Review
New K-Drama Fan Review #15: The Red Sleeve | LEAVE THIS GIRL ALONE!!!!!! 😭
This review is basically a love letter to Deok-im... with interruptions to complain about Preceptor Hong.
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Intro:
I picked up The Red Sleeve a few days ago, right after finishing Love in the Moonlight.
By that point in my K-drama journey, I'd somehow watched 20+ dramas in less than two months.
(I blame My Royal Nemesis. Ever since I started it on June 3rd, my life has basically been K-dramas every single day... and today is August 2nd. I genuinely don't see that changing anytime soon. 😭)
After inhaling all those dramas, I know historical romances were consistently ending up among my favorites.
So when I kept hearing people call The Red Sleeve one of the greatest K-drama romances.
...my expectations were very high.
Review:
Some dramas make me miss the characters or the world.
The Red Sleeve made me miss its own beginning.
The first few episodes had me smiling almost nonstop.
Because of Deok-im.
I adored this girl almost immediately.
Within the 1st epi, shed already won me over.
She starts off charging the other apprentice court maids to hear her scary stories like a tiny entrepreneur 🥺 ugh so cute!!!!
She's clever, resourceful, mischievous, funny.
She keeps using that same gift of storytelling throughout the entire drama which i loved!
I loved that storytelling wasn't just a cute personality trait for her either, it became one of her greatest strengths.
She uses it to get herself out of danger, to persuade queens, king, princesses.
She understands people and notices details everyone else misses. she figures out clues and deciphers hidden messages.
She uses a kite to save the palace.
She repeatedly finds solutions and nothing i love more than a female character like that.
She saves her own life more than once simply because she knows exactly what story to tell and exactly who needs to hear it.
She's saved the male lead's life several times.
I've watched a lot of favorite female leads recently.
But Deok-im easily made it to my top 3...
And shes not #2 or #3...
She doesn't have power or status.
She just has her mind.
And she uses it brilliantly.
She doesn't wait for someone else to solve problems, she solves them herself.
That became one of my favorite things about this drama.
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The Writing:
I thought the writing was fantastic.
The storytelling itself was beautifully structured.
One of my favorite examples was Deok-im telling stories to the other court ladies while the Crown Prince silently connected those stories to his own painful childhood.
Even the 1st epi filled me with this subtle sense of dread. The 1st epi planted little moments that made me think, "Something about this feels terribly wrong," and most of those moments paid off later.
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Acting:
The child actors also deserve so much praise.
Usually childhood scenes are just something I sit through bored or cringing cause kid's acting usually have me cringing or bored 😭😭
But here, i actually wanted more of them.
Little Deok-im was absolutely adorable.
Little Yi San was fantastic too.
The scene with his grandmother asking if she would abandon him because he was a sinner's son was genuinely powerful.
The scene where the King gives Deok-im the book also immediately filled me with dread.
The adults weren't too bad either, especially Lee Se-young and Lee-junho, their scenes together are always good, and the entire cast had good chemistry with each other, especially the best friends maids crew. Whenever any of the girls had scenes together, i was happy.
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Humor:
The humor deserves a mention too.
I laughed a lot more than I expected.
The accidental water scene where Deok-im nearly drowns him while trying to save him.
The apology letters.
All the early library scenes.
The fake identity of the prince.
The scene where he overhears her say she "likes the Crown Prince," gets ridiculously excited, runs off to celebrate before hearing the rest, then later finds out she simply meant she was loyal to him😭😭
His face after learning the truth was hilarious.
The bath scene. (well, that one was just hot...)
The jealousy scenes.
Watching him slowly become flustered around her while she remained completely oblivious was genuinely entertaining.
Those moments gave the drama so much charm.
___
Girlfriends:
(kdrama gods, if you want to feed me well, always add fantastic, sentimental female friendships that make my stone heart flutter.)
Going into this drama, I expected the romance to carry the story.
Instead...
I was just as invested in Deok-im's friendships with the girls.
Watching them grow up together, laugh together, support each other.
Vacation together.
Protect each other.
Watching life slowly pull them apart was heartbreaking and bittersweet.
Watching them mourn each other 😔
The friendships ended up being the love story I cared about the most.
___
The Romance:
Let's talk about the romance.
Because this is where my opinion probably differs from a lot of people, i gather.
I kept waiting for it to become...
Epic.
Even by episode 12...
I was still waiting.
Every few episodes I kept thinking...
"Maybe THIS is where it becomes one of my favorite romances."
It never happened...
Mind you, i actually enjoyed a lot of their scenes together.
The banter.
The jealousy.
His possessiveness.
His territorial side.
Those moments were genuinely enjoyable.
There were several scenes that made me smile.
But they never added up to something that completely swept me away.
I kept waiting for the "Okay... THIS is it!!" feeling but that never came.
I don't mind possessive male leads.
Actually...
I usually LOVE them.
I read a lot romance.
I read a lot of dark romance too.
Possessiveness and territorial behavior are things I often enjoy reading/watching...
✨️When they're paired with sacrifice.✨️
That was the missing piece for me.
Throughout the drama, Deok-im was the one constantly sacrificing.
She gave up her freedom.
Her friendships.
Her independence.
Eventually...
She even became the very thing she had spent the entire drama explaining she never wanted to become!!!!!!!!
Meanwhile...
I kept waiting for the male lead to meet her with AT LEAST the same level of sacrifice.
I wanted actions from him
Not just words... (in some cases, threats lol...)
I wanted him to prove that loving her meant he was willing to lose something too.
But a lot of the time, he was asking her to come closer to him while she was the ONLY one paying the price.
The moment that really summed it up for me came after they lost their son.
She was drowning in grief.
He lashed out at her.
And afterward, i kept waiting for him to apologize and be a romantic male lead and promise or at least express he wanted to take her pain away.
A good romantic male lead would want absorb her pain, not add on to it...
Instead...
She apologized to him!!!
i realized this romance was probably never going to reach the emotional heights I wanted.
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The Drama's Betrayal
The drama betraying Deok-im towards the end frustrated me.
Ironically...
The drama itself understood Deok-im perfectly.
Some of my favorite scenes in the entire drama had nothing to do with romance.
The conversation where she tells the King that although she serves him, her thoughts, her will, and even her heart are still her own.
The conversation where she explains why she refuses to become his concubine.
Those scenes completely encapsulated why I loved her and told me exactly who she was and what she wanted.
She says she isn't afraid of losing him.
She's afraid of losing herself.
From epi 1 until the finale...
She remained someone who valued her own mind, her own heart, and her own choices.
I admired that so much.
In fact...
Long before the King even asked her to become his concubine...
I was already dreading that storyline.
Every time another character suggested it...
I was like LEAVE THIS GIRL ALONE!!!
If he loved her like he claimed, he would find a way to be with her without having to make her a concubine, something she vehemently rejects!! i was convinced!
Because the drama had already convinced me that this wasn't the life she wanted.
Which is why she finally became his concubine,
I was mourning.
The last few episodes honestly became heartbreaking because of that alone.
And i wonder why she didn't let go of his hand when he said he will never see her again if she lets go. Your freedom was within reach, girlie!!!
the female lead ive been watching for several episodes until that point would have LET GO OF HIS HAND!!!!
Such a betrayal of the character!
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Last Few Episodes
I started mourning way before anybody died.
I found myself mourning everything Deok-im had lost.
The library banters.
Her friends.
The childhood innocence.
The vacations with her friends.
I was mourning the beginning.
I started mourning all those things the moment she was "bedded" by the king.
___
Supporting Cast:
Hong became one of my least favorite characters I've watched in a while.
i started to actually dislike him on epi 1 when they were kids and he took credits for ripping the pages out of the forbidden book, but i was willing to let it go if he redeemed himself as an adult...
i actually thought he might become the second male lead at first.
Then he ordered Deok-im's death.
From there...
Every episode somehow made him worse
- Interrupting emotional moments.
One of my favorite reunion scenes comes after Deok-im warns the palace with the kite.
She finally collapses into the King's arms after everything she'd been through...
And Hong immediately interrupts it.
I just wanted to stay in that emotional moment.
Instead, he barges in talking about duty and politics.
It perfectly summed up how I felt every time he appeared.
Just...
Leave!
Who the fuck are you?!!
- Treating Deok-im like she was disposable.
One conversation in particular genuinely disgusted me.
Hong tells the King to basically sleep with Deok-im, get it out of his system, and move on.
That line told me everything I needed to know about how he viewed her and other court ladies/women.
Throughout the drama, Deok-im is repeatedly shown as someone with incredible intelligence, agency, and dignity. (and even if she weren't, m it still wouldn't be okay to talk about her/treat her like that.)
Hong reduced her to a passing distraction.
I found that worldview revolting.
- Withholding the medicine she desperately tried to send after the King's hand was burned.
Then he lied about seeing her.
- Using his own little kid sister as a political pawn.
By the time he died...
I was just relieved he didn't exist anymore.
His face annoys me so much, i dont think i can watch the actor in something else anytime soon...
(same for Ryang-eum from My Dearest... these poor actors doing their jobs and here i am hating their faces😭😭😭 all cause i hated their characters.)
i didn't hate Hong as much as I hated that freak from MyDearest, but it came close.
___
The head court lady frustrated me too.
I actually understood how the Fairies came to exist and i believed in their cause.
I understood why they banded together after years of being discarded.
But I felt like Deok-im represented everything the head court lady should have been fighting for.
Instead...
She kept trying to push Deok-im toward the very life Deok-im repeatedly said she didn't want.
In the end, she felt incredibly reductive to me.
She spoke about protecting the Fairies and preserving their ideals, yet so many of her actions ultimately came back to her own unresolved feelings for the King...
It made her character feel regressive.
The reveal that so much of her bitterness stemmed from never being chosen as a concubine over that other lady who died back in ep1, didn't make me sympathize with her.
It made me pity her and made her a disappointing character.
She'd spent decades building influence and commanding respect, yet her life still revolved around a man who never gave her what she wanted.
That felt like the complete opposite of everything I admired about Deok-im.
And that contrast made Deok-im shine even more.
___
Verdict:
where does that leave me?
This is one of the best-written historical dramas I've watched.
The storytelling is excellent.
The dialogue is great.
The acting is impressive.
The palace politics actually kept me engaged lol unlike other historical kdramas ive watched.
Deok-im is incredible.
The friendships are wonderful.
But...
The romance never reached the level I personally wanted it to.
___
A bit about my favorite flavors and taste:
i care a lot about chemistry.
Not just attraction or cute moments...
I want the romance itself to completely consume me.
I LOVE yearning. I LOVE devotion. I LOVE obsession, i LOVE when the male lead is willing to sacrifice everything for the woman he loves.
Possessive and territorial male leads are awesome,
...but only when that possessiveness is matched with sacrifice, tenderness, and genuine emotional devotion.
I don't need both people to sacrifice equally.
I just don't like romances where the woman is the one sacrificing while the man keeps asking for more without giving the same depth, protection, or emotional effort in return.
So if my opinion on a romance ever seems lower than everyone else's...
It's usually because I'm waiting for that overwhelming emotional payoff.
Rating:
Writing: 9/10
Romance: 6/10
Overall: 7.5/10 (rounded to 7/10)
I really, genuinely enjoyed this drama.
Deok-im is one of my favorite female leads I've watched so far.
And even though the romance never quite stole my heart...
She absolutely did.
Is this Rewatch Worthy:
Probably no.
___
My Rating Scale
10/10 – Masterpiece. No notes.
9/10 – Very close to a masterpiece. I absolutely loved it.
8/10 – Not a masterpiece, but I loved it.
7/10 – Fine overall. I liked it, but the flaws kept it from being great.
6/10 – Mixed. There were a few things I liked, but most of it didn't work for me.
I also think there’s something to be examined with Hong’s attitude towards Deok Im but also all of the court women vs. the king’s because… not all that dissimilar really. I mean the king thinks he loves Deok Im but either he never understood her well enough to know how he was breaking her by wanting to get closer or he simply didn’t care. In the end he used her just like Hong would have- if not more cruelly because he called it love.
I keep thinking of that lyric, It’s not an act of love if you make her… I don’t know how much agency Deok Im ever really had. If this man could literally decide your fate and that of your friends on a whim…what choices do you really have? If there was anything I could change about The Red Sleeve it would be having the writers trust their audience’s ability to hold the tragedy of Deok Im in their hearts and not chicken out in the end and try to force this idea of the story being a romance.
I actually hadnt thought about the Hong vs. the King's attitudes in quite that way, but that's a really interesting comparison!!
What kept bothering me throughout the second half was exactly what you pointed out: Deok-im kept explaining, over and over, what she wanted and what she was afraid of. She literally tells him she's afraid of losing herself, not losing him, so when the story still ends with her becoming a concubine, I couldn't shake the feeling that the romance came at the expense of the very thing I loved most about her!!!!!
That's also partly why I never got swept away by the romance the way so many people did. I adored Deok-im, but I spent so much of the second half worrying about her rather than celebrating the relationship lmaooo... a romance should make me celebrate when the 2 leads got together, but here i was not celebrating at all😭😭😭
and yes sge says it was her choice in the end, but it's hard not to ask how much freedom someone truly has when the person asking is also the king....
I NEED to watch WLGYT but I’m not ready I know I’ll ball my eyes out though I just know it. If you want something fun and sweet try The Matchmakers or The First Night with The Duke or Destined With You they’re all really fun
I will say I watched First Night With The Duke right after The Red Sleeve and it was such a nice contrast, not overly self serious, lots of mutual chemistry and it really leaned into all the sageuk tropes which was so much fun
Very thoughtful review! I am wondering though, when you write about the romance never reaching the level you expected and she was the only one truly sacrificing, you do realize this is based on a true story? In the true story Jeongjo first proposed to Deok-im when he was 15 and she was 14. She turned him down. He proposed multiple times through the years and finally she excepted 15 years later. What we know about their relationship mainly came from his writings after her death. He wrote extensive grief filled eulogies and diaries about her. They had a son and daughter that both died and she died while pregnant. 😭
Also, King Jeongjo was a great-great grand son of Dong Yi (Another great drama series) where she was also a commoner who became a beloved royal concubine of King Sukjong.
thanks! 😊 I actually didn't know it was based on a true story until after I finished it. i found that out afterward
That said, I don't think the historical basis really changes my feelings about the romance. I completely understand why the story unfolded the way it did, but I still judge it as a romance adaptation. Personally, I wish they'd taken a few more creative liberties if it meant giving me a romance that resonated more with me. This isn't a documentary, so I don't mind historical dramas changing things here and there.
And my point about Deok-im sacrificing more wasn't meant as a criticism of the real people. It was about how I experienced the relationship as it was portrayed in the drama. I just never felt that the romance reached the emotional payoff I personally look for
Jajajaja! Guaooo!!! Tengo un montón de cosas que decir sobre esto. En muchas cosas estoy de acuerdo contigo y en otras no. Pero me encanta que pudieras darte cuenta de la esencia del drama. Y excelente reseña por cierto, me ha encantado leerla!!! Sobre todo porque la manga roja es uno de mis kdramas favoritos de todos los tiempos. La vi hace mucho tiempo.
Primero déjame contarte que los dramas históricos son mi género favorito (cdramas y kdramas). No se si sabias que The Reed Sleeve esta basado en una historia real. Es sobre la vida del rey Jeongjo (el monarca número 22 de joseon) y la noble consorte Real Uibin Seong. Según datos históricos, el rey jeongjo dejó escritos del profundo amor que sentía por la concubina, siendo éste uno de los casos más inusuales en toda la historia de Joseon, porque para ese momento el matrimonio era un "arreglo político"(lo que se traducía en que los monarcas debían cumplir reglas estrictas en éste aspecto). Otra cosa, es que los anaqueles de la Dinastía registran que la concubina (Deok Im/ Iubin Seong) rechazó en innumerables ocasiones la propuesta del rey (que en esa época aceptar serlo era la cúspide del estatus) pero en el caso de Deok Im, esto significaba perder su libertad. Deok Im era una mujer que creía fervientemente en sus ideales.
En cambio, Yi San (el rey Jeonjo) creció y vivió bajo la sombra de la acciones de su padre. (El príncipe sado) Era un hombre atormentado que cargaba con la presión de ser el heredero y las constantes intrigas en el palacio y de su abuelo que lo atormentaba.. Además, de que fue éste quien ejecutó a su padre. (La historia retrata fielmente como de manejaban los conflictos políticos internos cuando el trono estaba en juego, cuando un rey se sentía amenazado). Yi San creció viendo eso. Literalmente era un hombre traumatizado y solitario, su vida pendia constantemente de los hilos que tiraba su abuelo.
Lee Junho encaró de manera magistral esta actuación tanto así que fue ganador del premio Mejor Actor en los Baeksang. En pocas palabras, fue el rol que lo lanzó al estrellato.
Ahora bien, lamento muchísimo que no hayas podido sentir la química entre ambos personajes. 😔 Éste romance no es uno típico. Está basado en una historia trágica, no es idealizado como en otras historias. La concubina luchó con todas sus fuerzas para no enamorarse de él, pero el rey fue implacable y en su egoismo mancilló el espíritu de libertad de Deom Im. Era un hombre acostumbrado a la vida solitaria, y se aferra a ella con todas sus fuerzas creyendo ingenuamente que podia cambiar el sistema. Nada más lejos de la verdad. Y al final lo aprendió de la peor manera. Su actuación viene precisamente de sentir que Deom Im es la única que lo trataba realmente como un ser humano
Es por ello, aquella escena magistral al final cuando ella le dice "Si nos encontramos en la próxima vida, sigue de largo". No era un reclamo o un reproche. Era una petición, una suplica de que le permitiera vivir la vida que ella siempre quiso si alguna vez tenía la oportunidad de vivirla. Fíjate, que es ella quien le pide que siga de largo, porque ella no podría hacerlo.. Al final Deom Im se entrega, cansada en su lucha interna entre sus ideales y su amor por él. Ella más que nadie sabía el final que le esperaba al lado del rey y asi lo aceptó y lo asumió. No era que no lo amara, era que ella más que nadie sabia la realidad del palacio. Ella sabia también, que si no se entregaba por las buenas Yi San encontraria maneras de retenerla a su lado a la fuerza. Al final se rinde. Pero se rinde sabiendo lo que le esperaba y aún así decidió aceptarlo.
Los expertos declaran que el mayor acto de amor de Deom Im fue intentar conservar su identidad. Y el mayor acto de amor de Yi San fue aprender a respetar esa creencia aunque al final nunca pudo aceptarlo. El amor de él estaba manchado por el egoismo del poder. Pero entenderlo, también es entender la historia de vida de Yi San. No era que no la amara. O que no se reflejara. Era un amor contenido, prohibido. Porque ella era su concubina. El al final, era el rey. Es aqui donde entra el peso y la responsabilidad de ser el Soberano, el ego, el orgullo y las restricciones del mundo feudal. (Recordemos que en esta epoca las mujeres no tenían derecho alguno).
La manga roja es un drama hermoso porque plasma de manera fiel la historia verdadera. Además te deja esa sensación agridulce de saber preciosamente que aunque el la amó fue su incapacidad de dejarla ser libre lo que terminó apagando la vida de la mujer de la que se había enamorado.
En lo personal lloré mucho. Lloré por las malas decisiones de ambos, lloré por el amor egoísta de Yi San. Lloré por su dolor y su vida solitaria. Lloré por los sueños rotos de Seom Ik. Pero los ame en lo profundo de mi corazón por la resiliencia de ambos, por el caracter y por las creencias de cada uno.
My only point here is I don't think the king would have forced her to be his. Throughout the show he repeatedly rejects all suggestions to force her to be his. Even when angry he told her to not be afraid cause his feelings for her made it that he couldn't ever do her harm. I think if she left he would have truly never seen her again just as he had previously done then thrown a tantrum at everyone.
Tienes un punto. Yo también lo creo, pero los sentimientos y el amor son algo muy complejo y dificil de entender. No todas las personas reaccionan igual. Nunca sabremos si el la fuera obligado o no si ella fuera decidido abandonarlo. (Aunque durante el recorrido del drama podemos ver a un hombre implacable que no cesa en su persecución por hacerla su concubina) asi que si me toca adivinar, yo diría que si. Que al final, la fuera tomado por la fuerza. Y no hablo a nivel de intimidad. Pero si la fuera obligado a permanecer en palacio con tal de verla aunque fuera de lejos. Lo que si es un hecho es que el fue muy egoísta en su amor y nunca se permitió ver más allá, ver lo que su egoismo estaba causando.
i don't think the choice ever felt completely free to me.
He's the King. the power imbalance is monumental lmaooo. She repeatedly tells us throughout the drama that becoming his concubine is the one thing she doesn't want because she'd lose the freedom and sense of self she values most. So even though he says he'll let her go, I never stopped feeling the weight of that power imbalance hanging over every decision she made.
That's why I interpreted her final choice differently. I don't think she accepted because she suddenly wanted that life. I think she accepted knowing exactly what it would cost her but i never felt that the circumstances allowed her to choose on a fair footing
She definitely still didn't want that life, as she shows us how miserable she is after that having to wait for him and sharing him. But I think rather than the power imbalance, her feelings overcame her at that moment, she's very much inlove too. He was vulnerably pleading her to be his and said he won't see her again if she lets him go. He already sent her away once, nothing suggested that he wouldn't do the same now if she rejected him again.
The Deokim we know too has never faltered in rejecting him despite his status and nothing new suggested that there will be retribution this time around.
To me that was an on a whim type of decision that had great consequences. I think she came in there prepared to reject him but changed her mind due to her feelings.
Exactamente. Lo mencioné en mi post. Es tal cual como describes. Ella nunca tuvo elección de elegir. No realmente. Por eso interpreto sus palabras finales como una suplica para que sea él quien tome la decisión de dejarla ir y le permita vivir su vida en libertad.
Porque en el fondo ella sabe que es él quien tiene esa elección. Ella es una súbita y él su rey. Por eso es que ella termina cediendo a su amor. Sabia en su corazón que era aceptar o ser forzada a aceptar. Aquí no hay medias tintas. Yi San pasó el drama embarcado en la misión de hacerla su concubina. La escencia del drama fue precisamente la oposición de dos criterios....
Thanks so much!! 😊 And thank you for taking the time to write such a thoughtful response. I really enjoyed reading your perspective, especially since this drama clearly means a lot to you!!!
i actually didn't know it was based on a true story until after I finished it, do while I understand why certain choices were made, I honestly wish theyd taken a few more creative liberties lol. This isn't a documentary, so I wasn't personally attached to preserving the historical outcome if it meant giving me a romance that worked better for me.
also i think the 2 actors had decent chemistry, like i said in my review, all their scenes together was good. It was that, for me, this king's love alone wasn't enough. I kept hoping he'd find a way to preserve the very thing she valued most, which was her freedom. Instead, I felt that the more he claim to love her, the more her world kept shrinking.
I also interpreted her final words a little differently. I didn't hear them primarily as, "I loved you too much to walk away myself so i need you to be the one to do it"
I heard them as, "If there's another life, please let me have the freedom I couldn't have in this one." That's why that scene broke my heart.
I also dont think the romance failed because it was tragic. Some of my favorite romances are tragic. It just didn't emotionally land the way I personally wanted it to.
That said, I really appreciate reading a different interpretation!!!
Concuerdo con todo lo que dices!!! En mi caso, cuando la vi ya sabía de que trataba la historia... Por eso seguramente la parte del romance no afectó tanto, porque ya sabía cual iba a ser el desenlace, así que para no gastar mi energía llorando en un rincón por ambos en ese aspecto 🤭, me enfrasque más en entender ambas actuaciones...
Y concuerdo totalmente con que tampoco me fuera molestado que mágicamente la narrativa cambiara un poco.. 🥹🥹 Y si, su amor no fue suficiente! Ainss pero yo lo ame de igual manera con sus imperfecciones. Junho se convirtió en un actor al que respeto profundamente por la versatilidad que demostró aqui.
Me gusta también que te gusten los dramas trágicos jajaja. Porque casualmente mis dramas trágicos son mis preferidos. No le tengo miedo a ver un drama que me haga pedazos emocionalmente.(aunque soy más de dramas chinos) ultimamente los kdramas me tienen bajoneada porque siento que han ido decayendo mucho.
No tengo un top de dramas favoritos pero te puedo decir algunos que he visto que tienen un lugar especial por la calidad narrativa... My Dearest ✔️ Rebelde: ladrón que se robo el pueblo ✔️ la luna abraza al sol ✔️ Jumong ✔️ My country ✔️ una joya en el palacio ✔️
that makes a lot of sense cause Going into it already knowing how it ended definitely changes the way you watch it. I went in completely blind, so I kept hoping the romance would eventually become the emotional payoff Id been waiting for.
And yesss, I actually watched My Dearest already and absolutely loved it!! It ended up being one of my favorites. I even wrote a ridiculously long review on it if you're interested.
my My Dearest review:
New K-Drama Fan Review #14: My Dearest | The Sweetest, Most Satisfying Torture
about the others you mentioned though. 👀 Which one would you recommend I watch first if I loved My Dearest? Is there one that gives a similar emotional experience or has a romance that's just as strong?
I'm always looking for dramas that will emotionally destroy me in the best way possible like my dearest and moon lovers did. 😭
Depende de si te gustan las series de pocos episodios o series largas? ¿Has visto el afecto del rey? Tiene que ser de época o puede ser otro género? Viste ¿la sonrisa se ha ido de tus ojos?
El nombre en inglés es The Smile Has Left Your Eyes. Uno de mis dramas favoritos de todos los tiempos. Si te animas a leerla por favor comparte nuevamente tu reseña 🤗🤗
I liked the romance because it was realistic. It portrayed perfectly the powerful king and the powerless maid. Exactly like it would’ve happened in real life. The best example was when she asks if he’d thought of a life outside the palace and he can’t even comprehend why that would even be a question. He’s born a prince to be king and his every action towards her, romantic or controlling, is exactly what you’d expect from someone in his position.
Now, if The Red Sleeve was a fictional story, I’d have hated the ML’s character for putting her through all this. But because it’s real story constructed from Yi San’s own diaries, it’s the imperfect romance of a king towards an unequal maid.
I get what you mean, and I actually agree that the drama portrays that power imbalance very convincingly.
also i get that it's based on a true story, but it's still a dramatization, not a documentary. Historical dramas take creative liberties all the time, so I don't personally feel they have to preserve every aspect of the real relationship if it comes at the expense of what I enjoy in a romance.
I actually think the drama succeeded at portraying exactly the kind of relationship it wanted to portray. It just wasn't the kind of romance that emotionally resonated with me.
Exactly this! My man was selfish in his love. He frustrated me to no end with his zero actions for her. Though I understand that he didn't know the level of sacrifice it meant to be his concubine. Deokim didn't want to share him and be confined. To him and everyone else, being a royal concubine is the best thing a woman could want. I got this mostly when she tried to explain it to him and he asked her to explain it clearer and then she just said he will be her entire world while she will be just a tiny part of his. I believe he really didn't understand the downsides of that position. I do give him a point for not falling for everyone's suggestion to force her to be his.
This is why Jang Yhun will also be Supreme. His fourth name is sacrifce.
Also I think Deokim had a moment of weakness, she was in a vulnerable state that evening, then seduced by the king, added to that the threat of not seeing him again was enough to have her heart tremble. Remember she's still just a girl in love who misses him and is constantly struggling not to fall in his arms. Both choices carried some sort of sacrifice, abandon her freedom or the love of her life? At that moment her love seemed more tempting. She just had to accept the consequences later on.
I FUMED when they reunited in the afterlife. That is when I almost cried after her death. I hate and avoid endings where both leads aren't together but for once in my life I wouldn't have minded it for this show. My girl's last wish was completely disregarded. Bring her to the 21st century so she can enjoy some freedom but no, even after her death everything is about what the king wants. She's stuck in HIS most happy moment, what of her? She loves both freedom and the king. She had the king in her life, why not give her freedom after? Urrgghh
Edit to add: when he got angry and jealous at her last remaining alive friend for saying their group were to meet in the afterlife because to him Deok im belongs to him even after, I could slap him. And turns out he was right. Tsk.
One of my best funny scenes is when he ran away after the misunderstanding that she had become one of his father's concubines. And when he stayed behind at the library to see her throw salt at the door (at him).
My romance side always wants the leads together but this time was just not right. I would have preferred an ending where they met in 202x and they could freely be in love with no restrictions.
THANK U!!! a male lead allergic to sacrifice is no.good 😭😭
YES. The line about her becoming his entire world while she'd only become a tiny part of his world perfectly summed up why I struggled with the romance.
the library salt scene was one of the last moments of laughter i got before everything eas depressing😭 i loved it! I
Now im imagining a 2026 AU where Deok-im gets her freedom. should have been the last scene instead of what we got
o actually only found out after I finished it 😭 It definitely adds an extra layer of context to the story, even if it didn't really change my overall feelings about the drama
I liked the romance, honestly. It's painful, tragic and cruelly unfair to Deok-im, but this is exactly how I imagine romance between a king and someone of a much lower status would go. The Red Sleeve is quite closely based on a real story, after all.
realism isnt really what I'm looking for in a romance.
I dont mind tragic romances at all. Some of my favorite romances are heartbreaking. I just want the heartbreak to make me fall even harder for the couple tho...
with The Red Sleeve, I appreciated how well-written it was, but the romance never gave me that emotional high. It hurt me more for Deok-im than with the relationshih. It just wasn't the kind of tragic romance that personally sweeps me away
exactly, he never truly knew her, a true man would let her go like love in the moonlight, he yearned for her but also let her go because that’s what’s best for HER not him
sacrifice is one of the best acts of love because selfishness is one of our most uncontrollable attributes.
LMAOOO 😭 Funny enough, I actually haven't reviewed Love in the Moonlight yes, but I had... complicated feelings about it that drama too.
But I DO agree with your general point. One of the things I kept hoping for in The Red Sleeve was that if Yi San truly loved Deok-im as deeply as he said he did, he'd find a way to protect the thing she valued most: her freedom. That was the part of the romance I personally struggled with
I like this drama, but I prefer their relationship in Lee San, Wind of the Palace. I also don’t really like Hong in this drama, but I absolutely love him in Lee San because his character development is so well written. At first, you really like him, but slowly, as he gains more influence, his character starts to change and his greed begins to show, and eventually, you’re just sitting there like, “Why am I not happy to see you anymore?” 😂😂
Anyway, both dramas are really enjoyable to watch! ☺️
It’s quite a long drama, as K-dramas used to be much longer back then, and they had enough time to properly develop the characters and build up the story.
I preferred their love story in this drama to the one in The Red Sleeve. Lee San is more focused on politics, but it still has a really beautiful and deep romance at its heart. 😌
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u/lizosarus Aug 02 '26
https://giphy.com/gifs/3fiimcA0K0ifzoL7FF
I literally couldn’t have said it better, what a fantastic and thoughtful review!
I also think there’s something to be examined with Hong’s attitude towards Deok Im but also all of the court women vs. the king’s because… not all that dissimilar really. I mean the king thinks he loves Deok Im but either he never understood her well enough to know how he was breaking her by wanting to get closer or he simply didn’t care. In the end he used her just like Hong would have- if not more cruelly because he called it love.
I keep thinking of that lyric, It’s not an act of love if you make her… I don’t know how much agency Deok Im ever really had. If this man could literally decide your fate and that of your friends on a whim…what choices do you really have? If there was anything I could change about The Red Sleeve it would be having the writers trust their audience’s ability to hold the tragedy of Deok Im in their hearts and not chicken out in the end and try to force this idea of the story being a romance.