'The Red Sleeve' Episodes 9 & 10 Discussion Post

[skidadler.livejournal.com]

Director: Jung Ji-In
Writer: Kang Mi-Kang (novel), Jung Hae-Ri
Network: MBC
Episodes: 17
Release Date: November 12 - January 8

Plot: Set in the 18th century, "Red Sleeve" depicts a love story between King Jeongjo and royal concubine Uibin Sung.

Sung Deok-Im (Lee Seyoung) is a court lady. She gets involved with Crown Prince Yi San (Lee Junho) and he falls in love with her. The crown prince eventually becomes King Jeongjo. He now desires Sung Deok-Im to become his concubine, but she refuses. Sung Deok-Im wants to live her life freely, something that will not be possible as a concubine. She also knows that life of a royal concubine does not generally bring about happiness. Yet, Sung Deok-Im becomes the concubine of King Jeongjo.

You can watch on Viki.

The drama received a one-episode extension (I wish it were more). It is now the highest rated MBC drama since 2018, hitting double digits last week and continuing to increase to 10.9 for Episode 9.

Source: AsianWiki (Drama info & poster)

Comments

[unnursvana.livejournal.com]

Again I must compliment The Red Sleeve on it’s excellent political maneuvering and all that + very well choreographed fight scenes. The fight at the end of ep 9 was just *chiefs kiss*. It was engaging, action paced, serious and just so much fun to watch. This show is doing the court politics better most sageuks I have watched in the last two years I feel like.

Like this show knows when it should be light and then when it should go darker and more serious. It never feels too abrupt because the pacing is good and it is way more serious and goes darker in it’s approach than some other sageuks we have had recently who never stay too far from the lightness of the romance. This shows does allow itself to be serious and mature when it needs to and then also light when it needs be. It has a nice balance, which I enjoy.

And Junho fighting with that bow was just 🔥 I LOVE SAGEUKS AND THIS DRAMA IS SOME REAL SAGEUK STUFF! the whole last 20 min of ep 9 was just what I have been craving from sageuks since maybe kingdom last year - some proper action.

Honestly, I am loving all the ladies in this show. From the queen to Doek Im who is so smart, to the evil senior court lady that is really going for the long game here and how she is using how freaking traumatized the king and the court is after prince Sado for her own little power trip.

I often feel like well written historical dramas have some of the best, most well rounded and interesting female characters in kdramas. Some historical dramas do sideline them, but so do modern ones. But so far this show has been good to it's female characters. I adore them all.

I wonder if this show feels confusing for people who don't know the history if prince Sado, but then again I am not sure if people go for this heavy sageuk stuff if they are not interested in that sort of history. I see so many people complain about these types (or just any type) of historical dramas are boring because they focus less on the romance and more on court drama.

This drama and Bossam are giving me everything I wanted from sageuks this year (and in a way last year as well) but those two are quite opposite of each other. I am enjoying Taec's drama and I am looking forward to Moonshine with Yoo Seung Ho and Hyeri but I do suspect that it will be on the lighter side and those lighter youth sageuks are often a miss for me. But Yoo Seung Ho does make most things better.

[skidadler.livejournal.com]

That entire sequence was directed, shot, acted, edited beautifully. I hope the team gets their earned accolades for that, because that was incredible to watch.

I wonder if this show feels confusing for people who don't know the history if prince Sado
I wonder the same thing actually! I looked it up, so watching it has been really interesting

I see so many people complain about these types (or just any type) of historical dramas are boring
LOL yes, I've been seeing A LOT of it on Twitter that they just want the romance. I'm sitting here like, nooo, just give me a longer drama and explore everything. I want my 24-episode sageuks back, please lol. The politics here is interesting, I wonder if it's because it's somewhat based on actual history? Even if some of it is over my head, it's still fascinating to me.

[unnursvana.livejournal.com]

Yes, I want longer more serious sageuks back on my screen. This youthful romances sageuks often don’t satisfy me. But then again my all time fav kdrama is a 50 ep, very political heavy historical drama called Six Flying Dragons. I doubt we are getting one of those anytime soon. But since this drama does so well with the ratings we could see an uptick in this type of dramas in the near future.

I feel like complaining about the politics in this type of show makes as much sense as complain about people spending too much time solving crimes... in a crime show. There is still plenty of romance to go about and this drama does a good job balancing the politics of the court and the romance between the leads. It also makes it more mature in a way.

[skidadler.livejournal.com]

I love the chemistry between Junho and Seyoung. And as someone who loves a good slow burn, this is just *chef's kiss* to me. As someone who looked up the history, watching it gives an interesting perspective. I do wonder how it is for people who didn't look it up/know the actual history.

Episode 9
- Girl ruined the moment and boy is visibly annoyed
- “You can hide behind me.” He is at least twice your size, darling.
- The King’s dementia is getting worse and worse and I’m very worried for San
- I do appreciate the Queen being supportive and trying to help San
- Lee Junho continues to look great in hanboks
- LOL Deok-im being shocked when Lady See tells her to lay in San’s bed… to keep it warm
- Okay, I’m glad that San isn’t blindly believing Deok-ro on everything
- I’m a hopeless romantic and I love how they did this scene. Junho conveys affection and longing very well. But more, I love that he never laid a hand on her while she was sleeping.
- I’m not about court politics and espionage but I like that this drama portrays the power that court ladies have back in those days, because I’m sure they did but it hasn’t been explored as much
- LMAO I love Tae-ho… he’s so ditzy
- Poor Lady Seo. I’m glad she told Deok-im, unknowingly allowing Deok-im to protect San
- My girl continues to be so brave and so smart in trying to protect her man
- I love female assassins… just not here lol
- I love the editing of this, especially when they go back and forth between San and Deck-im to show the parallelism between the two. Also, the choreography (Junho gets to fly!) and camera work is 🤌🏻💋
- Tae-ho crushes it when it matters most and that’s all I care about; his loyalty to San is heartwarming
- The cinematography of this drama remains top notch. Not sure if technical awards exist for Korean dramas, but man if they do, I hope this team wins some
- “When I thought that I could die, your face came to mind. I prayed to the heavens for one more chance to see your face, Deok-im.” These two… their love language goes beyond saying “I love you”.

Episode 10
- Deok-ro is an annoying little jealous asshole… I’m over him
- Well Lady Jo’s plan got foiled… what’s next
- Lady Jo is scary, but also I respect how much power she wields as a court lady
- I love the Queen. Everything about her is just so ethereal. She’s smart and knows how to play her cards
- LOL even in her imagination, he’s teasing her… I love them
- LMAO not him pinching her cheeks like that
- It’s so sad to see that they obviously share the same feelings but circumstances stand in the way
- Yeah, Deok-ro cam go eat rocks with his, “Just have your way with her and get it out of your system” bullshit
- The King telling Lady Jo why he chose Yeongbin over her… damn
- Wol-hye is almost as scary as her aunt
- I love that Deok-im will always have her friends
- Deok-im, my brave, reckless girl… you are in danger
- “Smile more”
- Wow wow wow, Lady Jo is cold-blooded and not in a good way. Christ.