The Red Sleeve (2021)

Like many others I am reeling from the emotional turmoil of the last episodes. This is definitely one of the best kdramas of 2021 and a really high quality sageuk.
I actually have a few mixed thoughts and feelings about how good it was, so I thought it’d be helpful to list out the good and bad things about this show.
The good:
-the romance is top tier, seriously. AND it’s a great historical romance, because these two people act like they would (or probably, anyway) back in the 1700s. The crown prince knows Deok Im is beneath him, and there is this constant power imbalance. He even says and does some not-great things to her. Deok Im has some pretty good reasons to not be with him, and that power imbalance is central to that. It’s just such an interesting dynamic to watch. (To be honest, I think this show should be labeled as a tragedy; do you really think this is going to end well?)
-there is this emphasis on the powerlessness of the maids, and other power dynamics are explored in interesting ways. The crown prince’s relationship with his grandfather is tragic and terrible, but you can’t tear your eyes away. They have some amazing scenes together.
-acting is super good, particularly by our two main leads. Both of them are incredibly good at conveying emotions and thoughts with their eyes, and it adds so much to their scenes together. The rest of the cast is solid too. Speaking of which…
-the “second male lead” (idk he doesn’t fit into the traditional role so it feels weird to call him that) is a bad person and doesn’t like our main female lead. He sees her as a rival for the crown prince’s attention and affection. He’s also interesting because you aren’t quite sure what his agenda is.
-the writing. I am also going to complain about the writing later, but I want to give strong kudos to the writing in general. There are many amazing scenes, the dialogue is well-written, and things that get set up early on do come back around again later. You get the cliche “they met as kids” thing and it still makes me roll my eyes a bit, but it is less cliche than usual. It also doesn’t act as a catalyst for the romance so I think that made it less cringey.
The not-so-great stuff:
-this show kind of recycled one particular plot: Deok Im gets in trouble, the crown prince gets involved, the queen gets involved, Deok Im gets saved. By the second time it happened I was like, really? You’ve thought of nothing else? It happens three times. Honestly I thought the second male lead would do something to Deok Im and that would’ve been more interesting, but that kind of didn’t go anywhere. Their relationship didn’t develop much which I thought was a shame.
-the palace maid secret society subplot. Hoo boy. Okay, it’s not the worst thing in the world, but it is just so over the top. Maybe it was to make the palace maids more relevant to the central plot but… it’s not great. They could’ve been influencing politics by, I don’t know, being spies for different nobles or something.
-a bunch of people don’t want the crown prince to become king but there is literally no on-screen alternative, so the whole thing felt a little weird. Like, who do these people want to be king? Seemingly nobody, they just don’t want it to be the crown prince.
-the time skip that happens 2/3rds of the way through is three years, which is a big chunk of time, but not much seems to have changed in the king (former crown prince) and Deok Im’s relationship. Like, did they even see each other that much during that time? I don’t know, it felt weird that not much seemed to have changed between them. They almost seemed more distant which wasn’t great for the romance plot. It also made it unclear what Deok Im was thinking and feeling. It was awkward and threw me off.
-the last few episodes are a little draggy. This is due partially to Deok Im (and some filler scenes). We just don’t get much insight into her thoughts. I think this makes her indecision feel unnecessary and dragged out. It would’ve helped if she had talked to somebody or even had an inner monologue about what she was thinking and feeling. The actress is great, but there’s only so much you can convey when there aren’t any words to back them up. When she does talk about her reasons for not wanting to be a concubine it’s vague, like “freedom” or w/e, but she’s not free as a palace maid either. There is definitely a difference, but this is because it literally happens so we do get to understand it, but it was unclear before what made her less free.
I understand why people are giving this a 9 or 10 because the good parts are really good, but to me I can’t say that 90-100% of this show is good. 80% seems more accurate.

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Kadere mahkum olmak

Başları çok saçmaydı özellikle kaplan sahneleri ama sonlara doğru toparladığını düşünüyorum ve olması gerektiği gibi bitti bu dizi iki aşığı değil de hayatın gerçeklerinden kaçamayacağını gösteriyor tam bir dram izledik oyuncuların oyunculukları çok iyiydi ağlama sahnelerinde o duyguyu hissedip ben de ağladım .kadın karakterin kaçacak hiçbir şeyi olmaması çok üzücüydü kral da ayni şekilde küçüllüğünden beri baskı altında ve tek erkek olmanın yükünü taşıyordu .cariye öldükten sonra cariye seçimlerinde 3 kızın uibine farklı özellikleriyle benzemesi sonucu kralın siniri kalbimimi parçaladı. Uibinin arkasından hiç bir şey bırakmaması ilk çocuğunu 4 yaşında kızamıktan kaybetmesi diĝer çocuğunu kendisiyle birlikte götürmesi içler acısıydı...

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A saeguk that didn't shy away from romance

Best thing:
The drama managed to focus on romance whilst recognizing that romance is just one part of the character's lives. It's such a simple thing that they did so right. It's seriously such a rare quality as in many romance saeguk: they either show too much beside romance just to show off the character's virtues; or make the characters seems like crazy people who only live to love (UGH the countless lovestruck emperors and runaway princesses wagering their country for love).

Another great thing is how the female lead helped the male lead A LOT. I like this situation much better than the protagonist being the debtor, which is more often the case.

Nope:
If it weren't for the icky court lady cult plot(???) this would have scored higher. Yet that part was so nonsensical and forgettable and long that if it weren't for how good the OTP is, this would have scored so much lower. They could have gone a thousand other ways with the court lady thing, yet they chose such a nonsensical way. It's not weird because it's a cult, I'm saying that this particular cult is so damn ?????

The rewatch value is especially high with this one, there's the feel good aspect and the skip button. Another note, this drama reminded me so much of Moon Embracing The Sun. I'd have to say Red Sleeve is the better one between the two still.

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Captivating

The acting was great. I enjoyed the plot. They covered a lot of different stories over a long time without making it feel like it was dragging on or gimicky. Scenes were complex and characters had time to fully blossom. I really enjoyed the main lead's acting. He played stern, silly and vulnerable masterfully. I really liked Deok Im's personality and the life she created for herself. The crux of the show revolved around why she didn't want to be the king's concubine. When she eventually agreed I felt it needed some context. Her original reasons for saying no didn't disappear and were seemingly confounded upon by a lot of inexcusable things he said and did over the years that he never apologized for. I couldn't understand how or why her character wanted to be with him after all that. Her acquiescence was also abruptly followed by a significant change in her personality. She became a clipped version of herself. She had all these thoughts and feelings she kept to herself and never shared with the king. I understood it to mean her decision to take this role was essentially her giving up on her life. It was heart-breaking to watch that what she always feared if she said yes, had indeed come to pass. She gave up her life to be with him... for as her character seemed to see it as- nothing. I have to say I was happy she died early so she could be released from this horrible prison sentence. I couldn't stand anymore of it.
The king loved her, as deeply and truly as may be possible, but he had no idea *how* to love her. He let her suffer again and again in the name of the kingdom. When he could have and should have put her first he took her for granted. I'm talking about the pregnancy announcement and Yeoung Hui sitch. He knew she had no more choices after he slept with her. I wished she could run away or end things on her own terms. In the end, years after she died he still didn't understand her or what their relationship meant for her. He didn't acknowledge that he'd sequestered her from so many people who loved her or how he never thought to look after the ones she loved or even how he never tried to make her happy if it wasn't at his convenience. She was happy to spend time with him but he only spent time with her because it made *him* happy. She had all these talents and intellect and he never tried to open up an avenue for her to use them. Despite what Geung Hui said, I think when Deok Im asked the king to ignore her in their next life she meant it. He destroyed her life for his own desire and never acknowledged it. It's hard to believe he was such a good king to essentially strangers when he had terrible relationships with all those close to him. I think the saddest part of this whole story wasn't any of the deaths, rather the king's belief that he could love or did love differently from his grandfather.

Anyway, long story short, the drama clearly captivated me. If you like longer historical dramas this might be for you. If you're looking for romance or happy endings I'd swipe left.

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Refreshing sageuk drama with intriguing plot, good acting, top-notch visuals + humor

Lee Se Young and Lee Jun Ho, need I say more? :)

I have been so excited for this drama to come out and let's just say, the first episode has exceeded my expectations! I know it might be too early to write a review but I had to share my initial thoughts. So far, the drama is like literature in motion, which makes sense, since it's based on a historical novel. The first episode has all the elements of a good sageuk drama--an engaging storyline, emotional dialogue, endearing characters, and a healthy balance between light-hearted and intense scenes. The child actors (especially little Yi San) have done such a wonderful job to set up the story between the older leads. Junho and Se Young look marvelous and make such a beautiful, refreshing pair! With such a great line-up of actors, intriguing storyline, and beautiful background music and visual aesthetics, I have no complaints.

Beyond the typical romantic premise and classic tropes that K-dramas are known for, there is also something unique about the storytelling here. I sense that this drama is trying to capture the underlying tensions between the themes of gender, class, womanhood, patriarchy, and monarchical rule within this historical time period. I love that every detail of every scene ties together nicely and seems to carry symbolic and thematic meaning beyond aesthetics (the last few minutes of the first episode were so well done!). I can't wait to see how the story unfolds...but I also predict this may have a tragic, sad ending for our leads, given the foreshadowing tone of the first episode (praying that I'm wrong!! T_T).

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This is why I prefer the fantasy genre over anything based in reality... :(

'Using my personal rating system of "loved," "liked," "meh," and "nah", I rate this a "liked" but I will not rewatch it, or if I do, it will just be the FL and ML getting to know each other at the very beginning.

As per my title, I prefer fantasy over reality simply because the actual historical events and reality were so tragic and, at times, awful. I deliberately did not watch the last episode, preferring to end everything when she found out she was pregnant and they were happy to be having their first child. I do know how it ends both in the show and historically, I just did not want to have to see it. I thought both leads did brilliantly, their chemistry was amazing, and I agree with the top positive reviews about this show.

Things I felt were lacking: after the resolution of the issue with the "evil" court lady, I felt it went kind of downhill in terms of excitement and action--especially once he became king. I know there was (in theory) a Queen, but the fact that they wrote her out of the script leaves a major plot hole, in my opinion, as she apparently played a larger role in the book. And while I totally get that this was completely normal during that time, the fact that the ML did and would continue to sleep with women other than the FL (even after they finally got together) because that was what was expected of him as king, makes my skin crawl. I can't help it, but that is my modern, Western sensibility interfering with my ability to truly enjoy their relationship (though I think that is what kept her from giving in for so long, too?--she wanted him all to herself and knew that was not possible?).

If you're a fan of incredibly well done historical saeguks, then this is definitely for you. Even if you're not (you're more like me and prefer happy endings, the not-very-historically-accurate shows, etc.), its still an excellent drama. Just beware that this is a pretty accurate portrayal of life in another time (and for many of us) under another culture--not everything is going to be tolerable or understandable.

Random question r/t historical dramas in general: Did no one ever get naked when doing the deed? Those two were almost fully dressed when they woke up after their 'wedding' night. I see this a lot in period dramas (both Chinese and Korean). Is it a cultural thing in the sense that implying nudity on screen is unacceptable? Or a cultural thing in the sense that they really did not take their clothes/sleeping garments off except just enough to get it done?

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“No Boring Parts”

I am not particularly fond of period or historical dramas but I made a rare exception for this series after watching episode 1. The first hour went by without me getting bored or losing interest. Its splendid plot, dialogues, casting, acting and production design collectively kept me captivated and wanting for more so I kept on watching all the available episodes. I clearly see why this drama is fast gaining popularity and winning against its present rivals in the ratings game. I’m now eagerly waiting for episode 7 to be released and excited to find out how the love story between a debonair Crown Prince and an affable Court Maid will wittingly unravel.

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realistic surprisingly hooked must watch

This drama got me. That's a clear - MUST WATCH
I'm starting being afraid of the ending of this masterpiece. Because actually in the real-past history she died 33 years old in the 10. month of her third pregnancy with her unborn child in the womb from liver cancer and he was so deeply sad touched that this romantic relationship (his ever only beloved woman) become sad history afterwards by his actions in grieve.

Sometimes you really ask yourself, how can live be so cruel. He lost his father due to being executed by his grandfather, he later lost the only woman he ever loved due to liver cancer and he lost his son with her, the young crown prince by sickness at age of 4 and even his unborn child with this woman, whom died in its mothers womb together with her.

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Get lost in the Red Sleeve

Not a fan of historical or costume dramas. it's not my genre. But this one hits different. I've only watched 4 episodes, but something about this captivating prince and this court lady has got me hooked like no other. The prince: his husky, sexy voice, the curls of his mouth with he sheepishly smiles, and commanding yet comedic demeanor. The court lady: her confidence, her charisma is very satisfying to watch, Their chemistry so far gives all the butterfly feels that's borderline electrifying. All other support characters are pretty standard, nothing to write home about. But watch for the main leads as they light up the screen.

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20 Hours Wasted

I must start by saying that I am not a fan of historical dramas so I might be overly critical, but this was not good at all, in my opinion. There was some impressive acting by the male lead and some beautiful attire, along with some noticeably good acting by some of the side characters, which made the drama remotely tolerable (and I do mean remotely); but the overall plot was lost and not cohesive because the show dragged on too long. Some scenes were unbearably long, with minutes of the lead actors just staring at each other and saying nothing. This could have been wrapped up in 8 episodes; even 12 would have been much better, but no way should this have been 17 episodes. The episodes were extremely long and filled with flashbacks of things that had just happened. It felt like they were just trying to prolong the show. Also, some things were just baffling such as the age of the prospective concubines. These were literally babies... like, were they even childbearing age??? I get that historically, girls were subject to be married off extremely young, but the way these young girls were embedded in this story seemed distasteful. Nothing sexual was shown, but just the idea of this grown man and these little girls was off putting. There was a lot that was just not explained or seemed to be just dropped into the story, such as the female lead having a tattoo that tied her to the crown prince, or that her father at one point worked for his father and several other things that just seemed thrown in. I like the female lead in general, but this role did not do her any favors. I know she was trying to hide her feelings for the prince by not showing emotion, but she clearly loved him, so her lack of emotion felt more like bad acting. The male lead pressed her constantly on whether she loved him. I guess that is because he was so insecure given the way he had been treated, but it was tiring to keep listening to this; it didn't have any impact. And the ending was just confusing. If it had wrapped up showing that the male lead, who had become the king, made changes to the laws of the land because of his love for the female lead, who eventually became his concubine, that would have been better. I assume that was implied, but there was plenty of time to show us what happened without us having to infer anything; yet, the show ended without closure... a final twist of the knife after almost 20 torturous hours of slow-paced nothingness. I can't tell you what the climax to this story was. There was nothing but a flat line during this whole drama. Each episode was well over an hour long and the last one was almost two hours... I just cannot believe how bad this was. It was highly recommended by a fellow drama lover, and I can't wait to see her again to tell her how bad this was. She literally begged me to watch it and said it was her favorite historical drama. I don't know what people like about this show. I can tell the production value was high, but I still don't know what they were trying to produce.

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Exciting and beautiful

If you haven't started watching Red Sleeves, you are missing out on a wonderful historical drama! I am enjoying the storyline and the beautiful costuming and scenery. The vivid blues and magenta/pink colors add to the ambience of the scenes. The music also expresses such depth of emotion to me. The actors, both children and adult, were well cast. To me, the feelings of the characters shine through the actors' expressions and actions. Even the secondary characters are showing such depth. I am especially enjoying the banter between Court Lady Seo and Kang Tae Ho. Looking forward to more episodes!

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