The Red Sleeve (2021)

it's a Saeguk,Saeguk!. 세국이예요!

Yes, I'm an unapologetic fan of Saeguks and I don't want to repent of it at all, 싫어.

For this reason I'm writing a small token. This drama is undoubtedly one of the most frustrating love story ever told. Jeongjo and Uibin, it shatters my fragile heart. However, the end offered a sort of closure for all the frustration I had endured through out the drama. I absolutely adored the friendship between Duk Im and her friends,it was a breath of fresh air. it turned out this perfect because every one of the actors chewed their roles without spitting, each conveying the needed emotions with undeniable expertise.
it was all too beautiful to witness, I love the part where each of the friends talked about their meeting together later in life(here or afterlife) the story of "going back home after we become old". it was just the kinds of spice that makes my heart sing.

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Saeguk of The Year (2021)

When watching Korean historical dramas (saeguk). Always prepare yourself for something that ends badly.

Moreover, all the main roles are recorded "historical figures". Unless the addition of fantasy elements. They will proceed as history should.

When reading many histories of Korean kings and their families, there are many tragedies. Even the king of this series, whose story was not shown later, died in a tragic controversy.

Some writer even need to "refine" the story so as not to cause problems or controversy among Korean audiences.

Can there really be a "happy ending"?, it's possible, especially when the writer decides the drama is over before tragedy strikes.

But not with this drama, because of its popularity in Korea, the production decided to add 1 episode and decided to continue the story until the tragedies appeared.

So my advice if you decide for a pseudo-happy ending, just stop watching at episode 16.

But I'm sure, its rare for someone to hold back their curiosity.

Let's back to the review.

The plot of the story is very well written and enhanced by proper acting direction.

The pace of the story and each scene tends to be slow and long. Especially towards the end of the story. I personally really enjoyed it because ML and FL's acting was good. However, I personally understand that some people don't like slow pace.

The tone of the story and the atmosphere of the story tend to be mellow and sad. The audience will always be drawn into this atmosphere, even during happy scenes, there will always be an atmosphere like this so it feels bittersweet. Well, because this is saeguk melodrama, this is how it should be.

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Why "The Red Sleeve Cuff" should be your best healing drama?

I have really waited so long to write review of this masterpiece drama. Usually I do like historical dramas but they must provide good story and music service. Also I think casts are the main weapon for historical dramas. And "The Red Sleeve Cuff" undoubtedly fulfilled all of the conditions of mine. So obviously I gave this drama 10 out of 10 rating. Now I want to explain why each sections of this drama deserves 10.
1. Firstly, I will talk about the storyline. As a K-drama fan I've watched a lot of dramas. And historical dramas are one of the genres that I like the most. Korean Historical dramas are on the other level. But this historical drama is way more different than those historical dramas. Though Its a romantic drama in genre, it will 100% satisfy you. You will be excited, sad, heartbroken; also you will find comedy and peace too. I am telling you, you would give this drama a 9.5 without any doubt.
2. Secondly, about the plot of this drama I would say the writers were really creative and talented. They knew how to make this drama more eyecatching to the viewers. Specially, the ending would give you a mixed feeling and leave you with a big dilemma and shock. I, myself, couldn't understand the ending, so I watched again and again to understand. Women's are more powerful than man. And this truth is proved by book. You will see women power in this drama. Their struggles, strong mentality, feelings will amaze you. I've got the "Pride and Prejudice " feelings from this drama. Like your girl is hard to catch and you only want her by any means. But you still respect her and her choices.
3. Thirdly, I want to talk about the most important things of a successful drama, that is, casts. Undoubtedly the casts - Lee Jun Ho, Lee Se Young and other actors performed greatly. Both of the lead actors are my most favorite korean actors. So I am happy with their chemisty, hardwork, acting. I've always wanted Lee Jun Ho to be a lead actor in a historical drama. And he fulfilled my wish. Also for Se Young, I knew her as a child actress. She has never disappointed me. I am sure you won't be too. Just enjoy their innocent, amazing and realistic chemistry.
4. Fourthly, I would give my opinion on the music part of this drama. Actually,music is the soul of a successful drama. This drama is not different from this situation too. I would say the musics have helped this drama to get more into the heart of the viewers and fans. Trust me, OST 's are just fabulous in a word. After finishing the drama, I've heard every songs repeatedly for a whole week that I kind of learned the lyrics. None of the songs has disappointed me so far. Whee-In, Itzy's Lia, Junsu, NU'EST's Minhyun have done so well that I am proud of them. I personally am a fan of their songs. And the musics were able to trigger the saddest and happy parts the most. So I think I cried because Ost's made me emotional.
5. Lastly, If you ask me that I would watch this drama again or not. Well, I've already rewatched this drama three times. Yes, you can understand that this drama is worth rewatching and won't even make you bored.
Overall, I would say, you should watch this drama with a lot of expectations and you won't be disappointed. You will not regret. I am sure you will also thank me for giving you indirect evaluation and explanation of this drama(as I can't spoil the drama). You will go through some immense phases of watching a successful drama.
Happy watching and keep supporting "The Red Sleeve Cuff".

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Need a feminist retelling!

The entire time I was watching this, I was imagining a feminist retelling of this story. I think it would be absolutely brilliant if some writer were to devote their talent to writing one focusing on the lives of the women - the court ladies and the rich/royal ones.

Coming back to the drama, I found the story absolutely tragic. Both the leads led sad lives - bound by duties and norms expected of their standing in society.

The romance was a bit one-note. I can't believe with the power the royals wielded over their court ladies and, of course the way things were back in those days, that the male lead always treated the female lead with the respect and care shown in the drama. That felt a bit too unrealistic.

But I'm glad I watched it because it brought me to the the star of this story which is definitely the women and their lives. Sorry this is less a review about the drama and more my blabbering about the story. The Fairy Palace or whatever it was called was fascinating. The fact that court ladies were set free to live in the public after whoever was their master died. The fact that court ladies weren't allowed to fall in love with someone else, that it was 'adultery'.

There is just too much potential to be a fantastic book a la 'The Silence of the Girls'.

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Dissapointed ending because reality hits you hard

Gotta be honest, really spend my whole day to watch this GEM of 2021 but not satisfied. As a historical drama the romance was never the goal of the screen writer. I was hoping for a happy ending where the crown prince will become King and commands the court lady to become his royal cocubine. But no they ruined this drama for me. Upto episode 14, I enjoyed the drama. From episode 15 the plot picks up in a differnet manner and it all became a tug of war between the new king and his court lady. As the King is not brave enough to show his greed of love he bears in his heart and other side the cout lady who is not sure wether she want to show her love for the king or she wants to live free of any bondage.

The episode 16 and 17 clearly f*cked my brain. i hate the screenwwwriter and director for this. This is my first ever K drama in which I have not cried a single drop of tears. Beacuse I hope that last episodes will make me fall in love with the ending but naaaaaaaaa........it simplyruined for me.

But we can learn important live lessons from it.
- Stand for yourself.
- If you love someone just show them.
- Always try to live the life you want to live.
- Don't hold regrets for too long otherwise they will shear your heart.
- And don't expect too much from anything or any being. Even K drama also.

"My dissapoinment is immeasurable and my day + night has been ruined"
"Brain has stopped working"
Help.exe

Anyways the ending is purely realastic will strong and more mature message but it doesn't convey that much to me.
So I despise the ending. Not gonna watch again. It's immposible for me to even think of this drama to be any good.

Cast - Top notch
Acting - Likable and firmness to the character
Story - A painful and unrelatable end
Visuals - Decent
OST - Not gonna listen to it.

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A drama that is a must

I put off watching the wonderful drama for so long (following the great drama, Empress Ki, starring Ji Chang Wook that made me cry for many days) The Red Sleeve is the kind of drama that should not be missed mainly because it is based on real historical events. (It is impossible to escape from the tragic reality of that time) A drama with perfect casting, (the wonderful Lee Joon-Ho and Se Jung who conveyed in such a realistic way a range of emotions), superb acting. It's no surprise that the drama won so many awards. Personally, I recommend reading and watching historical dramas related to Prince Yi San to understand the mindset of the Red Sleeve.

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The last scene of the last episode confused me

All the episodes were good except the last one . I was waiting for their love story to start and from wher it started bit was the second last episodes . If this is real based story then I will complained to God ,why he punished him this way ,since childhood he did good , whatever he had done he did for humans then why his end was painful. If it is a fiction . Then not happy with the story because end is sad .
Now I was confused to see the end , was she dead or it was his dream or in second episode it had shown that he had was sleeping on her lap and suddenly wake up and had shown he had seen a bad dream but he didn't tell about the dream but at the end same scene they had shown that he suddenly woke up and he had a bad dream in which she died so what is this it was a dream ,or his dream had come true and she died . This confused me alot.

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A bittersweet series

So many emotions were flowing after watching this series. Loved the wardrobe, scenery, the cast, the acting and the pacing. You get the typical drama in terms of palace rules and etc but what makes this one different is that the FL unlike most we’ve seen in historical dramas didn’t want any part of the palace haram. While other would pa she preferred freedom. What I liked most about this series was the ML acting the acting. It was amazing. ML definitely has some skills. Although the chemistry wasn’t magnified I believed that his acting made what chemistry existed wake up a bit.

What I disliked about the series has nothing to o with quality and everything to do with my genre preferences. I didn’t like that it was a bit sad. I also disliked the FL persistence to resist her own feelings so much. After a while I got annoying. This went on for 90% of the drama. We only got a few happy episodes near the en and then not so much.

I would say that is was a bittersweet series. It’s worth the watch but if you’re into a smiles and happy ever after proceed with caution.

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The ending ruined it for me

I literally stayed up until the next morning watching. It captivated me from the beginning. I wish she had become his concubine from the beginning, and she then the other concubines would be jealous because love trumps everything. But that was not what happened.

The King's grandfather irritated me because he never trusted his grandson's choices. He treated him like a child. This was before the dementia. After the dementia, it got worse. Finally he accepted that he couldn't rule.

I loved it. I believed in their love. I could feel the sexual tension each time they looked at each other or touched. It was beautiful until the last episode. What a letdown.

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Not bad for watching ,good acting

Start with very lame behavior, scenes that have a very clear cause but they even wonder about it make me feel annoyed,,in the last 2 or 3 eps, make me feel heartbeaking and sadness,, full of emosional from the cast


How can the royal side not know that the secret chamber was made in Courtlady Cho's room? ,, and how can hongdongro not realize that it is very easy to be caught committing a crime in a place like that? Even though he thought the king would forgive him, but he shouldn't have done such a stupid thing





ENDING

In my opinion, the crew might want to end the story of the original history, but they want to give a different ending to this love story, and want to make a happy ending, the best way is to reverse the scene in that way...

What do you expect from a historical story from a true story? Moreover, the story of the 2 drama characters chosen does not have a very satisfying ending,,,


At first I thought it was a happy ending because they (the crew) would end the story (last eps) until the birth of their child, but in the last eps it went straight to 4 years later




Not very bad for watching,i dont like when they talking about the event that JUST mention in this drama because not all people watching know about that event even it's from real history,they should explain a little about that they want to talk about,,

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beautifully shot and acted but loses steam

This is beautifully shot and you can see how high quality the show is. The premise is interesting - it's based off real historical figures (I saw the memoir on my Goodreads). I was curious how this might have been dramatized and adapted. The real lady Ui-bin Seong was only known to history by her role to the king: her pregnancies, her children, her title as harem wife and her death. On the other hand, we have a full story of the king's life in childhood, politics, etc. The king's life is also very messed up and I wondered how they were going to zoom in to this one part of his life story and romanticize it.

However, the drama pleasantly surprised me by adding a feminist element. This is a story about love when it is complicated by power. It's about what love means to a man vs a woman.

As much as I enjoyed these themes, I found their back-and-forth "be my concubine / I love you" and "no I'm my own woman" to be quite tedious. The drama started out very strong and it is very well-acted (especially Lee Junho) but the increasing politics started boring me around episode 7/8. Had to drop this.

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