Red Cuff of the Sleeve (2021)

Worthy of watching

I have watched this drama twice. I have to read English subtitles which has a lot of my concentration the first time I watch it. When I watch it a second or third time I always see something new. While other ratings were not at the top, I personally loved the connection between Lee Jun Ho & Lee Se Young. Their performance was excellent and kept me at times laughing and definitely the tears rolled in particular in the last few episodes. I only comment on the entertainment of the dramas I watch and leave any personal political thoughts out.
I watch dramas to learn, enjoy and reminisce my past experiences with love, loss and where I am now. I have become enamored with Korean dramas. I look forward to them everyday. Thanks to the talents of the gorgeous male actors and the beautiful women in these dramas.

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Not a fluffy romance and a different take on a different era

I binged this sageuk drama in less than 2 days, as I just got hooked.
I liked the fact it's based on real historical figures, even though the plot was largely fictional.
Fine cast and very good acting. Considering the vast majority of the drama took place within the palace walls, or immediately outside it, I felt the sets were wonderful and it gave a sense of how it must have been for those never allowed to leave.
This isn't a fluffy story at all. Whilst there are many light moments, the latter episodes contain tragedy and heartbreak.
The inner workings of palace politics, the personal maids and servants, tied for life to the King, who has total power and control over their lives, has been portrayed many times in sageuk dramas, but in Red Sleeve, possibly for the first time, I really felt like I got a glimpse into how hard and terrifying life could have been for anyone working close to the King; especially women.
In this instance, the ability to possess what one wishes, regardless, is taken advantage of. Though love is reciprocal, the effect this has on a previously bright, opinionated and free thinking character, I found so sad.
A King who in reality did a lot to reform policies at the time, but was overshadowed by his bi-polar, paranoid father, who was remembered for causing the deaths of a large number of his servants ~ although as the drama portrays, he and others felt Crown Prince Sado was purposely driven to madness.
At the end of the day, the King forced his will on the woman he loved, even though she'd explained why she didn't want to be his concubine.
A fated love story and not an easy ride. A little laboured at times, but overall a powerful watch. You might need tissues.

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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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Desempenho impressionante de Lee Jun Ho como o Príncipe Herdeiro Yi San

Como pode essa história mexer tanto com meu pobre coração!? Os dois últimos episódios são teste para cardíaco, me levaram a uma montanha-russa de emoções. Ri, chorei, senti frio na barriga, foi como se realmente eu sentisse todas as emoções do personagem. Até precisei assistir uma comédia em seguida para aliviar meu coraçãozinho que está descompensado até agora. Mas vamos ao que interessa...
Se você é fã de dramas de época que exploram as complexidades das relações humanas em um cenário histórico, essa série certamente merece atenção. A atuação talentosa do elenco, aliada à rica ambientação e à narrativa envolvente, torna esta trama uma escolha perfeita e ainda traz uma performance memorável de Lee Jun Ho. O desempenho impressionante dele como o príncipe herdeiro Yi San e, posteriormente como um imperador compassivo, é verdadeiramente envolvente. Sua interpretação magistral captura a angústia, o amor e o desamparo de seu personagem. Sério, deu vontade de colocar esse menino no colo de tanto sofrimento que seu personagem passou através de sua interpretação.
O drama foca no romance real entre Yi San (Lee Jun Ho), um príncipe herdeiro que se esforça constantemente para se tornar um rei benevolente que sempre coloca o dever acima do amor e que vive a sombra da morte de seu pai e da personagem Seong Deok Im (Lee SeYoung), uma jovem dama da corte que quer viver a vida de sua escolha, ao invés de uma das numerosas damas da corte chamadas apenas de mulheres do rei. Acho que um dos destaques desta série é ver o quanto Yi San está apaixonado por Deok Im. É historicamente conhecido que ele não amava nenhuma outra mulher tanto quanto a amava, e Lee Jun Ho foi capaz de transmitir perfeitamente essas fortes emoções.
A trama traz muitos detalhes e como que precisam ser vivenciados no drama já que não tenho intenção de spoilers. Com o passar dos episódios é perceptível que esta série tem muito a ensinar quando nos diz em voz alta que a felicidade está nas nossas próprias decisões, mesmo quando estas parecem ser feitas sobre coisas triviais. A trama traz muitos detalhes que precisam ser assistidos e sentidos já que não tenho intenção de spoiler. Apenas vejam e se deliciem com a perfeição deste drama e não esqueçam o lencinho.

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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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Prince et esclave

En regardant the red sleeve, cela me rappelle à quel point j'aime les dramas coréens : la beauté des plans, les jeux de regards, la profondeur dans les relations et effectivement ce drama touche toutes les cases, avec deux leads exceptionnels ainsi que de très bons seconds rôles (J'ai aimé l'humour de la dame de Cour Jo, la reine douairière, manipulatrice certes, mais entrée au palais à l'âge de 15 ans et mariée au grand père du héros, qui doit gérer tout ce petit monde).

L'idée est originale aussi : contrairement aux romances, elle n'attend pas que son prince vienne le chercher, elle préfère rester libre même si elle aime son prince.

C'est l'histoire d'une servante du palais, donc enfermée à vie à servir, rien moins que des esclaves qui n'ont pas le droit de se marier, s'oublier pour servir les monarques du palais. Curieusement, notre héroîne, Deok Im est heureuse de son sort. Elle a des amies, des dons littéraires appréciés et grandit joyeusement dans ce milieu oppressant. C'est que ce petit monde féminin s'entraide et se montre loyal. Les scènes avec ses trois amies sont superbes, on découvre grâce à elles, les coulisses du palais. J'ai adoré la sismance. Notre héroïne se trouve à sauver, à plusieurs reprises, ce prince héritier. C'est une esclave qui marche comme un prince.

Et ce prince, futur roi Yeongjo, qui apparemment a tout ce que l'on peut souhaiter dans le monde, craint constamment pour sa vie (tant qu'il n'est pas roi, on ne cherchera qu'à le nuire), jouet psychologique de son grand-père et outil d'ascenseur social pour son ami d'enfance. Un prince qui finalement vit comme un esclave.

C'est en faisant d'elle sa "reine" qu'elle devient finalement une esclave.

C'est vraiment cette dynamique que je retiendrais, car selon moi, ce n'est pas ici une romance. La réalité prendra le pas sur le couple et ils se perdront en cours de route. Dans l'Histoire de la Corée, Deok Im qui deviendra la concubine Ui, est reconnue pour avoir refusé à deux reprises de se marier au roi. Le drama, adapté d'un roman, explique les raisons de ce refus, avec une lecture d'aujourd'hui. En devenant sa concubine, le roi peut gouverner et avoir l'objet de son affection. En revanche, Deok-Im ne peut plus vivre comme avant, condamnée à attendre l'affection ponctuelle de son monarque pour enfanter. Elle est féministe avant l'heure : elle préfère l'accomplissement personnel au bonheur conjugal. Donc lui, fou amoureux, le déclare à plusieurs reprises et elle, qui choisit de se taire.

L'actrice est convaincante dans la première partie de l'histoire, avec sa joie de vivre, ses talents de conteuse, ses moments de bonheurs avec ses amies. Et ce prince, puis roi, partagé entre l'envie de forcer les choses et le désir de la respecter. L'acteur a été aussi très bon pour montrer ces deux facettes.

Si tous les épisodes étaient comme les 9 premiers, ce serait un coup de cœur pour moi, la complicité des deux leads, le lien qui les unit, les intrigues palpitantes à dénouer, les scènes d'une poésie rare. Mais, après cela, nous avons une histoire d'organisation secrète, des discussions entre ministres et intrigues de Cour qui m'ont profondément ennuyée. On se place davantage dans le point de vue du roi dans la seconde partie et effectivement, Deok-Im sera de plus en plus silencieuse pour disparaître à petits feux... (Notez que dans la fin "ouverte" de cette histoire, elle ne répond toujours pas en paroles à l'amour du roi. Son point de vue disparait aussi).

Aussi, je déplore qu'on ait pas fait mention des talents littéraires de la mère biologique du roi Jeongjo (elle a écrit des mémoires très détaillé de son temps). Peut-être dû à des priorités budgétaires, les dernières scènes manquaient d'ampleur (par ex, la concubine qui Ui qui n'a pas beaucoup de suivantes dans son cortège alors qu'elle est tout de même concubine de 1er rang).

Cela dit, tout est filmé avec beaucoup d'intelligence, le script est globalement bien mené et cette histoire, bien que triste, vaut la peine d'être racontée. Bravo à la réalisation : la musique, les décors... sont pertinents et soignés. Rien que le fait que dire que non, tout ne tourne pas autour de l'être aimé, et de le dire avec autant d'esprit, ce drama vaut la peine d'être regardé.

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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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