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.Was this review helpful to you?
Great acting but oh how tedious the actress who played Seong Deok Im is. She ruined the drama.
The acting was fantastic. Lee Jun-Ho was brilliant as the crown prince/king. Boy can he act! And the old king was excellent. But the lady that played Seong Deok Im, while a good actor, was such a downer. She was too too serious. Humorless and really quite unlikeable even though portrayed as noble. He character ruined the whole drama for me. She kept refusing the king and conveyed that she really didn’t like him at all. She was a downer and unpleasant and had a martyr complex. She was a shrew. I really don’t understand why it went on so long.Was this review helpful to you?
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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.Was this review helpful to you?
realistic surprisingly hooked must watch
This drama got me. That's a clear - MUST WATCHI'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.Was this review helpful to you?
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!Was this review helpful to you?
Memoir and not a drama
The screenplay and the drama style pretty much felt like a memoir rather than a drama. A memoir of two people, the king and his court maid. The pacing was good, for me, I didn't mind the squeezing of too much plot in last 2 episodes. As the anticipation of MC getting the girl made the pace of narration go slow but when he gets the girl, time flies by.I really liked the king's character and how he develops and adapts over the years. As for the courtmaid, she was not your usual heroine but strong and smart. There are one or two disappointing moments I had. One, when the MC strangles the FL, maybe he was crown prince and maybe she had no authority but it was sad to see her do nothing about it. Two, she was indecisive for so long about committing to MC, maybe that part could have been explained better and not dragged on.
Story wise, sometimes it did feel what was writernim trying tell, some moments were there just for filler and scene building. But I'm not complaining because this was good story which didn't sugarcoat the king and courtmaid's love and their consequences.
Overall, sometimes bitter and sometimes sweet but that's the way with life too, isn't?
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Radiant with elegance
When watching saeguk, has I mention in my similar review with this genre, very important to get hooked at the first episode. And this drama intriguing since the start. A wonderful overture.Music score is beautifully weaved in each scene as dialogue fluently acted. The actors : child and adult, both deliver fantastic rendition of storyline. You can sense joy, heartbreak, tears and sorrow so intense.
This drama is a fairytale which crosses the boundaries of courtship.
Production this flawless makes you looking forward each episodes with excitements. It is fresh and breezy. Delightful almost like something new but old.
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watching this was my biggest mistake
It was my biggest best mistake ever. I can't stop crying but this drama broke me in the best way possible. Wow... I'm actually so fucking stunned.i never write reviews but I had to for this one. No drama has ever made me hate and love the world so much before. The acting was insane, the plot was hooking, and most of all, it was so sickly real. It all felt so damn real and it still does to this moment. Everybody was so sick for making this drama. I do think that Sung Deok Im could have communitcated better, it would have spared me and our dear king a lot of heartbreak, but nobody could have done the role better than her actress, truly.
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An ending that disappointed me...
DeokSan's story was beautiful, emotional and exciting until episode 16. Why did they make an episode 17? This drama so touched my heart. I thought it would become one of my favorites but the ending spoiled my feelings.I am extremely disappointed with this ending. San suffered so much in life, did it take so many years to get Deok Im as part of your family, for in the end their son, she and he died? Really? I wasted my time for nothing.
The truth is that I started this drama not knowing that it was inspired by a real story and that story didn't have a happy ending. But I still think: why not give the drama a happy ending when in real life they couldn't have a happy ending? That's why I've been so disappointed
And another detail that disappointed me was that Deok Im died without telling San the love she felt for him.
That final scene was not a happy ending. It was them getting back together after they both died.
It really was a great way to start my 2022: a drama with a tragic, sad and disappointing ending. (This line contains irony)
Although the end of the story didn't please me, I can't help praising everyone's performance, especially Junho and Seyoung, the cinematography, the OSTs. Everything was incredibly wonderful.
*Before they say that the actual story that the drama was inspired by had this ending, that's not to say that they need to do exactly the same thing in the drama.
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