The Red Sleeve (2021)

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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"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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This drama......

This drama will leave you laughing, infuriate you, and totally KO you emotionally.

It started very strong. ML and FL met when they were both young, had quirky and funny interactions and a quick romantic development. Unfortunately, the romance plot, while having a fun beginning, started going in circles to the point of frustration. San chased after Deok Im (DI) begging for her to love him when he was the crown prince and he continued pursuing her and begging her to love him after he became the king.

At some point, I wanted to see DI get a promotion, an upgrade, to move up in life which would've also given a chance for San/DI to develop further aside from just being a king and his maid. But, she did the same things for the entirety of the show and had awkward interactions with San about their relationship, which made the pace and story development a bit stale. Her consistently rejecting him, because she wanted to lead her own life, would've made sense if DI actually had plans to leave and move on after he found a concubine, but she kept coming back to be his maid, which went against the entire premise of her wanting to lead her own life. This plotline needed to either wrap up a lot sooner or the writers should've written more story to avoid the round-about "love me!!!" by San. And, frankly, them always having the same conversation became really boring.

The other plot lines with San living in the shadow of his "traitor" father and having a love/hate relationship with his abusive tyrant grandfather was very well written and made San an extremely sympathetic character. The transition between him being a crown prince and a king was also very well done showing him transforming from a scared little prince to a decisive king who wasn't afraid to get rid of anyone who opposed him, including family members.

I was going to write about the treatment of women, but it would be redundant considering that this is a period peace. It doesn't matter which period and which country. It always sucked for women everywhere until 100 years ago. Enough said.

The ending broke me until it didn't. After DI accepted San and became his concubine, the story quickly switched gears and showed that their love wasn't happy at all. For the majority of show, San was broken-hearted from being continuously rejected by DI, and DI wasn't very happy being San's concubine because she was forced to wait for him, was at the mercy or his schedule, and had to share him with other women. The scene of DI telling San on her deathbed that she didn't want to meet him in the next life really drove the tragedy home and showed the awful predicament women back then. Even a woman who was well loved and lived in privilege had nothing of her own and was just another thing a man owned.

Just as I thought that my depression couldn't get any worse, it turned out that the ending was San's dream. Waking up in cold sweat and realizing that DI was alive was a second chance of sorts for San to appreciate what was truly important to him. I wasn't particularly thrilled with that twist because it messed up the chronology and made the story more complicated than it should've have been. And, it felt emotionally draining after having to witness DI's death and San's loneliness and longing for years to come after he lost the one woman he ever loved. Nevertheless, this was a beautiful love story.

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Based on true characters!! Acting was phenomenal!!

If you are looking for a drama with brilliant acting, light comedy, a lot of drama, romance and beautiful visual of scenery and actors. This drama is for you guys . I enjoyed it to my heart content. First time watching the drama of main actor. And he was damn good. Now he is my most favourite actor. In his scene whether it was romantic, anger, fighting or comedy, he banged the shot . I also heard he received lots of prestigious awards for this drama. Felt really happy for it. Well deserved.

It's only natural when a drama is based on real characters, the storyline and the portrayal of characters cannot be altered too much to make story spicy. Still drama did best of its resources and portrayed a excellent drama. Being a international fan i got to see lots of korean historical culture .

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Mostly well written, beautifully acted, but the ending draaaaaged for me.

I mostly loved this show. It touches on a specific time in Korean history, starting in relative chaos and through considerable struggle and pain, settling into a time of peace, and one hopes relative prosperity under a king who it seems was certainly "enlightened". I don't know this history really, but many Korean people probably have strong opinions on the drama. My own opinions are mostly constrained to the frame of the drama itself, with some tiny reflection from a little bit of reading.
It is beautifully written (mostly) and extremely well made, well paced and of course the acting is universally wonderful. The show is heavily focussed on the relationship between the two leads, and this was well delineated ... most of the time.
The FL was believably feisty - or was it unrealistic for a girl in her position, whatever her gifts? Never mind - I loved that about her - she had guts, but was never rash - though accused of this often. The ML was also excellent, but I felt that mostly this drama was owned by the FL. Both actors were fittingly beautiful in their roles.
In regards to other relationships in the drama - all were wonderful, most were tragic, and some were a bit toxic. But mostly this film centred on the main relationship, and the couple's satellites - thankfully, the sometimes excessive court intrigues were kept relatively under control. I lose interest in those very quickly.
Well, all of the above was great, so ... I felt after the death of Uibin this drama lost any impetus and all dramatic tension - it was an essay in restrained grief, which was set against a lot of quite decent emoting riding on a pretty soupy musical track.
On that note (pun intended), while there was little really wrong with the soundtrack in itself, it was set at a level which was far too intrusive for me. Considering that at this time most of life would be lived among sounds of nature, or of labour, or of silence if you were very privileged, I find these grand orchestral soundtracks overwhelming and sometimes completely inappropriate. Most of the action was backed with such intrusive noise and that spoiled the drama for me - at times it was just awful. It was much more watchable when there was silence.
The last few episodes clearly showed how Deok Im's life was almost totally stultified by being obliged to "serve" the king, but ironically also truncated Uibin's life as a concubine (never mentioning the child who survived her to be crowned). After her accelerated demise, King San's remaining years were sketched in with a very light hand indeed - and a lot of soupy music. Little was said of his actual achievements other than that he was the first benevolent monarch of Joseon. Unless I'm missing a LOT - and if I am it's because this exposition failed to keep my attention!
These last episodes were overly sentimental and a great disappointment to me. Really the series should have ended with the death of Uibin and some exposition of the King's somewhat distorted grief. Surely her funeral would have made a sensible ending.
In many ways, this was an excellent series with many fantastic characteristics, marred by an intrusive soundtrack and (perhaps) a somewhat indulgent ending.
All of the above said, I would still recommend it to others, but, yes, might attach a hazard warning ....

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I thought of dropping it so many times...

I put this drama off for a long time and when I finally started watching it, I almost dropped it several times, but in the end, the characters and the plot of the story won me over.


Plot: 9
_______________________________
★★★★☆ Main idea:
--> I enjoyed the story.
_______________________________
★★★★★ Logic:
--> Whole plot has logical continuity and doesn't contain much irrational twists.
_______________________________
★★★★★ Pace:
--> It was interesting till the end.
_______________________________
★★★★☆ Impression:
--> Impressed.
_______________________________
★★★★☆ Skip rate:
--> I skipped some of the side plots, but not much.
_______________________________
★★★★★ Annoying factors:
--> I loved some of the relationships defined between characters. For example the friendship between the maids. I appreciated their loyalty towards each other and that they despite all the scheming around managed to keep their friendship intact.


Characters: 7,5
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★★★★☆ Lead 1 – crown prince Yi San
--> Although I liked Jun Ho in some other dramas, I couldn’t get used to him here. Besides the feeling the role doesn’t really fit the actor, the character got jealous quite often, which annoyed me a lot. I sort of got to like the character as well as the actor (because the acting was without the doubt really good), but it took quite too long.
_______________________________
★★★★★ Lead 2 – palace maid Sung Deok Im:
--> The character itself I liked very much. I liked the fact, despite being “a lowly maid”, she always kept her head up and her morals and goals intact.
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★★★★★ Overacting:
--> Absent.
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★★★★★ Acting:
--> I liked the acting. At first I didn’t like the appearance of the actress Lee Se Young (playing Sung Deok Im), but she managed to won me over with excellent acting and bringing the character to life. It was probably because of her acting, that I didn't drop the drama and persevered until the end. Only after I completed the drama I looked her over and realized I know her from two other dramas, where I loved her very much. Yet I couldn’t recognize her here and her appearance disturbed me. It was probably the costume and hairstyle I wasn’t used to.
_______________________________
★★☆☆☆ Annoyance level:
--> Some of the characters made me roll my eyes so many times, I cannot count it. Super annoying was the emperor having extremely low self-confidence and constantly blaming everyone for disrespecting him.
--> I was a bit annoyed by those stereotype side characters, who – having no personality of their own – were just constantly jealous of one of the lead, trying hard to get rid of them.
--> Also, as mentioned above, I didn’t like the fact, that the normally extremely rational and calm crown prince lost his pace every time he saw his maid with other man. I mean, with his resources and intelligence it wouldn’t get him much work to uncover the truth, or he could have at least asked before getting mad. This behavior really didn’t match the character outline.


Background: 8
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★★★☆☆ Soundtrack:
--> Liked a song or two.
_______________________________
★★★★☆ Visuals (camera, scenery, visual effects, ...):
--> Really liked it.
_______________________________
★★★★☆ Wardrobe (costumes, hairstyles, makeup, ...):
--> Really liked it.


Rewatch value: 7
I assess this value based on impression, skip rate, annoyance level and overall preference.


Final verdict: 8
In general, the story is excellent, however up until end I was a bit disillusioned and was many time thinking of dropping the drama. It was only after the episode 15 and those that followed, that I appreciated the whole story in general and was able to enjoy the bigger picture. Its only shame it got impressive so late.

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"Circumstances are never a hindrance, we are"

I mean you could compare it to many contemporary historical dramas, but only it is not. I beg to differ, because the emotions I lived while watching this were completely new.
Can you just give, without asking for anything in return? No, I didn't think so and the drama reinstates it on purpose.
There are many women who lived in the palace and as we know it, the times were the most cruel to them. It's always interesting and liberating to know of their stories. I try to recall the most things that stood out, but I think the scene which changed everything was the scene by the pond where Sung Deok Im came to know of Yi San identity.
A story should live, even when its characters are not there anymore. We see women, willing to give their all for the people they love, might be the same for every human being not just women. But it's important to know that it's okay to keep things for yourself. " I do love him but I love myself more" A very few historical character has left this huge impression on me. It's a tussle between can you have it all if you just try or will you be satisfied with what you're getting because you're scared to lose.
For me, a historical drama is just more than history, if it's true to its telling but lacks purpose, it's not great. And again, every telling has a hint of narrative. I wouldn't want or care to know whether it was fiction or a real story as long as it convinced me of its truth. I felt relieved of the ending. It's important for a drama of this conviction to leave it open to interpretation.
There's ambiguity in emotions that everyone feels unsure of even when they are on the receiving end. But it's necessary to deliever those feelings with justice, the actors did a wonderful job. I was taken by Lee se young potrayal of Deok mi. What I liked about Lee jun ho's character was he knew when to make the viewers feel distant and close, given the nature of his title. I think this drama deserve a major applause for casting such talented actors, everyone of them including 'the fantastic four' court ladies, the crown prince confidants, the people around Sung Deok-mi. They not only gave depth to the main theme of the story but were unique in their own right. You don't see much of these layers in supporting cast. Given significant screentime, I felt the need to appreciate them more.
I believe you'll like this fresh historical telling, independent in its spirit that felt tiring and trying at times but nonetheless changed my perception of you can only want when you have something. I don't think so anymore.

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Excellent production

In all measures: story, cast, acting, costumes, backdrop, architecture, fighting, chemistry between the main leads, were all first class. To add, very good looking lead actors and actresses, and the music was good.

Inspired by this drama, I checked on the history of King Jeongjo (Yi San) - hopefully Wikipedia can be trusted for historical accuracy. There was close resemblance to the real history. His grandfather did kill his father who had a mental problem and went on a killing spree. There was a Noron faction who opposed his succession to the throne because his father was against them. There were attempted assassinations. He did have a concubine who he loved dearly. This concubine died the same year as their first son, the first crown prince, while pregnant with a baby. Because of his mother's memoirs, the reigns of his grandfather, himself and his son were well documented. In this drama, nothing was mentioned of his Queen Hyoui; the real queen was not Hong WonBin who was a noble consort - the English subtitle referred to her as queen. As for the details, the drama disclaimed any adherence to real history; since who would know the real minute details.

What I like about this drama? For all that are listed in my first paragraph some of which I will detailed further:

1. The story was very real - you could feel the flesh and blood in the character - and the story was made very interesting. Of course, since this was based on historical figures you may say. But this drama was able to present history in a very interesting manner.

2. In this drama, Yi San grew up fearing his grandfather who had a violent temper. Yet he had a mind of his own. You can see how Lee Jun Ho played this character so well - the conflict of fearing his grandfather, wanting to do what he thought was right and yet playing the filial grandson. His grief at the death of his beloved concubine was absolutely heart rending. You could see his expression changed when he was telling his mother that he would only marry women of aristocrat families and then realised that the humble maid kneeling behind the blind waiting for him was his crush.

3. The chemistry between Lee Jun Ho (Yi San) and Lee Se Young (Sung Deok Im) was excellent. Yi San would express his love earnestly for her and Deok Im would stare back with her big expressive eyes.

4. The cast was excellent and acted well. An example: King Yeongjo, the grandfather was very acted by Lee Deok Hwa. He looked scary yet was a loving grandfather. The second lead, Kang Hoon (Hong Deok Ro, Yi San's childhood companion) did a marvellous job and so did the rest of the cast. There were no let down.

What I do not like about this drama?

1. This was more a conflict with my opinion and the behaviour of Sung Deok Im. She was consistently pushing away the King because she did not want to be his concubine as she feared losing everything. Something might be missing in the English translation. Because of this, they wasted so much chances of enjoying each other's support. A bit too cliche. What was the everything she was referring to? Her personal freedom? That the King would never be faithful? I could feel her pain in these later in the drama. But she could have been more open about this, especially since she was such a bold character, instead of leaving the King in pain earlier in the drama.

2. The drama gave a twist at the end, which gave a temporary relief to the heart rending - that they might live happily ever after. But that was short lived once I checked the historical account. Nevertheless I think it was a nice twist had I not checked.

3. Although the drama was very well produced, I did spot a mistake in the background towards the last few episodes - a split second of someone walking towards the King Jeongjo and Sung Deok-Im when they were on the bridge hugging, - looks like an image superimposed on the video by mistake.

All in all, I enjoyed this drama tremendously. I placed it in the top league of dramas I had watched. Highly recommended.

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Refreshing Entry in the Sageuk Genre

As an avid sageuk watcher, I found "The Red Sleeve" to be incredibly refreshing — though it's a dramatization, there was a heavy sense of honesty infused into its direction sensibility. I appreciated how the writers didn't shy away from themes of power just to create a swoon-worthy rom-com. The passion in this drama is not so explosive, but quiet and sustained throughout. Some viewers may not find the drama very satisfying, as its not composed in very western story structures that we are used to. The story "The Red Sleeve" tells is holds ambiguity, spans generations, takes a practical approach to characterization.
To reference Ursula K. Le Guin's carrier bag theory of fiction, while most modern dramas we see are tales of hero's journeys and triumphant struggles, "The Red Sleeve" instead of a receptacle of true human experience. At times it can seem messy and aimless, but that is a true reflection of life, especially from the female gaze.
The acting in this drama was fantastic, especially with a surprisingly knock-out performance from Jun-Ho! The scores was also amazing as well. The cutting and cinematography was some of the best I've seen for TV.
I'll be honest: this isn't a drama that changes my world or lingers in my heart, but it opened my eyes to the types of narratives that we are allowed to have— that WOMEN are allowed to tell. And that is an empowering feeling.

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