I'll preface this by saying Jun-Ho, the male lead, knocked this one out of the park. I was thoroughly impressed…
The drama itself gave me a place where I belonged and enjoyed myself when it aired, so I have an extremely soft spot for that. *** With that said, even viewers who love this drama agree with the fact it has imperfect script and it could have been done much better.
Although the drama follows Historical Outline ( How King Jeongjo met Uibin when he was young , her rejections ,etc) ,all the events that happened in the drama are not historically accurate. It is based on the novel 'The Red Sleeve'.
In my opinions, the first 6 or 7 episodes of the drama are well done . It lays out how San met Deok Im in his most vulnerable state that led to their relationship. ( It was assumed that Jeongjo met young Uibin during tragedy of Crown Prince Sado).
But parts of middle episodes ( ep 7-12) about the 'Court Lady Cult' are so unnecessary to the whole plot . Most audience ( including K netz) hated that part. These parts about 'Court Lady Cult' are scriptwriter's own creation, not included in the Original Novel.
After that arc, the scriptwriter tried to re-follow the Novel again. But, only 5 episodes were left for the drama to include about 2/3 of the remaining Original Novel.
Therefore, the whole arc about San&DI's married life was minimized once again. ( In the novel, all the fears and reasons behind DI's rejections were told in that arc).
So in conclusion,for the rushed and unsatisfactory ending of 'The Red Sleeve', part is scriptwriter's fault and part is MBC's.
The scriptwriter should have left 'Court lady Cult' to cut unnecessary episodes.
For MBC, the director had planned 20 episodes for the project. But MBC didn't agree to it because of production costs. So there was another reason for the rushed ending.
I'm confused about the endingWas it all the a dream?
My comment to a fellow commentor before I recopy and paste it. ***
As per novel and also what the actors said in BTS and Special episode ( Holding onto Red Sleeve ), the last scene is when San is on the verge of death.
When he is on the verge of death, his mind remembers and wanders to the time when he is the happiest .
If he opens that door, he will wake up in real life. ( He will continue his life as the King ).
But this time , he chooses to stay with Deok Im , knowing this is a choice he can make .
Like San's dialogue , this may be the dream he has on his verge of death or the afterlife after his death, but whatever it is, he chooses his Beloved Deok Im this time ,like Deok Im did for him when she was alive.
(We dream when we sleep, sometimes we get a dream too good that we don't wanna wake up from that dream . It may be that kind of feeling )
This is a lot coming from San, because he wants to be a king in next life too , per his discussions with his lecturers in episode 1 and also confirmed in ep 16 .
But this time , he gives it up for Deok Im .
This means there is no social patriachy ( the biggest villain of their love story ) between them anymore, so Deok Im can love him as a man starting from that moment.
***** Some audience want the happy ending , so the director make it seem like a premonition dream San gets in his sleep ,too. Rather than being busy, San gives more time to be with Deok Im before her death .
≤≥≤≥≤≥≤≥
But as my fav blogger said on her blog , is there really a happy or sad ending for the Red Sleeve? It's based on Real History and the tragic events will eventually happen anyway. Both of them died 300 years ago and this was their love story .
So I prefer the Sappy ( Sad and Happy ) ending described above. It is more aligned with what actors said ,too. ****** San and Deok Im can never understand their love for each other because they never see eye to eye due to their social patriachy.
[As the audience, we see how much King Jeongjo loved Lady Uibin Seong ( the Park in which he grew trees as a rememberance of her name , the letters of how much he missed her. Mostly , he personally wrote 'I love You ' on her epitaph which was never done by a King before.)
But for Uibin Seong, he was not only her husband but also her master . As a woman who was intelligent and read a lot, she knew the fate of the Kings' women before her . As much as she wanted it to be, she would never be a normal wife to San. She would be cautious around him all the time. She would be afraid of being abandoned like a low concubine when San became tired of her because San had the power to do so ( remember the 10 days after their first night ) ; her son couldn't even call her as mother ( because her son CP Munhyo was the first born of King and adopted by the queen per Royal customs .)]
San, too , will never understand the full picture of Deok Im's love either because her sacrifices will be invisible to him .
( For example , DI makes money by transcribing books but as a concubine, she doesn't need to worry about money anymore ,so in the eyes of San's and most people, it is better for her anyway. But 'Transcribing books' is her hobby and her pride though it does make little money, and she can't do that anymore in her concubine position.)
I'll preface this by saying Jun-Ho, the male lead, knocked this one out of the park. I was thoroughly impressed…
I will reply as I always said before. It is neither to disrespect your opinion nor to defend the drama. I am simply stating the facts.
The sageuks are divided into two categories, traditional and fusion. TRS is a traditional sageuk based on real life love story of King Jeongjo and his beloved Lady Uibin Seong.
The drama needs to cover the whole life of King Jeongjo in the given episodes , so it may not properly introduce all characters involved .
The reason is as it is a traditional sageuk, the main audience are still ' The Koreans' who know their beloved King Jeongjo's history well. ( Also there was long classic drama version of Yisan who was made by the same station a decade ago. Who dares to remake that?)
Before the drama aired, both 'Junho' and 'Lee Seyoung' were less well known than they are today( they are not Hallyu stars) ,meaning the drama's main directed audience have never been the International viewers.
If I have to give an example, the drama itself is like a local beloved food. For International viewers, some will love it while others may not. The score is formed according to that. That's all.
My Personal opinion about the score is that the drama does well on 3 fronts, Acting Directing and Music Scores .
But I do agree with you on one thing. The drama's weakest link is the script , but it is not the poorest out of all. I will say it's average.
What marriage ban are they talking about? I rewatching ep.1 & 2 and dont quite understand or follow the story.....😔
When an important member of Royal Family died( in this case Tae's First Queen Yoon), the country entered into period of mourning when marriage was prohibited for a specific duration.
After the marriage ban was lifted, the King ( who was the most important member of the nation) would marry . The unmarried daughters of Noble Families MUST enter the selection process to become the Queen.
So if you or your family didn't want you to get married to 'The King' ,got married first before 'Selection for the Queen' took place.
Ok , I won't reply to anyone because it will lead to arguments. So I write a separate comment . I am not stating ML's action towards the two girls are right or wrong. Also I am stating the plain facts.
Let's be honest. Historical romances are more or less with masculinity whether it is Chinese or Korean.
The overly healthy relationships were not possible when a monarch was involved. Such a relationship is only imaginary in dramas, picturing the other women of harem ( apart from Heroine) as obsessive or toxic.
Even the so called most romantic story of Joseon Dynasty between King Jeongjo & Uibin involved 'Power Imbalance' ( I mean 'Real Life')
If you can't handle political chess of 'Marriage', just avoid the whole 'Historical Genre'. Forcing Modern Lens upon historical dramas is just stubborn.
I think it is very interesting that the timeline of first 2 episodes are like 'Early Years of Sukjong's reign'.
Sageuks politics become more thrilling & realistic when it is based on real history. ( Sukjong was famous for changing Political Faction and consolidation of 'Royal Power'.)
Here , they made a fictional Joseon with the realistic touch of history. I am looking forward to how they will fare in next episodes.
First ep1) What was the problem with Yoo Jung's father being with the Sarim?2)And why did they mention the queen…
2) It was not shown onscreen , but it was described and presumed 'The Previous King' before 'Tae's father' might be 'Tae's father's stepbrother'.
PGY faction removed this ' Previous King' with the reason of Tyranny & enthroned 'Tae's father'.
Therefore, the ministers who were loyal to ' The Previous King' were also named 'Traitors' and executed along with 'Their King'.
'Tae's mother' was the daughter of one of these ministers. ( aka the daughter of traitors). But Tae's father 'The King' protected her as long as he could.
This is similar to what happened in ' Seven days Queen' . When Yeongsangum was dethroned , the Shin Family ( Heroine Family ) who was loyal to Yeongsangum was named 'Traitors'. Then the ministers wanted ' Queen Shin (Heroine) deposed.
First ep1) What was the problem with Yoo Jung's father being with the Sarim?2)And why did they mention the queen…
I will answer your first question , but I don't understand 2) & 3)
Which queen do you mean? Tae's mother or Tae's dead first Queen Yoon or Queen Dowager
1) Before explaining things about this drama, let me clarify about Joseon. Due to Joseon's founder, Jang Do Jeon, 'The noble class ( Sadaebu)' almost always had the same power as 'The Royal Family' throughout the dynasty.
If you are a Sageuk fan , you will always see 'The Ministers' from the noble class are always arguing with ' The King'.
But there were also 'Internal Faction Fights ' among the Noble Class about 'Which Family' should be the Powerful leader of Sadaebu.
In this drama , both 'The Sarim' and Park Gye Won's faction were from the Noble Class. But currently PGY became too powerful ,so he controlled the nation.
The Sarim didn't like that and sided with the King.
PGY knew that and got rid of the Rival Faction before it became a problem.
Yeah, it is similar to 'Jang Ok Jung,live by love' . How Tae doing his politics is exactly like how young Sukjong did in JOJ.
It is totally different from 'The Red Sleeve'. As much as he was harsh on his grandson, Yeongjo was a powerful king on his own & he did protect San in a way. It was not that all the power were wielded by Sadaebu (The Noble Class).
I know there are not many fans left on this page. But have you read Chapter 3-5 of novel translation? By reading this, I think I can finally understand DI's behaviour in final episode. The drama really rushed the ending.
Does it have some action in it,can the ml fight? . I'm only on ep 1.
Ep 9 has some action scenes . ( Yeah assassination attempts on King Jeongjo are famous in history. There is a movie with Hyun Bin called ' The Fetal Encounter')
ML Junho shot most of the action scenes by himself without a double. ( he uploaded ' Making' on his youtube channel)
But the drama itself is a romantic melodrama , the storytelling will be like that . Action scenes are not much.
So the whole plot of the court ladies rebelling against the king seems trivial.I thought they'd provide a GOOD…
For the Deok Im's concern, let me explain this part by some historical facts.
1. Joseon was a little different from Empire of China though based on the same Confucian System.
Joseon Monarch shared the power with ' Noble Class ' unlike a Chinese emperor who had absolute power over his subjects.
Yi San had his primary wife, Queen Hyoui who was only described & didn't appear in the drama. ( from Noron Faction)
He also had the First Rank Concubine, Hwabin. ( From Soron Faction)
Both of them were from Noble Class and Yi San needed to treat them with Respect & Courtesy unless they made a mistake.
As Joseon Monarch shared the power with Noble Class, disrespecting the wives from Noble families & showing too much favor for a low rank consort would cause a huge problem for Yi San . This would even disrupt the Political balance & foundation.
Deok Im wouldn't want that for her King , right?
Also Yi San himself was chained to his duty as the King, so even if he wanted to do this for DI, he couldn't do as he wanted because he had responsibilities as The King.
Deok Im knew her life would be like this , and she didn't want to live like that. ( Giving the King everything she had but couldn't have ' Whole of Him' in return. Cause the King was 'The Nation's Father' and she was not the centre of his everything . But he became the Centre of her everything because her status, rank, everything she ate or wore depended on ' His Favor' , especially because she was the lowly maid before becoming a Consort )
Her dilemma was always between her desires for freedom and her love for Yi San. Losing which one would be more painful?
2.As San was the King, he was a bit persistent than a normal man . (A normal man would step down when he was rejected. Here, Jeongjo acted like a big baby who wanted a teddy bear and insisted upon it.)
Even when she said she didn't like him, he was still pushing ( cause he felt like he owned her and literally like that because of her status as a court maid). What would happen if she said she liked him too? He would make her a concubine for sure , disregarding her desires for freedom or whatever.
I would like to recommend you to read the ' Original Novel Work' if you are interested enough & wonder about DI 's thoughts. Her thoughts are much more clear in the novel.
So the whole plot of the court ladies rebelling against the king seems trivial.I thought they'd provide a GOOD…
First , I agree with you about ' The Fairy Palace' . The whole arc is totally unnecessary for the overall plot of the story and most of the audience ( including K netz) agree with this. I hate the scriptwriter JHR for this arc, which was her own idea and not included in the Original Novel.
Overused rejections and the overall shortage of their married life are also frustrating for the audience. ( It is almost like ' Manual Labor with Low Paycheck'.)
The Scriptwriter should have balanced these two parts in later half of the drama, but she failed to do so.
That's why part of the audience agree with Baeksang's decision not to include hers in the nominations for the best script.
So the whole plot of the court ladies rebelling against the king seems trivial.I thought they'd provide a GOOD…
First , this is a Korean drama. The Main Audience is still the Koreans and as most K netz know their history, they wouldn't include the details in 17 episode drama.
This causes a lot of confusion and jumpy scenes for Int audience who don't know their history.
2 
***
With that said, even viewers who love this drama agree with the fact it has imperfect script and it could have been done much better.
Although the drama follows Historical Outline ( How King Jeongjo met Uibin when he was young , her rejections ,etc) ,all the events that happened in the drama are not historically accurate.
It is based on the novel 'The Red Sleeve'.
In my opinions, the first 6 or 7 episodes of the drama are well done .
It lays out how San met Deok Im in his most vulnerable state that led to their relationship.
( It was assumed that Jeongjo met young Uibin during tragedy of Crown Prince Sado).
But parts of middle episodes ( ep 7-12) about the 'Court Lady Cult' are so unnecessary to the whole plot .
Most audience ( including K netz) hated that part.
These parts about 'Court Lady Cult' are scriptwriter's own creation, not included in the Original Novel.
After that arc, the scriptwriter tried to re-follow the Novel again.
But, only 5 episodes were left for the drama to include about 2/3 of the remaining Original Novel.
Therefore, the whole arc about San&DI's married life was minimized once again.
( In the novel, all the fears and reasons behind DI's rejections were told in that arc).
So in conclusion,for the rushed and unsatisfactory ending of 'The Red Sleeve', part is scriptwriter's fault
and part is MBC's.
The scriptwriter should have left 'Court lady Cult' to cut unnecessary episodes.
For MBC, the director had planned 20 episodes for the project. But MBC didn't agree to it because of production costs. So there was another reason for the rushed ending.
I recopy and paste it.
***
As per novel and also what the actors said in BTS and Special episode ( Holding onto Red Sleeve ), the last scene is when San is on the verge of death.
When he is on the verge of death, his mind remembers and wanders to the time when he is the happiest .
If he opens that door, he will wake up in real life. ( He will continue his life as the King ).
But this time , he chooses to stay with Deok Im , knowing this is a choice he can make .
Like San's dialogue , this may be the dream he has on his verge of death or the afterlife after his death, but whatever it is, he chooses his Beloved Deok Im this time ,like Deok Im did for him when she was alive.
(We dream when we sleep, sometimes we get a dream too good that we don't wanna wake up from that dream . It may be that kind of feeling )
This is a lot coming from San, because he wants to be a king in next life too , per his discussions with his lecturers in episode 1 and also confirmed in ep 16 .
But this time , he gives it up for Deok Im .
This means there is no social patriachy ( the biggest villain of their love story ) between them anymore, so Deok Im can love him as a man starting from that moment.
*****
Some audience want the happy ending , so the director make it seem like a premonition dream San gets in his sleep ,too.
Rather than being busy, San gives more time to be with Deok Im before her death .
≤≥≤≥≤≥≤≥
But as my fav blogger said on her blog , is there really a happy or sad ending for the Red Sleeve?
It's based on Real History and the tragic events will eventually happen anyway. Both of them died 300 years ago and this was their love story .
So I prefer the Sappy ( Sad and Happy ) ending described above.
It is more aligned with what actors said ,too.
******
San and Deok Im can never understand their love for each other because they never see eye to eye due to their social patriachy.
[As the audience, we see how much King Jeongjo loved Lady Uibin Seong ( the Park in which he grew trees as a rememberance of her name , the letters of how much he missed her. Mostly , he personally wrote 'I love You ' on her epitaph which was never done by a King before.)
But for Uibin Seong, he was not only her husband but also her master . As a woman who was intelligent and read a lot, she knew the fate of the Kings' women before her . As much as she wanted it to be, she would never be a normal wife to San.
She would be cautious around him all the time.
She would be afraid of being abandoned like a low concubine when San became tired of her because San had the power to do so ( remember the 10 days after their first night ) ; her son couldn't even call her as mother ( because her son CP Munhyo was the first born of King and adopted by the queen per Royal customs .)]
San, too , will never understand the full picture of Deok Im's love either because her sacrifices will be invisible to him .
( For example , DI makes money by transcribing books but as a concubine, she doesn't need to worry about money anymore ,so in the eyes of San's and most people, it is better for her anyway.
But 'Transcribing books' is her hobby and her pride though it does make little money, and she can't do that anymore in her concubine position.)
It is neither to disrespect your opinion nor to defend the drama.
I am simply stating the facts.
The sageuks are divided into two categories, traditional and fusion.
TRS is a traditional sageuk based on real life love story of King Jeongjo and his beloved Lady Uibin Seong.
The drama needs to cover the whole life of King Jeongjo in the given episodes , so it may not properly introduce all characters involved .
The reason is as it is a traditional sageuk, the main audience are still ' The Koreans' who know their beloved King Jeongjo's history well.
( Also there was long classic drama version of Yisan who was made by the same station a decade ago. Who dares to remake that?)
Before the drama aired, both 'Junho' and 'Lee Seyoung' were less well known than they are today( they are not Hallyu stars) ,meaning the drama's main directed audience have never been the International viewers.
If I have to give an example, the drama itself is like a local beloved food. For International viewers, some will love it while others may not.
The score is formed according to that. That's all.
My Personal opinion about the score is that the drama does well on 3 fronts, Acting Directing and Music Scores .
But I do agree with you on one thing.
The drama's weakest link is the script , but it is not the poorest out of all. I will say it's average.
The plot is just... Stares
😂😂😂
After the marriage ban was lifted, the King ( who was the most important member of the nation) would marry .
The unmarried daughters of Noble Families MUST enter the selection process to become the Queen.
So if you or your family didn't want you to get married to 'The King' ,got married first before 'Selection for the Queen' took place.
I am not stating ML's action towards the two girls are right or wrong.
Also I am stating the plain facts.
Let's be honest. Historical romances are more or less with masculinity whether it is Chinese or Korean.
The overly healthy relationships were not possible when a monarch was involved.
Such a relationship is only imaginary in dramas, picturing the other women of harem ( apart from Heroine) as obsessive or toxic.
Even the so called most romantic story of Joseon Dynasty between King Jeongjo & Uibin involved 'Power Imbalance' ( I mean 'Real Life')
If you can't handle political chess of 'Marriage', just avoid the whole 'Historical Genre'.
Forcing Modern Lens upon historical dramas is just stubborn.
Sageuks politics become more thrilling & realistic when it is based on real history.
( Sukjong was famous for changing Political Faction and consolidation of 'Royal Power'.)
Here , they made a fictional Joseon with the realistic touch of history.
I am looking forward to how they will fare in next episodes.
The King was just a puppet who didn't have anything, the real mastermind was PGY.
The Minister of War 'Jo Won Pyo' was also PGY's man.
When PGY found out The King ( his puppet) sided with 'Sarim' and tried to get rid of him, he made the move first .
And 'The King' who didn't have 'Military Power' couldn't do anything to PGY.
PGY faction removed this ' Previous King' with the reason of Tyranny & enthroned 'Tae's father'.
Therefore, the ministers who were loyal to ' The Previous King' were also named 'Traitors' and executed along with 'Their King'.
'Tae's mother' was the daughter of one of these ministers. ( aka the daughter of traitors).
But Tae's father 'The King' protected her as long as he could.
This is similar to what happened in ' Seven days Queen' .
When Yeongsangum was dethroned , the Shin Family ( Heroine Family ) who was loyal to Yeongsangum was named 'Traitors'.
Then the ministers wanted ' Queen Shin (Heroine) deposed.
Which queen do you mean?
Tae's mother or Tae's dead first Queen Yoon or Queen Dowager
1) Before explaining things about this drama, let me clarify about Joseon.
Due to Joseon's founder, Jang Do Jeon, 'The noble class ( Sadaebu)' almost always had the same power as 'The Royal Family' throughout the dynasty.
If you are a Sageuk fan , you will always see 'The Ministers' from the noble class are always arguing with ' The King'.
But there were also
'Internal Faction Fights ' among the Noble Class about 'Which Family' should be the Powerful leader of Sadaebu.
In this drama , both
'The Sarim' and Park Gye Won's faction were from the Noble Class.
But currently PGY became too powerful ,so he controlled the nation.
The Sarim didn't like that and sided with the King.
PGY knew that and got rid of the Rival Faction before it became a problem.
If you have already watched 'Dong Yi' , it will be a totally opposite perspective .
Overall, if you don't care about history and love to watch a simple historical romance with whatever ending, it is not a bad watch.
How Tae doing his politics is exactly like how young Sukjong did in JOJ.
It is totally different from 'The Red Sleeve'.
As much as he was harsh on his grandson, Yeongjo was a powerful king on his own & he did protect San in a way.
It was not that all the power were wielded by Sadaebu (The Noble Class).
I think when she knew she was dying, she didn't want San to go through this kind of craziness and obsession for her death.
JLML 718 is right.
She said these cruel words because she loved him , she wanted him to forget her & go on with his life.
There are some short videos from China.
'The boy is having cancer ,so he breaks up with the girl.' kind of video.
This is Noble idiocy in a way.
Koreans like 'Noble idiocy' , right?
But have you read Chapter 3-5 of novel translation?
By reading this, I think I can finally understand DI's behaviour in final episode. The drama really rushed the ending.
( I watched it on Viu)
Viki for America I think
Viki/ Viu is legal site.
If it is not available in your region, try kissasian or dramacool which are pirate sites but some are afraid of virus problem.
( Yeah assassination attempts on King Jeongjo are famous in history.
There is a movie with Hyun Bin called ' The Fetal Encounter')
ML Junho shot most of the action scenes by himself without a double. ( he uploaded ' Making' on his youtube channel)
But the drama itself is a romantic melodrama , the storytelling will be like that . Action scenes are not much.
1. Joseon was a little different from Empire of China though based on the same Confucian System.
Joseon Monarch shared the power with ' Noble Class ' unlike a Chinese emperor who had absolute power over his subjects.
Yi San had his primary wife, Queen Hyoui who was only described & didn't appear in the drama. ( from Noron Faction)
He also had the First Rank Concubine, Hwabin.
( From Soron Faction)
Both of them were from Noble Class and Yi San needed to treat them with Respect & Courtesy unless they made a mistake.
As Joseon Monarch shared the power with Noble Class, disrespecting the wives from Noble families & showing too much favor for a low rank consort would cause a huge problem for Yi San .
This would even disrupt the Political balance & foundation.
Deok Im wouldn't want that for her King , right?
Also Yi San himself was chained to his duty as the King, so even if he wanted to do this for DI, he couldn't do as he wanted because he had responsibilities as The King.
Deok Im knew her life would be like this , and she didn't want to live like that.
( Giving the King everything she had but couldn't have ' Whole of Him' in return.
Cause the King was 'The Nation's Father' and she was not the centre of his everything .
But he became the Centre of her everything because her status, rank, everything she ate or wore depended on ' His Favor' , especially because she was the lowly maid before becoming a Consort )
Her dilemma was always between her desires for freedom and her love for Yi San.
Losing which one would be more painful?
2.As San was the King, he was a bit persistent than a normal man .
(A normal man would step down when he was rejected.
Here, Jeongjo acted like a big baby who wanted a teddy bear and insisted upon it.)
Even when she said she didn't like him, he was still pushing
( cause he felt like he owned her and literally like that because of her status as a court maid).
What would happen if she said she liked him too?
He would make her a concubine for sure , disregarding her desires for freedom or whatever.
I would like to recommend you to read the ' Original Novel Work' if you are interested enough & wonder about DI 's thoughts.
Her thoughts are much more clear in the novel.
The whole arc is totally unnecessary for the overall plot of the story and most of the audience ( including K netz) agree with this.
I hate the scriptwriter JHR for this arc, which was her own idea and not included in the Original Novel.
Overused rejections and the overall shortage of their married life are also frustrating for the audience.
( It is almost like ' Manual Labor with Low Paycheck'.)
The Scriptwriter should have balanced these two parts in later half of the drama, but she failed to do so.
That's why part of the audience agree with Baeksang's decision not to include hers in the nominations for the best script.
The Main Audience is still the Koreans and as most K netz know their history, they wouldn't include the details in 17 episode drama.
This causes a lot of confusion and jumpy scenes for Int audience who don't know their history.