Diana96

I understand where you’re coming from because that’s the same way I defended previous dramas that I liked that also had sexual misconduct misrepresented but as time went by I realised there’s no sugarcoating the truth and that those depictions shouldn’t have been at all. They are not a must for the story. I’ve been watching Korean dramas since I was 12 and I’m almost 26 now, it’s not my first Sageuk and not all of them have this element in them. Perhaps even the majority of the historical dramas I’ve seen to this day don’t have such depictions or at the very least not so many of them. She is being pulled and held against her wishes in so many episodes even multiple times an episode. There was no need for a forced kiss that shows her giving in and kissing him back. When was the last time someone forced a kiss on you and you said oh well let’s kiss him back? I guess that would never happen. I’ll give you a somewhat extreme example, that happens in marital rape. There is no way I can excuse the rape threat especially since he is in a position of power over her. How am I as a viewer supposed to look at them getting together after that and think that’s a healthy blissful couple and root for them? Tone matters and this is a romantic historical drama which means people are watching and believing this is romantic. It’s enough to look at some of the comments below excusing his behaviour because of her arrogance or her constant refusal or saying she needed to be put in her place to see how harmful this depictions are. I hardly believe this story couldn’t have been told differently.

Ok so this is so popular and at the beginning I liked Red Sleeve a lot too but it all just went downhill since the moment she decided to jump on him in that wooden tub. For whatever reason I became more sensitive to credibility in dramas recently and that moment was such an obvious fan service to the viewers that I couldn’t stop my eye roll. Now for the more burning issues, how is it okay that this drama is full of sexual harassments and sexual misconduct and it is still depicted as romantic going into 2022? If a woman refuses a man and tells him she is not interested it is not okay to constantly pull her, hug her, force a kiss on her, even advance on her many times after she clearly stated she is not interested. And come on, threaten to bed her? Let’s call it by its’ real name, shall we? RAPE. That is pure toxicity. The messaging in this drama is all kinds of wrong. She had very good understandable reasons for refusing to be in a relationship (to be a concubine) but it seems as though she will never have a choice because there’s a romance tag so that’s how it works. She says it sometime during the story that she matters to herself but does she? Even if the issues she had with the prospect of being a concubine are never delt with? Okay I ranted enough but I felt it was important to say this.

Ending spoiler
Honestly, many in the comment section ask why this drama is so underrated and for most of it, I agree
it was fun. But by the ending it turned into a complete shit show. The ML almost chose suicide by refusing to part with the tech that allowed him to walk but also harming him and almost killing him because he couldn’t see value in himself living in a wheelchair. The FL loved him and wanted to stay with him despite him being crippled but what did he tell her “let me pass”. What kind of a horrible message is that? But then he went abroad instead of dying and fixed his tech and returned to his love as a “complete” man. It’s not like he almost traumatised her by telling her to let him die rather than using a wheelchair, oh no he did exactly that and it was made to look romantic. I guess someone on the drama team realised they can’t show him essentially committing suicide so they ended up sending him abroad to “treat” his “decease” (fixing his tech or making new one) and thus he returned a “healthy”man. I have so much hate for this ending. 6/10 just because of the last few episodes when the drama was almost a 9 maybe a 10 throughout almost all of it.

Ok so the FL was bratty and annoying at first, after the death of her parents. But how in the world does everyone's attitude toward her was considered bad and ill mannered only after they found out her mother was killed and her father committed suicide and she saw their bodys. If her parents "only" died in a car crash not that long ago, does that make her not poor enough to justify a little consideration from them? Ridiculous! But on the hole this was fun :)

I agree, I loved the drama when it aired and since the webtoon is finally being translated to English, I could finally start reading it. But from what I read so far the Yi So-Park Saeroyi coupling was done more naturally in the webtoon and there was way less focus on Seroyi’s first love and no potential harassment between the main leads. Such a shame because the drama followed the dialogue of the webtoon pretty closely.

I agree. It's such a reliefe for me kdramas doubled down on the "breaking up because I can't bare to be apart from you" trope. This days if I see a drama hinting at a break up for yet another dumb reason I slam my laptop and go do something else, why writers that write good original dramas insist on going back to this trope is simply beyond me.

I don't know about you but i got the feeling the writer here is a big BL fan, pretty much from the first ep. There were a lot of hints to BL moments in dramas and mangas that I saw or read. Glad they included those themes in here.

for me at least (I watched it seven years ago) it was the most infuriating drama ever, but that's what made me keep watching it. I absolutely loathe half of the characters and how mean they were to the main lead but that was the charm.

It’s really sad since I love MewGulf it pains me to score this so low but the second season had no plot. Shame :(

This one is so amazing! first time a drama did a 180 turn and i actually love the results. t+The real He Tiang Xing is so much better than his fictional self (-;

i have to say that the end of episode 10 was one of the best moments in all of kdrama of recent years in my opinion. I mean Cha Ji Won's conversation with Do Hyon Soo followed by a conversation whith the psychiatrist who diagnosed him,

There was nothing to cure him from from the start. He was just an introvert child that got wrongly diagnosed as a psychopath and branded for life by his comunity. Since he was constantly told from an early age he couldn't feel or sympathise, he started to belive that and act that way while masking his emotions. He clearly loved his parents and his sister and then he loved his daughter and eventually realised he also loved his wife. He also constantly felt compation towards his sister and other people that prevented him from killing or hurting people badly unlike a true psycopath. He said it himself in episode 10 or 11 while talking to his wife that no one ever explained to him why he kept his mother's tape and last memory from her so dearly and lashed out when someone tried to take it away. He just didn't think it was possible for him so he kept surpressing himself and "acting".
He truely was cured by love just not in a different sence. It was Ji Won who first realised he was never a psycopath and how wrong he was. His sister also probably felt that but lacked the courage to defye the stigma about him but she kept explaining him what his behavior signafies. He probably did need therapy but not to cure his psycopath self.

Seriously why would they choose the poster for the show with both of the leads'es faces looking so stiff? would them smiling together hurt anyone?

where is episode 12????

I totally get that. i've been watching asian dramas since i was 12. i'm 24 now and still watch asian dramas exclusively. i agree almost nothing compares to them internationally.

Glad you are so passionate about it lol ?

Yes to you both, this one is definitely my new fav. I'm convinced this is the best drama in recent years.

I too first thought after reading the description that we will finally get Lee Joon Gi playing a villain but it was clear from the first two episodes that's not the case. personally i loved the way they chose to slowly reveal his inoccence and the interactions between his wife and him. Moon Chae Won stole the show here, without her amazing performance the drama would simply be another story about an innocent man being falsely charged (kind of another 2 weeks).
I don't even think he is a psychopath or that he can't feel amotions. it's just that he was a bit intoverted and after being wrongly diagnosed constantly told by people around him that he is unable to sympathize or feel so he programed himself to be it.

the acting here is so on point, love it!

OMG I don't remember a thing about this movie or my comment. I wish i could answer you.