, maybe that part could have been explained better and not dragged on.

Story wise, sometimes it did feel what was writernim trying tell, some moments were there just for filler and scene building. But I'm not complaining because this was good story which didn't sugarcoat the king and courtmaid's love and their consequences.

Overall, sometimes bitter and sometimes sweet but that's the way with life too, isn't?

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Radiant with elegance

When watching saeguk, has I mention in my similar review with this genre, very important to get hooked at the first episode. And this drama intriguing since the start. A wonderful overture.

Music score is beautifully weaved in each scene as dialogue fluently acted. The actors : child and adult, both deliver fantastic rendition of storyline. You can sense joy, heartbreak, tears and sorrow so intense.
This drama is a fairytale which crosses the boundaries of courtship.

Production this flawless makes you looking forward each episodes with excitements. It is fresh and breezy. Delightful almost like something new but old.

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One of Those Rare Dramas..

I started watching this with zero expectations, and it completely delivered. Every episode kept me hooked. I was so curious to see their relationship grow, and I found myself constantly thinking about what life must have been like back then and trying to understand things from their perspective. That's how well-written the characters are.
At first, I thought it would be about a court lady falling in love with the king, but as the story unfolds, it feels much more like the king's story and everything he had to endure.
The moment that dream scene happened for the second time absolutely blew my mind. And the way the show ends makes everything click into place.
This is such a beautiful drama, and it's officially joined my list of shows I wish I could erase from my memory just so I could experience it for the first time all over again. ✨

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An ending that disappointed me...

DeokSan's story was beautiful, emotional and exciting until episode 16. Why did they make an episode 17? This drama so touched my heart. I thought it would become one of my favorites but the ending spoiled my feelings.

I am extremely disappointed with this ending. San suffered so much in life, did it take so many years to get Deok Im as part of your family, for in the end their son, she and he died? Really? I wasted my time for nothing.

The truth is that I started this drama not knowing that it was inspired by a real story and that story didn't have a happy ending. But I still think: why not give the drama a happy ending when in real life they couldn't have a happy ending? That's why I've been so disappointed

And another detail that disappointed me was that Deok Im died without telling San the love she felt for him.

That final scene was not a happy ending. It was them getting back together after they both died.

It really was a great way to start my 2022: a drama with a tragic, sad and disappointing ending. (This line contains irony)

Although the end of the story didn't please me, I can't help praising everyone's performance, especially Junho and Seyoung, the cinematography, the OSTs. Everything was incredibly wonderful.

*Before they say that the actual story that the drama was inspired by had this ending, that's not to say that they need to do exactly the same thing in the drama.

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why did they add the last episode?

I really love each episode, asking myself what would the next episode be? looking forward to seeing romance. looking forward to new characters. Looking forward to changes of character's personality because usually if the drama occurs in old era, the characters really interest me and it did not disappoint me. Even though the story showed "push and pull" of their love story, a slow burn, I really love how the love story went. The question is, why did they add episode 17 in it if the main character would die in the end? If in ep 16 should be the last one as it showed a happy ending. What really interest me is in ep 17, the last episode. The drama wants us to think if "that" really happened or it was just all a dream? The drama is telling is us that-- it's up to us. Just think of it, the king had a bad dream. ;)

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Watch it yourself - only you can decide if The Red Sleeve is as great as it seems

While I gave it 10 stars I have seriously mixed feelings about it as the story plays with your emotions like a cat toys with anything it catches. Never killing it outright, just toying until the prey exhausts itself.

It was a tragic love story with a surprising and consoling ending. So I forgave the writers for the difficult choices they made to present it. And in all honesty it was a thousand times easier to watch than Goblin and a much better ending than Scarlet Heart. So with that in mind, The Red Sleeve was more satisfying.
Not everyone watching it will have my opinion, so I do highly recommend it as a must watch. I put it off a really long time because of opinions I read. But there's nothing like seeing it yourself.
And do watch it right up the very, very end - don't blame if me you don't.

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Drama Masterpiece!

First of all, thank you South Korea for giving me an age appropriate thirst trap (and amazing actor) in Lee Jun-ho. Secondly, thank you to South Korea for making me a heart shattered romantic and teary eyed mess for two shows in a row. I watched “Red Sleeve” right after finishing “My Dearest” and I’m wreck (in a good way).

This would absolutely be a perfect 10 if the writers hadn’t included one unnecessary plot point. Being based on a true story there were a myriad of ways to insert tension get the story to where they needed it. I don’t have words to describe this but if you’re a true romantic at heart, who enjoys mature connection and understands that love simply isn’t always enough you should watch this one. Ignore the comments that nothing happens and they hate the female lead. Her behavior does get hard to watch especially as your heart breaks for them both but if you understand her why you’ll be in tears for them both.

I feel like I started crying between episode 11 and 12 and cried every episode until the end. But at the same time I didn’t want it to be over. I loved the imagined ending the writers gave us, our hearts needed the respite. But hopefully there is a writer out there creating a modern day love story for them. A story for their third lifetime where they meet in Hyochang Park and finally get what their story lacked - more time (after he obeys her wish in the previous life).

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