Among the current sageuk offerings, dominated by the fluffy romantic comedy fusion sageuk trend, The Red Sleeve is a drama that shares certain elements found in such sageuks, but is truly a melodrama rather than a comedy, and thus, despite some light-heartedness in the early episodes, has a predominantly serious tone. To those tiring of the fluffy trend, The Red Sleeve may prove a welcome respite that offers some of the gravitas of a more classic sageuk, yet it is also enough in the realm of the romance-focused, youth-oriented sageuk that it will likely appeal to those who are fans of the rom com in period dress genre. It is not likely, however, to satisfy fans of political sageuks, as this is a drama primarily concerned with its romance.

Lee Jun Ho’s portrayal of Yi San was truly excellent. This was quite a nuanced and multifaceted character, and I found him compelling in all aspects. Though this character is certainly an idealistic, intelligent, and benevolent man, who has a strong sense of duty regarding his role as a ruler, he is not the sort of adorable, fluffy Joseon royal I have seen in many sageuks of late. There is a real edge to this character that at times borders on genuinely scary. Lee Jun Ho succeeds in both bringing some sweetness and charm to his character as a besotted lover as well as imbuing his portrayal with enough power, command, and charisma to be a convincing ruler. He made me feel this character’s pain acutely, whether that was heartbreak or the suffering of a traumatic family situation. And he had a superb intensity in some of the romantic scenes, conveying to the viewer a very palpable sense of his attraction.

I liked Lee Se Young as Seong Deok Im. I think her mannerisms and bearing are well-suited to this sort of period piece in a court setting. However, compared to the male lead, both she and her character left somewhat less of an impression. This is not to say she was bad in anyway. I definitely thought she was good, just less of a stand out. I did have some trouble getting a sense of this character at first, in part due to not immediately realizing that when Lee Se Young was initially introduced, she was playing a 15-year-old. (The male lead was also only 16, but his character was significantly more mature, thus his behavior felt less mismatched to the actor’s age.) The character does mature, though her core traits remain the same. (I think both actors did a good job and subtly aging up their characters over the course of the drama.) She is bold, principled, and strong-willed. At times her behavior is not really congruent with what I would expect from a Joseon court lady. The drama finds a balance between making these aspects completely anachronistic and unbelievable and making it seem somewhat plausible in her specific circumstances (e.g. her young age at the beginning, leeway afforded her due to Yi San’s favor).

The second male lead is an interesting character, though perhaps not a very likable one. However, I felt he was somewhat underutilized. I think they could have done more to show the viewer the bond between him and the male lead, and it seems we may have lost some of his character development in a time-skip. Although Kang Hoon’s performance did not particularly stand out to me, I have no complaints regarding his portrayal.

Along with Lee Jun Ho’s Yi San, the Lee Deok Hwa’s Yeongjo was the performance that had the most impact on me. This character had a duality, sometimes a kind, grandfatherly old man, sometimes a dangerous ruler prone to bouts of rage and suspicion. The gravitas Lee Deok Hwa brought to certain scenes and the relationship between grandfather and grandson was one of the most engaging aspects of this drama’s early episodes.

Regarding the story, it has earned a place on my list of favorite historical romances. The romance does start off with some rather standard tropes, but it’s a well-executed version with a lot of charm. As the relationship developed, I felt that it began to differentiate itself from the tropes and offered up incredible chemistry as well as some truly memorable scenes. My emotions definitely became caught up in this relationship, as it succeeded being both heart-fluttering and heart-wenching. This drama really put me through a lot, but I take that to mean that it was very successful in drawing me into the story.

That being said, this romance might not be to everyone’s taste. Firstly, despite the more light-hearted tone at the start, overall, I would describe the drama as “nearly continuously angsty.” I’m a sucker for the emotional torture, but for those looking for smooth-sailing, happy romances with minimal pain or conflict, this is not the place to look. Even the happy moments sometimes have a bittersweet tinge. A second point of potential discomfort for certain viewers is that there is a very large difference in status between the leads. Although the male lead often treats the female lead as more of an equal than their respective statuses would dictate, he does not necessarily view her as one and is not entirely above using his power over her. This is a dynamic many period romances tend to ignore, as it isn’t congruent with contemporary relationship ideals. Personally, I think the way this drama walked the line of not being too offensive for a contemporary viewer while also not entirely disregarding the power imbalance between a ruler and a court lady is one of this drama’s selling points and something fundamental to the themes it examines. Perhaps for some, though, it would cross the line. The third and final point is potentially a bit spoilerly, depending on what you consider a spoiler, so skip to the next paragraph if you’d like to avoid. Although it is up to interpretation, I think this is, to a certain extent, a story of a one-sided love, which is not to say it’s entirely unrequited, but I’m not sure the degree of feeling was equal on both ends. I think this is something interesting to explore, but it makes this relationship less idealized than the standard romance offering. If you're looking for a "perfect" couple, this isn't really it, but I think the story is better for that.

Now for the aspects of the drama that I felt were weaker … At the beginning, I thought the politics had some potential. They were not the main focus, but things were gradually developing in the background, and doing so in a way that seemed well-paced and well-conceived, if pretty standard. But at some point the plot just became something of a mess. It spices things up with intrigue that, to me, felt unnecessarily over-the-top, and yet it pretty much skips over major events that I kinda felt like we should have seen. There definitely were moments of true suspense and excitement, but also parts that completely lacked any impact, because we weren’t given proper development (or shown them at all). These aspects surely would have been better had they just followed the history. Truthfully, I think this drama was essentially using the politics to create situations of character conflict, with little regard for the merits of the plot points themselves or the overall trajectory of that story aspect. It also seemed averse to introducing any plot line where the female lead could not somehow be inserted into the political maneuverings, despite her lack of status and power (a choice which seems somewhat contradictory to the drama's larger theme of how little agency Joseon palace women were afforded). I can accept this, as I knew from the beginning that this was primarily a romance, not a political epic, but it does somewhat lessen my regard for the quality of the drama’s overall execution. I would have preferred it to simply avoid dealing with politics, rather than give them some focus, but not enough to do it right. Still, it certainly didn’t stop me from obsessing over the main couple and anxiously waiting for the next episodes. If you’re looking for a romantic drama, rest assured, this one will not bore you with lots of scenes of old men discussing tax policies. I also think there was some lack of clarity regarding the timeline. It is not always easy to tell how quickly time is going by and at one point I realized that many more years must have passed than it had felt like when watching the drama. Since this drama covered such a long period of time (pretty much the entirety of the lead characters’ lives), I think it probably could have been longer.

It was definitely a visually appealing drama with beautiful costumes and lovely cinematography. The composition of certain shots was quite striking. Although the soundtrack did not leave a profound impression on me, there were scenes I felt were very much enhanced by the music choices, and I don’t remember any point at which I felt the soundtrack didn’t fit.

This is a drama that had some outstanding moments where all the elements came together to create a breathtaking tension that kept me completely captivated. What happened between those scenes is starting to blur together a bit for me, perhaps because some of the conflicts could be repetitive. Still overall, this is not a drama I will forget anytime soon. Despite its flaws, it was entirely successful in bringing across the emotions and making me invested in the romance. Moreover, Lee Jun Ho’s Yi San is now my standard for idealistic Joseon royal males that all future depictions of this character type will have to live up to or be somewhat of a disappointment. I definitely recommend to fans of historical melodramas.