The Red Sleeve

Too perfect that it hurts

The drop in 0.5 is my hate for this drama for it showed brute reality of patriarchy. I know it is a meaningless gesture, as meaningless as Sung Duk Im's perseverance of not confessing her true feelings till death. But that's what kept her going. That's how much I understand and empathize with this character.
The drama starts as romance and slowly shifts gear to political. It is like every other saeguk at this point. Star crossed love between crown prince of nation and bright court lady, after numerous trials and tribulations get to be together and live happily ever after. Well that's what I expected. Then melodrama has entered the conversation. The true brilliance of this drama lies ahead. Happily ever after has different meaning for everyone. As for Sung Duk Im, it is in transcribing books, reading stories to others, spending time with her friends and living a commoner life. She always feared change. All her fears came true when she was forced to be a concubine.
The perfect crown prince who everyone looks up to found solace in his loyal servant. Despite his continuous efforts and genuine feelings, he was rejected time and time again. I was growing impatient as to what's stopping her, do something, make her yours even by force. That's where it all went wrong. My patriarchal mindset got the better of me. The moment she was forced, I lost any hope for happy ending.
Marriage is shackles and palace, the safest place in the kingdom, is prison for women in patriarchal system.
Ending with my favourite dialogue by Sung Duk Im "His highness is dear, but myself is dearer. So I'll never drive myself into pain"

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I really wanted to like this drama, but..

I am really surprised, shocked and disappointed at the level of unanimous approval this drama has. The drama is fantastic for a lot of reasons - a traditional historic drama with no major twists or gimmicks, fantastic acting from every single cast member and powerful screenplay/dialogues. Junho's acting will probably get a baeksang.

However, I can't rate it high due to the extreme misogyny and forced behaviour shown. It's okay to call some of the toxic, mysoginistic behaviour a 'sign of the times' and accept it as part of history, but it's a different matter liking and enjoying it and giving it a high rating.

The FL's behaviour is annoying quite often (though I like her independent personality) and is shown as a manipulator and egoist. The writing doesn't make sense after Ep 15 and becomes extremely slow and draggy. I have never seen a drama with more rejections from the FL and more forceful behaviour from the ML - do they really need to get together? She cringes every time she sees him!

I also have to warn about the amount of tragedy in the series. I know we are all inundated with countless stressful news and media every day, and this series will definitely add more stress/anxiety due to the nature of the story. There are dramas with a mix of tragedy and comedy which I rate highly, but this one is quite straight-to-the-heart. If anyone's looking to avoid stress, probably best to skip this drama.

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THE RED SLEEVE – A JOURNEY I DIDN’T PLAN FOR BUT NOW I CAN’T FORGET

So… I recently decided that maybe I’ve been unfairly ignoring historical dramas all these years. I used to look at them the way I look at tax season — important but deeply unappealing. But then came K-dramas, and The Red Sleeve walked in like, “Hi, you called?”

I’ll admit it — Lee Junho lured me in. I showed up for him and ended up staying for heartbreak, royal drama, and some of the most beautiful palace shots I’ve ever seen. I almost binged it in one sitting, but had to pace myself to avoid alarming my loved ones (or looking like I’ve absolutely abandoned all life responsibilities).
I wasn’t even planning to write about it — this is the kind of drama that camps out in your brain for weeks, quietly haunting you every time you hear a flute. But I need to get this out of my system, so here goes:

1. The production? Chef’s kiss.

The cinematography, the OST, the palace shots — it’s all so good that I kept pausing just to stare. Even the stills look like oil paintings. Jeoseon has never looked this dreamy and politically terrifying at the same time.

2. The acting? Emotionally illegal.

I don’t know what was in the water during filming, but the entire cast was acting like the Baeksang were being handed out on set. Everyone brought their A-game, and then Junho came in and casually redefined emotional range. Prince Yi San / King Jeongjo was written beautifully, but Junho became him. There are no words — just go watch it. Trust me.

3. The story? Soft and sharp.

It’s romantic, but also painful. Beautiful, but gut-wrenching. I went in thinking I’d just enjoy some historical fluff and came out emotionally kneecapped. The female lead — listen, I had my moments of wanting to throw something at her, but I held back. She’s based on a real historical figure, so we had to respect the source and pump our brakes (with great difficulty, I might add).

And now, let’s address the royal elephant in the room: that episode. If you’ve seen it, you know. If you haven’t — well, many brave souls before you tried to warn us not to wade into those tragic waters. But of course, curiosity got the best of me, and now I’m emotionally deceased. No spoilers here, but I will say this: maybe do a quick Google search before watching historical dramas. Just to emotionally prepare yourself. Or write a will. Whichever works.

Final thoughts?

This is hands down one of the best historical dramas of 2021. Now I fully understand the hype. It made me curious about Korean history in a way school never did. I even found myself reading up on King Jeongjo after I finished the series. Was it for closure? Or more emotional damage? Still not sure.

Either way — The Red Sleeve has ruined me in the best way. 10/10 would recommend. Just… hydrate, pace yourself, and keep tissues nearby. You’ve been warned.

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Great potential and good start but after a while it went down hill...

This drama had such a interesting start with great chemistry fun scenes, fun twists and really complex and well made characters with pretty good stories attached.


The portrayals of the friendships among the palace maids where definitely goals, and one of the best portrayals of friendships between girls out there showing true gals before guys, found family,... the works! I really liked all the different personalities among the maids. The grandpa is also such a sweetheart, killer kind and cruel paranoid ruler yet still just a big huggable teddy bear.

I really enjoyed some of the ways woman where portrayed here, how the line between super evil villain and fight for our rights is kind of blurry and the way the talk about the value of different lives. Because let´s face it women where not really that valued, and women from the lower classes could very much have been seen as nothing else but replaceable goods... And that was shown with brilliantly placed lines as well as twists...

The female lead was so cool. smart all round amazing the first half of the drama only to become highly frustrating bordering on pathetic the second half, almost making me loose interest in this otherwise highly bingeble show.

The male lead is also. smart, fun, most of the time respectful (not bad for a 1700 king), fine he kills a bunch of people and does not really know who to trust... but over all he is a sweetheart with pecs and scenes that are sure to make you blush... But he too does have the slightly wrong kid of character development...

Acting, music, cinematography are all really great and there are no truly annoying characters if you do not count he female lead during the second half.

All in all an a pretty ok drama, but slightly disappointing as it was off to such a great start , but I guess the life of a queen or a concubine in the palace is basically just life in a fancy prison...

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A let down in many areas!

This review is a hard one to write. I wanted this series to be good so bad! But I felt like it missed the mark for me in many areas. I know some others have watched it and think it is brilliant...but I'm sorry, It will only get a 7 for me because of it's one saving grace: the acting.

Let's start with that. The acting was by far the best thing about the series. Everyone portrayed their different roles beautifully, especially the ML...and I might have a preference for him. I love me some Junho...and it isn't even because of his singing career. I thought he did such a great job in Just Between Lovers... That was my introduction to him and he took my breath away there so I had to find out more about him and I also saw in in Wok of Love. What I love about him is that he totally embodies his characters and you see a different person in each drama he stars in. This is huge for me...though I appreciate it might not be the same for others. Whatever feeling he was portraying, I was right there along with him, being upset, sad, angry...I felt it. Kudos to all of the actors on this series.

Now...let's get into the not-so-good things that I disliked about the series. The storyline....what was that? I think the biggest disappointment for me was the pacing, the mood, as well as some of the major story elements. For example, the general mood, in the beginning, was a good balance between serious and light-hearted, with some hilarious moments between. Halfway through it was just serious...and sad..and depressing. I do not like that the tone of the series changed so dramatically.

The other thing was the pacing...some things moved SO SLOW and others were rushed. For example, all of the encounters in the library felt like such a slow burn and then all of a sudden, they love each other? Did I miss something? When did that happen? Also, why does she never admit that she loves him...to anyone...even herself?

The first couple of scenes with the tiger killing people was kinda ridiculous...I'm not gonna lie. Like, what was that? It made the show seem like it was pretending to be serious but it really wasn't.

Overall it felt like the writers changed halfway and it because a whole different beast. Also, I feel like they missed showing a few pivotal stuff to progress the storyline. Why did we never see the queen? What? When did the king marry again? We kept hearing about characters that we never saw once!

I'm feeling very let down about this. I can't watch it again and I wouldn't recommend it. I've seen that it's based on a particular story...not interested, more could have been done to make this something great.

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Typical Saeguk Romance

Started up with the usual troupe of mistaken identity of the Crown Prince. I actually liked the former King and felt much tension dropped following his death - whereby the drama was warped mostly around the love story and less on politics, even more so following HDR's death/end of the Court Ladies Faction arc. The drop in dynamics actually made the later half much less enthralling to me (yes I was interested in them getting together but not dragged out over 5-6 eps). I think the writer tried to create this complex love between the main leads - whereby the female is not the typical "swoon for the king" which is interesting and all BUT that's where it ends for me. To me, there was never any character growth for SDI, in fact I felt that she regressed into more of a "damsel in distress" - while in the earlier episodes she was portrayed with more intelligence and poise. I also felt the main dilemma between losing her freedom vs her love(?) for the king wasn't adequately explained. I mean why did she become a court lady if freedom was so important to her in the first place? It would have worked better if she had a more believable backstory such as mother/family being abandoned by the King in the past etc. The ending was totally rushed. After creating love tension for 15 ep, they decided to put them together and kill them off within 1.5 ep?? And was it only me who saw some comparisons to Scarlet Heart (chinese ver.)? Especially the part after the female lead dies. Absolute tear jerker yes but just felt we could have done a bit more with the happy moments. I liked that in the end it was slightly dubious whether she regretted loving him anot...

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SEVERELEY OVERRATED

I don’t think anything is wrong with me when i say that this drama was not the tear jerker everyone said it would be. I’m not saying there weren’t any impactful moments but the emotional parts didn't do as much for me as I thought they would. Although the last two episodes were terribly sad, my opinion of this show is that it wasn’t memorable. I do find the historical story behind it fascinating.

The situation in which Deok Im found herself in wasn’t necessarily the fault of others. I do think that as a young girl she was advised to grow up into a woman that would someday catch the eyes of the prince and basically be a glorified concubine. And given the time period, doing so wouldn’t be a bad idea from a financial standpoint. However, nobody forced Deok Im to make the decision to give up her will, leave her home, and become the property of the King. As an adult she was obviously too adventurous and free-spirited to be kept behind the walls of a Palace, and for a good chunk of the show she was very reluctant to succumb to the wishes of Yi San. I do see that her new life in the Palace was a major adjustment but even after that she was almost in a way blaming Yi San for imprisoning her when she chose this? And what's more, my Yi San got very controlling and possessive once his feelings for Deok Im deepened. A little bit toxic if you ask me but most people took it as being romantic but there were instances where he was practically threatening her life. The bath scene was steamy but nonsensical at the same time. The way Deok Im fell into the bath was unbelievable.

My attention span was wavering because of how slow and repetitive things got. The first 3 eps and the last 2 eps are easily the best of the show. Everything in between is filler and palace intrigue that wasn’t interesting enough; I didn’t care about any of the side characters or sub-plots except for the one with Deok Im’s friend being put to death. Ngl that was pretty sad.

I think the strongest part of the show was Yi San’s love for Deok Im. At times I did question her affections for him but not once did I have to wonder if Yi San loved Deok Im. Not sure if the real Deok Im loved him as much as the drama entails but eh. I usually avoid historical dramas and this one still had much of the bore I associate with the genre, but the last 3 eps were written so well that I can’t entirely dismiss this show. When their son died it was truly heartbreaking, and the last scene with His Majesty and Deok Im in the afterlife made me teary eyed for sure.

Was this show terrible? No. Was it some work of art? No, although there was a poetic script, great acting from LJ, LDH, and bits from LSY. The King’s Affection was airing around the same time as this and I ended up enjoying that one way more. I got more invested in the story, the mains, the side characters, and the palace drama. TKA had 20 eps and def dragged too, but I think that show was able to do a better job of balancing the fun stuff and the depressing stuff. Each to their own. If you ask me tho, watch The King’s Affection instead.

`” If you see me in the next life please just pass by…as if you do not know me. I do not blame you. I do not hate you. I just want to live the way I want in my next life.” ~ most memorable quote

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I'll Even Say It in Spanish: NO

"The Red Sleeve" starts out as a sweet romance between a prince and a court lady. This isn't an untold story, but the execution kept me watching as its very first episode cuts through the heart with powerful acting and compelling narrative.

This drama gives awareness of the situation court ladies were in during the Joseon period and their little rights. Where much of the show was not as engaging to me in the latter half, the social situations continue to be most compelling and evocative.

What You Need to Know:
The romance here is toxic. So so toxic. I should only have to say this once: No? It means NO. The drama continues to push this, but then there is also some faltering in the end that made my skin crawl for the sake of either history and/or romance. If you are sensitive to sexual abuse or relationship abuse, this could be triggering for you. I myself had to skip many parts as I felt very uncomfortable.

Overall:
I think the things this drama deals with are very important, and it was worth watching for me. I wish I had known beforehand about the toxic relationships—I would have chosen not to watch it. Still, for educational purposes I can see why many have been amazed by this show and how it speaks out for women. I am disappointed that the moral themes did not stand true to the end or were at least not quite fully fleshed out to their potential. This is not a show I would recommend to people for the most part because so much of it was emotionally harmful, but it is certainly worth discussing. The music was beautiful! As always, my rewatch value is actually my entertainment value as well. I am grateful for those who put their hard work into telling this story.

Cheers,

Kenzie

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How did they win the Best Couple Award ??? Just felt like they rushed everything to finish the drama

At first, the love part of the story starts a little bit like a comedy with a strong personality and an "independent" woman. (depending on her position on the palace)

I could cut the drama into two different parts :
- Episode 1 to 12 - the rhythm of the story is pretty good suspense, love story, tension,… (I Liked this part)
- Episode 13 to 17 - I just felt like they rushed everything to finish the drama in 4 episodes. The love story part felt repetitive ("I love you and you" "I don't want to love you"…)

In just 2 last episodes they :
- sleep together
- had a son
- lost their son from illness after 4 years
- a friend of Deok-Im died
- Deok-Im was pregnant from another child
- King Jeongjo had been sick
- Deok-Im had been sick
- Deok-Im died
- King Jeongjo keep being the king
- King Jeongjo refuse another concubine
- King Jeongjo forget about Deok-Im
- King Jeongjo recruit the son of Deok-Im's brother in his guard
- ………
That's why I feel like they rushed everything to finish the drama.


That doesn't mean I didn't cry as fck at the end or didn't like the drama but I was left hungry.

Sung Deok-Im, was supposed to be a strong-minded character so why did she not express ANYTHING ???
How did they win the Best Couple Award ??? I was crying so much just because I feel like Sung Deok-Im is unhappy in this relationship… it feels like she is just a beautiful bird that King Jeongjo but in a golden cage 😭😭😭
Doesn't he care about how she feels? Saying "You're mine… you're mine" all the time 😭 Yes, she's yours but you're not hers… that's killing me…

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A shallow drama that wasted a story - but left me fascinated by the real people

✅ The One Good Thing That Came from This Drama

🔥 The real historical story is absolutely fascinating.
• It doesn’t fit neatly into any box—it’s layered, complex, and deeply human.
• King Jeongjo and Deok-im’s real story kept me thinking for weeks, making me dig deeper and deeper into history.
• If nothing else, the drama led me to discover one of the most intricate, bittersweet, and fascinating relationships in Korean history.

🚨 But the drama itself? An absolute insult.

❌ Where The Red Sleeve Completely Fails

1️⃣ It Reduces Real Feminist Power into Shallow Modern Feminism
• Instead of showing the real strength of historical women, it turns Deok-im into a modern feminist caricature.
• Her entire personality becomes about some generic “independent woman” narrative that doesn’t fit the historical context.
• The real Deok-im had actual power and agency in a way that fit her time—this version just feels forced, modern, and shallow.

2️⃣ The Lead Actress Was Awful (And I Mean That in Capital Letters)
• She single-handedly ruined the show.
• Her performance was completely flat, lifeless, and unnatural.
• She didn’t belong in the time period—she looked like she was playing dress-up in a costume drama.
• She had zero emotional depth, making every scene feel fake and detached.

3️⃣ The Only Thing That Made This Drama Watchable Was the Male Lead
• Lee Jun-ho carried the entire show on his back.
• His performance was incredible, deeply emotional, and layered—the only thing that gave the drama any weight.
• If it weren’t for him, this drama would have been completely unwatchable.

👑 The Real Jeongjo & Deok-im: One of the Most Incredible Love Stories in History

💡 King Jeongjo was one of the most extraordinary rulers in world history.
• He was deeply Confucian, a workaholic, and completely devoted to the structure of Joseon.
• Yet, despite all that, he put love first—which even defies expectations today.
• Most workaholics and corporate-minded people prioritize ambition over love, but he did the opposite.
• He spent his life working tirelessly to make Joseon stronger while still being consumed by love for Deok-im.

💡 But what makes him even more remarkable?
• He endured one of the most traumatic lives imaginable.
• His father was executed in the most brutal way possible, locked in a rice chest and left to die—while Jeongjo, as a child, could do nothing but witness it.
• He grew up surrounded by political enemies, power struggles, and betrayal.
• Yet, despite all of that, he was still able to love deeply and unconditionally.
• How many people could go through that level of trauma and still love like that?

💡 Deok-im wasn’t just any court lady—she represented the future of Joseon.
• She embodied exactly what Jeongjo wanted for his kingdom—a society that was Confucian yet still allowed for independent thinking.
• Her refusal of his advances was a completely non-Confucian thing to do, yet he loved her all the more for it.
• At the same time, she was incredibly frugal and modest—traits highly valued in Confucianism—to the point that she didn’t even have a dress for her funeral and declined every material privilege offered to her.
• She also completely went against Confucian ideals in the sense that she didn’t do anything for her own family.
• Yet, paradoxically, she was deeply Confucian in her devotion, frugality, and values.
• That contradiction is fascinating.

💡 Their story doesn’t fit into any box—it was complex, intellectual, tragic, and utterly unique.
• Their dynamic was not just about love, but about ideology, governance, and the future of a nation.
• I highly recommend reading the letter that Jeongjo wrote about Deok-im after her death—it is an incredibly moving testament to their relationship and shows how deeply she shaped his life.

🚨 This is why the drama’s shallow, modernized version of their relationship is so insulting.
• The real story was already so rich, so layered, and so fascinating—it didn’t need modern feminist clichés.
• The drama reduced their relationship to something simplistic and failed to honor the true depth of their connection.

🚨 Final Verdict: A Shallow, Misguided Drama That Wasted an Amazing Story

⭐ Rating: 2.5/10⭐⭐☆☆☆
✅ One star for the real historical story being so fascinating.
✅ One star for the male lead’s exceptional performance.
✅ Half a star for production value and visuals.
❌ Minus 7.5 stars for the terrible lead actress, the forced modern feminism, and the complete failure to honor the real story.

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Intense

An intense drama with interesting characters and well-written dialogue. I watched it week to week but for those who intend to watch it all in one go watch out for the end of episode cliffhangers. The risk of spending sleepless nights is very high. The whole series is well acted and the different intrigues keep you glued to the screen. And the love story between the main characters, always on the verge of taking off, is really engaging. The chemistry between ML and FL is explosive, they always seem ready of jumping each other, but sometimes they can't sometimes they don't want to and you're there tearing your hair out in a wonderful frustration. Ah, ML is super hot.
I also loved how the series manages to make you feel in your soul the constriction of palace women, locked forever in the shackling rules of a society that sees them as mere objects at the disposal of men. This aspect is central to the series and explored with different stories and situations.

SPOILERS FROM HERE ON

The series was such a success that at the last minute the episodes went from 16 to 17. Result: the 16th and 17th episodes are super slow!!! Boring. Morevover, I didn't know that the drama was based on a true story. And well... I didn't like the ending. Reality sucks. And they even dragged it out for two whole episodes, the second of which was 1h40! One episode was enough and it would have lost absolutely nothing.
But the whole experience was awesome anyway. I now just need a bit of alcohol and an episode of Friends to be happy again.

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