I was just telling my sister that I could never re-watch this drama because the ending killed me. I felt for Yi San and Se-young because they were two people in love who could not freely express their love because of societal expectations as well as courtly hierarchy. Also, Yi san threatening Se-young with rape made it even harder to support the "relationship." In the end, the one who suffered was Se-young because she was forced into a life that she never wanted.

I am always a silent lurker for years.
I registered an account to discuss it, that's how much how like about this drama.

Today is the anniversary our military coup took place . Yeah it has been one year.
Admist Coup and Covid, my mind has always been in unstable condition ( lost my job, constant worry of being arrested ).

Entertainment has been a pleasant distraction from reality when you still need to lay low and have wifi in your home . ( cause Opiates will be bad for me and I can't consult psychiatrists for emotional trauma because some of my doctor friends has been taken away for being against the Coup .)
Well you can guess, I am also a doctor.

Well forget about Real life drama.

Lets talk about The Red Sleeve .
My personal fav genres include Sageuks
and I tried almost every sageuks this year .
River where the moon rises , Red sky, The King's Affection and of course, The Red sleeve.

Truth to be told, I had the least interest in Red Sleeve cause it is about Yisan ( I thought nothing could surpass my personal fav 2007 Yi San )
and the writer is the one who wrote Ruler.
And I had never watched Junho before and he is an idol.

The three sageuks I watched failed to meet my expectations for different reasons . ( Uninteresting plot, Nonsense plot and KA taking too long to conclude the finale )
I lost interest half way.

There the Red Sleeve came and I tried it out of boredom and I was pleasantly surprised.

******
Personally , my fav things about RS
1. It is like a poem or painting which can be interpreted into different meanings by each viewer
2. The directing and cinematography
Director Jung Ji In name will be the one I couldn't forget for the rest of my life.

The minute details, the poetic presentation ( water ,flowers ,calligraphy, shoes ) and Rehearsals.

3. Junho's Unbelievable Acting Power
Before Junho, Yoo Ah In was my fav sageuk actor for portraying Yi Bang Won in Six flying Dragons .

Junho can portray each and every emotion of Jeongjo/YiSan's perfectly from his younger days to old age where RS version of YiSan is the more dramatic one compared to 2007 YiSan.

You can watch a fun and entertaining Red Sleeve cast chat on the recent Radio Star episode. I loved how the actors interacted and was charmed at how gracious they were. And funny too!

This show became a hit became a hit because it deserved to.

First, this drama was a work of art. The cinematography, the costuming, the balance in the characters and the writing were all well done. We saw more than just the relationship between the main characters but also Deok-im’s relationship with her friends and also San’s relationship with his grandfather. Some of the best scenes involved those other relationships.

Second, I know that the story of Yi San and Deok-im has been cast as a great ‘royal romance’ and that is what many people expected out of the show but what we got was greater than just a standard romance. Great dramas show us the deeper side of the story and we got that here. I was originally upset by the seventeenth episode, but I think that I now understand why it had to be there and why the story continued so long after Deok-im’s death. Many people have noted the power imbalance between San and Deok-im but they are missing what may be the main point of the whole drama: Deok-im was not free but King Jeonjo was not free either. Chains of gold are still chains. They lived in a society where no one was really free and that was the real tragedy of their love. That they did indeed love each other is historical fact, but it was a love that was constricted and warped by their circumstances. To me this was the fundamental motif of this drama. A drama this good will pull in viewers like a magnet- and that too is why it was a hit.

I'm so glad I watched this one live and from the start because typically, if I find out a drama (especially a romantic drama) has a tragic ending, I won't even watch the first episode. But because I started Red Sleeve right at episode 1 when it first came out, and avoided spoilers all the way through, I watched every second (although I admit there were parts of the last episode that I didn't watch very closely because the characters' pain was my pain). And I'm here to say that as someone who tries to avoid sad endings, it was totally worth it in this case.

What made Red Sleeve special? The first two episodes--with their typical sageuk focus on childhood connections--didn't break new ground, but right away, I felt that the dialogue set this drama apart. Characters never said quite what I thought they would at any given moment, and that hooked me immediately.

By episode 3, the banter between the Crown Prince and Deok-im and their undeniable chemistry kept me eagerly anticipating each new episode. I also loved the way the female characters--especially the non-royal female characters--were fully realized. They weren't walking cliches of happy servants serving their betters and desiring nothing more; they were fully realized human beings with wants and frustrations of their own. It didn't really hit me until I started watching Red Sleeve that this is rare in sageuks. We may get strong queens or princesses, and sometimes, a quirky servant or two, but I can't think of any drama that suggested, even obliquely, that court ladies were complex human beings in their own right.

I know a lot of people hated the whole Fairy Palace thing, but I thought it was inspired. Ridiculous, yes, but still---it's not at all what I expected and I appreciated that.

The acting was exemplary across the board. I've liked Junho in other roles, but this one was my favorite because he wasn't afraid to embrace San's darker, less desirable qualities--something a lot of actors are loath to do when playing a leading romantic role. San was a jerk sometimes in keeping with his insulated and privileged background; it still breaks my heart to remember him telling Deok-im he had simply never imagined and could not imagine living life with her as regular people.

Lee Se-young did an excellent job as well showing every moment that led Deok-im from being a spunky, confident young woman to a jaded concubine who loved and loathed the King in equal measure. The emphasis on female agency throughout also made this a refreshing watch.

I can't say I'm brave enough yet to re-watch Red Sleeve all the way through. The hopelessness of Deok-im and San ever being able to love each other as equals is painful to realize over and over again. However, for now at least, Red Sleeve exists next to Seven Days Queen as my all-time favorite sageuk. That said, I would love it if another great one that captivates me as much as those two did would come along soon.

I started watching from the beginning because I’m a fan of Juhno. I like the intensity he brings to acting and he’s a cat lover. That’s a win-win for me. It’s hard to put my finger on what made TRS so special but I would say the acting, directing, setting and musical score. ALL the actors brought their A-game to this drama. I think the fact that the director was female made a difference, especially regarding the friendship of the court ladies and their bond. I like the sensibility of this director. I have commented on this before in earlier posts but the drama had a feeling of elegance. The cinematography, the musical score. IMO the musical score of many dramas just doesn’t fit the story. It’s almost a distraction. But as much as I loved this drama, I could have done without Ep 17. It was just too much sadness for me. I know the real life story did not have a happy ending, but I would have preferred to be left with the image of the happy smiling Jeongjo and Uibin, or as I prefer to think of them, Yi San and Deok Im-ah.

lee san was not different from other sageuks's male leads.
it was duk im who made me stay with the drama until the end.
acting wise, everyone did a marvellous job.

Personally, I think there's something so beautiful in sageuk production from the customary, the outfits, the way they talk (not the literal korean but their choices of words even when it is translated to english, by this i mean the way they talk sort of in code). And I think the red sleeve was able to capture all of that on top of actually having a fresh story. Sad love sageuk love story is definitely far from fresh, but the court lady perspective is definitely new. And surprisingly, they kept the story's pace, momentum, and portion (ie between the comedy, romance, and palace politics) really well up until the end.

The other part that's very specific with The Red Sleeve I think their way to capture melo-romance not only by dialogues but with the close up shots that tells more story than dialogues can do. I think that was in courtesy of the production team as well as both Lee Junho and Lee Seyoung.

And finally, of course it's Junho and Seyoung's chemistry that's just so over the roof I can't even believe myself when I realize that there was BARELY any romantic physical advancement until the forced kiss AND the fateful first night. Their chemistry were so magical that I do think 50% of the reason is really THEM.

And with sageuk honestly, ensemble cast that each would actually serves purpose and actually form friendship/relationship with the main leads is never a miss (Mr. Queen, Moon that Embraces the sun, My Country? sort of?)

Ps. I really don't know why The Red Sleeve reminded me SO MUCH of Moon that Embraces the Sun. I think if Moon that Embraces the sun were a 2020ish sageuk, it would be made this way.

The Red Sleeve for me is the historical drama of 2021, and maybe the best of 2021. I do love historical pieces, and many Koreans enjoy those as well, but there are already so many sageuks filmed, and many historical plots exploited, so it's hard to film anything refreshing. Yes, TRS has obvious tropes of classic sageuk, which is politics, palace drama and so on, but that's because you can't stir much off history and avoid filming about those issues.

What made TRS such a big hit for me?
1. It was very feministic show for sageuk. The whole character of Deok-Im was very refreshing to watch, how she loved herself, her life, her friends instead of going all-it for love. The biggest conflict preventing our main couple to be together was inner issues, rather than external ones, as most of the plots exploit. All women are portrayed extremely well, from Deok-Im's friends, Empress, Court Lady Jo, and so many more. Instead of just being evil for no obvious reasons, we understood their reasons, and all of them suffered from living in society dominated by men.

2. Exceptional cinematogrophy and directing. We can't argue that the show is an eye-candy to watch, from those sceneries, costumes, OSTs and general atmosphere. It's extremely well-shot.

3. We didn't have Second Lead trope, and what we had was rather interesting then just love triangle. Hong Deok-Ro was not interested in Deok-Im but fighting for Yi San's affections (I genuinely think that Deok-Ro really had very deep affections for Yi San, and it was important for him to be his closest person), Empress having deep affections for Deok-Im and fighting over her with Yi San. I really loved that.

3. Everything in the plot seemed logical for me, and nothing out of place. Many people criticized Court Lady Jo's trope and treason sage, but I liked it. They also didn't make it too long, so no complaints from me.

4. Main love story is epic. Yi San was not perfect, it was a society dominated by man, and he was a Crown Prince, a King, people were obeying him since childhood, but what's important, TRS showed us that some of his behaviors was wrong. Like first-kiss scene is disturbing, and TRS made it that way. How he thought that maybe he should force Deok-Im in the relationship, but chose not to, until Empress said that she would rather destroy her. Yi San always stayed true to himself: perfectionist, controlling, cunning at times, thinking about his country first, but also loving that one woman. And I'd like to think that when Deok-Im chose to stay with him, it was her choice where she understood all things she would be losing, but she wanted his love anyway.

5. We didn't have a dedicated villain. I say, palace was a villain, everybody suffered there.

6. Cast: many things being said about Lee Junho and Se-Young, and I can only second that. Amazing actors, amazing chemistry, but all supporting characters did so well.

Overall, it was epic love story, which we all do...

Another thought - the Behind the Scenes material. It was full, it was released quickly, it was often hilarious, it showcased the chemistry of the full cast. It became an event in itself. With an ongoing diet of RSC between the episodes, it kept the momentum going. I think it actually can have quite a significant impact on the reception of a drama.

I happened to accidentally see the teaser a day before it started airing. The teaser really attracted me to it. I had known both Lee Se Young and Lee Jun Ho but had never really paid a lot of attention. The scenes from the 1st 2 episodes got me hooked. Their expressions, the OST, the background, costumes and it all just felt great. Im so glad I discovered it from the beginning. I don’t usually like watching a drama while it’s airing but I really enjoyed this one. Watching YouTube for TRS crumbs, chasing hashtags on Twitter and Instagram, watching 2pm content, trying to find Lee Se Young’s content with Eng subs, watching TRS BTS on repeat and finally reading the history about Yi San and Deokim from a 2PM fan blogger named JLML718.
In fact reading her blogs and Instagram posts made it easier for me to understand Yi San and Deokim better. I started looking at things in a different way.
I’m already having withdrawal symptoms.

It was popular, so people will look into LSY's filmography and watch KAIROS 😎.

Fyi, KAIROS cinematographor was also TRS cinematographer too. Watch KAIROS, underated gem.

Got on this boat around E4 and initially stayed for the grand reveal that library guy was actually the Crown Prince. The turned out to be satisfying, so I stayed on and before I knew it I was hooked. Se-young was as usual fantastic but IMHO it was Jun-ho and Kang Hoon that carried this drama.

Speaking for myself. What drew me in is the amazing chemistry between the leads. I especially enjoyed Junho's portrayal of Yi San. I loved the emotion and vulnerability he showed. His longing to be with Deok-Im was so visible and it hit all the feels in the right way. His struggle with his longing for her and respecting her by not abusing his power (even though it was frustrating him) was wonderful to watch. I loved the portrayal of Deok-Im too. Struggling with her feelings for Yi San, the off-putting environment of the court, and her own ambitions and longing to have a peaceful life. For me, this is what drew me in and kept me watching.

What was off-putting were some elements I thought to be too fantastic: the tiger scene, the secret society of court ladies, and other parts of the plot. What kept me from not leaving the drama was the dynamics I mentioned above.

Junho. Smolder. Swoon. Period.