The Red Sleeve (2021)

Romance Based in Historical Realism or Road to Nowhere?

I went into The Red Sleeve fully expecting to love it. I'd been waiting for Lee Jun Ho to be widely recognized as a phenomenal actor since Just Between Lovers, so I was happy to see the praise he received for his performance here. I'm a fan of sagueks too, whether they're the traditional kind or not, and I'm always down to watch an angsty romance between tragic-faced lovers. In a fit of drama-watching naivete, I thought, what could possibly go wrong?

And, in the beginning, nothing did!

Lee Jun Ho brought his usual intensity and attention to detail, to say nothing of his aesthetics. Lee Se Young is convincing in any historical role, since she genuinely looks as if she's stepped out of a portrait from the past, while her poise and graceful bearing reinforce the ladylike impression. The supporting cast is similarly strong, the production quality was high, and the introductory episodes felt refreshingly grounded and realistic.

As the story progresses, real cracks emerged. The first issue is how self-aware this show is of itself as a "feminist" narrative, which would've been fine, if that theme had been handled with care and nuance. But it isn't. To boost its girl power credentials, it introduces a secret organization of female palace insiders, but almost immediately undoes its empowered message, by depicting the network as poorly led and one-dimensional in its villainy. Rather than showing women band together for a just cause, it pits the women against the (morally pure, more sympathetic) female lead. To add insult to injury, this outlandish women-fighting-women chapter is distracting and jarring against the tone of the rest of the drama, which had been, up until this point, based in historical realism.

But the biggest problem? The Red Sleeve chases two rabbits, catching neither. All along, the narrative has brought out wonderful tension in the juxtaposition between Sung Deok Im's quest for self-determining independence and her love for Yi San/King Jeongji, which would lead to her dependence on him, as well as strict confinement to the inner palace. The show insists, she must make a choice! [Please don't get me started on how clearly this mirrors the redundant dialogue around women having to choose between career achievement or motherhood. It's so tired, ugh.] By forcing its female lead to choose freedom or love, it also forces itself into a corner: will the story's conclusion confirm Sung Deok Im's self-liberation or her devotion to her lover? In the end, the answer is neither. If the point of this drama was to illustrate how terrible women's lives were in the past, I supposed it achieved its goal, but that's a disappointingly simplistic take on the historic experiences of real women, as well as a frustrating and futile endpoint for a drama that promised to be so much more.

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the drama that made my new year a cry fest...

i started watching this drama just like that and without knowing that this is based on a real story. the initial episodes were fun and i thought its a simple rom-com. oh by! was i wrong. this one made me cry a river.
this one is undoubtedly among one of my all-time favourite dramas.
lee junho and lee seyoung have done an amazing job at both acting and having great chemistry. they both were flawless and so was the rest of the cast. a special shout out for lee deaok hwa. he had such a complex character to play. lee junho's stares deserves a special mention. they are hot as hell.

the only drawback in the story according to me was in the middle when they gave too much importance to the court ladies cult. it kind of looked out of place and the entire ton of the drama changed a bit.

i guess this is the only kdrama sageuk that i have watched which isn't a fusion sageuk or fantasy sageuk. the feel was much more real and intense with this one. this is totally a much watch drama.

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Big Sad

I really did love this show. I think it was better at the start than towards the end, I know it was meant to be sad but it did get a little slow. Additionally, some of the plot points felt a bit rushed. I’m conflicted about the king because he was attractive and well written but at the same time he was inconsiderate and most of the time only thought of himself. Plus the parts where he almost forced himself on Deok Im really put me off. I get that it’s probably historically accurate for him to be this way but in a fictional drama that focuses more on the romance, it wasn’t really necessary. The acting and visuals however were incredible! I also enjoyed the balance between the romance and political side, neither felt like too much.

I’m sad now, in two ways. One is that of course the ending in general is sad for explicit reasons. The other is due to how the drama portrayed the misogyny of the past, and how all women no matter their standing or class never got to have the life they truly wanted. My heart pained so much for Deok Im and the other women in the palace. Even the Dowager Queen who was trapped forever and not able to leave for her brother’s funeral. It makes me understand more perhaps why they decided to make the king forceful towards Deok Im, emphasising how little power women had to make their own decisions (still didn’t like it though bc we were then meant to love this guy). Anyway I definitely think I will find myself rewatching this.

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A Heart has a soul

i liked the all setting of the drama the story line the characters most especially the female leading who is my best actress
the drama was very cool though the ending is not nice
i liked the music it was mactching the historical setting of the drama
the acting of both the male lead and the female lead was perfect
the pairing was on point.
Lee Jun Ho was a huge stand out with his nuanced and emotional acting. He thoroughly immersed himself as Yi San - a character filled with raw loneliness after decades of emotional manipulation. Someone who bears an immeasurable burden left by the ghost of his mentally unstable father, all while struggling to hold on to his birthright against scheming enemies. Jun Ho completely smashed the stereotypes of "weak idol acting" as he convincingly balances the expected gravitas of a duty bound royal, with the sensitivity of a man who is devoted in love after finding the one person who becomes his “light in the darkness”.

Lee Se Young was also just as impeccable as the intelligent and strong willed court lady Deok Im, who strives desperately to retain her identity and the little sense of autonomy that a woman might ever deign to desire in an ancient patriarchal society. Her constant craving for freedom struggles fiercely against her blooming feelings for someone who is entirely entrenched in everything she is trying to stay away from. Se Young's delicate micro-expressions and befitting body language documenting the push and pull she felt in every episode, is product of her long experience in acting and she was just completely masterful.

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Best Historical Drama ive seen in a while. Absolutley Wholesome.

I have loved every minute of this drama. Finally crown Prince in a drama who is not weak, studip or easy to target of course with the help of Deok-im. Many historical kdramas have almost the same scenes but every episode in this drama can stand on it own right with every one of the 17eps having a different twist and charm but yet all connect together.
Lee Jun Ho was just perfect for his role as a king I could feel his love for Deok-im and his ambition and duty to be a good king for his nation right from the start of him being a crown prince to being a king. By far the most loved character for me was Seong Deok-im and her unwavering and loyal with a big generous heart of Course Lee See Young did a fantastic job with her character making us feel every emotions she was going through.
One of the most memorable period dramas about love I've ever seen so far. Althought this love story was sad ending for San Yi and Doek-Im you could tell they did love eachother. i like that this drama stuck to the history of which the drama is adapted from by getting us to wonder if there was any foul play regarding to the death of Doek-Im and her son but i also love that they also gave us a drama ending see them both reunited in the after life.
Everything about this drama was just perfect from the ML & FL's chemistry, to everyonce of the cast who performed their characters perfectly I could not have asked for a better drama .
Highly recommended for people who are looking for a Historical drama to watch. This drama reminds me of why i started to watch kdrama in the first place . Love Love Love

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A fatally beautiful saeguk.

I'm not a fan of Saeguks. Or extremely political dramas which involve power play and betrayals. My first Saeguk was 'Moon Embracing the Sun', which I sat through solely due to my sudden interest in watching Kim So Hyun's works. Though it was a unique experience, I would not say that it was excellent. Same goes for 'The Tale of Nokdu', where all the interwoven politics went over my head.

I started The Red Sleeve purely after being impelled to do so by reading the exalted emotions on the MyDramaList comment section. (The first GIF I saw in Tumblr was the one where Deok Im says that she has a cold.)
Never did I expect to flash through all the twelve episodes released at that time within two days. Based on real historical figures and incidents, the drama follows the life of Sung Deok Im, a happy-go-lucky young court lady who is destined to serve the Crown Prince for the rest of her life. Content with her future, she finds joy among her friends and doing the things that she loves the most, enjoying the freedom that she got.
Until a chance event leads her right to the Crown Prince, Yi San, who although initially annoyed by her antics, slowly warms up to her.
Struggling to untangle herself from schemes of Yi San's rivals and attempting to navigate through her duties and protecting the Crown Prince, Deok Im soon starts to realize that life within a palace is not as she thought it was going to be.

What made this drama win me over was the solid script which equally divided the screen time between palace politics, the court ladies and the angst-inducing romance of the leads. Although the initial episodes leaned more towards the style of a comedic romance, the ominous foreshadowings of what lay ahead are already planted right on the first episode. Thanks to this being based on real individuals, I was prepared for what lay ahead.

I've never seen the lead actors before, so I am unable to evaluate them based on their previous works. But, every single characters' performance was captivating.

Deok Im is hands down one of my all time favorite characters. Aside from the romantic aspect, she is a strong lady who is unafraid to say no when required. Considering that this drama is set during the early 1700s when common women had little to no power, I loved how she went against the social norms of those times.
"The Crown Prince is dear, but myself is dearer."
As a result, her relationship with Yi San is of the excessively slow burn type, but it never once hindered my enjoyment as the subplots had almost equal importance as their personal tale. I had seen several comments about how her character went overboard multiple times, but I vehemently support her very tame outbursts as Yi San himself refused to often understand his boundaries. Lee Se Young almost perfectly portrayed Deok Im's slow decline into despondence. Her bright smile and sunny attitude was nowhere to be found after the initial episodes. Sometimes, I would rewatch an episode and then wonder how things went downhill for her so suddenly.

Yi San is the one character who had the most pivotal role. We see him slowly take on his responsibilities and start to grow from a slightly carefree prince to a ruthless King. This tone shift is starkly represented, particularly after EP11. I admit, he scared me often with his actions. He would be empathetic during one time, then pretty much ruin that by unfurling his deepest emotions and having sudden bursts of anger. But, I can understand why he reacted the way he did. According to fans/viewers who know history, their love story was not an easy one.

Lee Jun Ho and Lee Se Young delivered stunning performances. I will be keeping an eye out for both the actors' future works from now on.

I loved the friendship between Deok Im and her friends; also her relationship with Wol Hye (a senior court lady) and Lady Seo (her mentor). The final episodes in particular made me realize why they were an integral art of her life and how they helped shape her choices.
Lady Seo knew Deok Im the most. It pained me to see her cry.

Special mention to Yi San's personal guard and the eunuch, who were a regular presence straight from the start. The duo and Lady Seo provided the bit of comedic relief that I wanted.

(One unexpectedly touching moment was a brief conversation between Princess Hwahan and her adopted son. It made me tear up surprisingly. Hong Deok Ro was another muddled character whom I couldn't hate.)

The Red Sleeve relied on visual portrayal rather than verbosity. Deok Im and Yi San's real romance barely lasted for four episodes before Deok Im starts to realize that giving up her confined freedom for life as a consort was not worth it.
The drama has politics, but I wasn't disinterested or muddled about what was going on. Though there were episodes where I failed to trace out who was whose sibling/aunty/uncle/brother, it was understandable and engaging. The main King, who has a very strange man, made me feel like either something was wrong with him or with me. Breathe on him the wrong way and there is a high chance we will be leaving the palace without our heads. I could feel the urgency and tension of the characters whenever something happened. The scenes between him and his Grandson were highly emotional.

And the million rules…. I'm suddenly happy that such a Monarchical system has ceased to exist or else I would've self exiled myself. The stiffling life of the Concubines was hard to watch. The Queen Dowager was a regular character who was the most insightful and enigmatic person to me. I realized by the end that she was a wise woman who was worthy of her title.

Yi San and Deok Im's love story is what someone on tumblr mentioned, almost Austen-like. (I'd say Bronte type too.) I understood why it was drawn out. The original story had the king wait for Deok Im for 15 years. This drama somehow managed to stuff that into 17 episodes. Though, I personally feel that it should've been drawn out to some 18 or 20 episodes for a smoother transition.

Scratch that. After finishing EP16, I wanted the drama to end as quickly as possible. It left me with a tumult of mixed emotions. I didn't know if there was anyone to be blamed or hated. I wished that fate itself could get undone. Watching the final episodes was like watching a train wreck.

The background music was enchanting and haunting. Though I was not a huge fan of the songs, I did notice that they progressively went from light hearted to plain heart breaking as the intensity of emotions attained a peak.

The scriptwriter did not resort to any forced scenarios and tried to stick to the book as much as possible. While half of the Red Sleeve is a nerve-wracking mess, I do not regret spending my time for it. It also solidified my opinion on why I hate palace dramas so much.

Definitely an outstanding production that deserves every bit of love.

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is it possible to love while retaining one's independence and freedom?

One of the absolute best historical dramas came in The Red Sleeve- a gut wrenching, tightly woven, and intricately created drama that told the story between a Crown Prince-turned King and a "lowly court lady." Usually many historicals fall flat for me as the story line drags on, but I'm happy to announce that The Red Sleeve had none of that.

Right from the start, we are thrown into the life of Sung Deok Im, a court lady who has served the Crown Prince her whole life. She's content with her position- serving the Prince while being accompanied by her three friends. I loved every moment of their bickering, yet the drama highlighted how tightly knit these court ladies were together. Like many historical dramas, Red Sleeve transitions from light comical moments to deeper scenes as the episodes progresses- this is noticeable when the Yi San (Crown Prince) falls in love with Deok Im. Deok Im's strong desire to maintain her independence and free will as a court lady contradicts her feelings for Yi San, and the drama pushes and pulls at these feelings.

One of the central themes of the drama is power imbalance. It may be uncomfortable for viewers to experience, but it accurately portrayed the power of the royalty vs. the common folk. Deok Im herself has called herself a "lowly maid", and at times, Yi San can be seen doing the same. Yet, as he realizes how much of a role Deok Im has played in his life, his attitudes towards court maids began to change.

Without spoilers, the drama ultimately made me feel absolutely raw towards the end, but the relationship dynamic between the two main leads were absolutely captivating and beautiful. Lee SeYoung and Junho brought their characters to life and breathed fresh air into the historical genre. While the OSTs (imho) weren't quite memorable, they did serve to accompany more dramatic and intense scenes when called for.

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More than a simple love story

I came into this expecting the typical romance with some palace intruigue, but what I got was so much more. The way the story progressed through the lifetime of Deok Im and San was beautifully done, to me. I found myself completely immersed in the story and always wanting more. Even at the end, I wanted more, not because I felt they did a poor job of using the time, but because I just wanted to spend a little more time with these characters.

Although the tone shifted to a slower, more mature tale in the second half, it fit with the narrative and I never felt lost or unhappy. The acting was perfect as every actor delivered on their characters from start to finish; the music fit every scene to a tee and enhanced the storytelling perfectly; the directing was expertly done along with the cinematography; and the writing was *chef's kiss*, beautiful and meaningful.

I will be thinking of this drama for a very long time and missing my favourite court ladies for all eternity.

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Watch it only for good acting and beautiful screenplay

This may be a non-conventional review , but I dint like this series at all , even though I am a hard core Junho fan !

I am not going to comment on the acting , as its the only thing that kept me going ! Not only the leads the supporting cast was beautiful and competent too ! Also the background score and screenplay is beautiful ! -- Thats the only good !

People are talking about the story being good and real ! Yes it is , but that story is worth only 4-5 episodes ! The rest of the series is draggy and full of longing ! Agree that the real story was sad , and the writers stick to it , but that doesn't means that their entire life was filled with sadness ! There are very less romance or happy moments for that matter ! The FL is highly annoying and confused and filled with self pity , which makes her own as well as the kings life miserable ! Now this isn't mentioned anywhere is history , is it ? Her characterisation is very poor , she is spoken to be humble and free-spirited , but shown to be selfish and impudent and manipulative ! She is comparing herself with the king at all times ! I know patriarchy exists but so does roles and responsibilities ! U cant compare people having diff roles ! Dialogues are intense but too draggy and repetitive ! The leads are only fighting and hurting each other ! one cant really feel their love accept in the beginning when they are saving each other ! Also they havent shown his first queen at all , more than that his accomplishments as a benevolent king are only talked about ! Not shown at all !

If the writers ought to make the love story this sad , they could have made the palace drama more interesting !

I love emotional dramas , but this was a tough watch for me , took me forever to complete !

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I regret it

I binge-watched it and I regret it. The creators did manage to keep me on the edge of my seat until almost the end (episode 16), but they gave nothing in return for all the waiting! A lot of the characters were not thoroughly developed, a lot of storylines were started and finished in a few episodes with only a thin thread to keep all the episodes latched together. Plus, I did not like the FL way of acting, especially in the second half, she almost did not have any facial expressions at all. There was no chemistry between the actors... The ML actor, however, was very good, he had to carry the all show on his shoulders.

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The oppressive cost of power and order

I’ve just binge-watched this show. I hadn’t intended to but I was caught up with it because I was fascinated by the focus on the limitations and demands of order. If you’ve come in hopes of a standard romance, then you may well be disappointed, because love is shown to be just another victim of the rapaciousness of order, flapping pathetically like a bird in a gilded cage. But hopefully the deeper and more thoughtful themes in this show will captivate your interest.

The drama explores the necessities required by order to maintain itself. To sustain a cohesive society with all its factions it is necessary for the powerful to be bound. The necessity to prevent rebellion/chaos and maintain order is alive in every rule. Loyalty is the only currency. Loyalty is to the one you serve and once that person is dead, you are unceremoniously ejected from the seat of power as your loyalties are no longer fixed and therefore questionable. Everyone, including the king is bound by those rules and must follow them or pay a heavy, and often fatal, price. Within the confines of the palace freedom is the illusion that everyone craves.

The oppressive cost of power is explored through a number of characters, who deal with the shackles in different ways. Some scheme to undermine it, some scheme to try to create safety for their own group, some feign ignorance and keep their heads down, some scheme to gain unassailable power. The FL resists it, fighting to keep a tenuous hold on the fragment of autonomy that she has carved out for herself. Universally, everyone is forced to hide their true feelings and conform to what is required of their role. The suffocation of those endless formal bows and the life spent simply third in line, half bent over, in the small procession that follows the king everywhere he goes. But in the end there is only one way to survive, as one of the characters says, (paraphrased) “if you can’t beat them, join them and go with the flow”.

The role of women is particularly explored here and it is no surprise that the uniqueness of this drama is the result of a female perspective, both in terms of the writer and the director. If you liked the film “The Piano” (Jane Campion) then you will see echoes here of how sex and genuine love are used to “buy” relief from loneliness and the burden of responsibility, and the options available to women in response to those demands.

In terms of the acting, both leads were very convincing in their parts and were surrounded by a good supporting cast. The script was not outstanding in my opinion, but more than adequate to the task. It occasionally slipped into mawkishness, but also surprised in other places. In a drama that relied on the believability of the relationships, the plot lost me sometimes, particularly with regard to the letter and the kidnappings scenarios. However, I can credit that they were used to illustrate broader themes.

Overall this was a surprisingly good drama that far exceeded my expectations and gave me a lot to think about. Recommended!

What my rating means: 8+ A great drama with interesting content and good writing, direction, acting, OST, cinematography. But didn’t quite have the requisite sparkle to bump it into my all-time fave list. Worth watching.

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TRS walks too far down the path of a fantasy rom-com before deciding it does not want to be one

First, some friendly words:
The music was on point (much better than say in The Crowned Clown).
The few fight scenes were fine.
The emotional scenes were well made (except for any deaths). In general, the production staff did a fine job.
Most of the actors were decently chosen for their roles (but all politicians were weak/unremarkable).


The first maybe 40% of the show are a generic Cinderella fantasy rom-com. The little attempted comedy isn't funny too often, but the leads and their chemistry are alright. After that though, there is so much dragging and nonsense, before it eventually culminates in something like a Wikipedia article. In hindsight, I just want my lifetime and sanity back.


== FULL-ON SPOILERS & COMPLAINTS FROM HERE ==

The core issue of the show is that it wants to both be a Love In The Moonlight- or Tale Of Nokdu-esque pure fantasy show, but then at the same time match the tragic real story to get those tear glands going. While it's still a romcom, you not only have the very silly secret Maidumminati organization of moon-sourced court lady villains complete with death temple and ninja girl assassination squads — but most importantly, only while it is a romcom, the FL has agency. The FL does things. The FL makes things happen and is pretty much the center of the story. The FL (of course) is a sassy FL that talks back to her king-to-be, yet at the same time they save each other's lives numerous times (through competence & effort!).
Admittedly there is a bit of puffing about the initial villain having set up the FL with the ML from her childhood on with the hopes of spying on him, as well as using their affection to prove he desires the king's "property", but that goes nowhere.
These characters they show us could just dandily shack up together in some royal arrangement, make babies, and live happily ever after. We don't even have an angry grandmother-dowager opposing this union! There is literally no obstacle to this union besides them opening their mouths to converse about it and ... the plot, its writer, and actual history.

Alas, the historical background to force into this is "this court lady rejected the king twice, and then at some point 15 years down the road she gets pregnant a bunch of times, and even tragically dies while pregnant; the king loved her a lot though".

Supposedly the real historical maid/consort (FL) had reasons like "I can't become your concubine if your actual wife hasn't born any children", but since Junho must stay pure and virginal for his one true love, no actress is even cast as his life-long historical wife. She is mentioned in passing like once or twice, and that's it.

So what do you do as a writer? Obviously, the FL does not want to be his wifey because.. well, dunno? Because she doesn't love him? Unfortunately they already showed that she did, so let's go for the next best thing: pretending not to love him. Even better, make it some grand parable about womens' rights. A poorly-treated palace maid has the freedom to go out to the market once per month, she can leave the palace for a short bit, wow, such independence in-between being forced to do menial jobs and being mistreated by those higher up! Meanwhile, a concubine/consort with maids of her own can't leave the palace at all! The horror! She only has one freedom left:
¯\(°_o)/¯ Loving the king sincerely, but not admitting to it. (⊙_⊙;)
It's one of the dumbestestest things I've ever seen in television.

As the FL refuses a reasonable happily-ever-after for very poorly defined, poorly expressed, and barely if at all comprehensible reasons, the ML is forced to wed the SML's 12 year old sister, but because Junho (ahistorically) does not want to be a pedophile, she (historically) dies of overwhelming sadness, and that makes SML turn into an insane traitor with a private army of ninja man assassination guards. For that stuff he (historically) is not beheaded, even though he really should have been, and not even exiled into far-away thorny shrubs – only so that he can later be an allegedly-not-scheming emo kid lurking around the palace to either get some power back, or have the FL for himself as a form of consolation prize because the ML can't (yet) have her. Ultimately he stays alive for a bit merely to send a truthful letter to the ML about how the FL and not him dutifully saved him a very long time ago. This whole arc is a waste of screen time.

In summary, TRS' FL repeatedly refuses the ML's declaration of love with the following consequences:
– A child she befriended has to marry him and dies unhappy. (Sparking the abuse/torture of other court maids as well.)
– Some mean lady is hired as the next consort, abuses the FL, and tries to get her beheaded.
– She herself presumably dies of pregnancy complications that would have been less likely at a younger age.

Needless to say, I vastly preferred watching the generic romcom Cinderella in the first episodes to the annoying troll that came after.

--

Stuff that just never got cleared up:
– ML/FL never talk about the tattoo FL has.
– ML/FL never have an earnest talk about how the evil head court lady set them up to be together.
– What is the book of Yeong, ML's grandmother, even about?
– In the show, Head Court Lady Jo herself "caused" Sado to become unstable (as explained by the oppressed nearly-dead Court Lady Park), of course intentionally, merely out of jealousy for another woman. So she herself is the architect of the calamity that she claims to warn about. Why does the Maidumminati ninja clan follow her blindly when at least some of them know this? Why do they try to assassinate ML even after her death?
– Early on the show makes a huge deal about the funeral convoy for a royal consort versus the way a maid is evicted from the palace to avoid her even dying there. Given this, we should be shown FL's funeral procession, and the ridiculously long Wikipedia-style episode #17 has more than enough time for this.

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