The Red Sleeve (2021)

Beautifully executed

The red Sleeve is probably the best historical drama I have watched so far. From the actors, dialogue, musical score and the setting, this drama is well worth its hype.

While the title speaks of the meaning of the red sleeve, you would think that the story centers solely on the concubine's side. However, it cannot be denied that Lee Jun Ho, had the strongest presence in the whole drama. He is undeniably a very good actor and you cannot imagine any other person taking on the role of San. His diction is superb, each word ringing clearly to the viewer. I watched Wok of Love before (dropped it though) and he was the one actor I wanted to see again. I am looking forward to seeing him in other projects.

Lee Se Young also portrayed her role really well. The manner with which she spoke always felt like she was telling a story. This suited her role, as she was a sort of storyteller during the first few parts of the series. She is also one of my fav actresses, after I saw her In Dr John and Kairos.

The soundtrack itself didn't actually have an impact to me as much as the background instrumentals did. The musical score was well placed in each scene giving off a dreamy, floating vibe.

As to the ending, it was bittersweet. They truly loved each other and even in the afterlife, they were meant to be reunited.

Lire davantage

A MASTERPIECE!!!

Up to now, I don't know how I manage to end this drama especially the last two episodes. It made me vulnerable and emotionally unstable. For the last two days since the last episode was aired, I still cry whenever I remembered and reflected from a scene. This might be a typical love story of a king/crown prince just like in most historical dramas, however, this story focuses more on the life inside the palace---- from the royal family to the court ladies. This drama highlights the palace as a prison cell especially for women dressed in grandiosity and glamour. This made me realize that I am lucky since in this generation, we somehow have the freedom. In terms of storytelling, the actors did not disappoint. They gave justice to their characters which made it more realistic and more relatable. The love story of King Jeongjo and his beloved concubine Uibin Seong is already painful when you are just reading it on the internet, however, this drama made it more painful and made my heart broke into pieces. Overall, this drama is a masterpiece. It will make you experience various emotions (especially pain in the last episode). It's a 10/10 for me. P.S: Don't misunderstood the 1.5 rewatch value. Its's just that I can't allow myself to experience another dose of terrible pain. Huhuhuhu My Deoksan heart. To San and Deok Im, I hope in your next life, you were able to share your love with freedom and eternal happiness.:)

Lire davantage

Drama plot sounds typical at first, but Red Sleeve managed to stand on its own two feet. Bravo!

There had been a similar but older adaptation of King Jeongjo and Ui-bin Seong's love story which was the 2007 drama series Lee San, Wind of the Palace. My mom was a big fan of Lee Seo-jin who was playing as that show's Yi San, so I naturally managed to watch it in its entirety. Hence, I am not that surprised with the development of this current adaptation. Thought it's the same ending, the bittersweet pain remains the same.

I'm confident to say that Red Sleeve is easily one of this year's best asian dramas. The leads are both clever, mature, responsible and selfless. They are a power couple who compliments each other's strengths and weaknesses and are quite self aware of consequences with their every action. It's quite refreshing to see them through each episode. The other secondary characters are also filled with relevance and personality so you will also find yourself liking them as well.

However I do admit that this drama is not without its flaws. Somewhere around 3/4 of the drama, the usual eye-roll inducing Kdrama political intrigue holds the drama plot's reigns and forcibly spoonfeds the viewer of various side characters' resentment and revenge plans which I absolutely don't care for at all. I've seen my fair share of Kdrama and I'm just tired of this kind of plot development at this point. BUT that's just me, I still believe this part of the story might be quite engaging and effective for other people, so don't take my word for it.

Overall, Red Sleeve is worth it,. You ma be able to pinpoint certain elements in this series that are from other acclaimed historical series in the past, but they managed to make Red Sleeve feel unique and memorable at the same time.

Lire davantage

Too perfect that it hurts

The drop in 0.5 is my hate for this drama for it showed brute reality of patriarchy. I know it is a meaningless gesture, as meaningless as Sung Duk Im's perseverance of not confessing her true feelings till death. But that's what kept her going. That's how much I understand and empathize with this character.
The drama starts as romance and slowly shifts gear to political. It is like every other saeguk at this point. Star crossed love between crown prince of nation and bright court lady, after numerous trials and tribulations get to be together and live happily ever after. Well that's what I expected. Then melodrama has entered the conversation. The true brilliance of this drama lies ahead. Happily ever after has different meaning for everyone. As for Sung Duk Im, it is in transcribing books, reading stories to others, spending time with her friends and living a commoner life. She always feared change. All her fears came true when she was forced to be a concubine.
The perfect crown prince who everyone looks up to found solace in his loyal servant. Despite his continuous efforts and genuine feelings, he was rejected time and time again. I was growing impatient as to what's stopping her, do something, make her yours even by force. That's where it all went wrong. My patriarchal mindset got the better of me. The moment she was forced, I lost any hope for happy ending.
Marriage is shackles and palace, the safest place in the kingdom, is prison for women in patriarchal system.
Ending with my favourite dialogue by Sung Duk Im "His highness is dear, but myself is dearer. So I'll never drive myself into pain"

Lire davantage

Worth Watching Drama

Highly recommended historical drama! MUST watched! The plot is very interesting and unique from the past historical dramas I've watched, overflowing chemistry of Lee Junho of 2PM and Lee Se Young getting stronger in each episode. My wife and I enjoyed watching romantic moments between the two.

When watching Saeguk, it a very important to get hooked on the first episode, and this drama intriguing since the start. A wonderful overture.

The music score is beautifully weaved in each scene as dialogue fluently acted. The actor's child and adult, both deliver a fantastic rendition of the storyline. You can sense joy, heartbreak, tears, and sorrow so intense.

The casting of this drama was perfect. The actors did a great job portraying every emotion clearly and playing with my wife's heart. We were a bit sad that the drama already ended.

Lire davantage

I really like this royal drama. Best Saeguk of 2021.

WAVE OF ACT: Lee Jun Ho, Lee Se Young, Kang Hoon, Lee Deok Hwa and Han Yul Ri

Let's put Lee Se Young and Lee Jun Ho aside. They are super super in playing the characters. Especially Lee Junho. For the first drama about the kingdom, he executed Yi San's character in depth.

Kang Hoon as Hong Dong-ro, surprised me with his appearance as an antagonist but loyal. His acting is very stable as a villain in this drama. That really caught my attention. Handsome but venomous teacher.

To the point that I thought that if Kang Hoon played the villain, it would be epic.

No wonder Kang Hoon managed to bring the Best New Actor trophy from MBC.

Yoo Deok Hwa playing King Yeonjo aka Grandpa Yi San is a great thing. His emotions when crying while in the palace. Very well. Very cool.

Han Yul Ri plays Deok-im's friend Baek Kyung-hee. She's a straightforward girl so on the same frequency as Deok-im. Even if you have patience, it's still better for Deok-im.

Yul Ri's portrait of Kyung-hee caught my eye. The way she became a determined and stubborn girl was so attractive and perfect.

Conclusion

Since watching the drama, we all know how The Red Sleeve will end. Especially if you read the true story.

I'm glad the author ended the story more rationally than satisfying the audience's happiness.

This drama depicts the futile life of a palace maid which shouldn't happen to women nowadays. They have the right to freely determine their life. You don't have to be someone who is submissive to men.

Each cast contributes greatly to the plot of story building. Lee Jun Ho and Lee Seo Young shared such a strong bond that their emotions managed to shake the audience. Good work.

I really like this royal drama. Which I nominated as one of the royal dramas I've been waiting for all this time.

Excess

- All the acting is good. Especially Lee Jun Ho, Lee Se Young, Yoo Deok Hwa, and Kang Hoon.
- The arrangement of the music is quite appropriate so that it builds the atmosphere of each scene well.
- Lee Jun Ho and Lee Se Young's chemistry flows like air. They make an excellent drama couple.
- The writer is good at ending a drama that seems to end well. Even more painful.
- The story just flows, because we already know how The Red Sleeve will end.

Weaknesses

- The author tries to include comedy elements in the last episode, which is more intense than melodrama. So a little annoying. However, the romantic moment between the King and Concubine Ui was closed.

Additional Notes

- For lovers of royal drama. I highly recommend The Red Sleeve. But don't expect sweet scenes. The genre is melodrama.
- Actually there are many things I regret about the character change. Not because the story is bad. But the fact that the king should have a little time for the concubine, is very sad. Even though I understand the king, it still hurts.
- I want to say 'thank you' to the world that has turned the cheerful Deok-im into a slightly darker towards adulthood. Just wish him happiness throughout the episode. She is an extraordinary girl in loyalty.

Lire davantage

The Royal Consort?

Apparently, this drama is a depiction of a real life story. I could not enjoy Sung Deok Im (The Royal Consort) character who did not seem to have reciprocated in terms of showing great affection to the King who loved her deeply, and demonstrated to her his affections in anyway he could. The actors however did a really good job especially with Lee Jun Ho who acted as the King but the show dragged on in most parts for me. ...............................................................................................................................................................

Lire davantage

If you are looking for a heart-wrenching angsty long-drawn-out melodrama you will love this

The Red Sleeve has a promising premise. My favorite moment is Deok Im's childhood when she is so full of life! I also love the friendships between her and other palace maids last throughout the episodes. The casting is really fitting, I loved the couple's chemistry together, and I thought they were incredibly swoony. I loved that they're both adults and yet can be so innocent and giddy together, it makes me smile. The visuals are gorgeous, and the OST is so wonderful and gives me all the feels.

But around the midpoint way I kind of lost a little bit of interest because it started to veer into heavy melodrama territory, and that aspect lasted too long because they're constantly faced with inconvenient circumstances, misunderstandings, miscommunications, the male lead is sometimes really harsh and showing off his power. I know that is part of his character and part of his growth, but I found it annoying. And the slow pacing just stretched for the rest of the entire series and I just got so tired. The final episode is too jarring, there’s no build-up towards the ending. I couldn't fully enjoy it anymore. For me, It would have been perfect if this drama is 8 episodes.

Lire davantage

Interesting shift in the plot…

Keep in mind that I will be discussing why I’m this close to dropping the series after finishing over half of the episodes. Spoilers will be included, only minor ones that I feel like one must know before starting the drama.

I usually love historical dramas and I don’t mind the cliche storylines and such. This drama was filled with just that, as most historical romance dramas are. I loved this one, keyword loved. Just finished episode 13, where the ML, the crown prince, becomes king. Sounds normal, but I have to disagree. Unlike other dramas, this one took a turn midway through the series and the writers decided that they wanted the whole plot to change. The series went from a lighthearted historical romance to watching two people engage in a frustrating relationship and the plotline took on a more depressing undertone.

To be straightforward, I don’t like what the crown prince’s character turned into. If you’re watching for the ML, I’m pretty sure you wouldn’t like this one unless you’re into guys full of red flags. In the first half of the drama, the crown prince was fine. Red flags here and there but as someone that chose to watch for the eye candy, I ignored it. Starting around episode 12 or 13, the crown prince started pushing himself (quite literally, as he was drunk ;-;) onto the FML as she wasn’t accepting his advances; it bothered me alot as her character looked visibly uncomfortable but couldn’t resist as she is just a mere court lady. Some may consider me sensitive, but I know many others are like me. I’m considering dropping the drama altogether if this continues ;-; I’m a fan of the ML and I don’t really want to see him playing a character that makes me feel this uncomfortable.. I also noticed how the FML stopped smiling as much which bothered me and made watching ep 13 almost unbearable.

I just wanted to give people a heads up on what type of drama they’re starting. My review was short and doesn’t cover much, I know. I wrote this at 3am bc I was so frustrated at the more recent eps lmfao

Lire davantage

when will this guy give up

how many times does she have to tell him she's not interested in becoming his concubine until he stops. maybe she secretly, very very deep down, so far that no hint is given even to the audience, DOES want to be his concubine. even in this case, all he is shown is a clear, straightforward rejection.
eventually he gets married to some 13 year old and makes some weird comments to deok-im about it and the whole time she is still refusing his requests. it was at this point that i stopped watching.
honestly, it was very sexy and enjoyable for a long time, but it just gets to be too much. on top of this, deok-im's supposed reasons for not wanting to be his concubine are very convincing; she describes the life of a concubine as one without freedom, voice, genuine companionship, and joy. it's incredibly hard to believe that she is lying or even wrong about this entirely unappealing life.
overall, i just don't understand why they had to ruin a pretty fun drama by making it more and more disturbing.
disclaimer: i know that the drama was based on real-life events, this however does not make it any more enjoyable, possibly even less. do not comment on my reviews.

Lire davantage

Good but could have been done better

I had to read a bunch of other peoples reviews to contextualize my thoughts. I agree with the this doesn’t work as romance take.They should have the romance be a side story. Because if romance is main story we almost always expect a lot of heartwarming ooooooo moments of which there were very few if not non-existent.It’s a horrible love story.

Love can be complicated and not have a happy ending. But one should feel like wow they really loved each other but life happened.( I got this feeling in Mr sunshine) here the FL feminist concerns are not dealt with appropriately because she never admits she is in love. Multiple things can be true at the same time. This drama did not know how to handle that. They can have been truly in love and shown it and still have shown all the tragedy and reluctance to conform.

The point at which the FL decides her love mattered over her concerns is treated pettily when it should have been the cornerstone of the show. The point in life where one decides what matter most. But they didn’t give the FL agency to portray this because they had it happen via her getting dragged back to the palace instead of making the choice herself. The asking and being rejected over and over makes the story seem immature. When they got married she seemed sad allllllllll the time. So it adds to the forced to do it narrative.

I don’t know how historical interactions between king and concubine were but if the King waited for years for this concubine instead of forcing them to marry him when he could have. I think it is safe to assume this was a very mature relationship with mutual respect. I expected the post marriage interactions between the King and concubine to be more meaty and less slave and master like. We needed more dialogue. We needed to see the FL retain her fire within the marriage and see her wrestle with her desires, duties and constrains. Instead she just became a wilted flower after marriage. The traits they had us believe made him fall in love with her at the beginning completely disappeared post marriage. So their love becomes unbelievable the story falls apart at the end.

Lire davantage

One of the most beautiful dramas I've watched

I think this is genuinely one of the best dramas I've watched. The chemistry, the story, everything was perfect. I enjoyed it from start to finish.


I will discuss the last two episodes, so don't read unless you have watched them!!!

I cried during the last two episodes, but in the end, I was somewhat happy that they went with historical accuracy. It was painful and beautiful.

Honestly started this because I thought it was going to be funny, and at the beginning, it was, but then we were hit with reality. Deok-im was a woman in a man's world, which contributed a lot to her goals and aspirations. One of those was to live life how she wanted, even if it was trivial things she wanted to have some control. When she fell in love with San, she felt that it would restrict her freedom to be with him, so she put it off for a long time, but she was drawn to him either way. Her heart ached for him, and she wanted to keep him safe at all cost.

In that episode, her heart won the battle when he asked her to choose between not seeing him again or being with him. I saw a lot of comments saying that the ending sucks, but it was honestly such a beautiful ending, and you could tell that her harsh words came from a place of love. She didn't want San to drown in sorrow, so she pretended that her feelings weren't as strong as his. But you could tell that in a way she loved him very much. She chose to be with him because the thought of not seeing him and not being around him hurt more than losing the little bit of freedom that she had. Everyone could see their love, and except for that other concubine, everyone was rooting for them and wanted them to be happy. Maybe if we got more of those happy moments with their child and the family they had, maybe more people could see that spending those happy moments with San had more value than the life she once dreamed of. Not to say that she was completely happy and without regrets because she definitely had many, but even when she asked him not to look for her, it was because she knew that she would do it again if he asked. She would fall for him again, and they chose to spend their eternity together in the end.

I am satisfied with this ending because it showed the harsh reality of the past, yet it combined with the beauty of love. Both San and Deok-im were part of each other's happiness. Again my only complaint is that I wish we could have seen more happy moments, especially with their son, as it would make it clear that she did love him and was only holding back. I wanted to see them raising their child together and being a family. I get that having those tragic moments was more important for the story, but still, I wish we could have seen them. It looked like San was a great father, and their grief truly broke me.

Lire davantage