The Red Sleeve (2021)

Beautiful slow burn romance, excellent acting and great cinematography

Completed - 1/1/2022

My first completed drama of 2022. What a beautiful ride this has been. I think "The Red Sleeve" has become my favorite sageuk, surpassing "The Crowned Clown" and "Moon Embracing the Sun". This drama has equal parts court politics and romance.

Acting - The overall acting for the whole cast is excellent. We have the amazing lead couple, whose quiet, simmering chemistry is off-the-charts. Lee Jung Ho (ML) and Lee Se Young (FL) were charismatic and playful in the first half of the drama, and the acting switches gears to a more melodramatic and serious tone. Our second male lead, Kan Hoon, portrays a grey character well. He kept me guessing whether he's good and loyal, or bad and traitorous. Not to forget out crazy king played by veteran actor Lee Deok Hwa. There are several episodes and scenes where he just took over the screen, and you were so mesmerized with him. The strong women supporting cast from the Queen Dowager, all the Princesses/Concubines and court ladies - all act their part and make each scene believable.

Romance - As mentioned, this is a very slow-burn romance. ML loves FL for over 10 years and courted her for so long before they were officially together. We have to wait till Ep 16 for that to happen!!! You cannot deny their chemistry. It might not be sizzling hot but it's simmering from episode to episode. We started with the initial fun bantering to the quiet and loyal behind-the-scene support, and then finally talking openly about their feelings (mainly ML to FL). One of my favorite scenes was when ML was grounded by the king and has to stay in his room. Our FL quietly stayed by his side outside the door, and read him poetry from the Book of Odes. That was such a romantic scene! I was happy to see that scene again in the finale. On the other hand, I was frustrated for ML because he never openly heard FL's love confession. I understand where FL is coming from, and her choice to stay with him is an act of love. But ML confesses so many times that I think he deserves to hear those words from FL's mouth directly. In the end, the audience waited until ep 16 to finally have some happy couple moments for less than half a episode. Well, at least we got several amazing kisses (not fish kisses, thank god!) from our amazing couple.

Court Politics - The rise of the crown prince to the throne took up 2/3 of the drama. It's interesting to see another side of throne fighting. Here, we don't have other princes but only the crown prince. Yet, there's still a lot of secret meetings and fighting between factions, before ML can become king. The friendship between the Crown Prince and Hong Deok Ro is quite a tragic one. As with the romance, the complexity of this friendship is not in-your-face, but is slowly and gradually shown to the audience. The power struggle between the King and the Crown prince is interesting as well. It's quite evident that the king wants the crown prince to take the throne eventually, yet he just won't let it go. Behind all these politics, we also have women working behind closed doors. We have scheming queens and princesses, fighting for their own benefits. But the biggest villains is the secret society run by a bunch of evil court ladies. That plotline is quite interesting, as I never would have thought they could be powerful enough to influence who would be the next king. I guess it's similar to how there are powerful eunuchs in C-dramas.

Court ladies & Guards - I also enjoy the behind-the-scene look of the hard-working court ladies. The friendship developed between FL and her friends was heartwarming to watch. Without these friends, life for these court ladies is depressing. The friends also provide comic relief to a pretty serious drama. Having someone like Court Lady Seo to be by FL's side is a blessing.
She's like a mother to her. I can't forget to mention our loyal and naive palace guard, Kang Tae Ho. He is quite adorable, esp. when he's giving tips on how to court a woman!

Cinematography - This is a beautifully shot drama. I especially like the natural lighting in all the scenes. When the scenes are shot indoors at night, the light is strictly coming from the candles and lanterns. There's no fake artificial light. It makes everything so much more natural and real. The costumes are beautifully layered with appropriate accessories. Though court ladies can't wear elaborate outfits, but you can tell that all the clothes are of high-quality fabric and not flimsy ones.

Other Observations:
1. Is it really that difficult to kill a tiger??????
2. How did FL escape from the underground prison when the exit is where the head court lady is having a meeting?
3. Love the dumplings scene in the finale. I feel that the leads are trying hard not to laugh and might have ad lib lines some of the lines.
4. Ep 17 is a little slow. I wonder if it's better to keep it at 16 episodes instead of increasing it to 17. But then, the episodes are already 1.5-long, so maybe not.
5. I am not sure about the ending: somehow I wished the drama ended sooner right after the leads got together. I want to see them happy.

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The Red Death

Some soundtracks were brilliant and went hard while other ones were pure rehashed garbage picked up from your local free-licensed store. However, the drama itself suffered from being painfully long-winded, with excessive and unnecessary long shots that reflected negatively on the cinematography. Especially when the chemistry was average at best. Plot-wise, it fell into the trap of being extremely formulaic, treading familiar ground seen in many dramas with the girl/prince trope. It didn't dare to try anything new or to spin its own twist. The male lead made the whole experience significantly uncomfortable and challenging, his personality didn't exude any attractive qualities in the slightest; in fact, I found his behavior to be quite repulsive, appalling and off-putting, catered exclusively to the fan-fic obsessed mindset, which may explains its ratings.

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Gripping story and strong acting. Recommended (with a warning).

This is one of the dramas that have left a very strong impression on me, together with shows like My Dearest and Mr Sunshine.
Oh, how I cried ...!
Weeks after finishing this show I still got emotional thinking about it. This series will sit with me for a long, long time.
Brilliant performances - the emotions portrayed, whether frustration, anger, love, sadness or joy, was just exeptional.

Costumes, for someone like me with no specific knowledge about this, seemed fine.
Locations and filmography were good too.

Note: After I originally wrote this review I learned the series is based on historical persons.

It also felt more "realistic" than most of the other historical dramas I've seen. Not "over-the-top" with clichés and such (as I remember).

The only thing I guess is holding me back from giving a full score, is that I felt the story skipped a bit much in the end.

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A wounded heart in a critical condition

Long time since i wrote a review, but now i am writing to express my condolence to myself, to sue the screenwriter and the director for their policy to follow up with the historical facts that made this tragedy to happen. Meantime, i will thanks genuinely the cast and them for this massive generation of a drama, a masterpiece, a divine live painting mixed between joy and sorrow black it in the end.
Lee se young and lee jun ho those two were the peace and the typhoon of this framework, their chemistry is beyond talking, strongly enough to make their scenes the best in a sageuk as couple then comes PKH and MCW in princess man and IU and LJK in moon lovers.
Deok im character who has her friends and her pride and free self above everyone, the tense that LSY had shown is unbelievable. She truly reminded me of MCW in princess man. Her character was between kind ,straight then badass and stubborn. She refuses to be subsided to someone and restricts her liberty. She can greatly hide her true and sincere feelings to someone to the very end for that purpose of hers.
Yi san/jeongjo character is a controversy, he lived in fear during his childhood and was always tormented by his father cp sado execution then by his gf king yeongjo who was strict on him and threatening him not to become like his late father. So he never truly had happiness in his life until he met with deok im, he started to smile and have fun with her that's when their story began. His affection to deok im grow bigger every time she saves,protect and look after him meanwhile deok im is in her defense state and hide her feelings to keep living her desired free life, so every time she refused to be his woman he go more persistent and savage on her. During his reign, he forced her to be his concubine without deliberating with her anymore hence she subjected to him because she had no choice although she likes him but she doesn't want this consort life because she knew the king has duties and he will not be hers only and the aftermath is known. So his obsessive character over her and his responsibility as a king to pretend to ignore not letting her live the life she wanted ( although she confessed it was her choice to stay by his side in the dazzling palace and i think after being worn out of his chasing after her)has drawn this wailing end.
This drama made me cry a lot experiencing successive demises that melted my heart and bruised my mind. It cannot be easily forgettable.

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Worthy of watching

I have watched this drama twice. I have to read English subtitles which has a lot of my concentration the first time I watch it. When I watch it a second or third time I always see something new. While other ratings were not at the top, I personally loved the connection between Lee Jun Ho & Lee Se Young. Their performance was excellent and kept me at times laughing and definitely the tears rolled in particular in the last few episodes. I only comment on the entertainment of the dramas I watch and leave any personal political thoughts out.
I watch dramas to learn, enjoy and reminisce my past experiences with love, loss and where I am now. I have become enamored with Korean dramas. I look forward to them everyday. Thanks to the talents of the gorgeous male actors and the beautiful women in these dramas.

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Not a fluffy romance and a different take on a different era

I binged this sageuk drama in less than 2 days, as I just got hooked.
I liked the fact it's based on real historical figures, even though the plot was largely fictional.
Fine cast and very good acting. Considering the vast majority of the drama took place within the palace walls, or immediately outside it, I felt the sets were wonderful and it gave a sense of how it must have been for those never allowed to leave.
This isn't a fluffy story at all. Whilst there are many light moments, the latter episodes contain tragedy and heartbreak.
The inner workings of palace politics, the personal maids and servants, tied for life to the King, who has total power and control over their lives, has been portrayed many times in sageuk dramas, but in Red Sleeve, possibly for the first time, I really felt like I got a glimpse into how hard and terrifying life could have been for anyone working close to the King; especially women.
In this instance, the ability to possess what one wishes, regardless, is taken advantage of. Though love is reciprocal, the effect this has on a previously bright, opinionated and free thinking character, I found so sad.
A King who in reality did a lot to reform policies at the time, but was overshadowed by his bi-polar, paranoid father, who was remembered for causing the deaths of a large number of his servants ~ although as the drama portrays, he and others felt Crown Prince Sado was purposely driven to madness.
At the end of the day, the King forced his will on the woman he loved, even though she'd explained why she didn't want to be his concubine.
A fated love story and not an easy ride. A little laboured at times, but overall a powerful watch. You might need tissues.

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How to move on from this??

What an emotional rollercoaster this drama is! It's one of the best historical dramas I have watched for a while. The story and characters were written with so much depth, and the actors conveyed this with so much sincerity. There were many darker themes woven into this romance to depict the harsh realities of court life for many women (loneliness, male dominance, court politics), and you really come to understand each character's motives.

The side characters are strong and hilarious but the chemistry between Lee Junho and Lee Se Young is electric. Lee Junho is captivating with the emotion he shows on screen - you were really with him the whole time and shared deeply in his happiness and pain.

There was a pain where I felt things dragged a little and that it was going nowhere with Dok Im and Yi San, but the continued tension between them made the ending all the more heartwrenching.

I'm not sure where to go with dramas now after this...

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Beautiful

I really enjoyed this wonderful story. The chemistry between Lee Jun Ho and Lee Se Young is fantastic !
Prepare yourself for a rollercoaster of emotions that is very rewarding.
The OST is also very beautiful and drags you completely into the story. You should not miss this historical drama
What makes it even more impressive is that this is partly a true story. This gives you a good idea of what the life of court ladies was like in the Joseon period. The 17 episode flew by .
The actors the production and the clothes were great too . for me this historical drama was one of the best i´ve ever seen .

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I am very curious about this drama because it has high ratings in Korea. The story is interesting because it is based on a true story. I like the character Duk Im who is smart, cheerful, and loyal to protect Lee San. But social status becomes a barrier to their love. when I saw Duk Im's life after becoming the king's concubine, I thought that Duk Im's life would be better if she remained a court lady and not the king's concubine. Her story is so sad and touching because she loss her best friend and son. Acting Lee Junho and Lee Seyoung really deserve the best couple award.

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Desempenho impressionante de Lee Jun Ho como o Príncipe Herdeiro Yi San

Como pode essa história mexer tanto com meu pobre coração!? Os dois últimos episódios são teste para cardíaco, me levaram a uma montanha-russa de emoções. Ri, chorei, senti frio na barriga, foi como se realmente eu sentisse todas as emoções do personagem. Até precisei assistir uma comédia em seguida para aliviar meu coraçãozinho que está descompensado até agora. Mas vamos ao que interessa...
Se você é fã de dramas de época que exploram as complexidades das relações humanas em um cenário histórico, essa série certamente merece atenção. A atuação talentosa do elenco, aliada à rica ambientação e à narrativa envolvente, torna esta trama uma escolha perfeita e ainda traz uma performance memorável de Lee Jun Ho. O desempenho impressionante dele como o príncipe herdeiro Yi San e, posteriormente como um imperador compassivo, é verdadeiramente envolvente. Sua interpretação magistral captura a angústia, o amor e o desamparo de seu personagem. Sério, deu vontade de colocar esse menino no colo de tanto sofrimento que seu personagem passou através de sua interpretação.
O drama foca no romance real entre Yi San (Lee Jun Ho), um príncipe herdeiro que se esforça constantemente para se tornar um rei benevolente que sempre coloca o dever acima do amor e que vive a sombra da morte de seu pai e da personagem Seong Deok Im (Lee SeYoung), uma jovem dama da corte que quer viver a vida de sua escolha, ao invés de uma das numerosas damas da corte chamadas apenas de mulheres do rei. Acho que um dos destaques desta série é ver o quanto Yi San está apaixonado por Deok Im. É historicamente conhecido que ele não amava nenhuma outra mulher tanto quanto a amava, e Lee Jun Ho foi capaz de transmitir perfeitamente essas fortes emoções.
A trama traz muitos detalhes e como que precisam ser vivenciados no drama já que não tenho intenção de spoilers. Com o passar dos episódios é perceptível que esta série tem muito a ensinar quando nos diz em voz alta que a felicidade está nas nossas próprias decisões, mesmo quando estas parecem ser feitas sobre coisas triviais. A trama traz muitos detalhes que precisam ser assistidos e sentidos já que não tenho intenção de spoiler. Apenas vejam e se deliciem com a perfeição deste drama e não esqueçam o lencinho.

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"The love of my life."

First I would like to apologize for my grammar since English is not my first language. Thank you.

It has been five months since the last episode and I don't think I've had enough time to heal from this story yet. Maybe it's because I rewatched the whole drama two months ago. Since the drama was based on a novel which was based on real people's lives the ending was pretty much predictable. But since I'm not very educated about Korean history the ending hit me very hard.
In my eyes their story was portraited very beautifully. You could see how he was falling for her more and more. You could see that she had feelings for him as well but their were not as twice a big as his. She was more free spirited and wanted to live her live in her own way which completely understandable. But he didn't see that. He saw her. Only her. He wanted her for himself and since he was a king he didn't think it was a problem. When she finally said yes to him you could see she was no longer happy. She was only happy when he was with her. But since he was a king he couldn't be there for her the whole time. She didn't care for all the things she could have had as a king's woman. She didn't care for the ranks. The only thing she wanted was her life. Her life as a maid when she could spend her time with her best friends who were also her family. She died because of loneliness. She died because there was nothing to live for anymore. Also her friend died, and she couldn't even more for he lost child the way she wanted. She was trapped and the only way to get out of there was he death.
Since I have not read the book I can't really tell why she died. She was probably just very ill but the whole situation made it look like it was his love that killed her. That moment when she asked him weather he was ever thinking about them being just ordinary people and he replied with no was very sad. You could se that he was blind. His love blinded him and that's what caused them an ending they've got. I have to admit that watching it twice made me realize that their story was not that sweet as I first had thought.
I really loved the last scene where he was already old and lying ill in his bad. And as he was closing his eyes I could see a little smile and relief on his face and that made me burst into tears because I knew he couldn't wait any longer to meet her again. And they met again. He woke up in her arms as if it was a bad dream but this time he didn't leave their garden. He stayed. And that was when I realized it was their heaven. It was just the two of them in their favourite spot with flowers surrounding them. So we got an ending scene with them being in each other's arms at last and for that I'm very grateful. It was a beautiful drama with a bittersweet story. And even thought I have already watched it twice I will definitely watch it again. I just need to collect enough strength.

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A beautifully told story

I don't even know where to begin with this one. The red sleeve genuinely might be the best kdrama that I've ever watched! The show displays important themes of feminism, power, and love. The characters were written attentively. The chemistry between the two leads were perfect. The acting was outstanding but most importantly the script was eloquently made.

Story
When I first started watching the show it was honestly quite funny, I found myself laughing at a few scenes although that quickly changed. I usually avoid Dramas that have lots of episodes that are more than an hour long, but this show was an anomaly. The pacing was just so perfect. I’ve watched a few kdramas where the show was unnecessarily long and the pacing was all over the place, plagued with filler but this drama was the opposite. The show never dragged and was always interesting. I always wanted to know what happened next and was never bored regardless of who was on the screen. In conjunction to the main story line where side stories that left just as big of an impression. The storyline about the Tiger foreshadowed it wasn’t going to be easy for Yi San to be come king. A young Deok Im ripping out that page from the book showed us that she’ll always protect and love her king. The Fairies was one of the best executed storylines it could have been its own drama it was that elevating. Seeing the juxtaposition of Deok Im protecting the one she loves versus fighting alongside women who she shares a strong bond with was captivating. As well as this we see Yi San struggle to become a great King while simultaneously fighting off the reputation of his grandfather and father. The story was NEVER boring each character was written so well. They each had their own backgrounds, flaws, growth, and motivation. We see the downfall of characters because of power, greed, and superstition. There were truly no small parts as every character had a such an important role.

Deok Im
Feminism, women’s rights, and independence were very important big themes throughout the red sleeve and Deok Im was the embodiment! Deok Im is an amazingly written strong female character. To be quite blunt she is a bad b***h! Watching her fall in love was so bitter/sweet. It really was an emotional rollercoaster. The number of internal conflicts Deok Im was facing because she was a woman who worked as a court lady but also a human who fell love. Or because she enjoyed her independence, wanted to live freely, and didn’t want to live as the Kings concubine but inevitable fell for him, she struggled a lot and because of Lee Se Youngs superb acting I struggled with her. I wanted to see them fall in love and be happy, but I also loved the fact that she wanted to be her own person and enjoyed her own hobbies, like reading. Seeing her eventually succumb to love after realising she couldn’t live with him made my heart wrench . I know sacrifices were made that she could have been resentful of, but she really did love him.

Acting
The acting in this drama was too good. The acting was so realistic that it allowed me to be fully immersed into the drama. Jun Ho really was amazing in his role. I cried whenever he cried. Lee Se Young was the star of the show for me and has a new fan! Kang Hoon played a very cunning character that I absolutely hated; I’m looking forward to seeing him play in something else hopefully a character that’s likable this time. There were so many actors in this drama that shined. The quality of acting was astounding, and everyone was amazing. These talented actors came together to make the best kdrama of 2021 and one of the greatest of all time.
I do not have any dislikes and enjoyed every minute!

Overall, I recommend YOU watch this drama you will not regret it. If you are looking for a fictional drama, which is based loosely on true events that happened in Korean history, about love, power, feminism, and strong characters then this is the show for you.

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