UnexpectedPerson

I'm just disappointed at this point

The way this drama pissed me off so much I'm writing a review to save innocent souls from wasting their free will on this mess. Consider this your warning: Penthouse 3 is pure chaos. High-level spoiler alert ahead, but honestly? I don’t even care. Maybe you need to witness the madness yourself to truly understand.

That ending made the least sense in all the nonsense of this season. One, Logan's dead was defo tacked on for no reason, if his cancer came back, Seok Hyung could have donated her stem cell just like Seol A did before since they are twin so she would be a match. But I get that he might not have wanted to keep living cause Sim Su Ryeon was dead, but according to his character, he would have tried to survive to take care of the Seok 'twins' and Bae Ro Na or something.

Sim Su Ryeon basically killing herself is so unlike her character, I get that she lost a lot but she had a lot to live for, mainly her children, especially after finding out that Seok Hyun was her biological daughter, and her 'fake' other daughter in USA (that was forgotten about), also Seok Hoon and Logan and Bae Rona. Stupid death in my opinion.

Also I fully believed that the wedding/engagement was purposely planned to catch Ju Dan Tae, it didn't make sense that they would have such a big event and not expect him to show up and sabotage it. Logan even saw him before he went up to see Su Ryeon but then he magically forgot about him and was shocked when he was there. What kind of trash security did they have! And who picks up a call on their wedding/engagement walking down the aisle.

To even talk about Oh Yoon Hee's death, makes my brain hurt, excuse me but when did Penthouse turn to a Marvel movie, Yoon Hee was pushing back her car at the edge of a cliff while another car with a brick on the accelerator is pushing on her car, how? What kinda Super solider serum, Hulk ass power does she have? Before she got to the back of the car, she opened the door where Eun Byeol was unconscious and was shouting at her to wake up, instead of dragging her out like Seo Jin did later on. It was just so dumb.

Lastly, Ju Dan Tae, his man, for the amount of stress and hatred I felt in my body for his guy, his death was not it. It did not satisfy me at all, the amount of evil he's done and gotten away with it, he should have dead way worse, a bullet to the head and falling from the Penthouse onto the statue. DEAD. I wanted Vincenzo level of torture and death, he deserved that. Remember how he tried to kill Bae Ro Na by stabbing her in the brain, ruthlessly and returning like he did nothing. No, that man is truly evil and he deserved more pain in his death. Same goes for Cheon Seo Jin, she did too much to end up killing herself, I get that she's remorseful after what her daughter said in the court room and her ex told Su Ryeon to not kill her but NO, she should have lived a long life in prison, paying for her punishment.

Also, I agree with people who said that this season shouldn't have happened if they were just gonna kill the main 2 good guys, Su Ryeon and Logan, cause in season 1, it was Su Ryeon that 'died' then season 2, it was Logan. Might as well have finished it at season 2 cause Logan coming back was not needed. Lowkey, Su Ryeon could have done all of this by herself with the help of the other people.

I feel like the writers were very inconsistent about the characters, one minute, Su Ryeon and Logan are super smart and they thought of every possibility and planned for it. Other times, they are super dumb and fall for everything. Same with Ju Dan Tae, to be honest, Ju Dan Tae's character, he would have survived season 3 (not the part where he was shot but before that when people were coming to him to ask for money for the copy of him/Seo Jin killing Oh Yoon Hee. He would have just planned to kill them like he normally does, but this time he folds and gives them money til he was broke? Just feel like his character got really dumb at the end just so they can kill him and end it all. So to me it's unsatisfying.

Also what happened to Alex and his black bodyguards?
What happened to Sim Su Ryeon's fake daughter?
What happened to Jennie's Dad?
And the real Ju Dan Tae?

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It's still a good time - Farrr from perfect

I liked the drama. It wasn't 100% in everything but what worked really well for me was the acting. Suzy and Woo Bin had a really good chemistry, I liked their banter. It worked for the drama.
The essence of the drama is good, it's similar to the other dramas the writer has done. It kept reminding me of Goblin, in terms of the mystic aspects and the lore and the way the storyline unfolded.
I understand why a lot of people might not like it. The storyline is quite clunky with the 5 different people's wishes and the implications of them. I understand what they were trying to do but it didn't really work well. It felt like it was very separate from the overall drama.
There were too many characters, too many things happening at the same time. And the writer always does this where the plot is so convoluted, there's too many things going on. First he hates her, then he lost 20 years and in those years he loved her but she died because of so many stupid reasons. I just felt like it didn't need to be so complicated.
Also, the way they fell for each other was also fast for me but whatever.
The big reason why I think a lot of people might not like it is the 'culture appropriation' of it and the whole Satan of it all. To be honest, I don't know if it is the right way of thinking about it but this drama was sponsored by Dubai/Emirates. It's so obvious in the drama so with the way the country is, I don't think they would allow something that put their culture/religion in a bad light. That's why I cannot really think about it.
There are a lot of subtle messages happening in the drama anyways and you can chose to focus on it or just focus on enjoying the drama and moving on.
That ending was actually just poor. It's like they gave up at the end and just said 'let's make it a happy ending'. The reasons for it working out just didn't work for me. Her becoming a genie and then the wishes her friend made - what just confused me.
But ultimately what I really liked about the drama was it gave me that drama feeling. I didn't really know what would happen next, it was intriguing and exciting. It made me laugh and believe in love again. The chemistry honestly saved it, if it was any other main characters, it would not have worked.
What really made the romance work for me was their chemistry. It had that playful banter dynamic I love. Even though he’s a genie with all this power, someone who could technically kill anyone without effort. He’s completely “scared” of her in the funniest way. She 'beats' him up, and instead of defending himself, he just lets her. He looks at her with so much love in his eyes, always protecting and saving her. But she also protects him in her own way. Even with her anti-social personality, you can see how much she feels for him. Together, it gave the drama those sweet, cute romance vibes that kept me hooked.

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It’s too good

Rewatching The Red Sleeve just confirmed something for me: this drama is genuinely one of the best historical love stories I’ve seen. Not because it’s some grand, sweeping romance where everything works out, but because it’s painfully realistic. It shows what happens when two people love each other deeply but the world around them makes that love complicated.

Watching the last few episodes again honestly had me crying multiple times. Episodes 16 and 17 in particular were heartbreaking. The whole story builds up to those moments, and when everything finally catches up with them, it’s impossible not to feel it.

At the centre of the story are Yi San and Seong Deok-im, and what makes their relationship so compelling is that their love is never really the issue. It’s clear throughout the drama that they love each other. Yi San loves her openly and persistently. He keeps confessing his love to her over and over again, even when she keeps rejecting him. And it’s not in a manipulative way — he genuinely loves her and always protects her. There’s never really a moment where he lets anything bad happen to her. If anything, he’s constantly defending her and trying to make sure she’s safe.

At the same time, Deok-im also loves him. That’s what makes the whole story so tragic. Her actions constantly show that she cares about him and protects him too. She looks out for him politically, emotionally, and personally. She is one of the few people who actually treats him like a human being instead of just a crown prince or a king.

But the real conflict between them isn’t love.

It’s freedom.

Deok-im understands something that Yi San doesn’t fully grasp at first: loving the king means giving up control over her own life. Becoming his concubine isn’t just about being with someone you love. It means living inside the palace forever, bound by rules, hierarchy, and expectations. It means your life revolves around the king. You wait for him, you serve him, and the palace becomes your entire world.

What Deok-im wants is actually very simple. She wants to live her life as a person who can make her own choices. She wants to work, to spend time with her friends, to walk outside the palace, and to live freely. She doesn’t want to exist only as someone waiting for the king.

And she sees this very clearly from the beginning.

That’s why she keeps rejecting him.

It’s not because she doesn’t love him — it’s because she understands what loving him will cost her.

There’s a moment later in the story where she says something that really stuck with me. She says that when she finally chose him, that was the last decision she made for herself. After that, she never made another choice again. Her life stopped being hers.

And the sad thing is that she was right.

Even though Yi San genuinely loves her and treats her better than anyone else in the palace, the structure of the palace itself still traps her. Her days become centred around waiting for him. Meanwhile she sees her friends working, moving around the palace, even leaving the palace eventually, and she realises that the person she could have been no longer exists.

She mourns that version of herself.

That’s what makes the story so heartbreaking. There’s no villain in their relationship. Yi San isn’t cruel or selfish. He truly believes that loving and protecting her is enough. From his perspective, offering her a place beside him is the greatest honour and security he can give.

But what he offers her and what she wants are fundamentally different things.

Another thing that stood out to me on rewatch was how much Yi San is defined by duty. At the end of the day, he prioritises being a good king over being a good husband. That’s not necessarily a flaw — it’s just who he is. His entire life has been shaped by the responsibilities of the throne. So even when his love for Deok-im is genuine, the role of king always comes first.

There’s a moment where he invites her to his room and essentially tells her that if she rejects him again, he will let her go. And I actually believe he would have done it. It would have hurt him deeply, but he would have accepted it. Because his sense of duty is stronger than his personal desires.

In that version of the story, it probably would have become a tragic love where they both move on with their lives but never fully forget each other. He would still rule as king. She would live her life outside the palace. And they would always remember each other as the person they loved but couldn’t be with.

But that’s not what happens.

In the end, Deok-im makes a conscious choice. She chooses him, fully aware of what it means. It isn’t a naïve romantic decision. It’s a sacrifice she understands completely.

She chooses love, even though she knows it will cost her freedom.

And that’s why her line near the end about the next life is so devastating. She says that if they meet again, he should simply walk past her. Because in the next life she wants to live as someone who can choose her own life freely. She doesn’t want to be bound by the palace or by the role she had in this life.

She wants to be able to decide for herself whether to stop and speak to him.

That line really captures the entire tragedy of their relationship.

They loved each other deeply. They protected each other. They cared for each other in ways that were rare in the palace. But love alone couldn’t erase the imbalance between them or the world they lived in.

Yi San was a great king.

But he could never truly be an equal partner to her.

And Deok-im was strong enough to recognise that from the beginning, even though she loved him.

That’s what makes The Red Sleeve so powerful. It isn’t just a romance. It’s a story about how love, duty, power, and freedom collide and how sometimes choosing love means losing a part of yourself.

And somehow that’s what makes it feel even more real.

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